Xuan Zi: I... I Can't Do Anything! Don't Let This Happen!!!

The moment his words fell, Qian Jue didn't even raise a hand. His gaze merely sharpened slightly.

"Squelch—!"

The dark-purple threads of Soul Power wrapped around Dai Yueheng suddenly tightened, like the sharpest cutting machine in the world, instantly tearing through the White Tiger Body-Protecting Barrier he had been so proud of.

"Aah—!"

Dai Yueheng let out an utterly agonized scream as blood sprayed from every part of his body like fountains.

He desperately tried to activate the White Tiger Vajra Transformation to defend himself, but before that Demigod Rank power that stood above all else, his struggle was as fragile as paper.

"White Tiger Duke? Star Luo Empire?"

Qian Jue sneered, as though he had heard the most absurd joke on the continent.

"Not to mention a mere Dai Hao—even if the Star Luo Emperor stood before me with an army of a million, it would only take me a few extra seconds.

Using a mortal army to threaten a Demigod, Dai Yueheng... your stupidity is truly breathtaking."

"Yueheng!!!" Ma Xiaotao and Xuan Zi cried out in despair at the same time.

Dai Yueheng's pupils trembled violently before rapidly losing focus.

Only in the final moment before death descended did he truly realize what a laughable mistake he had made.

Before a monster who could cripple a rank ninety-eight Super Douluo with a casual gesture, worldly imperial power and armies weren't worth shit.

"Bang!"

The threads loosened, and Dai Yueheng's mangled corpse was tossed aside like garbage. Warm blood splashed across Xuan Zi's face.

"No... no..."

Elder Xuan trembled all over. Watching Shrek's most core Inner Court disciple die miserably before his eyes, his already shattered Dao heart completely collapsed, and tears streamed down his aged face.

"I can't do anything. Elder Mu died before my eyes, and I was powerless to stop it.

The Shrek Elder Mu entrusted me to protect is now being brutally slaughtered by that beast, Qian Jue, yet I'm just like some useless teacher..."

"I'm nothing but trash! How can there be such trash in this world?!!!"

"Elder Xuan, please don't be like this. This isn't your fault. That beast has already lost his humanity. Even if we truly die at that beast's hands today, a beast like him will sooner or later be struck down by heaven's punishment!!!"

Ma Xiaotao consoled him from the side.

Seeing this group still trying to maintain their backbone even with death at their doorstep, Qian Jue was so furious that he laughed.

His cold gaze, almost tangible in its intensity, slowly swept over the remaining Shrek members in midair before finally settling on Ma Xiaotao.

"Among everyone here, perhaps all of you are qualified to leave behind some last words. But you alone aren't."

Qian Jue slowly extended two slender fingers, his tone brimming with undisguised disgust and mockery.

"There are two kinds of people I hate most in this life, and you embody both all by yourself."

"First, Shrek people. Second, Evil Soul Masters."

"I am not an Evil Soul Master!"

Ma Xiaotao's eyes were bloodshot. Even in such desperate circumstances, the pride of an Inner Court genius still drove her to refute him with all her might.

"You're not?"

Qian Jue let out a derisive laugh, his gaze stabbing into Ma Xiaotao like blades.

"Your Evil Fire Phoenix is inherently a dark mutated martial soul that can easily lose control, and it even openly carries the word 'Evil' in its name.

Do you dare say you have never lost your mind from the Evil Fire's backlash?

Do you dare say you have never nearly harmed innocent people?

If Shrek's hypocritical facade hadn't covered for you, a threat like you—someone who could go berserk and kill at any moment—would have long been hunted down by the entire continent as an Evil Soul Master. Your crimes are utterly unforgivable!"

These words were like sharp blades, ruthlessly piercing Ma Xiaotao's final line of defense.

Her face turned deathly pale, and her lips trembled violently, yet she couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal.

Because Qian Jue was telling the truth. Her Evil Fire problem had always been a ticking bomb that could explode at any time.

"Shrek, which spouts righteousness and morality at every turn, secretly treasures an Evil Soul Master who could fall at any moment. What an utterly ridiculous irony."

A cold killing intent flashed through Qian Jue's eyes as a wisp of dark-purple Fallen Angel Flame silently ignited at his fingertips.

"Since Shrek can't bear to clean house, then today, I'll show you mercy and help you thoroughly extinguish this filthy Evil Fire—along with your life."

As his words fell, Qian Jue flicked his finger.

That wisp of dark-purple flame instantly transformed into a streak of light and shot toward Ma Xiaotao's dantian at a speed too fast for the naked eye to follow!

This wasn't an ordinary attack. It was Demigod fire imbued with an aura of ultimate destruction. Once it entered her body, it would not only instantly detonate the Evil Fire within Ma Xiaotao, but also burn her soul to ashes.

"Xiao Tao!!!" Xuan Zi let out a despairing roar, blood even bursting from the corners of his eyes.

"Senior Xiaotao!!!"

"Don't!!"

"..."

"Aah—!!!"

An agonized scream instantly tore through the deathly silence of the cave.

The dark-purple Fallen Angel Flame did not pierce directly through Ma Xiaotao's body. Instead, it burrowed into her dantian like a parasite clinging to the bone.

Its aura of ultimate destruction instantly ignited the long-suppressed Evil Fire inside her.

The two utterly different flames savagely clashed within her meridians, destroying the foundation of her cultivation inch by inch from within. The pain was like being slowly cut apart alive, beyond anything ordinary people could imagine.

Ma Xiaotao's entire body convulsed violently. Her originally fair skin was burned bright red, and tiny beads of blood even seeped from it.

But what frightened and devastated her most wasn't the torment of her body. It was that she could clearly feel the Soul Power she had cultivated so painstakingly for years being greedily devoured by that dark-purple flame!

Level sixty-seven... level sixty-five... level sixty!

In merely a few breaths, her proud Soul Emperor cultivation completely collapsed, plunging directly into the Soul King realm.

Yet that devouring power showed no sign of stopping.

Level fifty-five... level fifty... level forty-five...

"No... don't... my Soul Power..."

Ma Xiaotao wailed in agony as tears mixed with sweat and rolled down her face in large drops.

Before the horrified eyes of the Shrek students, Ma Xiaotao's cultivation fell wildly like a breached flood.

Soul Ancestor... Soul Exalt... At last, that terrifying devouring force gradually subsided, while Ma Xiaotao's cultivation was firmly halted at level twenty-nine, the realm of a Grand Soul Master!

The entire cave was deathly silent, with only Ma Xiaotao's weak, despairing gasps remaining.

The Shrek group stared blankly at the woman in red suspended in midair, her aura now utterly feeble, and an indescribable chill rose in their hearts.

Who was Ma Xiaotao?

She was the undisputed number one genius of Shrek Academy's Inner Court, an unparalleled prodigy destined to inherit the Sea God Pavilion in the future!

Yet now, the talent and cultivation she had been so proud of had been casually stripped away by Qian Jue.

She had been cast down from the clouds into the mud, turned into a Grand Soul Master inferior even to an Outer Court freshman.

For the proud and arrogant Ma Xiaotao, having her cultivation crippled and her dignity utterly trampled beneath his feet again and again was ten thousand times crueler than killing her outright!

Her once-unrivaled arrogance was crushed to pieces in that moment, leaving not even a trace behind.