Huo Yuhao contemplated momentarily, and he figured that opening the pouch wouldn’t hurt, and there was no harm in taking a look. He nodded and said, “Alright, I’ll have to trouble you, then. But I can’t open it with my spiritual power. Brother Skydream, don’t you need to borrow my spiritual power?”
Skydream said proudly, “It’s not because you don’t have enough spiritual power to open it, it’s because your spiritual power control isn’t there yet. This spiritual seal can’t stump me.”
Skydream’s body bounced lightly as he spoke, and he landed on the pouch as his translucent body flickered with golden light.
Huo Yuhao’s eyes glowed at the same time, and a radiant golden light gradually flowed out along with his spiritual power.
He could feel that his spiritual power was undergoing peculiar transformations as it was channeled into Skydream.
That’s… Compression!
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power began to compress under Skydream’s direction. Skydream had given his spiritual origin to Huo Yuhao, but he still had the most substantial spiritual imprint, one that had been baptized by a million years of life. Unless the Calamity Necromancer Electrolux came back to life, there was nobody else in the world that could compare to Skydream in terms of spiritual power manipulation.
Yes, this was a form of spiritual power manipulation. Spiritual power was an energy that originated from the spirit world, and was presented as far more abstract and illusory compared to soul power. The effects that spiritual power could achieve often couldn’t be compared to soul power on the same level. The energy that belonged to the spiritual realm and soul power were like two parallel lines that did not intersect.
If soul masters were to choose which power they wanted to boost, almost all soul masters would choose soul power. This didn’t mean soul power was stronger than spiritual power, it was because soul power was a lot easier to control and manipulate than spiritual power.
A soul master had to rely on his spiritual power to control his soul power, while going deeper and manipulating spiritual power directly was an extremely high-level ability. Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power control was mainly present in two forms. The first was his Sovereign’s Descent that Dragon God Douluo Mu En had imparted to him, where he would delicately fuse spiritual power and soul power. He would produce immense fighting strength after fusing both energies when he was in a unique spiritual state. The other form referred to his multiple soul skills.
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power at this point was strong enough for his Spiritual Detection to reach a six-hundred meter radius around him, and he could reach more than three kilometers if he used it in a single direction. However, what if he didn’t have Spiritual Detection as a soul skill? How far could he sense if he just used pure spiritual power? That would be a question of his control over his spiritual power.
Why were Huo Yuhao’s attacks more powerful, and all his Spirit Eyes soul skills amplified, when he released his Eye of Destiny? The Eye of Destiny actually gave him better control over his spiritual power, and also had that mystical power of destiny.
Exemplary spiritual control required more than just formidable spiritual power. One also had to continually practice using it. Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power control was unrivaled among other soul masters of his level, but he was way too far below Skydream’s standard.
The compressed spiritual power gradually flowed into the pouch. Huo Yuhao felt as if Skydream were using his spiritual power to form a key, and Skydream was soundlessly and discreetly opening the door in front of him.
The pouch’s spiritual seal was exceedingly tough. Skydream went deeper in his attempt to open it, and Huo Yuhao realized that the Iceworm had underestimated the spiritual seal’s strength. The seal was extremely solid, and he wouldn’t be able to open it even if he was a Soul Emperor if he used his current cultivation level as an estimate. He would probably require his martial soul true body to have enough control to open this pouch by himself.
However, the seal couldn’t stump Skydream. The compressed spiritual power became increasingly focused under Skydream’s control and gradually drilled into the seal, unraveling it from the inside.
This was a great opportunity for Huo Yuhao. Skydream was controlling his spiritual power after all, and this meant that Huo Yuhao could clearly feel the entire manipulation process. This was greatly beneficial to learn how to manipulate spiritual power.
Huo Yuhao began to feel a little dizzy from time to time as spiritual power continued flowing out. He could feel that his spiritual sea’s level was plummeting, but he wasn’t worried at all. Skydream had a complete understanding of Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power, and he naturally wouldn’t do something that he wasn’t confident of, and would never hurt Yuhao, either.
An hour passed, then a soft ding sound could be heard as the pouch’s mouth emanated a strange golden light. This golden light transformed into a green streak before it disintegrated into fine specks and gradually vanished into the air.
The golden light on Skydream’s body disappeared along with the lights. He grunted and said, “The seal was strong, but it couldn’t stump me. Don’t be too hasty to look at the pouch, Huo Yuhao; you should meditate as soon as possible. Wait for your spirit to recover before anything else. If you don’t recover from this extent of spiritual power consumption as soon as possible, it will affect your spiritual sea’s volume.”
He returned to the fourth finger on Huo Yuhao’s left hand as he spoke, and transformed back into a jade ring.
Huo Yuhao had intended to meditate even if Skydream hadn’t reminded him. He had become a little dizzy, and his vision even became a little blurry from all the spiritual power consumption.
Huo Yuhao crossed his legs and sat down as he focused his eyes and looked inwards. The dizziness and fatigue helped him enter his meditative state even faster than he normally did, and his consciousness became more focused, while his spiritual sea gradually returned to its usual calm.
The pouch shone with faint light, which gradually grew pale as it laid silently on the bed beside Huo Yuhao.
The pain in Huo Yuhao’s chest and between his ribs was taken care of by his powerful regenerative abilities by the time he woke up from meditation, while more than half of his spiritual power had been restored.
“Oh!” Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and gradually opened his eyes. Soul power naturally circulated around his body, and the gentle, flowing undulations became smooth and flourishing. His body had been growing physically while his cultivation had increased over time. Due to the shock from his martial soul fusions with both Wang Dong’er and Wang Qiu’er, and his spiritual sea reaching the Boundless Ocean level that nourished his body, he was now increasingly resistant to his Ultimate martial soul’s negative effects, so his cultivation speed was now conspicuously faster than before.
He glanced at the sky outside. The sky was dark blue, night was about to recede, and dawn was coming.
Sigh… Huo Yuhao’s emotions had naturally calmed down after a night of meditation, and his initial pleasant surprise from Skydream’s awakening had subsided. He felt calm and at peace, which also meant he naturally thought about the troubles that he was about to face.
How am I going to explain yesterday’s situation to Dong’er? It feels like there’s no way I can explain this properly. No matter how unintentional it was, the truth is that I still touched her in the end. Will Dong’er forgive me? Should I lie? Should I craft a white lie?
Huo Yuhao began to feel stuck at this mental barrier once more. He cared too much about Dong’er, and that was the reason why he didn’t want any blemish or wedge to exist between their feelings in their relationship.
What should I do? Huo Yuhao stood up and opened the window, fresh air flooding the room through the opening.
He immediately felt his spirits lift after the cold morning wind coursed over his body.
“Forget it. I’m just going to tell her the truth. It’s still better than me coming up with a lie, as a lie will need countless other lies to cover up for it. Furthermore, I don’t even know how to explain it to Wang Qiu’er. It will weigh on my conscience if I craft lies, and I will be feeling this guilt for a long time to come. It’s better to have a short period of suffering than a long one. I will explain it to Dong’er, and I will tell her everything about the situation before I will attempt to ask her for forgiveness. Once I smooth things out with Dong’er, I will find an opportunity to apologize to Wang Qiu’er.”
The positive energy of honesty gained the upper hand in the end. Very often, lies could solve problems temporarily, but they were usually unable to solve problems permanently. Lies would pile up day after day, and the day would come when all these lies would erupt, and it would be very difficult to remedy the situation once that day arrived.
Huo Yuhao made up his mind, and was no longer despondent. He hadn’t done anything wrong in theory. If Dong’er was still unsatisfied, perhaps he would just touch her a few times too!
A strange smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face as he thought about this, and his heart began to beat faster. Dong’er isn’t as developed as Wang Qiu’er. I wonder how it will feel…
“Ahem! That’s way too far. How can you be so indecent and wretched, Huo Yuhao? How can you have these thoughts in your mind?” He slapped himself lightly across the face, and pulled back his wandering mind. There would always be a path to take when the time came, and there was a solution to everything. He could probably fix a few sumptuous meals for Dong’er, and he could say some nice and sweet things to her, and this whole thing would blow over.
Huo Yuhao lowered his head and glanced at the extra ring on his left hand that Skydream had formed, making sure that last night wasn’t a dream, and his mood immediately became better. Skydream was awake now, he had changed himself into a spirit, and he had given Huo Yuhao another soul skill. The big competition was coming soon, so this was as good as good news could get!
Huo Yuhao had his own plans for the future. However, he had never told anyone about them; not even Wang Dong’er knew about them. No matter what happened in the future, this season’s competition was the most important task he had to face at the moment.
“Oh, yes. I have yet to see what’s inside the pouch.” Huo Yuhao immediately recalled the pouch that had been opened the previous night when he looked at Skydream’s ring, and hurriedly returned to his bed.
The pouch was still lying silently on the bed, and Huo Yuhao bent down to pick it up. The truth was that he was quite curious about its contents. Niu Tian, the Clear Sky Sect’s sect leader, had asked Wang Dong’er to pass this pouch to him, but the pouch had been sealed. On the surface, it seemed as if Niu Tian didn’t want Wang Dong’er to see this pouch’s contents. What can it be that Dong’er can’t see, but I can?
If he hadn’t interacted with Niu Tian and Tai Tan, he would have concluded they were trying to mess around with him. However, he had met the two sect leaders before, so he erased that thought from his mind.