Douluo Continent: Reborn as Yuhao, they all have ulterior motives.

Chapter 335 Interrogation (Two Chapters Combined)

"and then?"

As the words fell, the already oppressive atmosphere began to gradually deteriorate in a more negative direction.

The most intense reaction came from the members of the Body Sect, who had just conceded defeat in their battle against the Sun and Moon Team.

Upon hearing Elder Xuan reveal that Huo Yuhao was the captain of the Holy Spirit Cult who had slaughtered five members of their sect and forced Vina to offer herself to him, Du Busi froze on the spot as if struck by lightning.

But then, his eyes visibly turned red, and after staring at Huo Yuhao for a long time, he suddenly turned his head to look at Long Xiaoyao beside him.

"So, you and Xuanzi knew from the beginning that he was Huo Yuhao?"

Long Xiaoyao frowned and replied coldly, "If I had known, I wouldn't have hoped that Shrek Academy could join the alliance in the first place."

His surprise was no less than that of Du Bu Si.

Looking back on the events of the past year, Long Xiaoyao also felt uneasy.

No wonder Mu En and Zhang Lexuan refused to attend their alliance meeting; it turns out these two groups were originally in cahoots!

Moreover, wouldn't Huo Yuhao's motivation perfectly align with his original assumptions?

At first, he thought that Xu Tianran had tricked Ling Bing and Ye Xishui, pretending to establish the Holy Spirit Sect as the state religion, but in reality, he wanted to use the power of the evil soul master to clear obstacles for himself.

But now that Lingbing's identity has been exposed, he realizes that things may not be quite as he thought.

Perhaps from the very beginning, Huo Yuhao was a means for Shrek Academy to dismantle the Holy Spirit Cult from within!

They knew very well that their own forces alone could not compete with the Holy Spirit Cult, which was already a large-scale organization. That's why they used this method of infiltration to gradually gain Ye Xishui's trust and finally trick her into voluntarily exposing herself to the light of day.

These guys probably anticipated this long ago. Once the Holy Spirit Cult, an evil soul master organization, is exposed, it will inevitably arouse the fear and encirclement of other forces.

In other words, they planned all of this with the intention of using someone else to do their dirty work!

As for why Shrek Academy doesn't send its own people to join?

They simply want to see both sides suffer heavy losses, just like Xu Tianran.

After all, only when everyone is severely weakened can Shrek Academy remain independent for a longer period of time.

Thinking of this, Long Xiaoyao's expression turned somewhat gloomy.

I never expected that Moon, who looks honest with his thick eyebrows and big eyes, would actually have so many wicked thoughts behind the scenes!

After decades of no contact, how could he be so heartless as to even harm Xi Shui?!

At the same time, Moon, who was dozing off in front of Shrek's freshman dormitory, sneezed unconsciously.

"...?"

What happened?

He slowly opened his eyes, rubbing his nose as he looked around blankly.

The sunlight was warm, the shadows of the trees swayed, and he enjoyed the gentle breeze on his face. He remained silent for a while, then got up and patted his bottom.

"Well, now that I'm healed, I really should go out more and watch the kids' matches..."

While everyone was lost in their own thoughts, Elder Xuan lay on the ground, looking dazed, feeling the cold temperature of the ground on his cheek.

Wait, isn't something off about this script?

You're the one being publicly interrogated, so why are you acting all high and mighty and asking me questions?

And then what?

Shouldn't you be terrified when your identity is exposed, be scorned by more than 200,000 people, and finally slink back to the sewers under their contemptuous and disgusted gazes, spending the rest of your miserable life with only regret as your companion?

When did evil spirit masters become able to speak so confidently?

And how could this guy's aura be so powerful?

Could it be that when Huo Yuhao cut down the golden tree, he used his own power?

No, he spent all his time at Shrek Academy back then, so he probably didn't have time to go out and kill people to cultivate.

Even so, this guy's performance was already outrageous enough.

He originally thought that Huo Yuhao's soul power level had only reached the eighth ring, but the cultivation level he showed was more than a thousand times higher than he had expected.

To have raised his cultivation to this level in just four years, one can only imagine how many lives he has secretly slaughtered.

For no apparent reason, images of the devastation he had witnessed firsthand flashed through Elder Xuan's mind, and he closed his eyes in anguish.

Although he has been removed from his position as deputy head of the Shrek Academy's inspection team, his years of dedication to maintaining stability on the continent have instilled in him a deep concern for the common people.

Now that he sees everything Huo Yuhao has done, how could he not be heartbroken?

But gradually, this heartache was overshadowed by a sense of responsibility that followed.

...Yes, maintaining the stability of the continent is the mission of the Shrek Inspection Team. Although he is no longer the vice leader, he still has an inescapable responsibility.

Now that the King of Evil Soul Masters is right in front of him, should he back down just because the other party's cultivation level is higher than his own?

Do not!

There are no cowards at Shrek Academy!

As if he had been blessed with glory in an instant, nine soul rings appeared beneath Elder Xuan, two horns sprouted from his head, and his entire body was stretched larger by his granite-like muscles.

With a low shout, his veins bulged all over his body, his old face turned red, and he finally managed to slowly and laboriously get up from the ground.

Why?

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over the dreamlike white scales, finally meeting Huo Yuhao's indifferent eyes, and asked the question that had been accumulating in his heart for a long time.

"Your original spirit is the ultimate ice, you clearly possess top-tier soul master talent bestowed by heaven, and your future is bright. Why did you so foolishly choose to go down the wrong path?"

Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow: "A wrong path?"

"Isn't that right?"

Elder Xuan gasped for breath: "Since ancient times, evil has never prevailed over good. Huo Yuhao, you could have reached the pinnacle on the righteous path, but you chose to fall into depravity, aid the wicked, and actively seek refuge in the evil path."

"While the power of an evil spirit master can indeed make one stronger in a short time, you are unaware that you have already lost more than you gain, and have cut off your future!"

As the voice grew louder, Elder Xuan straightened his back more and more, until finally, his eyes shone with an unprecedented majesty.

"By wantonly slaughtering the common people and causing widespread suffering, you will surely be haunted by resentment in the future, and your cultivation will stagnate."

"..."

Seeing Elder Xuan struggling to withstand his pressure, Huo Yuhao seemed amused by his words and couldn't help but grin.

"A total of 5,744 people."

"...What?"

Elder Xuan frowned, and before he could react, an even stronger pressure than before suddenly descended. His bones cracked and popped, and with a pained expression, he hunched over uncontrollably.

"This is the number of residents in the City of Original Sin a week ago. Thanks to the strong attitude I showed in the previous competition against the Body Sect, the number of people bringing their families to the city has increased significantly recently."

"And even now, the City of Original Sin continues to recruit people from all over the world who come here because of its reputation, people you call Evil Soul Masters."

Huo Yuhao slowly approached Elder Xuan, looking down at him with a tone that was neither happy nor sad.

"I am the one who gave those who had nowhere to go a place to stay, and those who were not accepted a place to realize their value."

"I've been cleaning up the mess created by your incompetence the whole time, and you bunch of bastards who didn't offer any help other than getting in my way actually dare to come up to me and question me, accusing me of wanton killing and causing widespread devastation?"

Reaching out, Huo Yuhao grabbed the long horn on Xuan Lao's forehead and, just as he had done to Tang San earlier, forcefully slammed it downwards.

boom--

Amidst the earth-shaking tremors, Huo Yuhao's tone suddenly took on a violent edge as he sharply questioned him.

"Who gave you the audacity to repeatedly come before me and criticize what I do?!"

As a super Douluo with a cultivation level of 98 and the Martial Soul of the Gluttonous Divine Ox, Elder Xuan's mind was naturally not as fragile as Tang San's.

Even though he wasn't injured, Huo Yuhao's almost humiliating attack made him furious.

He struggled to lift his head, glaring at Huo Yuhao: "Who knows if you're just using the pretense of maintaining order to lower our guard so you can take the opportunity to expand and strengthen the Holy Spirit Cult!?"

"Even if what you say is true, how can you guarantee that nothing that people want to see will happen in the City of Original Sin in the future?"

boom--

A deafening roar.

His response was met with a terrifying force that struck again from the long horns.

Huo Yuhao slammed his head to the ground again, responding with an icy expression.

"Is it enough reason that I'm giving you a chance to speak, and allowing you to dangle in front of me for so long, when I clearly have the power to kill you right now?"

Seemingly feeling that this was not enough to teach the old man a lesson, Huo Yuhao's awe-inspiring spirit rings were finally revealed at this moment.

Orange, red, red, orange, red.

Besides these five, the last two were golden soul rings with blue glass patterns on their surface and constantly emitting icy white mist.

It also has seven spirit rings, but unlike the previous Spirit Eye Martial Soul, which was released by the Mermaid Princess and had no spirit rings of a reasonable color, this time the Ice Emperor Martial Soul finally has a blood red color that is familiar to the audience, symbolizing a 100,000-year spirit ring.

It was precisely because of this point of reference that everyone present deeply understood how terrifying Huo Yuhao was.

Aside from his two identities, a total of five Soul Saints appeared in this competition: Tang San, Tang Ya, Meng Hongchen, Bei Bei, and Long Aotian. Among these five Soul Saints, only the first three each possess a 100,000-year Soul Ring.

Compared to previous tournaments where even Soul Saints rarely participated, this tournament had already reached an unprecedented and unparalleled level of exaggeration...

But now, Huo Yuhao alone has displayed three 100,000-year soul rings!

However, this is not the most exaggerated part. Many people with keen senses even vaguely felt that those orange spirit rings seemed to be a few points stronger than those 100,000-year spirit rings.

As for the blue-gold spirit ring, needless to say, just by looking at the swirling ice mist around it, you can tell that its effects are probably extraordinary.

After all, what kind of good person has a soul ring with special effects?

No, everyone has two noses and one eye, why are you exaggerating like that?!

For an ordinary Soul Master to possess a 100,000-year Soul Ring would be a stroke of good fortune, but this guy gave them at least a 100,000-year Soul Ring.

Did this guy disturb a soul beast's lair?

Just as everyone was puzzled, Huo Yuhao's first spirit ring finally lit up.

As the dragon scales covering his arms shimmered with a diamond-like luster, his strength suddenly surged.

I'm currently reading the error-free version! This is the first time I've published this novel.

Without any further hesitation, he threw a powerful punch, striking Elder Xuan's oil-stained face directly.

Bang!

As blood splattered, Elder Xuan screamed in agony, as if he were about to be thrown away by that immense force.

However, Huo Yuhao's other hand, which was gripping his long horn, was like an iron clamp, not allowing him to leave his side even for a moment.

"A guarantee? Why should I make a guarantee?"

A warm stream of blood was flowing from his nose; it must have been from the punch he'd just received.

As his cheek throbbed with pain, Huo Yuhao's sneer once again reached Elder Xuan's ears.

Immediately afterwards, he felt himself being lifted up again and violently slammed to the ground.

Once, twice, three times.

Just like an earthquake, Huo Yuhao continued to repeat the actions expressionlessly under the astonished gazes of the audience.

One blow after another, as if he had finally torn off his disguise, he vented his long-suppressed anger in a chilling way.

He continued his actions until the arena beneath him was completely destroyed, leaving only a huge, cracked crater.

Standing up from the ruins, Huo Yuhao stared intently at Elder Xuan, whom he held in his hand, whose face was bruised and swollen, making him unrecognizable.

"Even if I made a guarantee, you wouldn't believe me. As I said before, as long as you can afford the consequences of taking action, you can be more direct and do whatever you want. After all, the Holy Spirit Church won't mind having another law enforcement target."

As he spoke, as if he had just thought of something, he sneered and questioned, "Or should I be like you, only knowing how to drink after making a mistake, and even if I make promises, I'll continue to make the same mistakes in the future?"

"According to your logic, perhaps I should have just killed you back in the Star Dou Great Forest, since that would have prevented the later events that no one wanted to see?"

Elder Xuan froze, whether from the pain in his cheek or from not knowing how to respond to Huo Yuhao's question, his lips trembled but he did not make a sound.

For no apparent reason, the same thought from before popped into his mind again.

Who is interrogating whom here?

"I know he's not the only one who thinks this way; there are many others who share similar sentiments, but I don't care."

Huo Yuhao continued speaking, casually tossing Elder Xuan aside, but this time, he coldly surveyed the crowd in the stands.

"I don't need everyone to greet me with a smile. My only requirement for you is that you don't cause trouble. As long as you do that, I will try my best to ensure that we can coexist peacefully."

"As for those who think the evil spirit masters got the better deal and are condescendingly criticizing me, there's one thing I hope you can understand..."

Huo Yuhao paused for a moment, then his voice grew even louder.

"If it weren't for me, who among you guys who wave the banner of righteousness would have noticed that there are so many people being ostracized and bullied by you because of their own martial souls?"

And how many of these people you've ostracized will become what you call evil spirit masters?!

"Without me, how would you have known about the Holy Spirit Cult, an organization composed of evil soul masters?! And how many of you would have been able to prepare for their full-blown attack?"

"If it weren't for me, would all those things you're worried about not have happened?! Did the Holy Spirit Cult exist today because of my existence?!"

Finally, someone seemed unable to bear Huo Yuhao's tone any longer and retorted angrily.

"Are you trying to say that all of this is our fault!?"

Huo Yuhao looked up at the sound, his gaze fixed indifferently on Du Busi in the stands, and coldly questioned, "That's exactly what I meant, what else?"

"It is your nearly ten thousand years of neglect, indulgence, and inaction that have created the current environment; it is your incompetence that has allowed all of this to happen in secret!"

"Just like this old man said, with my original martial soul and ultimate martial soul, I can simply stay out of it and let you self-righteous guys immerse yourselves in your own worlds, and then watch this bomb that has been accumulating for thousands of years explode, blowing you all to smithereens."

"Tell me, from beginning to end, has this had even the slightest impact on me?! Did I do all this for myself?!"

Poison Undying instinctively opened his mouth, but didn't know how to refute it.

"And now, I've helped you find the problem and cleaned up the mess, yet you're pretending to be righteous and coming to accuse me of not doing it?"

Huo Yuhao's gaze swept over everyone, and finally he couldn't help but let out a cold laugh.

"Do you have any better way to solve this problem?"

"If that's the case, then what were you doing all this time? Tell me, what the hell were you doing all this time?!"

The resounding voice reached the ears of everyone present, but all that followed was silence.

From the long silence, a clear voice rang out from the Star Luo team's rest area.

"As a princess of the Star Luo royal family, I am willing to believe in the character of the people of my Star Luo Empire."

Xu Jiujiu slowly rose from his seat and solemnly looked around.

"At the same time, I will also represent the Star Luo Royal Family here to vouch for Huo Yuhao's past actions and, in the future, unconditionally support his series of measures regarding the Holy Spirit Cult and the Evil Soul Masters."

These words caused an uproar in the room.

Everyone, including Poison Immortal and Elder Xuan, had only one thought at this moment.

That means Xu Jiujiu went mad.

What is the concept of unconditional support?

This means that if the City of Original Sin wanted to, it could enjoy the same law enforcement powers as the Sun and Moon Empire within the Star Luo Empire.

However, to everyone's shock, it seems that the Star Luo Empire is not the only one that has gone mad.

Shrek Academy also unconditionally supports all of Huo Yuhao's decisions.

Seeing that Princess Xingluo was the first to express her opinion, Han Ruoruo, the team leader who was in the Shrek Academy rest area, followed suit.

As Zhang Lexuan appointed her to lead the team, she naturally received some instructions before the trip.

For example, representing Shrek Academy in a situation like this and responding to Huo Yuhao's actions.

To be honest, she was almost scared to death when Elder Xuan suddenly appeared.

She was genuinely afraid that the old man would suddenly overstep his bounds and say to Huo Yuhao something like, "On behalf of Shrek Academy, I sever all ties with you."

If this goes wrong and strains the relationship between Shrek Academy and Huo Yuhao, she'll probably be too ashamed to go back and see her senior sister.

With two top powers publicly endorsing the City of Original Sin and the Holy Spirit Cult, and the Sun Moon Empire, which had already established it as its state religion and was now fully supporting it, most of the forces capable of influencing the continent's landscape had already sided with Huo Yuhao.

It's obvious to anyone with eyes that this city, composed of evil spirit masters, is rising rapidly with an unstoppable momentum.

It probably won't be long before it becomes a sacred place in the hearts of all evil spirit masters.

It's funny, really. Despite being the city with the strictest rules and the most severe punishments on the continent, the City of Original Sin is described as a free city-state by those evil soul masters.

Seemingly surprised that Xu Jiujiu would respond at this moment, Huo Yuhao subconsciously turned his head to look at the rest area where the other party was.

Upon seeing the undisguised smugness in those eyes, he couldn't help but smile.

"...Referee, you can announce the result of the match now."

From the high platform, after taking in the slight smile on Huo Yuhao's lips, Ye Xishui couldn't help but shake her head in regret.

"What a pity, it was so close..."

P.S.: There was no signal on the plane before, so I couldn't send the message even after I finished writing it. I was able to send it as soon as I got off the plane.

To explain my recent situation, I'm currently on a business trip abroad with my company supervisor for about 15 days. I expect to return to China on January 3rd. Updates may be a bit irregular during this period, so please forgive me.

Sorry orz

(End of this chapter)