Chapter 66

What was Chen Qiye doing in the mountain range? Huo Yuhao didn't know.

Huo Yuhao only knew that Chen Qiye had dug up a Light Arrow from above and below, speaking dazedly, "This is my only goal to return home."

And Huo Yuhao also suffered a slight injury in the mountain range...

"Yuhao, I'm sorry, it's all my fault for hurting you. If it weren't for me initially bringing them to deal with you, you wouldn't have come into conflict with Wang Shaojie. Just as your injury healed, you suffered another heavy blow. It's my fault you were hurt."

Warm tears dripped onto Huo Yuhao's face, but were quickly wiped away by a soft, smooth little hand. Huo Yuhao's heart also seemed to tremble slightly.

The hospital bed was small; with Huo Yuhao lying there alone, there was hardly any space left. Yet Juzi carefully lay on her side at the edge, next to him, placing her head on his shoulder and softly sobbing.

Thus, Huo Yuhao dared not move even more. In his mind, Juzi had always been a mystery, utterly enigmatic. Only today, when he saw Juzi appear together with the disabled person called the Crown Prince, did he gain a vague understanding. Given her tragic background, it was no wonder she dared say she would appear on the battlefield in the future.

Regarding Juzi, Huo Yuhao's feelings were extremely complicated: there was wariness, sympathy, and a hint of faint affection. Especially during the time Juzi cared for him, he had to admit that, in his heart, Juzi had gained a certain place.

As they interacted, he gradually realized that, before him, Juzi was increasingly not hiding her nature. Huo Yuhao could also see that, although this girl's heart was full of hatred, her innate goodness still existed, merely buried deep.

"Yuhao, do you know? When I first ate the barbecue you made, I was attracted by that flavor. Your cooking let me feel my father's taste again. I once said that if I were to sincerely marry someone, I would certainly marry a chef as excellent as my father."

"Although you are much younger than me, I cannot help but admit that I have fallen for you. However, this affection can only be deeply buried in the depths of my heart. After all, we are impossible. No matter our age, experiences, or anything else, we are destined never to be together."

"I can see that, at Shrek Academy, you are certainly a heaven‑chosen prodigy. With the strength of four rings you can rival a Soul Emperor–level expert, and even make soul beasts of tens of thousands of years of cultivation unable to resist. You are the finest Soul Master I have ever met. In the near future, you will surely become a presence that shakes the continent. But you know you also have flaws; coldly observing from the sidelines, perhaps I would see them more clearly. Your flaw is that your brilliance is fully exposed. Even if you try as much as possible to conceal your brilliance, as a genius, how could your brilliance be completely hidden? Endure for a moment and the winds calm; retreat a step and the sea opens, the sky widens. These are the words I wish to give you. If you can truly do so, then your future will be even brighter."

"I hope this is the last time I cry. Soon I will have to leave the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. I don't know if we will ever meet again. I hope there is no such day, because I no longer wish to face you on the battlefield. I only hope you can live well, live happily. Find a woman who likes you and whom you like, marry her, have lovely and adorable children, and lead an ordinary life. Although I know full well that such an ordinary life is impossible for you, I still yearn for it. How I wish I could be that heroine! But I cannot."

"I am leaving. Juzi, alone in the world, for the sake of our brief affinity, I will still give you a gift."

Having said that, her voice stopped. Every word she spoke was deeply imprinted in Huo Yuhao's heart, especially the phrase 'live happily,' which almost brought him to tears. He struggled not to open his eyes to speak, for he truly did not know how to face Juzi at this moment. Yet his breathing, unbeknownst to him, grew somewhat heavier.

A fresh breath quietly approached; cool, moist, soft and tender lips landed on his cheek. …, when her lips left his cheek, tears finally could not help but slip from the corner of Huo Yuhao's eyes. At this moment, Juzi finally succeeded in imprinting her silhouette onto Huo Yuhao's heart—even if it was not the position of love, it left a permanent mark.

Juzi wiped the tears from her eyes, gazed at Huo Yuhao, and whispered, "This was my first kiss. I had wanted to kiss your lips, but without your consent I still kissed your cheek. Save your first kiss for the true destiny girl meant for you. I'm leaving now. Don't let me see you again."

Gently embracing his body, Juzi quietly rose, bit her lower lip with her teeth, stubbornly holding back her sobs, turned and rushed out of the infirmary.

Even from the moment she entered, she knew Huo Yuhao was awake. For Huo Yuhao has a trait: even if he himself is not fully aware, when he is conscious his ear snugly presses against both sides of his head, whereas when he meditates or falls asleep it slightly opens a gap.

This subtle change, unknown even to Wang Dong, was discovered by Juzi, who had carefully observed Huo Yuhao during the days she looked after him.

The sound of the door closing reached him; Huo Yuhao slowly opened his eyes, a glimmer of tears appearing in his gaze. He suddenly realized how powerless he was. Though he wanted to help her in his heart, he clearly knew he had no way to do so.

Her enemy is her own nation; the path she must walk is similar to mine yet utterly opposite. He could not simply abduct Juzi to stop her from striving for her ideals—otherwise, would she still be Juzi? "Juzi sis, do you realize I also wish you could live a simple and peaceful life?" He sighed long and gathered his spirit.

He still clearly remembered that, at Shrek Academy, in the Extreme Individual Soldier Plan there was a course specifically about mindset. Back then the teacher taught them, "To achieve great things one must be cold and ruthless." Emotional fluctuations greatly affect whether a person can make correct decisions.

Huo Yuhao had also specially practiced emotional control; at the time he felt he had done quite well, and the teachers approved of him. But now it seems he is still far from sufficient.

Who could be heartless? Moreover, he is only fifteen. This age is precisely when adolescent emotions surge. Especially the vague, budding feelings between boys and girls make him even more susceptible to emotional influence.

After taking several deep breaths in succession, Huo Yuhao managed to suppress his agitated emotions. The loss of emotional control forced him to find a solution. His method was simple: mental suggestion. He kept telling himself that only by becoming stronger could he influence everything in the world, and thus possibly gain control over all.

Within that mental suggestion, Huo Yuhao gradually drifted into sleep. Tonight is destined to be a night without cultivation.

The next afternoon, while still recuperating in the infirmary, Huo Yuhao received the news brought by Keke: Juzi had dropped out of school, her destination unknown.

Although Huo Yuhao had been prepared, he still spaced out for nearly a minute before gradually recovering.

"What are you spacing out for?! Where do you think Juzi sis is going?" Keke asked with a sullen face.

Huo Yuhao shook his head and said, "I don't know. But she ought to be striving for her ideals."

Huo Yuhao's injuries healed quickly; three days later he left the infirmary, returned to the dormitory to rest, and in fact his wound was almost fully healed.

Regarding Juzi, he didn't think about it further, but poured all his energy into cultivation. With a back door opened by Jing Hongchen, he could soon go to the Hall of Bright Virtue to study. This was also the most important purpose of his trip. To avoid raising Jing Hongchen's suspicions, Huo Yuhao painstakingly cultivated for five days in the dormitory before finding Xuan Ziwen and telling him his injuries had healed, so he could enter the Hall of Bright Virtue to begin study.

Meanwhile, Chen Qiye had been tinkering with that Light Arrow.

And so, half a year passed in bustling activity.

Half a year already…

For some reason, Chen Qiye today kept feeling unsettled, unable to get into the proper state.

While Chen Qiye was tinkering with the Light Arrow in his hand, a strange sensation suddenly appeared.

This did not come from his own feeling, but from the Eye of Destiny. He only felt a tingling numbness transmitted from his Eye of Destiny, and a strong sense of crisis instantly arose in his heart.

Without any hesitation, Chen Qiye stepped down with his right foot, and ice walls rose up all around.

"Boom, boom, boom, boom." Four consecutive booms rang out simultaneously within the vast Hall of Bright Virtue experimental base. The terrifying explosive force instantly stirred up a near‑devastating shockwave inside.

Four clusters of explosive light appeared in the four directions, each exactly where the researchers were most concentrated.

The explosion occurred so suddenly that the Soul Engineers at the blast's core had no time to react. At least a hundred Soul Engineers were vaporized instantly at the outset. Hundreds of experimental tables were torn apart by the terrifying explosive force, metal fragments scattering everywhere, forming a horrific metal torrent. Screams mingled with the smell of blood, and under the shockwave's action they burst outward like a geyser.

The terrifying explosion made the ground shake violently. In the huge underground Soul Tool manufacturing base, over a third of the personnel were affected, casualties heavy.

With the explosion's end, silhouettes suddenly burst up from the ground. These people were all dressed in black, extremely agile, and upon appearing they immediately launched a slaughter in all directions.

If viewed from above, one could see that at each of the four explosion sites a gigantic breach over ten meters in diameter had appeared; these black‑clad individuals emerged from those holes. They were not only well prepared but also immensely powerful, and as soon as they acted they brought a bloody storm.

At that moment Chen Qiye finally realized who the enemy was—the Body Sect, although the 100,000‑year‑old embryos had long disappeared, why had they come again to the Hall of Bright Virtue?

In just a moment, over a hundred Soul Engineers collapsed in pools of blood. Although the Soul Engineers also began to resist, the strength of these Body Sect experts far surpassed theirs. Among them were more than ten Title Douluo‑level powerhouses. How could their Soul Tools possibly withstand that?

Furthermore, these people were purely destructive; those precious experimental tables in their hands were as flimsy as paper, continually breaking. In just a moment, the damage caused could not be measured in money.

As the strongest soul tool research institution on the continent, the Hall of Bright Virtue was certainly not easy to deal with. After a brief panic, amidst the piercing alarm sounds, the Hall of Bright Virtue's counterattack also began.

One after another, huge soul tools protruded from the dome; these soul tools themselves were spiral-shaped, over five meters long, with a diameter exceeding two meters at their thickest, accompanied by blue-purple light coiling upward, and their sharp tips began frantically shooting out bolts of purple light, as if they had eyes, bombarding the Body Sect members.

At first, these Body Sect powerhouses didn't take it seriously, trying to block with their strong soul power. But soon they realized something was wrong.

The violet light falling from the sky struck their bodies, instantly generating a terrifying current; although their strength could block the harm from the current, it could not block the terrifying paralysis. A Title Douluo-level powerhouse, caught off guard, was hit consecutively by more than ten bolts of violet light and was actually frozen in place.

Meanwhile, those soul tool masters who had retreated to the surroundings began to launch a frenzied attack on them, and the Body Sect powerhouses finally started to suffer casualties.

At that moment, a figure leapt into the air, and with a flash appeared in midair. Under the pursuit of countless violet lights, his whole body seemed to become illusory, flickering back and forth, and not a single violet light could strike him.

Immediately afterward, the entire dome turned completely green, and under that terrifying green cover, all the soul tools on the dome actually melted completely.

"Go." That figure steadied in midair, waved both hands, and instantly the molten green liquid scattered everywhere, rushing straight toward the surrounding soul tool masters to attack.

"You dare not die from poison!" a furious shout rang out, and a layer of crimson light instantly expanded sideways, forcibly blocking that large mass of green liquid.

Deep in the underground base, dozens of figures rushed over at high speed; the one in the lead, could it not be the Hall Master of the Hall of Bright Virtue, Jing Hongchen? Seeing the scene of utter chaos in the underground base, Jing Hongchen's eyes almost burst with rage—since the Hall of Bright Virtue was built, it had never suffered such a devastating blow. Looking around, everywhere lay the corpses of the Hall of Bright Virtue's soul tool masters.

If they were facing off on the battlefield, Jing Hongchen would have absolute confidence in commanding the Hall of Bright Virtue's powerhouses to crush the Body Sect. But the Body Sect's attack came too suddenly. Moreover, the Hall of Bright Virtue's underground base extends a hundred meters underground—let alone outsiders not knowing the exact location, even if they knew, they lack the ability to penetrate deep down! Who would have thought that the Body Sect chose a method that is both the stupidest and most effective? They actually dug a tunnel from somewhere, launching an upward surprise attack from the weakest lower part, and forcibly broke through the base's defenses.

The black-clothed person in midair seemed not to have heard Jing Hongchen's voice at all, and coldly shouted, "Kill!"

The top expert who had just destroyed a large number of soul tools was naturally the sect leader of the Main Body Sect, Du Bu Si, but since he had come dressed in black with others, he naturally would not reveal his identity. Even if the other party clearly knew, he would absolutely not admit it.

(End of Chapter)