"Finally, he's out."
Outside the White Tiger Duke's Mansion in the Star Luo Empire, a pair of crimson eyes fixed intently on a side door of the mansion. A slender figure slowly emerged from it.
"A slender build, yet exceptionally bright eyes, coupled with a palpable aura of hostility even from afar, not to mention that White Tiger Dagger—it looks like Huo Yuhao, all right."
Seeing Huo Yuhao, Xiao Qiang let out a slow sigh of relief. Over the past few days, he had been terrified of accidentally missing Huo Yuhao and letting the events of Douluo Continent II unfold according to their original script.
When reading the novel, it had none to do with him, so in his past life, Xiao Qiang hadn't cared much about the Mingdu explosion.
Later, when Huo Yuhao went on a massive rampage across the Sun Moon Empire, slaughtering countless Soul Engineer legions of the Sun Moon Empire while disguised as an Evil Spirit Master, Xiao Qiang still hadn't felt much.
However, when Xiao Qiang awakened his Martial Soul at the age of six, memories of his past life resurfaced, and he became a soul master of the Sun Moon Empire. Looking at Huo Yuhao then was a completely different matter for Xiao Qiang.
Right now, Xiao Qiang felt rather like someone about to face the Battle of Changping, only to find himself born a citizen of the State of Zhao.
As for what kind of reputation Huo Yuhao had previously, whether he was a good person, a bad person, or whatever else, Xiao Qiang no longer had the energy to care. Anyway, according to Tang San's logic in Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao already had a death-seeking path cut out for him.
As for why Xiao Qiang was only watching Huo Yuhao and not making a move, part of the reason was that Huo Yuhao had been cooped up inside the Duke's Mansion all this time, and the other part was that the current Huo Yuhao still had his uses.
Xu Tianran would start a war thirteen years later. Given the characteristics of ancient empires and Xu Tianran's obsession with hegemony, Xiao Qiang—as a one-tomoe Sharingan soul master with rank 5 innate Soul Power—was very clear on one thing.
By the time Xu Tianran was ready to launch the war, Xiao Qiang's strength was destined to "voluntarily" make him a soul guide soldier in Xu Tianran's conquest of the continent.
As for those who did not "voluntarily" become soldiers under Xu Tianran, the vast majority of them would likely end up as brothers in the Death God Pagoda.
If Xiao Qiang chose to lie flat and not cultivate, then sorry—soul master cannon fodder belonged to the high-end cannon fodder category; they could not be casually sacrificed as low-end cannon fodder on a whim.
Cannon fodder who weren't soul masters, on the other hand, belonged purely to the low-end variety. They were just like the palace maids and eunuchs in the imperial palace, used as funerary sacrifices without anyone feeling a shred of heartache.
As for standing aloof from the world and protecting oneself, that sort of thing had always been reserved for those connected to the high nobility; it was never something an ordinary person, or even someone with a bit of talent, could afford to consider.
Fortunately, Xiao Qiang possessed memories of his past life. He knew the future landscape, knew that his Martial Soul belonged to the Body Martial Soul category, and—most importantly—knew of Tianmeng's existence. This gave Xiao Qiang other options, even if he couldn't instantly evolve his Martial Soul into the Mangekyou Sharingan.
Based on the matches between the Sun Moon Empire and Shrek, where Xiao Qiang had already heard of Shrek's substitute trainee Zhang Lexuan when he was five years old, Xiao Qiang had calculated the exact time Tianmeng and Huo Yuhao would cross paths.
Relying on his rank 5 innate Soul Power, age advantages, and various other factors, Xiao Qiang had reached rank 30 ahead of Huo Yuhao—before Huo Yuhao even hit rank 10—and acquired two hundred-year Soul Rings whose quality pushed right up against the absorption limit.
Initially, Xiao Qiang had planned to go to the Star Dou Great Forest to find Tianmeng himself. In fact, that was precisely what he had tried to do.
But the moment Xiao Qiang stepped foot into the Star Dou Great Forest, he realized a nearly fatal mistake.
What was Huo Yuhao? The protagonist of Douluo Continent II?
Yes, but Huo Yuhao was not merely the protagonist of Douluo Continent II; he was simultaneously the Son of Destiny of the entire Douluo world.
Xiao Qiang had gone to the Star Dou Great Forest to intercept Tianmeng and Yilai. Yet Tianmeng and Yilai were opportunities that originally belonged to Huo Yuhao—or rather, the opportunities of the Son of Destiny.
Then a question arose: if the opportunities of the Son of Destiny could be casually snatched away by anyone, could he really still be called the Son of Destiny?
The answer was self-evident. Over all these years, among so many mental-attribute soul masters, only Huo Yuhao had happened to stumble upon Tianmeng.
Was it because Princess Weina had never set foot in that area of the Star Dou Great Forest? Or was it that other mental-attribute soul masters never appeared in the Star Dou Great Forest at all?
When the Pagoda of Spirit was established, quite a few mental-attribute soul masters had shown up. Those mental-attribute soul masters didn't just materialize out of thin air; they also needed Soul Rings, and they also needed to raise their Soul Power.
Yet, aside from that background-character Titled Douluo, not a single one of them had ever encountered Tianmeng, who was capable of sealing himself.
It wasn't that their luck was bad; it was simply that none of them—including Xiao Qiang—were the Sons of Destiny of this world.
When competing with the Son of Destiny to see who could secure better fortunes, Xiao Qiang figured playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded chamber and betting on a misfire had a higher success rate.
Fortunately, this wasn't the Naruto world, where the Hokage's son is the Hokage, the advisor's son is the advisor, and a scapegoat's son can only ever be another scapegoat with zero possibility of change.
Otherwise, Xiao Qiang might as well pack it in and just enjoy whatever time he had left to live.
Still, even though this wasn't the Naruto world, his previous venture into the Star Dou Great Forest had nearly gotten him killed.
By now, Xiao Qiang was practically certain that even if he managed to encounter Tianmeng and claim him, Yilai—who was drawn in by Tianmeng's power—would most likely not fall to someone like him, a non-Son of Destiny.
Fortunately, Tianmeng was bound to the Ice Empress. Having Tianmeng meant having the Ice Empress, which meant twin martial souls coupled with a top-tier martial soul. Even without Yilai, he wouldn't be left in a completely passive position.
Once he obtained Tianmeng and his talent caught the eye of the Sun Moon Empire's upper echelons, Xiao Qiang could shake off his cannon-fodder fate and stop worrying about being "voluntarily" sent to the front lines to die the moment the war broke out.
With the Ice Empress's traits and the opportunities Xiao Qiang already knew about, he was even confident that before the war began, his cultivation would reach the eight-ring or even nine-ring realm, granting him strength that could rival or even surpass ordinary Super Douluos.
By that time, whether Xiao Qiang wanted to protect himself, demand that the war be postponed, or stop the war altogether, he would no longer find himself stuck in a passive corner.
Only, before that happened...
Xiao Qiang directed his gaze toward Huo Yuhao. Backed by rank 30 Soul Power and the amplification of two hundred-year Soul Rings, the visual range and precision he could achieve clearly surpassed Huo Yuhao, whose innate Soul Power was only rank 1 and who possessed no Soul Rings at all.
And this superior eyesight allowed Xiao Qiang, after trailing Huo Yuhao for a few days, to spot Beibei and Tang Ya before Huo Yuhao did. Waiting for the grilled fish event to unfold, he could approach Huo Yuhao under the pretext of buying grilled fish and owing him a favor—this was precisely the best timing to get close to him.