Douluo Dalu 2: Sun-Moon Glory

After lying hand-in-hand on the beach for quite some time, only when the sand had fully cooled and turned cold beneath them did Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen reluctantly bid farewell to the breathtaking sea of stars. They made their way to Sunrise City's largest hotel—Sunrise Hotel—to rest for the night.

"Apologies, dear guests. We only have one room left, and it comes with a single large bed."

Both Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen froze. No twin-bed rooms?

"Senior?" Huo Yuhao asked, feeling a little awkward.

Meng Hongchen's face flushed crimson as she gave a tiny nod.

"Alright then… we'll take the room."

Arriving in the top-floor suite, the two stared silently at the single, large bed before them. Tonight—possibly even the next few nights—they would have to sleep in the same bed.

"Let's cultivate together."

"Mm. Let's do that."

With mutual understanding, they set their belongings aside and began preparing to wash up and get ready for bed.

The next morning, Huo Yuhao woke slowly, struggling to open his heavy eyelids. He found himself face-to-face with the peacefully sleeping Meng Hongchen, her cute face nestled close to his on the pillow. He fell into a contemplative silence.

"What happened…?"

He distinctly remembered that they had planned to cultivate side by side all night. He should have woken up cross-legged in meditation—shouldn't she still be sitting in the same pose, deep in cultivation too?

So why were they lying in bed… sleeping? Huo Yuhao stared at the sleeping Meng Hongchen, who was drooling slightly in her sleep, puzzled. Why did he feel so drained?

He thought hard, trying to recall what had happened the night before. Surely… no, that couldn't have happened, right? Swallowing nervously, Huo Yuhao let out a sigh of relief. There were no signs of anything inappropriate having occurred.

But then—why?

All of a sudden, he realized something. His soul power had… increased again?

"That doesn't make sense. I just broke through not long ago. How could I break through again so soon? Why…?"

Perplexed, he murmured to himself. In the spiritual sea, the Heavenly Dream Iceworm piped up:

"Indeed, Yuhao. Considering your Ultimate Spirit's cultivation speed post-rank-30, advancing again so quickly suggests something unusual happened. Hehe… can you guess what it is—oof!"

Annoyed by the rambling, the Ice Empress kicked the worm aside and offered a proper explanation.

"Yuhao, your soul power synchronization with that girl beside you reached peak resonance last night. When that happened, your cultivation speed surged, rapidly draining both of your soul power reserves. This sudden spike resulted in a significant breakthrough. The effect was temporary, of course, but your fusion has now stabilized and will make your future cultivation more efficient. Honestly, your current soul power compatibility with her is unusually high. I doubt even her blood-related brother would have such high fusion compatibility with her."

Huo Yuhao's second spirit was indeed highly compatible with Meng Hongchen's Vermilion Ice Toad spirit, so the Ice Empress had clearly sensed the change. Only now did Huo Yuhao understand why he had woken up sleeping, why he felt so exhausted, and why his soul power had risen again. It made sense—especially since the two of them hadn't cultivated together in a while.

At that moment, Meng Hongchen stirred, blinking awake groggily. She yawned and mumbled,

"Why'd I fall asleep…?"

Huo Yuhao smiled and reached for a tissue, gently wiping the drool from her lips as he explained what had happened overnight.

As she fully woke up, Meng Hongchen nodded in realization and then abruptly widened her eyes in shock.

"What is it?"

"Y-Yuhao, I… I'm at Rank 60!"

Huo Yuhao blinked in disbelief. What?

"You were only at Rank 57 before, right? With all the rare herbs you took, you still had a bottleneck at those last three levels. You said you'd need at least a year to break through."

"Exactly. I figured it would take a while to stabilize my foundation. But now—after just one night—I've reached the breakthrough, and my foundation feels rock-solid."

The two of them fell into thoughtful silence.

Last night's cultivation—after so long apart—had become an unexpected blessing. Why had their soul power resonance increased so suddenly? No one knew. Perhaps only the gods.

Still, they quickly accepted this reality. Meng Hongchen looked elated, her excitement bubbling up as she grinned and said,

"Hmph! My big brother has always boasted about having higher soul power than me and becoming a Soul Emperor before I could. Haha! I'd love to see his face now. Let's see if going to Shrek Academy really helped him beat me to Rank 60."

Meng Hongchen was ecstatic, but Huo Yuhao looked more troubled.

"This means… your timeline for the next cold poison backlash just got shorter. And we haven't found all the rare herbs yet."

"Relax, relax. If you're worried, I can just delay absorbing my soul ring. It's not like I can't keep accumulating soul power for now."

She scooted closer and hugged him gently, trying to reassure him.

Huo Yuhao gave a helpless smile and returned the embrace, rubbing her back softly.

"You don't need to delay your ring absorption. Since your soul power has already reached this level, we might as well use this trip to find a suitable ten-thousand-year sea soul beast for your next ring. As for that last herb—the blazing apricot—we might be closer to finding it than I thought. I've got a vague idea where it could be. I promise I'll help you balance the fire and ice within a year, Senior."

"Mm."

After enjoying a moment wrapped in each other's warmth, the two finally got up to wash up and have a quick hotel breakfast. Just like Huo Yuhao had said—today, they had a real mission ahead of them: heading out to sea.

"You must be Miss Meng Hongchen, granddaughter of Lord Hongchen, and his apprentice Huo Yuhao. It's an honor. I'm Shi Dongsheng, current captain of the Sunray, a vessel of the Royal Navy and former student of Lord Hongchen himself."

At the harbor, a tall, broad-shouldered man in a crisp white Royal Navy uniform stood before them with a warm smile, introducing himself politely.

"Nice to meet you, Captain Shi~"

"Good to meet you, Captain."

Both Huo Yuhao and Meng Hongchen returned the greeting with courtesy. Standing before them was not only an eighth-tier soul engineer but also the captain of the Sunray—one of the Sun Moon Empire's largest naval vessels. Within the military, his rank was equivalent to that of a general. He commanded the entire navy stationed in the Sunrise City maritime region. Had he not been so deeply passionate about the ocean, he might have even become the leader of a Hand of the Nation-level soul engineer legion.

(End of Chapter)

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