Book 4: The Golden Road

Chapter 23.2: The Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence

Touching the ground didn’t seem like a very dangerous action, but Huo Yuhao instantly retracted his hand after doing so. Furthermore, an astonished expression appeared on his face. In the instant he touched the golden soil, he felt as if his mind had been thrown into disarray. His Spiritual Sea shook violently; it felt as if he’d been struck by his Spirit Shock.

“This, this is only the aftereffects of our fusion skill? Try it out.” Huo Yuhao hurriedly looked towards Wang Dong.

Wang Dong was extremely curious. As a result of this, he quickly stretched his hand out to touch the golden trench.

His reaction to it was much greater than Huo Yuhao’s. His entire body turned sluggish, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses.

The two looked at each other and saw the astonishment in one another’s eyes.

“This, isn’t this too awesome? This is just the aftereffects of our fusion skill, but it felt like I had been struck by your all-out Spirit Shock. Can you imagine what’d happen if we were hit its full power?” Wang Dong’s voice was trembling slightly due to his excitement. There were no soul masters who didn’t wish to possess a strong soul skill.

Huo Yuhao said, “Look, the range of this soul skill should be around fifty meters or so in a straight line, but I’m not sure about whether or not it can single someone out or not. It’s extremely strong—I believe that it might even have both mental and destruction attributes, making it a double-attribute attack. Only, I’m not sure how many times it increases our attack power by. If someone were to be struck by it at full power, its power would…”

Wang Dong nodded excitedly. “Moreover, the strength of this fusion skill will increase as our cultivation increases! This fusion skill of ours is truly tyrannical. If we were to meet the Lan Sister’s Empyreal Net again, we’d definitely be able to destroy it in an instant!”

Huo Yuhao was similarly excited, but he was slightly calmer than Wang Dong, “Wang Dong, do you think we can use this fusion skill in the assessment? I doubt that a Soul Elder can withstand the amount of power it contains!”

Wang Dong’s face stiffened. “That’s a good question. An extremely strong skill like this is actually quite problematic. Furthermore, we can only use it once, so we can’t even use it to intimidate the others. We’d faint after using it once.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “This is the first time we used it, so we were too inexperienced. I don’t think it’d be this draining when we try using it next time, but we should only be able to use it once. However, having a strong skill is always a good thing. Once we practice it a few more times and get used to it, it’ll be much better.”

Wang Dong said, “If that Ma Xiaotao wants to bully us again, we’ll let her taste this. It shouldn’t kill her with her cultivation, so we can use it to show how awesome we are.”

Huo Yuhao replied, “A strong fusion skill like this should always have a name. Since I was wrong earlier, I’ll let you name it.”

Wang Dong didn’t decline this responsibility. “Fine, I’ll consider you tactful. What would sound nice? Gaze of Death, how about that?”

Without even waiting for Huo Yuhao’s opinion, he immediately rejected that name himself. “No, that won’t do. It’s a fusion skill that’s activated by the both of us, so how can it not contain anything that’s related to my martial soul? Let’s call it the ‘Gaze of the Radiant Goddess’. That sounds cool.”

Huo Yuhao had a speechless look on his face as he stared at him, “How the heck is your Radiant Butterfly Goddess a Radiant Goddess? The ‘Radiant Goddess’ in your martial soul’s name clearly refers to how it illuminates light, as well as the fact that it’s a butterfly that’s as beautiful as a goddess. Let’s not even bother discussing the existence of a Radiant Goddess; even if it did exist, it wouldn’t be related to us at all.”

Wang Dong frowned. “Can’t you admit that it sounds quite nice? Don’t tell me you want to call it ‘Gaze of the Butterfly’? Wouldn’t that sound even worse?”

Suddenly, his eyes lit up. “I’ve got it. Why do we even need to add the names of our martial souls to it? That doesn’t sound special at all. Considering the fact that it’s such a magnificent golden color, and that it releases such a resplendent light for an instant, why don’t we call it: A Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence. How about that?”

Huo Yuhao’s eyes widened slightly, “This name sounds cool, but isn’t it too long?”

Pleased with himself, Wang Dong said, “A long name shows off how awesome we are, right? Let’s just abbreviate it to ‘A Golden Road’. In any case, nobody else will even know what it is. Once we get back, let’s ask Teacher Zhou to evaluate the effects and strength of our ‘A Golden Road Amidst Withering Resplendence’. Then, we can find out what’s going on.”

Once he heard the words ‘Teacher Zhou’, Huo Yuhao suddenly felt a chill up his back. He then turned around and noticed the sun, which was already rising gradually.

Wang Dong was instantly reminded by his actions, and started to think of something. The two then looked each other in the eye and simultaneously let out a cry, immediately running.

We’re gonna be late again… and it’s even when the knock-out tournament’s about to start. We’re gonna be late again...

For the sake of getting back to Shrek Academy in the shortest time possible, the two had no choice but to hold hands and run at full speed, activating the Haodong Power. Under this situation, not only was the consumption of energy even smaller, it even allowed them to reach their maximum speed.

Fortunately, they weren’t too far away from the Academy. Thus, they didn’t need too much time to return, but they were still late.

Roughly thirty or so academy teachers, including the old lady Zhou Yi, were standing in a line outside the Assessment Area.

Zhou Yi currently had an unhappy look in her eyes. She scanned through the nearly two hundred students beneath her, but she still couldn’t find the people she was looking for.

Xiao Xiao was already there, and she was currently waiting with a panicked expression on her face. This was because registration had already started, and in addition to that, it had started with their Class 1. However, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong weren’t there yet. If they didn’t manage to make it there before registration ended, they’d be disqualified from the tournament. Without even mentioning what a pity it’d be for them to miss this opportunity, Old Lady Zhou’s rage was something they wouldn’t be able to endure! And she, who was part of the same team as Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, would have to suffer this stroke of bad luck with them.

Just what’re those two guys doing? They were late yesterday, don’t tell me they’re going to be late today as well?

The number of participating students from Class 1 was greatest among the ten classes, and as such, the time needed to register them was also the longest among the ten classes. When it was time for Xiao Xiao’s team to be registered, Xiao Xiao was the only person who responded. Unexpectedly, nobody responded to the names ‘Huo Yuhao’ and ‘Wang Dong’. Once this occurred, not only was the entire student body stunned, even the teachers were astonished.

Although this wasn’t the first time that a situation like this had occurred in the history of Shrek Academy, it was an extremely rare occurrence. Even if they had already passed the freshmen assessment, it would seem as if they were looking down on the academy if they didn’t turn up for the knock-out tournament. As such, they would give an unfavourable impression to all the teachers.

The teacher in charge of the registration paused slightly for a moment before continuing to register the students from the other classes. This went on all the way until Class 6, when Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong finally arrived.

The two of them had rushed all the way to the academy, and they’d even slept in the forest overnight. In addition to that, they hadn’t even had time to clean themselves up. As a result of this, their figures looked extremely sorry. Without even talking about how dirty their clothes were, there were even traces of mud and dew on their clothes.

However, the deed was already done. Thus, they could only thicken their faces and come up. After all, they couldn’t actually forfeit their places!