"Lang Ya, should I say I'm impressed, or that I'm feeling rather wistful..." The moment Long Xiaoyao appeared, the surrounding space shattered like a mirror. The barrier built from Spirit Power instantly crumbled to dust before Long Xiaoyao's immense Soul Power.
Huo Yuhao felt a pounding ache in his head. When he came to, he realized that he, Zhou Yi, and the other students were all lying on the open ground by the entrance to the Spirit Fighting Arena.
"So we never actually went inside from the start... It was just a space constructed entirely from Spirit Power?" Huo Yuhao couldn't help shuddering. For many spirit-type Soul Masters, creating a separate world through Spirit Power that ensnared an entire group's minds was practically a killer move.
And maybe Lang Ya was just too naive... He'd even left Huo Yuhao time to fight back inside the mental space. If he'd simply carried off the unconscious Huo Yuhao, then by now Huo Yuhao would probably already be at the Body Sect.
Only now did Huo Yuhao understand how lucky he'd been to fool Lang Ya with his Spirit Skill and successfully slow Lang Ya's perception of the flow of time. He hadn't even managed to figure out what the other man's Spirit Skill really did.
"Right, where's Dong'er?" Huo Yuhao looked around, but couldn't see a trace of her.
Then he realized that it would have taken Long Xiaoyao only an instant to get here. There was no way he could have brought Dong'er along, too. If nothing had gone wrong, she should be safe where she'd found Long Xiaoyao.
At that thought, Huo Yuhao relaxed.
"Teacher Zhou! Teacher Zhou!" Huo Yuhao shook Zhou Yi, who was lying on the ground beside him, as hard as he could, but it did nothing.
He tried the same thing with the other students, but got the same result. Every last one of them had fallen into a deep coma.
"What's going on... Lang Ya's Spirit Skill shouldn't have an effect like this." Huo Yuhao furrowed his brow, but soon forced himself to calm down with several deep breaths.
"Come on, Spirit Genesis God!" The Thousand-Year Soul Ring behind Huo Yuhao's head lit up again. This was no time to fret; solving the problem came first!
Besides its three fixed Spirit Skills, Spirit Genesis God could directly call upon Spirit Power to invade someone else's Sea of Consciousness. For this ability to work, though—at least at this stage—he had to make physical contact with the other person.
"I'll have to do them one by one..." Huo Yuhao took Zhou Yi's hand. The next instant, light burst from his eyes as an enormous quantity of Soul Power poured out of the Soul Ring and flowed along his arm into Zhou Yi.
The moment his Spirit Power touched Zhou Yi, Huo Yuhao thought, Just as I suspected. A chaotic barrier of Soul Power had formed in her Sea of Consciousness, cutting off her awareness from it.
Huo Yuhao guessed that this was how Lang Ya had stopped Zhou Yi and the others from thinking while they were in the range of his Spirit Skill, and why they had now fallen unconscious.
Fortunately, although the effect was strange, it wasn't much of a challenge for a Soul Master skilled in Spirit Power. He just needed to use enough Spirit Power to break through the barrier.
But then again, that was only because Huo Yuhao happened to be there, and happened to be able to use Spirit Power to enter their Seas of Consciousness.
He didn't doubt that Shrek had other spirit-type Soul Masters capable of doing this, but it would take them much longer than it had taken him to find the root of the problem.
Now that Huo Yuhao knew what was going on, the solution was simple: envelop everyone in his Spirit Power, then use it like a needle to pierce each barrier one by one.
Meanwhile, elsewhere.
After severing both of Lang Ya's hands, Long Xiaoyao used a stream of black mist to pin his entire body in place. Two more tendrils of black mist burrowed straight into the wounds on Lang Ya's severed arms. For a Soul Master with powerful Spirit Power like Lang Ya, the senses were several times more sensitive than an ordinary person's. Of course, that included the sense of pain.
"AAARGH!" The black mist was like the embodiment of every agony in the world. At that moment, the only sound Lang Ya could make was a violent howl of pain.
"My dear student tells me that you did something truly outrageous to them. Lang Ya, what you've just done—was it your own idea, or did those two old monsters surnamed Du from the Body Sect order you to do it?"
Long Xiaoyao's tone had lost all the teasing he'd shown when they first met. Now he spoke with the sternness of a man facing a villain who had tried to threaten his student, and with anger that had yet to fully erupt.
"You'd better think carefully before you answer, Lang Ya. Depending on what you say, I'll decide what fate to give you. A cripple or a corpse—that's your only choice."
Lang Ya continued to howl in agony, but after hearing Long Xiaoyao's words, he summoned every last ounce of strength he had and forced himself to stop screaming.
"...This has...nothing to do with...the sect master. It was my own...idea."
"Haha... Old Black Dragon, the Body Sect is in ruins these days... The old ones are barely clinging to life... and the new disciples are all so frail they can't withstand a single blow."
"Tell me... If it were the Spirit Hall or the Spirit Soul Academy... and they were in the same state, wouldn't anyone be unable to resist when faced with a treasure like Huo Yuhao? Haha, hahahaha!"
"An incomparably precious treasure... Huo Yuhao is the Body Sect's future, its only future!"
Listening to Lang Ya, Long Xiaoyao furrowed his brow. The man's mental state... didn't seem normal.
Then again, he hadn't paid attention to the Body Sect for more than a decade. Although Lang Ya's words sounded deranged, Long Xiaoyao still spared some thought to consider them.
And at that very moment, a deep green light suddenly shone at Lang Ya's waist. The aura Long Xiaoyao had released vanished the instant it touched the light!
"What?" Sensing something was wrong, Long Xiaoyao's right arm lit up with a black Ten Thousand Year Soul Ring. Countless strands of black mist surged forth and rushed toward Lang Ya. Yet, facing Long Xiaoyao's attack, Lang Ya showed none of the panic he'd displayed earlier. Instead, he looked at Long Xiaoyao with a crazed smile.
"Getting distracted is a fatal mistake, Old Black Dragon!" Before he'd even finished speaking, just as the black mist was about to reach him, the deep green light completely enveloped Lang Ya, and he disappeared. Long Xiaoyao's black mist swept through empty air.
"That light... Was it Old Du's Spirit Skill?" Long Xiaoyao immediately recognized the Soul Power within the green light. It belonged to Du Bisou, the elder of the two brothers...
"Teleportation? No... There's no spatial fluctuation at all. A simpler, cruder method—using the pull of Soul Power to move at incredible speed?"
Long Xiaoyao looked toward the horizon. Although he hadn't managed to keep Lang Ya there, what Lang Ya had said was probably true. He knew what those two brothers were like. Playing dirty wasn't their style; they'd rather march straight into the academy and seize what they wanted by force.
After a while, Long Xiaoyao walked over to Huo Yuhao, who was concentrating on using his Spirit Power to break through the other students' barriers.
Zhou Yi had already woken up and was standing guard beside Huo Yuhao.
"Dean." Zhou Yi saw Long Xiaoyao and hurried to get up, but Long Xiaoyao waved her off, signaling that she should keep guarding Huo Yuhao.
"Huo Yuhao and Dong'er won't need to take the Unlimited Division's practical exam. Just have them pack their textbooks and get ready to set off."
"Also... the class-cadre election can be postponed for two days. Give the two children some time off. They've protected the new students of the Spirit Soul Academy, after all, and deserve this reward."
"Understood. I'll take care of it as soon as I can."
"Mm... The matter's settled, so I'm going back to rest. I'll leave these little ones in your care, Teacher Zhou." With that, Long Xiaoyao vanished in a flash, leaving only a wisp of black smoke behind.
Before you continue