Huo Yuhao was covered in blood, carrying Huang Bin as he galloped all the way. His body was full of stray arrows, and he was on the verge of losing consciousness.
"Don't run, you little thief!"
Behind him were the elites from under the White Tiger's command. As long as Huo Yuhao stopped, it was possible that all his efforts would be in vain.
Half of his body had already begun to turn ethereal. This was a sign that he was about to disappear from this timeline.
The fine steed under him, after experiencing a battle of life and death, was also heavily injured and exhausted. Its running speed was far from what it was when he had arrived. Otherwise, he would have long since left the pursuing soldiers far behind.
Huo Yuhao lightly bit the tip of his tongue, trying to make himself a little more awake. He struggled to raise his blood-soaked hand, took out a jade bottle that Xiao Huohuo had gifted him from his bosom, and fed a pill into the mouth of the Huang Bin on his back.
Huang Bin's condition was worse than he had imagined. He already had one foot in the gates of hell. Even if Dai Hao's army did not execute him, if he were left like this, he would definitely not live past tomorrow.
The sky gradually brightened. After a night of fierce battle, both man and horse were at the point of exhaustion. The bent long spear in Huo Yuhao's hand was long gone. What he could do now was only to hold on with one last breath and bring Huang Bin back safely.
This was his promise to Ju Zi, and also the only thing he could do for Ju Zi's tragic experience in her previous life.
After a night of galloping, Huo Yuhao had already shaken off the vast majority of the pursuing soldiers. But those soul masters under the White Tiger's command were no ordinary people. They had been hanging far behind all along. No matter how the white horse detoured, he could not shake them off.
It seemed Huo Yuhao was about to pass by the junior soul master academy where Ju Zi was. And just at this moment, Huo Yuhao suddenly discovered a person in front of the academy gate.
Jing Hongchen! He was actually here!
Speaking of which, yesterday Jing Hongchen had led his pair of grandchildren to evacuate from the Evildemon Forest. He had also brought along those two Soul King teachers and a group of students. After successfully contacting the academy's side, Jing Hongchen had personally sent them back.
At this time, Jing Hongchen was being enthusiastically invited by the academy's high-ranking officials to dine together, and was run into by Huo Yuhao who was returning on horseback.
"Hall Master Hongchen, save me!"
Seeing the arrival of his savior, Huo Yuhao immediately shouted without any regard.
"Hmm?" Jing Hongchen was puzzled why this youth would know him. The next moment, he saw the pursuing soldiers trailing behind. Judging from their attire, these people were all soldiers of that White Tiger Duke of the Star Luo Empire.
"You dare to pursue and kill our people in my Sun Moon Empire?" Jing Hongchen's brow furrowed slightly. Then he saw Huo Yuhao, along with the Huang Bin on his back, roll and fall off the horse. The miserable state of being covered in blood made the high-ranking officials of the academy all step aside.
Tsk—
He decisively made a move. A single soul tool ray sent the few pursuing soul masters to the western heavens, leaving only two half-crippled survivors.
"This little friend, are your injuries serious?" Jing Hongchen looked at Huo Yuhao, who had fallen to the ground. He still wasn't clear about the youth's identity and did not get too close.
"That's Ju Zi's parent!" A sharp-eyed teacher immediately recognized the Huang Bin on Huo Yuhao's back and hurriedly said.
"Quick, quick! Send someone to call her!" another teacher hurriedly commanded.
"Is he also your student?" Jing Hongchen, seeing that Huo Yuhao was not wearing the school uniform of this academy, couldn't help but ask.
"He is my father," Huo Yuhao explained with a bitter smile, untying the rope that bound him and Huang Bin. The teacher in charge of medical affairs hurriedly came forward to help save them.
"You encountered an attack from the Star Luo Empire?" Jing Hongchen also knew about the recent conscription everywhere in the empire. Connecting it with the attire of the soldiers who had been pursuing him earlier, he roughly guessed some things and asked.
Huo Yuhao nodded. His consciousness was already beginning to dissipate. Half of his body was already transparent. This was also the strange part that Jing Hongchen felt about him.
Before long, Ju Zi came running out from the academy. Ever since her home was destroyed and her mother had fallen into a coma, from today on she could only stay at the school for the time being. Upon suddenly hearing that her father had returned, her face was immediately filled with joy. As long as the family could be reunited, it was better than anything.
However, the first thing she saw was the extremely miserable Huo Yuhao on the ground.
"Yuhao!" Ju Zi rushed over fiercely. She somewhat couldn't believe that the powerful Huo Yuhao would actually be injured to such a state.
"Sister Ju Zi, I brought your father back..." Huo Yuhao looked at her tender face and smiled faintly, struggling to raise his hand to point at Huang Bin on the stretcher.
Ju Zi hurriedly turned her head and, with one glance, saw Huang Bin, whose breathing had tended to stabilize.
It seemed Senior Xiao's pills were very effective. At least Huang Bin was now completely out of mortal danger.
Ju Zi didn't know how on earth Huo Yuhao had brought her father back. It was just that through his miserable state, she could get a glimpse or two.
Huo Yuhao's condition was very strange. His lower body had already completely become ethereal. His whole person was as if he did not belong to this world. This was also the reason why those medical personnel had been hesitant to approach him. Only Ju Zi did not care about the bloodstains all over his body and held him in her arms.
"I told you, I came from the future. Now, I have to go back..." Huo Yuaho lay in a patch of softness and grinned at her.
"Yuhao, don't go—" Ju Zi's eye sockets immediately turned red. Large teardrops fell on Huo Yuhao's face, making him cry out in pain.
On the other side, Jing Hongchen had just learned a part of the situation from the mouths of the two soul masters. His gaze towards Huo Yuhao also became strange.
This boy is a ruthless one! Wait, what did he say? From the future? Jing Hongchen moved closer and happened to see the scene of Huo Yuhao's arm instantly turning ethereal.
"Hall Master Hongchen."
Huo Yuhao turned to Jing Hongchen. "Her talent is very good. In the future, she can definitely become an outstanding soul tool master. This boy would like to ask you to personally cultivate her."
Jing Hongchen silently nodded. The reason he was willing to condescend to come to this junior soul master academy was in large part because he had received news that a peerless monster with a ten-thousand-year first soul ring had appeared here. That was why he had gone to the trouble of sending them over, wanting to personally meet this genius young girl.
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao, with his only remaining hand, took out the hundred-thousand-year Evil Eye soul bone. "This is the head soul bone of a hundred-thousand-year Evil Eye Tyrant. It's just right for her. I hope Hall Master can hand it over to her to absorb after she reaches five rings."
A hundred-thousand-year soul bone!
The moment these words came out, everyone showed expressions of astonishment, especially the people from the academy's side. One must know, the value of a hundred-thousand-year soul bone was not something that those already sky-high-priced ten-thousand-year soul bones could compare to!
"You're not afraid that this old one will embezzle it?" Jing Hongchen smiled strangely and did not immediately take the soul bone.
"Hall Master Hongchen's reputation, this boy naturally trusts... cough cough!" Huo Yuhao coughed lightly twice, spitting out only blood.
"If Hall Master really plans to embezzle it, then after many years, I will naturally go and find Hall Master to catch up on old times."
Huo Yuhao gave Jing Hongchen a faint smile, then immediately burst out with his last bit of spiritual power.
Jing Hongchen felt as if he were facing a peerless ferocious beast. It wasn't until this moment that he was certain that what the two prisoners had said was not false. The boy before him truly had the ability to charge into the White Tiger Duke's military camp alone!
"You boy really came from the future?" Jing Hongchen moved closer to Huo Yuhao, reached out his hand, and touched his ethereal lower body. His finger actually passed right through.
"It really has become ethereal..."
Jing Hongchen had never conceived of the concept of time travel, but he knew that some time-attribute Titled Douluo, under certain conditions, could achieve an ability similar to time regression.
"Yuhao, you really came from the future?"
Ju Zi cried like a little-flower-faced cat. A trace of expectation flashed in her red eyes as she stared straight at the Huo Yuhao before her.
"When have I ever lied to you?" Huo Yuhao wanted to raise his hand to wipe away the tears from the corners of her eyes, but his hands at this time had completely become ethereal, and he lacked even the strength to lift them.
Just then, because the parts of his body below his chest had begun to turn ethereal, the few bottles of pills in his bosom also fell out.
"Ju Zi, these few bottles of pills, remember to take them back and have Auntie Hua and Uncle Huang take them. It can accelerate the healing of their injuries."
Huo Yuhao glanced at the jade bottles on the ground. These things, he also couldn't take with him. Naturally, he had to give them to Ju Zi.
"That soul bone, you remember to give it to Hall Master Hongchen for safekeeping. When you become a true five-ring expert, then go and absorb it..."
"The soul spirit I contracted for you will provide you with several soul rings. In your future cultivation, you won't have to go and hunt for soul rings because you've reached a bottleneck..."
"Hall Master Hongchen will guide you to enter the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineering Academy. There, you must study soul tools well..."
Listening to Huo Yuhao's instructions, which were like giving his last words, Ju Zi could no longer hold back and cried out in a hoarse voice.
"Yuhao, don't go! I don't want you to go!"
"Be good, Sister Ju Zi..." At this time, Huo Yuhao's entire body except for his head had become ethereal. "We will meet again in the future. Definitely."
"I still have to join the Illustrious Virtue Hall with you and study soul tools together..."
"Smelly brat, this old one hasn't agreed yet!" Jing Hongchen at the side couldn't help but interrupt.
"No, you will agree..." Huo Yuhao's voice suddenly became small, because his head had also begun to become illusory.
"No, no! Yuhao—" Ju Zi frantically hugged his head, but the next second her arms passed right through his ears.
"Ju Zi, in the future Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, we will meet in Star Luo."
Huo Yuhao's body finally transformed into motes of light, completely dissipating in Ju Zi's arms. Even the bloodstains on the ground disappeared with it, as if he had never appeared in this world at all.
At the side, Jing Hongchen silently put away the hundred-thousand-year head soul bone, looking at the few bottles of pills on the ground with hot eyes. This boy is really good to this little girl!
"Yuhao..."
Ju Zi no longer shouted loudly, just stared blankly at the motes of light floating towards the sky, as if someone important had temporarily left her world.
"Ju... Zi?" On the stretcher at the side, Huang Bin finally woke up, his entire face no longer pale.
It was just that at this time, Ju Zi was immersed in a thick feeling of parting sorrow and did not immediately notice that her father had woken up.
"Yuhao, when can we meet again?"
"Yuhao..."
...
"Yuhao..."
Ju Zi woke up from her soft bed. Around her was the luxurious decoration of a single room in the Star Emperor Grand Hotel. In the empty room, there was only her.
A full seven years had passed. She still often dreamed of the youth who had saved everything for her.
He had said that he would meet her again in the future at this tournament held in Star Luo. So she had come.
But where are you now? Yuhao...
***
Author's Note: The past timeline has ended. These few chapters were mainly to introduce the character of Ju Zi early. She has come to participate in this tournament. As the invincible Empress and War God in the original novel, what kind of role will she play in this tournament of her peers? Please look forward to it!