He Seems Able to Suppress My Martial Soul

Ma Xiaotao hadn't shut the bathroom door all the way while she bathed.

On the one hand, everyone knew her fearsome reputation in the Inner Academy, and no one would dare come to her room and force the door open. On the other, she was worried Lu Heqiu might fall outside, so she needed to listen for him from time to time.

But she hadn't expected this.

The bathroom door, which she'd thought no one would come near,

was gently pushed open by Lu Heqiu at that very moment.

Ma Xiaotao jumped in fright.

She never imagined Lu Heqiu would crawl all the way to her door, let alone push open the bathroom door!

Ma Xiaotao's eyes widened. She stared at Lu Heqiu in the doorway for a long time without saying a word. She hadn't been particularly interested in finding a partner, and she certainly hadn't expected anyone to suddenly enter the bathroom while she was bathing.

Most importantly...

The one who'd seen this was the baby she'd brought back herself!?

"You! You, you, you!"

"You're so young, and already..."

Before Ma Xiaotao could finish, the little fellow sprawled in the doorway raised the Milk Bottle in his hand. He'd dragged it all the way over himself. The bottle, which should have kept him fed for quite a while, was now completely empty.

Not a drop remained.

"You finished it?"

Ma Xiaotao snatched up the bath towel she'd set aside and quickly covered herself, then hurried toward Lu Heqiu. She stared at the Milk Bottle in his hands, hardly able to believe it.

The people from the Soul Tool Department had clearly told her that even if it was filled with cow's milk, the little fellow wouldn't be able to finish it, let alone the Hundred-Year Saber-toothed Tiger's milk!

Lu Heqiu lay there, staring intently at the Milk Bottle Ma Xiaotao had just taken away.

He hadn't crawled over on purpose.

At the moment, aside from controlling his eyes, he could only control how much strength he used.

Those strange movements were simply the instincts all babies his age possessed.

The reason his body had crawled over

was that it wasn't full at all.

Ma Xiaotao was the one who fed him beast milk, so he'd come to think that getting close to her meant he would get food. Thus, once he'd finished drinking, he'd instinctively crawled toward the bathroom, hoping to get more.

"All right, I'll give you a little more. Looks like you really do eat quite a bit more than most people."

Ma Xiaotao muttered as she picked Lu Heqiu up from the floor and carried him to the bed. She refilled the Milk Bottle that Lu Heqiu had drained, filling it about halfway. In her opinion, even with his enormous appetite, that should be enough.

The moment Lu Heqiu got the bottle back, his whole body relaxed. He began to enjoy his food.

Ma Xiaotao didn't hurry back to the bathroom. Instead, she kept her eyes fixed on the bottle, making sure Lu Heqiu was full before returning. Otherwise, he might push open the bathroom door again and see something he shouldn't.

"You want more?"

Ma Xiaotao looked at the Milk Bottle, empty once again, and understood what Lu Heqiu wanted from his expression. She couldn't imagine how a six-month-old baby could drink so much.

Those two bottles of beast milk Lu Heqiu had just gulped down would have been too much even for her.

But Lu Heqiu raised his little hand again, so she had no choice but to pour and warm him some more milk.

The beast milk Gong Changlong had expected to last several days had been more than half used up in a single feeding. Ma Xiaotao was dumbfounded. If Lu Heqiu hadn't seemed perfectly fine, she really would have worried something was wrong with him.

"You... can really digest all that?"

Ma Xiaotao asked Lu Heqiu uncertainly. The question sounded more like she was asking herself. Lu Heqiu was too young to answer her, after all.

It was true that this was her first time looking after a child.

She'd even had to ask the Soul Tool Department how much a baby could eat. But Lu Heqiu wasn't following any of the usual rules, leaving her at a loss.

That much... was Lu Heqiu really all right?

Lu Heqiu lay there, his eyelids beginning to droop once more. A faint snore escaped him, and only then did Ma Xiaotao's tense heart finally relax. She picked up her clothes again and headed for the bathroom.

Ma Xiaotao still left the bathroom door open while washing up, so she could keep listening for Lu Heqiu. If anything seemed wrong, she could carry him to the Inner Academy and ask a teacher for help.

But her worry was clearly unnecessary.

Lu Heqiu slept soundly on her bed, the scent of milk still lingering around his lips.

He didn't wake even after she finished bathing. At last, she relaxed completely, lightly brushing his soft nose with a finger before lying down beside him.

She'd originally planned to cultivate that night, but she'd just returned from the Star Dou Great Forest, and looking after Lu Heqiu had worn her out. She immediately gave up on the idea.

One night of sleep wouldn't set her back much.

Ma Xiaotao wore a nightdress, so thin it barely covered her, and lay down beside Lu Heqiu. For some reason, she slept just as peacefully, with hardly any strange dreams.

It wasn't until morning, when she felt something slightly unusual, that Ma Xiaotao slowly opened her eyes. Her peach-tinted eyes had barely opened when she saw Lu Heqiu lying on top of her, sucking on a spot that bore an uncanny resemblance to a Milk Bottle.

"Ah!"

Ma Xiaotao cried out and hurriedly lifted Lu Heqiu off her. Her whole face turned bright red. If she hadn't still had a sliver of reason, she would have thrown the little fellow right out!

Even as she held him up with one hand, Lu Heqiu tried to squirm forward a few times, expressing his displeasure.

"You little rascal!"

"You're not allowed to follow me anymore!"

Ma Xiaotao set him down at the edge of the bed, poured the leftover beast milk from last night into the Milk Bottle, and stuck it in Lu Heqiu's mouth. Then she quickly got up and changed clothes. Looking after this little fellow was more exhausting than cultivation.

No matter what, she had to send him away today!

She absolutely refused to be his babysitter!

But after taking only a few steps, Ma Xiaotao froze in place. She hadn't noticed it before, but once she'd put more than ten meters between herself and Lu Heqiu, the Evil Fire hidden within her Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul suddenly flared, threatening to consume her reason.

She'd made quite a few moves during this trip to the Star Dou Great Forest. By her usual routine, she should have sought help from a Sea God Pavilion elder or a Titled Douluo after returning, to suppress the Evil Fire.

But this time, she'd picked up a baby, and the Evil Fire inside her hadn't changed at all. So she'd left it alone and dealt with Lu Heqiu first.

She hadn't expected...

The Evil Fire to flare up again at a time like this.

It caught her completely off guard.

What should she do?!

Ma Xiaotao's mind grew hazy. Instinctively, she wanted to fly off and find Cai Mei'er, but when she saw Lu Heqiu lying there all alone, her heart softened. She hurried back toward him.

The Evil Fire inside her changed again, but this time it wasn't flaring up.

Instead...

It was being suppressed!?