Rewards and Punishments

"Lang Ya, should I call this admiration, or perhaps a sigh..." The moment Long Xiaoyao appeared, the surrounding space shattered like a mirror. The barrier constructed from mental power vanished into thin air before his overwhelming soul power.

Huo Yuhao felt a sharp, throbbing pain in his head. When he regained his senses, he realized he was lying on the open ground at the entrance of the Spirit Fighting Arena, alongside Zhou Yi and the other students.

"We never actually went inside from the start... was it just a space constructed purely from mental power?" Huo Yuhao couldn't help but shudder. To construct a separate world for a group's consciousness using mental power was, for many spirit masters of the mental attribute, a lethal move.

And was Lang Ya too naive... to actually leave him a buffer period to fight within the mental space? If he had simply taken the unconscious Huo Yuhao away, he would likely be inside the Body Sect by now.

He also realized only now how lucky he had been to use his soul skill to deceive Lang Ya and successfully slow down his perception of time; he hadn't even been able to judge the true effect of the opponent's soul skill.

"Right, where is Dong'er?" Huo Yuhao looked left and right, but could not see a trace of her.

But then he realized that for Long Xiaoyao, reaching this place would only take an instant; he couldn't have brought Dong'er along. If nothing went wrong, she should be waiting safely at the place where she found Long Xiaoyao.

Thinking of this, Huo Yuhao breathed a sigh of relief.

"Teacher Zhou Yi, Teacher Zhou Yi!" Huo Yuhao shook Zhou Yi, who was also lying on the ground, but it had no effect.

He tried the same method on the other students, but the result was the same. Every one of them had fallen into a state of deep coma.

"What is going on... Lang Ya's soul skill shouldn't have this kind of effect." Huo Yuhao frowned, but he quickly forced himself to calm down with several deep breaths.

"Come, Spirit Genesis God!" The thousand-year soul ring behind Huo Yuhao's head lit up once more. This was no time for distress; solving the problem was more important than anything else!

Spirit Genesis God, in addition to using three fixed soul skills, also had the effect of directly calling upon mental power to invade an opponent's Sea of Consciousness. However, for this ability to take effect, at least at the current stage, there was a rigid requirement to make physical contact with the target.

"I can only do this one by one..." Huo Yuhao grasped Zhou Yi's hand. The next moment, as his eyes erupted with light, a massive amount of soul power surged from his soul ring, flowing through his arm and into Zhou Yi's body.

The moment his mental power made contact with Zhou Yi, Huo Yuhao secretly confirmed his suspicion: there was a chaotic barrier of soul power in her Sea of Consciousness, isolating her consciousness from her Sea of Consciousness.

Huo Yuhao guessed that this was likely how Lang Ya had stalled the thoughts of Zhou Yi and the others within the range of his soul skill, and the reason they were now in a coma.

Fortunately, while this effect was bizarre, it was not particularly tricky for a spirit master skilled in mental power; he just needed to use sufficient mental power to break that barrier directly.

But on second thought, this was only because he happened to be on the scene and happened to be able to use his mental power to invade their Sea of Consciousness.

He did not doubt that Shrek had other mental-attribute spirit masters who could do this, but finding the root cause would certainly be much slower than what he was doing.

Knowing exactly what was going on, Huo Yuhao's task became simple: wrap everyone in his mental power, then use his mental power like a needle to pierce those barriers one by one.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

After Long Xiaoyao severed Lang Ya's hands, he used a wisp of black energy to pin his entire body in place. Two strands of black energy even burrowed directly into the wounds of Lang Ya's severed arms. For a spirit master with powerful mental strength like Lang Ya, sensory sensitivity was several times higher than that of an ordinary person. Naturally, these senses included the sensation of pain.

"Ah----!" The black energy was like a collection of all the world's suffering; the only sound Lang Ya could make now was a violent wail.

"According to my dear student, you did some very excessive things to them. Lang Ya, was your behavior until just now your own wishful thinking, or was it the intention of those two old monsters in the Body Sect surnamed Du?"

Long Xiaoyao's tone had completely lost the playfulness from their earlier meeting, replaced by the seriousness of someone facing a villain who dared to threaten his students, and the anger that had yet to fully erupt.

"You had better think clearly before you answer me, Lang Ya. Depending on your answer, I will consider what fate to bestow upon you. A cripple, or a corpse—these are your only two options."

Lang Ya's wailing remained miserable, but upon hearing Long Xiaoyao's words, he used every ounce of his strength to forcibly suppress the physiological pain.

"...This has nothing to do with... the Sect Master. It was my own... idea."

"Haha... Old Black Dragon, the Body Sect is in shambles now... the elders are lingering on their last breaths... and the new disciples are all too fragile to... withstand a single blow."

"Dare you say that if it were Martial Soul Hall or the Spirit Soul Academy... it would be the same today? Facing a treasure like Huo Yuhao... anyone would be unable to resist, right? Haha, hahahaha!"

"An incredibly precious treasure... Huo Yuhao, he is the future of the Body Sect, the only future!"

Listening to Lang Ya's words, Long Xiaoyao couldn't help but frown. This guy's mental state... seemed rather abnormal.

Admittedly, it had been over a decade since he had paid any attention to the situation within the Body Sect. Although Lang Ya's words were insane, Long Xiaoyao spared a moment of his focus to ponder what he had said.

But at that very instant, a deep green light suddenly flared on Lang Ya's waist. The aura released by Long Xiaoyao vanished directly in the face of that light!

"What!" Long Xiaoyao realized something was wrong. A pitch-black ten-thousand-year soul ring on his right arm lit up instantly, and countless wisps of black energy surged out, rushing toward Lang Ya. However, facing Long Xiaoyao's attack, Lang Ya did not show the panic he had displayed earlier; instead, he looked toward Long Xiaoyao with a crazed smile.

"Distraction is a grave taboo, Old Black Dragon!" Before the words even faded, the moment the black energy was about to touch Lang Ya, his body was completely enveloped by that deep green light and vanished. The black energy released by Long Xiaoyao struck nothing but air.

"That light... is it Old Du's soul skill?" Long Xiaoyao immediately recognized the soul power contained within that green light; it came from Du Bisi, the elder of those two brothers...

"Teleportation? No... there were no spatial fluctuations. Is it a simpler, more brutal method—using the attraction of soul power to achieve super-speed movement?"

Long Xiaoyao looked toward the horizon. Although he hadn't managed to keep Lang Ya, what he said likely wasn't a lie. He understood the character of those two brothers; playing dirty tricks wasn't their style. Those two would much rather run directly to the academy to snatch someone by force.

After a while, Long Xiaoyao walked over to Huo Yuhao, who was currently concentrating on using his mental power to break the barriers of the other students.

Zhou Yi had already successfully awakened and was guarding Huo Yuhao.

"Dean." Seeing Long Xiaoyao, Zhou Yi prepared to stand up, but Long Xiaoyao waved his hand, signaling her to continue guarding Huo Yuhao.

"The practical assessment for the Unlimited Division... Huo Yuhao and Dong'er don't need to participate. Just have them pack their materials and prepare to depart."

"By the way... the election for class representatives can be postponed for two days. Give the two little ones a break. They are the heroes who protected the freshmen of the Spirit Soul Academy; they deserve such a reward."

"I understand, I will see to it as soon as possible."

"Mm... the matter is resolved, and I am going back to get some rest. These little ones... I leave them to you, Teacher Zhou." After speaking, Long Xiaoyao's figure flashed and vanished from the spot, leaving behind only a wisp of black smoke.