Never fear villains racking their brains-fear a fool's flash of inspiration

[Speaking of Yan Shaozhe, this guy was every bit as bad as Xuan Zi, if not worse!]

[First, there was his background. As the dean of Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department and a Super Douluo with a top-tier martial soul like the bright phoenix, he was actually a descendant of Ye Xishui, the continent's greatest evil soul master ringleader. Of course, his background wasn't his fault. It was just ridiculously melodramatic.]

[But squandering his top-tier talent was entirely his own fault. He had the bright phoenix martial soul, and his teacher was Mu En, one of the continent's foremost Ultimate Douluos. Yet he completely wasted his talent, remaining a mere Super Douluo despite his advanced age and utterly betraying Mu En's hopes that he would shoulder Shrek Academy's banner.]

[Moreover, as dean of the Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe was shortsighted and a poor judge of people, causing him to miss out on a talent like Huo Yuhao. Huo Yuhao had just won the freshman tournament, yet he stripped him of his core disciple status on the grounds that he had a ten-year soul ring and low soul power. Later, he even casually lost Huo Yuhao to the Soul Tool Department in a wager. After Huo Yuhao rose against the odds, this guy shamelessly went running to the Soul Tool Department to demand him back, hoping to snatch Huo Yuhao away again.]

[Being shortsighted was bad enough, but this guy was also incredibly narrow-minded. Anyone with eyes could see where soul tool development was heading, yet this dean of the Martial Soul Department somehow couldn't. He persistently shunned the Soul Tool Department and prioritized the Martial Soul Department when allocating academy resources, leaving Shrek lagging behind the Sun Moon Empire in soul guidance technology for a time.]

[If Huo Yuhao's descendants hadn't poached so many talented people from the Sun Moon Empire's Virtue Hall, Shrek Academy's Soul Tool Department would never have come anywhere close to the Sun Moon Empire.]

[And his love life was a complete minefield, too. While dating Xian Lin'er, the dean of the Soul Tool Department, he flirted with other women. After she caught him red-handed, they parted ways.]

[Afterward, he dated Feng Ling, the Evil Phoenix Douluo, and the aura of his bright phoenix accelerated the awakening of her evil phoenix martial soul. Feng Ling was already unmistakably an evil soul master and had even tried to devour Yan Shaozhe, yet this guy still clung to their old affection and let her leave.]

[And look how that turned out. Feng Ling became the Holy Spirit Cult's deputy leader, one of the ringleaders of the evil soul masters. You got to play the devoted lover, Yan Shaozhe, but the entire continent had to suffer for it!]

[What do you call that? Never fear villains racking their brains-fear a fool's flash of inspiration! When you let Feng Ling go, did you ever think about how many people across the continent would die unjustly?]

Th... these were all things Teacher had done?

Ma Xiaotao stared blankly at the diary's contents, disbelief surfacing in her pale pink eyes.

These... had to be lies, right?

In Ma Xiaotao's heart, her teacher had always been refined, easygoing, and full of charm. But each incident Aoyao described shattered that image completely.

The teacher she had so deeply loved and respected came crashing down in her heart.

The earlier incidents could still be called her teacher's shortcomings or flaws in his character, but that last one truly became the final straw that broke the camel's back.

As a member of Shrek Academy's Inspection Corps, she had already killed more evil soul masters than she could count.

Naturally, she knew the sins of evil soul masters.

An evil soul master with merely the cultivation of a Two-Ring Soul Grandmaster could perpetrate a horrifying massacre, yet her teacher had let a Titled Douluo-level evil soul master escape...

Just imagine how many people must have died at the hands of an evil soul master capable of becoming a Titled Douluo!

Teacher's actions... how many innocent lives had they doomed?

Ma Xiaotao took a deep breath.

She felt that she might never be able to face her teacher calmly again.

In the Inner Court.

For once, the usually composed Zhang Lexuan stared blankly at a tree outside her window, lost in thoughts no one could guess.

Only after a long while did she come back to herself and let out a long breath.

Before this, she had still been able to reassure herself that Shrek Academy wasn't as bad as Aoyao described.

But now... perhaps Aoyao was right.

Shrek Academy really wasn't a wonderful place.

Everything she had always believed, all those seemingly beautiful memories, had been nothing more than her own self-deception.

What Aoyao had previously written in the diary resurfaced in Zhang Lexuan's mind-had Mu En really just happened to be nearby and just happened to save her?

After denouncing Yan Shaozhe's deeds, Aoyao suddenly realized that Yan Shaozhe seemed a little more despicable than Xuan Zi.

Oh, no. That wasn't right.

Better uphold the original verdict.

The two were six of one and half a dozen of the other. Neither had any right to laugh at the other.

One was the Holy Spirit Cult's unofficial grand elder, and the other its secret Holy Son. The two were practically joining hands to build a bright future for the Holy Spirit Cult.

[Oh, right. I almost forgot that Yan Shaozhe was also partly responsible for Ma Xiaotao falling into becoming an evil soul master.]

That brief sentence instantly made Ma Xiaotao's breath catch.

Ever since Aoyao had written in the diary that she would become an evil soul master, she had believed she would fail to control her evil fire and inadvertently kill many innocent people, becoming an evil soul master as a result.

But why was Aoyao now saying that Teacher was also responsible for her becoming an evil soul master?

[During the finals of the Continental Soul Fighting Tournament, Ma Xiaotao fell victim to a scheme and was affected by the Sword of Judgment, a Level 8 Soul Tool wielded by Ma Rulong of the Sun Moon Royal Soul Engineer Academy. Her martial soul mutated completely into a cold, sinister black phoenix, and she lost control.]

[You could call it bad luck on Ma Xiaotao's part. The Sword of Judgment worked by first contaminating its target's martial soul with dark energy, then using the power of light to suppress its attributes. It was originally a devastating weapon against evil soul masters, but the latent danger of the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao instead caused her martial soul to mutate.]

[Fortunately, Xuan Zi reacted reasonably quickly this time. He knocked Ma Xiaotao unconscious and brought her back to Shrek Academy. Mu En sealed her using the ice bed in the Poseidon Pavilion and the power of light, but the seal could only suppress her temporarily. It couldn't eradicate the black phoenix's evil power.]

[Then Xuan Zi led a team out to hunt for soul rings, leaving Shrek Academy short of high-level fighters. After colluding with the Holy Spirit Cult, Virtue Hall broke Ma Xiaotao's seal and sent several Titled Douluos to wreak havoc.]

[But given Shrek Academy's strength, those Titled Douluos couldn't actually cause much trouble. The crux of the matter was Yan Shaozhe, who came to intercept Ma Xiaotao.]

[I genuinely couldn't understand it. How could Yan Shaozhe, a Super Douluo, fail to stop Ma Xiaotao, who was only a Soul Saint? Don't give me that nonsense about turning evil making you three times stronger... even with a boost from turning evil, a Soul Saint couldn't possibly escape Yan Shaozhe's grasp, right?]

[Ha! Yet that guy Yan Shaozhe really did fail to stop Ma Xiaotao!]