Chapter 19: Huo Qiqiang
Douluo Continent, Extreme North, Eternal Forbidden Land – The Frozen Cavern.
The thick ice slowly melted. Within, a man sealed for tens of thousands of years opened his eyes. He stretched, inhaling the frigid air deeply, and a faint, nostalgic smile appeared on his face.
"At last… I've returned to the Douluo Continent. Watching from the Divine Realm is nothing compared to feeling this world with my own hands." His voice was calm but filled with warmth.
"Yuhao, you've come back," said the Snow Empress, who had been guarding the Eternal Cavern. Her tone carried a trace of emotion—relief, even.
Huo Yuhao nodded. "This incarnation is named Huo Qiqiang. It will be my mortal identity while I walk the continent."
"How goes the gathering of resources, Snow Empress?" he asked.
"Everything has been stored within the Eternal Forbidden Land, awaiting your command," she replied.
Huo Yuhao inspected the sealed storerooms one by one. Inside were vast treasures—rare herbs for refining the Mystic Water Pill and Soul Rising Pill, whale gelatin for strengthening the body, and materials for crafting soul devices. The supply was vast enough to found multiple sects rivaling the Clear Sky Clan itself.
For a man from ten thousand years in the future, one who understood every century of the continent's development and the technologies of the Divine Realm, even simple techniques from Huo Yuhao's knowledge could revolutionize this age overnight. The invention of soul tools alone would be enough to shatter Tang San's dreams of reestablishing the Tang Sect's "glory."
But Huo Yuhao refrained from rewriting history too soon. He wanted Tang San to return to a Douluo untouched by change—to find the same world, the same warmth, the same home—and then, when the moment came, to watch everything collapse.
While Huo Qiqiang's attention lingered on his treasure hoards, a booming voice thundered from outside the cavern. "Who dares trespass within the Eternal Forbidden Land?!"
A violent wave of soul power followed the roar. Before the figure reached them, the Snow Empress intercepted the attack with a single graceful motion, extending her slender hand.
"Impudent fool—stand down!" she commanded coldly, forcing the intruder backward with an explosion of divine frost.
Huo Qiqiang looked up, recognizing the aggressor—a towering man with bronzed skin, hair like steel spikes, and a massive hammer pulsing with eight black and one red spirit rings.
It was Tang Chen, now the Grand Worship of the Eternal God, charged with guarding the Forbidden Land.
He blinked, startled, clearly not expecting the Snow Empress's presence.
"Do you realize whom you just attacked?" she snapped.
"I hadn't revealed any identifying aura," Huo Yuhao said lightly, smiling at Tang Chen. "It's understandable he mistook me for an intruder. If anything, it proves his loyalty to my sanctum. Let him be."
The Snow Empress nodded reluctantly. "You heard him—return to the tower's core and continue your patrol."
"Yes." Tang Chen bowed to her respectfully, though his eyes flickered curiously toward Huo Qiqiang before retreating.
"Now," Huo Yuhao mused, "I intend to walk among the people of this age, openly." With a snap of his fingers, his spirit power erupted, rising to the absolute pinnacle beneath godhood. Nine crimson god‑bestowed rings flared around him, flooding the cavern with light. "What do you think? Too ostentatious?"
"Would you like the truth, my lord?" asked the Snow Empress.
"Always," came his amused reply.
"Yes. Extremely ostentatious," she said bluntly.
He laughed. "Fair enough." Another snap echoed, and the crushing divine pressure vanished. His power sank to that of a rank‑97 Super Douluo, his rings shifting into the pattern of yellow‑purple‑purple‑black‑black‑black‑red‑red‑red.
"That's better," he said contentedly. "Continue overseeing the gathering operations. I'll leave the Forbidden Land's security in your care."
The Snow Empress bowed. "As you command."
…
After bidding her farewell, Huo Yuhao left the Frozen North and began his journey across the Douluo Continent of this era. The difference between this time and his future could not have been more striking.
By comparison, this age was primitive but civilized. Ten thousand years later, though the continent would grow "advanced," it would also become savagely corrupt.
Now was still an age of simplicity, before the soul device revolution. It lagged behind technologically, yet its order was clear, its moral foundation intact. A millennium later, chaos would reign.
The Spirit Hall of this era might be reviled as a villain in future tales, but in truth, its existence brought peace and protection to the common folk. Only the nobles viewed it as an enemy. The villains of the later ages—the Holy Spirit Cult—were a far darker breed: true evil soul masters who massacred towns, devouring souls and life to fuel their power.
It wasn't that this era lacked evil spirit masters, but under the Angels' rule, they had no place to thrive. The Line of Seraphim suppressed them completely, forcing them to hide in the shadows—or flee to the City of Slaughter in search of forbidden freedom.
But when Tang San later "purged" that city in the name of justice, did he truly destroy evil? One place can be burned to ashes, but can the darkness of the human heart ever be erased?
No—never.
After the fall of Spirit Hall, none of the new powers—Clear Sky, Shrek, Tang Sect—ever replaced it as a deterrent against evil.
In the supposed golden age of the Legend of the Tang Sect, the bright portrayals of noble heirs at academies saving the world were illusions. Beneath the surface lay the truth Huo Yuhao alone had witnessed: countless villages on the outskirts consumed in blood, entire hamlets erased by evil soul masters. The novels had never captured that nightmare.
Even the ritual of Martial Soul Awakening had changed.
In this first era, before the fall, Spirit Hall performed awakenings freely—out of public service, not domain control. Participation was voluntary; even those refusing to join the Hall received stipends and food. True equality—unthinkable in the millennia to come.
In contrast, by the time of the second era, awakening belonged to the aristocrats and sects. They charged fees, confined rituals to their estates, and used the data to select which talented souls to groom—and which to destroy. Loyalty brought advancement; defiance brought ruin.
The system of Recommendation Letters was the tool of oppression. Only those favored by nobles could enter advanced academies such as Shrek. These students became bound, body and soul, to their patrons—just as Huo Yuhao himself, in the future, had been bound to the Tang Sect by such chains.
He exhaled softly. "The more things advance," he murmured, "the closer we crawl back to barbarism."
(END CHAPTER)
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