Perhaps he would repeat Dai Yuhao's experience of being hunted down by Dai Huabin, except maybe the timing would just be pushed back a bit. Knowing the trajectory of the plot yet being powerless to change it made Huo Yuhao feel deeply frustrated.
Following that, Huo Yuhao uncharacteristically didn't rush into cultivation. After returning to peak condition, he and his teammates roamed between various arenas, observing any students who might pose a threat to their team. There were quite a few like them, students collecting as much intel as possible on their potential elimination round opponents, hoping for a better chance when facing them later.
After the Dai Huabin combination, Huo Yuhao noticed another person who gave him a sense of danger. This person was a young girl, around eleven or twelve years old. Despite being a girl, her fighting style was even more brutal than many strong assault-type male students. When Huo Yuhao saw her, the match on stage was already a one-sided slaughter. She didn't use excessive soul skills—only relied on relentless close-range combat. Fists, elbows, knees, every part of her body became a weapon.
Her opponent was a burly, fat boy—more like a giant chunk of meat, over two meters tall, making his physique wildly disproportionate to his age.
But now, this hulking youth looked downright miserable. The blonde girl's storm-like assault had turned his face into a swollen mess, barely human. Even his mother probably wouldn't recognize him at this point.
Despite the boy's tragic appearance, the blonde girl remained unfazed, her fists raining down like a torrential storm.
The outcome was predictable—she won easily. Her teammates didn't even lift a finger during the match, just stood by watching like they were enjoying a casual show.
Watching from below, Huo Yuhao was genuinely alarmed. Her technique wasn't graceful, but every strike hit a vital point. What shocked him more was her physical body—it was absurdly strong, barreling through the arena like a tank. Huo Yuhao knew that even with his body reinforced by his soul-forging technique, he couldn't compare. This girl was practically a humanoid soul beast.
After memorizing the blonde girl's appearance, Huo Yuhao lost interest in the rest of the matches. He found a place to rest and recover his strength.
In the following matches, Huo Yuhao and his two teammates advanced effortlessly. None of their opponents posed much of a challenge.
By afternoon, after four rounds of elimination, the original sixty-four teams had been reduced to just four: Huo Yuhao's team, Dai Huabin's team, Xie Huanle's team, and Wang Qiu'er's team. Yes, Wang Qiu'er—the blonde girl Huo Yuhao had watched earlier.
When the referee announced the final four, Huo Yuhao trembled inside. Wang Qiu'er—such a familiar name.
In the original story, Wang Qiu'er sacrificed herself to save Dai Yuhao, her soul forcibly extracted and stuffed into Tang Wutong's body, turning the latter into a stitched-together monstrosity.
Tang San's explanation to Dai Yuhao was that Wang Qiu'er was originally part of Tang Wutong. What a load of nonsense. Wang Qiu'er was a divine beast, the Soul Beast Empress—what the hell did she have to do with Tang San's daughter?
And yet, Dai Yuhao bought it. Maybe he was just fooling himself. By that point, he'd been thoroughly brainwashed by God-King Tang.
Sure, Wang Qiu'er also came out and claimed that she and Tang Wutong were the same person—but wasn't that clearly something she was forced to say by that oh-so-selfless god?
Especially considering that the same man would later lay hands on Juzi and even a baby. What wouldn't a guy like that do?
Now the plot had shifted—Wang Qiu'er had appeared early. Though her appearance was different from Wang Dong, she still named herself Wang Qiu'er.
"You still couldn't escape his schemes, huh?"Huo Yuhao thought bitterly. Knowing the original story, he hadn't intended to get involved with Wang Qiu'er—that pitiful, foolish woman.
He had no desire to rekindle anything with Wang Qiu'er. That would only hurt her. In the original, she sacrificed herself for Dai Yuhao, something Huo Yuhao couldn't understand and didn't want. That kind of love was too heavy. He couldn't bear it. He knew he didn't have the strength to protect her. It was sad, but it was the truth.
…
Again, matchups were determined by drawing lots. Huo Yuhao happened to draw Xie Huanle's team. That chubby guy had left an impression on Huo Yuhao—not powerful, but with a bizarre martial soul that made his body rubbery and immune to blades. This odd ability had Huo Yuhao marveling—truly, the world was full of strange things.
At the same time, Dai Huabin got unlucky—he drew the team led by Wang Qiu'er. Maybe she knew something beforehand, because during the match, she chased after him relentlessly, never letting up. As a result, Dai Huabin and Zhu Lu never got a chance to use their trump cards.
After multiple head-on clashes, Dai Huabin kept getting pushed back and had to switch from aggressive offense to full defense, hoping Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie could knock out their opponents first and then join forces against Wang Qiu'er.
Unfortunately, before the two could do much, Dai Huabin couldn't hold on any longer. He was soon buried in a storm of punches from Wang Qiu'er.
When the flurry stopped, Dai Huabin was still standing, completely intact. But standing in front of him was a bald, burly man—the referee. He had intervened when he saw Dai Huabin could no longer defend himself, which meant he was officially eliminated.
After that, things were simple. Wang Qiu'er regrouped with her teammates and picked off Zhu Lu and Cui Yajie one by one—effortlessly, like it was a game.
Thus, the elimination rounds neared their end. Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu'er's teams earned two hours of precious recovery time. During this period, both teams focused solely on restoring their soul power for the upcoming finals.
Meanwhile, all the arena partitions were removed. In their place stood a massive circular platform, over a hundred meters in diameter.
"Is everyone ready?" On the platform, Du Weilun asked sternly. On the east and west ends stood two groups of three boys and girls, around eleven or twelve. They were the members of Huo Yuhao's and Wang Qiu'er's teams. Du Weilun, the director of student affairs, would personally serve as referee.
Seeing all six nod, Du Weilun said, "There are no rules in this match. Kids, go all out." With that, he wasted no more words. He waved his hand, and a pale yellow barrier rose around the stage, forming a giant hemispherical shield enclosing the entire platform.
This shield had no offensive function—only defense. Its purpose was to prevent damage from affecting spectators, since those who made it this far were no ordinary students.
On stage, both sides saluted each other. During this, Huo Yuhao tried to keep his expression neutral.
Wang Qiu'er's martial soul was the Golden Dragon, a top-tier beast-type soul. Her soul power had already reached level 33—the highest among all new students. No wonder Dai Huabin lost so quickly.
Her teammates were no pushovers either. One was an unimpressive-looking boy named Zhang Kui. Thin as a stick, sickly yellow complexion, dressed like a country bumpkin even in a fresh uniform. But his soul power was at level 25, and his martial soul was a large black square bell—clearly of high quality based on its aura.
The other was Lu Qingming, the opposite type—refined features, fair skin, obviously from a pampered background. He held a black book in his left hand—no ordinary book, but an ancient-looking martial soul.
Huo Yuhao fired a Rasengan, pushing Wang Qiu'er back several steps, but he also retreated slightly, putting distance between them.
Right as the match began, Wang Qiu'er charged straight for Huo Yuhao, while the other two tangled with Xiao Xiao and the third teammate. Clearly, they were using the same strategy from the Dai Huabin match—well-researched in advance. This put Huo Yuhao's team in a tough spot.
Wang Qiu'er threw a punch, barely breaking apart Huo Yuhao's Rasengan, but at the same time, she felt a powerful force travel up her arm, forcing her back several steps. She stomped hard, stabilizing herself, but the floor beneath her cracked like a spiderweb.
[Just saw someone post a thousand-word chapter and call it a day. Makes me feel a little silly. Guess today's gonna be an eight-chapter grind.]
(End of Chapter)