Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 32 Spiritual Devastation

Huo Yuhao shook his head and did not delve any further. With his current True Eye ability, he was not yet able to fully see the soul bone inside Wang Dong's body.

Aside from its ability to passively strengthen the body, which it has already demonstrated, he couldn't discern any specific effects or other abilities of this soul bone. As for asking Electrolux, he couldn't explain it clearly in just a few words.

"Alright, stop joking around." Huo Yuhao subdued Wang Dong with one hand: "Don't forget that Du Weilun just deducted ten points from your skill score."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dong looked somewhat unconvinced: "What do you mean by lacking skill? You want me to fight this bloodthirsty demon bear in guerrilla tactics? He's not me, how do you know I haven't considered it?"

"Besides, my Butterfly God Slash just now clearly severely injured that big guy. I'm fine even in close combat!" Wang Dong said proudly, then looked somewhat dejected.

"Ah, right, right, right." Huo Yuhao nodded, but this time he wasn't just being perfunctory; he genuinely felt that Wang Dong's tactics were correct.

After all, once they got close, Wang Dong's third soul skill, Butterfly God Slash, had completely disemboweled the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear. Although the Bloodthirsty Demon Bear still had a fighting chance, Wang Dong was clearly handling it with ease.

Compared to this period in the original work, Wang Dong's physical fitness and soul power reserves have been greatly improved with the help of that unknown torso bone.

Moreover, Wang Dong's tactical thinking has also improved under Huo Yuhao's tutelage, though not by much.

Huo Yuhao didn't think Wang Dong's words were baseless, but Du Weilun probably only wanted to refine Wang Dong's character by finding a pretext to deduct points from him.

As the students took turns competing, Huo Yuhao observed that most of them did not perform particularly well, and few were able to fully utilize their martial soul or soul skill advantages to target the weaknesses of the testing soul beasts.

Therefore, these trainees' combat performance was naturally not very good, and the scores they obtained were not very high.

Aside from Wang Dong, the highest score was Dai Huabin, who scored the same 145 points as Wang Dong. He decisively tore apart the thousand-year-old soul beast that was his opponent. However, Huo Yuhao believed that this was the result of Du Weiren's consideration.

After all, Wang Dong was still the class monitor of Class One, although Dai Huabin was more valued by the Martial Soul Department because of his higher cultivation level and talent.

Moreover, due to his personality, it's not easy to control Dai Huabin by suppressing him, but they also won't let Dai Huabin surpass Wang Dong, the nominal class monitor.

After all, Wang Dong's previous combat performance could be considered almost perfect. As core disciples of the same martial soul system, they should naturally be treated equally.

"Next, Class 1, Grade 2, Huo Yuhao." The referee took Huo Yuhao's assessment form and nodded to him.

"Hmm, what level of spirit beast did you choose as your test subject?"

"millennium."

"Hmm? A thousand years? Have you thought it through? You're just a two-ring Great Soul Master. I hope you take the strength of a thousand-year-old Soul Beast seriously. Although your teacher will be there to help, accidents can still happen."

"Yes, a thousand years."

Seeing this, the referee did not continue to persuade them.

This also piqued the interest of the other teachers, since a thousand-year-old soul beast is quite powerful for second-year students, and this is the third thousand-year-old soul beast in this assessment.

"I wonder if the mental strength and intelligence of a thousand-year-old soul beast can withstand it."

Entering the arena, after the referee gave a series of safety instructions, Huo Yuhao's test, or rather, experiment, finally began.

As the spirit rings flashed, one yellow and one purple, a combination that exceeded the usual knowledge of spirit masters, everyone was somewhat surprised.

Also somewhat surprised was an elderly man who had not appeared before everyone: Dragon God Douluo, Mu En.

That's right, Moon also came to watch the second-year students' promotion assessment, after all, he was really bored out of his mind on weekdays.

Moreover, he was somewhat concerned that Huo Yuhao, who had been holed up in his dorm for more than half a month, might come up with some new tricks.

Compared to Huo Yuhao's unique thoughts, for Soul Masters and for this world, what truly determines their voice is strength and combat talent.

Mu En came here to confirm Huo Yuhao's combat talent.

"Isn't this kid from a commoner background? Without any rare and precious treasures to accumulate and lay a solid foundation for his physical body, how could he still absorb a thousand-year soul ring at the second ring level?"

"It could also be due to the combination of his original spirit and the Tang Sect's Mysterious Heaven Skill. After all, our ancestor Tang San also had a case of absorbing a third spirit ring beyond his level, although no one in the Tang Sect has tried it since."

Huo Yuhao's opponent also emerged from the beast enclosure. Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow, surprised that his opponent this time was not the Flame Lion King, but it didn't matter.

"A thousand-year-old mutated mighty ape, a powerful attack-type soul beast. This opponent's compatibility with this kid is a bit lacking," Du Weiren commented from the high platform.

The Mighty Ape is known for its strength among soul beasts. It is said to possess the bloodline of the Titan Giant Ape, though it is too diluted. However, this diluted bloodline alone is enough for it to stand out among the low and mid-level soul beasts.

Especially in the hundred-year and thousand-year levels, physical strength, though crude, is the most useful. Compared to elemental attribute soul beasts, strength attribute is often more advantageous in the early stages.

Moreover, this powerful ape seemed to have awakened some other bloodlines. Unlike the usual dark red powerful apes, its dark red fur also emitted a faint black metallic luster.

The others were already familiar with Huo Yuhao's fighting style. His hidden weapons were basically ineffective against thousand-year-old soul beasts, especially since this powerful ape's mutation was more defensive.

A giant ape, standing two meters tall, emerged from the enclosure. Its enormous, almost deformed arms pounded its chest, producing muffled thuds. Fear appeared on the faces of some of the weaker or less resilient students.

"Is this... an intimidation aura?" Through his Eye of Truth, Huo Yuhao keenly detected the mental energy fluctuations mixed within the soul energy fluctuations emanating from this mutated giant ape.

The power of intimidation can cause some Soul Masters with weaker mental strength to become fearful before even engaging in battle, resulting in a decrease in strength and a loss of fighting spirit.

However, for Huo Yuhao, such methods were not enough. 'It seems to be a hybrid of the Mighty Ape and the Iron-Armed Ape, possessing the advantages of both bloodlines.'

Huo Yuhao had already deduced the source of the opponent's bloodline from the abilities the opponent used, and had also figured out how to defeat the opponent through normal means.

"The Mighty Ape excels in strength and explosive power, while the Iron-Armed Ape is as hard as steel, and its constant aura of intimidation gives it the potential to fight in a prolonged battle."

"Its weaknesses are speed and durability. Although this mutated mighty ape boasts outstanding defense and attack power, that's about it."

In Huo Yuhao's True Eyes, the mutated Great Ape, which appeared to be covered in a black and red metallic luster and had a strong defense, was riddled with holes. Its weaknesses were fully exposed to Huo Yuhao's eyes, and he could easily expose it at any time if he wanted to.

However, Huo Yuhao did not take out his hidden weapon to end the battle. Instead, he activated his soul skill, accompanied by alternating flashes of yellow and purple light on the soul ring under his feet.

The mutated giant ape, which was displaying its power and preparing to attack Huo Yuhao, suddenly stood still, motionless.

Huo Yuhao, on the other hand, strolled over leisurely, circling the mutated giant ape and examining it from head to toe.

Meanwhile, the first and second spirit rings beneath his feet were constantly flashing.

"The highest-intensity mental detection combined with mental erosion, hmm, about what I expected." Huo Yuhao was quite satisfied with the mutated giant ape that remained motionless no matter how close he was, or even when he directly plucked its fur.

Huo Yuhao then moved further away from the mutated giant ape, and the giant ape immediately began punching its own chest repeatedly.

It wasn't until the ribs were broken and the heart was damaged that the large body could no longer be supported by the heart's blood supply, and then it stopped.

Huo Yuhao immediately nodded to the judge beside him, "Teacher, I think this assessment is over."

Seeing this, although they were also confused, the judges quickly turned their attention to Du Weiren, who was in charge of scoring on the platform.

Although Du Weilun also frowned and couldn't see anything amiss, he still nodded and said, "After discussion, Huo Yuhao has completed the highest level of the Thousand-Year Soul Beast assessment, with a base score of one hundred."

"By using a control-type soul skill, the Great Ape was affected at the start of the battle, ultimately causing it to severely injure itself. The performance was perfect, and the combat skill score can be the full fifty."

"However, there were too many unnecessary movements. As a Soul Master, everything in battle should be done with caution. As a control-type Soul Master, you did not seize the opportunity in time, but instead made unnecessary movements that led to betrayal. Therefore, 20 points are deducted from your final score as a warning."

"Huo Yuhao, your final score in the assessment is 130 points. You have passed the upgrade assessment."

Huo Yuhao shrugged, not caring much. After all, he came here to choose a thousand-year-old soul beast just to test his soul skills. Otherwise, he wouldn't bother to snatch the exam points, which were of little significance to him.

"Wow, what kind of soul skill did you just use?" Wang Dong immediately came up to him after Huo Yuhao left the arena.

"How did that mighty ape manage to defeat itself? Was that your second soul skill? It's ridiculously overpowered!"

"What, you want to give it a try?" Huo Yuhao smiled slightly and said to Wang Dong, "I just came up with this during my vacation, and I haven't used it on any Soul Masters yet."

Upon hearing this, Wang Dong quickly shook his head: "No way, but the academy's point deduction is too harsh! Your performance just now was perfect, so why did they deduct twenty points from your score?"

"Whatever, I don't care. Even if I get expelled, it doesn't matter. Getting 20 more points won't get me an extra gold coin." Huo Yuhao yawned. "Finally finished the exam. I'm going back to sleep."

After saying that, Huo Yuhao turned around and left the Colosseum, and Wang Dong naturally followed him, since she had nothing else to do if she stayed there any longer.

Meanwhile, Huo Yuhao was contemplating his battle with the mutated giant ape.

Through a combination of mental detection sharing and mental devouring, Huo Yuhao first subtly invaded the mutated giant ape's mental sea, and then used deep-level mental detection to influence its pitifully small mental sea.

Immediately afterward, because its mental energy was occupied by a large amount of information retrieved by the mental probe, the mutated giant ape instinctively mobilized all its mental energy back into its sea of ​​consciousness in order to prevent it from being overwhelmed.

Using all his mental energy, Huo Yuhao tried his best to sort through the large amount of useless information obtained through mental detection, while he directly shielded the effects of mental detection and observed through the Eye of Truth.

After all of the mutated giant ape's mental energy was mobilized back to its sea of ​​spirit, its sea of ​​spirit gradually shrank and closed due to the erosion effect of the mental energy devouring. As a result, Huo Yuhao separated the mutated giant ape's own mental consciousness from its physical body.

In the spiritual world, because this mutated giant ape is unable to free its spiritual power, it is naturally impossible to take back control of its physical body.

The reason why the mutated giant ape was able to withstand its body's self-protection mechanism and severely injure itself was entirely because Huo Yuhao directly controlled its physical body through his mental power.

A body without mental control is merely an empty shell, and for Huo Yuhao, controlling it is as simple as it gets.

Moreover, due to the continued effects of the mental erosion, although this mutated giant ape may seem to be salvageable, its consciousness has almost completely become part of the mental erosion process.

Once its mental power is completely devoured by the mental erosion, this mutated giant ape will completely lose its self-awareness, and due to the existence of the mental erosion, its mental power will no longer be able to regenerate.

In such a case, even if a lot of resources are spent to cure it, it will eventually die and decay as the physical body loses control of the spirit and will.

"This move is indeed difficult for spirit beasts to resist. A typical spirit master of the same level would likely perform similarly. A thousand-year-old spirit beast's mental strength should be comparable to a fourth-ring spirit master."

"It's a bit of a pity, though. The mental energy devoured by Mental Devouring can't be recovered. Otherwise, the pure mental energy that constitutes the Mental Devouring soul skill would be a good supplement. Maybe we can try to build a method for its recovery later."

Huo Yuhao currently calls this method "Mental Destruction," although this method is likely to be updated and replaced soon.

(End of this chapter)