Evil Fire Erupts, Ma Xiaotao: Quickly Invite Yuhao!!

"What are you all good for?!"

Within Shrek Academy, on the path of Lake Heart Island in the middle of Sea God Lake, Yan Shaozhe moved with the wind, walking at a furious pace.

His usual gentle and scholarly image was nowhere to be found as he lashed out at the inner court deacons trailing behind him.

"Ma Xiaotao has been in seclusion for three days! Three days without emerging, and you only report such a major matter to me now?!"

The deacon, drenched in sweat, followed closely behind without daring to even breathe loudly, speaking with palpable terror.

"Dean, before Ma Xiaotao went into seclusion, she specifically instructed that she had gained some insight and that no one was to disturb her, regardless of what commotion occurred."

"We... we didn't dare to just barge in."

"Bullshit!"

Yan Shaozhe stopped abruptly, turning around to roar regardless of his status.

"She's acting recklessly, so you follow suit? Do you have no idea what the situation is with the Evil Fire Phoenix?"

"Three days! Three days!! If anything happens to her, I will hold you all accountable!"

The deacon shrank his neck, not daring to respond further.

Yan Shaozhe could not spare the energy to berate him further and turned to continue rushing toward the depths of Lake Heart Island.

His anxiety was now beyond words.

One must know that Ma Xiaotao was the most outstanding disciple of the inner court's younger generation, a Soul Emperor at only twenty years old!

With such talent, one could barely find a few in the history of Shrek Academy who could compare to her.

Although her Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul possessed a massive flaw, the pros outweighed the cons, and the academy's upper echelons still placed high hopes on her.

But more importantly, and the primary reason, was that Ma Xiaotao was Yan Shaozhe's own direct disciple.

She was the disciple he had raised from a young age, watching her grow day by day with his own eyes.

It would be no exaggeration to say that Ma Xiaotao was like a daughter to Yan Shaozhe!

With his own "daughter" suddenly facing trouble, perhaps even a threat to her life, how could Yan Shaozhe not be anxious?

To resolve the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao, Yan Shaozhe had spent years scouring countless ancient texts and searching for every possible treatment.

Unfortunately, they all treated the symptoms but not the root cause.

Yet, even if it could not be completely eradicated, with Ma Xiaotao's current cultivation and the resources provided by the academy, suppressing the evil fire should have been effortless.

How could something suddenly go wrong?

The more Yan Shaozhe thought about it, the more wrong it felt.

A few days ago, Ma Xiaotao had been perfectly fine, even having the leisure to stroll around the outer court.

How did she suddenly go into seclusion and end up in this state?

While lost in thought, he passed through a dense forest, and a stone chamber deep within Lake Heart Island appeared in his line of sight.

This was a place specifically prepared by the inner court for special students to go into seclusion, surrounded by defensive soul guidance arrays.

Two inner court students responsible for monitoring were anxiously guarding the door of the stone chamber.

Seeing Yan Shaozhe appear, the two looked as if they had seen a savior and hurried forward.

"Dean!"

"What is the situation?"

Yan Shaozhe asked with a grim face.

"It's very bad."

One of the students swallowed hard, pointing at the tightly shut stone door, looking somewhat fearful.

"Ma Xiaotao has been inside for three days. The first two days were fine, but for some reason, the temperature inside has been rising continuously since last night."

"By this morning, even the external arrays could barely hold on!"

Hearing this, Yan Shaozhe walked quickly to the secret chamber to carefully sense the situation inside, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

Even through the thick stone door, he could still feel a manic heat seeping out through the cracks.

This heat was extremely overbearing, carrying a destructive aura that seemed intent on burning everything to ash.

Yan Shaozhe's heart sank.

This is bad!

This is a sign that the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao is about to spiral completely out of control!

"Back away."

Yan Shaozhe could wait no longer. He waved the students aside and raised his right hand, a soft white light illuminating his palm.

The soul power of a level 95 Super Douluo erupted instantly, forcibly severing the array hub on the stone door.

"Boom--"

The heavy stone door slid slowly open to both sides.

The moment a crack appeared, a terrifying wave of heat surged out like a volcanic eruption.

Mixed within this heatwave were dark red flames; had an ordinary Spirit King been standing here, they would likely have been scorched into a critical state in an instant.

Yan Shaozhe let out a cold snort, a layer of dazzling incandescent light erupting from his body to forcefully hold the scorching air current at bay.

He strode into the stone chamber.

Upon seeing the scene inside, Yan Shaozhe's heart gave a violent jolt.

The once-spacious stone chamber had been burned beyond recognition.

The hard rock walls had taken on an eerie dark red hue, with the surface even showing signs of melting.

In the center of the chamber, atop a stone platform, sat Ma Xiaotao with her legs crossed.

The clothes she had been wearing were long since reduced to ash by the high temperature, leaving only a cocoon of dark red light, condensed from her own spirit power, to barely cover her body.

Ma Xiaotao's eyes were tightly shut, her brows knitted together in a fierce knot, her features twisted in extreme agony.

Fine beads of blood constantly seeped from her fair skin, but the moment they appeared, they were evaporated into blood mist by the intense heat radiating from her body.

Manic Evil Fire rampaged through her, like a beast out of control, attempting to tear her meridians apart.

"Xiaotao!"

Yan Shaozhe cried out in alarm, rushing to the front of the stone platform.

He dared not rashly use his own spirit power to suppress it; although the spirit power of the Bright Phoenix was pure, it was fundamentally fire-attributed as well.

To forcefully suppress it now would only be adding fuel to the fire.

Even if he were to revert his spirit power to its most primitive and gentle form, it would only provide temporary relief.

"Xiaotao, can you hear me?"

Yan Shaozhe softened his voice, calling out tentatively.

Ma Xiaotao's body on the stone platform shuddered violently.

She struggled to open her eyes.

Those eyes, once bright and charming, had turned completely dark red, with flames of madness and violence dancing deep within her pupils.

Fortunately, she still retained a final shred of sanity.

"Tea... cher..."

Ma Xiaotao opened her mouth, her voice as raspy as if it had been dragged across sandpaper.

"Don't speak, guard your heart and mind!"

Seeing his disciple in such a wretched state, Yan Shaozhe felt his heart ache terribly, and he hurriedly pressed for answers.

"What on earth happened? Weren't you fine just a few days ago? How did you end up like this!"

Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth, offering no reply.

She could hardly admit that it was because she had listened to a freshman from the Outer Courtyard and tried to rely on her own will to guide and control the Evil Fire, only to have it backfire spectacularly.

The words Huo Yuhao had spoken at the grilled fish stall kept spinning in her mind.

"It is you who controls the fire, not the fire that controls you."

"Do not seek outside yourself."

Ma Xiaotao was proud and arrogant, having been a standout among her peers since she was a child.

Deep down, she hated being a powder keg that could explode at any moment, and she hated even more the idea of pinning all her hopes on others.

So, after returning with the insights gained from Huo Yuhao's words, Ma Xiaotao had come straight here, sealed the stone chamber, and attempted to use her own spiritual power to tame the manic Evil Fire.

At first, the results were indeed promising.

She could feel her control over the flames improving.

Her heart had been filled with pleasant surprise.

Because of preconceived notions, Yan Shaozhe and the others had always used external force to suppress the Evil Fire for Ma Xiaotao since she was young, which led her to subconsciously believe that this Evil Fire could never be conquered by her own strength.

How could Ma Xiaotao not be surprised when this attempt revealed that she could suppress the Evil Fire herself?

However, the Evil Fire Phoenix was, after all, the mutated product of a top-tier martial soul; the negative emotions and destructive desires contained within it were simply not something her current spiritual power could contain.

By the time Ma Xiaotao realized something was wrong, it was already too late.

The Evil Fire launched a full-scale counterattack, directly severing her connection with the outside world.

Had Yan Shaozhe not broken in today, she likely wouldn't have lasted the night before detonating right here.

Watching Ma Xiaotao suffer in silence, Yan Shaozhe paced back and forth in a panic.

"This won't do. Your current situation is too dangerous; the Evil Fire must be channeled out immediately."

Yan Shaozhe's brain raced at high speed.

There were few methods within the Inner Courtyard capable of helping Ma Xiaotao suppress the Evil Fire.

The safest method is to find a high-level Spirit Master with water or ice attributes to neutralize it.

"Hold on, I'll go to the Outer Courtyard and drag that brat Xu Sanshi over right now!"

Yan Shaozhe suddenly thought of something and turned to leave.

Xu Sanshi's Mystic Tortoise Shell Shield was a top-tier water-attribute Martial Soul. Although his cultivation was a bit low and his attribute wasn't the optimal choice, it could provide some buffer and at least help Ma Xiaotao stabilize her heart meridians.

"No..."

Ma Xiaotao suddenly spoke, her voice weak but filled with extreme resistance.

Yan Shaozhe stopped in his tracks and looked back at her, feeling uncharacteristically angry at his own disciple.

"Don't be willful! Look at the state you're in; is this really the time to worry about pride?"

"I don't want him..."

Ma Xiaotao bit her lower lip hard, blood trickling down the corner of her mouth.

If she hadn't known about this method before, seeking Xu Sanshi for suppression would have been perfectly understandable.

But now that she had already verified the feasibility of Huo Yuhao's method, why would she still need to go find that Xu Sanshi?

Could it be that she, the dignified Ma Xiaotao, was truly destined to live her entire life relying on the strength of others?

She refused to become that kind of person!

Just thinking about it made her feel sick!

At this thought, Ma Xiaotao steeled her resolve.

If she couldn't overcome the Evil Fire, then she might as well die!

Furthermore, what she needed most right now wasn't suppression, but control.

She could feel that she was only one final step away from taming this Evil Fire.

As long as there was an external force that could help her sort out her rampaging emotions, she could regain control of her body.

And the person who could do that was...

"If you don't want him, then who do you want?"

Yan Shaozhe didn't know what Ma Xiaotao was thinking, and seeing the backlash of the Evil Fire growing increasingly severe, he was truly anxious now.

"Where else in the Inner Courtyard is there a suitable water-attribute Spirit Master?"

Ma Xiaotao gasped for air, her chest heaving violently.

The Evil Fire within her launched another assault, and the pain caused her entire body to spasm.

Yet, amidst the extreme agony, the image of a young man appeared with startling clarity in her mind.

The youth who sat before the grill, not even raising his head in the face of Xu Sanshi's provocation, forcing Xu Sanshi to flee in a pathetic panic with nothing but a surge of pure, extreme killing intent.

Huo Yuhao.

He could completely strip away emotions.

He possessed absolute control over killing intent.

He must have a way!

"Go to the Outer Courtyard..."

Ma Xiaotao used every ounce of her strength to squeeze the words through her teeth.

Yan Shaozhe leaned in closer, trying to hear her clearly.

"The Outer Courtyard? Find who?"

Ma Xiaotao suddenly raised her head, her dark red eyes filled with stubbornness.

"Find... Huo Yuhao."

Yan Shaozhe was stunned.

Huo Yuhao?

That freshman recommended by the Tang Sect whose first Spirit Ring was only ten years old?

Why on earth was she looking for Huo Yuhao?!