Chapter 408.1. Dragon King's Claw

They were inside the Great Star Dou Forest’s Peripheral Region, and there were thousands of soul beasts in this place. Almost every soul beast that had at least a hundred-thousand-years of cultivation was concentrated here, and all of them were at least ten-thousand-year soul beasts. Most of these soul beasts had participated in the battle not long ago, and even those who hadn’t heard about the damage that the bitter and cruel fight with those humans brought to them. Almost every soul beast’s eyes were filled with hatred and violence.

There were also many humans a thousand meters from them on the other side.

Every single elder from Shrek Academy’s Sea God’s Pavilion was here. Other than them, the Body Sect’s leader, Du Busi, led the soul masters who were here to reinforce Shrek Academy. In addition to the Soul Sages that the three empires had deployed to reinforce Shrek, there were at least several hundred other people here. Furthermore, their individual fighting strengths were superior to the soul beasts. If the Beast God Di Tian was taken out of the picture, it would be hard to determine who would emerge victorious if both parties erupted into battle.

Elder Xuan heaved a faint sigh of relief when he saw Huo Yuhao, who naturally arrived at the same time as Di Tian. Quite a few people from the Tang Sect were here, beside the elders from the Sea God’s Pavilion.

Bei Bei, He Caitou, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, and Xiao Xiao were all here. Besides them, the Earthdragon Sect’s sect leader, Nan Shuishui was also here. Nan Qiuqiu and Ye Guyi were absent.

Everybody became a little excited when they saw Huo Yuhao.

Huo Yuhao signaled to his companions that everything was fine.

“Di Tian, is this how you host your guests?” Elder Xuan’s voice travelled from far away, and every soul beast could hear him.

Di Tian turned around and faced the humans. “At least for now, you are not guests in the Great Star Dou Forest. You are still our enemy.”

Elder Xuan’s eyes grew focused. “Does that mean that you’re not sincere this time?”

Di Tian answered coldly, “Sincerity depends on whether your experiment is successful. What’s the point of sincerity if your experiments are unsuccessful?”

Elder Xuan said coldly, “Di Tian, don’t think we are afraid of you. There is an army of a hundred thousand soldiers gathered at Shrek City right now. We will follow you to the end if you wish to do battle.”

Du Busi and Elder Xuan combined could restrain Di Tian, even if they couldn’t defeat him. The reinforcements who had arrived in Shrek City over the past three days were numerous enough to the point where they had the strength to meet the Great Star Dou Forest head-on.

“Elder Di Tian, Elder Xuan, please calm down. The existence of Spirits is beneficial for both parties. May I conduct the experiment before we begin negotiations?”

Huo Yuhao raised his voice and spoke as he walked over to Di Tian’s side.

Elder Xuan’s expression warmed a little when he saw Huo Yuhao. The soul beasts had suffered severe losses during the war, but did Shrek Academy not suffer in similar fashion? Even though Shrek Academy’s losses were relatively smaller compared to their adversaries, Shrek Academy had lost the greatest number of people in this war across the last ten thousand years. There were already more than a thousand dead from this battle alone.

Di Tian turned around towards Huo Yuhao and nodded as he waved towards Bi Ji.

Bi Ji unleashed a crisp call as various powerful soul beasts instantly stood to one side, and a group of soul beasts gradually walked out.

These soul beasts could only be described as frail and infirm. Those who were severely wounded walked in front, and some of these soul beasts were carried by other soul beasts as the Emerald Swan and her kin treated them. The soul beasts who were positioned at the back seemed very lackadaisical, and their soul power undulations were extremely weak. Evidently, their lives were about to end.

Elder Xuan gestured to the humans, and the crowd separated as the volunteers stepped out.

Huo Yuhao was surprised that not a single member from the Tang Sect appeared amongst these volunteers. Jiang Nannan and Xiao Xiao had recently broken through to Rank 60, but they had claimed their sixth soul rings before this. The Tang Sect’s other members hadn’t reached a bottleneck. Nan Qiuqiu was close, but she was still one step away.

However, Huo Yuhao wasn’t entirely unfamiliar with these volunteers. He actually saw someone he was very familiar with amongst the volunteers…Dai Huabin!

Dai Huabin’s soul power is at Rank 60 now? And he hasn’t obtained a soul ring?

Not just Dai Huabin stepped out; Ning Tian and Wu Feng were also there, and Ning Tian was dressed like a man as he walked out while holding hands with Wu Feng. Wu Feng was no different from how she used to be, but her expression had become a lot gentler than before.

Several other students from Shrek Academy’s inner courtyard had also volunteered. Huo Yuhao could name most of them, while the rest of the volunteers consisted of individuals from those who came to reinforce Shrek City. They greeted and gestured to Huo Yuhao in the distance in unison as they walked out.

Huo Yuhao wasn’t very familiar with them, but he could vaguely guess that he had probably rescued most of these people from Sunrise City, and that was the reason why they recognized him.

The soul beasts and soul masters who had volunteered stepped out from their respective camps and stood at the front.

Huo Yuhao turned around and looked at Di Tian as he said calmly, “Elder Di Tian, please attach restrictions to me, but don’t hinder my circulation of soul power and spiritual power. You can give me poison if you like.”

Di Tian was momentarily stunned, but he immediately understood what Huo Yuhao was trying to say. He answered plainly, “No need. Go.”

He is worthy of being called the Beast God! Is he not afraid of me taking this opportunity to escape? Huo Yuhao couldn’t help but admire Di Tian as he stared at Di Tian’s calm expression. This was how the strongest individual in the world carried himself!

Huo Yuhao didn’t say anything flattering, but bowed deeply in Di Tian’s direction before he turned around and strode towards the center of both parties.

The Bear Lord frowned and said, “Di Tian, this fellow is very slippery. What if…”

“Shut up!” Di Tian’s calm voice was full of unquestionable majesty.

The Bear Lord closed his mouth and said nothing more. His eyes were full of fury and resentment, but he didn’t dare to talk back to Di Tian.

Huo Yuhao walked to the center of both sides by himself and said, “Please send your respective representatives out.”

A soul beast was delivered in front of Huo Yuhao from the soul beasts’ camp. This soul beast was in a truly terrible situation – it was a tiger, and Huo Yuhao could judge from its shape and size that it had at least ten thousand years of cultivation. However, half its body was no longer there, and if the Emerald Swans hadn’t been continually supporting his life with healing soul skills, this tiger would have died a long time ago.

The one hundred human volunteers glanced at one another. They were a lot more anxious compared to the soul beasts, and nobody wanted to be the first brave volunteer to take this risk. In the end, nobody knew whether creating Spirits would be dangerous, and they would be a lot nearer to those soul beasts if they stepped forward. If the soul beasts attacked, they would take the brunt of their assault.

At this moment, a cold voice declared, “Let me!”

Someone strode out from the group of humans, and he widened his strides, arriving in front of Huo Yuhao with a few leaps.

A complicated look flashed across Huo Yuhao’s eyes when he saw this person, because this person wasn’t anyone else but his half-brother. At the same time, this person was the one who had caused his mother’s death, and was also his enemy… Dai Huabin!

Even though Dai Huabin’s mother was the real culprit, Dai Huabin had directly caused his mother harm. Dai Huabin had kicked Huo Yuhao’s mother when her body was already frail and weak. His mother’s condition had deteriorated from there, and she couldn’t be treated anymore afterwards. Huo Yuhao hated the Duke’s wife the most, but Dai Huabin was number two for sure.

He had suppressed this hatred deep in his heart over the years. However, his hatred began to surface as he became stronger and stronger all the way until they were inside the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley.

Huo Yuhao and Dai Huabin had attempted to rescue their father in the Yin-Yang Love Querying Valley, and had eventually saved the White Tiger Douluo, Dai Hao. Afterwards, Dai Huabin didn’t hesitate to ruin his own physical appearance for Zhu Lu, and Huo Yuhao had finally developed a thread of respect for Dai Huabin. However, respect was only respect in the end, and his hatred had never been dispelled.

It wasn’t hard to imagine how Huo Yuhao was feeling as he stared at Dai Huabin.

From Huo Yuhao’s perspective, this was a great opportunity to exact revenge! As long as he was willing, he could make an accident happen when Dai Huabin was assimilating with his Spirit, and Huo Yuhao could end his life, just like that!

However, this thought only flashed once in Huo Yuhao’s head before he gave it up. He arrogantly told himself, One day, I will use my own identity to stride back into the Duke’s Mansion, and I will exact my revenge uprightly and frankly. Murdering him in the dark is shameful, and I can’t bring shame to my mother.

With these thoughts in mind, Huo Yuhao swept away the dark shadow in his heart as he nodded in Dai Huabin’s direction.

Dai Huabin looked at him with an expression that was far better than before. “You saved my father back then, and I haven’t been able to thank you. Perhaps, thanking you is a little late, but I will always remembered this favor. You will not be my enemy in the future.” He pointed at his heart as he spoke.

Huo Yuhao felt his feelings ripple when he heard those words. He nodded and said, “Prepare yourself. After this, you have to be completely sincere and willing to fuse with the soul beast for it to become your Spirit. You can’t reject it in any form at all, because the process will fail otherwise. What I am about to use is an equality contract. If the fusion is successful, the soul beast will become your soul ring. I trust that you know how beneficial Spirits are, so I won’t explain any further.”

“Alright, come.” Dai Huabin just stood there as he relaxed his body and unleashed his martial soul. Dense black and white fur began emerging from his body, and his frame became larger and burlier.

Huo Yuhao turned towards the soul beast and said, “I know you can understand me. This process will be the same for you. If you want to live, and if you want to allow your life to continue, then you have to follow through with this experiment. Do you understand?”

The tiger stared at Huo Yuhao with its remaining eye and slowly nodded its head.

Huo Yuhao took a deep breath and said, “You two have to relax at the same time. Don’t reject me in any way, and I will guide you both to complete this fusion ritual.”

Huo Yuhao released his Spirit Eyes as he spoke. More accurately put, his Spirit Eyes had transformed qualitatively into another existence after he fused with Wang Qiu’er; they were now the Eyes of the Asura!