Time flew by, and the day of the Sky Sea Alliance Grand Competition was rapidly approaching. Huo Yuhao's soul power naturally advanced to the fortieth rank.
At the same time, Huo Yuhao took the opportunity to awaken another soul spirit.
"Time to get to work, Evil Emperor!"
In the sea of consciousness, a figure quietly appeared. It had a slender figure, and a dark-patterned robe that billowed without wind. Its pale face was adorned with a red mask, and a bizarre blood-red vertical eye covered nearly half of its face.
As soon as this figure appeared, the little ice silkworm in the corner was immediately frightened. Its spiritual body trembled uncontrollably.
Although the other party didn't emit any tangible pressure, it instinctively wanted to kneel, a shiver engraved in its soul as a creature at the bottom of the food chain facing an apex predator.
The little ice silkworm subconsciously hid behind Tianmeng, "Your Majesty, who is this big shot? It can take human form, so it must be a soul beast too, right?"
Tianmeng didn't respond. It straightened its body and forced a relaxed smile, "Hey, isn't this Old Evil? Woke up?"
It wasn't that it feared the Evil Emperor, but it felt that with the Evil Emperor's awakening, its status in the eyes of its subordinates would likely drop again...
The Evil Emperor's pupil slowly turned, its gaze lingering on Tianmeng for a moment. It let out a light snort, and its low, authoritative, and cold voice echoed in the sea of consciousness, "After all these years, you dare to call yourself an emperor now?"
Tianmeng was displeased, "What? Only you can call yourself an emperor? Not me? You're only 800,000 years old, while I'm a million-year soul beast!"
Why couldn't it call itself an emperor?
Looking at the current sea of consciousness, Snow Empress, Ice Empress, Evil Emperor, if it didn't call itself an emperor, it would be the odd one out!
It also wanted to be one of the emperors of the Forbidden Zone, the sea of consciousness!
Evil Emperor: "A million years? You're just a lazy..."
"Evil Emperor, it's been a long time."
Huo Yuhao's voice timely interrupted their argument.
The Evil Emperor's gaze shifted from Tianmeng to Huo Yuhao in the outside world. After a moment of silence, it replied, "From my perspective, it was just a short slumber, not a long time. But from your human perspective, it has indeed been a long time."
Ten thousand years had passed, and the initial grievances were no longer worth discussing. Now, its fate was tightly bound to Huo Yuhao, they would rise and fall together.
If Huo Yuhao became a god, it too would attain eternal life. Naturally, it would prioritize Huo Yuhao's interests.
With that thought, the Evil Emperor observed the sea of consciousness and frowned.
After sleeping for several years, had things here multiplied again?
The power within the Eye of Life, apart from life force, now also contained a kind of stellar energy.
There were also two more soul spirits, a weak ice silkworm and... Snow Empress?
The Evil Emperor's expression changed slightly as it narrowed its eyes at Snow Empress's spiritual consciousness, "Has your spiritual power broken through to the Divine Origin Realm?"
"It's been a long time, Evil Emperor," Snow Empress nodded faintly, "After ten thousand years, there should be some progress."
Evil Emperor: "..."
Looking back, its cultivation had once been second only to Di Tian among the Ten Great Soul Beasts. Now, Snow Empress had surpassed it in every aspect, even breaking through to the Divine Origin Realm in spiritual power. Naturally, other aspects wouldn't lag behind.
Moreover, according to Huo Yuhao's arrangements, Snow Empress had likely taken that step... the realm it had once yearned for!
Taking a deep breath, the Evil Emperor suppressed the myriad thoughts in its heart and looked at Electrolux. A barely noticeable ripple appeared on its face, and it finally gave Electrolux a slight nod, "Elder Electrolux."
Facing this person, it truly couldn't muster any arrogance.
Ten thousand years ago, it was because of this person that it had given up all resistance and willingly became Huo Yuhao's soul spirit.
Otherwise... it would have at least put up some resistance, though it would likely have been a futile struggle.
Seeing Electrolux nod, the Evil Emperor suddenly looked up at Huo Yuhao in the outside world, its voice returning to its previous coldness.
"Let's skip the unnecessary pleasantries. Just tell me, what do you need me to do? A soul ring, or to fuse with soul bones?"
As soon as it finished speaking, two soul bones appeared beside it. Everyone in the sea of consciousness focused their gaze on the head soul bone.
That soul bone was shaped like a dark golden crown, resembling a semi-hollowed-out diadem, with a dark blue vertical eye embedded in the center, resembling the Evil Emperor's own eye.
This soul bone was the highest quality among all the soul bones Huo Yuhao possessed!
Generally speaking, aside from external soul bones, other soul bones couldn't evolve, but there were occasional exceptions.
Tang San's head soul bone evolved due to the Sea God's Heart.
The soul bone of the Destiny Beast, which possessed the power of fate, could evolve.
The ten-thousand-year Hell Demon Dragon torso bone that Bai Xiuxiu obtained ten thousand years later had strong vitality and could also evolve.
And Huo Yuhao's head soul bone, which originated from the Evil Emperor, could evolve as well!
Because, strictly speaking, this soul bone was similar to the one Ice Empress had given him, it was a combination of an external soul bone and a head soul bone.
The vertical eye pattern embedded in the soul bone was the external eye soul bone, the Evil Eye.
The Evil Eye was a pure energy body and could continuously evolve. Since it was the core of the head soul bone, the entire soul bone benefited from it, remaining unformed and retaining the potential for evolution, allowing it to gradually increase in age.
After ten thousand years of nurturing by Huo Yuhao, the age of this soul bone had now reached 990,000 years, just one step away from becoming a million-year soul bone!
The reason such a soul bone had come into existence was also related to the Evil Emperor.
Ten thousand years ago, after entering the sea of consciousness and meeting Elder Electrolux, as well as seeing the Snow Empress's Token left by Snow Empress, it knew it had no chance. Thus, it obediently signed the soul spirit contract and used its own spiritual essence to form this special soul bone.
The Evil Emperor's personality was such that it prioritized its own interests. Since it could no longer attempt a possession, it chose to survive, help Huo Yuhao become a god, and reap the greatest benefits.
Huo Yuhao glanced at the two soul bones in the sea of consciousness and shook his head, "Before my blood soul core is formed, I won't absorb any soul bones. Just help me condense a soul ring for now."
He needed a period of consolidation to compress his soul power and form his blood soul core. Absorbing soul bones to rapidly increase his soul power would only interfere with this process. He would wait until the soul core was successfully formed.
"Alright," the Evil Emperor nodded, "What kind of soul skill do you want?"
The head soul bone it provided Huo Yuhao contained two of its strongest soul skills: Destruction Light and Space-Time Light.
These two soul skills were definitely out of the question.
"How about a time-related soul skill?"
Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and smiled, "You've gained a lot of insights over the past ten thousand years, right?"
Jokes aside, after spending ten thousand years together, his relationship with the Evil Emperor wasn't that bad. He wouldn't use it as a shield.
"Your mastery of spatial power isn't inferior to mine. Once your spiritual power recovers to the Spirit Domain Realm, any soul skill I attach would be meaningless. As for time, our exchanges have indeed given me some insights, but some of them overlap with your 'Great Dream of Eternity'..."
At this point, the Evil Emperor frowned, "Forget it. I'll integrate my understanding of the laws of time into the fourth soul ring, allowing you to better comprehend the laws. What soul skill emerges will depend on you. After all, these soul skills are just transitional for you."
Huo Yuhao nodded, "That works. I've had some recent insights, so I'll share them with you."
As he spoke, a spiritual imprint landed on the Evil Emperor in the sea of consciousness. Huo Yuhao shared his recent insights into new sea God skills with it.
Not only the Evil Emperor, but Snow Empress and Elder Electrolux's spiritual consciousness also received these insights.
As for Ice Empress and Tianmeng... Huo Yuhao treated them equally.
Whether it was useful or not was another matter, but it wouldn't hurt. Consider it a gesture.
"The Sea God's divine skills?"
The Evil Emperor was somewhat surprised and astonished, then smiled with interest, "Not bad. Fully comprehending this would be a boost for me as well."
In its eyes, Huo Yuhao was like the Beast of Destiny among humans, so it wasn't too surprising for him to obtain such an opportunity.
However, it didn't immediately delve into these insights. Instead, it first helped Huo Yuhao attach the soul ring.
Helping Huo Yuhao become a god was a serious matter for it.
In the outside world, Huo Yuhao's three soul rings gradually gained a fourth, orange-golden soul ring.
Sensing the soul skill within it, Huo Yuhao raised an eyebrow.
It was better than he had expected.