Peerless: I Became Huo Yuhao's Dark Personality

This part wasn't in Chapter 113 of the script! (Two parts combined)

Why did you shock me?!

Faced with her sister's questioning, Xiao Hongchen's expression remained unchanged, and she gestured for her to look in Huo Yumiao's direction.

"Why are your eyes so wide? I'm asking you why you shocked me!" Meng Hongchen's eyes blazed with fury as she continued her indiscriminate attack.

Xiao Hongchen's lips twitched, and he sighed helplessly. He really shouldn't have believed in dreams. Dreams can be divided into two states: a mentally challenged state and a witty state.

When she is cultivating her soul power, making soul tools, or doing other similar activities, she enters a state of intelligence. Last night, when she proposed getting to know Huo Yumiao, she was in a state of intelligence. But now, she is undoubtedly in a state of mental retardation.

Xiao Hongchen gave Meng Hongchen a look, and although Xiao Hongchen didn't say anything, Meng Hongchen could tell that he had said some very harsh words.

Xiao Hongchen walked up to Huo Yumiao alone and said sincerely, "I'm sorry to have made a scene. Hello, Huo Yumiao. My name is Xiao Hongchen. We met last night."

"Hello, what can I do for you?" Huo Yumiao replied politely in response to Xiao Hongchen's good attitude.

Seeing Huo Yumiao not far away, Meng Hongchen's intelligence regained its dominance. With a smile on her face, she stepped forward with an elegant demeanor, completely different from before.

"My name is Meng Hongchen, and we met last night."

"So what do you want from me?" Huo Yumiao looked puzzled, not understanding why these two people had come to find her.

"It's like this, my older brother usually likes to spar with geniuses. After learning that you are Master Guan's disciple, he would like to have a friendly spar with you."

After Meng Hongchen finished speaking, seemingly afraid that Huo Yumiao would misunderstand, she quickly added, "We don't mean anything by it, we're just very curious, it won't waste your time."

Meng Hongchen clasped her hands together, her sapphire-like eyes staring straight at Huo Yumiao. Her long eyelashes trembled slightly, and combined with her current posture, she was both captivating and fragile, making it impossible for anyone to refuse her.

No, why are you working so hard?
Looking at his younger sister, Xiao Hongchen felt amusement and forced a smile, turning his head away to avoid accidentally bursting out laughing.

"Really?" Huo Yumiao and Meng Hongchen exchanged glances. Was Xiao Hongchen really like that? In his memory, this guy was the number one genius of Sun Moon Academy, with an arrogant personality, somewhat like Wang Dong.

Xiao Hongchen originally intended to continue acting like a wooden puppet, but suddenly felt a murderous gaze, and a friendly smile immediately appeared on his face.

“That’s right. Master Guan has always been a role model in our hearts, so I want to see what kind of genius this person who has moved Master Guan is, and what his extraordinary qualities are.”

"You are a Soul King and I am a Soul Venerable. There is a two-ring difference between us, so it's not that I can tell anything," Huo Yumiao politely declined. He didn't really want to fight Xiao Hongchen, not because he couldn't win.

Although Huo Yumiao's soul power is not comparable to that of a Soul King, her mental power is unmatched by ordinary Soul Kings. Mental-type Soul Masters have a powerful advantage: they can use mental power instead of soul power to release Soul Skills.

Huo Yumiao's mental strength is even stronger than Huo Yuhao's. Both of their martial souls are of the mental attribute and are twin martial souls, but the problem lies in their second martial soul.

Huo Yuhao's second martial soul is pure, ultimate ice, while Huo Yumiao's ice eyes, in addition to being made of ultimate ice, also possess spiritual attributes as eyes, just like the cursed eyes.

In other words, both of Huo Yumiao's martial souls are dual-attribute, and with the support of the two spiritual martial souls, his spiritual power has become even stronger.

Xiao Hongchen's talent is indeed strong, but the Three-Legged Golden Toad's strength lies in its control of metal. While control does indirectly require mental strength, it is not a mental attribute martial soul and is far inferior to the growth brought by a pure mental attribute.

With this shift in power, the gap between Huo Yumiao and Xiao Hongchen's cultivation levels was greatly narrowed, even to the point where they were on par.

Although Xiao Hongchen is a five-ringed being, his attribute plundering ability cannot be fully utilized. However, even disregarding those five soul skills, Huo Yumiao's total number of soul skills is still unmatched by Xiao Hongchen. Huo Yumiao cannot definitively guarantee who will win.
In the Douluo Continent, with the three-legged golden toad as his martial soul that can control metal, Xiao Hongchen is practically an innate soul master saint body. He can make up for his disadvantage in the number of soul skills with soul tools.

"It's alright. Xiao won't use his fifth soul skill, and his strength is actually just so-so. You two can definitely fight back and forth."

Fearing that Huo Yumiao might refuse again, Meng Hongchen didn't hesitate to start slandering her older brother. Upon hearing these words, Xiao Hongchen's smile instantly froze.

The script didn't mention any scene where he was slandered, did it?

"Don't worry, it won't take up your time for nothing. My brother will treat you to dinner at Rumeng Pavilion later. It's the number one restaurant in Mingdu. The ingredients there are not only delicious, but also helpful in improving physical fitness."

Huo Yumiao hesitated for a moment, but finally nodded in agreement. There was no harm in getting to know the Hongchen siblings. Just as Elder Guan said, he might really need their help in the future.

"Great! So, are you going to finish your soul tool first or come with us now?" Meng Hongchen cheered, her excitement leaving Huo Yumiao somewhat bewildered.

"Now, just in time to finish eating."

Huo Yumiao put the blueprints and the completed soul core on the table into her storage soul tool. Since the second soul core couldn't be completed in a short time, she decided to go and spar with Xiao Hongchen.

"How did you know I was here?" Huo Yumiao asked, puzzled, as the three of them walked out of the laboratory.

"We couldn't find you in your dorm, so we guessed you were in the lab. We checked the security cameras in every lab and found you easily."

These words were somewhat unexpected for Huo Yumiao, yet they were also reasonable and consistent with Meng Hongchen's character; they were something she was capable of doing.

"Aren't we going to have a battle? This direction leads to the soul tool testing area, right?" Huo Yumiao asked curiously as Meng Hongchen and the other person led him deeper into the testing area.

"The only fighting arena in the academy is in the square, but that is for the academy's exclusive use and is only opened when competitions and assessments are held. There is no venue specifically for students to fight privately."

"Students usually spar in the experimental area, which is tacitly approved by the academy," Meng Hongchen explained with a smile.

"I see."

Meng Hongchen took out her ID card and scanned it with the soul-guided identification device at the gate. The soul-guided metal door opened in response. Meng Hongchen glanced inside and, finding no other students behind her, excitedly invited the two of them in.

"I'll be your referee, start!" Meng Hongchen stood in the center of one side of the field, and waited until Huo Yumiao and Xiao Hongchen were far enough apart before her clear voice rang out.

A flash of golden light appeared, and a leg emerged from behind Xiao Hongchen's buttocks. This leg was entirely golden, and at the same time, a dazzling golden light enveloped his entire body. Xiao Hongchen slightly squatted down, and five spirit rings—two yellow, two purple, and one black—pulsated rhythmically at his feet. On his slightly hunched back, several golden protrusions emerged from the surface of his clothes, emanating a soft halo.

Xiao Hongchen waved his hands, simultaneously releasing hundreds of metal spheres. These metal spheres were identical in appearance and size, enveloping Xiao Hongchen completely.

First, the three spirit rings lit up one after another, and thick metal cannon barrels grew out from those metal spheres.

In the blink of an eye, hundreds of cannon barrels spread out from where Xiao Hongchen was, each emitting a peculiar luster, just like a real soul tool.

Having more soul tools is not necessarily better, because having too many means a greater demand for soul power. Even a typical Soul King might not be able to support such a massive consumption of soul power even if all their soul power were drained.

Xiao Hongchen is clearly not an ordinary Soul King. This is his Soul Master path. He is probably the only one on the entire continent who can use Soul Tools in this way. All of this is thanks to his Martial Soul and special Soul Skills.

The three-legged toad is born with the ability to control metal. Xiao Hongchen's first soul skill is called Metal Control, which seems to conflict with his innate talent and is quite useless.

But this is not actually the case. Metal control not only enhances his control over metals, but also increases his compatibility with metals and his affinity for the element gold, which can increase the amount of metals he can control by a full third.

The third soul skill, Metal Condensation, allows the user to freely control metal, transforming it into liquid form. Furthermore, the user can use their mental power to carve a core magic array on the surface of the metal, turning it into a temporary soul tool.

While Xiao Hongchen was gathering his soul tool, Huo Yumiao quickly stepped forward and closed in.

The distance between him and Xiao Hongchen was more than forty meters. Whether it was the Light of Fear or the Dark Force Field, covering such a large area would require an enormous amount of mental energy.

Moreover, the Light of Fear cannot affect Xiao Hongchen at all; it can only be effective if the mental strength of the person being treated does not exceed half of Huo Yumiao's.

If success is achieved simply by having a mental strength lower than Huo Yumiao's, then a range-controlling soul skill without mental backlash is almost impossible to find, at least not something a ten-thousand-year-old soul beast could provide.

Standing on the edge, Meng Hongchen's eyes widened, her rosy lips slightly parted. She was observing the actions on both sides. Huo Yumiao's body had not transformed into a beast, nor had any weapons appeared. Therefore, the only change that had occurred was undoubtedly in his martial soul.

It turned out to be a spirit soul of the original body. But that wasn't what surprised Meng Hongchen the most. What surprised her was that Huo Yumiao's spirit ring configuration was also yellow, purple, and black. Although she knew in advance that the other party was Huo Yuhao's brother, the configuration must have been amazing.

However, she only felt that the other party's second spirit ring was likely a thousand years old, and never guessed that the third spirit ring was ten thousand years old, because it was too shocking. The appearance of such a person was already defying the heavens.

One hundred and twenty-eight metal tubes—it seems Xiao is under a lot of pressure. As the younger sister, Meng Hongchen naturally knows her older brother's capabilities. Simultaneously manipulating one hundred and twenty-eight metal balls is the limit for him.

"With this kind of soul ring combination, I would also go all out immediately," Meng Hongchen thought with emotion, continuing to focus intently on the situation on the field.

Xiao Hongchen was indeed under a lot of pressure. He shared the same thought as Meng Hongchen: they both felt that Huo Yumiao couldn't possibly have such an absurd combination of yellow, purple, and black, but that was exactly what happened to her.

Despite the two-ring difference, Xiao Hongchen still dared not let his guard down and instantly activated the maximum number of soul tools.

For some geniuses, the number of spirit rings does not directly reflect their strength. They can also win against opponents of higher levels, and their opponents are also considered geniuses.

If he were truly defeated by Huo Yumiao of the Third Ring, becoming someone who was defeated by someone of a higher level, he, who has always been proud, would naturally not be able to accept it.

The second spirit ring shone brightly, and a large number of golden light spots surged from the air, all of which flowed into Xiao Hongchen's body and the metal cannon barrel.

This is his second soul skill, Boiling Gold, which puts his soul power into a boiling state, increasing the power of the soul skills he uses and accelerating the use of other soul skills.

Most importantly, it can absorb and control the gold element in the air to reduce the consumption of soul power when using a soul tool.

It was precisely because of this soul skill that Xiao Hongchen had the means to use so many soul tools; the 128 metal cannon barrels seemed to be lit up, emitting a dazzling light.

Clusters of intense light poured out from the cannon muzzle, their landing points not being uniform, but rather scattering to form a blockade, blocking all possible directions of Huo Yumiao's advance.

This would undoubtedly reduce some power, but it would guarantee accuracy. With the blessing of Boiling Gold, Xiao Hongchen could withstand this loss of soul power.

Xiao Hongchen wasn't worried about Huo Yumiao's life. First, as a Soul Master, she could withstand the impact of a ten-thousand-year Soul Ring. Under such bombardment, she would at most suffer serious injuries.

Secondly, even if they really can't withstand it, they're not country bumpkins from Douluo Continent. Not everyone has an invincible shield, but a soul guide shield is definitely standard equipment.

Besides, as Guan Lao's disciple, Huo Yumiao could easily create an absolute defensive shield, let alone an invincible passport.

The path ahead was blocked by several orbs of soul power, but Huo Yumiao did not slow down. To the astonishment of Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, she was surrounded by black energy, and her whole body turned pitch black in an instant, so that nothing could be seen except the outline of her facial features.

This is the soul skill Dark Spirit granted by the right arm bone of the Terror Bear. Huo Yumiao had previously tested the damage reduction mechanism of Dark Spirit, and just calculated that, within this range, the soul guide shield consumes more energy than Dark Spirit.

Boom!

More than a hundred orbs of soul energy landed, bringing a series of loud bangs and billowing smoke and dust that obscured everyone's view.

Suddenly, Xiao Hongchen's expression changed, and he felt a momentary dizziness. Even his reactions became much slower. Twenty percent of the one hundred and twenty-eight metal cannon barrels slipped out of his control and fell to the ground with a dull thud.

The dark force field was what caused this effect. He was now less than fifteen meters away from Xiao Hongchen, which was the perfect time to activate the dark force field.

Although Xiao Hongchen's spiritual power was not much weaker than Huo Yumiao's, as long as he was weaker, this soul skill, which was derived from the spiritual force field of the Evil Eye Clan's innate soul skill, would definitely be effective.

When it affected Xiao Hongchen, it only caused a brief moment of dizziness and sluggishness, and a decrease in control. This might not be a big deal for other Soul Masters, but for Xiao Hongchen, control was directly linked to his combat power.

With reduced control, he can only choose between quantity and precision; either he must reduce the number of units he controls or reduce his precision, which results in a drastic decrease in his combat effectiveness.

Xiao Hongchen chose the former without hesitation. Precision was the most important aspect of his fighting style, and he couldn't give it up.

As the smoke cleared, a hint of apprehension flashed in Xiao Hongchen's eyes as he watched Huo Yumiao approach. However, he did not stop, and a series of clanging sounds came from the metal cannon barrel as it changed its pattern once again.

(End of this chapter)