Chapter 198
Chapter 198: The Spirit is Born, Orange Treasure
Niu Tian smiled and said, “It doesn’t matter. I just need to know how you feel about the process. The empires on the continent know about this problem, but no one is controlling it, they aren’t able to. After all, the empires compete with one another, and soul masters are powerful weapons in their arsenal. Who would be willing to give them up? We hope to find something to replace soul rings, or to reduce our need for soul masters. If we can do either, it’ll be very beneficial for the ecological balance of the continent and the continuation of soul masters.”
Huo Yuhao was awed. “You’re absolutely right. I’ve also considered this problem. Our teachers at Shrek Academy have also taught us about this—we need to avoid killing soul beasts unnecessarily, and only kill those that are suitable for us. However, soul beasts are innately aggressive. Once they are attacked, they will retaliate. Alright, I promise you. If the soul beast embryo changes, I will report the changes to you. However, please keep this a secret for me too.”
Niu Tian nodded satisfactorily and said, “You can be assured of that. We don’t even leave Clear Sky Castle.”
Huo Yuhao stood up and said, “It is late. I shall not disturb either of you any longer. Uncle Niu, thanks for healing me. If I was left to recuperate on my own, it would’ve taken me more than just a few years.”
Niu Tian waved his hand and said, “Go. The path of cultivation lies in perseverance.”
Huo Yuhao returned to his room. Niu Tian turned around to face Tai Tan and said, “Second brother, what do you think?”
He replied, “I guess it’s fine. He is indeed extraordinary after all. Furthermore, I can tell that his brotherly ties with Wang Dong are real. However, he’s quite dumb.”
Niu Tian laughed. “You can’t blame him either. First impressions count. In addition, he’s still young. I sensed his spiritual sea just now. It’s really quite impressive! Before it was damaged, it had reached the level of a hundred thousand year soul beast. His control of it is also very strong. The only thing was that his own abilities hadn’t reached that level yet, thus he was unable to fully use his spiritual power.”
Tai Tan said, “Wang Dong is really brazen. He actually…”
Niu Tian gestured and said, “Forget it. There’s no point in telling him about it now. I also believe that Wang Dong knows his limits. Besides, no one can really get close to him. Did you forget?” As he spoke, he pointed to his forehead.
Tai Tan seemed to be reminded of something. “Oh yes! I completely forgot about that. Huo Yuhao has passed the first round. However, we’ll need to observe him more.”
Niu Tian said, “Let’s not interfere in Wang Dong’s matters too much. Yuhao’s abilities are decent indeed. If he develops further like this, it wouldn’t take him long to catch up to Wang Dong. For them to exhibit four martial fusion soul skills, it’s already a form of fate.”
Niu Tian’s expression suddenly changed while they spoke. He was stunned as he said, “This fast? Second brother, go quickly. Yuhao’s soul beast embryo is about to be born.”
As he spoke, he was already bursting out.
Yes! Not long after Huo Yuhao returned to his room and started to cultivate, he felt an intense dizzy feeling swarming his mind. He started to stagger, and quickly sat on his bed before focusing his spiritual power to see what was going on.
Within his spiritual sea; spiritual power was surging, and a wave of strange aura was undulating.
The second mental sea, the Eye of Destiny! Huo Yuhao soon found the origin of this weird aura. He discovered that the Snow Empress’ embryo was squirming in his Eye of Destiny. A human infant subtly appeared and extended its hands and legs, wanting to break free from the restraint of the embryo. The Snow Empress’ embryo’s movement sparked the surge of spiritual power in his second mental sea. His spiritual sea resonated strongly with his second mental sea at this point.
It was… about to come out?
Huo Yuhao was feeling very uncomfortable with regards to Spirit. That was because Spirit was a special lifeform created by him, the Ice Empress, Skydream, the Snow Empress and the deceased Electrolux.
Huo Yuhao could clearly sense that his spiritual power was greatly affected as Spirit moved. It was as if all his focus and attention were completely drawn away by it.
From the memories Electrolux left behind for him, this was mainly due to the contract that they had. They were also related by blood. The formation of Spirit was accomplished from the shrinkage of the Snow Empress’ immense origin power and spiritual sense, as well as Huo Yuhao’s blood and spiritual power, which were all fused by the flame of Electrolux’s divine sense.
Electrolux told Huo Yuhao through the experiences that he left for him that he could use Contract Magic on soul beasts. But it was up to him to learn how, and under what conditions. Simply put, the greater the gap between a soul master and a soul beast, the higher the possibility of fulfilling the contract. Huo Yuhao had to find out whether the soul beasts could retain some level of intelligence and abilities on his own, as well as if they could become the soul rings of soul masters.
The Snow Empress’ situation was very special. Due to her strength and the terrifying changes involved, the flame of Electrolux’s divine sense had been extinguished. Electrolux had also told Huo Yuhao that he could fulfil the contract with his current spiritual power.
That was why Huo Yuhao felt extremely excited even though he was uncomfortable. He was also very curious.
The movements of the embryo became even more intense. Huo Yuhao’s spiritual power started to gather towards his second mental sea, and the embryo seemed to feed on his spiritual power, it was engulfing and swallowing it.
Huo Yuhao suddenly had a strange feeling. If this embryo was going to keep on like this, he would be the one unable to sustain it! It wasn’t easy for him to accumulate his spiritual power. If it sucked all his spiritual power away like this every day, he could only keep himself in a half-conscious state all the time. This was the case even after the Clear Sky Sect’s sect master helped him restore his spiritual sea. Otherwise, it would have been even more unbearable for him.
The Eye of Destiny suddenly opened, and a dim golden light formed by spiritual power started to revolve around Huo Yuhao’s body. It made him seem like a solid gold statue.
Niu Tian and Tai Tan had already silently made their way into Huo Yuhao’s room, but neither of them made any sound to disturb him. They were eager as they watched him, and worried. They would definitely help him if something went wrong.
Eventually, the immense suction force stopped after the embryo absorbed more than sixty percent of Huo Yuhao’s current spiritual power. He was stunned to discover that the embryo in his second mental sea had suddenly calmed down. An orange-gold halo expanded from his body, and then something shocking happened.
Initially, the embryo was sucking up his spiritual power. However, his spiritual power was quickly restored when this orange-gold halo expanded. His entire spiritual sea seemed to be experiencing a high tide. It rose higher and higher as the halo swept past. He also developed a more acute feeling for his spiritual sea.
His spiritual power reached its peak state after several halos swept across his spiritual sea, enhancing it even past its peak state. His spiritual sea was becoming more and more well nourished under the illumination of the halo.
She’s not coming out? She’s only helping me cultivate my spiritual power? Huo Yuhao was a little perplexed. However, he hoped that his spiritual power would continue to be restored like this. With the current pace, he could reach the Boundless state that he was in before the snow pearl combusted.
Time passed second by second. As the halo expanded, the orange color of the embryo also became increasingly intense. Huo Yuhao was completely unable to see what was going on in the embryo anymore. It was like an orange-gold egg now, and stopped transforming into other things. It stabilized on this egg-like form and seemed to have solidified.
Huo Yuhao’s spiritual sea continued to be nourished more and more. A dim layer of orange surrounded it now, and the Boundless Ocean was back. He even felt that his spiritual power was a bit stronger than before, as if it were probing its way into the next level. It didn’t just cause waves in his spiritual sea; it was combining with his soul power too. As they fused together, he seemed to understand the level that uncle Niu Tian was in. Although it was still very far away, he appeared to have seen the gateway to this level through this opportunity.
Suddenly, a strong orange-gold light spread from the embryo. Huo Yuhao felt his spiritual sea surging at that instant. The world of his sensations had turned completely orange-gold by this point.
Niu Tian and Tai Tan only saw a ring of blinding orange-gold light spreading from Huo Yuhao’s Eye of Destiny, which turned the entire room the same color. When this light reached them, the power slightly suppressed them.
Ding! A melodious and crisp chiming sound came from the Eye of Destiny. Huo Yuhao regained his awareness immediately, and clearly felt a crack appearing on the egg-shaped embryo, shaking his spiritual sea.
Following this, a second crack surfaced. Slight creaking sounds resonated continuously as cracks spread in a turtle-like pattern on the embryo’s shell.
Pop! A small and tender snow-white hand extended from the eggshell. As the hand flipped over, it grabbed onto a broken piece of egg shell before more cracking sounds could be heard.
The light that shone from Huo Yuhao’s body also faded away, and he returned to his normal state quickly. However, he continued to hear crackling sounds in his second mental sea. Of course, he was the only one who could hear them.
The tender white hand reached out again after a while. Every time it reached out, it would grab a piece of the shell before pulling it back in. The cracking sounds would be heard again and again as the cycle repeated…
Huo Yuhao focused his attention on the hand. For some reason, he felt closely connected to it.
Not only did it look snow-white, it even seemed translucent, like milk. It tempted one to bite it, as if it were made of almond beancurd.
The orange-gold egg shell became smaller and smaller, and the small being in the shell was revealed. She was a small infant, her complexion as tender and white as her chubby hand. She looked just like a month-old baby, her tiny face extremely chubby. Dim orange-gold light shone from her body. As she munched on the eggshell, she would even occasionally smile sweetly. Her dimples made her look even cuter.
Her eyes were a deep blue, as moving as a vast ocean at its deepest end. Pure and deep were descriptive words that shouldn’t appear together, but they described her eyes perfectly. Her silvery-white hair had slight curls. Even though she was very young, she had a sense of elegance.
“Snow Empress?” Huo Yuhao called to her with his spiritual power.
The infant girl’s actions slowed for half a second. After that, she quickly stuffed a piece of eggshell into her mouth. Her deep blue eyes revealed a slight look of confusion and pensiveness. She was extremely cute, and Huo Yuhao was very tempted to pinch her chubby cheeks.
“Snow Empress?” Huo Yuhao called out again. After that, he immediately gathered his spiritual power and projected a form of himself into his second mental sea in front of the girl.
She continued to chew on the eggshell as she watched Huo Yuhao, her eyes wide open. Her long eyelashes were deep blue, and they seemed to be fanning the air as she blinked her eyes.
“Snow Empress, do you still remember me?” Huo Yuhao asked again.
She continued munching on the eggshell.
“Snow Empress, I’m Huo Yuhao! Do you still remember me? The Ice Empress and Skydream are also here.”
Ka, ka, ka.
“How’re you feeling? What form are you in now?”
Ka, ka, ka.
“You…”
Ka, ka, ka.
Huo Yuhao realized that he couldn’t probe any further. She was evidently more interested in the eggshell. She was also moving her hands more quickly, as if she were afraid that Huo Yuhao would snatch them away from her. She finished eating the eggshell rapidly.
What do I do? Huo Yuhao was at a loss. She was very cute, but he was shocked by the way she ate. That was because the eggshell evidently contained highly condensed spiritual power! He even suspected that she would try to feast on his spiritual power after finishing the eggshell. After that… “When is she going to be full?”
“Yi yi ya ya!” she shouted at him suddenly.
He was stunned to find out that he could understand her even though she wasn’t speaking any language he knew. She called him…
“Daddy!”
He was stunned. He was still very young, but she had called him daddy. Moreover, he felt as if she were throwing a tantrum, which melted his heart.
“Are… are you calling me?” Huo Yuhao asked a silly question.
“Yi yi ya ya!” (Daddy…)
“I…” He was completely lost ,and didn’t know how to respond. She was a cute, infant version of the Snow Empress. Was she still the same third strongest soul beast on the continent?
At this point, she seemed a little annoyed. She floated into the air and flew down towards him. He grabbed hold of her subconsciously, and felt an affectionate aura circulating through his body. His body was dyed with a layer of orange-gold.
She laughed and pounded his chest with her hands. She seemed to be playing with him.
Looking at her from such a close distance, he could feel the irresistible cuteness radiating from her.
“Yi yi ya ya!” (Daddy, I want to go out.)
After sending him this message, she squirmed out from his arms, and a small, fitting undergarment appeared on her body. As she flew forward, she revealed her tiny butt from the back.
Before he could even react, his spiritual sea started to surge tremendously. Following this, her figure flashed, and she disappeared.
She can leave? He was stunned, and quickly tried to return to his original body. He opened his eyes.
“Yi yi ya ya, yi yi ya ya!” He heard her furious cries as he regained his awareness. As he opened his eyes, he saw a green barrier inside the room. She was engulfed in a ball of orange-gold light. She couldn’t break out no matter how hard she tried, and was evidently furious.
“Yuhao, what’s going on?” While she couldn’t break free, she caused both Niu Tian and Tai Tan to be a little panicky.
They only saw his third eye shining brightly before she flew out of it.
She was really too cute, and the two sect masters were very curious. However, she was very hostile when she saw the two of them. As she shrieked, she started a huge snowstorm in the room…
Yes, she had started a snowstorm. At this point, the temperature in the room outside the green light had fallen by about fifty degrees. The entire room was covered in snow. Frost had also formed on Niu Tian and Tai Tan’s bodies. If Niu Tian hadn’t been quick enough to trap her… They didn’t know what else she was capable of. They could sense an intense hostility from her.
“Yi yi ya ya, yi yi ya ya!” (Daddy, they’re bad guys! Beat them up!)
She was enraged as she flew and sat on his shoulder. She even extended her finger to point at Niu Tian’s nose and twisted her lips. However, her tender, red lips made her seem very good-looking.
Huo Yuhao was amused as he said, “Snow Lady, I shall call you Snow Lady. They aren’t enemies.”
The Snow Lady was stunned for a moment, and then appeared to be very unhappy.
Niu Tian laughed. “Yuhao, ask her to retract her powers. Look at the mess she made.”
Huo Yuhao possessed the Ultimate Ice, and thus he wasn’t sensitive to extreme cold. At this moment, Niu Tian also retracted his soul power, and Huo Yuhao watched as the entire room turned into a world of snow.
“Snow Lady.” Huo Yuhao was a little annoyed as he looked at her, but he couldn’t say anything to scold her. At this point, she did something that made them all cringe.
She lowered her head in indignation and poked herself with her index fingers. She wore a look of indignation, as if they had dared say she had done something wrong.
“Alright, alright. She didn’t do it intentionally! She’s still so young. How can we blame her?”
Tai Tan, who was initially very wary of Huo Yuhao, appeared very fatherly now. He stepped in front of Huo Yuhao and looked at the Snow Lady up close before laughing foolishly.
As a huge and burly person who was more than two meters tall, he didn’t think of how he looked when he laughed.
The Snow Lady suddenly lifted her head as he got closer to her. Her deep blue eyes revealed a strange and distorted deep blue glow. The light flashed, and Tai Tan was turned into an ice sculpture.
“Snow Lady!” Huo Yuhao exclaimed and picked her up as they retreated to the side of the room. He wasn’t afraid of her harming Tai Tan, because he could sense the link between their powers when she made her move. However, her abilities were inferior to his by default. This meant that the abilities she unleashed would never surpass his own capabilities.
Indeed, Tai Tan managed to break free from the ice as Huo Yuhao backed off. The broken pieces of ice fell onto the ground, and he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry as he looked at her. He said helplessly, “Little fellow, I’ve no intention of harming you!”
Against such a small kid, what could they possibly do? They couldn’t hit or scold her.
“Idiot. She was scared off by your ugly mug.” Niu Tian pulled Tai Tan behind him.
Tai Tan was very displeased. “Elder brother, my abilities are indeed inferior to yours. However, our appearances are around the same—they are nothing special. Why don’t you say you’re the one who scared her?”
Niu Tian glared at him and said, “Neither of us should be going over and scaring her.”
They didn’t act like they were the Clear Sky Sect’s sect masters from their cautious behavior. At this moment, Huo Yuhao also recovered from his shock. He lifted his hand and touched the Snow Lady’s shoulder.
She was evidently very attached to him. As he extended his hand, she immediately wrapped her hand around his finger and laughed non-stop.
He could sense that she wasn’t a solid entity. While her hand was soft and gentle, it didn’t feel like a human hand. However, she didn’t seem like she was made purely of energy. It was an unclear feeling. She was like a special existence between a solid entity and energy.
“Yuhao, this is the life that all of you created? She was originally a soul beast?” Niu Tian asked curiously.
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, “Teacher said that the Snow Lady was an Icesky Snow Lady formed from the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. She’s a special type of soul beast, and might not even be considered a soul beast. In fact, I also don’t know what made her.”
“Icesky Snow Lady?” Both Niu Tian and Tai Tan were shocked as they heard his words. They looked at each other before they said in unison, “Snow Empress?”
Huo Yuhao was stunned as he replied, “So you know her.”
Tai Tan lost his voice as he said, “How could we not know her? She’s one of the Ten Great Savage Beasts of the Douluo Continent, and has lived for six or seven hundred thousand years. She’s one of the most powerful soul beasts. She has turned into this? What’s going on?”
Huo Yuhao knew that some things couldn’t be concealed forever. After pondering for a moment, he recounted how he had discovered the Snow Empress’ embryo and managed to absorb it into his body by sealing it with the help of his teacher. However, he didn’t reveal his secrets regarding Skydream and the Ice Empress.
After listening to his recounting of events, the two sect masters were in disbelief. Surely this wasn’t luck, since he almost lost his life because of it, but the Snow Empress’ strength had helped him greatly! Subconsciously, they reckoned that the enhancement of his martial soul was due to the Snow Empress. In addition, there was still the infant Snow Lady now.
Niu Tian pointed at the Snow Lady and asked, “Did your teacher mention what kind of life form the current Snow Empress is?”
Huo Yuhao laughed bitterly and shook his head. He replied, “He didn’t know what kind of life form the Snow Empress’ strength would become after this all developed. He only told me that the newborn Snow Empress would be tightly connected to me. That’s because a large amount of my spiritual power and blood are fused into her body. With that, a contract, and the Snow Empress’ original strength and spiritual sense, this new life form was born. He called her Spirit. The Snow Empress’ Spirit.”
Spirit was an entirely new existence not only to these two sect masters, but also to the entire Douluo Continent.
Interrupting their conversation, the Snow Lady started to shriek again. Her crisp voice sounded very anxious, and drew their attention.
Only Huo Yuhao could understand what she was saying.
“What about me not wanting you?” Huo Yuhao asked, perplexed. The Snow Lady had mentioned that her daddy didn’t want her anymore.
The Snow Lady drifted from his shoulder, and tears flowed from her huge eyes. She stared at him before saying “yi yi ya ya” again.
Huo Yuhao was completely confused. “No place for you? What do you mean? Can you be a bit clearer?”
She was pointed at him while she sobbed before starting to draw circles in the air.
He was suddenly enlightened. “Are you talking about soul rings? You want something to do with my soul rings?”
She nodded her head hurriedly, and her silvery-white hair swayed slightly. Her chubby face also trembled a little—it was extremely cute.
“Yi yi ya ya!”
“Are you saying that there’s no empty soul ring spot for you to control?” He started to understand what she was saying. However, how was she going to control his soul rings? He was completely clueless.
“Snow Lady, hear me out. My cultivation is currently Rank 50. Logically speaking, there should be space for a soul ring! How is there no place for you?”
She shook her head and started to “yi yi ya ya” again.
“What? One is not enough?” Huo Yuhao was stunned as he said, “Are you saying that your powers will fall if there aren’t sufficient soul ring spots for you? You need my powers to ensure the growth and stability of your powers?”
“Yi yi ya ya.”
“But I already have four soul rings! I can’t possibly sacrifice them. I have no choice either!” Huo Yuhao was put in a spot.
“Idiot.” Tai Tan couldn’t help but mutter. “Rascal, you really are dumb! Others couldn’t do anything if they were in such a situation, but you have twin martial souls. Don’t tell me that your second martial soul also has four soul rings. You can’t be that much of a fool!”
As the saying goes, ‘The one in the situation is confused, but the onlooker sees clear.’ Tai Tan’s words enlightened Huo Yuhao immediately. Yes! His Spirit Eyes only had one spot for a soul ring, but his Ice Empress still had many spots! He only had one soul ring on his Ice Empress martial soul. Furthermore, his Ice Empress wouldn’t ostracize the powers of the Snow Lady. They were both ice-type, and complemented each other. However, he was curious as to why the Snow Empress wanted to live among his soul rings. Would he have to add soul rings in these positions in the future? What would the relationship between Spirit and him be like after she took up those spots?
As he was troubled by these doubts, he quickly unleashed his second martial soul.
An extreme chill was released from his body. The immense aura of the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion was exuded amidst the glow of a hundred thousand year soul ring.
The two sect masters focused their gazes, looking at the blood-red soul ring with four streaks of golden patterns. The Snow Lady was also in a slight daze. As she looked at Huo Yuhao, she seemed to be sensing something.
After a brief moment, she cheered. Her body shrank slightly before she flew towards Huo Yuhao as an orange-gold ball of light.
Huo Yuhao wanted to catch her, but the ball of light penetrated his body cleanly.
His body turned rigid, and started to tremble tremendously. An intense orange-gold glow was emitted from his body, and even his eyes turned orange.
A vigorous undulation of soul power surged from his body. The blood-red soul ring started to move three times faster.
An orange-gold ring appeared without warning and moved rhythmically along with the red soul ring.
Orange-gold soul ring? That little fellow turned into a soul ring? Niu Tian and Tai Tan were feeling down at this point. Although the Snow Lady wasn’t very friendly towards the both of them, she was still very cute! No one could resist her. Moreover, she hadn’t really harmed them.
However, since when could a soul master possess an orange-gold soul ring? What was going on?
Before their shock and disappointment faded away, another orange-gold ring appeared from Huo Yuhao’s body. It queued behind the previous soul ring and moved along with it. The intensity of the light from both soul rings were the same. Huo Yuhao’s aura also became stronger and stronger.
Tai Tan was confused as he asked, “Elder brother, what’s going on? Why are there two soul rings?”
Niu Tian replied, “How would I know? However, didn’t the brat just say that one soul ring spot wasn’t enough for her? I’m wondering what she’s trying to do.”
“I wonder what kind of effect her soul rings can achieve.”
Huo Yuhao and the two sect masters had completely different sensations. As the Snow Lady fused into his body, he slowly understood the form and secret behind this Snow Lady.
She was indeed a life form—one birthed from different strengths under the effect of Electrolux’s contract spell. She could even be considered a true living soul ring. If soul rings were alive, they could be more proactive.
While the Snow Lady had a physical body, she was also made of energy. No matter how great her strength was, it would still be depleted continuously. That was why she needed to rely on Huo Yuhao to restore her strength regardless of the presence of a contract. She might also need him to develop greater strength.