A moment later, Xiang Yang heard a man and a woman talking behind him. "Xiaogang, look, this can..." "Erlong, you..." The Grandmaster's voice alone made it clear how helpless he felt.
Yu Xiaogang had been tricked by Flender before he knew what was happening, and he hadn't left the place for the past two days. After all, he "didn't have the strength to truss a chicken." As long as Liu Erlong refused to let him go, he couldn't leave.
"Hehehe, who would've thought? The Grandmaster actually got... countered just like that."
Oscar walked out from behind a large tree by the roadside. Xiang Yang sensed a tremendous change in him and casually asked, "How was the Eight-Petal Immortal Orchid?"
"Fantastic!" Oscar gave him a thumbs-up. "I can go get my fourth Soul Ring now. My Soul Power should rise quite a bit more when I do."
"Mm, good. What about Hongjun? Is he ready?"
"Him... he still hasn't made up his mind." Oscar waved a hand, a mischievous grin on his face.
"Is that so?" Xiang Yang didn't find it hard to understand.
The Immortal Herb for Ma Hongjun was still the cockscomb phoenix sunflower. After all, nothing suited him better.
This purely yang Immortal Herb's main function was purification. Much like refining pills or forging iron, it removed unwanted things as impurities, leaving what remained naturally "purer" than before.
But Ma Hongjun had consistently matched his Martial Soul with the Soul Ring options Xiang Yang provided. His Evil Fire had been effectively suppressed so far, and it could no longer easily interfere with his desires and emotions anytime and anywhere as it originally had.
He could also use Evil Fire in battle to disrupt his opponents' thoughts. At first, the effect was random: it could trap opponents in all sorts of intense desires. For instance, if one suddenly wanted to eat a huge amount, they would jump straight off the stage. Another might suddenly go wild and want to... only to be stopped by their teammates at once. It was effective, but not without risks.
On several occasions, he had aroused his opponent's desire to fight instead, greatly boosting their strength and earning himself a barrage of punches that left him black and blue.
So when he couldn't control it precisely, he could only trigger desires at random, amplifying ones his opponents already had, especially whatever was on their minds at the time.
Later, after Xiang Yang reminded him, Ma Hongjun began actively experiencing all kinds of desires. That was also why he always seemed so "lively." There was no use relying on "sitting cross-legged in contemplation" to understand this kind of power; he had to experience the desires himself to tell them apart.
The desire to complain, the desire to gossip, the desire not to die, the desire to avoid pain... even the desire for pleasure, the desire for money, and the desires to express oneself, destroy and survive were all among them.
Moreover, everything had two sides. If a "not" were added to the various desires above, the fear of death, for example, would be reversed into suicide, the fear of pain into self-harm, and the pursuit of victory into a fondness for defeat.
This grand promise left Ma Hongjun's head spinning, and after a long period of practice, he could now use Evil Fire to stir up the desires to fight, eat and talk with relative precision.
He could still only use the first on his own teammates, while the latter two were used to disrupt opponents.
The main principle was to magnify one desire. For example, if the desire to fight were amplified to fifty percent, while all the other desires shared the remaining fifty percent equally, it would naturally have an effective influence on a Soul Master's state.
There were also advanced applications. For example, he could direct the desire to fight specifically at an opponent's teammate. That was still relatively mild, costing the other side only two people, but if it were lust...
Only those with firm willpower could do their best to resist the interference. Moreover, since it wasn't a negative status, ordinary Soul Skills couldn't purify it. Only ones capable of affecting the mind would have some effect.
Strong spiritual power could also weaken the effect to a certain extent, but tests showed that complete immunity was still difficult to achieve. The only exception was to have no desires at all, which was nearly impossible for a person.
Thus, in Ma Hongjun's eyes, the power of Evil Fire was now extremely useful, and mastering the other desires was only a matter of time. Having tasted the benefits, he was now reluctant to use an Immortal Herb to remove the Evil Fire.
Xiang Yang had also offered a solution: he could have it all!
The cockscomb phoenix sunflower's ability was purification, but the question of what counted as an "impurity" depended entirely on the person's perspective—whether it was needed, and what was needed.
Take a rusty knife, for example. Some might think it needed to be ground back to its original sharpness, while others might consider it an enchanted blade of tetanus. Even ordinary soil and dust felt dirty to the touch, prompting people to hurry and wash their hands, but could soil be set aside when growing plants or raising animals?
So, viewed from another angle, he could use the Immortal Herb to purify his "righteous fire," or "yang fire," which originally couldn't match Evil Fire in quality, to a certain degree. It didn't have to be particularly powerful; it only needed to be able to suppress the Evil Fire.
But using two powers with opposing attributes... Ma Hongjun felt that was no ordinary challenge. Evil Fire alone had nearly made him want to give up before, and if not for Flender and Xiang Yang, he would most likely have already fallen.
Add another kind, and one careless mistake might make him explode. That was also why he still couldn't make up his mind.
Xiang Yang felt he had said everything he needed to say. Ma Hongjun would have to work this out for himself, so Xiang Yang didn't concern himself with it any further. The Immortal Herb wouldn't spoil sitting there anyway, and there was plenty of time. There was no need to rush.
Oscar said from beside him, "It's a shame Rongrong hasn't returned from her sect yet. Otherwise, she could advance to Soul Ancestor too."
"Her..." Xiang Yang thought of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda. He remembered that in the original story, her Martial Soul evolved into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda after she absorbed the aromatic silk beauty.
Xiang Yang hadn't paid attention to the details of that setting when he was little. Fortunately, he had Tang San's Mysterious Heaven Treasure Record to consult. It said that this Immortal Herb was magnificent and regal, feeding on the light of the sun and moon and the essence of heaven and earth. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda happened to be a treasure-type Martial Soul, and at its root, it was a mineral type, or rather, had earth and metal attributes.
Those happened to be highly compatible with the Immortal Herb, so it wasn't hard to understand why it would cause Martial Soul Evolution.
"Don't worry, there's one for her too. In fact, her Immortal Herb is quite a bit better than yours." Hearing Xiang Yang's words, Oscar chuckled and immediately changed the subject. "What about your Immortal Herb, then? Surely there's one that suits you?"
Oscar was genuinely puzzled. Xiang Yang had clearly returned with Tang San, so why hadn't he changed at all?
"Of course I have one too. It just hasn't matured yet and needs time to grow."
"Oh, I see."
Most of the Shrek group, Oscar included, only had a vague understanding of the "herb field" the two had set up and had no idea how difficult it was. They had also only just learned about Immortal Herbs, so Oscar wasn't surprised by Xiang Yang's words. On the contrary, he took them as a matter of course.
If he had known that under normal circumstances it would need another two thousand years to mature, he definitely wouldn't have been so calm.
The two walked and chatted, soon arriving at the place where Tang San and Xiao Wu were staying, just in time to see Tang San finish cultivating. When he opened his eyes, they were gold and purple all over, emitting an intense light like a flashbang.
After absorbing the Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew, Tang San's Purple Demon Eye had reached its third level, the Mustard Seed Realm. The instant he opened his eyes, he subconsciously looked at Xiao Wu, but the sight that met his gaze left him somewhat at a loss, and his expression visibly stiffened.
"Aah!"
Xiao Wu had been looking him in the eye face-to-face. Caught off guard, she was dazzled by the flash, and everything before her turned white. She finally knew what it felt like for others to be hit by her second Soul Skill. It also kept her from noticing the change in Tang San's expression.
"Xiao San, what was that?"
Thanks to Xiang Yang's foresight, Oscar was standing behind Tang San with him. He now asked curiously, and his voice reminded Tang San to quickly rein it in.
"The Full Moon Wearing Autumn Dew brought my Purple Demon Eye to the third level," he explained somewhat absentmindedly. In truth, the Immortal Herb's power went beyond that and had given the Purple Demon Eye other abilities, such as seeing through...