Ma Xiaotao now found Huo Yuhao more and more pleasing to the eye.
The more she looked, the more she thought what a handsome little face he had.
She even felt that facing this face every day for the rest of her life might actually be pretty nice.
But as soon as that thought crossed her mind, she couldn't help recalling what had happened last night in the Stone Chamber. Ma Xiaotao felt her face start to burn.
Yan Shaozhe thought they had spent the entire night desperately suppressing the Evil Fire, but that wasn't what had happened.
The frenzied energy had been completely purged by Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao working together in the middle of the night.
As for the rest of the night...
Ma Xiaotao hardly dared to think about it.
The Evil Fire had been gone, but the lust it had transformed into was still coursing through her body.
Though she was no longer in danger of bursting apart, it still affected her reason.
At the time, Ma Xiaotao had been dazed and muddled. She'd only felt that Huo Yuhao was especially cool and comfortable.
So she'd wrapped herself around him like an octopus.
And she'd been very handsy, too.
She'd touched his chest, wrapped her arms around his neck, and even bitten his shoulder. The most important thing was...
She'd been completely naked.
When she finally came to her senses in the latter half of the night, she found herself clinging tightly to Yu Hao, with one leg draped over his waist.
At the time, Ma Xiaotao had wanted to die.
Sure, she'd heard the older students in the Inner Academy make lewd jokes all the time, but having it happen to her was an entirely different matter.
She was a genius of the Inner Academy, and an unmarried young woman to boot. She'd never even held a man's hand in her life, yet she'd done something like that to a junior several years younger than herself!
Ma Xiaotao was too mortified to face anyone, and she had no idea how to face Huo Yuhao.
So she simply closed her eyes and played dead, lying on top of Huo Yuhao until morning.
And, she had to admit, it was pretty comfortable.
Only after making sure Huo Yuhao wasn't going to do anything else did she pretend to wake up and hurriedly rummage through her Soul Tool for clothes to put on.
Thinking of that, Ma Xiaotao couldn't help giving a light cough. Then, as if she'd suddenly remembered something, a blush rushed across her pretty face.
She leaned closer and lowered her voice, chiding him coyly.
"Yuhao, about what happened last night... you absolutely mustn't tell anyone."
Huo Yuhao swallowed a mouthful of chicken soup and nodded.
"Don't worry, Sister Xiaotao. I won't tell."
Of course he wouldn't tell anyone.
If anything, last night had been harder on him.
He'd had a soft, fragrant beauty in his arms—and she was a stunning mature woman under the effects of an aphrodisiac buff.
If he hadn't mastered the Ghost Killing Art well enough to force all those unruly thoughts into pure reason, he would've been done for in that Stone Chamber.
Actually, he could have just gone along with it and let Ma Xiaotao vent that lust. That would've solved the Evil Fire problem, too.
But Huo Yuhao hadn't done that.
First,
that was the old road Ma Hongjun had taken. It treated the symptoms, not the root cause, and once you fell into it, it was hard to escape.
If he'd done that, everything he'd done before would've been for nothing.
It also would've strayed from Huo Yuhao's original intention.
Second,
venting like that was highly addictive.
Ma Xiaotao had gotten a taste of it this time. Given her temperament, she'd definitely come to him whenever she needed it in the future.
That would change the nature of the whole thing.
Huo Yuhao was helping her to test the effects of the Ghost Killing Art and fire the first shot in his rebellion against God King Tang.
He didn't want to become her personal human fire extinguisher.
Most importantly,
once or twice would've been fine.
But doing it all day and all night? Even a body made of iron couldn't take that!
At the very least, he'd wait until Ma Xiaotao learned to fully control her own Evil Fire.
"Sister Xiaotao, you really aren't going to eat any?"
Huo Yuhao pointed at the untouched bowl of Golden Dragon Tendon Noodles on the table.
They were called dragon tendons, but they actually came from a Soul Beast with just a trace of dragon blood. The name barely fit.
Ma Xiaotao shook her head, still watching Huo Yuhao with a lingering look in her eyes.
"I'm not hungry. I'm already full."
Her gaze made Huo Yuhao's scalp prickle, so he could only lower his head and get back to eating.
Just then, a flurry of hurried footsteps broke the delicate mood between them.
An Inner Academy student in a red uniform came rushing up to the second floor, drenched in sweat. He glanced around and, spotting Ma Xiaotao, hurried over at once.
The moment she saw someone had come looking for her, the blush vanished from Ma Xiaotao's face, and she returned to her usual fiery, efficient self.
"What is it?"
The Inner Academy student leaned close to Ma Xiaotao's ear and quickly whispered a few words.
Huo Yuhao couldn't make out what he said, but judging from the way Ma Xiaotao's brows immediately knitted together, it definitely wasn't good news.
He had a rough idea.
It was probably a mission for the Shrek Inspectorate.
As everyone knew, Inner Academy students automatically joined the Inspectorate. They were mainly responsible for dealing with Evil Soul Masters who committed atrocities and heinous incidents that the states couldn't control.
This was one of the few things about Shrek that Huo Yuhao genuinely approved of.
Though the existence of a Supreme Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult had once led to severe casualties among Inner Academy students on missions, that didn't change the fact that what they were doing was good for ordinary people across the Douluo Continent.
But since it had come up, Huo Yuhao had to vent his frustration.
How could a Super Douluo at Level 98 fail to protect his students from an Evil Soul Master at the Soul King level?
Even if Soul Tools had played a part, it was still absurd.
This wasn't ten thousand years in the future, when top-tier Soul Tools could threaten even a Limit Douluo's life.
No wonder people suspected him.
There were only two possibilities: he was simply incompetent, or he really was the Supreme Elder of the Holy Spirit Cult.
Huo Yuhao put the thought aside and looked across the table.
For an Inner Academy student to rush over and find Ma Xiaotao like this, it was highly likely the matter involved Evil Soul Masters.
As the Inner Academy's strongest fighters, Ma Xiaotao and her fellow students had a heavy burden on their shoulders.
The student finished his report and respectfully stepped aside.
Ma Xiaotao sighed and waved for him to go.
When she turned to Huo Yuhao, the usually decisive senior student unexpectedly looked a little reluctant to leave.
"Yuhao, I have an urgent mission. I have to leave the academy right away."
Huo Yuhao put down his chopsticks and nodded without asking questions, simply reminding her,
"Be careful, Senior."
Seeing how well-behaved and considerate he was, Ma Xiaotao's heart melted.
She couldn't help reaching out and gently pinching his fair cheek.
"Wait for me to come back."
She leaned in a little, her voice carrying a teasing fondness only the two of them could understand.
"When I finish the mission and come back, I'll make sure to spoil you properly."
Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched.
Lady, you should figure out how to completely control your Evil Fire first.
And could you stop saying things that are so easy to misunderstand?
There's absolutely nothing improper between us!!
Ma Xiaotao didn't linger. She turned and strode out of the dining hall, her fiery red figure quickly disappearing down the stairs.
Watching Ma Xiaotao leave, Huo Yuhao suddenly thought of something.
The Ghost Demon Venerable had said before that to formally cultivate the Ghost Killing Art and bring out its true power, he had to engage in real slaughter and get his hands soaked in blood.
After all, it was the Slaughter Path. What kind of path was it if you didn't kill?
But the restrictions of his current situation were clear. Huo Yuhao couldn't go around killing everyone he met and cutting down everyone in his path, as the Ghost Demon Venerable had suggested.
In this environment, that would be no different from suicide.
This wasn't the Gu World or the Southern Border, where you could kill as many people as you wanted, where mortals were all ready to throw their lives away and no one cared.
But what if he killed Evil Soul Masters?
They were people, after all.
And more importantly, no one would hold it against him for killing them.
They had no rights, no matter where they were.
In other words, everyone had the right to execute them.
Even if anyone found out what he'd done, no one could say a thing. He might even get a medal for vanquishing evil and upholding justice.
The only trouble might come from the Holy Spirit Cult, but Mu En was still alive, so they wouldn't dare show their faces.
Huo Yuhao could kill and run, then return to Shrek. Shrek would definitely keep him safe.
Huo Yuhao thought it over and decided the idea was workable.
So he picked up his bowl and finished the last mouthful of soup, then burped contentedly.
That raised a question.
Huo Yuhao was a little lost.
Where was he supposed to find Evil Soul Masters??
Huo Yuhao could now understand General Duanmu a little.
In the Martial Soul Department dean's office.
Yan Shaozhe was frowning as he looked over Huo Yuhao's records. Then someone hurriedly pushed open the office door and rushed in, reporting something that surprised him and forced him to take the matter seriously.
"The Clear Sky Sect's leader is coming to visit Shrek??"
Before you continue