Huo Yuhao blinked, the starlight in his eyes fading as he looked at Gu Yuena, who had already retracted her elemental powers and stood awkwardly at the door. He smiled.
"Thank you."
Of course, he understood why she had come.
Just moments ago, inside the Eternal Realm, he had also noticed that the contract connection had been severed.
Gu Yuena was momentarily stunned.
His tone was gentle, just as natural as when he had shown concern for her earlier.
Thinking of this, her heart also calmed down, and she asked, "Yuhao, what were you doing just now?"
Yes, they were already friends.
She had only wanted to enter her friend's room out of concern, so why had she been so flustered?
She should just act naturally, like Yuhao.
Learn from Yuhao!
"I went to retrieve something."
Huo Yuhao glanced at the starry night sky outside and said, "Want to retrieve something?"
Gu Yuena nodded, curious, and followed Huo Yuhao to the open area outside the dormitory.
This place was rarely visited by anyone, and now, in the deep silence of the night, it was utterly tranquil.
Huo Yuhao looked up at the sky, and starlight blossomed in his right hand.
With a swift motion, he grasped it, and a staff appeared in his hand.
Gu Yuena's attention was immediately drawn to it. The staff had no gemstones embedded, yet what she saw seemed not to be a mere staff, but the sun, moon, and stars themselves.
'A divine artifact?'
Seeing Huo Yuhao pull out a divine artifact, Gu Yuena showed no surprise.
A God King with a super divine artifact having a few more divine artifacts was hardly noteworthy.
Not to mention her, even within the Spirit Pagoda, there were several ancient families with divine artifacts, supposedly fallen from the Divine Realm.
Who knew what had happened there?
However, what made Gu Yuena ponder was the place Huo Yuhao had just returned from.
A place that could sever a contract, was it another dimension?
Or perhaps a divine artifact's space?
'Whether it was one or the other, it shows that Yuhao has many hidden cards and the ability to reclaim his original power. It's a good thing I didn't push further with my probing earlier, or I might have had to flee by now.'
Gu Yuena secretly felt relieved.
She had previously suspected that Huo Yuhao might not be able to recover his strength, but she had forced herself not to dwell on it.
After all, they had no enmity between them.
If her overthinking and probing had led to a falling out, it would have been unfortunate.
This way was much better.
On the other hand, Huo Yuhao focused his mind, and the staff in his hand automatically gathered the power of the stars.
Points of starlight converged around him, gradually merging into his body and enhancing his physical strength.
This divine artifact was called "Star's Favor."
It wasn't a combat-oriented artifact but an auxiliary one.
Huo Yuhao was still exploring its various functions, but he had already identified two core abilities.
Through this artifact, he could open a Star Gate leading to the Eternal Realm, likely a privilege granted to him by the Eternal Lord.
Another escape route had been added, and it seemed even safer than the Necromancer's Half-Plane. A cause for celebration.
As for the other function... it was, of course, the ability to draw upon the power of the stars.
Just like the Astronomical Observatory, the foundation of the Sky Order Star Ocean Academy, the starlight drawn in could be used to temper the body, enhance soul power recovery, and accelerate cultivation speed.
Naturally, the effects of Star's Favor were far superior to that of the Astronomical Observatory.
However, to utilize starlight for cultivation, the user must possess a martial soul or ability capable of harnessing stellar energy.
Originally, Huo Yuhao did not belong to this category of soul masters.
But after Star's Favor was placed into his Life Eye by Elder Yi, he now did.
According to the original storyline, the Life Eye would be filled with the power of destiny from the Golden Dragon, transforming from the Life Eye into the Eye of Destiny.
Eventually, in the Divine Realm, it would absorb chaotic energy and become the super divine artifact, the Eternal Eye.
Now, however, the Life Eye was filled with the life energy of the Life Gold and the stellar energy bestowed by the Angel of Eternity.
It had already gained star attributes, and Star's Favor would remain there when not in use, serving as an anchor to stabilize the stellar energy and further alter the nature of the Life Eye.
If Huo Yuhao wished, he could activate the Life Eye and directly channel stellar energy, imbuing his soul power with stellar properties.
Hmm, he could consider moves like the Diamond Star Fist...
'Three great spirit artifacts, each mastering stellar energy, life energy, and natural energy.'
"Among them, the life force and natural energy have the foundation laid by Gu Yuena's bloodline, along with the assistance of Life Gold. Accepting their powers is relatively easier, so was that why the Angel of Eternity was the first to come for the assessment?"
With this thought, Huo Yuhao gained some clarity, but then he felt a bit speechless.
The three great spirit artifacts combined equaled a world of eternity and creation.
If the Life Eye were to accept the power of all of them, then... would it still be called the Eternal Eye?
Was he destined to be tied to the Eternal Eye in this lifetime?
Even after all these changes, he still ended up circling back to it.
As Huo Yuhao pondered this, he glanced sideways at Gu Yuena, who was playfully grabbing at the starlight around her. He waited quietly until she lost interest, then asked, "Would you like to spar with me?"
Gu Yuena released the starlight in her hand and smiled gently. "Of course."
Huo Yuhao put away his staff and took a dozen steps back.
As Gu Yuena summoned her soul rings, he did the same, not hiding the colors of his rings. Platinum, starlight gold, and ash gold soul rings appeared in sequence.
Seeing this, Gu Yuena was momentarily stunned, and her expression turned serious.
The two yellow soul rings around her also transformed into two pale golden rings.
They... were both cheaters.
In the next moment, ice, space, ice, fire, and other dual-attribute ice spikes instantly surrounded Gu Yuena and shot toward Huo Yuhao.
Since Yuhao was no longer hiding the true state of his soul rings, it was clear that he wanted her to take this seriously.
The ice spikes infused with spatial elements suddenly disappeared mid-air, only to reappear not far from Huo Yuhao.
But just as they were about to hit him, a vertical eye, the Life Eye, opened on his forehead, and stellar energy was summoned.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao's second soul ring lit up.
Instantly, a wall of starlight formed in front of Huo Yuhao, blocking all the ice spikes. Even the dual-attribute elemental spikes failed to break through.
However, the defense only lasted for a second before the starlight wall naturally dissipated, and Huo Yuhao dodged the remaining attacks.
The soul skill "Divine Sculpting of All Forms" was highly adaptable, but it wasn't necessarily a divine skill.
Yet now, with the protection and influence of stellar energy, his second soul skill had fully transformed into a divine skill!
Because the second soul ring had been infused with stellar energy, the soul skill within it had mutated.
The stellar attribute carried an absolute establishment property.
Under the influence of this attribute, any tangible object formed by stellar energy through the second soul skill possessed an absolute establishment property, it could not be destroyed within one second!
Gu Yuena raised an eyebrow. Seeing Huo Yuhao dodge the attacks and charge toward her, she thought of using spatial elements to evade.
But a spiritual interference suddenly struck, disrupting her soul skill activation.
At the same time, chains of starlight had already extended from Huo Yuhao's direction.
Gu Yuena's body flickered, dodging most of the chains, but one still wrapped around her delicate figure.
However, in the next moment, Gu Yuena used spatial elements to teleport away.
Huo Yuhao wasn't surprised by this.
His absolute establishment property only meant that tangible objects couldn't be destroyed within one second.
It was different from Xu Xiaoyan's strong control and immobilization.
The direction of absolute establishment was different.
He was sparring with Gu Yuena to test the various limitations of this soul skill in combat.