"...However, I have one more requirement."
"Speak," Mu En replied calmly.
He knew that the key to resolving this matter lay in Huo Yuhao's attitude, so he did not refuse.
"He stays still and lets me strike him once... consider it a way for me to vent some frustration on behalf of the students. Is that acceptable?"
As soon as he said this, Yan Shaozhe and Xian Lin'er—who knew Huo Yuhao's "true strength"—were stunned. Mu En, however, frowned slightly, sensing something amiss.
"Bring it on! You think I'm afraid of you?!" Xuan Zi blurted out without hesitation.
"Come on then. Here, or outside? You decide!" Xuan Zi stared at Huo Yuhao as he spoke.
"Right here is fine..."
Huo Yuhao spoke softly as he stood up and walked slowly toward Xuan Zi. He offered a friendly reminder: "Senior Xuan Zi, I hope you take this seriously. Otherwise... you might actually die."
"Heh! By your hand?" Xuan Zi spoke disdainfully, completely dismissing Huo Yuhao's words.
Huo Yuhao let out a light chuckle and raised his hand to form a fist. In the next instant, the disguise on Huo Yuhao's face completely dissolved, revealing a face that was impossibly young.
Seven soul rings—one yellow, one purple, four black, and one red—emerged. The pure aura of the Ultimate Ice martial soul was fully unleashed at that moment.
Wait!
Mu En immediately realized something was wrong and moved to intervene, but it was already too late!
Empress's Palm: Snowless High Cold + Monarch Overlooking the World!
Huo Yuhao was not the type to remain stagnant or cling to the old ways. In his previous life, after learning the Snow Empress's Three Ultimate Skills and Monarch Overlooking the World from Elder Mu, he had constantly optimized and modified these secret techniques as his cultivation grew, making them more perfectly suited to himself.
Especially after attaining godhood, he had derived these moves to an even higher level; they had already become Divine Skills!
Xuan Zi was still being dismissive, but in the next second, a premonition of death surged wildly. Almost instinctively, Xuan Zi's martial soul possessed him! Simultaneously, his seventh soul ring, Martial Soul True Body, was activated!
Xuan Zi's muscles bulged, and blood-red stripes flickered across his body as the golden illusory image of the Taotie Divine Bull emerged behind him, enveloping him!
However, a split second later, a hand as white as jade pressed against his Martial Soul True Body.
Like a god looking down upon an ant, the primal fear of survival easily tore through Xuan Zi's mediocre mental defenses, planting a deep seed of terror in the depths of his soul!
Ice-blue frost spread frantically, effortlessly freezing the fully-formed Martial Soul True Body. Then, that palm gave a gentle push, and the Martial Soul True Body began to crack inch by inch!
"That is enough," Mu En's voice rang out.
Huo Yuhao smiled and withdrew his hand.
Then, warm light-elemental power descended. With the dual empowerment of his supreme cultivation and the Golden Old Tree, Mu En's combat power far exceeded that of a typical level 99 Limit Douluo.
Under his command, the light energy was warm and peaceful, slowly melting the hard ice that contained the power of Ultimate Ice. However... the progress was sluggish.
Mu En was not angry; his gaze remained peaceful: "Though it is presumptuous to say, I saw the shadow of 'Monarch Overlooking the World' in that palm just now."
"Mhm... indeed. I learned it from you. I hope you aren't angry."
Huo Yuhao spoke a truth that Mu En would surely misunderstand. In reality, Huo Yuhao had held back. Otherwise, with his power, Xuan Zi wouldn't have even had time to possess his martial soul or summon his True Body before being struck.
Likewise, Mu En, who was capable of intervening, had not stopped it. Presumably, he truly did want to teach Xuan Zi a lesson.
"Learned it from me?" Mu En was somewhat dazed, but he didn't dwell on it. "Xuan Zi took that hit; I fear he may never advance further in his cultivation. But... that no longer seems important."
From Mu En's perspective, Huo Yuhao's cultivation level was around level 70, but the power that erupted in that instant was comparable to a level 99 Limit Douluo!
So... is it a soul tool? Mu En recalled the "Soul Power Storage Device" Huo Yuhao had invented and made a rough guess. The progress of the era... is truly terrifying.
After a moment of silence, while driving the light to melt the ice for Xuan Zi, Mu En spoke:
"As of today, fifty percent of Shrek City's revenue shall be given to the Soul Tool Department as research funding. Simultaneously, the former Vice Dean of the Soul Tool Department, Skydream, is promoted to Dean of the Soul Tool Department and becomes a member of the Sea God Pavilion."
Mu En's voice, amplified by soul power, traveled out of the meeting room and into the ears of the Elders waiting outside. They looked at each other, but in the end, no one raised an objection.
Mu En sighed, his body appearing slightly more stooped. Initially, he was full of confidence, believing that recruiting this talent was a correct choice... but now he realized that he—no, Shrek—could not hold onto this genius.
"This meeting... ends here. Lexuan, you stay behind."
"Then I'll be going first, Elder Mu," Huo Yuhao said with a smile as he strode out.
He was no longer planning to hide his appearance and age... of course, Huo Yuhao meant the 40-year-old version. Next, he would face the entire continent as a 22-year-old level 70 Soul Saint!
Actually, Huo Yuhao hadn't intended to shed this layer of disguise either. But he had no choice; he had already used up almost all the Evil Soul Masters under Nan Gongwan's command. If he kept going, even a fool would see that something was wrong with the Twilight Water Alliance.
Furthermore, the quality of those Evil Soul Masters wasn't very high. Halfway through the experiments, they would explode because their soul power was too chaotic; they simply couldn't handle higher-level testing.
Since Huo Yuhao's subsequent artificial soul bone experiments would require a significant amount of experimental material to be perfected, he came up with this plan.
An 8th-class soul tool engineer who is level 70—surely many factions would find that tempting? Surely many would be unable to resist sending people to snatch him?
And given his public level 70 cultivation, it wouldn't be overkill for them to send a Soul Douluo, a Titled Douluo, or even a Super Douluo to capture him, right?
When that time comes... he'll have a steady stream of high-quality experimental materials!
Let's see... the three great empires of the original Douluo Continent... if each empire sends one or two Titled Douluo, that's not asking too much, right? The Sun Moon Empire might send fewer, since they don't have many Titled Douluo...
However, the Holy Spirit Cult will likely send someone. It would be best if a Super Douluo came.
The missing energy in the "Holy Spirit Soul Core" of his Necromantic Holy Magic God martial soul could be filled with light, darkness, and various other energies. Simultaneously, the souls of Evil Soul Masters and their sin-filled soul power would work just as well.
Just like the Holy Angel ten thousand years ago, as long as he slew Evil Soul Masters, Huo Yuhao could increase his own soul power. Unfortunately, because Huo Yuhao's level was too high, only killing Evil Soul Masters at the Titled Douluo level would be useful to him.
It seems I can't rely solely on Evil Soul Masters...
Under the gaze of the crowd, Huo Yuhao slowly walked out of the Golden Ancient Tree. Suddenly, he turned back and stared deeply at the tree, a meaningful smile playing on his lips.