7 Chapter 7: Skydream Iceworm

In a vast white world mostly filled with serene golden sea waters, ten enormous golden balls of light and a little grey ball of light glowing eerily near one of them, a boy and a beautiful glowing worm was facing each other.

All was peacefully quiet in this spiritual sea until it was broken by deep sighs coming from both human and soul beast.

"Sniff... Oh brother Skydream, you really had it rough in these last ten thousand years. Those soul beasts in the Great Star Dou Forest are too despicable!" Huo Yuhao said in an angered voice, feeling sympathy with the big worm.

Right after that dark figure, who called himself as Huo Yuhao's previous life or ancestor, said that he would help him get stronger and get his revenge, he then "asked" Skydream Iceworm to properly introduce himself to Huo Yuhao and instruct him on how to use the gifts he received by becoming the boy's intelligent soul ring while he goes into his memory soul to retrieve something.

But who would've thought that instead of immediately teaching Huo Yuhao, Skydream Iceworm went on a long tirade of his tragic origin story.

"That's right! Although Brother is quite cute, handsome, and strong, they simply can't treat Brother as some food! They should've admired me dammit!" Skydream Iceworm sniffed, using his long tail to wipe the tears in his eyes.

"But things are good now though, and I didn't let them seize my body. Haha, screw them! Huo Yuhao, I promise to help raise you up! When you're strong in the future, you must help Brother get revenge! Didn't they rely on my soul power to evolve? In the future, turn them into your soul rings and soul bones! Humph!"

Huo Yuhao didn't hesitate to reply, abruptly standing up with his right fist raised. "Yes. I'll definitely help you get your revenge! In return, you help me as well." The two stared at each other, human's hand and soul beast's tail met in a firm grip.

This was the monumental moment that marked the beginning of a new path between soul masters and soul beasts, but it would be years later till Huo Yuhao would realize this.

"So Skydream Iceworm–"

"Ah, just call me Brother Skydream."

"... Brother Skydream," Huo Yuhao said after a moment of hesitation, the soul beast revealed a pleased expression. The former wryly smiled, "Could you properly explain to me how an intelligent soul ring, you, work? You sealed most of your power so you can become my soul ring after all. Could you still give me soul skills?"

"Hmph! 'Could I still give you soul skill', of course I can! What's the point of being your soul ring if I can't do the bare minimum that's expected of being a soul ring!" Skydream Iceworm exclaimed, puffing out his chest in pride. "In fact, I already gave you four soul skills and before you start hassling me of what they are, no, I don't know what they are. You're the soul master, you figure it out."

"However, don't be happy so early. You're right, I've given you four soul skills, and they're all spiritual-type soul skills; however the energy that I've sealed within your body is also very enormous. Thus, you must remember that the four soul skills that I've bestowed you with are auxiliary soul skills that don't have much attack power. Because of this, you're still quite weak right now. You still have a long way to go if you want to become strong, do you understand?

"Ah, also when I merged with your body, most of the energy that entered you was my origin energy and my spiritual energy. So you don't have much increase in soul power nor influence soul power that you cultivate." He raised his head, staring at the gigantic golden balls of light. Huo Yuhao followed his gaze.

"Can you see those ten balls of light? They're the ten seals that I've set up. But I've already bestowed you the power of your first soul ring. However, you're temporarily unable to use all its power."

"What I mean to say, is that it currently doesn't have the might of a million year soul ring. However, the energy that I've sealed within your body will gradually disperse as your cultivation improves, which in turn will increase the might of your soul ring. It might even increase the might of your future soul rings. After all, the energy that I've accumulated over a million years is simply too enormous for you."

"... I could only understand bits of what you just said."

The Skydream Iceworm let out a sigh and unhappily said, "I forgot that you're still just a kid. Basically your body, which has currently obtained its first soul ring, can only withstand the soul ring of a four hundred year old soul beast at most. Thus, the realistic might of your first soul ring is a four hundred year soul ring. After you make a breakthrough you'll be able to withstand the might of a thousand year soul ring, so your first soul ring will become a thousand year soul ring."

"Your first soul ring will follow the amount of energy that your body can withstand, and will increase accordingly. In other words, your first soul ring can evolve at any time, and your future soul rings will also have this benefit. Of course, this evolutionary energy that I can bestow upon you is limited. The stronger the soul ring you obtain in the future, the more energy you save for me. Using the energy that I sealed within your body, it can at most help increase ten of your soul rings reach the hundred thousand year soul ring rank."

Huo Yuhao's eyes literally shined like stars as he stared in awe at what Skydream Iceworm had said, and then froze at the mention of 'ten' soul rings.

"Wait, ten? What do you mean ten soul rings? Don't we soul masters only have nine soul rings, with the exception of twin martial souls?"

Skydream Iceworm coldly snorted and arrogantly said, "For normal people, yes. But not you, not since you merged with this Brother. A single martial soul can naturally only absorb only nine soul rings. However, you currently don't just have a single martial soul but you have two, as a compensation for not being able to give you a soul bone."

Huo Yuhao's body went completely stiff, his facial expression froze.

He expected a million year old soul ring, especially one that retained its intelligence and consciousness, to benefit to this extent! A soul ring that could undergo unlimited evolution had already caused him to be ineffably happy. Yet, the greater surprise was actually in its other benefits.

Four soul skills, a second martial soul, this was enough to skyrocket his poor talent to a once in a century genius!

"Hey now, don't get excited just yet. The martial soul that I've bestowed you with is Ice, but it's Ice that currently doesn't have a soul."

"Ice that doesn't have a soul? What do you mean?"

The Skydream Iceworm then explains, "This means that the martial soul I've bestowed you currently only has an attribute, but not a form. When you absorb your first ice-type soul ring, the form of your second martial soul will be finalized. The soul beast of the soul ring you absorb then will thus become your second martial soul. This also means that your second martial soul will definitely be a beast soul."

"And as for your second martial soul to be..." The Skydream Iceworm had a look of hesitation and determination appeared on its round face. "I had wanted to keep it a secret from you until we get to my hometown... but other forces has made me reconsider and be honest with you."

Huo Yuhao frowned, displeased that the Skydream Iceworm was trying to keep a secret from him but decided to let it go after a moment of thinking. It was to be expected, how could there be free power just handed to him on a silver platter? Everyone wanted benefits in life.

Moreover Skydream Iceworm had only met him just briefly, how could he tell him all his life's secrets in just a few minutes of chatting with each other?

'Other forces... does he mean the ancestor?'

"... Okay, it's fine. I can understand your reasoning," Huo Yuhao finally said. His shoulders relaxing. "but as long as you remain truthful with me from this point on and not manipulate my life nor my ambition of getting revenge, then we'll be companions."

Skydream Iceworm visibly relaxed his body and lowered his head submissively to look up at Huo Yuhao. "Thank you, Brother. I promise to always have your best interests at heart and to never manipulate you. You don't realize it, but we are bonded by life and death. You die, I die. We are in this, together."

Huo Yuhao nodded his head satisfactorily. He felt a strong bond forming between him and Skydream Iceworm.

"So, what were you going to talk about my second martial soul."

"Uh, well, this might be a little awkward. So your second martial soul will be–" But before he could finish what he was about to say, a large right dark landed on top of his head. The dark figure, Huo Yuhao's self-proclaimed previous life or ancestor, appeared besides the soul beast.

"Sorry for making you wait, kid." The Ancestor said, his voice indifferent. It was hard to figure out his emotions due to being faceless. "But thankfully I recovered some of my precious previous lives' memories that would help you immensely. Did this worm finish explaining his situation and the abilities he can give you."

Startled from his sudden appearance, Huo Yuhao unconsciously nodded.

"Hm. Good." He then took his hand off of Skydream Iceworm's head, which expectantly didn't like it, and immediately started complaining.

"Hey!! What the hell's your problem!? Having left us here for so long and doing god knows what without any sort of explanation, not only did you come back with nothing but also treating me as some kind of pet—!"

"Hmph. I had to go mediate to retrieve some memories of my, and Huo Yuhao's, previous incarnations that would help him immensely in gaining strength and getting combat skills." He said, facing Huo Yuhao.

"Hey, little worm. Much time do we have till my incarnation's spiritual mind and body's sense of time links up?"

"Huh?" Skydream Iceworm was bewildered for a moment, grumbling for a moment he then sharply replied, "Are you this stupid? He can go back in any time to having a normal time perception."

"I'm not asking about that. What I'm asking, is how long can he last in here without developing some kind of disastrous side effects."

"Huh? Why do you want to know? You're one weird old man." The soul beast quietly hummed for a short while and answered, "One week. That's as far as he can go without his mind going months out of sync with his body, essentially becoming an idiot."

The Ancestor grunted unhappily but resignedly let out a sigh, "It's far from ideal, but I guess that's enough time. Listen kid, I managed to unlock some special techniques and training exercises that would make you an efficient fighter."

The Skydream Iceworm frowned, "What good could some special techniques do against powerful martial souls and soul skills?"

"You'll understand it in action later on. Well kid," Although Huo Yuhao couldn't see his expression, cause he doesn't really have a face, he had a feeling that his Ancestor had a smirk on his face. "wanna learn how to become a Shinobi?"

Huo Yuhao, who didn't want to throw away a chance of getting stronger for free, nodded with a solemn expression. "Yes!"

This was the moment that Huo Yuhao would go down a path different from normal soul masters and would lead the world into a new age.

"... But what's a Shinobi?"

.....

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