Ten days later.
The Great Star Dou Forest, Inner Circle, Forbidden Land.
A young man was sitting cross-legged on the ground, his back straight, his breathing steady, and his eyes tightly closed as he focused entirely on cultivation.
In this forbidden area of the Inner Circle, there was only one person who could sit so calmly and safely.
That person was Yuhao.
After a while.
Yuhao slowly opened his eyes.
A faint light-blue halo flickered within his pupils, and powerful spiritual fluctuations spread outward with him as the center.
In that instant, it was as if the flow of time within a radius of a hundred meters had slowed down. Countless pieces of information poured into Yuhao's mind—the scent of grass and trees, the subtle vibrations of flowers, the flow of air currents, the movements of insects hidden underground, and even the faint soul power fluctuations of distant soul beasts.
This was the first soul skill granted to him by Tianmeng Ice Silkworm—Mental Detection.
After being tempered by the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, combined with the absorption of the seven-thousand-year Bijing Grass and the fusion of the Golden Dragon Wing attached soul bone, Yuhao's physique had undergone a qualitative leap.
At present, his physical strength alone had already reached the level of a rank thirty-five Soul Master.
With such a body as support, he was naturally able to withstand a greater portion of Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's original power.
As a result, the effective year of Yuhao's first soul ring had already increased to three thousand years.
Furthermore, for the past ten days, Yuhao had been consuming Star Water Dew every day—a rare spiritual liquid that could steadily enhance mental power.
Under such stacking benefits, Yuhao's current strength had long surpassed that of his original self in the same stage of cultivation. Even the four soul skills attached to his first soul ring had already undergone earth-shaking transformations.
However, what Yuhao was testing now was not those four soul skills.
Instead, he was testing a newly acquired ability.
"Squeak!"
A black mouse nearly the size of a calf suddenly appeared within Yuhao's field of vision.
This was a soul beast—the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat.
Judging by the two ghost-face-like patterns on its back, it was clear that this Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat had already reached the cultivation level of two thousand years.
The reason such a soul beast could appear here was, of course, not because it wandered in on its own.
It had been specially captured by Di Tian.
It was hard to imagine that the dignified Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King, a soul beast that had lived for eighty-nine thousand years, would personally go out to catch a mouse.
But as long as it was Yuhao's request, Di Tian would carry it out without the slightest hesitation, no matter how embarrassing it might seem.
Yuhao had specifically asked Di Tian to capture a thousand-year soul beast in order to test his newly awakened Soul Demonic Flame.
During these ten days, aside from Star Water Dew, Yuhao had not swallowed any other heavenly materials or earthly treasures. However, with Di Tian's assistance, he had successfully refined the pupils of the Fire-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast.
The Fire-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast was an extremely rare soul beast possessing dual attributes—fire and spirit.
Its pair of golden pupils allowed it to manipulate flames while simultaneously launching spiritual attacks.
According to Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's deduction, refining those pupils should not only enhance Yuhao's eyesight but might also grant him the ability to control flames.
Unexpectedly, after the refinement process was completed, although Yuhao's eyesight improved tremendously, he did not awaken the ability to manipulate flames directly.
At first, even Yuhao believed that Tianmeng Bingcan's deduction had gone wrong.
Until one accidental discovery changed everything.
Yuhao realized that although he could not control fire itself, the pupils of the Fire-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast had instead endowed his spiritual power with the attribute of fire.
To put it simply, if Yuhao used a mental attack such as Soul Impact in the past, the opponent would feel as if their head had been struck heavily, possibly fainting on the spot.
But now, his mental attacks could directly ignite the opponent's spiritual power, causing it to burn violently like a raging flame.
This kind of pain was on an entirely different level from ordinary fire.
After all, a flame burning on one's arm could not be compared to a flame igniting directly within the brain.
Moreover, spiritual attacks were far more difficult to defend against than ordinary elemental attacks. After the Spiritual Eye martial soul awakened this new ability, Yuhao's mental attack methods had been comprehensively enhanced.
Yuhao named this terrifying ability—
Heart Soul Demonic Flame.
At this moment, the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat was looking around restlessly, its eyes filled with panic and fear.
Even a relatively low-level soul beast like it, which usually lived on the outskirts of the Star Dou Forest, knew very well where it was now.
It was so frightened that it did not even notice the human boy sitting directly in front of it.
"Hey, look at me."
Yuhao spoke calmly, deliberately drawing its attention.
The moment the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat raised its head, its entire field of vision was filled with a pair of deep, mysterious blue eyes.
Startled—
Yuhao instantly launched a mental attack.
A Soul Impact with the power of a three-thousand-year soul ring shattered the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat's weak mental defenses almost instantly.
"Squeak!"
The Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat let out a shrill scream, its eyes bulging as if its head had been smashed by a heavy hammer.
Before it could even recover, the Heart Soul Demonic Flame was activated.
Boom!
Invisible, formless flames ignited directly within the spiritual sea of the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat, bringing with them an indescribable and frenzied pain.
"Squeak—!"
The Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat screamed miserably, rolling wildly on the ground. The agony was so intense that it completely forgot its surroundings.
After about ten breaths of time, the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat finally stopped moving.
This was not because the Heart Soul Demonic Flame had lost its effect.
Rather, the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat had fainted from unbearable pain.
Yuhao rubbed his brows slightly.
Launching a full-power mental attack against a two-thousand-year soul beast still consumed a considerable amount of energy, but it was within an acceptable range.
He then walked over to the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat. Seeing blood seeping from its seven orifices, Yuhao muttered to himself:
"The Soul Impact combined with the Heart Soul Demonic Flame is already powerful enough to kill a two-thousand-year soul beast. This one was just too frightened and completely unprepared."
The Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat was not dead.
However, its spiritual sea had suffered severe damage. Even if it woke up, without proper treatment, it would likely become mentally impaired.
This alone was enough to prove just how terrifying the spiritual attack augmented by the Soul Demonic Flame truly was.
Still, Yuhao was not satisfied.
He wanted to test the Heart Soul Demonic Flame in real combat conditions.
"Don't look so modest."
Tianmeng Ice Silkworm's voice rang out at just the right moment.
"To be honest, even I didn't expect that you'd awaken such a terrifying ability after refining the pupils of the Fire-Avoiding Golden-Eyed Beast."
"If I had possessed this power back then, hmph, even if all the soul beasts of the Star Dou Forest charged together, I would have had nothing to fear."
Yuhao smiled faintly.
"But if that were the case, Brother Tianmeng, you probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet me."
"…That's true."
Just as one person and one silkworm were conversing, a black shadow suddenly appeared behind Yuhao.
"Lord."
It was Di Tian.
In his hands, he held two soul beasts, each around two thousand years old.
After glancing at the two trembling soul beasts, Yuhao suddenly lost the desire to continue testing and waved his hand.
"No need. If the opponent has already lost the will to fight, no matter how strong you are, you won't be able to truly display your power."
"Yes, my lord."
Di Tian showed no dissatisfaction whatsoever, even though his effort had gone to waste.
"By the way."
Yuhao pointed at the unconscious Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat.
"Take this little guy to Brigitte and have her treat him."
"The Lord is merciful."
Di Tian immediately bowed in praise.
Although in his heart, the life of a Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat was insignificant—after all, among soul beasts, the strong preyed on the weak—it was not his place to question Yuhao's decision.
When Di Tian picked up the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat, his expression changed slightly.
"Hiss… its spiritual power is still burning."
He couldn't help but sigh.
"You truly live up to being the Lord."
As an eighty-nine-thousand-year-old Soul Beast King, Di Tian could naturally sense the damage suffered by the Bloodthirsty Ghost Rat.
Even he was secretly shocked by the terrifying power of the Heart Soul Demonic Flame.