: The Library of a God and the Icy Whisper
For three days, Huo Yuhao did not move from the clearing.
The fusion had been more than an absorption of power; it was a fundamental reconstruction. Guided by the Divine Golden Clock's rhythmic stability and Elder Electrolux's precise, ghostly touch, the colossal spiritual might of the Heavenly Dream Iceworm had been woven into the very fabric of his being. His Soul Sea, once a calm, deep azure, now shimmered with a permanent, soft golden light. At its center, ten miniature suns—the condensed essence of the million-year cultivation—orbited a core of serene blue.
Brother Heavenly Dream, now a cheerful, translucent silkworm spirit, zipped around this inner space with boundless energy. "Look at this place! It's even bigger than I thought! And so stable! That gray fellow sure knows his stuff."
Elder Electrolux's voice, like dry parchment rustling, echoed calmly from his gray sphere of mist. "The foundation was already peerless. I merely… tidied the shelves. Your soul, young Huo Yuhao, is a library built to hold divine scriptures. We have merely placed the first few volumes."
Huo Yuhao spent these days in deep meditation, learning to navigate this new internal cosmos. His four new Spirit Skills unfolded before him like tools of instinct:
· Spiritual Detection extended his perception in a perfect sphere, painting the world in intricate detail—the rustle of every leaf, the heartbeat of hidden beasts, the flow of energy in the air.
· Spiritual Sharing allowed him to project this panorama, a feature Brother Heavenly Dream insisted would be "invaluable for teamwork, and showing off!"
· Spiritual Interference could blur the senses of a target, and Spiritual Invasion could, with effort, briefly overwhelm a weak mind.
But beyond these skills, something else called to him. It was a pull deeper than the Iceworm's had been—a silent, gravitational tug from the darkest, most secure corner of his Soul Sea. It was where the silhouette of the Black Book resided.
On the dawn of the fourth day, as he focused on that dark shape, the Book responded. It did not open. Instead, a single line of text, glowing with soft silver light, appeared directly in his consciousness, alongside a simple, instinctive understanding:
"Sun Moon Star 9 Element Technique — First Level Mastery confirmed. Access granted: Treasury Index (Partial)."
A catalog, vast and impossibly organized, unfolded in his mind's eye. It was not a list of items, but of concepts and locations:
· Divine Apparatus: Chronos-Regulator (Status: Dormant. Activation requirement: Soul Founder rank).
· Skeletal Remains: Primal World-Walker (Status: Sealed. Integration requirement: Body refinement technique & Dragon's Blood baptism).
· Elemental Treasures (Ice): Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Lotus (Status: Preserved. Location: Soul Sea Cold Storage Vault 7).
· Soul Archives: Dragon God Scion Resonance (7 of 9) (Status: Dormant. Awakening requirement: Exposure to pure draconic pressure).
· Weapon Relic: Friend-Keeper's Carving Knife (Status: Integrated. Synergy detected with user's light-affinity potential).
The list went on, referencing the Frozen Marrow, the Yin Yang Eyes, and other treasures collected by the future God-King fragment. Huo Yuhao understood instantly. He could not simply "take" these items. They were locked behind seals and requirements—a training regimen designed by his mysterious benefactor. However, one entry pulsed with a faint, welcoming coldness: the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Lotus.
"You feel it too, don't you?" Brother Heavenly Dream whispered, his playful tone replaced by one of solemn excitement. "That cold, pure aura. It's the key. Your second Martial Soul—the ice attribute vessel I promised—it's formless right now. To give it shape, to make it supreme, we need a catalyst of unmatched icy purity. That Lotus… it's perfect."
Elder Electrolux chimed in, analytical. "The Lotus has no consciousness. It is a vessel of pure elemental law. Fusing with it will not grant a spirit ring, but a foundation. It will define the nature of your ice, making it purer, more profound than any natural ice attribute."
Huo Yuhao focused on the entry. A simple intent formed: "Observe."
A vision superimposed itself over his mind. In a secluded, frost-locked chamber within his own soul, a platform of glacial energy hovered. Upon it sat the Ten-Thousand-Year Ice Lotus. It was breathtaking—crystalline petals the color of a winter sky, radiating a gentle, moon-like glow and an aura of absolute, sterile cold that promised not death, but perfect, silent preservation.
He could not take it yet. The knowledge imparted was clear: direct fusion required his body to be stronger, his control over the "Sun Moon Star" technique to reach at least the Second Level. But its presence was now a constant, guiding star.
"We need to go North," Huo Yuhao said aloud, his voice firmer than it had ever been. The decision solidified in his heart. "To the Far North. The extreme cold there will temper my body. And…" He glanced inward, to the entry on Dragon God Scion Resonance. "…I have a feeling the answers to awakening more of what's inside me lie where dragon legends are strongest."
The First Test
His journey out of the Star Dou Great Forest's inner regions became a training ground. He no longer feared common century or millennium-old beasts. With Spiritual Detection spanning hundreds of meters, he avoided unnecessary conflicts.
Once, a pack of agile, thousand-year Shadow Leopards ambushed him. Instead of panic, Huo Yuhao felt a cool clarity. He activated Spiritual Interference, sending a pulse of confusing mental static into the lead leopard. The beast stumbled, its pounce turning into a clumsy roll. To the others, Huo Yuhao used Spiritual Invasion, not to control, but to implant a sudden, overwhelming sensation of terrifying, invisible pressure—the faintest, most diluted echo of the Dragon God's might he carried within his treasury's archives.
The leopards froze, their eyes wide with primal fear, then fled whimpering into the undergrowth.
"Marvelous!" Electrolux intoned. "Using a threat-concept as a weapon. Instinctive tactical genius."
"See? I told you we'd be unstoppable!" Brother Heavenly Dream cheered.
As he neared the forest's edge, a new sensation prickled at his enhanced senses. It was a formless, distant whisper, not in his ears, but in the space around his soul. It felt like… chatter. Faint, overlapping voices speaking in fragments of thoughts, emotions, and images from realities that felt both familiar and alien. A name surfaced in his understanding: Multiverse Chat Group.
The whispers were unintelligible, a distant radio signal full of static. A rule, implicit and absolute, came with the sensation: This channel is not for your voice. You may only listen. Connection strength is dependent on the stability of local spacetime and the resonance of destiny of the speakers. You are an observer, not a participant.
He heard a snippet: "...my Alchemy God throne feels wobbly today..." followed by a burst of frustrated emotion. Another: "Dealing with arrogant young masters again. Sigh." Then, a clear, chillingly familiar phrase that made his soul tremble: "The Ten-Thousand-Year Plan proceeds. The chess pieces are in place." The voice behind this last thought was calm, calculated, and carried the weight of celestial authority before the whisper faded into nothingness.
Huo Yuhao stopped walking, a cold sweat on his brow. That last voice… it sparked the same deep, instinctual revulsion as the name "Tang."
"Did you… hear that?" he asked his inner companions.
"Hear what?" Brother Heavenly Dream asked, confused.
"I detected a minor spacetime fluctuation near your spiritual perimeter," Electrolux said, curious. "But no coherent signal. Your soul's unique architecture may be perceiving dimensional layers we cannot."
Huo Yuhao said nothing. He stored the experience away, another mystery in his growing collection. The whisper about a "Ten-Thousand-Year Plan" settled in his gut like a shard of ice.
Finally, he emerged from the treeline. Before him stretched the road, and beyond, the rumored vastness of the continent. He turned north, his Spirit Eyes reflecting a resolve hardened by secret knowledge and silent warnings.
His immediate goals were clear: travel to the extreme North, endure its cold to strengthen his body and affinity, and seek the legendary Dragon Valley—the place most likely to resonate with the dragon souls slumbering in his treasury and to provide the "pure draconic pressure" needed to awaken them.
The path of a god-maker had begun. But Huo Yuhao, armed with a library of a dead god's legacy and a heart wary of heaven's designs, was determined it would not be the path anyone else had written.
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End of Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 Preview: The journey north begins. Huo Yuhao will face the hardships of the wilds and human settlements, using his wits and growing powers to survive. He will have his first conscious, successful attempt at using the "First Level" of the Sun Moon Star Technique on a spiritual level, not just physical, to dispel a malicious illusion. He will also feel the Dragon God Scion souls within him stir as he crosses into lands steeped in ancient draconic history, guiding him like a compass.