Above the Mingdou Mountain Range, the gazes of Wang Donger and the others were fixed intently on the churning black clouds not far away.
That mass of dark clouds was like a boiling pot, with black currents of Qi constantly rolling and colliding within.
From time to time, muffled rumbling sounds emerged from within, mixed with faint beast roars and the aftershocks of Spirit Power collisions.
They could not see exactly what was happening inside, but the powerful fluctuations spreading in waves from the depths of the clouds were enough for each of them to clearly realize that Huo Yuhao had already engaged the enemy.
The look of worry on everyone's faces was unconcealed; after all, Huo Yuhao's opponent was a Titled Douluo.
And just as everyone's hearts grew heavier, that churning mass of black clouds seemed to have suddenly been hit with a pause button.
The rolling of the clouds ceased in an instant, and then, as if a formless wind from the heavens had blown them apart from within, the ink-like black clouds began to split and thin from the center, eventually dissipating.
The first thing everyone saw was countless tiny ice crystals falling vertically from the sky, like a silent rain of ice.
Sharp-eyed observers had already noticed that among the falling ice crystals, the largest one was as thick as two people embracing, and inside the crystal-clear ice layer, a thin figure was vaguely sealed.
Immediately afterward, everyone saw Huo Yuhao's figure once again.
He hovered in mid-air, with the lingering chill still remaining around his body.
His expression was calm, his breathing steady, showing no trace of having just gone through a major battle.
And at his feet, four red and three orange-gold spirit rings were arranged neatly.
Everyone was stunned!
For an ordinary Spirit Master, if they could obtain a single hundred-thousand-year spirit ring upon reaching their ninth spirit ring, they would be counted among the peerless powerhouses, becoming a legend celebrated across the continent for a time.
Yet now, this youth not even twenty years old before them had seven of them shining brightly at his feet.
Everyone who saw this scene fell into a brief silence, digesting the image they were witnessing.
Huo Yuhao slowly retracted his spirit rings and battle armor, returning to his usual simple appearance, and then turned and flew back to the group.
The members of the Spirit Pagoda watched him approach, their gazes toward him completely different from before.
If their previous respect for this young Pagoda Master stemmed from his talent and the changes he brought to the Spirit Master's world, then at this moment, that respect was covered by a heavier layer: a sense of awe for the powerhouse himself.
Although Huo Yuhao's cultivation was ostensibly only that of a seven-ringed Spirit Saint, he already possessed the combat power to defeat a Titled Douluo.
Huo Yuhao swept his gaze across everyone's faces, taking in each of their expressions.
He did not say much, simply casting his gaze toward the northern side of the Mingdou Mountain Range, then said calmly, "Let's go."
The group snapped out of their stupor and followed him one after another.
Over a dozen figures restarted their flying Spirit Tools under the sunlight, crossing the continuous ridges of the Mingdou Mountain Range and darting off in the direction of the Star Luo Empire.
...
Huo Yuhao's strike came too fast and too accurately; the Ice Jade Empress Scorpion's Ultimate Ice ray struck Zhang Peng precisely.
However, this was also because Zhang Peng had been shaken by those seven, defying-common-sense hundred-thousand-year spirit rings, causing a momentary lapse in his concentration.
Huo Yuhao seized that moment of distraction, succeeding in one strike and sealing this Super Douluo within Ultimate Ice.
But Huo Yuhao did not deliver a lethal blow; if he truly had the intent to kill, after Zhang Peng was frozen, he only needed to follow up with a Spirit Bone skill, Ice Explosion, and even a Super Douluo would have absolutely no chance of survival.
The frozen Zhang Peng was like a meteorite, falling straight from the sky above the Mingdou Mountain Range and crashing into the continuous forest below.
With a dull, thunderous thud, the ice crystal embedded itself into the soil and gravel, crushing a few low shrubs, and the birds in the vicinity were startled and scattered in flight.
After all, Zhang Peng was a Super Douluo; although the impact from the fall was violent, it was not enough to cause him fatal injury.
And although the Ultimate Ice was bone-chilling, under the protection of his deep Spirit Power, it could not truly erode his Origin.
"Crack... crack..."
A moment later, faint cracking sounds came from the surface of the ice-green crystal; at first, there were only a few extremely fine cracks, like a spiderweb on thin ice, slowly extending along the ice surface.
Subsequently, the cracks grew larger and larger, densely covering the entire outer wall of the ice crystal.
"Bang!"
With a loud explosion, the ice crystal shattered completely from within.
Countless tiny ice shards scattered like exploding fireworks, refracting brief seven-colored halos in the light filtering through the gaps in the leaves.
Zhang Peng's figure tumbled out from within, staggering back two steps, and he only managed to steady himself by holding onto a thick tree trunk nearby.
His face was as pale as paper, his lips tinged with blue-purple, and his whole body was still trembling involuntarily; that was the lingering aftereffect of the Ultimate Ice's intrusion.
He gasped violently, each breath he exhaled condensing into a white mist in the air.
Zhang Peng truly had not expected that Huo Yuhao's strength would be so powerful to this extent.
At this moment, his mind was still replaying the scene of that emerald-green ray piercing through the air just now; he lowered his head to look at his own still-trembling hands, unable to help but feel a sliver of lingering fear from the bottom of his heart.
The time that layer of Ultimate Ice had sealed him was actually not very long, only a few dozen breaths in total.
But now he had absolutely no intention of continuing the pursuit; after all, even if he caught up, he couldn't beat the other person, and any superfluous action would only be self-humiliation.
He took a deep breath, barely steadying his breathing, and prepared to leave this forest to return to the Holy Spirit Cult stronghold first before making further plans.
However, just the moment he took a step, an instinctive sense of crisis suddenly surged into his heart.
That was an intuition he had honed over many years of walking on the edge of life and death, faster than any means of perception.
His spine tightened abruptly, and he turned sharply like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, his gaze sweeping sharply into a patch of dense tree shadows not far away.
"Who is it?!"
He shouted sternly, his voice carrying the vigilance that hadn't yet dissipated and a hint of imperceptible nervousness.
There was no immediate response from the darkness; he first saw two golden lights light up from the depths of the shadows, as if two burning flames were floating in the darkness.
Immediately afterward, a figure slowly walked out from those shadows.
The person approaching was tall, his entire body shrouded in a wide black cloak, with the brim of his hood pulled very low, making it impossible to see his face.
And those two golden lights from just before were precisely the eyes embedded in his eye sockets.
To be precise, his pupils themselves were two burning golden flames, flickering in the shadows of the cloak.
Zhang Peng's heart instantly jumped to his throat; the other party did not emit any powerful aura fluctuations, and not even a sliver of Spirit Power was leaking out.
Yet that sense of unease that had enveloped Zhang Peng's heart from the unknown was growing thicker, so thick that he almost wanted to turn and run.
In an instant, he had a judgment: he was definitely no match for this person before him.
However, he soon breathed a slight sigh of relief, because he clearly felt a rich aura of death from the other party.
That cold, silent, and death-soaked scent, as if it had been steeped in a pile of corpses, was something he was all too familiar with; many Evil Soul Masters possessed it.
The death aura on the person in front of him was so thick it had almost condensed into substance; there was no doubt he was an Evil Soul Master, and his cultivation was far above his own.
Could it be... that the Holy Spirit Cult had sent someone to pick him up?
This thought flashed through Zhang Peng's mind, but then a new doubt arose.
He had served as a venerated elder in the Holy Spirit Cult for many years; even if he wasn't familiar with the top-ranked powerhouses in the cult, he had mostly met them at least once.
But he had never seen this person before him, whether it was his build, aura, or the golden flames in those eyes.
When did such a figure appear in the Holy Spirit Cult?
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A/N:
I hope all of you are enjoying this story so far. I would appreciate some Power Stones if you can spare any. Leave a review if you like the story. Thank you.