Another hour passed before Huo Yuhao finally awoke from cultivation.
In his deep blue eyes, a faint golden glow flickered. A bright yellow spirit ring rose from beneath his feet. The uncontrollable joy in his heart surged forth, and he jumped up excitedly, shouting, "I did it! I finally became a true spirit master!"
But when he noticed Xu Zihuang and the other three watching him, he came back to his senses and lowered his head a little awkwardly.
"Senior brother, Teacher Xiaoya, thank you."
"Yuhao, you should really be thanking this little brother Yu." Beibei smiled warmly.
Tang Ya chimed in, "That's right, little Yuhao. Terrorclaw Dragons are rare in the Star Dou Forest. Without little brother Yu, we might not have been able to get such a good spirit ring this time."
"No need for thanks."
Xu Zihuang smiled, waved his hand, and walked over to Huo Yuhao.
"My name is Yu Tianhuang. I heard from Senior Brother Bei and Senior Sister Tang that you're also a new student of Shrek Academy this year. Perhaps we'll even be classmates. Please take care of me in the future."
"Ah… h-hello, my name is Huo Yuhao. Please take care of me." Huo Yuhao quickly replied, face full of unease. After all, he was still young, and his childhood experiences meant he could not be as composed as Xu Zihuang.
Beibei turned to Xu Zihuang and said, "Little brother Yu, we came to the Star Dou Forest this time to hunt spirit beasts and gain spirit rings. Now Xiaoya still needs to find a suitable third spirit ring. If you don't mind, you can come with us. Once we're done, we'll bring you and Yuhao together to Shrek Academy."
"Senior Brother Bei, I have no objections. I had planned to hunt some spirit beasts in the outer area of the forest anyway, collecting materials to trade for some living expenses. I just went a little too deep without realizing it. Going with Senior Brother Bei and Senior Sister Tang will also give me some cover." Xu Zihuang nodded seriously.
He had intended to stay in the Star Dou Forest for a while longer to search for Electrolux's remnant divine sense. With the plot having changed drastically, he was no longer sure if he would encounter Electrolux, but for now, staying with Beibei and the others was indeed the best choice.
After all, the protagonist was right by his side.
Thinking of this, he instinctively glanced at Huo Yuhao beside him.
"No time to lose, let's set out." At the thought of gaining a spirit ring, Tang Ya's face was full of excitement.
No spirit master could resist the temptation of advancement.
Tang Ya walked in front, Xu Zihuang and Huo Yuhao in the middle, while Beibei followed behind.
In a spirit beast hunting team inside the Star Dou Forest, the one guarding the rear was often the most dangerous position, since attacks could come from any direction, and those in front might not be able to support in time. As the senior, and the one with the strongest visible strength, Beibei naturally took the role.
With his first spirit ring, Huo Yuhao clearly felt his cultivation had improved greatly, especially his strengthened body, which made traveling much easier.
But the incident with the Mandala Snake's poison yesterday left him tense.
He had simply experienced too little.
By contrast, Xu Zihuang was much calmer, his steps steady as he constantly remained alert to his surroundings.
Seeing Xu Zihuang's performance, Beibei became even more certain of his guess.
Only the scions of great spirit master families could have such rich experience at this age.
The group didn't go deeper into the forest but searched laterally. After not even five kilometers, they encountered another spirit beast.
"Teacher Xiaoya, something's moving ahead." With the sharp vision from his Spirit Eyes, Huo Yuhao vaguely saw a yellow shadow.
Although his Spirit Eyes and Xu Zihuang's Golden Eyes were both spiritual attribute martial souls, Xu Zihuang's Golden Eyes were of slightly higher quality.
Huo Yuhao only saw a blur of yellow, but Xu Zihuang, relying on his martial soul's instinct, easily captured the full outline of the yellow shadow.
"Squeak, squeak!" Before Huo Yuhao finished speaking, a sharp screech rang out. The yellow shadow lashed straight toward Tang Ya.
Thanks to Huo Yuhao's reminder, Tang Ya was already prepared. With a cold snort, her footwork suddenly turned illusory, and streaks of cold light flashed from her hands.
Clang, clang, clang—
A series of crisp metallic collisions sounded. The yellow shadow seemed to be struck, its speed dropping sharply.
Two spirit rings rose simultaneously from beneath Tang Ya's feet, bright yellow pulsing up and down. At that instant, blue vines shot rapidly from her body, tightly binding the yellow shadow and revealing its true form.
It was a massive rat over two feet long. That yellow shadow earlier had been its tail.
Two feet in length—a Long-Tailed Rat of the hundred-year level.
The Long-Tailed Rat was a solitary spirit beast with strong combat power. Its tail was highly versatile, its skin hard as iron, and it had iron teeth capable of gnawing rare metals.
Tang Ya said proudly, "Little Yuhao, did you see? What I just used was the Tang Sect's Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track combined with hidden weapons. Amazing, right? Work hard, and you'll learn it too."
"Xiaoya, careful!"
"Senior sister, careful!"
At that moment, Xu Zihuang and Beibei's expressions suddenly changed. They shouted a warning at the same time.
Their gazes met instantly, then both used their spirit power to quickly pull Tang Ya and Huo Yuhao away from the spot.
Almost the instant they left, countless crystalline yellow threads burst from the ground like a prison woven of webs, trapping the Long-Tailed Rat that failed to escape in time.
The threads were coated with extremely viscous liquid that hardened upon contact with air. In just a moment, they became as tough as steel, forming a true web-prison.
A few strands of purple hair swayed in the wind. Xu Zihuang released Tang Ya's delicate wrist apologetically.
"There was a reason, Senior Sister. Forgive me just now."
Still shaken, Tang Ya's chest heaved slightly, but her affection for Xu Zihuang, who had just saved her, increased greatly. At the same time, her pretty face flushed with embarrassment.
She had just said she would protect Xu Zihuang, yet it turned out she was saved by him.
On the other side, Beibei stood in front of Huo Yuhao. His previous gentle and scholarly demeanor was gone, replaced by a completely different aura.
A dazzling blue light flared from his brow, instantly spreading across his body. Strands of bluish-purple lightning burst forth like small snakes, crackling around him.
On the surface, Beibei's transformation was not large. Aside from a blue lightning mark on his forehead, only one part of his body had changed under spirit possession.
But that change was drastic.
It was his right arm. His sleeve burst into ash as the arm swelled, lengthening by half a foot. The arm became thick and covered in bluish-purple scales. His hand turned into a claw, lightning coursing constantly over it. Two yellow and one purple rings didn't circle his body as with most spirit masters, but instead revolved solely around that mutated arm.
"So this is the dragonification unique to the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon martial soul?" Xu Zihuang observed Beibei's right arm with a contemplative look.
His instincts told him that once his second martial soul, the Purple Radiance Thunder Prison Dragon, gained spirit rings in the future, it too would have such a power.
Beibei's eyes sharpened, purple light flashing within. His massive right arm swept out, laying down an electric net to repel the cunning spirit beast that had attacked from the shadows.
As the net of lightning spread, a gray spider-like spirit beast emerged from the darkness. Yellow silk threads clung to its body, identical to the ones that had just attacked them.
Clearly, this was the culprit.
"A thousand-year Subterranean Demon Spider?! Great! Beibei, I want this one." Tang Ya exclaimed excitedly.
But Beibei did not share her enthusiasm.
The Subterranean Demon Spider, like the Man-Faced Demon Spider, was one of the most powerful spider-type spirit beasts, though they walked very different paths. The Man-Faced Demon Spider excelled in terrifying, swift, domineering attacks, while the Subterranean Demon Spider specialized in creating traps using terrain, killing its prey with special skills.
In terms of sheer power, the Man-Faced Demon Spider was stronger. But capturing a thousand-year Subterranean Demon Spider alive was by no means easy.
Xu Zihuang noticed Beibei's hesitation and said solemnly, "Senior Brother Bei, you can focus on dealing with this Subterranean Demon Spider. Leave the rest to me."
Beibei was a descendant of Elder Mu, and Tang Ya's martial soul had special abilities. Forming ties with the two would definitely be useful in the future. At this moment, he didn't mind doing them another favor to strengthen their bond.
From his standpoint, Shrek Academy and the three great empires of the original Douluo Continent were destined to be his enemies in the end. But for a long time, they actually shared a common foe—the Sun Moon Empire, or more precisely, the Sun Moon Empire under Xu Tiannan's rule.
If Shrek Academy and the three empires were too weak, Xu Tiannan would swallow them easily. Then there would be no place for him on the continent, let alone any chance of seizing the throne.
There were no eternal enemies, only eternal interests.
Unless his strength grew so overwhelming that he could disregard all rules.
"Alright!" Beibei shouted, his first spirit ring on his right arm flashing brightly. With intense spirit power surging, a bluish-purple lightning dragon claw nearly a foot in diameter shot out, striking at the thousand-year Subterranean Demon Spider.
He was not the indecisive type. After what just happened, he had already gained a rough estimate of Xu Zihuang's strength.
At the very least, his spirit power was not below rank thirty.