Mu Tianyi felt it firsthand.
The instant Gongyang Mo's enhancement took effect, his strength and Soul Power increased by roughly forty percent.
In other words, the rumors were true—when the Rainbow Dragon martial soul enhanced dragon-type martial souls, it provided an additional boost!
Mu Tianyi had never felt so exhilarated.
His light wings traced a golden arc through the air as he appeared at Ma Xiaotao's side.
His right dragon claw condensed, the light traces of the Sacred Dragon Rending Sky Claw flickering from his fingertips. Yet rather than striking at a vital point, he seized the wrist she had swung at him.
"Wretch, surrender and await your punishment."
The boy's voice was calm. His five fingers tightened, forcibly stopping Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire-wreathed fist in midair, unable to advance even an inch further.
At that moment, Ma Xiaotao's reason, corroded by Evil Fire, finally sounded a piercing alarm.
Something was wrong.
This person was wrong.
Even through her consciousness clouded by the Evil Fire, she could clearly sense it.
The strength of the boy before her was simply beyond anything she could contend with.
The dragon claw gripping her wrist was like an iron-forged shackle. No matter how she struggled, it would not budge.
The Evil Fire surged madly within her, urging her to flee.
Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth, and her third soul ring burst with purple light.
A pair of wings burning with dark crimson flames unfurled from her back. At the same time, her second soul ring lit up, and the amplifying power of the Bathing Fire Phoenix flooded into her wings.
The flames swelled explosively, scorching the surrounding air into distortion. She yanked backward with all her strength and actually tore herself free from Mu Tianyi's dragon claw.
Her figure shot into the sky, streaking toward the outside of the dormitory building.
Run! Run now!
That was the only thought left in Ma Xiaotao's mind. Her wings flapped frantically, dragging a long trail of dark crimson flames behind her.
Mu Tianyi stood where he was, looking up at the red figure flying farther and farther away. The corner of his mouth curved faintly upward.
Trying to run?
Run from him?
The boy lowered his lashes and took a deep breath.
The next instant, black and white light erupted from his body, like two enormous dragons intertwining and rising before bursting open behind him.
The black light was abyssal, the white light radiant as day.
A yin-yang pattern slowly rotated in the air, its profound and majestic aura sweeping outward in all directions.
Gongyang Mo stood three meters away, his rainbow-colored eyes widened round, his mouth hanging open in an O.
"Th-this is..."
It looked exactly like a Martial Soul Fusion Skill he had seen before.
But a Martial Soul Fusion Skill required two people.
So what was going on with Mu Tianyi?
The black and white radiance faded, replaced by a tall, slender figure.
His white hair was like snow, falling to his shoulders, with a lock of ink-black highlights at his forehead, sharp and neat as if cut by a blade.
Within his black irises ringed with gold, golden specks shone like burning stars.
Behind him, one black and one white Dragon Wing burst open.
The left wing was black as ink, its bony structure sharp as blades, its edges glimmering with an icy violet sheen; the right wing was pure white as snow, full-feathered and flowing with a gentle golden halo.
Mu Tianyi beat his wings and vanished from where he stood.
Gongyang Mo did not even have time to blink before he saw a streak of intertwined black and white light flash across the sky, so fast that even an afterimage could not remain.
The next second.
A muffled boom rang out in midair.
Mu Tianyi appeared above Ma Xiaotao. His right fist drew back to his waist as his third soul ring blazed around him.
Dawn Dragon Roar.
"Roar!!!"
Mu Tianyi roared, and a sonic shockwave spread outward in a fan-shaped blast.
Everyone present, including the students watching from the dormitory building, felt their minds go hazy.
Especially those whose martial souls carried dragon bloodlines, such as Gongyang Mo.
The moment they heard that roar, the martial souls within their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably, like ministers beholding their sovereign.
Golden dragon-shaped energy exploded in the air, like a Bright Sacred Dragon diving down from the heavens, carrying the might to suppress all things as it smashed viciously into Ma Xiaotao.
Ma Xiaotao did not even have time to scream before her entire body dropped straight from the sky as though a mountain had crushed her.
The dark crimson flames shattered inch by inch beneath the impact of the power of light. The wings of Phoenix Soaring Through the Heavens were ripped into sparks that filled the sky before scattering in the wind.
Boom!!!
The girl's body struck the bluestone ground before the dormitory building, blasting out a shallow pit two meters across.
Shattered stones flew everywhere, dust billowed up, and spiderweb cracks spread outward from the edge of the pit.
Ma Xiaotao lay at the bottom of the pit, her red hair strewn across the ground. A trace of blood spilled from the corner of her mouth, and the Evil Fire around her had weakened to little more than a dying flame in the wind.
Mu Tianyi's roar contained the purest power of the Holy Dragon of Light and the Holy Dragon of Darkness. Under their overwhelming strength, Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire was directly suppressed.
Having regained her senses, Ma Xiaotao struggled to rise, but the moment she propped herself halfway up, she collapsed weakly again.
Gongyang Mo remained where he was, his mouth still shaped into an O, his jaw nearly dropping to the ground.
A three-ringed Soul Elder had been smashed out of the sky in a single move by a four-ringed Soul Ancestor.
Brother, you were insanely awesome!
And that was after his support. Even without his enhancement, this outcome probably would not have changed at all.
Mu Tianyi slowly descended from the air. His black and white wings folded behind him, while the powers of light and darkness slowly circulated around his body.
He walked to the edge of the shallow pit and looked down at Ma Xiaotao within it, his black eyes ringed with gold devoid of any emotion.
"Stop struggling."
Ma Xiaotao lay at the bottom of the pit and raised her head. Her amber eyes, corroded by Evil Fire, stared fixedly at Mu Tianyi.
Her eyes were full of unwillingness and fury, but she could not utter a single word.
Her body could no longer move.
At the same time, a flash of light passed by, and a figure silently landed at the entrance to the small courtyard.
Yan Shaozhe's gaze fell on the old man lying at the entrance, basking in the sun, and he froze slightly.
Teacher?
What are you doing here?!
Yan Shaozhe halted, his temples throbbing twice.
His teacher was here, so this disturbance...
He quickly withdrew his gaze, looked at Mu Tianyi, then at Ma Xiaotao, barely clinging to life at the bottom of the pit. His head felt twice as big.
Mu Tianyi's dragon roar had been so powerful that it seemed he wanted all of Shrek to hear it.
As the dean of the Martial Soul Department, with the Outer Court right under his nose, he had immediately sensed that something was wrong and rushed over at once.
He had made it here, but how was he supposed to deal with this?
Deal with it, my ass. Truth was standing right beside him.
Ma Xiaotao: Mistakenly Entering the Tian Family.
Helpless, Yan Shaozhe simply gave up.
He took a deep breath. Without stepping forward or saying a word, he quietly stood where he was and watched the situation unfold.
Mu Tianyi's gaze fell upon Ma Xiaotao. There was no pity or anger in his black eyes ringed with gold, only an assessment so calm it was nearly indifferent.
"I'll give you two choices."
The boy's voice was not loud, yet it carried clearly throughout the entire courtyard. Even the students leaning out from upstairs to watch subconsciously held their breath.
"First, withdraw from school yourself and get out of Shrek."
Ma Xiaotao abruptly raised her head from the bottom of the pit.
Unwilling flames burned in her now-clear amber eyes, and her lips moved as if she wanted to say something.
Mu Tianyi did not give her the chance to speak.
"Second—" He raised two fingers, his tone flat. "I'll cripple you right now. That way, you can stay at Shrek."
Before you continue