5 First Glimpse Through The Gate

“Because of its innate strength and toxicity, the Mandala Snake doesn’t have many natural predators. Before they reach a thousand years of age, their bodies will have a dark green colour, and they’ll grow a metre longer for every hundred years they live. By the time they’re approaching the thousand-year level, their bodies can be as long as ten metres in length. Once they break through, the energy inside of their bodies will condense, and they’ll continuously molt. Not only will the colour of their bodies change from dark green to pink, their bodies will also simultaneously shrink back down to one metre. Afterwards, they’ll grow another metre every hundred years. After reaching two thousand years of age, they’ll once again shrink back down to one metre. However, the pink colour of their skin will become deeper. If we look at the colour and length of this Mandala Snake, we can see that it should’ve been over one thousand three hundred years old. If it weren’t for your help, I’m afraid that I’d’ve had to suffer a bit to kill it.”

Naturally, Bei Bei didn’t say that it actually wouldn’t have been too hard for him and Tang Ya to team up and kill the Mandala Snake—if Huo Yuhao hadn’t been there.

After listening to Bei Bei’s explanation, Huo Yuhao’s knowledge grew. “This Mandala Snake is actually that mysterious. Then, would it perhaps shed again, once it’s reached ten thousand years in age?”

Bei Bei nodded and replied, “A ten thousand year Mandala Snake will turn yellow. That would be a truly terrifying existence. Even Soul King experts won’t dare to rashly provoke a ten thousand year Mandala Snake if they encounter one. You’d need a Soul Emperor, at the very least, to be able to beat it easily.

“Junior brother, since Xiao Ya is currently absorbing her soul ring, tell me about your soul skill. What’s the name of the soul skill that you just used, and how long can you maintain it for? This is very important information.”

Huo Yuhao had previously heard the Skydream Iceworm’s reminder, and knew that he couldn’t let him be revealed. After pondering about it for a little while, he said, “Eldest senior brother, the skill that I just used is called ‘Spiritual Detection Sharing’. You should have been able to sense its range: it can only currently be of help within a roughly thirty metre radius. When my soulforce increases, its radius should also increase. I don’t know how long I can maintain it, but I feel that its soulforce consumption doesn’t seem to be too large.”

“No way.” Bei Bei looked at him, flabbergasted. “The soulforce consumption of a skill that has such an enormous effect like yours ‘doesn’t seem to be too large’? Your Spirit Eyes seem to be too strong. Furthermore, your soul ring was only obtained from a ten year Wind Baboon! This is almost too impossible to believe. The soul masters of the Douluo Continent have researched martial souls for over ten thousand years, but there’s never been a situation like yours recorded within any of the books I’ve read. This is truly hard to imagine.”

Huo Yuhao lowered his head and said, “I don’t know what’s going on either.”

After Bei Bei pondered the matter himself for a while, he revealed a smile and said, “Junior brother, you don’t need to think too deeply about it; a strong soul skill is always a good thing. With the support of this soul skill, I’m afraid that any soul master will be willing to work with you in the future. However, junior brother, you’re a spiritual-type soul master. In the future, do you plan to walk the path of an auxiliary system soul master, or a control system soul master?”

Huo Yuhao was stunned for a moment. “I don’t know either.”

Bei Bei said, “Choosing the path your cultivation will take is very important. This directly relates to the the soul skills that you’ll choose for your future soul rings, as well as the direction of your cultivation. Although you, a spiritual-type soul master, have only just obtained your first soul ring, you’ve already revealed your martial soul’s strong potential. If you become a simple auxiliary system soul master, I feel that it would be a bit of a waste. Although I don’t know what kind of spiritual soul skills you’ll manage obtain in the future, I’m inclined towards making you become a control system soul master. You’ll have to put in a lot of time and energy into your spiritual control, but if everything goes smoothly, you might become the core of your team in the future.”

“A team? Do soul masters have to join a team?” Huo Yuhao asked curiously. Since his youth, he’d always relied on himself for cultivation, and had had to experience everything for himself. No one but his mother had ever taught him anything. Now that he’d joined the Tang Sect, in his opinion, his eldest senior brother had become more important than a teacher. It had only been a short period of time, but Bei Bei had taught him many things.

Bei Bei patiently explained, “Our profession as soul masters has developed quite a bit after so many years, but the idea of forming a team was entirely created by the almighty founder of our Tang Sect, ten thousand years ago. At that time, he and his companions were called ‘Shrek’s Seven Monsters’. The seven of them all had formidable abilities, and could release an even stronger fighting strength when they worked together. From then on, cooperation between soul masters became the only path for their development. After all, the strength of an individual is miniscule. For example, your cooperation with me just now. It allowed me to be much more relaxed during the battle. Xiao Ya and I also have some combination tactics. Conversely, the number of soul masters within a team normally shouldn’t surpass ten. Out of that team, there would be a battle-type soul master who’s responsible for defense, an assault system soul master who’s responsible for attacks, and a control system soul master who both commands and controls the battlefield. There are also auxiliary system tool-type soul masters, auxiliary system food-type soul masters, agility system soul masters, along with many other types of soul masters. They all have different uses in a team.”

Huo Yuhao seemed to have suddenly understood something as he said, “Then, is eldest senior brother an assault system soul master?”

Bei Bei smiled as he nodded and said, “My martial soul is the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon; It’s considered a rather strong martial soul amongst beast souls. It specialises in attacks. On the other hand, Xiao Ya’s martial soul is Bluesilver Grass, which will allow her to become a control system soul master like the almighty ancestor of the Tang Sect from the legends. However, her controlling abilities mostly appear within the Bluesilver Grass. If you can also become a control system soul master, we can rely on the combination of your spiritual controlling abilities and Xiao Ya’s Bluesilver Grass. With two control system soul masters, we won’t even need an auxiliary system tool-type soul master to be able to form a strong team.”

Huo Yuhao nodded seriously, “Eldest senior brother, I’ll listen to your advice. Then, I’ll work hard to become a control system soul master. Only, my natural talent isn’t too good… My cultivation speed is very slow…” After speaking to this point, he couldn’t help but lower his head. When he compared himself, who was already eleven but only had one ring, to Bei Bei or Tang Ya, his talent was quite disappointing.

Bei Bei rubbed Huo Yuhao’s head and smiled. “Talent is only one part of success. In the past, there weren’t always people who could guide you on your cultivation path. Add on to that the fact that you didn’t have a suitable cultivation technique, and it’s already very commendable that you have been able to reach your current situation with hard work alone. Furthermore, your martial soul in and of itself is pretty good, which means that your potential in the future will be very great. Thus, you don’t have to be so remorseful. Since you have the time right now, it’d be better for you to cultivate more. As long as you’re able to break through to the thirtieth rank before the age of twenty, you’ll have hopes of becoming a strong soul master. No matter whether it’s me or Xiao Ya, we’ll both do our best to help you.”

“Thank you, eldest senior brother.” Only a touched expression remained on Huo Yuhao’s face.

Bei Bei gently pat his shoulder. “Meeting you might also be Xiao Ya and I’s good fortune, since we were able to resolve the issue of her advancement in rank so quickly. After she finishes absorbing her soul ring, we can return to the academy. This place isn’t particularly suitable for cultivation. You can recall the Mysterious Heaven Technique that I told you about earlier right now, and can start cultivating it once we’ve reached a safe area.”

“Yes.” Huo Yuhao replied respectfully. In his heart, Bei Bei had already become slightly more of a teacher to him than Tang Ya.

“Oh, right, junior brother. Didn’t you say that you were unclear about how long you could maintain your Spiritual Detection Sharing for? Why don’t we experiment to see? This will relate to our future cooperation during battles, as well as let you understand your own ability, and familiarize you with your new skill.”

Under Bei Bei’s suggestion, Huo Yuhao released his Spiritual Detection Sharing once again. A faint golden light flickered out from his eyes, and a three-dimensional image that was thirty-metres in radius appeared inside of his and Bei Bei’s minds.

Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing was flawless, and was able to clearly differentiate any subtle changes within that thirty-metre radius.

The more Bei Bei experienced it, the more astonished he became. This Spiritual Detection Sharing wasn’t just an auxiliary detection skill, but was like another brain for him to make decisions with. Every minute detail within a radius of thirty metres had essentially been revealed, and there were absolutely no dead angles. While he was under this skill’s effect, it was as if he had countless eyes that were observing the situation from various angles with the highest level of carefulness!

The thing that made him even more astonished was that Huo Yuhao seemed to be extremely relaxed while he had this soul skill activated; he hadn’t even shown any traces of exhaustion. While they shared the effects of his Spiritual Detection Sharing, they could even feel some of the changes occurring inside of Tang Ya’s body as she merged with her soul ring.

Tang Ya’s figure seemed to have become even more slender, yet her aura was becoming richer and more powerful at an astonishing speed. There was also a luster that had appeared on her skin, while her qi and blood had become more exuberant.

In the blink of an eye, fifteen minutes had passed, yet Huo Yuhao’s face had only turned slightly pale.

Bei Bei inwardly gasped with praise. A spiritual skill that lasted so long—it was already enough to be used in battle. Furthermore, not only could Little Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection Sharing be used on the battlefield, it also had many other uses. For example, while they were on a dangerous adventure or hunting soul beasts, this was a rarely seen and extremely practical ability!

Finally, after Huo Yuhao had maintained his skill for almost an hour, he was unable to persevere any longer. His body flashed as he ended his Spiritual Detection Sharing. He felt stabs of pain in his mind, and the strong sense of dizziness nearly caused him to fall down. He hurriedly sat down in a cross-legged position, and immediately started meditating to recover his lost soulforce and spiritual power.

This wasn’t the first time that Huo Yuhao had experienced bitter pain due to an overdraft of his spiritual power. The feeling of his mind becoming blank was definitely not a comfortable feeling.

Bei Bei had been quietly observing him the entire time. When he saw that Huo Yuhao didn’t collapse after his exhaustion of power, but rather tiredly sat down in a cross-legged position to meditate instead, a smile couldn’t help but appear on his face. He silently nodded his head. Compared to seeing someone’s talent, Bei Bei preferred to look at someone’s temperament. In his mind, this junior brother of his had undoubtedly passed this test.

The time needed for someone to absorb a thousand year soul ring was considerably long, so Bei Bei walked around their surroundings in order to spread out some medicine that could chase away soul beasts. Their luck was actually quite good; only a few ten-year and hundred-year soul beasts appeared as Tang Ya cultivated, but they were all chased away by Bei Bei. Furthermore, they didn’t encounter any other existences at the level of a thousand year soul beast, so the process was more frightening than truly dangerous.

“Phew…” After exhaling deeply, Tang Ya slowly opened her eyes, causing a radiant light to appear inside of her bright pupils. The energies in her body had all risen by an extremely large amount.

Along the path of a soul master’s cultivation, the thirtieth rank was an important threshold. Being able to cross this threshold allowed one to step into the Soul Elder realm. Reaching the Soul Elder realm signified that one was a true expert that had an immeasurable future. Many Soul Masters who had rather poor talent were unable to break through the bottleneck of the thirtieth rank, even after using up all of their life’s energy.

“I succeeded.” Tang Ya jumped up excitedly. Following the stimulation of her soulforce, two yellow soul rings and one purple soul ring rapidly rose up from her feet. The most eye-catching sight was naturally the thousand-year soul ring. The bright purple colour released an aura filled with grandeur; Tang Ya’s strength had already entered a completely different level from this moment on.

Bei Bei smiled as he said, “Xiao Ya, congratulations.”

Tang Ya let out a cheerful cry as she suddenly pounced on Bei Bei, giving him a big hug. “Bei Bei, thank you.”

Bei Bei hugged her delicate body, and a slightly doting look appeared within the smile on his face. “Since I’ve promised to help you achieve your dreams, I’ll naturally do just that.”

As Tang Ya rested in Bei Bei’s embrace, she inadvertently saw a pair of large, astonished eyes looking at her, causing her to suddenly remember that there was another person present. She instantly broke free from Bei Bei’s embrace, and looked at Huo Yuhao, whose Spirit Eyes were flickering, with a slightly embarrassed look as she said, “What’re you looking at? Haven’t you seen love between a teacher and a student before?”

Huo Yuhao answered with an extremely honest tone, “I’ve never seen it before!” When he saw Bei Bei and Tang Ya hugging each other, a indescribable sense of envy suddenly appeared in his heart. However, he wasn’t jealous of them at all. His eldest senior brother and his teacher Xiao Ya were truly well matched with each other.

Bei Bei coughed and said, “Alright, since you’ve already finished absorbing your soul ring, we should quickly leave this place. During the past few years, the number of accidents that have occurred to soul masters entering the Great Star Dou Forest have increased. Even the areas around the forest have existences such as thousand-year soul beasts, so it would be better for us to leave sooner rather than later.

Tang Ya nodded her head and said, “Let’s go.”

At this moment, the sky had already dimmed. However, spending the night in the Great Star Dou Forest clearly wasn’t a good plan, so the three of them ignored their exhaustion as they rapidly ran towards the outside of the forest. Huo Yuhao, who’d recovered his spiritual power, even activated his Spiritual Detection Sharing again, creating another level of safety for their journey towards the exit of the Great Star Dou Forest, so much so that they even managed to evade a thousand-year soul beast that wouldn’t take the initiative to attack.

After rapidly hurrying along for two hours, they managed to finally return to the brook where they’d eaten the roasted fish. This was already several tens of miles from the Great Star Dou Forest, which meant that they were, fundamentally, far away from any danger.

Huo Yuhao was naturally dragged over and made a chef one again, under Tang Ya’s fierce request for him to roast more fish. However, he didn’t need to catch the fish this time around.

Bei Bei simply stretched his right hand into the water, then violet-blue lightning flashed in the water, causing ten unconscious mackerels to rise to the surface belly-up. After that, he used the Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon technique to quickly get them to the brookside, allowing them to nearly instantly be able to eat.

Tang Ya also took out some food that was stored within her storage soul tool. The three people sat together and ate a sumptuous dinner.

Tang Ya was in extremely high spirits, which made her eat even more. After finishing her meal, she directly slept on the large tree beside the bonfire. On the other hand, the person who’d actually obtained the most benefits, Huo Yuhao, hadn’t gone to sleep yet. He resisted the doubled exhaustion caused by his tired body and mind, and asked for Bei Bei to give him some pointers so that he could begin to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Technique for the first time.

Bei Bei very much admired Huo Yuhao’s diligence. After taking off his outerwear to cover Tang Ya with, he explained some of the main aspects of the Mysterious Heaven Technique’s cultivation to Huo Yuhao. In addition to that, he helped Huo Yuhao start meditating.

The paths that the Mysterious Heaven Technique passed through during cultivation were much more complicated than Huo Yuhao’s original meditation technique. The number of passageways used by the technique were at least ten times greater than that of his original technique, so much so that Huo Yuhao’s soulforce had never even passed through many of the channels.

For the sake of ensuring Huo Yuhao’s safety while cultivating, Bei Bei sat behind him in a cross-legged position. Bei Bei’s hands were pressed against the centre of Huo Yuhao’s back, allowing his soulforce to seep into Huo Yuhao’s body as he guided Huo Yuhao’s soulforce along the first circulation of the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

By the time that Huo Yuhao had just started to guide his soulforce around his body, Bei Bei’s expression had turned serious. Huo Yuhao’s comprehension skills were very high, and he was also very smart. However, his body’s talents were indeed somewhat lacking. After Bei Bei’s soulforce had entered Huo Yuhao’s body, he discovered that his meridians were extremely narrow, and that there were some very delicate meridians in his body that wouldn’t be able to handle any strong force flowing through.

At this moment, Bei Bei realised that the fact that Huo Yuhao had been able to cultivate to his current rank, and that he had been able possess his first soul ring, had been somewhat difficult for him. After obtaining his first soul ring, his body would’ve improved to a certain extent, but his passageways were still this frail. It could be seen just how poor his talent was, so much so that he truly wasn’t much better off than some ordinary folks who hadn’t even awakened their soulforce. Just how much willpower did he have to have to have cultivated his soulforce to the tenth rank and have become a Soul Master!

Bei Bei had a calm temperament; discovering this didn’t make him feel despair towards Huo Yuhao. Instead, his respect for him slightly increased. Being able to have such unwavering determination at Huo Yuhao’s age meant that, even if Huo Yuhao’s talent was somewhat poor, he’d still be able to achieve something in life.

After investigating the condition of Huo Yuhao body, Bei Bei guessed that the reason that Huo Yuhao’s Spirit Eyes were so strong was definitely linked to the mutation of his martial soul. Furthermore, although his mutated martial soul was very strong, the harm it had caused to Huo Yuhao when he was young was also very great. Because he hadn’t been properly cared for, it caused his talent to become like this. If he’d been immediately treated with medicine after he was born, perhaps his junior brother would’ve been a genius.

In reality, Bei Bei’s guess was only half-accurate. The reason why Huo Yuhao’s body was so frail was indeed because of the deficiency caused by the mutation of his martial soul, and because of the lack of care towards him after awakening his martial spirit. However, the main reason why his Spirit Eyes’ skills were so strong, was because of the million-year intelligent soul ring, the Skydream Iceworm.

As the dark sky gradually turned dark blue, a patch of white slowly began to appear from the east. Bei Bei slowly withdrew his palms, and let out a long breath. It was hard to conceal the exhaustion on his slightly pale face.

He’d used an entire night to help unblock Huo Yuhao’s passageways, helping him complete the first circulation of the Mysterious Heaven Technique. This process had been quite arduous, but it had had enormous benefits for Huo Yuhao.

“Peh—” Huo Yuhao spat out a mouthful of clotted blood before he opened his eyes.

At this moment, Huo Yuhao felt that all 36,000 pores on his body had been opened up, causing an unprecedented feeling of relaxation to spread throughout his body. The mouthful of clotted blood he’d spat out were impurities within his blood that had caused the stagnation of his passageways. After Bei Bei had helped him unblock his passageways, it finally unclogged his passageways. Even if his passageways were still thin and weak, he could at least let soulforce flow through them. This would allow Huo Yuhao’s soulforce to flow smoothly when he cultivated in the future. To a certain extent, this had changed his physique.

Even though Bei Bei was an excellent cultivator amongst his peers, and was a Soul Elder level expert, he was exhausted after unblocking Huo Yuhao’s passageways.

“Junior brother, stand up and look towards the east. Follow my movements, and focus your eyes.” Bei Bei resisted his exhaustion, and let out a low shout towards Huo Yuhao while grasping his shoulders with his hands.

At this moment, Tang Ya, who had originally been sleeping soundly, actually woke up. She jumped up and arrived beside Bei Bei.

The three of them opened their eyes and looked towards the eastern sky. A faint purple cloud seemed to flash through the marble-white sky that was gradually turning bright. If you didn’t have astonishing visual acuity, as well as sufficient concentration, it would be impossible for one to discover its existence.

The appearance of the purple cloud caused the three people’s attention to be focused on it. They even stopped exhaling. Instead, they lightly and slowly inhaled, simultaneously fixing their gazes on the hint of purple that had suddenly, faintly appeared.

The purple cloud wasn’t present for very long. By the time the morning sun had slowly risen from the east, it had already disappeared.

Only then did the three people slowly close their eyes, and simultaneously exhale the impurities from their bodies.

Bei Bei and Tang Ya each spat out a misty white stream of air. After inhaling and exhaling several times, it finally dispersed.

Although Huo Yuhao’s cultivation wasn’t even close to that of his Teacher Xiao Ya, or his eldest senior brother, he felt an intense shock.

When he had looked at the purple cloud in the distant east, a strong warm feeling had seemed to flow into his brain via his Spirit Eyes, causing his eyes to obtain an unprecedented nourishment; so much so that he was able to look at anything with an extremely clear level of vision without using any soulforce. Even his peripheral vision instantly expanded.

And when he had shut his eyes to contain that purple cloud, it had slowly immersed itself into his eyes. His Spirit Eyes had even started to naturally activate the soulforce within his body, causing it to merge with the purple cloud. The originally warm feeling gradually became a faint refreshing feeling that gave him an unspeakable sense of relaxation.

The Purple Demon Eyes, this was the skill that Teacher Xiao Ya had spoken about. This was the skill that was said to be the most suitable for him to cultivate! This was only the first time that he’d cultivated it, yet it unexpectedly had had such an effect. Huo Yuhao felt that even the soulforce that he’d previously cultivated and upgraded for the past several months hadn’t had as good an effect as this eastern purple cloud.

After a full 15 minutes, that feeling of relaxation gradually disappeared. When Huo Yuhao finally opened his eyes, a faintly discernible purple light had already appeared in the depths of his clear, deep blue eyes.

“It seems that you truly had good results!” Tang Ya looked at Huo Yuhao with a pleased expression on her face.

Huo Yuhao hurriedly stood up and respectfully said, “Thank you, teacher. Thank you, eldest senior brother.”

The purple glint in Bei Bei’s eyes gradually dimmed, but a look of extreme exhaustion still remained on his face. He patted Huo Yuhao’s shoulder as he said, “We’re a family. In the future, you don’t need to thank us. However, I’m going to rest for a while, so I’m afraid that we can only leave later. Teacher Xiao Ya, please prepare some food. Junior brother, go cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Technique again to consolidate your memories from last night.”

“Yes.” The respect that Huo Yuhao had towards this eldest senior brother of his had deepened even more. After hearing his words, he immediately sat down and began to follow the Mysterious Heaven Technique to circulate his soulforce.

With the profound memories of last night, along with Bei Bei unclogging his meridians, activating his soulforce was now much easier. The soulforce that he’d originally obtained via meditation gradually turned a faint white colour after being refined by the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

After two hours, Bei Bei took the initiative to awaken from his cultivation. His cultivation level was already extremely strong, so he could easily sweep away his exhaustion.

Tang Ya gave Bei Bei some rations and quietly asked, “How is he?”

Bei Bei smiled slightly and said, “You were actually right this time. My junior brother is a promising talent. His body’s condition isn’t great, but he has strong comprehensive abilities. Furthermore, he can bear hardship, and his heart is steady. He’s a good sprout. In addition to that, the Mysterious Heaven Technique in and of itself has benefits towards his growth. If he cultivates it for a long time, it’ll help repair the passageways in his body. This is a technique that’s also quite suitable for him. As for his future growth, it’ll depend on his own hard work, as well as what opportunities he obtains. All we can do is open a door for him, but how far he can travel will be up to him.”

Tang Ya softly said, “Thanks.”

Bei Bei couldn’t help but laugh as he said, “Just what’s gotten into you? Normally, you’d never say thanks to me. Could it be because of my junior brother? I won’t stand for a rival in love.”

Tang Ya punched him unhappily and said, “You know what I’m thanking you for, stop acting stupid.”

Bei Bei gently moved his arm, leisurely pulling Tang Ya into his embrace. “Xiao Ya, I’ll admit it. The reason that I agreed to join the Tang Sect in the first place was because I’d fallen for you, because I fell in love at first sight. But as I cultivated the Tang Sect’s techniques, I realised more and more just how deep our Tang Sect is. Although the Tang Sect has declined, wouldn’t it be interesting if we were able to redevelop it, and bring it to great heights? Therefore, I’m already not just doing things for the Tang Sect solely because of you, but also because of the Tang Sect in and of itself.”

Tang Ya blinked her large eyes and said, “Does that mean that you’ll still work hard for the future of the Tang Sect, even if I don’t like you?”

Bei Bei’s expression immediately changed as he spoke with a slightly exasperated tone, “Be a bit more normal please.”

“Heehee.” Tang Ya smiled. “I just love seeing you reveal your true colours. You normally have such a dignified look, aren’t you tired of it?”

Bei Bei flicked her forehead. “That’s called being civilised. Don’t think that everyone’s like you! You’re always revealing your thoughts on your face.”

Tang Ya grabbed his wrist and spoke with a wronged expression, “I’m not allowing you to flick my forehead anymore, this is offending your teacher. Right, do you think that little Yuhao will be able to last at the academy?”

Bei Bei shook his head and said, “It’s hard to say; it’ll depend on his will. All I can say is that, if he can really manage to last there, and stay for the full twelve years, then his future accomplishments might be even higher than mine.”

Tang Ya was startled. “I didn’t think that you’d have such a high evaluation of him.”

Bei Bei smiled slightly and replied, “My junior brother’s mutated martial soul is extraordinary. You’ll understand when I give you an example. There’s already been a slight difference between the first and second time that he used his Spiritual Detection Sharing. This means that his mastery of the skill isn’t that high, yet it’s already amplified our powers by an enormous amount. Furthermore, if what he’s said is true, it seems that this skill can still evolve. If his future soul skills are all like this, he’ll definitely reach the pinnacle of spiritual control system soul masters.”

Tang Ya said. “It’s just that, his self-defense skills are lacking. It’ll remain like until he reaches a certain level of cultivation, too.”

Bei Bei replied, “No, you’re wrong. He won’t need to protect himself, because, even if he merely has the skill that he just used, he’s destined to have no lack of companions beside him.”

Huo Yuhao’s cultivation period lasted even longer than Tang Ya and Bei Bei expected. His cultivation unexpectedly lasted all the way until noon. During this period of time, Bei Bei went over to him a few times to check on the circulation paths of the Mysterious Heaven Technique, which he found to have no deviations at all. It could be said that Huo Yuhao had truly entered the Tang Sect after his cultivation this time.

After Huo Yuhao awakened from his cultivation, he ate some food. Then, the three of them headed towards the east.

The majority of the Great Star Dou Forest lay within the territory of the Star Luo Empire, only a small portion of it lay within the Tian Hun Empire. On the other hand, Shrek Academy was located to the northeast of the Great Star Dou Forest, so the distance between the two wasn’t considered too far.

The reason that Tang Ya and Bei Bei had entered the Great Star Dou Forest from the south was because the surrounding area had a relatively low number of strong soul beasts.

Because Shrek Academy frequently had students who’d enter the Great Star Dou Forest to kill soul beasts, they were utterly hated by the expert soul beasts within. So much so, that a large number of soul beasts had charged out of the forest, creating a major event known as a ‘beast wave’, which had gone towards Shrek Academy.

Because of this, every single person within the academy below the Soul King rank was prohibited from entering the Great Star Dou Forest from the entrance closest to the academy. Even if one were a Soul King expert, he’d still need a teacher guiding him to be able to enter.

The three of them hurried towards Shrek Academy, but the speed of their advance wasn’t considered quick, since they had to circle around the Great Star Dou Forest. Thus, they had to travel nearly a thousand miles.

During their journey, Tang Ya and Bei Bei imparted the absolute techniques of the Tang Sect to him. Of them, the techniques that Huo Yuhao comprehended the most where the Mysterious Heaven Technique and the Purple Demon Eyes. As for the Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks, and Mysterious Jade Hands techniques, he’d only just taken his first glimpse through the gate.

Huo Yuhao’s diligence had deeply stunned Tang Ya and Bei Bei. He, who was only eleven, didn’t forget to cultivate even as they travelled. When Bei Bei told him that he could slightly increase his soulforce by continuously using his soul skills, Huo Yuhao unceasingly used his Spiritual Detection Sharing as long as he could. And the second that he started to rest, he’d immediately start cultivating the Mysterious Heaven Technique. As they continued on with their journey, he even split his attention, releasing his soul skills while simultaneously pondering the Ghost Shadow Perplexing Tracks, Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon, and Mysterious Jade Hands.

Because Huo Yuhao took a long time to cultivate the Mysterious Heaven Technique, their speed towards Shrek Academy was slowed down. However, Bei Bei and Tang Ya didn’t rush him; they even increased their cultivation time under his impetus.

“Xiao Ya, with your talent, if you had even half of my junior brother’s diligence, I predict that you would’ve long surpassed me.” Bei Bei said as he looked towards Huo Yuhao, who was currently sitting cross-legged under a large tree, his attention focused on cultivating.

Tang Ya curled her lips and said, “Are even you that diligent? It’s not like even you can compare with little Yuhao. However, he seems to be hiding something within his heart. It’s this secret that pushes him to be so hard working. However, I don’t know if that’s a good or thing, a bad thing.”

Bei Bei smiled slightly as he stated, “Having a target is never a bad thing. Furthermore, he’s still young, so his heart will eventually open up as we secretly influence him. Currently, the most important thing for him is breaking through to rank thirty before the age of twenty.”

At this moment, Huo Yuhao had awakened from his meditation. A faint white stream of air swirled around his mouth and nose, and a golden light flickered through his clear eyes the instant he opened them. His Spirit Eyes seemed to have become even more penetrating.

Admittedly, the reason that Huo Yuhao diligently cultivated was to become an outstanding person. However, the most important thing for him right now was to comprehend the new experiences he’d acquired from switching to the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

With Bei Bei and Tang Ya’s help, his physique had improved by a certain amount. The Mysterious Heaven Technique was truly a considerably outstanding technique; they’d already been travelling for four days straight, thus the total amount of time that he’d cultivated the Mysterious Heaven Technique was also four days long. During the past four days, the soulforce in his body had already transformed into the soulforce cultivated by the Mysterious Heaven Technique. The impure and chaotic soulforce in his body was gradually purified during the transformation process. Every time he finished cultivating, his entire body would experience a warm feeling that led to an unspeakable amount of comfort; its recovery effects were even better than that of sleeping.

Although his total amount of soulforce hadn’t increased by much, Huo Yuhao could clearly feel the changes that had occurred in his body, as well as the qualitative change his soulforce had gone through after transforming into the pure soulforce of the Mysterious Heaven Technique.

This was the first time in his life of cultivation that such a clear improvement had occurred, so how could he not be assiduous and diligent?

“Little Yuhao, you can’t always be working so hard. You should take a rest when you need to. If not, won’t you become a blockhead after a while?” Tang Ya said seriously.

Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Yes, Teacher Xiao Ya.”

Tang Ya giggled as she said, “Don’t be so honest and obedient, okay? It’s really boring. Alright, let’s go, we’ve almost reached the academy. You’ve been immersed in cultivation the past few days, so I didn’t get the chance to tell you about some things that you need to pay attention to inside of the academy. You’ve taken a break at just the right time, so relax your mind for a bit and listen.”