Huo Yuhao walked behind Gu Yue with a complex swirl of feelings as they reached her door. He felt a strange tension in his chest, unsure of what to expect from this meeting.
Gu Yue pushed the door open and walked inside without saying a word. After pausing for a short moment to steady his breathing, Huo Yuhao followed her into the apartment.
He walked through the small entrance area and the living room immediately came into view. The space was simple, but his attention was pulled elsewhere.
Huo Yuhao looked toward the sofa and his eyes locked onto the person sitting there. It was a very tall man who looked to be in his middle years with a face that seemed carved from stone.
The man had sharp, cold features and a powerful presence that felt like a heavy weight in the air. He did not look angry, but he possessed a natural authority that made him look like a very strict and humorless father.
As Huo Yuhao studied Di Tian, the man turned his head and looked back at him. At first, Di Tian only looked at him with a bored and casual expression.
However, after looking at the boy for just two seconds, the cold indifference on his face shattered. It was replaced by a look of shock and deep seriousness.
The youth standing there was still young and undeveloped, but the shape of his face and that quiet, steady personality were too familiar. It was like a ghost from the past was standing right in front of him.
What truly shook the heart of Di Tian was the faint energy coming from Huo Yuhao. It was not the usual pulse of spirit power, but something deeper and more ancient.
This energy felt like it was connected to the very origin of life and the flow of destiny. The more he felt it, the more his own soul began to shake with a feeling he could not control.
In the very next second, Di Tian stood up from the sofa with a sudden burst of speed. The movement was so fast and heavy that the furniture groaned under the pressure.
His eyes were like sharp bolts of lightning as they fixed onto Huo Yuhao. The golden light he usually kept hidden began to swirl in his pupils like a violent storm at sea.
His hands were clenched into tight fists at his sides and his knuckles turned white from the force. The powerful energy he had kept under control suddenly exploded outward like water breaking through a giant dam.
A loud buzzing sound filled the air as the pressure turned into a physical force. The invisible weight felt like a mountain was falling on the room, making the air freeze and warp.
Huo Yuhao felt his chest tighten as he struggled to draw a single breath. Even though his mental force had reached the Spirit Sea Realm, it felt small and useless against this power.
He felt like a tiny wooden boat trapped in the middle of a massive, dark ocean during a hurricane. He could be crushed at any second, and even his mind started to slow down under the weight.
Just as the pressure became too much to bear, a soft cough sounded out from Gu Yue. She stood there calmly, and her voice cut through the heavy silence clearly.
The sound was not loud at all, but it acted like a cool stream of water hitting a hot fire. It immediately calmed the violent energy that was about to destroy the room.
Di Tian let his fists relax and the terrifying aura pulled back into his body like a retreating tide. Within a second, everything was quiet again as if the storm had never happened.
The only sign of his shock was the thin layer of cold sweat that had appeared on his forehead. He finally understood why his Lord had warned him earlier not to lose his cool.
He had done more than just lose his composure; he had completely lost control of himself. Di Tian slowly turned his eyes toward Gu Yue with a look of silent frustration.
He thought to himself that his Lord should have given him a proper warning about this. He wondered if this boy was just someone who looked similar to the person he knew.
But there was no doubt in his mind that this was exactly how the Spirit Ice Douluo, Huo Yuhao, looked when he was a young boy.
Even though the energy from Di Tian only lasted for a moment, it caused a huge shock in the heart of Huo Yuhao. He was stunned by the sheer scale of the power he had just felt.
This confirmed the theory he had in his mind. He was now certain that the father of Gu Yue was a powerful master at the level of a Hyper Douluo.
However, Huo Yuhao did not feel like his life was actually in danger despite the display of power. He remained calm and began to think about why this was happening.
He had heard stories that when a father meets his daughter's boyfriend for the first time, he often tries to scare him. It was a test of strength and courage.
In the mind of Huo Yuhao, that sudden burst of pressure was just a traditional way of showing who was in charge. The more he thought about it, the more logical it seemed to him.
He had not done anything wrong, so there was no reason for a real attack. Thinking this way helped the tension in his heart fade away, replaced by a quiet sense of understanding.
Once the heavy energy was gone, he took a step forward and gave a polite bow. He looked at the man and said that it was nice to meet him, calling him Uncle Gu.
Di Tian made a low sound in the back of his throat as a response. He pointed a finger at the sofa across from him and told the boy to come and sit down.
Huo Yuhao thanked him and moved to sit on the sofa next to Gu Yue. He sat with perfect posture, keeping his back straight and his hands resting neatly on his knees.
He looked like a very well-behaved and serious student. Di Tian watched him with a complicated look that was filled with many different memories and emotions.
The reason for this confusion was that his history with the name Huo Yuhao was very long and full of conflict. Their lives had been tangled together for ten thousand years.
It all started with the Three-Eyed Golden Ni, who was the Emperor Auspicious Beast of the forest. Di Tian had loved and raised her like she was his own daughter.
But after she turned into a human, her heart belonged only to Huo Yuhao. Because of that bond, it was not crazy to think of Di Tian as a sort of father figure to him.
But when she sacrificed her life for the boy, Di Tian felt a hatred that burned hotter than anything else. He had been so angry that he led an army of beasts to attack Shrek Academy.
Later, Huo Yuhao created the spirit soul system to help humans and beasts live together. Di Tian had to put aside his anger for the survival of his race and even helped him.
At that time, he had felt a strange respect for the human who was trying to change the world. He saw a future where they did not have to kill each other for power.
But as Huo Yuhao grew stronger and became a Titled Douluo, his personality became cold and dominant. Di Tian had even been wounded by him in a fight once.
For the first time in his long life, Di Tian had felt a genuine sense of fear toward a human. All of these memories of love, hate, and fear were hitting him all at once.
This was why the Co-lord of Spirit Beasts was struggling to keep his cool. He was looking at a boy who was the perfect image of the man who had changed his life.
Di Tian looked at the boy and thought carefully about what he wanted to say next. After a short silence, he asked about the family of the boy and who lived with him.
Huo Yuhao realized that his guess was right and the formal interrogation had started. This was exactly how he imagined a meeting with a girlfriend's parents would go.
He kept his face calm and spoke with a soft, lonely tone. He told the man that he was an orphan who never knew his parents and was raised by his teachers.
This was mostly the truth because he had no living family left in this era. His only real connections were to his two current teachers who had taken care of him.
The conversation continued for the next thirty minutes in a very formal way. Di Tian asked about everything from his school life to his future goals in great detail.
Huo Yuhao answered every question with respect and honesty, though he was careful to hide the fact that he had been reborn from the past. He was very skilled at lying.
When the long talk finally ended, Huo Yuhao looked perfectly fine on the outside. But his clothes were sticking to his back because he had been sweating from the stress.
Gu Yue stood up and walked him to the door to say goodbye. She saw the look of relief on his face and a small, playful smile appeared in her eyes for a moment.
She had always seen Huo Yuhao as a very confident and cold leader in their class. She found it funny to see him looking so nervous and scared of her father.
As soon as Huo Yuhao stepped out into the hallway, he let out a long breath. He felt more tired than if he had just fought ten difficult battles in a row.
He wiped his forehead and thought that dealing with a girl's father was the most terrifying thing in the world. He was glad to finally be out of that room.
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