Chapter 42 - The Second Heavenly Flame Chance Option Task (2800 words)
Xu Sheng put on Xuan Ziwen's homemade soul guidance glasses and observed for a while, then saw Huo Yuhao stuffing a soul-restoring pill into his mouth from time to time.
He nodded, slowly took off his glasses, and acknowledged Xuan Ziwen's words.
"Indeed, judging from the frequency of that kid taking pills, he has already acquired one-third of the essence of our Sun and Moon."
Xuan Ziwen fell into deep thought, as if recalling his youth, and sighed leisurely.
"When I was his age, I took drugs like this to speed up my soul master cultivation to study higher-level soul guidance devices."
Xu Sheng frowned slightly, puzzled as if this didn't prove anything: "What can be seen from taking pills at this frequency?"
"It can be seen that he may have a good talent in the field of soul guidance."
Xuan Ziwen was completely relying on intuition, and with Huo Yuhao's martial soul that made him feel the spiritual aura, based on this alone, the other party's soul guidance talent was likely not bad.
"Xuan Ziwen, I trust you and no one else."
Xu Sheng returned the glasses to Xuan Ziwen, believing that his judgment had a certain scientific basis. The insights of a genius are incomprehensible to ordinary people and are always so different.
Xuan Ziwen took the glasses and put them on: "It's mainly because we study soul guides, which rely more on the quality and quantity of spiritual power."
"If he has both the original martial soul and spiritual attributes, I think he will be relied upon by the teachers in any soul master academy on the mainland."
A certain noble academy: What a coincidence, but it's not the case here.
In the original novel, Huo Yuhao showed the extraordinary auxiliary ability of his Spirit Eyes martial soul at Shrek Academy, but the attention he received was very average, far less than that of the Sun and Moon Imperial Soul Engineering Academy and the Body Sect.
Perhaps this was because there were so many talented disciples in Shrek Academy. After all, they could withstand Xuanzi's attack and still be safe and sound.
They were the elite among the elites and would become capable generals in Xuanzi's Supervisory Group in the future.
...
While Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo were looking at the map and groping their way forward, they could feel that the air, which was originally quite fresh, gradually took on a pungent smell. A hazy mist spread and the forest seemed to be covered with a layer of gray-green gauze.
Although Dugu Luo felt somewhat familiar with the mist, the eerie and dark environment made her shiver suddenly.
"Yuhao, from what you talked about with Sister Lexuan before… Is establishing a sect your ideal?"
"Haha, half and half."
Huo Yuhao smiled but did not say it clearly. His biggest ideal was, of course, to use the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame to neutralize the Tang Buddha.
Dugu Luo's green eyes were full of smiles: "Then sister also wishes you success in achieving your goal."
Huo Yuhao walked ahead while looking at the map and gave her an OK sign with his hand above his shoulder.
The deeper they went into the forest, the more dangerous it became, so Dugu Luo released her martial soul, the Jade Phosphor Serpent, in advance.
As her martial soul was released, Dugu Luo's emerald green eyes gradually turned into vertical pupils, which made her pale but pretty face look a little more gentle. Her figure became more slender, and her waist became as slender as a water snake.
"The toxins in the surrounding mist seem to be getting stronger and stronger."
"Hiss~ So eerie." Dugu Luo looked around the quiet forest and couldn't help but shrug and rub her hands. She twisted her waist and hurried forward to get close to Huo Yuhao's arm.
"Yuhao, are you scared?" Dugu Luo glanced at Huo Yuhao's profile. Apart from his good looks, there was no trace of nervousness.
Huo Yuhao tilted his head to look at Dugu Luo. Her chin was resting on his shoulder, and he couldn't help but smile.
"Sister Dugu, didn't you always venture out alone before? Why are you scared now?"
"Before, I was determined to die if I failed. Now that I have hope of survival, I am naturally more cautious. Besides, this kind of place is indeed dangerous," Dugu Luo said.
Feeling the eerie atmosphere around her, Dugu Luo hugged Huo Yuhao with her two slender arms, forgetting the distance all of a sudden, and got closer to Huo Yuhao in fear.
"Sister Dugu, it's too close... It's affecting my rubbing of the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame," Huo Yuhao reminded her. While he was looking at the route on the map, he also had to mobilize the two kinds of flames to fuse to form Flame Lotus, so he naturally couldn't let his rhythm be disturbed.
Dugu Luo could see the three-dimensional pattern of the lotus seat through the sharing of the spiritual detection map. "Can you use this trump card of yours at any time?"
"Of course not."
Huo Yuhao smiled and explained: "In principle, it should be used as a trump card, but as long as I prepare it in advance, I can throw it out first."
His battle thinking was different from Xiao Yan's. The greatest role of culture should be to avoid being disadvantaged by culture. Since the ultimate move was powerful enough, he must have prepared the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame in advance and used it first when encountering the enemy.
Of course, it was also possible that Xiao Yan was worried about wasting his energy, so he first weakened the enemy and then threw the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame to ensure a hit.
Huo Yuhao did not have too many concerns about this. After all, he had the Spirit Eyes martial soul. With the help of mental detection and perspective + automatic aiming, the probability of missing the target was relatively small.
"Yuhao, I think these skills of yours are really powerful and special."
Dugu Luo thought about it seriously. Huo Yuhao had defeated the evil soul master with the invisible Angry Buddha Lotus Flame before, which had shocked her at the time. She never thought that he could fight like this.
"Especially the soul skill that can make us invisible, combined with your fighting style, can completely subvert the cognition of other soul masters." Huo Yuhao smacked his lips. He couldn't say that he had cheated.
He modestly replied, "It's okay, just luck."
As the two talked, the negative emotions caused by the gloomy environment around them also dissipated a lot.
The simulation allowed the two to blend into the surrounding environment, making them feel quite at ease. Coupled with the rubbing of the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame, they felt even more secure.
The forest was deep and quiet, with gray poisonous fog like a veil constantly spreading. Looking into the poisonous fog, one could see the strange, distorted, hazy shadows of many soul beasts caused by special refraction.
The shadows of these transformed soul beasts appeared quite oppressive in the poisonous fog.
Without spiritual detection, an ordinary third or fourth-ring soul master might come face to face with a soul beast in the next second without even knowing it.
The two continued walking in the poisonous fog according to the route on the map. Without any warning, the figure of a strange-looking spider quietly appeared on the detection map.
Huo Yuhao stopped and said, "Six-thousand-year-old crypt spider. If we go any further, we will enter its territory. There are many traps around it for ambushes and killings. Should we take a detour?"
The six-thousand-year-old crypt magic spider was not a big threat to Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo. After all, a soul master could fight soul beasts that were only a few thousand years old, and the body of the crypt magic spider was far less strong and savage than that of the human-faced magic spider.
The main reason was that fighting could easily attract other soul-beasts to come.
"Yuhao, has it discovered us?" Dugu Luo's eyes glowed with a green halo, and there was a snake tail behind her, ready to fight at any time.
"We used the detection map to avoid the spider silk it set up, so it hasn't found anything yet."
Huo Yuhao narrowed his eyes and added, "Although we are invisible, we are not gone."
"If we want to pass through the territory of the Crypt Demon Spider later, it should be able to detect any movement through the spider silk all over the ground."
The two briefly discussed and decided not to take a detour but to continue on their way in stealth mode.
This subterranean demon spider was less than ten thousand years old, so it was good that it had not been detected. If it had sensed them, the two could defeat it together and then finish the battle as quickly as possible.
After making the decision, the two stepped into the poisonous fog filled with spider webs.
"Squeak... Squeak..."
The Crypt Demon Spider instantly noticed the movement, but when it let its senses pass over the area, it did not sense any breath.
Hearing the tiny sounds around him, the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame in Huo Yuhao's hand was ready to go, and Dugu Luo was also prepared to use her strongest third soul ring, the Thousand Year Soul Skill.
The crypt spider passed through the trap that had been set long ago and lurked in the area where the unusual movement just occurred.
Regardless of whether it sensed its breath or not, it would first cover the area with a spider web cage.
If there was indeed a foreign object, it would naturally take the lead. If there was nothing, some spider silk would be wasted.
"It's coming. Look at the detection map. It's nearby. Let's attack together later." Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo saw a three-dimensional image of a huge and strange spider through the detection map in their minds, which was rapidly approaching their position.
The whereabouts of the crypt spider lurking underground were clearly shown on the mental detection map.
Xuan Ziwen and Xu Sheng, who were following behind to provide protection, saw this scene and felt a little nervous because they were not sure about Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo's fighting power.
"Xuan Ziwen, what are you worried about? When they are about to be attacked, I will kill the crypt spider with a heavy blow from my sword."
Xuan Ziwen's glasses glowed with a white light in the poisonous fog.
"From their reactions, they must have sensed something wrong, but they still chose to enter the territory of the Crypt Demon Spider. They must have some confidence to not be killed."
Although he guessed that the two were sure to survive, he was still worried. After all, one was a two-ring and the other was a three-ring. Generally speaking, a soul master could fight against an ordinary thousand-year soul beast, but a six-thousand-year soul beast was obviously beyond the range that a soul master could resist.
Xu Sheng and Xuan Ziwen looked into the poisonous fog, ready to rescue immediately if they felt that something might go wrong.
Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo looked intently at the specific location of the Subterranean Demon Spider on the detection map.
Soon, an extremely huge spider jumped out from a hole in the ground. Its abdomen was huge and swollen, and a huge amount of spider silk spewed out from it.
A cage shape was vaguely formed, ready to cover the area where Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo were.
"Angry Buddha Lotus Flame!"
"Third soul skill, Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison Spear!"
Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo both used their ultimate moves.
Seeing that there was indeed someone there, the eight small blue eyes under the belly of the Crypt Demon Spider revealed a bloodthirsty light.
'I'm so lucky today; I can change my taste.'
Then, the next second, it suffered the most tragic and fatal blow in thousands of years.
Huo Yuhao threw the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame, which he had been rubbing for a long time, toward the face of the Demon Spider.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent venom surged in Dugu Luo's body, and a layer of deep green light began to spread around her body. All the Jade Phosphor Serpent venom continued to gather towards her head and quickly twisted into a sharp spear shape.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent venom continued to be injected, and the spear-shaped shadow quickly solidified, with a faint green sheen on the surface.
The next moment.
A white and purple lotus seat and an emerald green spear appeared one after another on the body of the crypt spider.
With a loud bang, the crypt spider was blown to pieces, with strange liquid gushing out of its body, and then a green spear pierced its body.
The crypt spider was nailed to the ground by the spear. No part of its body was intact, and it flowed on the ground into a puddle of mud.
"First soul skill, Snake Spirit Strangulation!"
Dugu Luo finished off the underground demon spider. The thick green poison gas gradually gathered and condensed into a Jade Phosphor Serpent martial soul. Under her control, it quickly flew towards the underground demon spider.
The Jade Phosphor Serpent strangled the crypt Demon Spider, constricting it while releasing poison. Soon, the crypt Demon Spider was completely killed.
"Yuhao, we are awesome," Dugu Luo couldn't help but look delighted.
Huo Yuhao smiled and said, "Your soul skill is indeed very powerful. It is filled with the venom of the Jade Phosphor Serpent and has good attack power."
To prevent soul beasts from the neighboring territory from coming over, he simulated a similar underground demon spider through the simulation of soul skills. The black shadow stretched out and walked back and forth in the poisonous fog territory.
After dealing with the crypt spiders blocking their path, Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo continued to move forward.
However, Xu Sheng behind them was stunned. "Xuan Ziwen, is there a difference between the soul masters who take drugs?"
"Why is he so strong after taking drugs? He doesn't look like he has a weak foundation at all."
Xuan Ziwen held his eye sockets. "Maybe the pills he took are different, and the basic methods are different."
"He has been taking explosive pills all the way, and he bursts out with power several times stronger than his own in battle. The instantaneous explosive power caught the underground demon spider by surprise and killed it."
Xuan Ziwen shook his head: "It's not likely; his aura did not surge."
Xu Sheng saw the Angry Buddha Lotus Flame that Huo Yuhao had just cast and felt that such a powerful move, released by a second-ring soul master, was terrifying.
Huo Yuhao and Dugu Luo, who were in the poisonous fog, took soul-restoring pills to restore their soul power to full capacity. After walking for a while, they successfully arrived at the fork in the road.
Looking ahead in the hazy distance, the color of the poisonous fog became extremely deep, containing bright rainbow colors.
"Is this the poison formation of the Jade Phosphorus Seven Wonders Flowers?" Huo Yuhao asked subconsciously.
Dugu Luo compared the map in her hand. "This is the poison barrier outside. After choosing a path to enter, the internal terrain is still very complicated."
Through the detection map, they could see that in the colorful poisonous fog, three small paths hidden by the dense jungle extended deep into the depths.
Huo Yuhao looked into the poison barrier, and three options popped up in front of him.
—
[Option 1: Choose any path to pass through and successfully enter the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. If you enter at this time, there is a risk that Tang San will detect the breath of destiny again. Completion reward: A set of Soul Palace skills (obtained from the Soul Palace enemy's ring in the middle stage of the Flame Emperor)]
[Option 2: Wait until you are strong enough, then enter the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well. Completion reward: Ten Thousand Beasts Cauldron (the item taken from Han Feng in the early stage of Flame Emperor)]
[Option 3: After breaking through to the third ring, call the Ice Empress to intimidate and the Snow Empress's soul to support, enter the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well and have friendly exchanges with a group of immortal herbs. Completion reward: Depends on the chance obtained in the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.]
—
Huo Yuhao was delighted. He had hope for the second Heavenly Flame.
(End of this chapter)