4: Chapter 4 No Howling! I've been targeted by a certain gluttonous dragon king...

"Yuhao, are you alright?" Huo Yuner's concerned voice drifted in from outside the carriage.

"Mom, I'm fine." Huo Yuhao replied, pulling himself out of his meditative state.

"You don't look well. Is the carriage too bumpy? Shall we stop and take a break?" Huo Yuner looked back at her son in the carriage, her eyes filled with concern.

"No need, Mom. I'm not tired; I'm just thinking about something." Huo Yuhao's voice was calm.

"Thinking about something?"

Huo Yuner's tone held a hint of abstraction. "Yuhao, you seem... to have really grown up. Tell Mom, what are you thinking about?"

Huo Yuhao was silent for a moment before saying, "I'm thinking that leaving the Dukes Mansion was the right thing to do. In the future, I will make sure you live a good life."

Hearing her son's composed words, which didn't sound like they came from a six-year-old, Huo Yuner felt both gratified and heartbroken.

She didn't ask any more questions, just gave a soft "Mm," and turned her head back to focus on driving the carriage.

In her view, the reason her son's temperament had changed overnight was because he had been pushed to it by the people and events at the Dukes Mansion.

Watching his mother's frail back, countless thoughts swirled in Huo Yuhao's mind.

After they left the White Tiger Dukes Mansion, he had used the several hundred gold coins he had taken from Dai Huabin's guards.

At the market outside White Tiger City, he had bought the cheapest second-hand carriage and a pack horse.

Having a means of transport was better than the mother and son having to travel on foot.

Their goal was clear: to head to the Heavenly Soul Empire.

The Star Luo Empire was within the Duke of the White Tiger's sphere of influence; the longer they stayed, the greater the danger.

After settling his mother down, Huo Yuhao closed his eyes again.

His consciousness sank into his Spiritual Sea.

The Spiritual Sea was calm, and the fragment of Electrolux's Divine Soul remained like a speck of dust.

It floated quietly, without any movement, evidently still in a deep sleep, recuperating.

Huo Yuhao's attention turned to the other side.

The Eternal Eye, bound by countless gray chains, also showed no reaction.

This was a true Super Divinity Artifact, his last reliance in the Divine Realm.

According to his memories, after the Eternal Eye fully awakened, it possessed the terrifying ability to see through all illusions, trace back segments of time, and even interfere with the trajectory of fate.

But now, it was sealed too tightly.

These gray chains were the shackles of law left behind from crossing the World barrier during his rebirth. With his current Innate Rank 3 Soul Power, he couldn't even shake the thinnest one.

He could only vaguely sense its existence, but he couldn't use even a fraction of its power.

The only way to break the seal was to continuously increase his Soul Power rank.

Every time he reached a major breakthrough, he should be able to break a part of the seal and gain a portion of the Eternal Eye's abilities.

As for the ice and snow origin belonging to the Snow Empress within his body, it was hidden even deeper, like a dormant dragon.

Without the right opportunity and a strong enough physical tolerance, he dared not touch it lightly.

"Meals must be eaten one bite at a time, and the road must be walked one step at a time," Huo Yuhao admonished himself in his heart.

In this life, he had enough time and patience to lay out plans and to grow.

The carriage rumbled along, a monotonous sound that accompanied them for two days.

To avoid checkpoints and inspections on the main road, Huo Yuhao chose a small path marked on the map that could cut through the mountains and forests to reach another city.

Although it was remote and difficult to travel, it had the advantage of being safe.

When the carriage drove into this quiet mountain path, the surrounding light dimmed significantly. Tall trees blocked out the sky, with only dappled spots of light spilling through the gaps in the leaves.

Suddenly.

"Whoa!" Huo Yuner, who was driving the carriage, suddenly pulled on the reins, and the carriage came to a halt.

"What's wrong, Mom?" Huo Yuhao asked from inside the carriage.

"Yuhao, in front... there's someone in front." Huo Yuner's voice held a hint of nervousness and uncertainty.

Huo Yuhao lifted the carriage curtain and looked ahead. In the middle of the road ahead, a woman stood quietly.

She was a woman whose beauty could not be described in words.

She looked to be about seventeen or eighteen years old, with long silver-white hair cascading down to her waist.

Her skin was fair, with the texture of mutton-fat jade.

Every part of her facial features seemed like the creator's most outstanding work, combined together to form a face that shouldn't exist in the mortal World.

Her figure was tall, with proportions so perfect that one couldn't find a single flaw.

The most special thing was her eyes. They were a pair of purple pupils, and within the deep purple, it seemed as if countless stars were slowly rotating.

She just stood there in the middle of the road, not speaking, nor making any move. She just used those purple eyes to quietly watch the carriage that had approached and then stopped.

The moment he saw those purple eyes, Huo Yuhao's heart contracted violently, and all the blood in his body seemed to freeze at that moment.

Alarm bells rang frantically in his mind! Others might only be stunned by her appearance, but Huo Yuhao, possessing the memories of a God King, recognized her identity in an instant!

Silver Dragon King Gu Yuena! It was her! It was actually her!

The co-ruler of Spirit Beasts, the silver incarnation of the Dragon God's split, the true king of all Spirit Beasts in this World!

Whether it was Di Tian or the Snow Empress, they could only bow their heads and submit before her—the Silver Dragon King, Gu Yuena!

Why was she here? And looking at her... it seemed like she was specifically waiting for him?

Countless thoughts exploded in Huo Yuhao's mind; he almost subconsciously wanted to tell his mother to turn around and run immediately.

But he forcibly suppressed this impulsive thought. Run? In front of the Silver Dragon King, a child with Innate Rank 3 Soul Power with an ordinary person, where could they run to?

"Miss, what are you doing here all by yourself? Are you lost? Do you need any help?" Huo Yuner was kind-hearted after all; seeing that the other person was just a young woman, she spoke up to ask.

Gu Yuena didn't look at Huo Yuner, not even sparing her a glance. Her gaze passed through the gap in the carriage curtain, locking directly onto Huo Yuhao inside the carriage.

She moved. She took a step and slowly walked toward the carriage.

Huo Yuhao only felt an indescribable pressure descend with her approach, making it difficult for him to breathe.

Gu Yuena walked to the side of the carriage, leaned down slightly, and approached the carriage window. Her delicate nose twitched slightly, as if she were carefully sniffing for some scent.

Huo Yuhao didn't dare to move, his entire body's muscles tensed up.

"On you..." Gu Yuena spoke, her voice cold and pleasant, "there is a very special scent."

Her purple eyes held a hint of curiosity and inquiry. "It seems to be... the scent of fate."

Huo Yuhao's heart skipped a beat. He forced himself to remain calm and said in the innocent tone that a six-year-old child should have, "Big sister, what are you saying? I don't understand."

Gu Yuena watched his feigned innocence, the corners of her mouth suddenly curling into a subtle arc, a smile that made everything around them pale in comparison.

"Little guy, stop pretending." Her voice wasn't loud, but it sounded like a thunderclap in Huo Yuhao's mind. "That old thing deep in your soul is staring at me."

Huo Yuhao's pupils contracted violently.

A voice that had been silent for a long time, incomparably weak, suddenly sounded in his Spiritual Sea. "This little girl... is not simple."

It was Electrolux! He had actually been awakened by Gu Yuena's aura!

Huo Yuhao was greatly shocked: "Teacher! You're awake?"

Electrolux's voice carried unprecedented gravity: "Be careful. Her essence... is extremely high. Although she seems weak, she definitely has combat power exceeding that of an ordinary Divinity. My Divine Soul fragment has been perceived by her as well."

Before Huo Yuhao could respond to his teacher, Gu Yuena outside the carriage spoke again, saying something that shocked both Huo Yuhao and Huo Yuner. "I am going to follow you."

She said this sentence as a matter of course, leaving no room for doubt.

"Ah?" Huo Yuner was the first to react. She looked at this beautiful woman with a shocked face. "Miss, what is this..."

Gu Yuena still didn't look at her, her purple eyes staring unblinkingly at Huo Yuhao as she explained, "He has something on him that I want, and I don't feel at ease with him leaving my sight."

Huo Yuhao groaned inwardly. He had roughly guessed it. Other than the trajectory of fate brought by his rebirth and covered up by the Eternal Eye, what else could there be on him that would attract the Silver Dragon King?

In his past life, he had never met Gu Yuena at this time and place. In this life, because of his rebirth, the trajectory of fate had shifted, thus attracting this seeker of fate?

What was this? A "gift package" included with his rebirth? This was too overbearing and direct! It didn't give anyone a chance to refuse at all!

He tried to make a final struggle. "Big sister, I'm just an ordinary person, fleeing with my mother. Following me, sleeping in the open and eating in the wind, there's no benefit." Huo Yuhao said in the most sincere tone.

Hearing this, Gu Yuena suddenly reached out her hand. Her movement wasn't fast, but Huo Yuhao felt himself locked by an invisible force, unable to dodge at all.

That fair, jade-like hand gently pinched his chin and lifted his face up.

Gu Yuena leaned close to his face, those purple eyes that seemed to contain the entire starry sky gazing straight into the depths of his eyes, as if wanting to see through his soul.

A terrifying pressure that could not be described in words emanated from her. It wasn't Soul Power pressure, but an absolute suppression of a higher level originating from the essence of life.

Huo Yuhao felt like a small boat in a raging storm, likely to be overturned at any moment.

A clear voice sounded directly in his mind; this was a form of mental communication that Huo Yuner beside him couldn't hear at all. "No, no, no! I'm the one who decides, oh."

Gu Yuena's mental transmission carried a hint of playfulness?! "You don't have the right to refuse."

Huo Yuhao's heart sank to the bottom; he knew what the other party said was the truth. In the face of absolute power, any words and schemes seemed pale and powerless.

The current him, in her eyes, probably really wasn't any different from an ant. Resistance would only bring destruction.

He took a deep breath and responded with difficulty using his Mental Energy as well. "...Fine." He chose to compromise.

"But I have one condition." Gu Yuena's eyebrows raised slightly, seemingly a bit surprised that he dared to propose a condition.

Huo Yuhao used all his strength to make his mental transmission firm and clear: "You must promise me that you absolutely cannot hurt my mother."

Gu Yuena's gaze finally moved away from Huo Yuhao's face, glancing lightly at Huo Yuner, who was full of worry and confusion beside him. "Of course." Her voice sounded in Huo Yuhao's mind again. "I do not kill unrelated people."

Having received this guarantee, Huo Yuhao finally breathed a sigh of relief. As long as his mother was safe, everything else could be considered in the long run.

He gave a reassuring smile and nodded to Huo Yuner, who was full of anxiety outside the carriage.

Although Huo Yuner couldn't hear the conversation between her son and the mysterious woman, she understood her son's gaze. She wanted to say something, wanted to ask what was going on, but when the words reached her lips, seeing that composure in her son that surpassed his age, she ultimately chose to swallow all her questions back.

She chose to trust her son. Thus, this escape journey inexplicably gained an extra passenger. The journey of the three traveling together began just like that.

Huo Yuner was still responsible for driving the carriage, but her expression was more nervous than before, and from time to time, she would look into the carriage worriedly through the gap in the curtain. Inside the carriage, the atmosphere was somewhat eerie.

In the small carriage, Gu Yuena occupied half the space, just sitting there. She didn't speak, nor did she cultivate, just stared unblinkingly with those purple eyes at Huo Yuhao, whom she had pulled to her side.

Huo Yuhao felt uncomfortable all over being watched by her, like sitting on pins and needles.

Gu Yuena seemed to feel strange and curious about everything in the human World. She would pick up Huo Yuhao's water skin and study the simple carvings on it for a long time. She would lift the carriage curtain, watching the trees flying backward outside, her eyes filled with contemplation.

She was like a dry sponge, greedily absorbing all the information about this World. But her attitude toward humans was one of great indifference.

On the way, they encountered a team of traveling merchants. Those merchants saw Gu Yuena's appearance and all showed expressions of being stunned by her beauty; some even wanted to come up to talk.

But Gu Yuena just glanced at them faintly. That glance had no emotion, just like humans looking at stones by their feet. Those merchants, however, felt like they had fallen into an ice cellar, instantly shutting their mouths, not daring to look another time, and hurriedly left.

In her World, it seemed that apart from Huo Yuhao, no other humans were worth even the slightest bit of her attention.

"Who exactly are you?" After studying Huo Yuhao for the whole journey, Gu Yuena finally spoke again, asking the doubt in her heart.

"Your soul... is very strange. It's clearly very weak, yet it seems to be wrapped in a layer of mist that even I cannot see through."

She extended her finger and poked Huo Yuhao's cheek, her movement like she was studying a novel toy. "Why does it seem like I can't see through you?"

Huo Yuhao's heart suddenly rose, but he had to force a stiff smile on his face: "Big sister, I am just me, just an ordinary little child. You must have seen it wrong."

While laughing it off, he was screaming crazily in his heart. What a joke! The secret of his rebirth was his biggest trump card, apart from Electrolux! This matter absolutely cannot be exposed! Especially not in front of this unfathomably powerful Silver Dragon King! Otherwise, heaven knows what she would do to him.

Gu Yuena tilted her head, watching his insincere appearance, a hint of playfulness flashing in her purple eyes.

She didn't ask any further, just withdrew her hand and said faintly: "Is that so?"

Huo Yuhao didn't dare to respond, only able to lower his head, feeling incomparably nervous inside. He knew he had been targeted by this most terrifying existence. The road ahead would likely be far more tortuous than he had anticipated.