Reborn as Huo Yuhao, but also in Battle Through the Heavens

Chapter 20 Dull

With another flick of its spider legs, the Blue Demon Spider deflected the attacking blue eagle. Watching the eagle let out mournful cries, the Blue Demon Spider lost interest in toying with it. It clearly sensed that its opponent was gradually losing its ability to resist.

Just as it raised its forelimbs, preparing to deliver a fatal blow to the blue eagle, a tiny figure slowly walked over and blocked its way.

"Hiss?" The Blue Demon Spider's limited intelligence couldn't clearly assess Huo Yuhao's strength. Therefore, it casually swung its forelimbs, intending to tear this troublesome human to shreds.

Just as the Blue Demon Spider's forelimbs, shimmering with a dark green luster, were about to pierce Huo Yuhao, a hand covered in ice crystals suddenly reached out and tightly gripped the tip of the venomous limb.

Over the years, Huo Yuhao has been diligently cultivating the Golden Body Technique. At this moment, he can withstand the Blue Demon Spider's attacks with his physical strength alone, not to mention that his palms are covered with a layer of diamond ice crystals.

The hand gripping the Blue Spider's forelimb suddenly exerted force, and the entire forelimb was torn off at the root.

Just as the Blue Demon Spider roared in pain, Huo Yuhao raised his left arm high, and an ice-blue giant sword condensed in his hand.

【Emperor Sword - Unrivaled Ice】!

Huo Yuhao's left hand swung down, accompanied by the Blue Demon Spider's continuous screams. The sword light flashed, and its pair of scales broke off and disintegrated; another flash, and all the spider legs supporting its body broke off at the root; the final sword cleaved down from above, and the Blue Demon Spider's remaining body was evenly split in two by an icy blue sword light.

Strangely, no frost formed at the cut by the Emperor's Sword; only blood continued to flow.

From the moment Huo Yuhao erupted into fury to the dismemberment of the Blue Demon Spider, only a blink of an eye passed. Xiao Yan and Little Fairy Doctor were just about to intervene when the battle was already over. The two stood frozen in place. They weren't naive newcomers; they had killed many magical beasts during this time and had witnessed some bloody and cruel scenes. But looking at Huo Yuhao's face, a chill ran through them, and they couldn't help but shiver deeply.

After dealing with the Blue Demon Spider, Huo Yuhao didn't stop and turned to walk towards the heavily injured Blue Eagle. Only then was the Blue Demon Spider behind him frozen by a blast of cold air, turning into an ice sculpture.

Huo Yuhao placed his hand on a wound on the Blue Eagle, ignoring the fear and despair in its eyes. Behind it, the ice sculpture crumbled like sand, shattering into countless ice particles. At the same time, Huo Yuhao's mental energy penetrated deep into the Blue Eagle's body through the wound, instantly locking onto the Blue Demon Spider larva and crushing it.

After dealing with the larvae, Huo Yuhao looked up at Yao Chen, who seemed hesitant to speak, and at Xiao Yixian and Xiao Yan, who were staring blankly. Without offering a word of explanation, he walked straight to an ancient tree, sat cross-legged beneath it, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.

"So, the ice crystals from that day were..."

The two then seemed to snap out of their daze. Xiao Yan and Yao Chen's eyes met, both seeing the complexity in each other's eyes. Little Fairy Doctor silently walked to Blue Eagle's side and cleaned the remaining toxins from its wound.

After Little Fairy Doctor finished treating him, Huo Yuhao opened his eyes.

"Let's go."

……

The atmosphere along the way became oppressive and somber, a far cry from the previous relaxed mood. The group continued their journey in silence, gathering herbs and dealing with the menacing monsters.

Since rescuing Blue Eagle, Little Fairy Doctor's behavior has been quite unusual; she's become taciturn and rarely calls him "Brother Yuhao" anymore. Although the group is growing increasingly coordinated in battle and daily life, this coordination hasn't broken the strange atmosphere between them. Huo Yuhao, however, seems completely unconcerned, continuing to help Little Fairy Doctor suppress the poison gas and instruct the two in cultivation as usual. Xiao Yan observes this but doesn't know what to say. He can only try to lighten the mood by frequently starting conversations and telling jokes, but with little success.

If there was anything to lighten the somber atmosphere, it was the blue eagle they had rescued, which had been bringing them prey or medicinal herbs almost every day. Over time, the three of them and the eagle had become quite familiar with each other, and they would wait together for Huo Yuhao to feed them when the blue eagle brought its prey each night.

Of the group, the one closest to it was Little Fairy Doctor, who had healed it before. Little Fairy Doctor often flew with it over the forest. For this reason, Little Fairy Doctor gave it a special name: "Little Lan." She even asked Huo Yuhao to make her a transverse flute with extremely strong penetrating power. The two made a pact: whenever Little Fairy Doctor played the flute, Blue Eagle would immediately come running.

Perhaps because Huo Yuhao's methods of saving it were too ruthless, the Blue Eagle was more afraid of him than affectionate. Thanks to the feeding it received during this period, it gradually overcame its fear of Huo Yuhao.

"Xiao Lan, how about you take me for a spin?" Xiao Yan leaned forward, his face beaming.

Xiao Lan tilted her head and glanced at him. Just as Xiao Yan was about to back down because of her head tilt, Xiao Lan nodded.

"That's great, I..."

Xiao Yan's cheers came to an abrupt halt—Xiao Lan grabbed Xiao Yan by the collar and carried him around in the air for a moment.

"Wait, that's not how it works! Put me down!"

……

After some time, the group approached the core area of ​​the Monster Mountain Range, where the number of various magical beasts became visibly greater, and high-level magical beasts began to appear frequently. Led by Huo Yuhao, they took several detours.

A flute melody echoed, and soon, accompanied by an eagle's cry, the blue eagle Xiao Lan landed steadily in front of them.

"Xiao Lan, we're getting close to the core of the Monster Mountain Range. It'll get more and more dangerous inside," Little Fairy Doctor said, stroking its feathers.

Xiao Lan tilted her head and looked at her quietly.

"Go back now, and don't follow us anymore."

"Hey——!"

Xiao Lan understood what she meant and let out a mournful cry filled with reluctance.

Upon seeing this, Little Fairy Doctor quickly explained, "It's not that we'll never see each other again. It's just that while we're in the core area, Xiao Lan, don't follow us. We'll come back to find you after we leave the core area. Just find a safe place to wait on the outskirts."

Xiao Lan nodded, glanced at them again, then spread her wings and flew towards the outer perimeter.

"Brother Yuhao, is Xiaolan in danger?" Little Fairy Doctor asked with a worried expression.

Huo Yuhao didn't answer. He simply patted her head gently. Unbeknownst to anyone, a wisp of his spiritual energy silently attached itself to Xiao Lan's feather, condensing into a spiritual seed.

"Yuhao, from now on we'll take turns sensing our surroundings. Remember to share any unfamiliar medicinal herbs or magical beasts you encounter with me immediately."

"Yes, teacher."

Just as the group was about to continue, Yao Chen suddenly whispered, "A Dou Wang is coming, and he's an alchemist! Be careful!" Before he finished speaking, Yao Chen disappeared.

……

Since entering the Monster Mountain Range, Gu He had headed straight for the core area, as high-level beast fire was naturally impossible to obtain on the outskirts. His purpose in coming here was to find a sixth-tier magical beast willing to trade for a beast fire. If that didn't work, he would settle for killing a fifth-tier magical beast to obtain its beast fire. As for the legendary exotic fire, he was only taking a chance and didn't intend to force it.

Just as he was flying rapidly through the air, about to enter the core area, he suddenly noticed several children talking under a tree ahead. A thought struck him, and Gu He silently landed in the nearby treetops, concealing his presence and observing Huo Yuhao and his group.

"These kids have incredibly strong soul talents." Stopping to observe them closely, Gu He was astonished by Xiao Yan and Little Fairy Doctor's undisguised spiritual power, and a thought of taking them as disciples arose in his mind. However, after observing for a while, Gu He noticed something strange. These children looked young, but their strength was considerable; they were likely geniuses cultivated by some powerful force, here to train in the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Gu He was a bit of a homebody, so he wasn't surprised that he didn't recognize these children. However, even with his sixth-grade alchemist's soul power, he hadn't detected any powerful figures protecting them for a long time, which puzzled him.

"Strange, where are their elders? With such limited strength, how dare they come to the core area of ​​the Monster Mountain Range?"

Seeing the group set off, Gu He pondered for a moment, deciding to follow them, partly to satisfy his curiosity. If they truly had an elder hiding nearby to protect them, he could reveal himself and propose cooperation to seize the beast fire together. He figured that with his status as a sixth-grade alchemist, they would be happy to do him a favor.

Gu He concealed his presence and quietly followed behind Huo Yuhao and the others.

Because Yao Chen revealed Gu He's identity as an alchemist, Huo Yuhao was worried that Gu He could detect his spiritual power. He quickly withdrew his spiritual power, refraining from using mental detection, and instead relied on the emotions emanating from Gu He to pinpoint his location.

After traveling for a while, Huo Yuhao realized that the person behind him was still following him. So he secretly manipulated his mental power, deliberately concealing his mental fluctuations, and connected with their consciousness without Yao Chen noticing, using mental sharing.

"Huh?" Yao Chen's surprised voice rang out in the mental sharing. He had seen mental detection sharing before, but he only thought it was the effect of a soul skill. He never expected that it could be used separately.

"Has that pervert not left yet?" Xiao Yan asked in their shared consciousness.

"No, he's still following us, teacher. What should we do?" Because the emotion he sensed from the other person was curiosity, not malice or murderous intent, Huo Yuhao didn't immediately think of a way to get rid of him, but instead sought Yao Chen's opinion.