Huo Yuhao could have finished the fight in a single breath, but he chose to stay his hand. Instead, he waited patiently to let his opponents unleash their strongest Martial Soul Fusion Skill.
If any other student had done this, the teachers and peers watching would have dismissed it as pure arrogance.
But because it was Huo Yuhao, they did not feel that way; they simply recognized it as a testament to his overwhelming strength.
Dai Huabin looked at Huo Yuhao's indifferent face and hardened his resolve.
He turned around and pulled Zhu Lu into a tight embrace.
Zhu Lu felt her body go stiff for a moment; she understood exactly what he was planning to do.
She leaned in and whispered into his ear, "Our Martial Soul Fusion Skill... I don't think it will be enough to stop him. He is a monster who defeated a Spirit Emperor."
Dai Huabin swallowed hard. His voice was cracked and dry, yet it carried a heavy sense of finality: "I know."
"But even if I am going to lose, I will give him everything I have!"
Hearing the desperation in his voice, Zhu Lu stopped hesitating.
"Alright, I will help you!"
The spirit power of both teenagers exploded at the same time, swirling and merging together in the air.
Bright golden light and deep vermilion light tangled together, growing more intense until the two figures were completely swallowed by the glow.
As the light began to fade, a massive tiger appeared on the stage, measuring over eight meters long and two meters tall.
The tiger had fur as white as fresh snow, marked only by deep blue patterns running down its powerful spine.
Its eyes burned like two pillars of fire, releasing a light that seemed to shake the very souls of those watching.
This was the legendary Martial Soul Fusion Skill of the Dai and Zhu families—the Hell White Tiger!
The aura coming from the beast had already moved past the Spirit Elder level, faintly touching the power of a Spirit King.
Wang Dong flew down from the sky, landing softly on the ground next to Huo Yuhao.
The two of them shared a brief look and understood each other without speaking.
Wang Dong wanted to perform a Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Huo Yuhao to counter the beast. She had seen the power of their Eternal Road before; compared to that, this Hell White Tiger was nothing special.
However, Huo Yuhao did not agree and gave a slight shake of his head.
This was not just a simple school match; this was his long-awaited revenge.
The massive white beast opened its mouth and let out a roar, its sharp claws slicing through the air as it lunged forward with a crushing pressure.
As the Hell White Tiger pounced toward him, Huo Yuhao remained as calm as a lake without a ripple.
In his current state, he had a hundred different ways to crush such an attack.
Still, he did not use a single Spirit Ability. He simply focused his spirit abyss realm mental force into a sharp point and fired a mental shock at the tiger.
A mental attack is invisible to the naked eye. Most of the people in the stands could not even see what Huo Yuhao had done.
They only saw a slight flicker in Huo Yuhao's eyes, and then the Hell White Tiger, while still in mid-air, suddenly exploded with a burst of light!
The light flashed and then died out, and the massive white beast vanished into thin air.
At the same moment, two bodies fell from the sky and crashed hard onto the arena floor.
Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu hit the ground with a sickening thud.
They were both in a truly pathetic state.
Blood was leaking from their eyes, ears, noses, and mouths. Their skin was deathly pale, making them look like they were on the brink of death.
This was the result even though Huo Yuhao had held back. In his plan, Dai Huabin was not allowed to lose consciousness yet.
After all, the real show was only just beginning.
Huo Yuhao began to walk again, slowly closing the distance between himself and Dai Huabin.
Right then...
"Stop!"
An panicked voice shouted from the spectator section.
The person who spoke was a man in his forties.
He stood up with a grim expression, his eyes fixed on Huo Yuhao.
His name was Yuan Feng, and he was the class teacher for Dai Huabin.
He could not understand why Director Du had not ended the match yet, so he felt he had to intervene.
If a student from his class was beaten this badly while he watched and did nothing, he would lose all his prestige. No one would ever respect him as a teacher again.
Huo Yuhao stopped moving.
He looked up, letting his gaze travel past the edge of the stage to find Yuan Feng.
His face was clean and completely devoid of any emotion.
When their eyes met, Yuan Feng felt a strange tightness in his chest, but he forced himself to speak: "Student Yuhao, for this match... we admit defeat."
Huo Yuhao's eyebrow moved slightly when he heard the teacher speak.
He looked back down at Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu where they lay broken on the ground.
Even though they were covered in blood and badly hurt, they were still awake.
Neither of them tried to argue or say they could still fight.
It was clear that they had accepted their total defeat.
Under normal rules, the winner had been found. Huo Yuhao should have walked away and enjoyed the applause of the crowd.
But he stayed right where he was.
Huo Yuhao looked back at Yuan Feng, and a small smile touched his lips.
It was a gentle smile, but it sent a sudden chill through the hearts of everyone who saw it.
"Teacher, the match is indeed over."
His voice was soft, yet it carried clearly to every corner of the arena.
"But what happens next is a private family matter. Please do not get involved."
The moment those words were said, the audience was left in total confusion.
This was the semi-finals of a school assessment; how could it suddenly become a family matter?
People looked at each other with puzzled expressions.
By then, Huo Yuhao had already reached Dai Huabin's side.
He knelt down, looking down at the broken boy's face from above.
Blood was smeared across Dai Huabin's face, ruining his handsome features and making him look miserable.
Huo Yuhao smiled. That smile held a mix of relief, satisfaction, and a very deep complexity.
"My dear brother."
"I wonder if you finally remember who I am?"
Huo Yuhao did not try to whisper.
Because of that, everyone in the stadium heard him.
The entire area fell into a deathly silence.
Thousands of eyes turned toward the stage to look at the two boys.
Huo Yuhao's words rang in their ears like a bell.
He had actually called Dai Huabin his brother?
How could that be possible?
Dai Huabin lay on the ground, unable to find even a spark of strength to move.
His eyes were wide as he looked up at the leaning figure of Huo Yuhao.
That calm face and the cold eyes above him seemed to shift and change in his vision.
When Huo Yuhao's words hit him, he froze for a heartbeat.
Then... his pupils suddenly shrank!
They shrank so fast it felt as if a bomb had gone off inside his brain.
Seeing that reaction, Huo Yuhao's smile grew wider.
The smile was deep, but his eyes remained as cold as ice.
"It seems you finally remember me."
Dai Huabin's chest began to heave up and down, making a raspy, whistling sound like a broken machine.
He felt as if his throat was closing up; every lungful of air was a struggle to grab.
His face began to twist into a mask of pure horror and rage.
Even with his body screaming in pain and his heart feeling like it was about to burst from his chest.
He used every bit of strength he had left to force a sentence out of his throat.
His voice was cracked and full of a hysterical scream: "You... are that Bastard?!"
As he shouted those words, Dai Huabin's face was filled with pure disbelief.
Yes.
He remembered now.
He finally knew exactly who was standing over him!
In the past, the boy was called Dai Yuhao.
In the past, he lived in the smallest, most broken courtyard of the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.
In the past, he always walked with his head down, hiding behind that Lowly Maidservant, using those eyes to watch them from the shadows...
Those eyes were the same as they were now, but the look inside them had changed completely.
And now, he was called Huo Yuhao.
He was the Illegitimate Son of the Duke of White Tiger, a person Dai Huabin hated more than anyone, the tiny ant he had stepped on and bullied since they were children.
Dai Huabin found it impossible to accept the reality of the situation.
The person who used to be under his boot, the person who was too scared to even look him in the eye, the person he could hit and insult whenever he felt like it...
Now, that person had the power to crush him like a bug.
And the defeat had been so total, so fast, and so easy.
He did not want to believe it.
He refused to believe that any of this was real.
This feeling of shame was far more painful than dying!
A heavy silence settled over the entire arena.
If the crowd had been unsure about the "family matter" before, Dai Huabin's scream was a total confession.
Every teacher and student stood there, completely stunned.
They stared at the two figures on the stage with blank minds.
Dai Huabin and Huo Yuhao were actually... biological brothers?
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