Ma Xiaotao Comes Knocking Again

After hearing Lin Yao's words, Wang Yan nodded in satisfaction, then said to the two of them, "That confidence is good, but you still mustn't let your guard down. After all, the promotion assessments in previous years were never easy."

"And your class has the greatest number of core disciples, so naturally it will draw the Academy's utmost attention."

Ye Guyi nodded as well, then said to Wang Yan, "Don't worry, Teacher Wang. We'll do well. We'll definitely despise the enemy strategically while taking them seriously tactically."

Wang Yan nodded, then said sincerely, "Every year, only after the promotion assessment, when the new term begins, does the dawn truly arrive. Right now is the final darkness before dawn. You two, do your best."

After saying that, Wang Yan sent them back to make their preparations for the break.

Of course, though it was called a break, both of them knew that Shrek Academy had no intention of letting them truly rest. Rather, it wanted them to use this time to improve themselves and make one final leap in strength.

Lin Yao understood clearly that Ye Guyi might still be spared, but his assessment standards were surely different from everyone else's. Otherwise, asking a five-ringed Soul Master to fight a thousand-year soul beast would be far too easy, and far too unfair to those facing assessments of the same difficulty.

Shrek Academy might be stupid, but it was not stupid to that extent.

It was another early morning.

Lin Yao and Ye Guyi walked along the path by Sea God Lake. With storage Soul Tools, there was naturally no need for them to carry luggage on their backs. They strolled forward slowly, neither of them speaking.

Mist shrouded Sea God Lake. The damp air, swept along by a gentle breeze, brushed against their bodies, leaving their school uniforms slightly wet.

Though the lakeside path was long, it eventually came to an end. As the morning sun slowly rose, the mist gradually thinned.

"That's enough, isn't it, my great romantic poet?" Lin Yao said with a smile, walking sideways as he spoke to Ye Guyi.

This campus stroll had been Ye Guyi's idea. Her reason was that they had been at the Academy for so long, yet ever since they ran into Ma Xiaotao during their last walk, they had not properly gone for a stroll again. They might as well walk together and relax.

In any case, for people at their level, a journey of less than two hours would not affect their cultivation plans at all.

Lin Yao naturally agreed readily. He followed Ye Guyi down the path to its very end before half-jokingly asking for her opinion.

Just as Ye Guyi was about to speak, her eyes suddenly narrowed. She then raised a hand and pointed behind Lin Yao.

Lin Yao turned around and saw a familiar red speck of light once again hurtling toward the two of them.

"She really doesn't know when to quit." Lin Yao abruptly spread the wings of the Ender Dragon and shot toward that red dot.

Ma Xiaotao did not seem to have gone mad this time. Upon seeing Lin Yao charge at her, she slightly shifted aside and flew toward another landing spot by the shore.

A slender foot clad in a red high heel touched the railing, then took a step forward and landed on the stone bricks by Sea God Lake.

"I didn't come to fight you today." Ma Xiaotao spoke to Lin Yao. Looking at the five soul rings beneath his feet, she unusually did not reveal the impatient nature of a flame-crazed demon, instead speaking to him in a pleasant manner.

Lin Yao did not retract his martial soul. He merely asked in a hostile tone, "Then what did you come for? Don't tell me you came here to play?"

Ma Xiaotao said to Lin Yao, "I came to see her."

As she spoke, Ma Xiaotao pointed at Ye Guyi, who froze for a moment.

Lin Yao stepped to Ye Guyi's side and said to Ma Xiaotao, "What are you trying to do?!"

Ma Xiaotao smiled, then said to Lin Yao, "Your promotion assessment is in a month. If you want to improve your strength more effectively, naturally you need to spar. I just want to spar with her."

Lin Yao gave a cold laugh. "You call it sparring, but you're really trying to suppress your evil fire, aren't you? Ma Xiaotao, among all the selfish people I've met, you're among the most selfish.

"You clearly knew that cultivating with your evil fire would make you lose control, yet you stubbornly kept cultivating all the way until now.

"If the people you encountered that day had not been Ye Guyi and me, but two ordinary outer court disciples, your hands would already be stained with two lives. Yet you feel no guilt over it whatsoever, and you even dare to come find us again using the same method. You've truly gone insane for the sake of cultivation."

Ma Xiaotao sneered, then pointed at Lin Yao and said, "The world of Soul Masters has always been one where the strong devour the weak. Can you honestly say that you, Lin Yao, will never bully the weak in your life? That you'll never use Soul Power to oppress others?"

Lin Yao sneered. "Whether I use Soul Power to oppress others or bully the weak, I control the limits myself. I'm conscious of what I'm doing.

"But you commit such acts in an unconscious, crazed state. You have no way of taking responsibility for your own actions."

Standing beside Lin Yao, Ye Guyi said to Ma Xiaotao, "The world of Soul Masters may be one where the strong devour the weak, but that does not mean it's right for you to ignore the risks of cultivation and force yourself to cultivate. Even if you didn't cultivate, no one would prey on you."

Ma Xiaotao's expression darkened. Impatiently, she said to the two of them, "Enough with this useless nonsense. Give me a straight answer—are you sparring or not?"

"No." Ye Guyi spoke coldly, then said to Ma Xiaotao, "Lin Yao and I are already preparing to go home. We'll return in a month."

Ma Xiaotao frowned, then suddenly pounced toward Ye Guyi, saying coldly, "Whether you come or not isn't for you to decide!"

Lin Yao snorted. The Ender Dragon wings behind his back flapped, and though he moved later, he arrived first, intercepting Ma Xiaotao in midair. At the same time, he grabbed her shoulder and hauled her into the sky.

A trace of destructive power gathered in his palm, then seeped into Ma Xiaotao's skin.

Ma Xiaotao immediately felt as though she had suffered a violent electric shock. The pain was unbearable, and she twisted her body wildly, trying to break free of Lin Yao's restraint.

"You're courting death—Phoenix Fireline!" Ma Xiaotao shouted furiously. Blazing Phoenix Flame erupted from her mouth, and Lin Yao unexpectedly opened his mouth as well.

Purple dragon breath and Ma Xiaotao's phoenix flames sprayed out at close range. Before long, the red flames Ma Xiaotao exhaled were completely assimilated by Lin Yao's purple dragon breath.

"Both of you, stop at once!" An aged, authoritative voice rang out. Immediately afterward, a powerful pressure bore down on the two people still locked in battle in the air.

Lin Yao turned to look at the other party and saw that the person who had acted was a man draped in a white cloak, his entire body concealed beneath white cloth...