"Eh?"
At that moment, Baili Du suddenly raised his head toward the sky, a look of confusion on his face.
"Is Teacher arriving at this time? It seems a bit early..."
Baili Du tapped his chin in thought. According to the original trajectory of history, Teacher Electrolux was supposed to be drawn in by the massive mental power generated when Huo Yuhao and the Skydream Ice Silkworm fused.
But now... it seemed the Teacher had been pulled from the cosmic void, attracted by the enormous energy fluctuations of the Deep Blue Glazed Dragon's awakening.
This was for the best. Since Teacher Electrolux had arrived early, he would be even more certain not to let the old man burn his Divine Consciousness and die due to the conspiracy Tang San had specifically prepared for him.
A suffocatingly immense pressure descended from the sky. A gray current of air, as if caught in a massive suction force, plummeted downward. In an instant, it landed at the back of Huo Yuhao's head and quietly slipped inside.
A blurry figure emerged behind Huo Yuhao, and an aged voice rang out with an indescribable majesty.
"Holding the sun and moon to pluck the stars, there is no one like me in this world! To think that this old man could actually have a wisp of a remnant soul survive."
Hearing that familiar opening line, Baili Du's eyes lit up. He immediately and cautiously channeled a bit of high-quality, ownerless, and unconscious soul energy into Huo Yuhao's Sea of Consciousness for Electrolux to absorb.
Though this small action might arouse Elder Yi's suspicion, the most important thing right now was to preserve this wisp of his remnant soul.
After all, he didn't have Life Gold on hand, and he couldn't disrupt the normal progression of history too much; otherwise, this Huo Yuhao might be directly obliterated by the laws of the Douluo Universe.
Therefore, he could only resort to these small, secret maneuvers... though it would still be best to find the old man a proper vessel to house his divine soul.
Thinking it over, the best option would be to let Electrolux truly become Huo Yuhao's martial soul.
As the phantom of the giant dragon dissipated, Huo Yuhao's small body was revealed.
Little Yuhao looked at his fair, small hands, feeling the strength within him that could almost be described as surging and crashing. He murmured in a daze, "Is this my martial soul?"
With a thought, his hands instantly transformed into dragon claws covered in deep blue dragon scales. Four pairs of eight magnificent dragon wings extended from his back, and a slender, translucent deep blue dragon tail swept across the ground, appearing exceptionally fierce and powerful.
Little Yuhao felt that his current self could truly punch that guy Dai Huabin into a "waste tiger."
"Very good. Your wish has come true; you and the White Tiger Dai family truly have no blood connection anymore. Congratulations, Little Yuhao."
Little Yuhao looked up in surprise at Baili Du's kind gaze and shouted happily, "Uncle Baili! Look, this is my martial soul!"
Baili Du patted his soft hair and said with relief, "Let's call this martial soul the Deep Blue Glazed Dragon! You must remember, this martial soul is incredibly powerful. Treat it as your trump card and do not use it lightly unless it's a critical moment."
Little Yuhao nodded obediently. He hesitated for a moment, and after a while, he plucked up the courage to look at Baili Du.
"But Uncle Baili, why... are you so good to me?"
The child was young and honest; he said whatever was on his mind. He couldn't understand why this uncle, who was neither kin nor friend, would help him so much.
Giving him food, clothes, and supplies, and even awakening his martial soul for free.
Was he truly a god who had suddenly descended to his side after hearing his prayer?
...
Seeing Baili Du remain silent for a long time, Little Yuhao suddenly realized he might have said something wrong...
Just as he was about to apologize, Baili Du's melancholy voice reached his ears, and he felt a slight pang of pressure on his shoulder.
"To let you stop a natural disaster that shouldn't happen, and to keep you from turning into [Dai Yuhao]..."
"And more importantly, to let things be the way they were meant to be."
"...?"
Little Huo Yuhao looked at him in confusion, but his gaze soon became determined. He secretly decided in his heart that when he grew up, he would definitely repay this Uncle Baili.
Seeing the determination in Little Huo Yuhao's eyes, Baili Du smiled faintly. How could he not know himself?
Those who are precocious are usually late bloomers, and those who are proud are often impatient.
Huo Yuhao's biggest problem, when all was said and done, was one thing: he appeared to be deeply emotional, but in reality, he was starved for love.
This traced back to his original family, especially Huo Yun'er and that scumbag Dai Hao. The fact that [Huo Yuhao] was later easily trained into a dog by Tang San was largely due to Huo Yun'er.
Teaching by example is better than words. Since Huo Yun'er herself was "love-brained," how could she not affect Huo Yuhao's worldview?
After his mother died, Shrek and the Tang Sect gave him just a tiny bit of care, and he immediately became loyal to the end.
Thinking back to how a single "Big Brother" from Ma Xiaotao could make Huo Yuhao cry his eyes out, or how the incarnation of the Tang Princess was only nice to him for a few days before Huo Yuhao rushed to give her his heart and soul—enduring beatings and insults, content to be a dog.
Being tamed into a dog for the Tang family by the Tang God King was partly something he really needed to reflect on himself.
So... he had to correct Huo Yuhao's current outlook! Otherwise, no matter how much he strengthened his talent and martial soul, it would all be in vain!
As for how to fix this habit, it was easy: give him enough care so that he wasn't starved for love!
Baili Du stroked Huo Yuhao's blue hair, about to say a few words to comfort him, but a strange surge of pain from his body made him frown and cough a few times.
His injuries were truly not light. Being able to crawl out alive from the three major universal disasters—the God of the End, the Spacetime Turbulence, and the Reincarnation Hurricane—and still retain the power of a Second-Class God was already a stroke of immense luck.
Even so, he had been forcibly weakened from the realm of a Half-Step Supreme God King to a Second-Class God, paying the price of burning his Emotion Divine Position and having his ultra-divine artifact, the Eye of Eternity, mostly shattered.
One could say that surviving until now was pure luck—likely the final bit of fortune belonging to a native "Child of Destiny."
It gave him one last chance to turn the tide and make things the way they were meant to be!
Mobilizing his divine power to suppress the injuries within his body, Baili Du took a deep breath.
He had to find a place with abundant energy to recover as soon as possible. By his estimation, he could suppress the spacetime power within him for four years at most.
Even if he was unwilling, he would eventually have to reveal his cultivation and head to the God Realm; otherwise, he would end up like Gu Yuena—his cultivation dropping directly back to a Divine Officer, forced to restart a max-level account from scratch.
This also meant he had, at most, four more years to accompany Huo Yuhao.
Baili Du was quite open about this. The protagonist of this era was [Huo Yuhao], not his current self who had lived his life as [Dai Yuhao]. His mission was to go to the God Realm to pick a fight with his dear father-in-law... oh no, to bring him some "warmth."
A world without Tang San was very important to him.