Meanwhile, high above.
"Hmph!"
Ma Xiaotao gave a cold snort. Phoenix Evil Fire had filled her eyes with blood vessels, while the invisible Dragon's Might brought by her Golden Eyes extinguished the last vestige of clarity in her mind. She gradually lost the ability to think, with only one desire left: to attack!
Her Fifth Soul Ring lit up.
A wave of scorching air burst outward from Ma Xiaotao's body. The Phoenix Flames around her surged rapidly upward, and at the same time, her figure began to grow indistinct. In the blink of an eye, she had merged with the flames, becoming one with them.
The clouds that blended into the night sky turned scarlet beneath the blazing flames. Aggressive waves of heat ran rampant, and the air filled with the stench of sulfur and gunpowder.
The next second, a sense of majesty no less oppressive than that of the Golden Eyes descended from nowhere. As the flames danced across the sky, they transformed into a beautiful fire phoenix.
"Caw—"
After a cry, the fire phoenix seemed to truly come alive. It soared across the sky, trailing a burning scarlet tail of flames and leaving sparks in its wake as it plummeted toward Mo Yuan like a blazing sun!
On the lake below, Mo Yuan had shrunk the Land of No Dust, which had expanded to a diameter of eighty meters, down to within three meters, just enough to encase himself.
Watching the blazing sun descend toward him, Mo Yuan's lips suddenly curled into a faint smile. His tone was calm and unreadable as he said,
"Let me show you what a Spirit Speech Fusion Skill is. Wind King's Eyes, forever by Jun Yan's side..."
As his words fell, ancient and profound Dragon Language bloomed soundlessly. Unlike before, Mo Yuan chanted two completely different lines of Dragon Language this time!
Spirit Speech: Jun Yan erupted!
Spirit Speech: Wind King's Eyes erupted!
Deep crimson flames bloomed amid one thunderous roar after another, like explosions from napalm bombs! They hung burning in the air, turning everything within a hundred meters into a sea of blood.
But that wasn't all. A faint breeze swept across the churning lake. At first, it couldn't even stir a single splash, but after barely half a breath—
The breeze grew faster and more violent! It began from every direction, transforming in the blink of an eye into a hurricane powerful enough to whip up towering waves!
The hurricanes began to spin counterclockwise around Mo Yuan, converging on him. As they did, they inevitably merged with the blazing sea of flames.
Fueled by tons of oxygen, the raging current of fire formed by the hurricanes and the sea of flames became a Heaven-Piercing Fire Pillar, stretching from the Sea God Lake below to the sky above!
The blinding light of the Burning City Flames—their fusion was peerless, as if they had been made for each other!
A tornado of fire and wind stood between heaven and earth!
Hovering before the Burning City Flames tornado, Mo Yuan spread his arms as if to embrace the world. His black hair whipped wildly, and his robes snapped in the wind!
At that moment, he was like the King of Fire, the Emperor of Wind!
The dazzling light and flames from the tornado stretched for more than ten miles. The Inner Court students nearby could see it clearly, and even the Outer Court and Shrek City could make it out in the distance.
If the academy's teachers hadn't shown any reaction, the students, unaware of what was happening, would already have been in an uproar.
"Holy crap! No, seriously? That fire tornado was caused by that new student? Is he even a new student?" Xu Sanshi, who had doubled back, gaped at the tornado connecting heaven and earth.
After asking Mo Yuan and Ning Tian to cover for him so he could escape, Xu Sanshi had originally planned to head straight to Shrek City and find somewhere to hide.
But halfway there, he suddenly remembered that even if Ma Xiaotao had only been in the early stages of Evil Fire Madness, two first-year students couldn't handle her. They might be in danger.
His conscience had gotten the better of him, so Xu Sanshi had run back. But when he had steeled himself to be dragged back by Ma Xiaotao and beaten senseless, he found that apart from Ning Tian, both Ma Xiaotao and Mo Yuan were nowhere to be seen.
Just as he was about to ask Ning Tian where Mo Yuan and Ma Xiaotao had gone, the fire tornado erupted on the horizon.
"Junior, is the person fighting Senior Ma Xiaotao over there really your companion?" Xu Sanshi cautiously asked Ning Tian, whose expression was anxious.
Ning Tian ignored Xu Sanshi.
If not for him, she and Mo Yuan would never have run into that madwoman. And now Mo Yuan was facing a Soul Emperor alone with just forty ranks of Soul Power.
Xu Sanshi didn't get angry at being ignored. After all, this really had started because of him. He scratched the back of his head, then quietly watched the fire tornado in the distance, wanting to see what his first-year junior, Mo Yuan, could do.
High above Sea God Island in the Inner Court, two figures stood side by side.
"Headmaster, am I seeing this right? That attack was unleashed by a forty-rank Soul Ancestor? And an eleven-year-old Soul Ancestor, at that? This is absurd," the figure on the right murmured in disbelief.
Those words made the identity of the figure on the left obvious. After all, at Shrek Academy, the only person who could appear above the Inner Court, radiate a comforting aura of light, and be called Headmaster was Mingfeng Douluo Yan Shaozhe.
"No. The wind is feeding the flames. This attack is possible because those two Soul Skills fit together almost perfectly. Eleven years old, with Forty-first Rank Soul Power, and a Body Elemental Martial Soul that seems to be high-grade. Courage, Body Technique, and his development of his Martial Soul are all the best among his peers."
Yan Shaozhe gazed down at Mo Yuan, who was controlling the fire tornado as it rampaged across Sea God Lake, his eyes full of admiration. "No wonder even my teacher has taken an interest in him. If he continues to grow, he'll undoubtedly become a pillar of any faction one day."
The figure on the right froze at this and looked astonished. "I didn't expect this new student to catch Mu En's attention. Then, Headmaster, should we bring him into the Inner Court at once and cultivate him as a priority? With his strength, he's qualified to join."
"No," Yan Shaozhe said, shaking his head. "Let him continue to grow in the Outer Court for now. Keep a close eye on him. The information in his letter of recommendation alone isn't enough to tell us what he's really like."
"And at eleven years old, with Forty-first Rank Soul Power, he's simply too extraordinary. No one knows whether he used some other means to increase his strength. It would be a joke if an Evil Soul Master ended up in the Inner Court."
Faced with Yan Shaozhe's explanation, the figure on the left froze, then nodded in agreement.
Indeed, with talent like that—Forty-first Rank at eleven—even he wouldn't believe it if he hadn't seen it with his own eyes.
Even Sea God Tang San, ten thousand years ago, had only reached Rank 29 at that age.
Perhaps the times had changed, but it was still enough to show how terrifying Mo Yuan was.
Either Mo Yuan's talent was truly extraordinary, or he had some unknown means of increasing his strength. Soul Masters like that all shared one name: Evil Soul Masters.
That was why Yan Shaozhe had decided to keep Mo Yuan under close observation first. Evil Soul Masters all shared one trait: the pleasure of rapidly increasing their Soul Power through evil methods often left them addicted.
Their minds would also turn toward darkness and corruption. They had little in common with ordinary people and would never diligently cultivate in the usual way.
Unfortunately, Mo Yuan really could draw out his prey's Soul Power and life force to increase and restore his own. But he wasn't addicted to it. As for his mind falling into darkness, he could withstand the mental erosion caused by Blood Rush. Why would he fear this?
If he could grow stronger that way, all the better. If not, he could accept that too; at worst, his Soul Power Level would increase at an ordinary rate.
"But, Headmaster, the information we've gathered over the past half day shows that the young lady of the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan is close to him, and his Martial Soul is a Body Martial Soul," the figure on the right continued.
"If the Body Sect learns about this kid's talent, they'll definitely try to steal him, given how recklessly they do things. We might look away for a moment, and he'll have been lured away by either the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan or the Body Sect."
Yan Shaozhe fell silent for a moment. The other man had a point. With talent like Mo Yuan's, he was practically a walking prize, and every faction would want him for itself.
Especially the Body Sect.
Yan Shaozhe was even willing to bet that once Du Busi learned Mo Yuan existed, the old man would dare come straight to the academy and threaten them into handing him over.
After remarking that geniuses were always hot commodities, Yan Shaozhe said, "Then give the kid a few privileges. He can continue studying in the Outer Court, but he'll be allowed to visit the Inner Court alone whenever he wants. And give him a spot among the next Shrek Seven Devils."
"This special treatment will make it clear how much we value him and what we expect from him."
The figure on the right immediately agreed.
Unfortunately, Mo Yuan wasn't there. If he'd heard the benefits Yan Shaozhe was offering, he probably would have laughed out loud.
The higher-ups at Shrek Academy had always been like this. They were always trying to recruit the best geniuses at the lowest possible cost. Who knew where they'd learned it?
Before you continue