'... That's a nice sky,' Huo Yuhao blankly stared at the clear blue sky, his face bruised black and blue but was gradually healing.
It was slow to fix his facial features when he focused most of it on the rest of his body, which was on the verge of breaking after Bear Lord easily trashed him and overused the sixth gate.
*Poke* *Poke*
"Heeey~ You still alive?" Qiu'er casually asked while poking his head with her snout.
"Well you're alive, sooo..." Huo Yuhao retorted.
Qiu'er snorted and laid beside him, snuggling her face to his affectionately, looking no different to a large dog.
She didn't know if it was because of their soul contract or that she had known him for more than a year now, but Qiu'er preferred being with Huo Yuhao constantly on a almost 24/7 basis.
It certainly caused a lot of... trouble for everyone with her sudden clingy behavior.
"Why do you keep fighting Bear Lord without using either your Sharingan or Eye of Destiny? You just keep hurting yourself.... And I don't want to see you getting hurt," Qiu'er murmured, licking Huo Yuhao's face and whimpering.
A month or so after he had familiarized himself in the forest, Qiu'er had then pressed her third eye against his and triggered an evolution for both their third eyes.
Huo Yuhao's third eye can now manipulate destiny and the luck of others to amplify his own. While Qiu'er had also gained some of the abilities of the Rinnegan, which are: Animal Path, Preta Path, and Asura Path.
Safe to say, with the Animal Path, she had gathered up a large army.
'Aww...'
Huo Yuhao inwardly cooed at her action and gently stroked her head, saying: "Thanks for worrying about me, Qiu'er. But I can handle it, and more. You know I have to. I have to be stronger than ever if I want to achieve my dreams and survive for whatever schemes those Gods have prepared for me."
Qiu'er went silent for a moment, seemingly in deep thought and said. "...I could become your Spirit Soul—geh!"
"No," Huo Yuhao didn't let her finish her words and karate chopped her head with his prosthetic arm. "That's a bad idea. That's a very, very bad idea. Bad Qiu'er. Bad."
Even if Di Tian and the other Great Beasts hold great trust towards him now, there was still no way in hell they would let the Auspicious Emperor, who grants increased cultivation and fortune to soul beasts in the forest, go with him as a spirit soul and abandon her body.
They would forget all pretenses and imprison Huo Yuhao forever in the forest to help keep improving the soul beasts' cultivation. He become a prisoner for as long as possible.
Qiu'er glared at him with teary eyes, her claws covering her head. "Grr! Stop treating me like a dog!" She yelled, barring her teeth.
She doesn't understand that, what she's doing right now, isn't helping her case at all.
"Heh."
Huo Yuhao gave her a look and smiled.
"What's with that look?!"
Just as Qiu'er was about to start stomping on Huo Yuhao, Di Tian and the others arrived beside them.
"Huo Yuhao, why do you keep staying in this place?" Di Tian wasn't one to beat around the bush and asked straightforwardly.
Huo Yuhao gave him a strange look and replied, "Uh, because you haven't given me your recognition. You're the strongest creature in the world. Why would I have the guts to try and escape?"
'...Fair point,' Di Tian inwardly sighed.
He shook his head and said, "You and I both know that's not the only reason. The strange techniques you showed us are much more impressive and unfathomable compared to any self-created soul skills that I've seen.
Even the most well-known techniques that Tang San had used ten thousand years ago couldn't compare to yours."
Huo Yuhao slightly scratched his cheek, feeling a bit awkward since those techniques were created by other people in his previous life, but he couldn't actually credit them since he didn't remember all of their names.
One because he could not give a damn, second is because they were his enemies in his previous lives, and lastly because their names wouldn't make sense for the people in this world and would misunderstand that Huo Yuhao was trying to act humble and used those names as his alias or something.
Huo Yuhao inwardly swore he'll write down the names of the creators, the ones he remembered, of the jutsus into the Book of Shinobi that members of Akatsuki would read. He didn't want to be an asshole and take all the credit.
Although, technically speaking, he(Indra) was the one who created ninjutsu anyways so he was going to put that in. There was a lot more to it, the ninshu and Indra's father's origins, but he wasn't going to delve into that yet.
Huo Yuhao let out a deep breath, stared at Di Tian and said. "I continued staying in this place because I'm working on a certain... technique. In order for me to create it, I need to be in a place full of natural energy.
And where else but the core region of the Great Star Dou Forest and with the Lake of Life?"
"Natural energy?" Di Tian, the Great Beasts, and Qiu'er raised their eyebrows in confusion. They all exchanged glances, thinking that Huo Yuhao might've said it incorrectly.
"By natural energy, you mean the energies of heaven and earth? Or Life Energy?" Bi Ji asked.
In the world of Douluo, many concepts of energies both soul masters and soul beasts uses are quite well-known: fire, water, earth, air, lightning, destruction, life, etc.
But no one has ever used something called natural energy, and when they do, it's normally associated with either Life energy or the energies of heaven and earth.(1)
They all however, felt that Huo Yuhao wasn't talking either of those energies or he would've just straight up said their official names.
Huo Yuhao hummed and explained. "Well, it's like a mixture of both Life energy and Earth Qi. Natural Energy or Nature Energy is quite literally the energy of nature—it is the pure, ambient energy that exists in the air, the ground, the trees, the water... everything living and untouched by artificial constructs.
It's not just Life energy, nor is it simply Earth Qi or spiritual particles. It's a more primitive, unrefined force that flows through all of nature without being molded by intent or soul force."
He looked around at the forest—the scorched earth still healing, the distant Lake of Life shimmering faintly through the trees.
'And by controlling the natural energy to balance it with chakra, it becomes senjutsu chakra. Something I never truly managed to master and use like Naruto had done, all because I was full of hatred.
It wasn't simply a problem of perfectly controlling energies, but of mindset. Natural energy responds to harmony—not rage, not vengeance. To enter Sage Mode, you need peace, awareness, and connection with the world around you. None of which the old me's; Sasuke, Madara, and Indra ever had.'
Huo Yuhao's gaze softened slightly as he watched the forest slowly regrow. Tiny green sprouts were already breaking through the cracked earth, reaching for the sun.
'However, I'm not like any of them. Just like how they had their own paths, I have my own to walk.' Huo Yuhao clenched his fists and let out a deep sigh.
Unfortunately however, attaining senjutsu wasn't as simple as he had initially thought—because c'mon! Naruto did it in like a fucking week!
Huo Yuhao wanted to curse at Sasuke for not learning to gather it.
Oh he knew how to use it, flawlessly in fact, but he never knew how to gather it.
Now how was that possible? If he can't even gather it? Well, introducing the Curse Mark! The "generator" of natural energy that enhances the user with the side effects of extreme pain and disfigurement.
He started sensing Nature Energy it for a couple of months, and by his estimation, fortunately to his hard work and dedication(Shadow Clones), he'd likely succeed in a few days.
'Right now, I am at rank 62. As expected, my cultivation has finally slowed down. By my estimation, I'd advance to rank 70 in 3-4 years.' Huo Yuhao thought to himself and smirked, wondering how strong he'll become at that time.
'I'd be a double sage, a sage of soul power and a sage of nature. I'll easily contend against ordinary Titled Douluos and even against some Transcendent Douluos.'
If people were to learn about Huo Yuhao's thoughts, they would've called him crazy. They were called the strongest cultivators below heaven for a reason. There was a limit to such arrogance!
Huo Yuhao wasn't concerned about others opinions on him. He was confident because he was quite confident in himself.
To aim for divinity, one must have at least this amount of confidence or they'd be crushed by the weight of their own ambition before even taking the first step.
"Oooh! Can you show it to me when you complete it!" Qiu'er excitedly asked.
Huo Yuhao slightly smiled. "Well, of course. What's the point of creating a technique if I don't show it off?"
"Hahahaha! True indeed!" Bear Lord said laughingly.
"....I am rather curious as well," Bi Ji agreed, adjusting her glasses. It was rather curious why the greatest healer in the Star Dou Forest needed glasses.
The reason she had glasses on was purely for aesthetic reasons only. She once saw a human having them and immediately fell in love with the fashion look.
And no, she didn't pluck it off from that person....
She got it from a different corpse.
"Hey Di Tian," Huo Yuhao asked, smiling widely, instantly gaining Di Tian's narrowed gaze. "About that request I have for you—"
"No." Di Tian rumbled, his golden eyes shining dangerously.
Huo Yuhao awkwardly chuckled and quickly backed down.
The Great Beasts and Qiu'er looked at them both, confused.
"Uh, what's happening?" Zi Ji asked.
"It's nothing." Di Tian said, not elaborating further.
'Suspicious.' They all thought.
The awkward conversation between the two was of one simple, not so innocent request Huo Yuhao had made to Di Tian.
The resting places of fallen 100,000 year old or more soul beasts that failed their heavenly tribulation.
Di Tian didn't know why or what Huo Yuhao was planning on doing with them, but it certainly wasn't good so he vehemently denied him access to their locations. Just giving him that Inferno Devilwolf King's soul bone was his utmost limit of generosity.
He also hadn't shared this information with the other Great Beasts and Qiu'er because it would strain their relationship with Huo Yuhao. So as much as he hated it, he had to suck it up and pretend Huo Yuhao didn't ask him for such a thing.
Huo Yuhao also understood that disturbing the resting places and the corpses of old friends or acquaintances was disgusting and deeply disrespectful.
But he was a Necromancer, and what kind of Necromancer was he if he doesn't go on grave robbing? Fortunately his shadow clones were doing it all across the Three Douluo Empires secretly.
But it's such a missed opportunity for him if he doesn't use the corpses of those ancient soul beasts. He might not be able to restore them to their peak state, but close enough. And a 100,000 year old soul beast is at least Titled Douluo level.
Huo Yuhao truly does sympathize with Di Tian, he truly did.
But at the same time, he craved an army for likely crises against followers of Gods, so...
'Somehow, someway, I will get those ancient soul beast corpses. I swear on my great teacher, the greatest grave robber, Electrolux!' Huo Yuhao secretly thought, keeping his expression straight and smiling.
*Poof*
Huo Yuhao's eyes widened and he turned his head, towards the direction of Shrek Academy. Di Tian also turned his head in the same direction simultaneously.
"Shrek Academy....is being attacked!"
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AN: If I had a penny every time that Shrek Academy gets attacked... I'd probably get more than five actually. You'd think a school that nurtures children would be the safest place in the world, but guess not.