"Wang Dong, are you an idiot?" Su Chen grabbed her wrist, his voice unusually urgent. "She's clearly not in her right mind. Hurry up and run!"
As soon as he finished speaking, Su Chen flashed into motion, pulling Wang Dong back!
The red figure was moving far too fast. In the blink of an eye, she had charged from several hundred meters away to within a hundred meters of the shore. Immediately afterward, a terrifying wave of heat swept over them!
"Ah!" Wang Dong cried out.
At last, she felt it—the senior student was giving off an indescribably frenzied aura: violent, scorching, chaotic. That was absolutely not a normal state for anyone to be in!
The temperature around them was rising rapidly. The grass by the lake turned yellow before their eyes, leaves curled up, and the air warped and twisted. Wang Dong even smelled something burning.
"Look out!"
Wang Dong shouted in alarm. Almost instinctively, she spread her gorgeous butterfly wings with a whoosh. Her blue wings looked like something out of a dream beneath the setting sun.
The next moment, she did something that left even Su Chen stunned—
Wang Dong resolutely wrapped her arms around Su Chen from behind, beating her wings with all her might in an attempt to carry him off the ground with her!
"You..." Su Chen was at a loss for words.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. She was trying to outrun someone stronger than her who could fly, and that someone was a frenzied, out-of-control Soul Master with an aggressive nature?
Wasn't that just asking to die?
Even with wings, he wouldn't dare take off right now. Wang Dong was seriously bold!
"Let go of me!" Su Chen barked. "If you do this, neither of us will get away!"
But it was too late.
The terrifying heat erupted in full force! Blazing flames burst around Ma Xiaotao. They weren't a normal red, but an eerie, dark crimson. She threw back her head and let out a shriek that sounded nothing like a human voice, then thrust both hands forward—
A wave of scorching fire surged toward them like a tsunami!
Su Chen and Wang Dong felt as though they were standing in a sea of flames. Every plant within dozens of meters turned a charred yellow in an instant, and several small trees even caught fire!
At this critical moment—
An aura of extreme cold descended from the sky!
"Crack, crack-crack..."
The sound of freezing rang out. The attack, filled with frigid chill, forcibly drove back the heat. Centered on Su Chen and Wang Dong, everything within a hundred meters froze into ice sculptures in an instant!
The lake froze solid, frost coated the plants, and even the air seemed to congeal. Scorching heat and extreme cold clashed fiercely across the area, hissing as vast clouds of white mist billowed up.
A graceful figure slowly descended.
She was a woman who looked to be in her late twenties. She wore a long, ice-blue dress, and her hair fell like a waterfall. Her features were breathtakingly beautiful. Most eye-catching of all were her long, straight legs, glimpsed through the slit in her dress, their proportions astonishingly perfect.
Nine Soul Rings slowly rose beneath her feet—
One yellow, two purple, five black, and one red!
A Titled Douluo!
And she had the very best Soul Ring Configuration. Her ninth Soul Ring was a hundred-thousand-year ring!
After spotting Su Chen safe and sound, the newly arrived Titled Douluo dropped to one knee. Her voice was cool and respectful. "Greetings, young master. This subordinate arrived late. Please punish me."
Looking at the woman kneeling before him, Su Chen understood.
She was the person he had sent from the Holy Heaven Sect—Guliang Meng, a level 96 Super Douluo with the Elemental Ice Martial Soul. She usually never showed herself, appearing only when Su Chen was in danger or had a special mission.
With such an astonishing Soul Ring Configuration and such strength, the system's super sect certainly lived up to its name.
Su Chen looked down at the person in his arms. To protect him, Wang Dong had used her body to shield him from most of the heat. She was unconscious now. Fortunately, she had only overused her Soul Power and suffered the impact; she wasn't seriously injured.
Su Chen really couldn't understand why Wang Dong hadn't protected herself first, instead turning around to protect him. What on earth was going through that girl's head?
"Get up," Su Chen said to Guliang Meng. "Good thing you got here in time."
"Yes, young master." Guliang Meng rose, her ice-blue eyes shifting from Wang Dong in Su Chen's arms to the red figure still struggling nearby, trapped in ice. "What should we do with her?"
Following her gaze, Su Chen finally noticed that although Ma Xiaotao was restrained by the ice, she hadn't lost the ability to move completely. Somehow, she had already broken free of part of the ice. Now she was glaring at Su Chen with blood-red eyes.
What left Su Chen even more speechless was that Ma Xiaotao had somehow moved closer to him. The two of them were now less than ten meters apart!
Though Guliang Meng was an Ice-attribute Titled Douluo, her ice wasn't Ultimate Ice. On top of that, she hadn't used her full strength, so she couldn't suppress Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul—she could only restrain her temporarily. (Even Yan Shaozhe, a level 95 Light-attribute Soul Master, couldn't suppress it. Ice could overpower it through a difference in cultivation, but she hadn't used her full strength.)
"You leave first," Su Chen said decisively. "Remember, don't let anyone discover you."
Guliang Meng hesitated. "But, young master, your safety..."
"I have a way to handle this." Su Chen's tone was firm. "Go."
"...Understood."
Guliang Meng gave Su Chen a long look, then turned into a streak of blue light and vanished into the sky. As she left, the ice around them began to melt rapidly.
"Holy crap! Su Chen, why do all the good things happen to you?"
In the Sea of Consciousness, sensing danger outside, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm jolted awake. It rubbed its eyes with its tiny hands and, seeing that the danger had passed without incident, finally let out a sigh of relief, patting its chest repeatedly.
"Where did that crazy woman come from? She scared the life out of me!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm said, still shaken. "Good thing you had a Titled Douluo protecting you... Wait, when did you get a Titled Douluo bodyguard?!"
Its voice suddenly rose, full of shock and curiosity.
As Su Chen gently laid the unconscious Wang Dong beneath a tree, he replied in his mind, "I never said I didn't have a Titled Douluo bodyguard, did I?"
"You, you..." Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was at a loss for words. After a long pause, it muttered, "All right, you have your secrets. I get it. But now's not the time to talk about that—what are you going to do about that crazy woman?"
It meant Ma Xiaotao, who was breaking free of the ice.
Su Chen looked at the figure burning with Evil Fire in the distance and furrowed his brow. "I was about to ask you. Is there anything you can do about her Evil Fire?"
"Evil Fire?" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm spun around in the Sea of Consciousness, rubbing its chin thoughtfully. "Her Evil Fire isn't much of a problem for you. An Ice Martial Soul can only suppress it; only Ultimate Ice can solve it completely. But when evil energy runs into a divine attribute, it can only clutch its head and flee."
It paused, then continued smugly, "Besides, your Martial Soul is the strongest divine-attribute Martial Soul on the continent—the Six-Winged Angel! All evil energy fears the light, fire, and divine attributes of an angel. You're practically the natural enemy of Evil Fire!"
Su Chen: "..."
He fell silent.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm: "...Hey, why aren't you saying anything?"
Su Chen took a deep breath and slowly replied in his mind, "Damn, I really am an idiot."
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm: "Huh?"
"I actually needed a giant bug to remind me." Su Chen's voice held a hint of self-mockery. "The Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul is the natural enemy of all evil energy. Even Evil Soul Masters have to go around me. How could I not handle a little bit of evil energy?"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm: "...Hey! Who are you calling a giant bug? I'm the handsome, dashing, and suave Sky Dream Ice Silkworm!"
Su Chen ignored its protests.
By now, Ma Xiaotao had completely broken free of the ice. The Evil Fire around her blazed more fiercely than ever, her blood-red eyes fixed on Su Chen. A low growl rumbled in her throat as she advanced step by step.
Su Chen didn't hesitate any longer.
He straightened, and golden Soul Power began pouring from his body. Behind him, three pairs of pure white angel wings slowly unfurled, each feather shimmering with holy light.
"Angel Domain—open!"
An invisible field spread out from Su Chen, instantly covering a radius of fifty meters. A sacred aura filled the domain. The Evil Fire seemed to have met its natural enemy; it began to flicker uneasily and shrink back.
Ma Xiaotao's movements faltered. She tilted her head, a trace of confusion flashing through her blood-red eyes, but madness soon swallowed it again.
Su Chen stepped forward. Within the domain, he moved at top speed. In an instant, he appeared behind Ma Xiaotao.
He pressed his palm directly against her back.
"A mere bit of evil energy?" Su Chen barked. Golden Soul Power surged from his palm into Ma Xiaotao's body. "I'll suppress you!"
In an instant, a pure and powerful divine force enveloped the Evil Fire Phoenix Martial Soul. When the once-frenzied, scorching Evil Fire met the holy light, it began to melt and retreat like snow beneath the sun.
Its natural enemy was right beside it. If it kept thrashing around now, wasn't that just asking for death?
"Mm..."
Ma Xiaotao's body trembled, and she let out an unconscious moan. She could feel the scorching restlessness and madness that had tormented her for years being soothed and suppressed by a gentle yet powerful force.
So comfortable...
It had been a long time since she'd felt this relaxed. Every time her Evil Fire flared up, it was like being thrown into magma and roasted, the pain driving her to destroy everything around her. But now, that cool, holy power flowed through her limbs and body, carrying away all her pain and madness.
Time passed, second by second.
About half an hour later, Ma Xiaotao's delicate body trembled, and her long, slender legs involuntarily pressed together. She felt so good, as though she were soaking in a hot spring, every cell in her body rejoicing.
Suddenly, Ma Xiaotao's mind cleared.
Her long eyelashes fluttered a few times before she slowly opened her beautiful eyes. Their blood-red hue had returned to their usual deep crimson, clear and bright.
Then she realized—she was being supported from behind by a golden-haired boy, his palm pressed against her back as a warm, holy force poured steadily into her body.
And she herself... had somehow gone limp in his arms, in a rather intimate pose.
Ma Xiaotao's face flushed scarlet.
"You, you..." She opened her mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Feeling that she had regained consciousness, Su Chen said, "Your Evil Fire flared up. I'm helping you suppress it."
His voice was calm, giving away nothing.
Ma Xiaotao turned her head to look at Su Chen. When she saw the three pairs of pure white angel wings behind him, her eyes widened in surprise. "You're... a Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul? And you have all six wings?"
As a student of Shrek Inner Court, Ma Xiaotao naturally knew what a Six-Winged Angel meant: the legacy of the Spirit Hall from ten thousand years ago, the bloodline of Angel God Qian Renxue, the natural enemy of all evil.
But she had never heard of anyone possessing the complete six-winged form before becoming a Soul Elder.
"Mm." Su Chen gave a simple reply and continued circulating his Soul Power. "But for now, I can only suppress it. I can't get rid of it. Your Evil Fire has already fused deeply with your Martial Soul. To solve it completely, you'll need Ultimate Ice."
Ma Xiaotao lowered her head, her voice tinged with remorse and exhaustion. "I'm sorry... I couldn't control myself just now. I nearly hurt you both."
She remembered seeing two figures by the lake before she lost consciousness. If Su Chen hadn't been able to suppress the Evil Fire, this could have ended in disaster.
"You should be glad you ran into me," Su Chen said, his tone still flat.
Ma Xiaotao pressed her lips together without arguing. She could feel her Evil Fire slowly settling down under the suppression of the divine power. The long-missed sense of ease made her let out a contented sigh.
"Mm... Ah..."
The moment the sound escaped her lips, Ma Xiaotao regretted it. H-how had that sounded so... suggestive?!
Her face grew even redder. She wanted nothing more than to burrow into a crack in the ground.
But the thoughts in Ma Xiaotao's mind were taking an entirely different turn:
I'm ruined! A junior student's been touching me all over, and I even made that kind of sound! Sure, it was treatment, but how am I supposed to show my face if word gets out?!
She couldn't help sneaking a glance at Su Chen's profile.
The afterglow of the setting sun outlined his delicate features. His golden hair stirred gently in the breeze, and his focused eyes were pure gold, deep and bright. His nose was straight, his lips...
Ma Xiaotao's heart skipped a beat.
What a handsome young fellow.
Were all members of the Angel Clan this good-looking? I almost want to give myself to him...
Wait! What am I thinking?!
Ma Xiaotao shook her head hard, trying to drive those nonsensical thoughts away. But her cheeks only grew hotter, burning red.
Still... At this age, he ought to be "peanut-sized," right?
As Ma Xiaotao's thoughts wandered, they veered in a strange direction. By the time she realized what she was thinking, her whole face had turned as red as a ripe apple.
Su Chen was completely focused on suppressing the Evil Fire and had no idea how many thoughts were racing through Ma Xiaotao's head. He just found it strange—why was Ma Xiaotao getting hotter and hotter? He couldn't feel the Evil Fire flaring up at all.
"I have a feeling this girl wants to mate with you..."
In the Sea of Consciousness, Sky Dream Ice Silkworm cut straight to the heart of the matter, its tone brimming with the certainty of a million-year veteran.
Su Chen nearly lost control of his Soul Power. In his mind, he replied irritably, "...Shut up."
"I'm serious! I've lived for a million years. I can trust my instincts!" Sky Dream Ice Silkworm rolled around in the Sea of Consciousness, patting its chest with its tiny hands as it swore solemnly. "Look at how red her face is, how she keeps avoiding your eyes, and her body's reaction... Tsk, tsk, young people sure have plenty of energy!"
It paused, then added, "And from what I can tell, this girl's figure is top-notch. Curvy, with a slim waist and long legs. Tsk, tsk, tsk. Su Chen, don't get me wrong, but an opportunity like this only comes once in a blue moon. Want me to teach you a few tricks? I guarantee you..."
Before you continue