Successfully Taking Control

Once the terms had been settled, Xu Tianming had nothing more to add, so he gestured for Steward Zhao to find Mu En a room within the estate for a temporary stay.

Mu En was naturally willing to accept the arrangement. However, before he could nod, Ma Xiaotao beside him suddenly blacked out and toppled stiffly forward. Had Mu En not caught her in time with his soul power, she would have gotten intimately acquainted with the floor.

Her rage had attacked her heart, causing her evil fire to lose control once more. Its rate of erosion was even faster than before.

This immediately put Mu En in a difficult position.

Under the previous circumstances, he could still rely on his own soul power to forcibly suppress the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao and prevent her condition from worsening.

But in her current state, he could only slow the rate at which the evil fire eroded her. He had no way to change the outcome of Ma Xiaotao eventually being completely consumed by it.

The only option now was to return to Shrek Academy as quickly as possible and use the powerful life force contained within the Golden Ancient Tree to suppress the evil fire in Ma Xiaotao's body. Yet that was only treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Just as Mu En hesitated over whether to immediately bring Ma Xiaotao back to Shrek Academy, he suddenly recalled the power Xu Tianming had just infused into her.

Noticing Mu En's gaze, Xu Tianming understood what he was thinking.

His power could indeed help Ma Xiaotao, but he had no intention of offering that help proactively.

Aside from the fact that he did not think much of Ma Xiaotao, the main reason was that he did not want his power to come too cheaply.

If Mu En wanted him to help Ma Xiaotao, fine—but Mu En had to ask personally. Otherwise, he could forget about it!

The shrewd old Mu En saw that Xu Tianming had no intention of helping. After a brief thought, he more or less guessed what Xu Tianming was thinking and inwardly mused:

It seems this boy's ideological education needs to be put on the agenda as soon as possible...

Having made up his mind, Mu En spoke frankly.

"Young friend, this old man has observed that your power seems capable of effectively suppressing the evil fire within Xiaotao. Could you perhaps help her? Xiaotao is a good child. What happened before was merely a misunderstanding between you two. Now that it has been resolved, and since you will be classmates in the future, if you take the initiative to help her now and forge a good bond, Xiaotao will certainly repay you someday."

Xu Tianming pondered for a moment before responding with a troubled expression.

"Fine. Since an old man like you has personally asked, I'll give you that respect. But let me make this clear first: my power can only temporarily suppress her evil fire for a while. It can't cure her completely, so you can't place all your hopes of healing her on me!"

Having achieved his goal, Mu En naturally had no objections.

"Of course. It is enough that you are willing to lend a hand, young friend. Our academy will naturally handle the subsequent treatment."

Mu En's answer left Xu Tianming rather disdainful.

Like hell Shrek can solve anything!

If he remembered correctly, in the original setting, Ma Xiaotao's martial soul required the blazing gel condensed by the hundred-thousand-year Fiery Apricot Delicate within the Icefire Yin Yang Well to completely resolve her evil fire problem.

And in this era, the Icefire Yin Yang Well had long since become the Tang Sect's private property.

Before Tang San ascended ten thousand years ago, he had set up several layers of protection around the Icefire Yin Yang Well.

The first was a maze formation.

Anyone who was not from the Tang Sect might not even be able to find the entrance to the Icefire Yin Yang Well.

Even if they were lucky enough to find the entrance, a vast poison formation made of Jade-Scaled Seven-Extinction Flowers lay outside it. Once an ordinary soul master came into contact with that poison formation, death was almost certain.

Even if they somehow passed the poison formation, there was still a second trial to overcome.

On one side of the valley was an Yang spring of extreme heat, while the other contained a Yin spring of extreme cold. The currents of ice and fire violently collided. Anyone whose body was not sturdy enough or whose soul power was insufficient would be torn apart by those two opposing forces upon entering, their body exploding to death.

Only soul masters at or above the Soul King level had the qualifications to endure that clash of ice and fire.

If someone made it through both of the first two trials, then congratulations—there was still a third one.

Within the Icefire Yin Yang Well were three hundred-thousand-year plant-type soul beasts that had gained intelligence. If those three were angered, they could summon the remnants of the Ice Dragon King and Fire Dragon King sealed within the Icefire Yin Yang Well to fight. Even a powerhouse at the Super Douluo level might not come away with any advantage.

At this point in the timeline, barring any surprises, Huo Yuhao should still be living with his ill-fated mother in the White Tiger Duke's Estate. He would not officially enroll in Shrek Academy for another three or four years, and that was not even counting the time he needed to grow...

By a rough estimate, if events followed the original plot, the heavenly treasure capable of curing Ma Xiaotao's martial soul problem would have a chance to appear only after at least six years.

The problem was that without his help, Ma Xiaotao might not even last six days, let alone six years. If the Holy Ghost Cult attacked Shrek Academy ahead of time and abducted Ma Xiaotao, then she would basically be beyond saving.

As for Xu Tianming's position—

He could help Ma Xiaotao suppress her evil fire over a long period, but only on the condition that he received enough benefits in return.

For instance, Ma Xiaotao's teacher, Yan Shaozhe.

Xu Tianming had already decided that as long as Yan Shaozhe was willing to lower his head to him and acknowledge the favor of his intervention, then helping Ma Xiaotao would be worthwhile.

While making plans for the future, Xu Tianming was also suppressing the evil fire within Ma Xiaotao.

Following his request, the power Mavuika released this time was enough to stabilize the evil fire in Ma Xiaotao's body for seven days.

After waking from her coma and learning of the situation from Mu En, Ma Xiaotao fell silent for a moment. Then, she lowered her head toward Xu Tianming in shame.

"I apologize for my previous actions. I will remember the favor you have done me by helping this time. If the opportunity arises in the future, I will certainly repay this debt. I hope you can forgive my earlier rudeness."

Though Ma Xiaotao had a fiery temper, she could still distinguish gratitude from grievance at the most basic level.

Hearing the sincerity in her voice, the knot in Xu Tianming's heart loosened somewhat.

"You'd better truly understand that you were wrong. Don't let there be a next time!"

After saying that, Xu Tianming lost interest in continuing the conversation with her. He simply had Steward Zhao arrange two rooms for her and Mu En to stay in temporarily.

Only after the two had gone far away did Xu Tianming turn to Kong Deming and Xu Tianran.

"Uncle, Second Brother, it's a good thing you arrived in time today. Otherwise, I would have suffered a huge loss."

Kong Deming's expression turned complicated at those words. He sighed, but ultimately said nothing more. He merely stepped forward and patted Xu Tianming on the shoulder.

"Once you arrive at Shrek Academy, remember to take good care of yourself. If you suffer any grievances there, you need not endure them. Remember, the entire Sun Moon Empire stands behind you as your strongest shield! So long as the Sun Moon Empire remains, no one in this world can make you, Tianming, suffer any injustice!"