Ice Emperor

On Sea God Lake, a fire tornado that stretched from earth to sky raged wildly. Even Ma Xiaotao's fifth Soul Skill, Phoenix Cloud Piercing Strike, only slightly weakened the wind after making contact with it. Not only that, it actually made the flames burn even more fiercely.

The hurricane howled, and Mo Yuan's long black hair whipped behind him. He remained standing tall, his dazzling Golden Eyes shining brilliantly.

Watching the fire phoenix struggle to dodge the tornado and feeling no movement from the surrounding area, Mo Yuan felt the veins on his forehead bulge.

Was nobody going to step in and stop this?! Did he have to control the tornado until Ma Xiaotao got seriously hurt?!

The fire tornado was already beginning to feel beyond his control. To prevent it from backfiring on him, Mo Yuan immediately ended the effects of Spirit Speech: Wind King's Eyes and Jun Yan.

As the controlled wind and fire elements returned to normal, the tornado's power abruptly diminished. Mo Yuan was just about to face the already faltering Ma Xiaotao in close combat when—

Her Soul Power exhausted by the rampaging Evil Fire, the fire phoenix vanished high in the sky, and Ma Xiaotao reappeared. Her Phoenix Wings flapped weakly a few times before she fell straight toward Sea God Lake below.

With a splash, water sprayed everywhere. The cold lake water cleared Ma Xiaotao's mind a little, but the Evil Fire burning ever more fiercely inside her left her unable to draw on even the slightest bit of Soul Power.

Helplessness filled her entire body. She sank little by little toward the lakebed, watching the fire rain scatter across the dark water. Now slightly more lucid, Ma Xiaotao felt like crying.

Her Evil Fire had already shown signs of becoming uncontrollable a few days ago, so she had sought out Xu Sanshi that night to help suppress it. Unfortunately, this time the Evil Fire was too intense. She hadn't managed to rein in her strength, and Xu Sanshi couldn't hold on either, so he turned and ran.

While chasing Xu Sanshi, she ran into Mo Yuan and Ning Tian. With the Evil Fire clouding her mind, she had no reason left, and Mo Yuan, annoyed with her, beat her up.

Since she was clearly the one at fault this time, she had nowhere to direct her anger.

As Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth and struggled to suppress the Evil Fire, waiting for a teacher to step in, she suddenly saw a streak of black light rushing toward her from afar. In the blink of an eye, it broke through the lake's surface,

When the black light appeared behind her, a barrier formed by rapidly flowing wind parted the water, creating a hollow space three meters in diameter.

A cold hand reached out from behind and gripped her wrist tightly, pinning it behind her waist. The awkward position only made her prominent feminine assets stand out even more.

Dazzling Golden Eyes appeared beside Ma Xiaotao's face. She turned around, and a face so handsome it seemed almost bewitching came into view.

Staring at Mo Yuan's flawless features, Ma Xiaotao looked confused. She bit her lower lip. "Y-You... who are you?"

"Hey, did the Evil Fire burn your brain?" Mo Yuan looked exasperated. "I already showed you the way out, but you just had to push your luck. Since you wanted to fight, I had no choice but to fight back."

Hearing that, Ma Xiaotao remained confused. She had no memory of what she had done while the Evil Fire was running rampant,

And after the cold lake water was blocked by the Land of No Dust, the Evil Fire inside her, which had almost been suppressed, began to flare up again.

"I don't care who you are. Let go of me first. I can barely suppress the Evil Fire inside me. Hurry and find my teacher..." Ma Xiaotao's expression twisted with pain. The Evil Fire attacked her Meridians relentlessly, and the agony and scorching heat were more than she could bear.

Tormented by the pain, she struggled wildly in Mo Yuan's arms, wrenching her hands free from his grip before frantically tearing at her clothes.

Her fair skin showed an alluring flush, and her whole body grew so hot she was like a furnace.

In an instant, a glimpse of spring appeared. Mo Yuan tried to look away, but with Ma Xiaotao's ample assets, he couldn't help catching a glimpse of their rounded curves.

Damn, 36D... After silently marveling at how quickly Ma Xiaotao had developed, Mo Yuan saw her with her eyes tightly shut, her beautiful face full of pain. It was clearly a sign that the Evil Fire was about to go out of control.

"Are all the people from Shrek Academy dead? She's in this state, and nobody's stepping in?" Seeing that no one had come to help Ma Xiaotao, Mo Yuan couldn't help cursing.

Truthfully, Mo Yuan hadn't planned to dive into the lake to save Ma Xiaotao. She was entirely at fault, and even if he beat her up and walked away, no one could fault him.

But there was one problem that made him stay. Why had he come to Shrek Academy? For the quality of its teaching? What a joke. Shrek had no teaching to speak of.

He was here to build up resources for the future! And to get his hands on that Golden Tree! To obtain them, he needed the higher-ups at Shrek Academy to value him,

And he couldn't leave behind a stain—not even one on his character.

If he had joined the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan and become one of its members, he would have left without a second thought. Ma Xiaotao could have died for all he cared,

After all, even if he saved her, Shrek Academy wouldn't give an outsider from the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan any benefits.

But the problem was, he wasn't one of them yet! He was certain that if he left Ma Xiaotao to fend for herself, even if nothing went wrong afterward, Yan Shaozhe— that bastard with a petty streak—would definitely make things difficult for him and cause unnecessary trouble.

Since that was the case, he might as well help her. At least he could get some benefits out of Yan Shaozhe afterward. Otherwise, he'd end up with nothing and get dragged into a whole mess.

Of course, he'd make Shrek Academy repay everything he had put in, with interest, someday!

After thinking it over and choosing and confirming the Yanling for his Fourth Soul Ring, Mo Yuan's already radiant Golden Eyes suddenly blazed with golden light. His fourth black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring lit up, and the Land of No Dust was lifted. The icy lake water rushed in and engulfed them both

"Mm... huh?"

The cold water cleared Ma Xiaotao's mind a little. On the verge of losing her sanity to the Evil Fire, she let out a soft moan, finding strength from who knew where.

Ma Xiaotao suddenly turned around to face Mo Yuan, who looked solemn as he silently recited Dragon Language.

Then her delicate body pressed into his embrace, and her slender arms wrapped around his waist. Her ample assets were pressed against his chest.

Feeling Ma Xiaotao move, Mo Yuan spared some of his attention to look at her. The stunning woman, with her fiery figure and beautiful face, gazed at him with unfocused eyes.

The pain had vanished from her beautiful eyes, replaced by a pool of alluring, fiery desire.

Mo Yuan's gaze slowly drifted down from Ma Xiaotao's eyes. Her enticing red lips were close at hand, and her slightly parted mouth breathed out warm, damp air. An inexplicable heat rose within him.

Was this really the Evil Fire Phoenix?! She might as well be renamed the Desire Fire Phoenix!

Mo Yuan cursed inwardly, then hurried to finish reciting the long sequence of Dragon Language. If he took any longer, he really might not be able to hold out.

The archaic, profound Dragon Language emerged soundlessly, sending ripples through the still lake water.

As the recitation ended, a pale, forest-white mist radiating intense cold burst out from Mo Yuan.

Crack, crack—

The instant this Forest White Cold Qi touched the lake, it froze the water into ice. It spread at incredible speed,

In just a breath or two, it had frozen the lake within a hundred-meter radius of the two of them, to a depth of fifty meters.

This was a domain of extreme cold. Under its effects, even the swimming fish couldn't react in time.

This was the Ice Emperor Yanling under the Frozen Throne! (Note 1)

A Yanling from the Sea King and Water King line, Sequence Number 88. It ranked only one place below Jun Yan, and its power could multiply several times in an environment rich in water elements.

High above, Yan Shaozhe had been watching quietly to see how far Mo Yuan could go. The moment the Yanling: Ice Emperor domain was fully unleashed, the Titled Douluo was left dumbfounded.

"Does it have to be this ridiculous? This is practically already in the realm of Extreme Ice!"

Though it was hard to believe, with the abundance of water elements in Sea God Lake, the Ice Emperor's power had reached its peak—almost within the realm of Extreme Ice.

And this was only a Sequence Number 88 Yanling. If Mo Yuan's bloodline ever reached the "Emperor" level, then the power of Spirit Speech: Frozen Throne would surely reach the level of Extreme Ice. The same would be true of the other four elemental Yanlings.

In other words, Mo Yuan would have at least three attributes at the Extreme level: Extreme Fire, Extreme Ice, or Extreme Lightning.

"This... Headmaster, given the strength that kid has shown, don't you think we should bring him into the Inner Court immediately? If the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Clan or the Body Sect really poaches him, it would be the academy's greatest loss." The figure on the right spoke anxiously.

He couldn't be bothered to worry about Mo Yuan's origins or whether there were any problems with his growth. If a peerless genius with talent like this slipped through their fingers, he'd probably wake up halfway through the night just to slap himself.

Hearing that, Yan Shaozhe's look of surprise faded. He pondered for a while, then slowly shook his head. Looking at Ma Xiaotao embracing Mo Yuan tightly within the ice, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"No. We'll stick to the original plan. And instead of bringing him straight into the Inner Court and keeping him under our noses, I have a better plan now..."

On the lakeshore, Xu Sanshi had watched the entire outbreak of Spirit Speech: Ice Emperor. His face wore an expression of shock that would last his mother a whole year.

No, bro...

You even pulled out Extreme Ice? Did you cheat?

Six hundred and sixty-six. Even the salt stopped being salty...

Note 1: The original work never gave the sequence number of Spirit Speech: Ice Emperor. It was used only by Zero and the "New White King," Herzog, so I changed the setting and made it a Sequence Number 88 Yanling. As for its power rivaling Extreme Ice, that seems reasonable to me. It froze a hundred-meter radius of lake water to a depth of fifty meters almost instantly, which should be close to Extreme Ice, right?