Chapter 3: The Dragon's Question and the Forge's Fire
Silence. The kind that felt heavier than the mountain of ice that had buried the Frostjade Spider. It stretched in the physical cave and within the digital space of the chat group. Huo Yuhao's breath fogged in the air, his heart a frantic drum against his newly reforged ribs. On the interface, one line of text glowed with an almost physical pressure.
Gu Yuena: ...Who are you? Your spiritual signature is human. But the law of destiny around you is shattered. And you are connected to... me. Explain.
The other members of the chat group, those titans of their own realms, were conspicuously quiet. It was as if they, too, were observing a primordial force entering a delicate ecosystem.
Huo Yuhao's mind raced. Ayush's memories screamed with meta-knowledge: Gu Yuena. Silver Dragon King. Divided soul. Future love of Tang Wulin. Instrument of Tang San's plan. Ultimate power. Ultimate tragedy. Huo Yuhao's soul felt the raw, terrifying majesty of her presence, a pressure that made the ten-thousand-year spider's aura seem like a candle flame.
He had to answer. Truth was his only possible currency with a being who could likely sense falsehoods in the vibration of his soul.
Huo Yuhao: My name is Huo Yuhao. I am a human of the Douluo Continent. As for shattered destiny… you feel correctly. I have rejected a pre-written script. A story where both you and I are pawns.
Another beat of silence. Then, a response that was not angry, but chillingly analytical.
Gu Yuena: 'Pre-written script.' An interesting fiction. Destiny is a river with countless tributaries, not a parchment. Your existence, however, is a rock in that river. A foreign object. Your spiritual root… it has been recently, violently, reconfigured. You are both incredibly weak and possess a foundation that should not exist.
Xiao Yan: Hey now, 'incredibly weak' is a bit harsh. The kid just rebuilt his own meridians with a ten-thousand-year ring's energy. That's not nothing.
Gu Yuena: Silence, flame-wielder. Your perspective is limited to combustion and conversion. I speak of cosmic lineage and inherited law. Human, you have done something that touches upon Dragon God scripture—the remaking of a lifeform's foundational pathways. That is a dragon's secret.
A new kind of tension entered the chat. Not just curiosity, but a hint of territorial sovereignty.
Wang Lin: He used the blueprint of a beast's own power to survive. It was a necessity, not theft. The karma is clear: life for life. He took the spider's power and life to forge a new path for his own.
Gu Yuena: Karma. Yes. And now his karma is interlaced with mine. This 'system' you all reside in… it has pulled a thread attached to my soul. Why? What is its purpose?
Huo Yuhao saw his opening. He couldn't explain the system, but he could state his own purpose—the one thing that was unequivocally true across both his lives.
Huo Yuhao: Its purpose, for me, is survival and change. To save a life that was meant to be lost. To prevent a future of manipulation and bondage. For myself, and for others who deserve a choice.
He poured his conviction into the message: the memory of his mother's fading breath, Ayush's fury at the written page, the visceral hatred for the name Tang San.
The psychic pressure from Gu Yuena's connection seemed to… shift. From interrogative to assessing.
Gu Yuena: …Bondage. You speak of a chain you have not yet felt. I have felt mine for millennia. This connection is not a chain. It is a… bridge. A bridge to a consciousness that is not part of the Heaven Dou Empire, Shrek Academy, or the Council of Gods. It is external.
Yang Kai: An external vantage point is the most valuable strategic asset. It allows you to see the board.
Gu Yuena: Indeed. Human—Huo Yuhao. You have made yourself a variable. Variables are dangerous. They are also the only source of true change. I will… observe.
It wasn't acceptance. It wasn't alliance. It was a temporary, conditional ceasefire. For now, it was enough. The notification about her joining the group finally solidified, her name appearing permanently on the member list. Her status simply read: [Spatial Anomaly - Stabilizing].
The focus of the group, and Huo Yuhao's own system, then snapped to the next glaring alert.
UNLOCKED: [External Affixed Soul Bone - Skin] Questline. Required material: 'Molten Heartgold' (Fire Attribute, for balance).
Shi Hao: Whoa! Fire stuff! That's the opposite of your ice! Are you supposed to cook yourself?
Lin Dong:Balance. His foundation is now purely Ultimate Ice, from the meridian bone to his spirit. That is immense power, but also a profound weakness. A single extreme can be broken. A cycle of opposing forces is unbreakable.
Ye Ming:The principle of Yin and Yang. The ice has forged his vessel. Now, a fire of equal grade must temper it, not to dilute, but to create a dynamic equilibrium. His skin will become the boundary where these forces meet and harmonize.
Xiao Yan:'Molten Heartgold'… I know that material. In my world, it's called 'Sun's Core Metal.' It's a legendary fire-attribute metal born in the deepest volcanoes, absorbing flame essence for ten thousand years. It's not just hot; it contains the concept of enduring, unyielding combustion. Alchemists kill for a speck of it.
The system provided a location. Not a simple forest this time. A map fragment glowing in his mind showed a mountain range on the far southern border of the Heaven Dou Empire—the Blazestone Mountains. The target was deep within an active volcanic network known as the Emberflow Vents. A place where Soul Elders feared to tread.
Yun Che: A fire realm. Your ice-attribute spirit power will be suppressed there. Your greatest strength becomes a liability. The system does not make things easy.
Wang Lin:Difficulty is irrelevant. The path is set. The question is method. You cannot use the same trick twice. The beasts there will be fire-aspected, resistant to traps of ice and rock.
Huo Yuhao leaned back against the cold cave wall, exhaustion battling with a simmering excitement. He had a direction. He had a new, impossible quest. And he had a chat group with a Dragon King in it.
Huo Yuhao: I understand. I need to acquire a fire-attribute treasure to balance my foundation. The journey will be long. I must return to human settlements first—for supplies, information, and… to check on my mother.
The mention of his mother sent a different kind of quiet through the group.
Gu Yuena: …Your maternal connection is the source of your initial defiance. This 'script' you rage against, it involves her?
Huo Yuhao:It involves her death being meaningless. Her soul being used as a… bargaining chip.
A wave of cold,pure rage—so sharp it felt like a physical blade—bled through Gu Yuena's connection. It was not directed at him, but at the concept he described.
Gu Yuena:I see. Then your path is clear. Nurture your weakness into strength. I will… provide data on spatial fluctuations around the Blazestone Mountains. The fire energy there disrupts dimensional stability. There may be shortcuts, or hidden dangers.
It was the first offer of direct assistance.
Huo Yuhao: Thank you.
He spent the next few days in the cave, consolidating his gains. His spirit power had stabilized at Rank 13. His Spiritual Detection range had expanded to fifty meters, and the clarity was breathtaking. He could see the flow of cold energy in the air, the latent heat in distant animals. He practiced guiding his spirit power through his new meridian network, finding it astonishingly smooth and potent. A single ice needle he condensed was sharper and colder than anything he could have dreamed of before.
When he finally shouldered his pack and left the Northern Forest, he was not the same boy who had entered. He walked with a new steadiness, his blue eyes holding a depth of calculation and hardened will.
His destination was not the Duke's Manor. He would never return to that cage. Instead, he aimed for a small trading town on the forest's edge, a place where hunters and low-ranked soul masters gathered. He needed maps, traveling gear, and most importantly, news from Star Luo City.
The town, Frostfall Outpost, was a rough collection of timber and stone buildings. Huo Yuhao, in his simple grey clothes, drew little attention. He used a few of the copper coins he'd saved to buy a worn leather map of the continent and a sturdy waterskin. At a smoky tavern, he sat in a corner, sipping hot broth and extending his spiritual detection to listen to conversations.
He heard snippets about the upcoming Shrek Academy admissions, gossip about the White Tiger Duke's military exploits, and tales of spirit beast surges. Then, a conversation at the next table caught his ear.
"…heard from a merchant just in from the capital. Strange stuff. The White Tiger Duke's Manor is in an uproar. Not about the war, but internal. The Duchess is apparently furious. Something about a missing servant and a stolen heirloom."
Huo Yuhao's hand tightened around his spoon. Heirloom. The White Tiger Dagger.
"A servant? What would a servant want with an heirloom?"
"Who knows?Rumor says it was the son of that dead maid, Huo Yun'er. The one with the useless eyes. Ran off a while ago. Maybe he stole it to sell."
A cold smile touched Huo Yuhao's lips. Good. Let them think he was a thief. Let them look for a desperate boy selling a dagger. They would never look for a boy building a god-slaying foundation in the northern wilds.
But the next words froze the smile on his face.
"Well,the Duchess isn't taking chances. Sent out guards. But more interesting… I heard the old gardener, the one who was friends with the maid, he disappeared the same night. People are saying the Duchess… made an example. To warn others."
The world narrowed to a tunnel. The old gardener. Old Ma Teng. The only person in that hellish manor who had ever shown him and his mother covert kindness, leaving extra food by the kitchen door, pretending not to see Huo Yuhao sneaking out to fish.
A life, taken as a message. A message for him.
Ayush's rage was intellectual, burning at the injustice. Huo Yuhao's rage was a living thing, a glacier of hatred forming in his soul, colder and harder than any Ultimate Ice. The Duchess hadn't just attacked him; she had desecrated one of the last flickers of warmth in his past life.
The system pinged in his vision, a cold, logical counterpoint to the inferno in his heart.
NEW CONTEXTUAL QUEST GENERATED.
QUEST: [A Debt of Blood and Kindness].
OBJECTIVE: Settle the karma with the White Tiger Duchess.
NOTE: Quest is not time-limited but influences host's mental state and cultivation stability. Unresolved hatred can lead to deviation, especially with nascent Meridian Soul Bone.
Wang Lin's voice echoed in his memory. "Karma in motion."
He had two quests now. One to build his future, one to avenge his past. Both were dangerous. Both were necessary.
He finished his broth, placed the copper coins on the table, and stood. His path was clear. He would head south towards the Blazestone Mountains. But his journey would no longer be just about acquisition. It would be a pilgrimage of tempering. His body would be tempered by fire and ice. His soul would be tempered by purpose and vengeance.
As he walked out of Frostfall Outpost, leaving the cold north behind, he opened the chat group one last time.
Huo Yuhao: The path south begins. The obstacles are no longer just beasts and terrain.
Xiao Yan:Let me guess. Human obstacles. The worst kind.
Wang Lin:This is the true beginning of your cultivation. Nurture your hatred. Let it be the fuel, but do not let it become the master. That is the path of the demon.
Gu Yuena:…A dragon's wrath is a controlled inferno. It does not rage wildly; it is directed, precise, and utterly consuming when unleashed. Learn the difference.
Huo Yuhao didn't reply. He looked south, where the skies were warmer. Somewhere out there was a fire to balance his ice. And somewhere behind him, in a mansion of stone and cruelty, was a fire he would one day return to extinguish.
The reader was no longer just breaking the script. He was preparing to burn it.