Tang Ya cheered and suddenly leaped into his arms, giving him a big hug."Beibei, thank you!"
Beibei wrapped his arms around her slender figure, the smile on his face tinged with gentle affection."I promised to help you fulfill your dream, so I'll definitely see it through."
Tang Ya leaned against Beibei's chest but inadvertently caught sight of a pair of wide eyes staring at her in surprise. She instantly remembered there was someone else present. Flushing, she quickly wriggled out of Beibei's embrace and turned to Huo Yuhao, whose spirit eyes sparkled with curiosity."What are you staring at? Never seen a student-teacher romance before?"
Huo Yuhao replied earnestly, "I really haven't!"Watching Beibei and Tang Ya in each other's arms stirred a strange sense of envy in his heart—but not jealousy. Senior Brother and Teacher Xiao Ya really did make a perfect couple.
He couldn't help but wonder—who would be the one by his side in the future? Wang Dong'er, Wang Qiu'er, or perhaps Tang Wutong? Or maybe someone else among the novel's female characters—or even someone who'd never appeared in the original story?
Beibei cleared his throat."Alright, now that your spirit ring is fully absorbed, we should get moving. In recent years, more and more Spirit Masters have run into trouble in the Star Dou Forest. Even in the outskirts, there are thousand-year spirit beasts. Better to leave sooner than later."
Tang Ya nodded. "Let's go."
By now, dusk had fallen. But staying overnight in the Star Dou Forest was clearly not a wise choice. Despite their exhaustion, the three quickly made their way toward the forest's outskirts.
With his energy restored, Huo Yuhao once again activated Spiritual Detection Sharing.
"Xiao Yuhao, is this your first soul skill?"Feeling the shared perception again, Beibei finally asked the question that had been on his mind earlier.
Before Huo Yuhao could reply, Tang Ya shot Beibei a suspicious look."You didn't ask this whole time while I was absorbing my ring?"
"I was busy protecting you, wasn't I?"
"Partially, I suppose."Seeing the curiosity on both Beibei and Tang Ya's faces, Huo Yuhao explained the effect of his soul skill."My first soul skill is called Spiritual Sharing. It allows me to share what I perceive and feel with people around me. The range and number of targets grow with my spiritual power and cultivation."
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao deactivated the Spiritual Detection but maintained Spiritual Sharing. The special sensory perception of the surroundings disappeared from Beibei and Tang Ya's minds, but instead, they found a new image appearing in their thoughts—what they saw was themselves, through Huo Yuhao's eyes!
"Your first soul skill is Spiritual Sharing?"This ability aligned with Beibei's expectations of what a white soul ring could grant. Even enhanced by a mutated martial soul, it was still within a reasonable range of power… but something felt off.
"Wait, if your first soul skill is Spiritual Sharing, then what was that field of vision we had in our minds earlier?"
"That ability… I don't really understand it myself," Huo Yuhao admitted."It started not long after I awakened my martial soul. I was collecting herbs and brewing medicine for my mother, but I kept messing up the heat control. Then one day, I suddenly developed this strange kind of vision. At first, it only covered a range of about one meter, but it helped me monitor the fire better. The downside was that after using it for a while, I'd feel dizzy. Also, when I used that special vision, I temporarily lost my normal eyesight. Fortunately, with my first soul skill assisting me now, I can manage both views at the same time."
After explaining, Huo Yuhao reactivated Spiritual Detection, given the danger of the Star Dou Forest.
"A gifted ability, huh? Your mutated martial soul is truly one of a kind!"Beibei and Tang Ya realized they had really picked up a treasure."Your first soul skill actually complements your innate ability perfectly. In fact, even some hundred-year soul ring abilities might not match its utility. You don't need to feel self-conscious about your soul ring's level—what matters most is choosing the right ability, not the highest year count."
Beibei still didn't quite grasp what Huo Yuhao meant by being unable to use both visions at once before.It wasn't until he closed his eyes and relied solely on Spiritual Detection that he truly understood the difference—and felt the discomfort.Even though he knew the exact distance to a wooden post in front of him, and even though he knew his arm length, he still hesitated, unsure if his punch would actually land on target.
The sensation was strange. Without dedicated training, adapting to this kind of vision wasn't easy. After all, he was used to gauging distance with his physical sight and muscle memory.But this new spiritual vision didn't follow typical depth cues like "near looks bigger, far looks smaller." The disconnect between what he saw and how his body responded was real.
However, when this spiritual vision was combined with his natural eyesight, the result was almost like having a built-in cheat—like a wallhack in a game.
Beibei didn't doubt Huo Yuhao's words.A spiritually attributed, mutated, innate martial soul—with buffs piled one on top of another. No amount of strangeness would be surprising.And as for innate abilities, some martial souls just came with strange or unique traits.For example, the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, long known for its support powers, actually had an additional ability—to sense treasure.That natural gift was what helped the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan silently amass massive wealth over generations.
These kinds of special martial souls might seem unimpressive at first, but with the right opportunity, they could soar to incredible heights.If a pagoda could have treasure-sensing abilities, why couldn't a pair of spirit eyes come with a special form of vision?
"By the way, Xiao Yuhao, do you plan on focusing on support or control in the future?"Now that she understood just how much potential his martial soul had, Tang Ya knew it was time to help him carefully chart his path forward.
"At Shrek Academy, most spiritual-type Soul Masters specialize in either support or control. But given how much potential your martial soul holds, I think the control route might allow your talents to truly shine."
"Teacher Xiao Ya, I'll give it serious thought."With the immediate danger behind him, Huo Yuhao finally allowed himself to look forward—to what heights he might reach in the future.Would he be able to surpass that Huo Yuhao from the original novel?
Funny thing was, when trying to plan his future path, he realized he could barely remember what soul skills that "Huo-hack" from the book had in the later stages.He had to dig through the clutter of memories just to recall them.
Back then, seeing a protagonist with the same name soar through the story with such flair, he even spent his meager living expenses to buy the physical books and sneak-read them in class.But after the Qian Kun Training arc and Asking Love Valley, the story became hard to enjoy. He forced himself to finish it, but stopped paying attention to Huo-hack's powers entirely.
When it came to soul skills, unlike the original Huo Yuhao, the one here publicly claimed his first soul skill was only—Spiritual Sharing.
This soul skill in the original novel was mainly used in tandem with Spiritual Detection, and its presence was so low that many people didn't even realize that "Spiritual Detection Sharing" was actually two separate skills.Huo Yuhao even suspected that the author split a single skill into two just to make up the required four soul skills for balance.
As for why Huo Yuhao attributed Spiritual Detection to his martial soul rather than to a soul skill—In the original, even with such an unbelievably powerful ten-year soul skill, not a single person around him found it suspicious. Everyone simply assumed it was a result of his soul ring mutating under the influence of his unique martial soul.
But to Huo Yuhao, that felt a little far-fetched.Such an obviously overpowered ability, and nobody thought it odd? Still, the novel could only serve as a loose reference. After all, the Douluo Dalu universe was never known for being airtight in its world-building.And he had no intention of gambling on whether the rules of this real version of the world would be as forgiving.
Besides, if you compare them—A soul ring mutation that produces Spiritual Detection Sharing on a spirit-type martial soul (uncontrollable and unrepeatable),versusa mutated martial soul that innately grants Spiritual Detection, a god-tier ability even without a soul ring—Which one had more potential? Which one was more worthy of cultivation?
Huo Yuhao was trying to 'raise' his own value to earn Shrek Academy's resource investment in the early stages.
"Stop!"
Just as Huo Yuhao was lost in thought, Beibei's expression turned serious. He raised his hand to signal the group to halt.
About thirty meters ahead stood a large boulder—nothing seemed out of the ordinary.But within Huo Yuhao's Spiritual Detection, he clearly saw a lizard-like soul beast crouched on the rock.Earth-yellow spirit power flowed around it, blending it seamlessly into the stone.
"A thousand-year Chameleon Lizard... It doesn't seem aggressive. We'll go around it."Recognizing the soul beast, Beibei quickly decided to change their route.
"Good thing we had Xiao Yuhao's Spiritual Detection.If we'd wandered into its attack range by accident, even Beibei might not have been able to block a strike from that thing."Once they were safely outside the beast's territory, Tang Ya finally released the breath she'd been holding. She exhaled deeply and patted her chest.
"Teacher Xiao Ya, that soul beast was called a Chameleon Lizard? Is it very strong?"This was Huo Yuhao's first time seeing a soul beast not mentioned in the original story, and he couldn't help asking.
"In terms of power, it's actually about the same as that Mandrake Snake from before. But its exceptional camouflage paired with its powerful tongue-strike make it extremely dangerous.If it ambushes you, even Beibei might not be able to dodge and would be forced to take the hit.That tongue attack is its primary offensive move—it's so strong that even Beibei would likely be injured if caught off guard.Xiao Yuhao, you really saved us this time."
An hour later, after hastening their pace through the forest, the group finally made it back to the little creek where they had grilled fish earlier.By now, they were dozens of li away from the Star Dou Forest—the danger was essentially behind them.
Naturally, Huo Yuhao was once again "volunteered" as the cook.Under Tang Ya's enthusiastic insistence, he resumed his role as the team's grilled fish chef.
Beibei simply extended his right hand into the water, and with a flash of crackling blue-purple lightning, a dozen stunned greenfish floated to the surface, belly-up.With a wave of his hand and the Controlling Crane Capturing Dragon technique, he drew them neatly to the shore.
Tang Ya also took out some stored food from a soul tool, and the three of them sat down together to enjoy a hearty dinner.
With her mood high from obtaining her third soul ring, Tang Ya ended up overeating a bit.Afterward, she leaned against a tree by the fire and promptly fell asleep.
The one who had gained the most, however, wasn't her—but Huo Yuhao.Despite his exhaustion, he resisted the fatigue weighing on both his body and mind.Instead of resting, he asked Beibei to guide him in beginning his very first session of Xuan Tian Technique cultivation.
ps: read advance chapters at https://www.patreon.com/c/Seraphim777