Evil Fire

For a while afterward, Xiaofei continued cultivating according to his original plan. One night, while meditating, he suddenly sensed something unusual. He felt a strange urge, as though something was affecting his desires.

Xiaofei hurried to the backyard and activated Martial Soul Possession. Sure enough, he sensed an unusual flame within the Fire Phoenix. Upon closer inspection, it seemed utterly incompatible with the phoenix's flames, yet it also affected the phoenix itself. It was somewhat like the Demon Seed described in the novels from his previous life, subtly influencing one's behavior without one realizing it. It could even provoke an urge to vent through slaughter or bedding women. Xiaofei carefully recalled the original story, and a thought suddenly flashed through his mind. This was the evil fire within the Evil Fire Phoenix. Ma Hongjun had been affected by this thing, which had caused him to grow fat and forced him to visit brothels regularly. This was troublesome.

Over the next few days, Xiaofei meditated while searching through all sorts of materials. He turned over every book in Nuoding Academy, but found nothing relevant.

Two days later, Xiaofei successfully reached level 15. At the same time, he felt that the evil fire within his body seemed to have grown stronger as well. Could the evil fire grow along with his Soul Power Increase? Xiaofei was instantly filled with bitterness. "What am I supposed to do? Do I have to go chasing women like Ma Hongjun?"

In his previous life, Xiaofei had looked down on Ma Hongjun immensely. Ma Hongjun's talent was second only to Tang San's among the Shrek Seven Devils, especially in terms of attack power. Yet his achievements were the lowest among them all, and he was also one of the least hardworking members of the Shrek Seven Devils. Xiaofei had no desire to become like him.

For the next several days, Xiaofei was consumed with worry. Sometimes, he could not even muster any energy in class. As far as he remembered, the only thing capable of solving the evil fire problem was the Cockscomb Phoenix Sunflower. But the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well belonged to Dugu Bo now. If he rashly went there, Dugu Bo would probably slap him to death. Dugu Bo was one of the most ruthless people in the Heaven Dou Empire. He killed without blinking, and it was said that he had even massacred entire cities. Xiaofei could not help but smile bitterly.

Then one day, Xiaofei suddenly saw Tang San, and inspiration struck him. The cultivation method for Twin Martial Souls required one to first raise one Martial Soul to its utmost limit. At the same time, one's physical condition needed to be trained to the extreme in order to avoid the risk of Twin Martial Souls causing the body to explode.

In other words, as long as he pushed his physical condition to its limit, he could avoid the backlash and influence of the evil fire. At the same time, Xiaofei thought of another person—Dugu Bo. Dugu Bo's entire body was filled with Jade Phosphor Serpent Poison. The serpent poison gave him tremendous strength, but it also backlashed against him. He relied on the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well to suppress the poison in his body, while the solution Tang San devised for him was the Soul Bone Transfer Serpent Poison Method.

Could he transfer the evil fire onto his External Soul Bone as well? The potential of an External Soul Bone was extremely high, and it could grow stronger alongside his Soul Power Increase. Would that not kill two birds with one stone? It could solve the evil fire problem while tempering the External Soul Bone and increasing its age.

No sooner said than done. That night, Xiaofei summoned his Fire Phoenix Martial Soul and sensed the flames on it. Sure enough, there were two distinct types of flame on his Martial Soul. One was Phoenix Flame, while the other was impure evil fire. He carefully sensed the flames and controlled his soul power, guiding the fire toward the External Soul Bone on his palm. After transferring it for an entire night, the evil fire on the Fire Phoenix had diminished. "So it really can be done this way. Now I can continue cultivating and become stronger even faster."

At the same time, another thought occurred to Xiaofei. He had two different flames within his body. If he could operate those two incompatible flames as Xiao Yan did, would that not become a Douluo version of Buddha's Fury Lotus? After considering it carefully, he decided to forget it. He did not have the Flame Mantra, nor did he have any way to fuse the two flames. If something went wrong, his body might explode before anything else did. It seemed that his main task for the foreseeable future was to train his body, improve his physical condition, and transfer the evil fire.

"Ah." Xiaofei let out a soft sigh.

"Other transmigrators are all ridiculously overpowered. I don't even have a cheat, let alone anything else. Instead, I have this evil fire that could explode at any moment. And my Innate Soul Power is one level lower than Ma Hongjun's, which means the proportion of evil fire in me may be even greater than his and much harder to handle."

After a bout of sighing, Xiaofei began another day of hard work.

After a month of effort, Xiaofei had temporarily transferred the evil fire in his body to his External Soul Bone. However, every time he finished meditating, he still felt that some evil fire would be produced, more or less. This infuriated him. What could he do when the evil fire was inherent to his Martial Soul? Unless he could evolve his Martial Soul.

At the same time, Xiaofei gradually understood why his cultivation speed had increased. After absorbing the Blazing Lion King's Soul Ring beyond his level, the excess power of the Soul Ring had continuously circulated and been absorbed within his body. There was also flame that exceeded his limits. After his first Soul Skill enhanced the flames themselves, Xiaofei gradually began to sense changes in the Fire Element around him. In other words, his ability to endure and comprehend the Fire Element had both improved.

This was especially noticeable at the Blacksmith Shop, where the Fire Element in the air was clearly far more abundant than elsewhere. That allowed Xiaofei to deepen his insights even further.

"So that's how it is. The first stage of the Fire Phoenix should be comprehension of the Fire Element. By coming into contact with excessive soul power and Soul Skills, I was exposed to higher-level flames ahead of time. Then, when those flames struck and tempered my body's Meridians last time, they broadened my Meridians. That allows my Meditation Speed to increase by ten to twenty percent when I meditate."

"This is a good thing too. That means my Innate Soul Power has increased. I'd estimate that my Innate Soul Power is now around level nine and a half. That's an enormous improvement."

Xiaofei muttered to himself. Fortunately, no one was nearby and no one heard him. Otherwise, his words would likely have caused a massive upheaval in the Soul Master World.

In the blink of an eye, the end of the year arrived. Since they were from the same village, Xiaofei and Tang San agreed to return together.

On the day school let out, Xiaofei, Xiao Wu, and Tang San walked along the road. Xiaofei carried several different bundles on his back, containing clothes, farming tools, seeds, food, and other things Old Jack had bought.

Tang San and Xiao Wu carried nothing at all. It was obvious that they had stored their belongings in a Soul Tool. Tang San showed no intention of helping Xiaofei carry anything either, likely because he feared exposing the Soul Tool. Xiaofei had nothing to say about that. Everyone had their own path to walk. No matter when it was, people could only rely on themselves, and they absolutely could not reveal their secrets to others.

And so, the three children—two boys and a girl—slowly made their way toward Holy Soul Village, one of the boys carrying several bundles.