Dai Yueheng came over with Dai Luoli. He didn"t ostracize his younger brother, but wasn"t close to him, either. After all, they had the same father, but different mothers. Dai Yueheng even treated Dai Huabin, who shared the same parents as him, as his compet.i.tor. As for Dai Luoli, he hardly felt any kins.h.i.+p with him at all.
"Marshal." Dai Luoli addressed Dai Hao as Marshal instead of father. At the same time, he performed a military salute.
Dai Hao furrowed his brow as he noticed Dai Luoli was dressed like a small team leader. "How did you enter the city? Did you join the military?"
Dai Luoli nodded. "I"m the small team leader of a group of recruits from the Sixth Reserve Legion. I"m a Private First Cla.s.s. No one knows I"m a soul master, though. When I was doing my recruit training, I was promoted to a bodyguard of the battalion commander. As for how I entered the city, I"m afraid I can"t tell you right now."
Dai Hao"s face turned gloomier. "Tell me. If you don"t, you"ll be punished as a spy."
Dai Yueheng hurriedly said, "Father, the information Luoli is offering is very important. Don"t you think…"
Dai Hao glared at him and said, "There are no families in the army. There are only superiors and subordinates. What did you call me?"
"Yes, Marshal." Dai Yueheng quickly changed the way he greeted Dai Hao. Dai Hao was very stern towards all his sons.
Dai Hao returned his attention to Dai Luoli, who appeared very persistent. He said, "Luoli, the information that you have brought us this time is indeed very important. However, the source of your information is also very important. If you"re being used by an enemy, the entire Northwestern Field Army will be killed along with you. This is why you must report the source of your information and how you managed to enter the city. I can only judge it accurately if you tell me this."
After listening to his father"s words, Dai Luoli seemed to waver a little. However, he still resisted, "Marshal, I"m confident that the person who told me all this information isn"t an enemy. His information is definitely accurate."
Dai Hao was already fatigued after an entire night spent in a military conference. He wasn"t in a good mood now, and thus shouted, "Who is he!?"
Dai Luoli said, "He"s, he"s my master."
"Master?" Dai Hao was stunned. "Since when did you have a master?" He asked doubtfully.
Dai Luoli had already expected his father to interrogate him. He had also promised Huo Yuhao that he wouldn"t reveal his ident.i.ty. This was why he thought of a way to talk his way out of this interrogation. The clever thing about him was that he didn"t say everything the moment he appeared in front of Dai Hao. Instead, he revealed everything slowly. This enabled him to gain his father"s trust more easily.
"He only became my master a short while ago. He was also the one who allowed me to join the military, as he thinks that the military is a good way to train myself. He"s normally absent, and will only appear when he"s teaching me. He managed to find out that there aren"t any soldiers from the Sun Moon Empire at the Ming Dou Mountain Range before he proceeded to inform me. He knows my relations.h.i.+p with you, and thus he asked me to travel the entire night to deliver this information to you. As for how I entered the city, my master has a special ability that allows him to conceal himself. He brought me into the city by concealing both of us."
After hearing the word "conceal", Dai Hao twitched visibly. He hurriedly asked, "Is your master"s martial soul a spiritual-type?"
"How did you know that?" Dai Luoli was the shocked one now. Just because he possessed the ability to conceal himself didn"t mean that his martial soul was spiritual-type. Some special martial souls possessed such an ability, as well.
Dai Hao paused for a moment, then asked, "Is his height around one meter and ninety centimeters, and he has a slender and proportionate figure?"
"What?" Dai Luoli became more and more shocked. Dai Hao was describing Huo Yuhao!
From the look on Dai Luoli"s face, Dai Hao guessed his answer. He also looked much friendlier now. "I might know who he is. If he"s the one, the information should be fine. How did he take you as a disciple? What did he teach you?"
Dai Luoli replied, "I met him when I was cultivating outside the Duke"s Mansion for the first time. He was alone then, and he wore a mask. I couldn"t see him clearly. He didn"t say he wanted to teach me at the start, but suddenly attacked me. I retaliated as I was attacked, but he managed to take me down without even using his martial soul. After that, he kept on provoking me and making me furious so as to make me keep fighting him. It was only when I couldn"t get up anymore that he left.
"Ever since then, he has kept on appearing. Every time he appears, he beats me up very badly." As he spoke until this point, Dai Luoli"s true emotions started to flow. During those days, every day had seemed very long!
Dai Yueheng was doubtful as he asked, "He always beats you up? Why did he become your master then?" From the look in his eyes, he was hinting that Dai Luoli deserved to be beaten up by accepting the person who had beaten him up as his master.
Dai Luoli was not very close to his brother, and so snorted, "Yes, he beats me up. However, he has helped to greatly increase my abilities. Father, I"m already at Rank 40. I"ll be a Soul Ancestor once I obtain my soul ring." The moment he talked about this joyous matter, he couldn"t be bothered to address Dai Hao as "Marshal" anymore.
"Oh?" Dai Hao"s eyes brightened. He hadn"t had much expectations for Dai Luoli. After all, he had improved much slower than Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin even though he cultivated tirelessly because of the mutation of his martial soul. He had not even qualified to enter Shrek Academy. He was only at Rank 30 not long ago. In a just a few months, he was now Rank 40. This rate of increase wasn"t achievable by just any ordinary soul master.
The mysterious guy Dai Hao was thinking of was naturally the masked man who had saved him twice and given him a Sunmoon Divine Needle. He was indeed very grateful to that guy. Not only did that guy save him twice, but he even saved his bodyguards. If that guy was Dai Luoli"s teacher, everything would make sense.
"How did your cultivation increase so quickly? Did you master make it happen for you?" Dai Hao asked.
Dai Luoli laughed bitterly. "You could say that. My master said that while my martial soul is mutated, it"s not a bad mutation. It"s because the mutation was incomplete, and the strength of my martial soul wasn"t stimulated. He beat me up to intensify the mutation of my martial soul under extreme emotional conditions so that the strength of my martial soul would be completely unleashed.
"I myself don"t understand what happened. However, my soul power has increased very quickly, and my martial soul seems to have changed too."
After hearing his words, both Dai Hao and Dai Yueheng couldn"t help but be shocked.
The mutation of a martial soul wasn"t very uncommon in the continent. However, most mutations of martial souls were for the worse. After these mutations, the original pure bloodline became much weaker. Only a few martial souls became stronger after mutating.
Dai Yueheng also came from Shrek Academy. However, he could recall that the Academy had expended a lot of effort on research into mutated martial souls. Even so, the results that they achieved weren"t ideal. If it was possible to alter the level of mutation of a soul master"s martial soul, then this mysterious guy could be considered the best in his research of mutated martial souls.
Dai Hao said, "Alright. Unleash your martial soul for me to see."
"Alright." Dai Luoli acknowledged, and also heaved a sigh of relief. From the looks of it, he had managed to scam his way through!
Lights shone, and three soul rings slowly rose from beneath his feet. At the same time, he became much taller, and white fur started to grow from his body. Just like before, there weren"t any black stripes that were special to White Tigers. Rather, his body was completely white.
However, Dai Hao and Dai Yueheng were both astonished.
After Dai Luoli"s martial soul had been completely unleashed, his soul power started to change. Dai Luoli seemed to become illusory in their eyes. After this, the fur on his body also exuded a dim blood-colored glow.
This blood-colored glow didn"t have any unclean aura, but was instead filled with elegance. It even carried strong spiritual undulations within it.
Dai Hao suddenly lifted his hand and grabbed towards Dai Luoli"s chest.
Dai Luoli"s body subconsciously flashed, and he squatted down towards his side. At the same time, he reached out against his father"s palm with his tiger claws. He was extremely quick.
Dai Hao withdrew his hand and was impressed as he said, "It"s indeed different. Your reaction speed is far beyond your cultivation! How do you feel after your martial soul has mutated?"
Dai Luoli said, "Master said that my martial soul should be called a Blood Tiger after this mutation. Under certain circ.u.mstances, it can enter a berserk state on its own once stimulated. However, my cultivation is still lacking now, and my spiritual power isn"t strong enough yet. Once it"s stronger, I can become much calmer even when I go berserk. What my master means is that my spiritual and soul power can fuse with each other perfectly after I go berserk, which enables me to unleash a fighting strength that is beyond my original abilities. It"s just that I can"t be in that state for very long, but that duration will increase along with my cultivation."
Dai Hao seemed to be thinking of something. Dai Yueheng was doubtful as he asked, "Don"t tell me you"ll develop some innate skill after your mutation is completed? Isn"t this something only soul beasts possess?"
Dai Luoli was unhappy as he asked, "Who said so? Elder brother, I can"t believe that you"re a scholar from Shrek Academy. My master said that this is similar to the Body Sect"s Second Awakening of body souls. This is because the strength of all my soul skills will increase after I enter a berserk state."
Dai Hao was suddenly enlightened after he heard Dai Luoli drawing a comparison to the Body Sect. "Yes, it"s a Second Awakening, just like what happens in the Body Sect. I didn"t expect it, I really didn"t expect it! Where is your master now?"