The soul power within Dai Luoli's body was like a boiling river, madly circulating, compressing, and elevating.
The bottleneck of Level 41 soul power, which he had only recently broken through, was instantly swept away. His soul power level began to soar—Level 42, Level 43... finally stabilizing at around Level 47.
This was not merely an increase in level, but a transformation of his foundation and potential.
The violent changes exhausted Dai Luoli's mind and spirit. With a muffled groan, he sat cross-legged directly on the ground and fell into a state of deep meditation. Blood-red light swirled around him as his aura fluctuated; he was doing everything in his power to absorb and digest this sudden, heaven-defying fortune.
Having finished this, Dai Mubai exhaled slightly. He had consumed a bit of divine power, but the results were satisfying.
Only then did he slowly turn around. His gaze was like lightning, shooting directly toward the shadows in the corner of the garden. In a low voice, he said:
"You have been watching for so long; isn't it time to show yourself? Do you want me to personally 'invite' you out, or will you walk out on your own?"
Within the shadows, Huo Yuhao's spirit jolted. What must be faced eventually had to be faced.
He took a deep breath, calming his heart which had been agitated by Dai Mubai's divine power fluctuations. He cast aside his disguise and stealth, stepping out from beneath the tree shadows into the bright, open space of the garden, standing before Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing.
He raised his hand and slowly pulled back the black hood on his head, revealing his young face.
Upon seeing Huo Yuhao's true appearance, Dai Mubai's brows immediately furrowed.
It was not the blonde hair he had expected, but black.
More importantly, in his perception, the active martial soul aura on Huo Yuhao's body was not the White Tiger, but a profound spiritual attribute and a chilling Ultimate Ice attribute. There was even an extremely obscure, aggressive, and predatory stranger bloodline fluctuation.
That sense of bloodline resonance originating from the White Tiger did exist, but it was covered by other bloodline auras, making it very weak. Nevertheless, it was a genuine direct bloodline of the White Tiger lineage, not a bit inferior to Dai Luoli's.
This contradictory sensation left Dai Mubai somewhat puzzled, but the bloodline resonance would not lie.
"You, too, are a descendant of my White Tiger lineage?"
Dai Mubai asked in a heavy voice, scrutinizing Huo Yuhao with a sharp gaze.
"Why hide your head and show your tail, lurking here? Judging by your bone age, you are not many years older than Luoli, yet your cultivation has already reached the Titled Douluo realm. Truly a gifted talent! Since you are of the Dai bloodline, why act in such a manner?"
There was a hint of dissatisfaction in his tone, but more so the pleasant surprise and inquisitiveness of discovering an outstanding junior.
That the White Tiger lineage still possessed such a genius caused much of the gloom in his heart to dissipate.
However, Huo Yuhao's answer caused the look of satisfaction on Dai Mubai's face to instantly freeze.
Meeting Dai Mubai's scrutinizing gaze, Huo Yuhao remained neither humble nor arrogant, his voice calm but resolute:
"This junior, Huo Yuhao, greets the two seniors. However, my surname is Huo, not Dai. I am not a person of the Dai family."
"Huo Yuhao?"
Dai Mubai's eyes suddenly became as sharp as blades, and the aura around him condensed slightly.
"Boy, the White Tiger bloodline flows through your veins; that is an indisputable fact. Why do you speak such words? Could it be that the family has wronged you in some way, making you unwilling to even acknowledge your surname?"
He felt displeased. The White Tiger bloodline was such a glory; how could a descendant be allowed to abandon it so easily?
Just as Dai Mubai was growing slightly angry at Huo Yuhao's denial and preparing to question him further, Zhu Zhuqing, who had been observing in silence, suddenly took half a step forward. Her cold, beautiful eyes were deadlocked on Huo Yuhao. With a voice carrying an imperceptible trace of chill and alarm, she spoke:
"Mubai, don't be in a hurry. Perceive carefully... on him, there is Xiao Wu's scent."
Hearing this, Dai Mubai's mind and spirit suffered a violent shock.
Previously, his attention had been entirely captured by Huo Yuhao's bloodline and talent, causing him to overlook everything else. Now, reminded by Zhu Zhuqing, he immediately focused his mind to investigate closely.
And indeed.
Within Huo Yuhao's complex aura field, aside from the spiritual, ice, and eerie bloodlines as well as the faint White Tiger scent, there was also entwined an extremely familiar fluctuation—one carrying the unique agility and life force of the Soft Bone Rabbit. It was precisely Xiao Wu's scent.
Furthermore, this scent was not a brief contamination; it was deep within his soul power, spiritual power, and even his life field. It presented a state of long-term coexistence and intimate fusion. The concentration was so high and the relationship so deep that it could never be explained by ordinary contact.
Dai Mubai's brows locked tightly together, his eyes filled with immense confusion and a hint of an ominous premonition.
Xiao Wu was Tang San's wife and one of their most important companions.
Why would her scent appear so profoundly on this strange youth who called himself "Huo Yuhao," who possessed the White Tiger bloodline but refused to acknowledge it? What on earth was going on?
Because of Zhu Zhuqing's words, the atmosphere in the garden instantly became even more solemn and bewildering.
"Xiao Wu's scent?"
Huo Yuhao's heart tightened, skipping a beat before starting to thud wildly against his chest.
Zhu Zhuqing's cold voice forced him to face a certain truth he had been trying to avoid.
How could he not have heard of Xiao Wu? She was one of the legendary original Shrek Seven Devils from ten thousand years ago. She was the heroine who followed the Sea God Tang San through life and death in countless heart-wrenching love legends of later generations, the core of the immortal phrase: "Revive, my lover."
And Zhu Zhuqing said that he had a dense concentration of Xiao Wu's scent on him?
In a flash, a figure uncontrollably surfaced in Huo Yuhao's mind—Xiao Mei.
That mysterious woman who was heavily injured and lying in the mountain forests near the Holy Ghost Church, whom he had accidentally rescued.
She had lost all her memories. She possessed incredible soft skills and powerful divine power. Her fighting style was agile and lethal, carrying a non-human wildness and elegance.
She always stayed quietly by his side, her eyes sometimes hollow, sometimes showing reliance on him.
Later, she became his wife and gave birth to his flesh-and-blood child...
It wasn't that he had never suspected it.
The essence of power Xiao Mei displayed, that unique combat rhythm, the characteristics occasionally revealed that were highly compatible with a Soft Bone Rabbit soul master... all were faintly pointing toward an unbelievable answer.
But he had subconsciously chosen to ignore it. Or rather, it was a certain selfish fear and attachment deep within his heart that made him unwilling to look deeper.
He craved this unexpectedly obtained warmth, craved Xiao Mei's unreserved trust and reliance on him, and craved that small world they had built together, which temporarily shut out the blood and wind of the outside world.
However, at this moment, the identification from one of Xiao Wu's closest companions from the Divine Realm was like a thunderclap, tearing through the mist of his self-deception and laying that bloody possibility bare before him.
If Xiao Mei really was Xiao Wu...
The thought made Huo Yuhao feel a wave of dizzying vertigo, followed by a bone-chilling cold and a surging sense of crisis.
He and the Sea God Tang San already had a grudge—his mother Huo Yun'er's soul was imprisoned in the Divine Realm by Tang San. This was the root of his struggle.
His original plan was to accumulate strength, charge into the Divine Realm, and take his mother back.
Toward Tang San, he was full of hostility, but there was also a trace of complex emotion—if not for Tang San, his mother might not have even had a soul left and would have dissipated completely.
He had even thought that perhaps there would be an opportunity to trade or compromise to get his mother's soul back.
But now, if Xiao Mei was Xiao Wu... all of that would vanish into thin air and escalate into a blood feud that would only end in death.
He, Huo Yuhao, a mortal of the lower realm, had taken the Sea God Tang San's wife, made her his woman, and even had her bear his child... for any man, this was a humiliation deep enough to burn away all reason.
Much less for Tang San, a God King who ruled over a region with supreme majesty?
Once the truth came to light, Huo Yuhao had no doubt that the legendary Sea God Tang San—who was decisive in his methods and cold-blooded toward his enemies—would stop at nothing to use the most thunderous and cruelest methods to thoroughly crush him, everything he cherished, and even his mother's soul into cosmic dust.
Absolutely, I must not be exposed.
This thought appeared in Huo Yuhao's mind.
Xiao Wu must never recover her memories. Otherwise, he could not imagine how that Soft Bone Douluo—with her memories restored and knowing everything—would react to the cruel reality that she had lost her body to another man and even birthed offspring.
Would it be a breakdown? Hatred? Or would she choose self-destruction because of her deep affection for Tang San, and hate Huo Yuhao along with it?
How deep the bond behind that phrase "Revive, my lover" was—he didn't dare to gamble.
Similarly, he must never let Xiao Wu meet Dai Mubai and Zhu Zhuqing.
These two were Xiao Wu's closest companions. Their scents, their very existence, could be the strongest catalysts to awaken Xiao Wu's memories.
Although the memory seal Huo Yuhao had placed using the authority of the Herrscher of Sentience was sturdy, he had no confidence in whether it could completely hold up against this kind of familiarity and impact stemming from the depths of the soul.
In an instant, a thousand thoughts flew through Huo Yuhao's mind, but on his face, through his control over his emotions, there only surfaced a fitting micro-expression of mixed shock and bewilderment.
"Senior Xiao Wu?"
He timely showed a look of disbelief, his voice carrying a slight tremor born of "shock."
"Senior must be joking. The Soft Bone Douluo and you all are legendary figures from ten thousand years ago who ascended to the Divine Realm long ago. What virtue or ability does this junior have to have the luck to meet her? Much less be tainted by her scent. Did you perhaps see wrongly?"
He tried to cover it up, his tone as natural as possible, even carrying a bit of reverence and distance toward a legendary figure.
However, he was facing the Goddess of Speed, Zhu Zhuqing.
In the long years in the Divine Realm, Zhu Zhuqing might have been lazy and disliked meddling in others' business, but her sharpness and insight had long been tempered to the extreme through countless battles and meditations.
Huo Yuhao's instantaneous change in gaze, those extremely minute and almost uncapturable emotional fluctuations, and that nearly non-existent hesitation when he answered did not escape her perception.
"You are lying."
Zhu Zhuqing's voice suddenly dropped to freezing point. She took a step forward, her invisible aura instantly locking onto Huo Yuhao. The temperature of the surrounding air seemed to drop several degrees.
In her beautiful eyes, there was no longer any laziness, only a sharp, cold light.
"You have not only seen Xiao Wu, but you have also had long-term, extremely close contact with her. The scent on you is deep within your soul power foundation; this can never be explained by a brief encounter or indirect contact."
Her tone was absolutely certain and beyond doubt.
The perception of a deity, especially the identification of a dear friend's scent, could never be wrong.
Dai Mubai's face also darkened completely.
The trace of tolerance and patience he originally had due to discovering an outstanding junior quickly receded in the face of Xiao Wu's whereabouts and Huo Yuhao's obvious concealment.
A terrifying pressure began to permeate around him, heavy as a mountain and blazing as fire. It was the majesty belonging to the God of War, far beyond what he had used to intimidate Dai Luoli earlier.
"Boy."
Dai Mubai's voice grew low, carrying a pressure like an impending mountain storm. His golden pupils stared intently at Huo Yuhao, as if trying to see through his soul.
"For the sake of our common bloodline, and acknowledging your rare talent, I did not want to resort to violence with you. But the matter of Xiao Wu is of great importance and allows for no concealment or joking."
He paused, the warning in his tone reaching its absolute peak:
"Be honest and explain. Where is Xiao Wu? What is her current situation? What exactly is your relationship with her? If there is another word of falsehood, or if you try to stall..."
Dai Mubai did not finish, but on one of his slowly raised hands, golden divine power flames faintly flickered. The surrounding space began to warp slightly, letting out a groan as it buckled under the weight.
That destructive power clearly showed that he was not making empty threats.
For a Second-Class Deity, especially a God of War known for combat prowess, his wrath was not something a mortal Titled Douluo could easily endure.
"Otherwise, the consequences... you cannot afford."
Dai Mubai's final words struck Huo Yuhao's heart like a heavy hammer.
The atmosphere in the garden froze to the extreme at this moment.
Facing Dai Mubai's unmasked divine pressure and Zhu Zhuqing's questioning, Huo Yuhao knew that any explanation or maneuvering had lost its meaning at this point.
The perception and intuition of deities far surpassed those of mortals. They were already certain that he had a deep connection with Xiao Wu and would never let him go easily.
He sighed silently in his heart, with both helplessness and heaviness.
Originally, he just wanted to secretly take a look at this younger brother who had once given him a trace of warmth, to see how he was doing, and perhaps... in a corner known to no one, give a small bit of compensation or protection.
He never expected to run into these two "ancestors" who had descended from the Divine Realm and had an intimate relationship with Xiao Wu.
"It seems."
Huo Yuhao raised his head. All the panic, bewilderment, and defensiveness on his face receded like a tide, leaving only an almost indifferent calm. He spoke softly.
"This cannot be settled peacefully."
These words were spoken in a flat tone, yet they carried a composure and detachment entirely different from before, as if he had instantly become a different person.
Hearing this, Dai Mubai was first taken aback, then laughed out of sheer anger.
A mortal Titled Douluo from the lower realm—no matter how high his talent—facing two genuine Second-Class Deities, one of whom was a God of War renowned for his combat power, actually said the words "cannot be settled peacefully"?
This tone was truly arrogant beyond belief.
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