In the heart of Eastsea City's most prime district stood a five-story building occupying a footprint of one hundred square meters. Its exterior was nothing remarkable ,but the fact that it occupied land this valuable said everything about the standing of whoever lived there.
On the third floor, Huo Yuhao sat in the spacious interior, taking in the furnishings around him with a quiet sigh.
Two days had passed since Spirit Awakening Day.
He had received the highest level of attention the Eastsea Spirit Transmission Tower had to offer. Hua Yichen had been true to his word: this building had been assigned to him, an extensive collection of texts on Spirit Beasts and Spirit Souls had been delivered, and a dedicated laboratory had been fitted out on the second floor. Every indication was that the Tower intended to satisfy any request he made.
Hua Yichen had even offered to send tutors and household staff to look after him an offer Huo Yuhao had deflected with a convenient excuse.
Having strangers in the house created too many complications.
"Better than I expected."
Huo Yuhao picked up a volume on Spirit Souls, flipped through several pages, and fell into thought.
Beside him stood an enormous bookcase filled from end to end with texts on Spirit Masters, Spirit Beasts, and spirit power along with various manuscripts and notes documenting the Spirit Transmission Tower's history, including certain matters known only to those inside the organization.
Working through these materials had given Huo Yuhao a far more complete picture of the Tower as it stood today and allowed him to breathe a quiet sigh of relief.
Compared to the worst outcomes he had prepared himself for, the present reality was dozens of times more favorable. The Tower had never managed to crack Electrolux's security architecture. Spirit Beasts' wishes were still respected. A Spirit Beast became a Spirit Soul only if it chose to do so of its own free will.
The emergence of Inherited Spirit Souls had caught him somewhat off guard but on reflection, it made perfect sense. Who with descendants to pass things on to would resist using the Contract Dissolution Method to leave a powerful Spirit Soul to their children? A thousand-year Spirit Soul might be easy enough to let go. But a ten-thousand-year, a hundred-thousand-year, a Spirit Beast of savage-beast caliber?
The Spirit Elevation Platform existed now a development that allowed Spirit Souls to be upgraded in age but that was not something ordinary people had any access to. Inherited Spirit Souls, on the other hand, required nothing more than talented descendants. Given enough generations of capable heirs, an Inherited Spirit Soul would eventually grow to a far greater age all on its own.
One of the books open before him contained exactly such an example. A father whose Martial Soul was unremarkable, whose first Spirit Soul had been a mere ten-year creature yet through his cultivation, the Spirit Soul received feedback and grew to a hundred years. Passed down to the next generation, the heir began from a higher foundation, and ultimately reached a spirit power level fifteen ranks above his father's.
Fifteen ranks did not sound like much. To a commoner-born Spirit Master, it was the difference between a life of struggle and the beginning of something better.
And the Inherited Spirit Souls within the great Spirit Master families…
"They can be passed down, they can fight, they live for ages however you look at it, they're basically the guardian beasts of a cultivation sect in a fantasy novel."
Huo Yuhao shook his head with a smile and turned his attention to what he could learn about Tower headquarters.
The Eternal Clan still held the reins of power there but the era of one faction standing unchallenged above all others was over. Huo Yuhao had seen that particular pitfall coming ten thousand years ago. He had not left it unfilled.
He looked at a photograph in one of the books, and a faint smile crossed his face.
"Emperor Tian's doing quite well for himself."
Skydream Iceworm was looking at the same photograph a man in black robes, photographed mid-interview, wearing an expression of someone thoroughly accustomed to exactly this sort of thing. The sight of it stirred a flicker of resentment in Skydream.
As it should Emperor Tian was one of the Tower's three Vice-Masters and a lifelong member of the Tower's council. After all these years, of course he had grown used to it. The more Skydream thought about it, the more irritating it became. They really should have let Yuhao squeeze Emperor Tian harder back then.
"Reminiscing about old grudges again, Brother Skydream?" Huo Yuhao caught the telltale shift in Skydream's mood and asked.
Skydream: "Hmph. Petty little Emperor Tian if I hadn't been caught off guard that one time, when would he have ever had a chance to control me? Given a do-over, I'd flatten him without breaking a sweat."
Huo Yuhao: "…"
Who exactly are you performing for right now? There's only me, Electrolux, and you in this Sea of Spirit.
Oh — and one small Ice Silkworm, as it happened.
Because Skydream had claimed the contracted slot, the little Ice Silkworm had ended up stranded inside Huo Yuhao's Sea of Spirit for the time being.
Thinking of their newest resident, Huo Yuhao had a fairly clear sense of what Skydream was up to. He shook his head, set the book back on the shelf without comment, pulled out a volume on soul tools instead, and activated Spiritual Detection to work through it at speed.
Reading through Spiritual Detection allowed the contents to be imprinted in his mind at a far faster rate than ordinary reading for material he did not need to analyze in depth, it saved considerable time.
Speaking of Spiritual Detection that brought him to the question of his Spirit Abilities. He had also signed a modified Soul-Spirit Contract with Skydream, which meant he could choose his own abilities freely.
The Skydream Iceworm provided four Spirit Abilities for the Spirit Eyes' first Spirit Ring: Spiritual Interference Domain, Spiritual Detection, Spiritual Sharing, and… Imitation.
Of these, Huo Yuhao already knew that Spiritual Interference Domain was in essence a fusion of Imitation and Spiritual Interference a combination he had developed independently ten thousand years ago, and which his recultivation had not cost him. As for the absence of Spiritual Shock from the list: Imitation had taken its slot, which was also why his Spirit Ring had shown as yellow back at the Tower.
In his first life, Spiritual Shock had been the only reliably offensive tool available to him in the early stages genuinely essential. Now, it was a different matter entirely. He was a Limit Douluo of spirit-attribute recultivating from the ground up. If he still needed a Spirit Ring to help him attack people with his spiritual power, what exactly had he been doing with ten thousand years?
That would make him worse than a certain God King on his own recultivation. At least Huo Yuhao could say he had made progress over the centuries. That particular God King, on the other hand Mysterious Heaven Technique as a human, Mysterious Heaven Technique as a god, Mysterious Heaven Technique again on rebirth and recultivation. Some things apparently never changed.
Outside the Sea of Spirit, Huo Yuhao continued gathering intelligence on this era from his reading. Inside, Skydream was busy working his charms on the little Ice Silkworm.
The little silkworm was, understandably, rather put out about having its contracted slot stolen. But the moment it caught sight of Skydream's true form, its indignation evaporated into pure shock.
Such an awe-inspiring presence could this be… a revered ancestor of the Ice Silkworm bloodline?
"You are…?"
Ringed by ten golden Spirit Rings, Skydream Iceworm gazed down at the little silkworm with an air of lofty authority.
"I am the greatest power of the Extreme North, foremost of the Four Heavenly Kings, the sole million-year Spirit Beast in all the world, the supreme being of the Ice Silkworm lineage the Great Emperor Skydream!"
Feeling the overwhelming spiritual pressure rolling off Skydream, the little Ice Silkworm obeyed pure instinct and dropped into a bow.
"This one pays respects to the Great Emperor!"
Though a small question did linger in the back of its mind.
Weren't there only three Heavenly Kings of the Extreme North? And one of them had been gone for quite some time now.
Seeming to read its confusion, Skydream gave a lofty sniff. "There are four Heavenly Kings, and three of them are known to the public. This is common knowledge. Were it not for the bond of shared lineage, you would not be worthy of an audience with me."
"This one begs the Great Emperor's forgiveness!"
Skydream gave a satisfied nod.
"Though I hold the supreme rank of a million-year Spirit Beast, the Heavenly Tribulation looms overhead, and I can advance no further through conventional means. I have therefore entered into cooperation with a human, working toward the path of divine ascension. Your power is far too meager to be of any use in this endeavor. One day, we will send you out of the Sea of Spirit and when that day comes, do not resist…"
A hundred-year Spirit Soul's intelligence was not high. It took Skydream only a few sentences to thoroughly bamboozle the little silkworm, and in doing so, he successfully elevated his own social standing within the Sea of Spirit by one rank.
From second-to-last place, he had now risen to third-to-last.
Well it could not be helped. Despite having the highest cultivation among them, Skydream was no fighter. Of Huo Yuhao's four sealed Spirit Souls, not one was weaker than him except for the Mermaid Princess. And Electrolux was someone he had absolutely no business picking a fight with.
Still, fourth out of six was respectable enough even if it was only temporary.
In good spirits, Skydream let himself drift a little, growing pleasantly self-satisfied.
"Do you happen to know how the Snow Empress has been faring lately? Back when I was guiding her…"
In the little Ice Silkworm's eyes, a twin-tailed girl materialized soundlessly behind Skydream, fixing him with a long, quiet stare. The sight knocked the silkworm so far out of its wits that it entirely missed whatever Skydream was saying next.
That aura. The little Ice Silkworm could not have mistaken it for anything else the natural predator of the entire Ice Silkworm bloodline. The Ice-Jade Scorpion.
"…I imagine that, as my disciple, the Snow Empress is still standing watch over the Extreme North. Hard on her, really."
Skydream sighed with theatrical wistfulness, then looked up at the rigidly frozen silkworm and slowly realized something was off.
Was it getting colder in here? Why had it gone so quiet?
"My, my. I step away for a little while, and suddenly Xue'er has become your disciple. Then what exactly does that make me?"
A quiet, unhurried voice drifted into Skydream's ears, and every hair on his body stood at once.
Yuhao, you absolute traitor!!
The Ice Empress wakes up and you don't even warn me?!
Skydream turned around with all the natural ease of a rusted hinge, came face to face with the Ice Empress looking, in this form, like nothing so much as a future idol singer and laughed with considerably less conviction than usual.
"Bingbing, let's talk this through calmly— ow! Not the face, not the face I have a reputation to maintain in front of the younger generation!"
That day, the Sea of Spirit rang with a very familiar sound.
The screaming of Skydream Iceworm.