Peerless: I Became Huo Yuhao's Dark Personality

Chapter 130 The Red Dust Siblings Rushing to Experience the Light of Fear (Part 2)

"Stop it, stop it!"

"I was wrong! Yu Miao, please talk to Meng!"

Xiao Hongchen is a natural-born ranged fighter, so the outcome of him being caught in close combat is predictable.

Under Huo Yumiao's greatly shocked gaze, Meng Hongchen produced a giant, deep blue hammer with a rubbery texture. The seemingly soft hammer body rained down on Meng Hongchen's body.

Judging from the hammer's significant deformation after hitting Xiao Hongchen, this hammer was most likely not made for combat, but rather... for venting anger?
However, judging from Xiao Hongchen's continuous screams, this hammer must have some special effects that Huo Yumiao was unaware of.

Meng Hongchen couldn't possibly kill Xiao Hongchen, so this hammer must have something special about it.

At this moment, Xiao Hongchen was in a terrible state. The cannons used for attack were scattered on the ground like scrap metal. He was curled up in a ball with his hands covering his head, looking weak and helpless.

Meng Hongchen showed no mercy, wielding the sledgehammer with a smile, and casually tossing a few shackles to bind Xiao Hongchen's limbs.

Ignoring Xiao Hongchen, who was being beaten up, Huo Yumiao turned her attention to Huo Yuhao, who was still in a daze.

Huo Yuhao is still trapped in the illusion created by the Light of Fear, and Huo Yumiao has no intention of dispelling it.

The reason why the Light of Fear can attack without regard to mental barriers is that its effect is not to bring about an attack, but to temper the mind; the so-called illusion is just a form.

The Light of Fear simulates the subject's deepest fears, while significantly weakening the subject's perception of reality and virtuality.

In this illusion, those who cannot recognize themselves and overcome their fears will faint like Coco. Conversely, those who pass the test of the illusion will see a significant increase in their mental strength.

Huo Yumiao could actually guess what kind of illusion Huo Yuhao was experiencing. Huo Yuhao's greatest fear was undoubtedly related to his mother, Huo Yun'er.

Illusion, the White Tiger Duke's Mansion.

Huo Yuhao crouched on the ground in pain, his eyelids already covered with countless blood vessels.

All around him were various voices: Dai Huabin's disdainful sarcasm, and the servants' wanton insults towards Huo Yun'er and Xiao Huo Yuhao in an attempt to curry favor with Dai Huabin.

What hurt him most was the muffled groans of his mother, Huo Yun'er, as she tried to suppress her pain, and the sobs of little Huo Yuhao.

Like a movie playing in my mind, all the gloomy memories of my past life at the White Tiger Duke's Mansion flashed through my mind.

No! That's not how it works!

His mother was dead, and he had long since escaped the hellish days at the White Tiger Duke's Mansion. He was no longer alone.

He has Miao Ge, Bing Di, Yi Lao, and Tian Meng Ge by his side!
He personally crippled Dai Huabin, and Dai Yueheng was also rendered disabled!
Huo Yuhao suddenly looked up, his eyes fixed on a group of people not far away, a dazzling golden light shining in his eyes, as bright as the midday sun.

A surge of terrifying killing intent erupted from his mind and swept forward.

Whether it was Dai Huabin, with his arrogant expression and contemptuous eyes, or the servants who were beating Huo Yun'er and Xiao Huo Yuhao in order to win Dai Huabin's favor, their bodies exploded under this spiritual force, turning into countless points of light and dissipating.

Noticing that the beating had stopped, Huo Yun'er subconsciously opened her eyes and looked at Huo Yuhao not far away, her face full of kindness.

"Yuhao."

As a soft, gentle call fell, Huo Yuhao could no longer hold back, large tears slid down his cheeks, and the scene before him began to crumble.

With a distorted light, the scene before Huo Yuhao transformed into the familiar testing ground, and the screams around him pulled him out of his grief.

"How are you feeling? How much has your mental strength improved?"

Before Huo Yuhao could shift his gaze to the source of the screams, a familiar voice drew his attention to Huo Yumiao.

Huo Yumiao had already deactivated her Martial Soul Possession state, and the five-dimensional attributes that had been plundered had returned to Huo Yuhao's body. Upon hearing Huo Yumiao's words, Huo Yuhao subconsciously focused his attention on his mental power.

Huo Yuhao closed his eyes to sense it, and the next second, his eyes widened as if he couldn't believe it. He closed his eyes again, and then, his face flushed with excitement, his voice rising, "Brother Miao, this...this..."

Huo Yuhao discovered that his spiritual sea of ​​consciousness had expanded outward by a considerable distance, and his spiritual power had increased by approximately ten percent.

To put this into perspective, Huo Yuhao already possessed average mental strength among Soul Kings, and with this 10% increase, his mental strength would be considered quite good even among Soul Kings.

He has already surpassed the two current Soul Kings, Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, but at the same time, there is still a considerable gap between his spiritual power and that of Huo Yumiao.

This was unavoidable, since both of Huo Yumiao's martial souls possessed spiritual attributes. This enhancement made his spiritual power far surpass that of the Hongchen siblings and also significantly higher than that of Huo Yuhao.

Roughly estimated, Huo Yumiao's current mental strength is almost infinitely close to that of a six-ring Soul Emperor, and it would be difficult to find a Soul King with stronger mental strength than him.

Even if Huo Yuhao was stupid, combined with the improvement in his mental strength and the fact that Huo Yumiao seemed to have foreseen it, he could still piece together the whole story.

"How much has it improved?" Seeing Huo Yuhao immersed in excitement, Huo Yumiao repeated what she had just said.

Huo Yuhao finally came to his senses and quickly replied, "A full ten percent! Brother Miao, you're amazing!"

One-tenth? Huo Yumiao was somewhat surprised. He knew Huo Yuhao's level of mental strength. At this level, being able to improve by one-tenth was actually quite a lot.

"Brother Miao, can we do it again?" Huo Yuhao asked eagerly, but Huo Yumiao just smiled and shook her head.

"No, the fear in people's hearts is basically constant. You've just experienced it, so you have a high level of resistance now."

Even if you were forcibly put into the illusion of the Light of Fear, you would most likely enter the same scene as before and automatically escape within a very short time, thus failing to provide any mental stimulation.

Resistance is actually a major flaw of the Light of Fear. Because the fear in one's heart is hard to change, the same people will basically always enter the same illusion.

This means that if someone repeatedly enters the light of fear within a short period, they will gradually become aware of it, eventually breaking free. Of course, this breaking free cannot lead to an increase in mental strength, because it is not actively facing fear, but passively becoming aware of the illusion's existence.

However, this flaw only exists in sparring. In a real battle where life and death are at stake, Huo Yumiao would kill her opponent the moment the Light of Fear hits her, so there would be no resistance to her.

Hearing Huo Yumiao's words, Huo Yuhao was somewhat disappointed, but he quickly came to terms with it. It was already extremely lucky to have such a significant increase in mental strength even once; how could he expect it to continue indefinitely?
"what are you guys saying?"

Huo Yumiao and Huo Yuhao did not lower their voices, and Meng Hongchen and Xiao Hongchen both heard them. However, due to the drowning out of Xiao Hongchen's screams, neither of them could hear clearly. They only knew that Huo Yuhao seemed to have made some kind of improvement.

Meng Hongchen was also tired of fighting, so he put away the dark blue hammer, gave Xiao Hongchen one last kick, and then stood beside Huo Yumiao with a gentle smile.

"My third soul skill creates an illusion about inner fears. Overcoming the fear in the illusion can significantly increase mental strength."

"Just now, Yuhao overcame his fear in the illusion and improved his mental strength." Huo Yumiao hadn't intended to hide it from Meng Hongchen and the other person, so she said it without any concern.

"What! Increase mental strength?" Xiao Hongchen, who had just been lying on the ground like a dead dog, jumped up from the ground as soon as he heard that his mental strength had increased.

Xiao Hongchen looked quite miserable. His clothes were not only wrinkled, but also torn in many places. His hair was extremely messy, and his face was covered in bruises.

Although Xiao Hongchen grimaced as he got up, he still stared intently at Huo Yumiao, his eyes gleaming with longing.

The most important aspect of his three-legged golden toad is his spiritual power. The stronger his spiritual power, the more rare metals he can control, and the more core magic arrays can be formed inside the soul tool he condenses.

It can be said that mental strength is more important to Xiao Hongchen than soul power. He can use his second soul skill, Boiling Gold, to compensate for the consumption of soul power, but there is absolutely no way to compensate for mental strength.

Xiao Hongchen originally intended to find a soul skill that could increase mental power like the Golden Boiling reduces soul power consumption, but unfortunately, after searching through the soul beast encyclopedia, he couldn't find a single soul beast with this ability.

Not only was Xiao Hongchen surprised, but Meng Hongchen was also amazed. The improvement of spiritual power was not as great as that of soul power, and there were specific meditation methods to cultivate and strengthen it.

Most Soul Masters increase their spiritual power passively, as their Soul Power increases, their control over their Soul increases, or they absorb Soul Rings.

Currently, the only known method to actively enhance mental strength is through drug use—simple and direct.

However, there are plenty of pills that can enhance soul power. Even after removing those with severe side effects, a considerable number of them still remain, although the materials used are much more precious.

However, the known formulas for pills that enhance mental power are no more than ten, and each one requires extremely rare materials.

Even Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen, whose grandfathers were also top-notch among the ninth-level soul masters, had never been able to consume even a single pill that could enhance their spiritual power, which is enough to demonstrate its rarity.

It's not that they can't afford it, but that they can't buy it. The medicinal herbs are hard to find, and there's a risk of failure in making the pill. It's completely a case of having a price but no market.

"Are there any limitations or side effects?" Meng Hongchen asked curiously, her eyes filled with anticipation. The desire for strength was ingrained in the very bones of a Soul Master.

"If you fail to overcome your fear and emerge from the illusion, you will likely experience a few days of lethargy and difficulty concentrating. Does that count?"

Upon hearing Huo Yumiao's words, both Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen's eyes lit up. Compared to the potential gains, their days of low spirits were hardly a risk.

"Yu Miao, please, you must use this trick on me!"

Xiao Hongchen's expression was sincere and his tone was firm, which made the others on the side recall when he had just sensed Huo Yuhao's mental probe, and they couldn't help but chuckle.

"I'd like to experience it too," Meng Hongchen said softly, pursing her lips, her expression revealing her anticipation.

"My Light of Fear can only be effective on people whose mental strength is no more than half of mine. If you want to experience it, you need to consume some of your mental strength first. Consuming about 30% should be enough."

Huo Yumiao estimated that although Xiao Hongchen and Meng Hongchen had just entered the Soul King realm, neither of them were ordinary Soul Masters, so their spiritual power could not be calculated in the same way as that of ordinary Soul Kings.

Leaving aside Meng Hongchen, just considering Xiao Hongchen's metal control skills, his mental strength is definitely not weak. Consuming about 30% of it would be enough to bring him down to the standard level of the Light of Fear.

"Thirty percent?!" Xiao Hongchen looked astonished. Meng Hongchen's rosy lips parted slightly, and her beautiful sky-blue eyes, as clear and bright as lake water, were also full of surprise.

"Are you even human?" Xiao Hongchen's face clearly showed his disbelief. He was a genuine Soul King, and it was one thing to lose to Huo Yumiao, a Soul Venerable, in battle, but now he couldn't even match her in mental strength.

Huo Yumiao's combat strength is undeniable, and he accepts that his mental strength is roughly the same as Xiao Hongchen's. However, the problem now is that his mental strength is only 70% of Huo Yumiao's.

This was truly unacceptable to Xiao Hongchen, the number one genius of the Sun and Moon.

Compared to his older brother's disbelief, Meng Hongchen quickly regained his composure after a brief moment of surprise. From the time Huo Yumiao defeated Xiao Hongchen, Meng Hongchen knew the gap between himself and her opponent.

To defeat Xiao Hongchen with the cultivation of a Soul Venerable, the opponent must possess extremely strong, or even stronger, abilities in some aspect.

Given that a spirit-type Soul Master can use mental power instead of soul power, Meng Hongchen believes this is most likely the ability the other party excels at.

Huo Yumiao did not respond to their exclamations, but instead gestured to them with her eyes to hurry up and start expending their mental energy.

Consuming mental energy is simple. Meng Hongchen immediately produced a carving knife and a tempered metal block in her delicate hand, and began to inscribe the core magic array as if no one else was around.

Compared to Meng Hongchen's method, Xiao Hongchen uses a martial spirit to possess his body. His first and third spirit rings light up, and he controls the shape of his feet to change.

Soon, the speed at which Xiao Hongchen controlled the metal shape changes slowed down significantly. His fighting style was to attack with condensed soul tools, and it was basically impossible for him to continuously condense various shapes for a long time.

Meanwhile, Meng Hongchen, who was focused on engraving the core magic array, also began to sweat, and it was visibly that both of them were in poor condition.

A few minutes later, Xiao Hongchen deactivated his martial soul possession and stored all the surrounding metal in his storage soul tool. He looked visibly tired.

Meng Hongchen let out a breath, and put the soul core and carving knife, which were already one-third complete, into her storage soul tool. She then took a handkerchief and wiped the sweat from her forehead and face.

After the two finished their actions, they both turned their gazes to Huo Yumiao and nodded, "We can begin."

Huo Yumiao nodded, her martial spirit possessing her!
(End of this chapter)