Chapter 274 Bai Yuhao Arrives at the Holy Spirit Cult, Bai Xuanzi's Hands.
In the dark world, in the squares of major cities, Soul Masters looked at the sky, their discussions gradually subsiding, and all eyes were focused on the images that were about to be played.
[In the scene depicting the sky.]
The next morning, Huo Yuhao left Shrek Academy.
He set off alone, without any companions. His two-word battle armor, "Black Hole," was already on his body, its deep purple metal gleaming coldly in the morning light. A storage soul tool hung at his waist, containing several level-ten soul tool bombs and some recovery pills prepared for him by Bai Xuanzi.
Huo Yuhao unfurled the flight wings of his battle armor, transforming into a deep purple streak of light as he sped towards the Sun Moon Empire.
The journey was tedious. He crossed the border of the Star Luo Empire, traversed the mountains of the Heavenly Soul Empire, and headed west. Along the way, he avoided cities and towns, trying to take routes rarely traveled to avoid revealing his whereabouts.
Two days later, he arrived within the territory of the Sun Moon Empire.
The Holy Spirit Cult's headquarters are located in a desolate wasteland in the northwest of the Sun Moon Empire, hundreds of miles away from any other inhabitants. It was originally an abandoned ancient city, which the Holy Spirit Cult occupied and transformed into their stronghold.
Huo Yuhao landed several dozen miles from the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters, retracted his wings, and switched to walking. He used his spiritual eye to scan the area ahead, discovering that it was riddled with detection arrays and traps set up by evil soul masters.
Instead of forcing his way through, he used his mental power to disrupt the fluctuations of the detection arrays, passing by silently.
An hour later, Huo Yuhao stood outside the headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult.
It was a black city, its walls towering high and covered in dark purple, malevolent runes. Malevolent spirit masters guarded the city gates, and patrols roamed the walls. The entire city reeked of a nauseating, decaying stench.
Huo Yuhao took a deep breath, then moved.
He didn't sneak in, nor did he take a detour; instead, he went directly towards the city gate.
"Who goes there?" The evil spirit master guarding the gate saw him and shouted sharply.
Huo Yuhao did not answer. He raised his right hand and flicked his finger.
[A frosty domain instantly unfolded. Within a 150-meter radius, the ground, air, and even the city walls began to freeze.]
Before the evil spirit masters guarding the gate could even unleash their martial spirits, their ankles were frozen solid by the icy air, leaving them completely immobilized. Their bodies were rapidly covered in ice, turning them into ice sculptures in less than two breaths.
The evil spirit masters patrolling the city walls noticed the unusual activity and sounded a piercing alarm.
"Enemy attack! Someone has broken in!"
Huo Yuhao ignored the shouts and continued walking forward. He entered the city gate, passed through the passageway, and stepped into the headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult.
His icy domain continued to expand. One hundred and fifty meters, one hundred and sixty meters, one hundred and seventy meters… Bai Xuanzi told him to think about it some more, and he did. Although it only expanded by twenty meters, it was still progress.
The ice within the domain grew thicker and the chill intensified. The lower-level evil spirit masters were utterly unable to withstand the extreme cold; some were frozen solid, unable to move, while others were frozen into ice sculptures.
Higher-level evil spirit masters could barely resist, but they could only stand still and release their soul power to protect themselves, with no strength left to fight back.
Huo Yuhao walked along the streets of the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters; everything in his path froze over.
He caused too much of a commotion.
The entire headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult was alarmed.
In the plaza of the Dark World, the Soul Masters witnessed this scene, and their discussions erupted once again.
"He caused such a commotion?" A Soul Master's eyes widened. "Wasn't he going to rescue someone? Why does it look like he's going to destroy a house?"
"This is too much of a commotion," someone nearby said. "The entire Holy Spirit Cult headquarters has been alerted. This isn't a rescue; it's a provocation."
"We're definitely going to be surrounded now." Another Soul Master shook his head. "If you sneak in and rescue them, you might succeed. But by barging in so openly, aren't you just asking to be surrounded?"
"And look, he's even activated his domain, the ice layer covers 170 meters," someone analyzed. "Those low-level evil soul masters really can't stop him, but the high-level ones haven't even made a move yet. The Holy Spirit Cult headquarters has so many Title Douluos, and two Limit Douluos too. Isn't he just courting death by doing this?"
"Isn't Bai Yuhao too confident?" a female Soul Master said worriedly. "Does he think his domain is invincible? That's the headquarters of the Holy Spirit Cult, not Shrek Academy's training ground."
"Maybe he has other plans," someone speculated. "He deliberately made a big commotion, perhaps to lure out those high-level evil soul masters and then take them out in one go with a level 10 soul tool bomb? The things Bai Xuanzi prepared for him must be useful."
"That's possible," another person said. "But in any case, with his outburst, the elders of the Holy Spirit Cult will definitely have to take action. Whether they can hold out depends on just how strong his domain is."
"Stop arguing, look at the sky," someone said. "The elders have already come out."
All eyes were once again focused on the sky.
[In the scene depicting the sky.]
Huo Yuhao's ice domain has already covered most of the outer city of the Holy Spirit Cult headquarters.
Just then, several powerful auras erupted from the depths of the city. These auras, carrying a dense, malevolent energy, intertwined in the air to form a massive net, attempting to suppress Huo Yuhao's domain.
Six figures flew in from different directions and landed around Huo Yuhao, completely surrounding him.
Those were six elders of the Holy Spirit Cult. Each of them emanated an aura of power befitting a Title Douluo.
The leader was a gaunt old man whose martial spirit was a bone staff, the head of which was inlaid with a dark purple skull. He stared at Huo Yuhao, his eyes filled with killing intent.
"How dare you!" the old man said coldly. "A mere level 80 junior dares to trespass on the headquarters of my Holy Spirit Cult? Are you tired of living?"
Huo Yuhao stood in the center of the encirclement, surveying the six elders without speaking. His domain continued to operate, the ice layer extending outwards from beneath his feet.
"Why waste words with him?" another elder said, his martial spirit being a giant venomous scorpion. "Just kill him and dig out his soul bone. This kid's battle armor is pretty good; it's mine."
"Make your move," the elderly man with the bone staff at the head of the group growled.
[The six elders attacked simultaneously. Bone staffs, poisonous scorpions, blood mist, corpse energy... all sorts of insidious soul techniques bombarded Huo Yuhao.]
Huo Yuhao stood still, not dodging. With a mere thought, the ice layers within his Frost Domain instantly rose, forming a thick ice wall around him.
[boom--]
The six attacks struck the ice wall, causing cracks to appear but not collapsing. Huo Yuhao remained unharmed behind the ice wall.
"You've got some skill," the old man with the bone staff scoffed. "Attack him all at once, don't give him a chance to breathe."
The six elders attacked again. This time, their attacks were even more ferocious, and their coordination was even more seamless.
Huo Yuhao knew that relying solely on defense wouldn't last long. He needed to counterattack.
With a thought, the ice crystals within his icy domain began to condense, transforming into dozens of ice spikes that hovered in mid-air, aimed at the six elders.
"Go," Huo Yuhao ordered in a low voice.
A barrage of ice spikes shot towards the six elders.
The six elders hurriedly dodged or blocked, but there were too many ice spikes, and each one was imbued with mental energy to lock onto them. They avoided the first one, but the second one immediately followed.
[An elder was pierced in the shoulder by an icicle, bleeding profusely. Another elder had half his body frozen, making him move slowly.]
"Damn it, this domain is too strange!" the injured elder cursed. "How can its ice attribute be so strong?"
The old man with the bone staff's face turned extremely ugly. He hadn't expected that a level 80 Soul Master could hold his own against six Title Douluos.
But just then, several even more powerful auras erupted from the depths of the city.
Those auras were far stronger than the six elders before him. Two of them even caused a slight fluctuation in Huo Yuhao's domain.
Huo Yuhao's expression turned serious. He knew that a true master was about to make their move.
[However--]
The auras vanished quickly after the outburst. Not dissipated, but rather seemed to be forcibly drawn away, disappearing into the distance.
The old man with the bone staff also sensed it, and his expression changed drastically: "What happened? Why did the sect leader and the others leave?"
"It's not just the sect leader," another elder said in horror, "The First Elder, the Second Elder, and those other elders above level 95, they're all gone. Their auras... were teleported away by something."
"Teleportation?" The old man with the bone staff was stunned. "Who can teleport someone away from our territory silently?"
No one could answer him.
None of the top-tier experts who were supposed to appear showed up.
What remained before Huo Yuhao were only these six elders and the lower-ranking evil soul masters deep within the city.
Of the six elders before them, the one with the bone staff, the most powerful, was only level 91. The other five were all just over level 90.
Huo Yuhao looked at them, a slight smile playing on his lips.
He understood. This was Bai Xuanzi's doing.
The teacher said "I'll send you," not "I'll send you alone." The teacher must have secretly manipulated things, teleporting away all the powerful individuals who could threaten him.
The rest is what he can handle.
The old man with the bone staff finally realized what was happening. His expression changed from anger to fear, and from fear to despair.
"You...you have someone backing you?" The old man with the bone staff asked, his voice trembling. "Who is it? Who is helping you?"
Huo Yuhao did not answer.
He simply took a step forward, and the icy domain expanded once more.
The ice spread out from beneath their feet, surging towards the six elders.
"Now, it's my turn," Huo Yuhao said.
(End of chapter)