Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 74 The Gears of Fate

Unlike the others who were still deeply meditating and clarifying their future path, Huo Yuhao appeared in the Star Dou Great Forest.

The towering trees blocked out much of the sunlight, making the Star Dou Great Forest quite quiet at this moment, as Huo Yuhao was now approaching the edge of the mixed zone.

This time, however, the person accompanying Huo Yuhao was not the unreliable Taotie Douluo Xuanzi, but another level 93 titled expert assigned by Mu En.

Although this Title Douluo himself didn't understand why he would personally bring a Grand Soul Master student from the Outer Academy to the Star Dou Great Forest just because the student needed to obtain a third Soul Ring.

However, this was an order from Mu En, the Pavilion Master of the Sea God Pavilion, and this titled Douluo, whose status had not yet reached that of a Pavilion Elder of the Sea God Pavilion, naturally dared not neglect it.

Moreover, before he arrived, Mu En had given him a detailed explanation of Huo Yuhao's importance, as well as the precautions for his martial soul and the suitable soul beasts.

However, he was not told Huo Yuhao's exact role and related benefits, since the weighing of benefits was a matter for the higher-ups of the Sea God Pavilion.

For these titled Douluo and Shrek Academy members who serve as high-level henchmen and decorative figures, besides doing their job as Soul Masters, all they need to do is constantly admire Shrek Academy's glorious halo that has been passed down for thousands of years.

As for those private exchanges of benefits, perhaps smart people can guess them themselves, but they will also pretend to know nothing, after all, they are already too deeply tied to Shrek Academy.

As for whether the Tang Sect, to which Huo Yuhao originally belonged, would have any objections after Huo Yuhao was taken to the Body Sect for a deal,

That just goes to show that the Tang Sect, whose leader is only a Soul Sect member, is not qualified to get involved in the deal between the Body Sect and Shrek Academy, two behemoths.

Without asking any further questions, the titled Douluo went straight to the point, saying, "We're now almost in the mixed zone."

"Have you decided what kind of spirit ring you need for your third spirit ring, what your target spirit beast will be, and its age?"

"It's important to know that spirit-attribute soul beasts are extremely rare, not only because of their limited numbers."

"It's more because spirit-attribute spirit beasts are generally more intelligent than ordinary spirit beasts, and therefore they are good at hiding themselves."

"Even though our Shrek Academy has students training in the Star Dou Great Forest all year round, we still don't have any accurate information on the habitats of spirit-attribute soul beasts. This soul hunt will mainly depend on luck."

Huo Yuhao nodded and replied, "For me, the third spirit ring I hope for should ideally be from a spirit beast with a cultivation level of over eight thousand years, as this would provide the greatest boost to my abilities."

"If it can barely reach the ten-thousand-year level, I am confident that I can try to absorb it."

Upon hearing this, the Title Douluo nodded, muttering to himself, "Trying to get a ten-thousand-year spirit ring on his third spirit ring... Is this the advantage of a true-body spirit? No wonder."

In fact, what Huo Yuhao just said was actually concealing the limit of the number of years he could absorb soul rings. After all, with the blessing of the Life Gold, even without the multiple soul bones in the original work, he could still absorb soul rings.

However, nowadays, the age of the spirit rings that Huo Yuhao can absorb is definitely over ten thousand years, after all, he has experienced the second awakening of his original spirit.

The transformation and enhancement that the Gold-level Second Awakening brought to Huo Yuhao's body was absolutely not to be underestimated, not to mention the magic potion prepared by Electrolux that he had previously absorbed.

Huo Yuhao's physical strength alone is comparable to that of a typical Soul King, and his mental strength is even superior.

And this was all without the help of the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm. Huo Yuhao was able to fully absorb and fuse a soul ring of about 15,000 years through his own spiritual power, which had already entered the tangible yet intangible level.

If the Heavenly Dream Ice Silkworm method is used to seal the absorbed spirit rings, Huo Yuhao should be able to absorb spirit rings of about 20,000 years at most. The spirit power brought by spirit rings above that would be too enormous.

It's not something I can perfectly handle right now; it will just accumulate in my body. Even so, it's still quite astonishing for a Soul Master who has just reached level 30 Soul Power.

In order to maintain the tacit understanding reached with Moon, Huo Yuhao naturally had to demonstrate his talent and value.

However, things shouldn't go too far. If Huo Yuhao's talent is displayed too strongly, it might cause Mu En to have other concerns.

After all, although Mu En did want to use Huo Yuhao to exchange for benefits with the Body Sect, he certainly wouldn't allow the Body Sect to become dominant.

Therefore, Huo Yuhao's talent, however outstanding, has its limits and must be within Mu En's tolerance range.

After all, if Huo Yuhao in the future is not a disciple of Shrek Academy, then he naturally cannot show his sharpness like the original owner of the body who pretended to be weak while actually being strong in the original work.

As for the age limit of this spirit ring, it was determined by Huo Yuhao through his Eye of Truth, which allowed him to see through Mu En's thoughts. This age limit was set 13,000 years below the red line in Mu En's heart.

Moreover, for Huo Yuhao, the age of the spirit ring and the effects of the spirit skills brought by the spirit ring are actually not important.

After all, for a transmigrator, especially one who transmigrated into Huo Yuhao's world, there are simply too many ways to increase the lifespan of a spirit ring.

As for soul skills, Huo Yuhao now has plenty of self-created and combined soul skills, but he just hasn't had the opportunity to use and demonstrate them yet.

"The Dream Eater Bird and the Big-Headed Spirit Ape are my top choices, but the Dream Eater Bird always goes alone and is very secretive."

"This kind of soul beast is good at using mental power to lure lost people and soul beasts into illusions and suck their brains, but it rarely provokes groups of more than one soul master or soul beast."

"Although the Big-Headed Apes live in groups, the species itself is not strong, and very few can reach the age that meets my ideal."

"Moreover, if it is a group of large-headed spirit apes that can produce cultivators with more than eight thousand years of cultivation, aside from the fact that their methods of uniting with each other are quite troublesome, they will most likely be protected by even more powerful soul beasts, so it is not the best choice."

"My next targets are the Thousand-Eyed Spirit Butterfly and the Hundred-Eyed Centipede. Although the innate spirit skills of these two spirit beasts are not very compatible with my future development path."

"But after all, these two types of soul beasts are also of the spiritual attribute, and their numbers are relatively greater than other spiritual attribute soul beasts, making them easier to find."

"As for the other, even rarer spirit-attribute spirit beasts, if we are fortunate enough to encounter them here, then it's not too late to make a decision."

In fact, Huo Yuhao had another ideal soul beast in mind that he didn't mention, which was the Demon Eye Tree. It was a rare spiritual attribute plant soul beast that was related to the ferocious beast, the Ten Thousand Demon King.

However, although the Demon King was feared by Di Tian because he had secretly controlled the plant-type soul beasts on the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest, he is still under Di Tian's control.

However, it's possible that one of the Demon Eye Trees is a minion of the Demon King, so even though the Demon Eye Tree's spirit ring is suitable for Huo Yuhao, it's best not to go looking for trouble for the sake of safety.

After listening to Huo Yuhao's request, the titled Douluo nodded.

"Alright, then you should also pay more attention. As a spirit-attribute soul master, your intuition may be more acute than my observation skills when it comes to finding spirit-attribute soul beasts."

The two then continued deeper into the mixed zone.

At this moment, in the core area of ​​the Star Dou Great Forest.

A golden lion, who should have been sunbathing comfortably in the Lake of Life and sleeping soundly until night, shook its fluffy mane and opened its three eyes.

"What's going on? I ate yesterday, why am I hungry again?" the Three-Eyed Golden Lion muttered in confusion.

Then it immediately let go and ran towards the outside of the core area of ​​the Star Dou Great Forest, while another fiery red figure helplessly followed this little ancestor away from the Lake of Life.

Besides ferocious beasts, the core area of ​​the Star Dou Great Forest is inhabited by 100,000-year-old soul beasts, as well as their direct blood relatives, all of whom have powerful bloodlines and are at least high-level soul beasts, with quite a few super soul beasts as well.

Although the Emperor Beast is nominally the king of soul beasts, under normal circumstances, she would not dare to attack these direct descendants of 100,000-year-old soul beasts and ferocious beasts.

After all, starting with the 100,000-year-old soul beasts, these soul beasts were the top forces in the Star Dou Great Forest, and their deaths were one less to be had.

Even with the protection of the Emperor Beasts, their numbers are extremely scarce in the Star Dou Great Forest.

Their descendants also have the potential to achieve something lasting 100,000 years, although the proportion is not high.

Therefore, most of the time, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion eats the brains of soul beasts that live outside the core area, are not valued by the Star Dou Great Forest, and have limited potential.

After all, if a soul beast cannot break through 100,000 years, it is difficult for it to develop advanced intelligence. Without this intelligence, soul beasts that have lived for more than 100,000 years will generally not consider it as one of their 'soul beast clansmen'.

According to Electrox in the original work, the Imperial Beast was born as a chosen one of destiny, possessing the potential of a demigod from birth, but requiring a long period of gestation.

In addition to the long period of growth, the gifts of fate have already secretly marked their price.

The so-called darling of fate is actually just a pawn that fate needs to appear at a crucial turning point.

Therefore, every darling of fate has their own mission, whether big or small, and the first turning point in the fate of the Imperial Auspicious Beast, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, was their encounter with it.

She met Huo Yuhao, the chosen one also favored by fate, and their paths crossed.

Fate has existed from the very beginning. Some people may think that fate is nonsense, but eating, drinking, moving, sitting and lying down, everything may be preordained.

From the very beginning, fate determines the starting point for all living beings, and from that starting point, fate is the path that can be followed and continues to climb forward.

However, just as fate exists, it is not predetermined. Fate can determine the starting point, but it cannot determine the ending point. Perhaps the general direction of the world is arranged by fate.

However, in a world with extraordinary power, every step a strong person takes forward, every bit stronger they become, causes their destiny, which was originally influenced by the general direction of the world, to deviate, and with this deviation in destiny...

One influences two, two influences three. As they grow stronger and more powerful, and as time goes by, they come into contact with more and more people. With each other's contact and influence, the fates of both parties and multiple parties will begin to intertwine and overlap, eventually converging into a new destiny and opening up a new future.

All fate can do is determine that a limited number of living beings appear at the turning points of their destiny to make contact, thereby stabilizing the general direction of fate.

This contact was unstable, just like in the original story, where, due to the intervention of Tang San, the Asura God who was a stronger God King, neither Huo Yuhao nor the Emperor Beast, the two chosen ones of fate, ended up with a good ending.

The one who was beheaded and taken in as a dog was the Emperor Three-Eyed Golden Lion, a soul beast, while the one who became the God King's hawk and hound was the chosen one, Dai Yuhao.

Therefore, the fateful connection between Huo Yuhao and the Three-Eyed Golden Lion in the original work occurred under Tang San's interference, and it was also the first encounter between these two chosen ones and the beast of destiny.

Now, the gears of fate have begun to turn, but neither side, having reached the crossroads of destiny, is aware of this.

Because fate is unfathomable, even though the Eye of Truth can see deeper trajectories, Huo Yuhao finds it difficult to understand, because he is illiterate and cannot decipher the "words" of fate.

Having never directly experienced fate, he could not comprehend the deeper, more fundamental trajectories revealed through the eyes of the truth.

What do those traces of movement in the muscles, bones, and cells of living beings, yet so distinct, represent and symbolize?

Moreover, the Eye of Truth, or even the Eye of Reality, can only help Huo Yuhao see the underlying logic that ordinary people cannot perceive.

Understanding it is extremely difficult, as it differs from things like the activity of bones and muscles, or the arrangement of molecules, which, although not studied, are concepts in our minds.

Fate is a more mysterious existence than the soul. Even if Huo Yuhao can see it one day, he will still be unable to do so if he lacks the strength.

Therefore, Huo Yuhao could only use his Eye of Truth to interpret it, to understand only a small part of its myriad possibilities, but he could not completely understand the thread of fate or control its direction for his own use.

The appearance of the Eye of Truth has given Huo Yuhao a ticket to becoming stronger, but to exchange it, he needs a lot of time to accumulate experience, and more importantly, Huo Yuhao's own strength must be strong enough.

(End of this chapter)