Chapter 255.1: The Setting Sun Forest
These soul engineers didn’t show any mercy at all, and all nine soul paralysis rays fired at nearly the same time. One could tell that they had a lot of practice, as their shots didn’t just target them, but also blocked off their paths of escape.
Huo Yuhao was also a soul engineer, and he could be considered one of the most outstanding soul engineers of Shrek Academy’s younger generation. Huo Yuhao would have let himself down if he was so easily taken down by these Class 4 soul paralysis rays.
A yellow light suddenly expanded from Huo Yuhao’s body and enveloped the two of them: a Class 6 soul barrier!
Nine beams of light landed on the barrier and created ripple after ripple, but the soul barrier didn’t so much as tremble. Huo Yuhao knew that they had no choice but to fight.
“Don’t do anything, Qiu’er.” Huo Yuhao instructed Wang Qiu’er as his eyes suddenly lit up.
The air within thirty meters of them seemed to contort, and the nine soul engineers’ second shots all missed, while three of them were accidentally struck by their companions and fell from the sky.
Light erupted from behind Huo Yuhao’s back as he activated his soul thrusters explosively and crashed against two other soul engineers. He had never been afraid of meeting force with force with anyone at his level, except for Wang Qiu’er. Furthermore, these soul engineers were just four-ringed Soul Ancestors, and they weren’t even powerful Soul Ancestors.
He forcefully knocked these two soul engineers out of the air, and golden light flickered in his eyes as he turned towards Mu Xue, who was about to make a move.
Mu Xue suddenly felt an intense dizziness in her head, and immediately lost her balance. They were high up in the sky, and losing control meant she could no longer hover, so she plummeted towards the ground.
“What are you waiting for? Hurry up and save her!” Huo Yuhao shouted at the soul engineers before they could fire off a third wave of soul paralysis rays as he dragged Wang Qiu’er off and turned around to run.
Three of the soul engineers were struck by their own paralysis rays and plunged limply through the air. Mu Xue was struck by Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Confusion and temporarily lost control of her body. The other two that were sent hurtling through the air were relatively stronger than the others, but Huo Yuhao didn’t damage their flying-type soul tools, so they could still move around. The remaining four soul engineers were able to rescue their fallen comrades, but that also meant they couldn’t pursue Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er anymore.
Huo Yuhao shook his head lightly as he watched the falling soul engineers and their comrades who were attempting to rescue them. He controlled his flying-type soul tool and positioned himself accurately behind Wang Qiu’er before he pressed his hands against her back and activated the soul thrusters. Searing white flames extended from behind his back, and Huo Yuhao pushed Wang Qiu’er forward as they rocketed through the air. They raced for several hundred meters before he turned around as he held Wang Qiu’er’s hand and they immediately completed their martial soul fusion. He pushed his flying-type soul tool to the highest possible speed, and the two of them transformed into a ray of light as they disappeared over the horizon.
By the time the Heavenly Soul Empire’s team of soul engineers finally settled down, the two of them had already become two black dots in the distance. Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er had completely vanished from their field of view when they managed to gather themselves.
“Bastards!” Mu Xue’s fists were tightly clenched, her pretty face all tensed up.
“What should we do, team leader? Do we report to our superiors and request reinforcements? These two are difficult to deal with,” one of the soul engineers whispered to Mu Xue.
The fury on Mu Xue’s face vanished and she answered coldly, “There’s no need. I can tell from their behavior that they don’t mean any harm. Otherwise, do you think we’d still be hovering in midair? Let’s go back. I will report this to our superiors.” She was still rational. If Huo Yuhao had really wanted to hurt them, he definitely would’ve had something else up his sleeves if he could release a Class 6 protective barrier. It was unlikely that any of them would have survived this ordeal if Huo Yuhao had unleashed his true abilities.
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Wang Qiu’er didn’t struggle as Huo Yuhao grasped her hand. She was being pulled along, and this meant she was positioned slightly behind him, and could clearly see Huo Yuhao’s profile.
Huo Yuhao’s face was still scrunched up like before, and his expression was still as black as ever. However, he was a lot calmer than he was when he had left the academy.
Wang Qiu’er felt the circulation of soul power between their bodies, and their soul power was intertwined and even flourished. Her eyes were a little lost and vacant.
This feeling…
Their combined efforts had raised their Class 6 flying-type soul tools’ flight speed to the highest possible level, and Heaven Dou City was now far behind them.
An enormous forest gradually came into view in the distance. They were about to reach their destination according to the map’s instructions.
It was common knowledge that soul masters shouldn’t fly above a place inhabited by soul beasts, as it made them easy targets. Huo Yuhao dragged Wang Qiu’er along and quickly descended from the sky, and naturally let go of her hand once they landed on the ground.
“Have you not seen enough after staring at me for so long? Have I recently become more handsome?” Huo Yuhao turned around and smiled at Wang Qiu’er.
Wang Qiu’er grunted and said, “Why didn’t you kill those people? They were so unreasonable. You didn’t let me fight, either.”
Huo Yuhao laughed exasperatedly. “They were just executing their duties, and they had no intention of hurting us. How could I kill them? Furthermore, we did trespass into a city’s airspace, so we were in the wrong.”
“Is this the place?” Wang Qiu’er didn’t pursue the matter, instead changing the topic. Her eyes turned towards the vast forest in front of them.
Huo Yuhao nodded and retrieved the map. He had already determined their direction while they were still flying, and the forest had a jagged patch at this location, which was easy to find when they were looking down from high in the sky. It was a lot easier to follow the map and venture into the forest after finding this prominent geographical feature.
“Let’s get going.” Wang Qiu’er was the first to move, and she widened her stride towards the forest.
“Be careful,” Huo Yuhao hurriedly caught up with her. “According to the map’s markings, the place we are looking for is full of dangers.”
Wang Qiu’er tilted her mouth indifferently and said, “It’s just a tiny Setting Sun Forest, how dangerous can it be? Don’t forget that I lived in the Great Star Dou Forest by myself for a year.”
Huo Yuhao had nothing else to say. She was incredibly powerful, after all. However, he activated his Spiritual Detection at once and shared it with her before they proceeded.
The reason why those soul engineers had lost their ability to aim was due to Spiritual Interference, a soul skill of his that had been continuously evolving. It was also a soul skill that Huo Yuhao hadn’t used for a long time. The logic was the same as when he used Imitation when he faced the three evil soul master brothers in the Great Star Dou Forest: not using this soul skill didn’t mean it wasn’t good. He had to hide it because it was far too powerful.
Spiritual Interference wasn’t as brutal or forceful as Spiritual Shock. However, there wouldn’t be any negative backlash, and he could use it continuously. This soul skill was a nightmare for most soul masters, and could cover an increasingly larger area as Huo Yuhao’s cultivation increased over time. Huo Yuhao could currently cover a radius of fifty meters at this point, and he could reach one hundred meters if he was focusing on a smaller target area, and he could reach two hundred meters if he used his Eye of Destiny. This was the reason why Huo Yuhao had been so calm and composed when the soul engineers had surrounded them.
Huo Yuhao had once remarked to Skydream that Skydream had changed his entire life, and that statement was absolutely true. He could only have today’s success and his exemplary accomplishments with the abilities and help that Skydream had given him. Otherwise, he probably wouldn’t even have passed Shrek Academy’s freshman examination.
The Setting Sun Forest’s vegetation was a little sparse compared to the Great Star Dou Forest, and the plant species were slightly different as well. The main reason for this was due to their distinct geographical locations.
The Great Star Dou Forest was located in the Continent’s central regions, and the temperature there was pleasant. The temperature within the Great Star Dou Forest remained between twenty to thirty degrees celsius year-round, while winter was almost nonexistent, and ice and snow were rarities.
The Setting Sun Forest was more than a thousand kilometers north of the Great Star Dou Forest. If they travelled far enough north, they would enter the Extreme North, and so this forest’s temperature was much lower than the Great Star Dou Forest’s. Under such circumstances, coniferous trees were the main plant species found in this area, as they were more suitable for living in below-average temperatures. There were also some subtropical plants in the area as well.
There were not that many species in this forest compared to the Great Star Dou Forest, and therefore it appeared to be comparatively scarce. However, the plants that could survive in a place like this would naturally have superior survival capabilities.
They stepped into the Setting Sun Forest, and they hadn’t even taken that many steps before soul beasts appeared within Huo Yuhao’s Spiritual Detection. These soul beasts were pitifully weak, Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu’er didn’t even have to release their auras, and the soul beasts were already scampering away. There was no need to talk about these soul beasts attacking them.
“They’re all ten-year soul beasts. This place is terribly barren and infertile,” Wang Qiu’er frowned.
Huo Yuhao said, “You can’t compare this place to the Great Star Dou Forest. In the end, the Great Star Dou Forest is one of the most prominent places in the entire Continent, and the Core Region’s Slaughtering Grounds is comparable to the core regions of the Extreme North. Those spots, along with three other extremely dangerous places, are known collectively as the Five Great Forbidden Regions.”
Wang Qiu’er grunted and said, “There should only be three. The other two only appeared because of our collision with the Sun Moon Continent. Don’t you want to speed up?”
“Alright. Let’s pick up the pace.” They didn’t feel any threatening presences within the Setting Sun Forest, and Huo Yuhao naturally didn’t want to waste any more time. The two of them quickened their pace and ventured deeper into the Setting Sun Forest.
The vegetation here wasn’t as dense as the Great Star Dou Forest, so their movements were unimpeded. Furthermore, Huo Yuhao was anxious and worried, so he was moving forward at sixty percent of his maximum speed, while Wang Qiu’er followed closely beside him. The two of them had a tacit understanding, and they didn’t hold each other’s hands anymore. They were both exceptional individuals among everyone else at the same level, even before they had their martial soul fusion skill.