Before leaving, Wang Dong had invited Huo Yuhao to visit his home, but Huo Yuhao politely declined. Due to the influence of Tang San, Huo Yuhao had little affection even for Shrek Academy, which had once been closely connected to Tang San, let alone Tang San's family.
After returning to the villa and casually packing a few clothes, Huo Yuhao set off, his destination naturally being the Star Dou Great Forest, the closest to Shrek.
It was worth mentioning that Huang Yan had recently broken through to Rank 90. The sect now had a new Titled Douluo, and Du Busi was naturally pleased. He arranged for several Titled Douluo to accompany Huang Yan to hunt for his ninth spirit ring.
After leaving Shrek City, Huo Yuhao used his Imitation Soul Skill to transform into a burly man with thick eyebrows and tiger eyes, a round face, and an unremarkable appearance. He also concealed his true power, making himself appear to be merely a Rank 13 one-ring Soul Master. In this disguise, Huo Yuhao was the kind of person you'd lose in a crowd.
This was all a precaution against the Dai family—especially with Huang Yan not around.
In truth, over the past half year, Huo Yuhao had mastered the use of his Imitation Soul Skill to an exceptional degree. In front of others, he had simulated his spirit rings to appear as one yellow and two purple, and none of his classmates, not even Zhou Yi, had noticed the deception.
Regarding this, Du Busi had once commented:
"A Titled Douluo can tell the rings are fake, but to truly see through it, their spiritual power must exceed yours."
Currently, weak Titled Douluos could tell Huo Yuhao was disguised, but couldn't see his real identity. Only those above Rank 93 could see through him completely.
With his Imitation Soul Skill, Huo Yuhao had much less to worry about. While the Dai and Zhu families were powerful historically, the Dai family currently only had one Titled Douluo—Duke Dai Hao—and the Zhu family hadn't produced a Titled Douluo in nearly two hundred years.
The Star Dou Forest was close to Shrek, and with Flying Sword movement, it took Huo Yuhao less than four hours to reach the forest's outskirts—despite taking a roundabout path to avoid attention.
Seeing no one around, Huo Yuhao descended rapidly from the sky. Just as he was about to recall his Bloodflame Thorn, a sudden gust of wind surged from behind, causing his hairs to stand on end.
In that instant, Huo Yuhao's body surged with soul power. The white soul power didn't burst outwards but instead clung tightly to his body like a membrane. From afar, he looked like he was bathed in divine light—beautiful and radiant.
This was a defensive soul skill Huo Yuhao had invented during his battle with Wang Qiu'er: Heavenly Wall Barrier. Back then, he realized that raw soul power offered limited defense, so he spread his soul power across his body—not expecting it to block everything, but rather to create a defensive network. When a spot was attacked, the surrounding soul power would instantly gather there, forming layers of defense. The idea came from the concept of concentrated attack versus concentrated defense.
"If you focus all your strength into one attack, I'll focus all my defense into that point."
As the attack neared, Huo Yuhao didn't hesitate to use Heavenly Wall Barrier.
The strike was a pale fist. Though the skin looked a bit loose, its power was undeniable.
Boom!A dull thud echoed as the fist struck the defense. At the point of contact, a hexagonal shield appeared, about the size of a palm. The white glow surrounding Huo Yuhao dimmed almost entirely—except where the fist landed, which still shone brightly.
The punch had been blocked, but its force still sent Huo Yuhao flying forward, crashing into two trees before stopping.
Without pausing to think, Huo Yuhao bounced up like a reflex and darted to the right.
Crack!A half-meter crater formed where Huo Yuhao had just been, shattering nearby trees.
At last, Huo Yuhao saw the attackers clearly—two figures in black, completely wrapped up with only their eyes visible.
These two were no ordinary opponents—at least Soul Emperor level. Huo Yuhao quickly assessed the situation. The hit he took had made his blood churn, and not even Wang Qiu'er could do that to him when his Heavenly Wall Barrier was active.
The most terrifying part?They hadn't even released their martial spirits yet.
"Could they be from the Dai family again? But how did they find me? Are they Titled Douluos? No... That can't be. If they were, I'd already be dead."
In a split second, Huo Yuhao considered many things.
But one thing was clear—the attackers were enemies, and very powerful ones at that.
"If that's the case... then I have no choice but to go all out."Huo Yuhao's expression hardened. There was another option: he could flee deeper into the Star Dou Forest. If he ran into a powerful soul beast, his chances of escaping would increase.
But just then, he sensed two faint presences ahead—right in the direction of the forest depths.
"No... They anticipated my escape route and set an ambush to trap me!"A chill ran down Huo Yuhao's spine."I can't let them regroup. I must finish these two quickly, or I'll die here today. Time to go all in!"
Three spirit rings—one yellow, two purple—rose beneath Huo Yuhao's feet.
"First Soul Skill: Spiritual Detection.""First Soul Skill: Spiritual Interference."
"Bloodflame Armor!""Bloodflame Spear!"
"Soul Shock!"
"Spiraling Sphere!"
With a do-or-die mindset, Huo Yuhao unleashed all his strongest attacks. Waves of explosive white light erupted in rapid succession, and the deafening blasts echoed violently.
Yet despite it all, Huo Yuhao's heart sank.
His spiritual attacks had barely affected the two men.
There were only two possible explanations:
They were also incredibly strong in spiritual power.
They carried artifacts that defended against spiritual attacks.
Either way, it wasn't good news. It also implied they had thoroughly studied Huo Yuhao.
With his spiritual attacks rendered useless, Huo Yuhao was left with just his Spiraling Sphere and Bloodflame Spear as his offensive options.
For some reason, the two black-clad enemies never spoke or released their martial spirits.
Even so, Huo Yuhao felt overwhelming pressure. And then—what he feared most happened.
The two hidden figures in the forest, realizing Huo Yuhao hadn't fallen into their trap, began closing in to surround him.
(End of Chapter)