Another "Traitor"?

"Evil fire... where did the evil fire go?"

He examined her again and again, the expression on his face shifting from terror to bewilderment, then to utter disbelief, as though he had seen a ghost.

Not a trace of the evil fire remained within Ma Xiaotao!

No, that wasn't right!

The source was still there!

The origin of the Evil Fire Phoenix martial soul was still there, the root that produced the evil fire was still there!

But... but it was like a pond whose water... had been completely drained?!

"Y-you... what exactly did you do?!" The elder suddenly raised his head to stare at Yu Chen, his voice trembling.

This was not purification! Shrek Academy had researched purification as well; it required immense light or ice power to neutralize and suppress it! But this man before him had used a... a far more tyrannical, far more unreasonable method!

Devouring!

He had actually swallowed the martial soul origin power within a Soul Emperor alive!

This had already surpassed everything the Douluo Continent's soul master system could comprehend! This was the method of a demon!

Wang Dong'er stood some distance away, her beautiful eyes shining with astonishment.

Her small hands were clenched tightly, and her chest rose and fell faintly.

This man...

He always did things that defied imagination.

Faced with the rampaging Evil Fire Phoenix, he had neither defended nor dodged. He had not even summoned his majestic, sacred White Dragon martial soul.

He had merely extended one hand.

And turned a Soul Emperor's rampage into a joke, casually snuffing it out.

No, it was even more terrifying than snuffing it out.

He had treated it as a snack and swallowed it in one bite.

What tyranny, what... power!

Yu Chen ignored the elder's questioning. He simply stepped forward, one step at a time, until he stood before Ma Xiaotao, who lay limp on the ground.

His snow boots crunched over the snow, each sound seeming to stomp on Ma Xiaotao's and the Shrek elder's hearts.

He looked down at her from above.

Ma Xiaotao raised her head as well, using every ounce of strength she had to look at him.

Her gaze was complicated.

There was the confusion of having survived a disaster, the weakness of having been completely drained, but even more than that, there was... awe and terror born from the instinct of life itself.

The man before her was dressed in white, fairer than snow, and so handsome he scarcely seemed human.

Yet just moments ago, he had displayed methods worthy of gods and demons.

"How do you feel?"

Yu Chen spoke in a tone as calm as if he were asking whether she had eaten.

Ma Xiaotao's lips moved, but no sound came out.

"Much lighter, right? That power that was always trying to burn your mind away is gone."

Yu Chen tugged at the corner of his mouth, but there was no warmth in his smile.

"But this is only temporary."

He crouched down and lifted Ma Xiaotao's chin with his index finger, forcing her to look into his eyes.

"Your martial soul is like a leaking bucket, and the evil fire is the filthy water inside. Today, I emptied the water for you, but before long, it'll fill up again on its own."

His voice was soft, yet it was like an ice spike piercing deep into Ma Xiaotao's soul.

"The next time it erupts, you won't be so lucky. Your reason will be completely burned away, your body won't be able to endure it, and you'll become a monster that knows only slaughter and destruction. In the end... you'll explode and die."

"No..." Ma Xiaotao finally forced out a single word, her eyes filled with terror.

"No?" Yu Chen smiled. "You think Shrek can save you? If they could, you wouldn't have come all the way to this godforsaken Far North to wait for death."

The Shrek elder's face alternated between red and white, yet he could not offer a single rebuttal.

Because what Yu Chen said was the truth.

"In this world, I'm the only one who can empty the filthy water from your bucket."

Yu Chen released her chin and rose, returning to that lofty demeanor, as though the one who had just committed such demonic acts was not him.

He turned and walked toward the exit of the icy valley, seeming completely unconcerned with the reactions behind him.

Wang Dong'er immediately followed him like his most loyal shadow.

The frigid wind swept past, stirring up the snow on the ground.

Ma Xiaotao lay in the snow, feeling the long-lost peace and calm within her body. Then, recalling Yu Chen's words, an icy chill shot from her tailbone straight to the crown of her head.

She did not want to die.

She wanted even less to become that sort of mindless monster!

Watching that figure about to vanish into the wind and snow, she somehow found the strength to struggle to her feet.

"Wait!"

Yu Chen stopped, but did not turn around.

Ma Xiaotao staggered after him a few steps, then fell to her knees in the snow with a thud.

Facing that retreating figure, she lowered the head that had once been so proud.

With his back to her, Yu Chen's voice was carried over by the wind and snow, indifferent yet bearing an unquestionable command.

"Only I can solve your problem."

"If you want to live, follow me."

The Shrek elder's eyes nearly split open from rage.

He looked at Ma Xiaotao kneeling in the snow, and it felt as though all the blood in his body had rushed to his head, making him dizzy.

"Ma Xiaotao! Have you lost your mind?! Get up!"

He roared, his voice distorted by extreme fury and fear.

"You are the chief disciple of Shrek Academy's inner courtyard! You are a future candidate for Sea God's Pavilion! Where are your glory and dignity?!"

Ma Xiaotao's body trembled violently in the snow. She did not lift her head, only pressed her forehead tightly against the icy ground.

Glory?

Dignity?

What flashed through her mind were scenes from countless days and nights when the evil fire had burned away her reason, when she had howled madly in a sealed chamber and slammed her head against the walls.

The regretful yet faintly disgusted looks in her family elders' eyes whenever they looked at her.

The academy teachers producing one so-called "suppression plan" after another, only for her to suffer even more violent backlash after brief moments of clarity.

Who understood that pain, that despair?

Now, one person had merely reached out a hand and forcibly extracted the nightmare that had tormented her for more than ten years, clinging to her like rot to the bone!

There was the weakness of being hollowed out, but even more than that, there was a long-lost tranquility, like being reborn!

She greedily breathed in the cold air, savoring the comfort of every inch of flesh and blood in her body returning to peace.

This feeling... was more real than any glory or dignity!

Yu Chen never turned back. He did not even make a single unnecessary movement, as though everything happening behind him had nothing to do with him.

Seeing that Ma Xiaotao showed no reaction, the elder finally turned his attention toward the white-clad figure.

He forced himself to stand straight and gritted his teeth. "Sir! On behalf of Shrek Academy, I thank you for saving her! But Xiaotao is a student of Shrek..."

Before he could finish, a cold voice interrupted him.

"She used to be."

Yu Chen finally turned half his face, his gaze sweeping over from the corner of his eye.

There was no contempt or mockery in that gaze, only the indifference of someone stating a fact.

It was as though he were saying that an ant had once lived in a nest to the east, and had now crawled west. Nothing more.

"You—!"

The elder's face flushed crimson as those two words choked him. His breath lodged in his chest, and he nearly fainted on the spot.

He wanted to threaten him, invoke Shrek Academy's name, and warn him that this meant making an enemy of the entire continent's holy land for soul masters.

But when the words reached his lips, he could not say a single one.

Threaten him?

What did he have to threaten him with?