"The Holy Spirit Church!"
Huo Yuhao's heart jolted violently. Of all the things he'd expected, encountering members of the Holy Spirit Church here, and not just any members—but its top brass—was not one of them.
The Holy Spirit Church—one of the ultimate villainous organizations in the original novel. Even by modern moral standards, these people were beyond redemption. Who knew how many atrocities this cult of pure evil soul masters had committed over the years?
Tying back to the original story, the rise of the Holy Spirit Church was largely due to Tang San, the God King, destroying the Slaughter City—a hidden, near-impenetrable prison for evil soul masters. Without it, those dark practitioners scattered across the continent like a plague. Ironically, the Angel martial soul, once the Holy Spirit Church's natural nemesis, lost its divine status after the God King's final battle. The few surviving Angel soul users were scattered and weakened—what was once the god-class Six-Winged Angel degraded into lower-tier "Holy" or "Prayer" Angel martial souls, good only for healing or minor sanctity.
The times make the hero. Even if you choose not to help the world, you should at least not harm it.
Reading about these things was one thing. Facing them in real life? Entirely different.
Even though Douluo Dalu's power system was considered "low-tier" by fantasy standards, Huo Yuhao knew that he was in no shape to fight the black-robed man before him—who might very well be Zhongli Wu, the Church's leader. Unless a nuke had traveled with him into this world, he was outmatched.
"Junior's name is Huo Yuanjia. May I know the senior's name?"
Huo Yuhao smiled calmly, silently cursing Tang San and his descendants while quickly giving a false name.
"Not bad, not bad. My surname is Zhongli. I never imagined today's trip would deliver such a surprise to our Church."
The black-robed man chuckled, pinching Huo Yuhao's shoulder and clicking his tongue in delight.
It really is this old monster...
Huo Yuhao sighed inwardly. He had somehow fallen into the hands of the final boss himself. Hopefully, he could escape before he got brainwashed into some half-human, half-ghost monstrosity.
"Senior," Huo Yuhao asked cautiously, "why did someone just now call me an evil soul master? My martial soul is just a pair of eyes."
And he was genuinely confused. According to the original timeline, he wouldn't even start learning Necromancy from Electrolux for another year. Aside from that strange moment earlier when his Spiritual Eyes devoured a massive number of souls, he was—at best—just a low-tier evil soul master, hardly worthy of the title "Holy Son."
"It's understandable that the Holy Son, newly awakened, has yet to perceive the extent of his own power," Zhongli Wu said, clearly pleased with the youth before him. "Your martial soul has undergone a second awakening. I've heard of innate full soul power geniuses, even the legendary innate Level 20 prodigies. But today, I've seen something that surpasses imagination—innate Level 30."
Innate Level 30?!
Huo Yuhao was dumbfounded. He had sensed his soul power as being only Level 10.
Zhongli Wu explained patiently, "Soul power doesn't halt its growth just because one hasn't acquired a soul ring. It continues to accumulate. Ancient records from the Martial Soul Hall describe this clearly. Your soul power has already surpassed the divine-grade threshold of Level 20, triggering the emergence of a self-generated soul ring—something not seen in tens of thousands of years. With just one soul beast kill, this ring will be fully awakened and provide a skill equal to your limit."
He nodded with genuine admiration.
"Worthy of being our Holy Son. You have the bearing of a god-to-be!"
While the two conversed, the evil soul masters at Titled Douluo level had already wiped out Shrek's entire inspection team—leaving only the unconscious "Saintess," Ma Xiaotao, bound in demonic flames.
Compared to her future self in the original timeline, she still bore a youthful look, her beauty still tinged with immaturity—a fiery little demon indeed.
"She carries the rare Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul," Zhongli Wu sneered, gripping her delicate wrist. "With a little mental guidance from our Holy Son, her 'evil' nature will fully awaken—transforming her into a world-ending Dark Phoenix. That foolish founder of Shrek really passed this thing down."
Huo Yuhao stood silently by Zhongli Wu's side, staring coldly at the unconscious Ma Xiaotao.
In the original novel, she had called Huo Yuhao "little brother," and ultimately sacrificed herself to share his burdens. He had held some affection for her.
But after today—after she tried to kill him—that goodwill vanished without a trace.
Still, if I ever get the chance to talk to her properly, I wouldn't mind pulling her to my side.
After all, her talent in Peerless Tang Sect was nearly unparalleled.
"Holy Son, let us return—back to the place that belongs to us."
"I leave everything to your arrangement, Senior."
As in the original story, the Holy Spirit Church maintained deep, murky ties with the upper echelons of the Sun-Moon Empire. Zhongli Wu, in fact, carried one of Mingde Hall's high-grade flying soul tools, which made travel far more efficient.
Seated calmly under the wind barrier of the soul tool, Huo Yuhao didn't react much. In his past life, he had flown plenty of times, so the device didn't faze him. He appeared composed and serene—an attitude that earned silent approval from Zhongli Wu and the others.
This Super Douluo-class flying soul tool moved with incredible speed, nearly rivaling the supersonic jets of Earth's special forces. No wonder that by the Dragon King Legend era, the world would evolve to feature mechas and Gundams.
Through casual conversation, Huo Yuhao used modern conversational tactics to pry out Zhongli Wu's true objective in appearing inside the Star Luo Empire.
The Sun-Moon Empire's forces were locked in a tense standoff with the Star Luo Empire across the Mingdou Mountain Range. Led by the White Tiger Duke, the Star Luo forces were posing significant trouble. Zhongli Wu's party had been dispatched to infiltrate enemy territory and kidnap people close to the duke, hoping to use them as leverage when war broke out.
In the original novel, after Huo Yuhao left the Duke's estate, the Duchess soon fell ill and died. What hadn't been explained? That her death was caused by the Holy Spirit Church, to destabilize the Duke during wartime. This subtle detail was only briefly mentioned by Dai Huabin.
Now, however, everything made sense.
Unfortunately for them, the entire Duke's estate had been obliterated by Huo Yuhao's "artistic" destruction. The Duchess, confirmed to have been home, had become nourishment for his Spiritual Eyes. Their mission was a complete failure, except for the unexpected captures of Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao.
Ahead lay a vast forest in the north, dominated by coniferous trees, many of which bore dark gray-black trunks and leaves. From above, the entire forest appeared to shift from dark green to pitch-black.
There was only one forest on the entire continent like this:
The Demonic Forest.
Even before entering, its oppressive aura was palpable.
Without doubt, this was Zhongli Wu's destination.
Any soul master with a shred of common sense knew never to fly over an area thick with soul beasts—doing so was suicide. But Zhongli Wu and his team were arrogant in their strength. They soared directly over the canopy and slowly descended with Huo Yuhao until they reached the forest floor.
Yes—the Holy Spirit Church's headquarters lay deep within this forest.
Thanks to his meta-knowledge, Huo Yuhao knew what no one else could suspect: that the Church's base was hidden beneath the ground near the forest's edge, in a palace-like subterranean structure. A monumental feat of engineering.
The Demonic Forest was to the Sun-Moon Empire what the Star Dou Forest was to the Douluo Continent—home to the continent's most powerful soul beasts. Including the second-ranked among the Top Ten Savage Beasts, the Evil-Eyed Tyrant Lord.
In the original story, Huo Yuhao obtained his seventh soul ring here by killing a hundred-thousand-year Evil-Eyed Tyrant. That event nearly cost him his life when its parent, the Tyrant Lord, discovered the killing.
"Welcome, Lord Hierarch!"
Several evil soul masters had already been lying in wait. Seeing Zhongli Wu's group return, they rushed forward.
"Pass the order. Assemble all members of the Holy Spirit Hall. We shall host a grand welcome for our Holy Son and Saintess!"
(End of Chapter)
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