Chapter 102: Huo Yuhao the Hacker
The hall was filled with a cacophony of sounds. The crisp clink of metal bumping metal. The rustle of pages as instruction manuals were flipped through. The low, hushed tactical exchanges between teammates. And the occasional exclamation of wonder at a particular weapon.
Furina stood at the center of the arena, her gaze sweeping across these young, vibrant faces. She could see nervousness in many of their eyes—but far more, she saw excitement and an eagerness to prove themselves. These were Shrek students, after all. Talent might vary from high to low, but the hunger to grow stronger was something they all shared.
A waist-high wooden lottery box was carried to the center of the arena by two students. Its surface was lacquered a deep crimson, the Shrek Academy crest painted in gold along its side.
Furina reached her hand into the round hole at the top, fumbling for a moment before her fingertips brushed against neatly folded slips of paper. She drew one out, unfolded it, and let her gaze linger on it for a brief instant. Then, a deeply meaningful smile surfaced at the corner of her lips.
"First match—" Her voice, amplified by soul power, rang clearly through the entire hall. Every whisper ceased in an instant. "Team One, composed of Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao, will face Team Two, composed of Huang Tian, Su Su, and Wang Ye. Both sides, please step onto the platform and prepare."
As her words fell, a faint stir rippled through the back rows of the spectator seating. Many of the upperclassmen and teachers who had come upon hearing the news clearly recognized the name "Huo Yuhao." After all, everyone knew about the two monstrous genius new students with their heaven-defying soul ring configurations.
Huo Yuhao drew a deep breath and exchanged a glance with Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao at his side. The three stacked their hands together in the air, then pressed downward with force.
"Let's go!" Three voices united in a low shout—a mutual boost of morale, and a declaration of battle.
Across from them, Huang Tian's three-person team had also already stepped onto the combat platform. Huang Tian was a tall, broad-shouldered youth with thick brows and large eyes. At this moment, he was staring fixedly at Huo Yuhao, his gaze carrying both wariness and a flicker of eager, challenging spirit.
The two teams took their positions on opposite sides of the platform. Teacher Li stood at the center as referee, while Zhou Yi and Furina were seated in the supervision seats on either side.
"The match rules have been reiterated. I will emphasize one last time: this is a sparring match first and foremost. Know when to stop. Deliberately maiming or killing is strictly forbidden." Teacher Li's deep, resonant voice echoed through the vast hall, carrying an unquestionable authority. "Now—match, begin!"
The moment his words fell, six surges of soul power erupted almost simultaneously.
On Huang Tian's side, three yellow soul rings blazed to life first—the standard hundred-year soul ring configuration, indicating that while this team was not top-tier, they were already solid mid-level fighters among the new students. Behind Huang Tian himself, the phantom of a mighty lion materialized—his martial soul, the Gale Lion. At Su Su's feet, the illusory forms of creeping vines spread outward—the plant-type martial soul Ghost Vine. Between Wang Ye's hands, pale blue ice crystals condensed—the elemental martial soul Ice.
However, when Huo Yuhao's team's soul rings ignited, a wave of sharp, collective gasps swept through the spectator seats.
Behind Wang Dong, one yellow and one purple soul ring rotated slowly. The oppressive pressure radiating from the purple thousand-year soul ring made Huang Tian's expression shift. Beside Xiao Xiao, two yellow hundred-year soul rings gleamed—standard and unremarkable.
But every last person's gaze was locked dead onto Huo Yuhao.
White. Purple. Black.
Three soul rings floated around his body as if defying all laws of nature, pulsating in slow, steady rhythm.
Just from the soul ring configuration alone, the disparity between the two sides was obvious.
Huang Tian's Adam's apple bobbed. He could feel his two teammates' breathing grow labored behind him. But in the next instant, he clenched his fist tightly. We can't let fear take hold before the fight even begins! Didn't Teacher Furina say—Huo Yuhao can only use his first soul skill today? That means that weakest white ten-year soul ring!
"Soul rings aren't everything!" Huang Tian growled, both to rally his teammates and to steel his own nerves. "Stay coordinated! Stick to the plan!"
His words were not wrong. Soul ring age could greatly amplify a soul skill's effects, but the factors that determined victory or defeat were far more complex: the counter relationships between martial souls, the soul master's understanding and application of their own abilities, the chemistry and coordination of the team, even on-the-spot adaptability and decision-making... Throughout history, cases of the weak overcoming the strong were far from rare.
What's more, Huo Yuhao could only use his first soul skill—that white soul ring that seemed, by all appearances, to be nothing more than filler.
In the spectator seats, many upperclassmen had begun murmuring amongst themselves.
"Is that black soul ring... real?"
"It should be. A lot of people saw it during the opening ceremony."
"But a white soul ring paired with a black one? That combination is just too bizarre..."
"The key point is—he can only use his first soul skill. What kind of powerful skill could a ten-year soul ring possibly have?"
"Could it be some kind of disguise...?"
All manner of speculation rippled through the audience. But very soon, everyone's attention was seized by the abruptly shifting situation on the platform.
Huo Yuhao closed his eyes, then opened them again.
The instant his eyes opened, the white soul ring gave a faint shimmer. There was no earth-shaking display, no dazzling burst of light and shadow. It seemed as if the ring itself had merely flickered once, ever so softly.
Yet at the very moment this seemingly unremarkable change occurred—
Both Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao's bodies jolted simultaneously.
"Holy crap..." Wang Dong practically squeezed the words through gritted teeth. Those pinkish-blue eyes of his were filled with disbelief and utter shock. "Huo Yuhao, this damn thing is your first soul skill? It's really just a ten-year soul ring?!"
His voice had gone slightly off-key from sheer astonishment. "This effect is absolutely broken!"
Xiao Xiao, standing beside him, was equally stunned. She opened her mouth, and it took a long moment before she could find her voice again. "No wonder... no wonder Furina only let you use your first two soul skills, and you agreed so readily... Th-this... this is practically a divine skill!"
She looked around. Visually, nothing had changed—but in her perception, an additional layer had been overlaid, crisp and crystalline. The entire combat platform's three-dimensional image was directly projected into her mind. Every corner, every detail—nothing was hidden.
Even more terrifying—she could not only "see" her own and her teammates' positions, but every movement of the three opponents, even the faint fluctuations of soul power flowing within their bodies, were as clear to her as the lines on her own palm. A full three-hundred-sixty-degree field of vision with no blind spots. Plus near-precognitive dynamic capture.
This was Huo Yuhao's first soul skill—Spiritual Detection combined with Spiritual Sharing.
Huo Yuhao, however, shook his head, his expression still calm. "Don't get careless. They have pistols and hidden weapons. The hidden weapons, with Spiritual Detection, we should be able to anticipate and evade. But the pistol's bullets are extremely fast. If my attention wavers even slightly, I can't guarantee I'll be able to fully dodge them."
"So what?" Wang Dong had already recovered his usual confidence. A bold, cocky grin curved at the corner of his lips. "Aren't Xiao Xiao and I still here? Besides, they're using that thing for the first time too. Whether they can even aim properly is a big question. Anyway—"
He flexed his wrist. The phantom of the Goddess of Light Butterfly behind him gave a subtle stretch of its wings.
"Let's fight!"
"Mm." Huo Yuhao's reply was brief. His gaze had already locked onto Huang Tian across the platform.
The battle erupted in the next second.
Huang Tian let out a low roar. His first soul ring blazed to life, and his entire body shot forward like an arrow loosed from its string, both fists wreathed in fierce gales as he charged straight for Huo Yuhao. Capture the leader first—it was a principle everyone understood.
Su Su and Wang Ye followed close behind. Vines burst from the ground, attempting to entangle. Ice crystals condensed into cone-shaped projectiles in the air and shot forth.
Yet, in the perception of Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao, every one of these movements seemed as slow as if deliberately demonstrated. Huang Tian's charging trajectory. The growth direction of Su Su's vines. The flight paths of Wang Ye's ice cones... All of this information had been parsed and processed practically the instant the opponents had begun to move.
Wang Dong didn't even need to use his second soul skill. A single beat of the wings behind him, and his body shifted by a hair's breadth to evade Huang Tian's straight punch, while simultaneously snapping a side kick with pinpoint precision into the opponent's ribs. Xiao Xiao, with a few light, nimble sidesteps, avoided the vines without so much as letting them graze the hem of her clothes, casually activating the first soul skill of her Thrice-Born Cauldron along the way.
Huang Tian let out a muffled grunt and staggered backward. He couldn't for the life of him understand how Wang Dong had managed to counterattack from that angle, at that exact moment. What shook him even more was that Su Su's and Wang Ye's attacks had all completely missed their mark—as if the three opponents had already agreed on their evasion routes in advance.
"Use the pistol!" Huang Tian barked through gritted teeth.