Douluo Continent, Far North, Eternal Forbidden Land —
the ice of the frozen cave melted quietly, and a man who had been frozen for tens of thousands of years slowly opened his eyes. He moved his body, took a deep breath of the icy mist, and a long-lost smile appeared on his face.
"Finally, I have returned to Douluo Continent. Experiencing this world in person may be more meaningful than just watching from the God Realm," he said softly.
"Yuhao, you're back," the Snow Queen, who had been guarding the Eternal Frozen Cave, said with a hint of relief in her tone.
Huo Yuhao nodded and said, "My name is Huo Qiqiang, and this is also the identity I will use while walking in Douluo Continent from now on."
"How has the resource collection been over these years, Snow Queen?" Huo Yuhao asked.
The Snow Queen replied, "They have all been stored in the Eternal Forbidden Land, waiting for you to use them when you want."
Huo Yuhao nodded and began to check the stored resources one by one. Among the future supplies were precious materials for refining Xuanshui Dan and Shenghun Dan, whale glue for improving physical fitness, and rare materials for making soul guides. It can be said that the resources stored in the Eternal Forbidden Land were enough to create several super forces like the Haotian Sect.
For Huo Yuhao, who was born ten thousand years later and already knew the future development of the continent from the God Realm, every skill in his hands — even those deduced after mastering Xuantian Gong — could easily bring drastic changes to this era. But the soul guides alone were enough to make Tang San, who was determined to establish the Tang Sect and carry forward its glory, feel deep despair.
However, Huo Yuhao did not make too many changes to this era. He hoped that when Tang San returned to this era, this place would remain authentic, with the taste and warmth of home. Then, at a critical moment, these treasures could be brought out.
Just as Huo Qiqiang's attention was drawn to these treasures, a rough voice came from the direction of the temple:
"Who dares to trespass into the Eternal Forbidden Land!"
The voice carried a majestic soul power. Just as the man was about to attack Huo Qiqiang, Xue Di stood up and stretched out her bare hand to block the attacking soul power hammer.
"How dare you! Retreat!" Xue Di shouted and repelled the other party.
Huo Qiqiang looked clearly at the person. He was a muscular man with bronze skin and hair standing up like steel needles. He raised a sledgehammer in his hand, and nine soul rings lingered around his body — eight black and one red.
This man's name was Tang Chen. His current identity was the Eternal God's Great Priest, responsible for guarding the Eternal Forbidden Land.
At this moment, he looked at Xue Di with doubt.
"Tang Chen, do you know who you are attacking?" Xue Di scolded angrily.
"I have never revealed any symbols that identify myself, so it's understandable for the chief priest to mistake me for an intruder," Huo Yuhao said with interest as he looked at Tang Chen. "This actually reflects the loyalty of our chief priest to the Eternal Forbidden Land. Let him leave."
Seeing that Huo Qiqiang had no intention of punishing Tang Chen, the Snow Queen did not pursue the matter further:
"Did you hear that? Go back and guard the core of the Eternal Tower."
"Yes," Tang Chen said respectfully to the Snow Queen. Finally, he glanced at Huo Qiqiang in confusion and then left.
"Next, I plan to travel openly on the continent," Huo Qiqiang snapped his fingers, raising his soul power to an extreme level just below that of the gods. Nine blood-red god-given soul rings lingered around his body. "Do you think this is too ostentatious?"
"Want to hear the truth?" Xue Di asked.
"Of course," Huo Qiqiang answered.
"Yes!" Xue Di said bluntly.
"Well, it's better not to be too ostentatious," Huo Qiqiang snapped his fingers again, and his aura suddenly collapsed, retreating from the strength of a level 99 Extreme Douluo to that of a level 97 Super Douluo. His spirit rings also changed, turning yellow, purple, black, black, red, red.
"That's about right," Huo Yuhao said. "Next, the mainland resource collection plan will continue, and I'll leave the Eternal Forbidden Land in your hands."
Xue Di nodded. "Yes, sir."
...
After bidding farewell to Xue Di, Huo Yuhao left the Far North and began traveling on the Douluo Continent of this era. He could clearly feel the difference between this era and the Douluo Continent ten thousand years later.
Comparing the two eras, Huo Yuhao could say that although this era was backward, it was civilized; while the Douluo Continent ten thousand years later, although advanced, was barbaric.
This era was still barbaric, without the inheritance of spirit guides, and overall lagged behind the Douluo Continent ten thousand years later. But the order of this era was relatively stable, while ten thousand years later, it could only be described as chaotic.
The Spirit Hall was the villain created by the first era of Douluo, but their existence did not harm civilians. It was the nobles who regarded them as enemies. The villain of the second era of Douluo was the Holy Spirit Church, a group of evil soul masters. Wherever they passed, people were left in ruins, and they strengthened themselves by creating killing and bloodshed.
In the first era of Douluo, it cannot be said there were no evil soul masters, but they could only hide in the shadows. In the second era, Huo Yuhao deeply realized how much angels suppressed evil soul masters. Think carefully — in the first era, when angels were the popes of each generation, there was no room for evil soul masters to operate openly; they flocked to the Slaughter City to find freedom.
But if given a choice, would these evil people choose to openly roam Douluo Continent, or choose the freedom of confinement in Slaughter City?
However, this era soon came to an end. Tang San destroyed Slaughter City on the grounds of destroying the land of sin. But a city of killing is easy to destroy — can the evil in people's hearts be easily eradicated? The answer is no.
After the destruction of the Spirit Hall, none of the forces left by Tang San, such as the Haotian Sect, Shrek, and the Tang Sect, could replace the Spirit Hall or become an absolutely suppressive force against evil soul masters.
What you can see is the campus life of noble young masters and ladies in the second era of Douluo, saving the world; but what you cannot see is the scene of remote mountain villages and towns being slaughtered by evil soul masters. Huo Yuhao, who lived in that era, realized that the truth behind the peerless Tang Sect era was far from the superficial descriptions in novels.
The awakening of the spirit was also different in the two eras. In the first era, without considering the angel inheritance of the Spirit Hall and the later founding of the country by Bibi Dong, the basic nature of the Spirit Hall was more public welfare than religious. Awakening was free — even if you had talent but did not want to join the Spirit Hall, you would not be forced, and you could still receive a monthly salary. This was simply unimaginable in the second era.
In the second era, although people awakened their spirits, it was different from the Spirit Hall era. The awakening of soul masters originated from nobles and sects. They awakened the martial spirits of their subjects in their own territories by charging fees. Therefore, they controlled the basic soul master awakening data, knew who was a genius and who was willing to serve them. Genius soul masters who were willing to serve their families could be trained; those unwilling, they had ways to force obedience or destroy them, delaying their talent so they would achieve nothing.
The letter of recommendation system was a class barrier designed by the nobles. Only those who could get a letter of recommendation could enroll, thus monopolizing educational resources among nobles and schools. Schools provided admission convenience to nobles, and genius soul masters admitted through recommendation letters were bound to their forces for life — just like Huo Yuhao was admitted through the Tang Sect and became bound to it.
(End of this chapter)
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