At Feng Piaoling's reminder, Jiang Nannan almost instinctively wrapped her arms around his waist.
Then Feng Piaoling and the others quickly burrowed underground.
Before they disappeared beneath the earth, Feng Piaoling glanced at the petite girl, who was staring at them in despair, and at Wang Dong'er.
He sighed inwardly and quickly burrowed toward where they were falling.
Before they hit the ground, he grabbed each of them by the shoulder and pulled them underground, then swiftly dove deeper beneath the earth.
The next moment, the ground above erupted with a thunderous roar.
"Th-thank you..." The petite girl, having narrowly escaped death, looked at Feng Piaoling with gratitude.
Wang Dong'er also let out a long breath and thanked him, still shaken.
Feng Piaoling didn't answer. Instead, he looked toward the surface. With the Earth Escape Talisman's power, as long as something was within the range of his spiritual perception, he could see everything around him—even what was happening aboveground.
On the surface, the cloud of fire exploded as soon as it hit the ground.
A slender young woman stepped out of the flames.
She wore red from head to toe, with a red mask covering her face. Even her eyes were red. A pair of blazing wings unfurled behind her, and a violent, bone-chilling menace radiated from her entire body.
Apparently having lost sight of her targets, the young woman threw back her head and roared. Balls of fire ignited in her palms as her wings beat wildly, sending a barrage of fireballs crashing down. In an instant, everything nearby became a sea of flames, like a living hell.
"Tell me, what happened?" Feng Piaoling asked, looking at Wang Dong'er in his grasp.
This was the first time Wang Dong'er had been so close to a man. Her pretty face flushed slightly, and she hesitated. "Could you let go of me first?"
"If you want to stay trapped underground and suffocate to death, then sure," Feng Piaoling said.
"Please, don't let go..." The pretty little girl beside them was so frightened that her face had gone deathly pale.
Wang Dong'er stopped dwelling on it and answered Feng Piaoling's earlier question:
"I don't know how it happened. Xiao Xiao and I go for a walk around Sea God Lake every night. Who could've expected a ball of fire to suddenly fly over from the other side of the lake today? Then it started chasing us. Good thing we ran into you, or we'd have been burned alive."
"So should I call you unlucky or lucky?" Feng Piaoling thought, speechless.
He vaguely remembered that in the original story, Wang Dong'er had dragged Huo Yuhao to the lakeside, where they'd encountered Ma Xiaotao after her Evil Fire had flared up and she'd lost control.
Now that Wang Dong'er's identity had been exposed, she hadn't ended up in the same class as Huo Yuhao. Instead, she'd started hanging out with Xiao Xiao, who possessed Twin Martial Souls but was wasting her talent.
But as a result, Huo Yuhao wouldn't get the Soul Ascension Pill that the Inner Courtyard would have given him as compensation.
That was an unexpected bonus.
The only shame was that he'd still gone soft just now.
If he hadn't cared about this girl named Xiao Xiao, perhaps the Wang Dong'er in front of him would've burned to death.
Of course, the odds of that were zero. After all, a divine sense left by Tang San was still dormant inside Wang Dong'er.
So it wasn't as if he regretted his choice.
"I suppose it's a bit of both." Wang Dong'er looked thoroughly glum.
Jiang Nannan suddenly asked, "Benefactor, who's that person up there? Is she an Inner Courtyard student? Why is she attacking students from the Outer Courtyard?"
"I don't know, but she looks a bit like an Evil Soul Master."
Feng Piaoling knew someone from the Inner Courtyard would arrive soon, so he quietly activated the Level 9 Soul Tool he carried with him: the Mental Barrier.
An Evil Soul Master? Jiang Nannan was shocked, but having already become a lovesick fool, she believed Feng Piaoling without question.
Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao, however, looked utterly incredulous. Wang Dong'er cried out, "No way! How could an Evil Soul Master appear in the greatest Soul Master Academy on the continent?"
"Where there's light, there must be darkness. Who can guarantee that Shrek is as bright and spotless as it looks on the surface?"
As he spoke, Feng Piaoling gave Wang Dong'er a pointed look and teased, "Weren't you pretending to be a boy before?"
Wang Dong'er's pretty face instantly turned crimson. "That's completely different!"
"Pretending to be a boy meant sharing a room with male students. That excuse of yours was awfully self-righteous," Feng Piaoling sneered.
His words left Wang Dong'er wishing the ground would swallow her whole.
Feng Piaoling added, "But I advise you: until you're strong enough, bury what you saw today deep in your hearts. Otherwise, it might cost you your lives."
After Feng Piaoling put it that way, Wang Dong'er and Xiao Xiao wouldn't dare tell anyone.
As for Jiang Nannan, she obeyed Feng Piaoling without question.
Ma Xiaotao continued wrecking the area for a while before an old man in white suddenly appeared and subdued her.
Feng Piaoling didn't see how the old man in white had made his move. There was only a flash of white light, and Ma Xiaotao lost consciousness. In her place stood an old man surrounded by nine Spirit Rings: two yellow, two purple, and five black.
Holding Ma Xiaotao, he looked around for a while. After confirming no one else was nearby, he waved his hand, and a plant-type Soul Master walked out from behind him.
Under the plant-type Soul Master's control, the trees and grass along Sea God Lake that Ma Xiaotao had burned sprang back to life.
Only after the old man in white and the others had left did Feng Piaoling bring Jiang Nannan, Wang Dong'er, and Xiao Xiao to a forest far from the lakeside and emerge from the ground.
"Feng Piaoling, thank you. Thank you for saving us. I'm Xiao Xiao, a student in Class One. I'll remember that you saved my life today. I'll repay you someday."
Xiao Xiao thanked Feng Piaoling again.
Wang Dong'er also said haughtily, "I suppose I owe you a favor now, too. One day, I'll pay you back."
"What a sweet, grateful girl." Looking at the obedient little girl before him, Feng Piaoling unconsciously reached out and gently patted her adorable head. He suddenly felt it might be worth winning her over.
Whether for her Twin Martial Souls talent or because she would eventually marry that dark-skinned Xu He, Feng Piaoling felt she was worth recruiting.
His affectionate gesture made Xiao Xiao's cheeks turn red. It also earned him a jealous look from Jiang Nannan and a disdainful glare from Wang Dong'er.
Wang Dong'er said, "You've already got Senior Jiang Nannan. Isn't that enough? Don't tell me you think Xiao Xiao's cute and have set your sights on her, too?"
"Set my sights on her? Is romance really all you ever think about?" Feng Piaoling shot her a look, exasperated.
"Then what is it? If you don't give me a good explanation, I'm not letting this go," Wang Dong'er pressed, getting annoyed.
"Is that how you treat the person who saved your life?" Feng Piaoling retorted.
"That's a different matter. Repaying a favor is one thing; arguing is another. Friends can still argue sometimes," Wang Dong'er countered.
"Then repay me first. One Soul Ascension Pill." Feng Piaoling held up one finger.
"A Soul Ascension Pill? You think those grow on trees? You ask everyone you meet for pills. Sure, they're great, but a Soul Master can only take one in their entire life. Take more and there'll be side effects. How many could you possibly eat?"
Wang Dong'er fumed.
"Don't worry about that. If I don't take it myself, can't I give it to a friend I truly care about?"
As soon as Feng Piaoling finished speaking, Jiang Nannan stepped forward and stood beside him. "Before this, benefactor already gave me a Mysterious Water Pill and a Soul Ascension Pill."
"Fine, you win. It's just a Soul Ascension Pill. I'll get you one within ten days at most." Wang Dong'er knew she'd have to get the Clear Sky Sect involved.
With the Clear Sky Sect's strength as the greatest sect under heaven, buying two Soul Ascension Pills from Shrek Academy wouldn't be difficult.
But she wasn't willing to let Feng Piaoling lead her around by the nose. "But Xiao Xiao is my friend. I have to find out what you're after."
At that, Xiao Xiao looked over curiously, too. If he had that sort of intention, given how handsome and powerful he was—and the fact that he'd just saved her—she wouldn't exactly be opposed.
Lost in her lovely daydream, Xiao Xiao couldn't help cupping her face and grinning foolishly.
"I don't have any bad intentions. I just suddenly thought of establishing a sect and wanted to recruit talented people in advance. Is there a problem with that?" Feng Piaoling answered honestly.
"At least you're being honest." Xiao Xiao had Twin Martial Souls, so it wasn't strange that he wanted to recruit her.
Still, Xiao Xiao couldn't help feeling disappointed by his answer.
Wang Dong'er looked at Xiao Xiao and said, "He's annoying, but there's no denying his talent and strength. And like you, he has Twin Martial Souls. If you want to go further someday, staying by his side wouldn't be a bad choice."
"Could you give me some time to think about it?" Joining a sect was no small matter. Xiao Xiao had to consider it carefully.
"Of course. But since you have Twin Martial Souls, there's something I need to warn you about: don't casually give your Second Martial Soul Spirit Rings or absorb trash Soul Bones." Thinking of the Soul Ring Configuration Xiao Xiao had in the original story, Feng Piaoling felt a pang of regret.
"Why?" Xiao Xiao asked, startled.
"Because that's just forcing growth before its time. Giving your Second Martial Soul Spirit Rings and low-quality Soul Bones early on can certainly make your Soul Power rise quickly, but later you'll run out of steam. Take me, for example."
"For the Soul Ring Configuration of my Second Martial Soul, I plan to add only Spirit Rings that are all over a hundred thousand years old. Its Soul Bones will also have to be over a hundred thousand years old. Just imagine: once I have nine Spirit Rings over a hundred thousand years old and become a Titled Douluo, how powerful will I be? I can guarantee that no person or beast in the Douluo Continent will be my match."
Hearing this, Wang Dong'er, Xiao Xiao, and Jiang Nannan couldn't help picturing Feng Piaoling surrounded by nine crimson Spirit Rings, standing supreme over all.
They were all struck speechless.
Feng Piaoling's lips curled into a smile as he began painting Xiao Xiao a grand picture: "If you're willing to join the sect I establish someday, I won't promise to hunt down nine hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings for you. But I can make sure your Second Martial Soul has six Spirit Rings over fifty thousand years old and three that are a hundred thousand years old—and get you a full set of Soul Bones over fifty thousand years old."
Before you continue