Evil Fire Erupts, Seeking Suppression; Together in a Secret Room Late at Night

Half a month is neither a long nor a short time.

That's enough for the two teams to go from being strangers to becoming familiar with each other.

On the Main Team's side, Gongyang Mo was the first to become close with the Reserve Team. This level 59 Rainbow Dragon support Soul King has a simple and cheerful personality and always smiles at everyone.

Xixi is also nice; she has a straightforward personality and gets along well with Cui Yajie.

Chen Zifeng and Yao Haoxuan are both pretty good.

As for Dai Yueheng, his relationship with Dai Huabin is quite complicated.

Dai Yueheng's attitude towards Dai Huabin gradually shifted from initial shock to a complex sense of acceptance. During training, the two occasionally faced off, Dai Yueheng always gave it his all, but the result was often that he was severely suppressed by the Ultimate Ice.

The only one who consistently kept his distance from the Reserve Team was Ling Luochen.

However, she had been observing Dai Huabin, Zhu Lu, and Xue Qingyao. Xue Qingyao rarely made a move, so she spent most of her time watching Dai Huabin.

But perhaps it's because ice-attribute Soul Master are naturally aloof, Ling Luochen's relationship with Dai Huabin and others is just ordinary.

Dai Huabin naturally didn't bother to cultivate relationships with these senior students from the Inner Academy; it wasn't necessary.

As for Ling Luochen, let nature take its course.

One afternoon, two weeks later.

Training has ended, and everyone is having dinner in the cafeteria.

Ma Xiaotao walked over with a tray and sat down directly opposite Dai Huabin.

Zhu Lu looked up at her but didn't say anything.

"Huabin."

Ma Xiaotao spoke, her voice lower than usual, her tone somewhat subdued.

Dai Huabin was drinking soup when he heard this and put down his bowl. "What's wrong?"

Ma Xiaotao's complexion was not good. To be precise, her cheeks were flushed an unnatural red, there were fine beads of sweat on her forehead, and her breathing was more rapid than usual.

"About the 'Evil Fire'," Ma Xiaotao lowered her voice, "The intensity of training and cultivation these past two weeks has been too great, and I... I didn't control it well, and the Evil Fire's is rising a bit."

Dai Huabin put down his chopsticks.

He carefully examined Ma Xiaotao's condition. Her Soul Power fluctuations were indeed unstable, and there were faint signs of heat emanating from her body. If an ordinary person were sitting opposite her, they would probably already be sweating.

Is it serious?

"It's alright, not out of control yet." Ma Xiaotao bit her lower lip. "But if we delay dealing with it for a few more days, it might affect my cultivation. Teacher Yan told me to talk to you."

Dai Huabin nodded. "Okay, when is a convenient time?"

Ma Xiaotao was taken aback, clearly not expecting him to agree so readily.

"Seven o'clock tonight?" Her tone was slightly tentative. "I have a private, soundproof training room over there."

"Can."

Ma Xiaotao breathed a sigh of relief, but the blush on her face didn't fade; instead, it deepened. She picked up her plate, stood up, took a couple of steps, and then turned back.

Thanks.

"You're welcome."

Ma Xiaotao left quickly.

There was a two-second silence on the table.

Xiao Xiao put down her chopsticks, looked at Dai Huabin, then at the direction Ma Xiaotao had left in, opened her mouth, but ultimately said nothing.

Cui Yajie chuckled and lowered her voice, "Class monitor, the way Senior Ma Xiaotao looked at you just now... something seemed off."

Dai Huabin picked up a piece of meat and explained:

"When cultivating the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul, it generates Evil Fire, which becomes stronger with higher Evil Fire levels. The surge of this Evil Fire can affect emotions, which is a normal reaction."

Cui Yajie nodded slightly; she naturally knew about the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul.

Zhu Lu quietly finished her last bite of food, tidied up the bowl and chopsticks, and stood up.

"I've finished eating, I'm going back now."

"Wait a minute," Dai Huabin called out to her.

Zhu Lu stopped and looked at Dai Huabin.

"I'll go help my senior suppress her Evil Fire tonight; it might take an hour or two. You go ahead and cultivate; don't wait for me."

Zhu Lu nodded. "Okay, I'll wait for you at home."

6:50 PM.

Dai Huabin left the cafeteria and walked along the stone path of Sea God Island into the Inner Academy.

He walked along, calculating in his mind.

There is no doubt that Ultimate Ice is indeed a counter to the Evil Fire Phoenix.

However, simply using Soul Power to suppress it is too inefficient. So he decided to try a different approach: the Ice Jade Scorpion Tail.

This External Soul Bone is a 100,000-year-old External Soul Bone from Ice Empress's collection. It has the inherent ability to absorb and transform energy. The Ice Jade Scorpion's tail hook is naturally designed to inject ice poison and extract life force.

If the Ice Jade Scorpion Tail were directly inserted into Ma Xiaotao's body, it could absorb the free-floating Evil Fire energy on one hand, and inject the Ultimate Ice into her meridians through the tail hook on the other, suppressing the source of the Evil Fire from within.

Using a two-pronged approach should be far more efficient than simply releasing the domain.

Of course, we'll have to try it to see how effective it is.

Dai Huabin turned a corner, Ma Xiaotao's yard was just ahead.

The accommodations in the Inner Academy were indeed much better than those in the Outer Academy.

Each student has their own small courtyard with gray stone walls and two short pine trees planted at the entrance.

Ma Xiaotao's courtyard gate was half open, and warm yellow light shone from inside.

Dai Huabin pushed open the door and went in.

The courtyard wasn't large, but it was very clean. Directly opposite was a two-story building, and to the left was a separate stone room with soundproofing array patterns carved on the door; that must be the cultivation room.

"Huabin?"

Ma Xiaotao's voice came from the second floor, slightly hoarse.

"Yes, I've arrived."

Footsteps echoed down the stairs as Ma Xiaotao descended from the second floor.

Dai Huabin's first reaction upon seeing her was to frown.

When we met in the cafeteria half an hour ago, Ma Xiaotao wasn't in good condition, but at least she could still communicate normally.

Now her whole demeanor had changed; her face was flushed an unnatural red, and the blush had spread to her ears and neck. Her breathing was rapid and disordered, and her forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat.

The most obvious sign was the fluctuation of her Soul Power.

Dai Huabin could clearly sense that a violent fire-attribute energy was surging wildly within Ma Xiaotao's body, like a wild beast trapped in a cage, constantly crashing against the walls of her meridians.

"Is it more serious than before?"

Ma Xiaotao, holding onto the stair railing, nodded. "It started to get worse after we came back... It's probably because I used too many Soul Skill during training during the day, Evil Fire took advantage of my weakness."

She walked up to Dai Huabin and stopped.

The two were less than a meter apart. Ma Xiaotao was a head taller than Dai Huabin. She looked down at him slightly, her usually sharp red eyes now somewhat unfocused, with a flickering flame in her pupils.

"How long can you maintain this condition?" Dai Huabin asked.

"Two or three hours, I guess." Ma Xiaotao took a breath. "The worst time was when I endured it all night, and then I passed out the next day. Teacher Yan said that if this continues, the Evil Fire will eventually backfire on my meridians."

Dai Huabin nodded. "Go to the cultivation room."

"Good."

Ma Xiaotao turned and led the way, pushing open the door to the stone chamber on the left.

The meditation room was small, about twenty square meters, with no extra furniture, only two futons in the center.

Ma Xiaotao went inside and sat cross-legged on the prayer mat.

Dai Huabin closed the stone door, instantly cutting off all outside noise.