Huo Yuhao held Wang Dong’s shoulders with his hands and fiercely stared at him. The red in his eyes seemed to have deepened as he said, “Wang Dong, I think of you as a brother. Please help me keep my secret.”

Wang Dong clearly had a higher cultivation than Huo Yuhao, but he suddenly felt fear in that instant. Right after that feeling of fear appeared, he felt even more sympathy and pity for Huo Yuhao. They were both only eleven, yet how had he lived during his eleven years of life? On the other hand, how had Huo Yuhao lived!?

Huo Yuhao slowly closed his eyes and forcefully took a deep breath, calming his raging emotions. He’d hidden this hatred for far, far too long already. After entering Shrek Academy and passing the freshmen assessment, he’d finally felt hope, hope that he could seek revenge for his mother. However, when he saw Dai Huabin today, the flames of hatred in his heart had finally erupted. And yet, he couldn’t explode now, nor did he dare to. He had to continue to endure, until that strand of hope sprouted into his future.

“Ai—” A deep sigh suddenly rang out, causing Huo Yuhao to instinctively shiver. His relaxed mind instantly became vigilant as he released his Spirit Eyes, sweeping the area around him with his Spiritual Detection. He let out a low shout, “Who’s there?!”

The dorm was extremely quiet, and nothing abnormal appeared when Huo Yuhao scanned it with his Spiritual Detection. Wang Dong was astonished as he looked at Huo Yuhao; he didn’t know why he’d suddenly become so nervous.

Puzzled, Wang Dong asked, “Yuhao, what happened to you?”

Huo Yuhao was stunned. “Didn’t you hear it?”

“Hear what?” Wang Dong had a surprised look on his face.

Huo Yuhao was startled by Wang Dong’s reply. “Someone just sighed. I heard it clearly, why didn’t you?”

Wang Dong shook his head, a blank expression on his face. “I didn’t hear anything. Were you hallucinating?”

Huo Yuhao expanded the range of his Spiritual Detection to its maximum, but nothing strange appeared. After that sigh, no other strange sounds had rung out in the dorm room.

Could I really have hallucinated?Doubt appeared in Huo Yuhao’s heart. However, he quickly removed that thought from his mind. He was a spiritual-type soul master, which meant that his senses were much sharper than those of an ordinary person. Besides his vision—which was his strongest sense—his other six senses were relatively strong as well. Even if his emotions were raging, he wouldn’t have hallucinated. Furthermore, that sigh had been extremely clear; it had sounded like it was right next to his ear.

“Brother Skydream, Brother Skydream.” Huo Yuhao called out inwardly.

“Whaddaya want?” The Skydream Iceworm’s lazy voice rang out. An overwhelming majority of its time was spent sleeping. The only reason it had remained awake during the past few days was due to its interest in Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’s martial soul fusion.

“I just heard a sigh—did you hear it as well?” Huo Yuhao asked.

“A sigh? You brat, did your emotions get to your head!? What sigh? If it’s not something important, don’t interrupt my sleep. Also, you should calm down a bit. If you can’t even control your emotions with the little strength you have now, you won’t be able to tell how you died in the future. It doesn’t matter if you die, but what if this Brother is involved?”

At this moment, Huo Yuhao was truly shocked. Unexpectedly, even the Skydream Iceworm hadn’t heard that sigh. Was it truly non-existent?

No, he couldn’t believe it. He was completely confident in his judgement. However, where did that sigh come from? With the Skydream Iceworm’s power, how could someone have evaded its senses? That’s impossible; the Skydream Iceworm is a million year soul beast! Even if its combat strength is lacking, it’s still practically an unparalleled existence in terms of spiritual power.

Just as Huo Yuhao was thinking about this to himself, the Skydream Iceworm’s voice rang out again, “Right, Huo Yuhao, I have to remind you of something. You need to use your Spiritual Shock as little as possible. If it’s exposed, your opponents will be prepared for it next time. Although it’s been strengthened by your what-cha-ma-call-it ‘Purple Demon Eyes’, it’s highly probable that you’ll receive a backlash if someone with a higher cultivation than you is guarding themselves against it. That’s very dangerous for you.”

Astonished, Huo Yuhao hurriedly asked, “Brother Skydream, under normal circumstances, how much stronger would someone have to be to make me suffer a backlash from my Spiritual Shock?”

The Skydream Iceworm replied, “If they’re careful, and they know how to properly use their soul power, someone that’s just a single rank higher than you can make you suffer a backlash. Otherwise, why would I have been left in such a wretched state within the Great Star Dou Forest? If the Spiritual Shock was unparalleled, why was I left in such a miserable state for so many years? The main reason why your Spiritual Shock performed so stunningly during your previous matches was because you had the element of surprise. In addition to that, it’s also been strengthened by your Purple Demon Eyes. Lastly, it’s because of your soul power fusion with Wang Dong. All of these factors caught your opponents unprepared. However, you’ll have to be careful if everyone starts prepared against your Spiritual Shock. On the contrary, you can simply use your Spiritual Interference. Although it’s much weaker than the Spiritual Shock, one of its benefits is that you won’t receive a backlash from it. Remember, you won’t be able to always defeat a three-ringed opponent just by releasing a Spiritual Shock—even with Wang Dong helping you. In the future, you should use it sparingly.”

Huo Yuhao smiled bitterly. “It’s not that I want to use it a lot. Rather, Brother Skydream, of the four soul skills you gave me, I don’t have any other ways to attack besides the Spiritual Shock!”

“Ugh.. that’s another problem. However, just be patient for a while. How old are you? Why’re you so impatient! Quickly get to Rank 20; I have my own ways of letting you have enough combat strength. At the very least, you won’t be at a disadvantage against anyone of the same rank as you. Anyway, I’m going back to sleep.”

The Skydream Iceworm’s words were a timely reminder to Huo Yuhao, while simultaneously decreasing his urge to pursue the source of that sigh. The Skydream Iceworm had already mentioned ‘Rank 20’ many times, and Huo Yuhao had just been reminded of this fact again. Clearly, Rank 20 would be an important rank for him. If he could break into Rank 20, his strength would probably experience a flying leap, allowing him to possess at least a certain amount of fighting power. At that point, he wouldn’t need to keep relying on his companions.

After thinking this, Huo Yuhao’s emotions gradually calmed down, afterwhich he began cultivating with Wang Dong while recovering his soul power.

The afternoon fight would definitely be a hard one, not only because it was the fight that would determine the champion of the freshmen assessment, but also because it was an ordeal to his heart! However, he couldn’t run away from this fight; either way, he’d have to face Dai Huabin one day. Since that was the case, he’d use this fight as a form of training for his heart.

The dorm room had turned quiet. Due to their martial soul fusion, Wang Dong could sense the change in Huo Yuhao’s emotions. After discovering that he’d actually been able to calm down this quickly, not only was Wang Dong astonished, he even somewhat admired Huo Yuhao. From looks alone, Huo Yuhao wasn’t just a single rank below Wang Dong. However, in Wang Dong’s eyes, the eleven-year-old Huo Yuhao already had the resoluteness of a man.

The two cultivated all the way until it was time for lunch, which allowed them to fully replenish their soul power. When they reached the canteen, they were met with a big surprise.

“Hey you two fellas, I heard that you managed to enter the finals. Good, because this young lady has returned. How could you go to the finals without me?” Xiao Xiao happily leaned against the door to the canteen as she stared at Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, who were about to enter.