Sharpening Each Other

Ye Guyi playfully punched Lin Yao's chest and said, "I was just saying it, and you're already making fun of me? Take that!"

Lin Yao smiled, caught her small fist, and rubbed the back of her hand, causing Ye Guyi to blush and pull her hand away.

"Cough, cough. But in all seriousness, how can Shrek Academy be so full of filth? To actually allow someone so dangerously filled with evil energy to be an inner court disciple," Ye Guyi asked, looking at Lin Yao with confusion.

"The power to enforce the law is entirely in Shrek's hands. Whether someone is controllable or not is just a matter of their word. If they say you're controllable, you are; if they say you're not, you're a dangerous Evil Soul Master who must be struck down with a heavy hand. There's no way around that."

Ye Guyi shrugged at his words, then raised her hand, a cluster of Holy Angel light dancing at her fingertips. She pursed her lips and said to Lin Yao, "Still, encountering this today had its benefits. My Holy Angel power grew stronger as I suppressed the evil fire within her."

Lin Yao looked up, feeling the soul power at Ye Guyi's fingertips with surprise, and asked, "It can do that? I thought your power could only be increased by killing."

Ye Guyi pursed her lips, then rubbed the energy between her fingertips. "If you ask me, I can't explain exactly why, but I can feel that I'll be locked in a long struggle with her. I think we're destined to be whetstones for each other."

Hearing this, Lin Yao took her hand earnestly and said, "If that's the case, I will definitely help you."

Ye Guyi couldn't help but smile slightly, then nodded at him. "I knew you would."

Lin Yao smiled back. Thinking of something, Ye Guyi said, "By the way, I heard the outer court's Soul Guidance Department is holding a Soul Guidance Device exhibition. Should we go take a look?"

Lin Yao looked at her excited expression and finally nodded. "Even though it's pretty foolish to look at Soul Guidance Devices from Shrek's perspective in this era, if you want to go, there's no harm in taking a look."

Ye Guyi smiled at him, and the two then returned to their respective dorms to rest.

At that moment, by the shore of Sea God Lake, a slender, lotus-root-like arm reached up onto the stone steps of the outer court bank.

Ma Xiaotao shook her head as she crawled out of Sea God Lake. After soaking in the water, the momentum of her evil fire had weakened, and having been purified by Ye Guyi's holy power, it had retreated back into her body, allowing her to regain her senses.

Ma Xiaotao rubbed her aching head. Behind her, several figures flew out from the direction of the inner court and landed by her side.

"Are you alright, Xiaotao?" the leading figure in white asked with concern. Ma Xiaotao nodded, her voice sounding somewhat weak.

"I'm fine. I ran into two outer court students earlier; their methods were quite tough," Ma Xiaotao murmured to the person in white before struggling to summon her Martial Soul and flying toward the inner court with them.

On the way, the figure in white said, "Didn't I tell you not to cultivate for a while? It's fortunate that this outbreak of evil fire didn't cause any serious consequences, or no one would have been able to protect you."

Ma Xiaotao frowned and retorted, "I only wanted to cultivate. What did I do wrong?"

The figure in white was silent for a moment before saying coldly, "We'll discuss this when we return to the inner court."

In a secret chamber on Lake Heart Island at Shrek Academy, Ma Xiaotao walked in and looked at the old man before her.

Ma Xiaotao lowered her head and said apologetically, "I'm sorry, Teacher. I failed to control myself."

The white-robed old man sighed and said, "Xiaotao, stop your cultivation from now on. Although you are the greatest genius Shrek Academy has seen in a century, I cannot watch you destroy yourself for the sake of cultivation. If your evil fire consumes you again and leads to a grave mistake, your entire life will truly be ruined."

Ma Xiaotao clenched her fists so tightly that blood seeped from her palms. She said firmly, word by word, "No, Teacher. I must continue to cultivate. I want to become stronger, stand at the pinnacle of the soul master world, and protect the academy."

Her words rang out with conviction. The old man was silent for a moment before saying, "Sigh, why must you be so stubborn? Still, those two students who confronted you today were quite interesting. The aura of the Holy Angel still lingers on you even now."

Ma Xiaotao asked the old man, "So, Teacher, who exactly attacked me? I was in a state of delirium and didn't see their faces."

Yan Shaozhe replied, "One of them is the boy Elder Mu personally named to enter Shrek Academy, and the other must be the young girl he brought with him. Her Martial Soul is the Holy Angel, and she possesses an incredibly potent holy attribute."

"The holy attribute didn't just suppress your evil fire through the opposition of ice and fire; it directly countered the evil power within your fire from a holy perspective, forcing it to temporarily retract."

Ma Xiaotao said, "Teacher, I have a feeling that I will fight the owner of that Holy Angel Martial Soul again in the future. It seems my Martial Soul can also improve its quality through battling her."

The old man was stunned for a moment before saying, "Because of the clash between elements, you and her Martial Souls have developed a sense of destiny as whetstones for one another? Such a situation is extremely rare in the soul master world."

Ma Xiaotao sighed and said, "It's just a pity that the girl accompanying that boy has a much lower soul power than mine right now. Fighting her now wouldn't yield the best results. I'll have to wait until she reaches my level to have a proper fight."

The old man stroked his beard and said, "A Holy Angel Martial Soul owner will progress faster than the average soul master once they reach a certain level of mastery, as they can increase their cultivation by slaying Evil Soul Masters and harvesting their evil energy."

"In that case, coupled with the fact that she is accompanied by that special boy who even caught Elder Mu's attention, I believe you won't have to wait long for a fair duel. Whoever wins will be able to step over the other to reach an even higher level of cultivation."

Ma Xiaotao clenched her fists, a fierce fighting spirit surging in her eyes as she said firmly to the old man...