The Holy Spirit Cult gave Huo Yuhao no time to finish investigating the clues.
The attack came without warning. Three sensor towers along Shrek's northeastern outer wall went dark at once. Their alarms barely sounded half a note before dense, black soul power swallowed them. Huo Yuhao was in Soul Tool Laboratory Three with Dong'er and Qiu'er, reviewing records of the residual waves.
The moment the towers went dark, Huo Yuhao jerked his head up.
"Someone's coming."
As his Spirit Eyes swept outward, he saw thirty-seven black lines burrow into the ground from the woods beyond the city, heading straight for Wang Qiu'er. Farther away, a Titled Douluo's oppressive aura locked firmly onto her.
Xuan Zi's voice rang through Spiritual Sharing at the same time. "All Inner Academy disciples, fall back to the second line! Yuhao, take Dong'er and Qiu'er toward Sea God Lake. Don't meet them head-on!"
But Huo Yuhao did not retreat at once. From the beginning, that Titled Douluo's aura had targeted only Wang Qiu'er.
Black mist churned outside the window, and a huge, blood-red shadow of a Scorpion Tiger took shape in midair. It had no physical body, yet its savage pressure threatened to crush their minds. A hoarse, chilling laugh came from behind it.
"The Three-Eyed Golden Lion took human form, and she really was hiding in Shrek."
Wang Qiu'er rose, her golden eyes cold as blades.
Huo Yuhao's voice dropped. "Scorpion Tiger Douluo, Zhang Peng... He isn't here in person. This is a blood-shadow soul fragment."
As Zhang Peng's laughter faded, more than a dozen Evil Soul Masters charged out of the black mist. Their objective was clear: they would not kill Huo Yuhao or get tangled up with Wang Dong'er. They were going straight for Qiu'er. Blood patterns designed to strip away fortune were set into their soul chains. If they could take her, they would; if not, they would kill her on the spot. Several black chains shot through the window array toward Qiu'er's neck and wrists.
Wang Qiu'er shattered the first with her spear, but a second burst from beneath her feet, its blood patterns reeking. Dong'er's Light Butterfly God aura slashed down at the same moment. Huo Yuhao unleashed his Ice Jade Scorpion Martial Soul and froze the enemy's footing. Qiu'er seized the opening and charged, driving the foremost Evil Soul Master into the wall with her Golden Dragon Spear. But the Scorpion Tiger blood shadow bore down on them then. This was more than a difference in strength. It was an Evil Soul Master of Titled Douluo rank crushing a Soul Sage. Huo Yuhao's Spirit Detection was slammed back. Pain lanced through his forehead, and his Eye of Destiny nearly went out of control.
"Don't look directly at him," the Ice Empress warned, her voice suddenly cold. "The Blood Fiend Imprint will strike back."
Zhang Peng's laughter grew colder. "The Eye of Destiny is here too? Excellent... The Three-Eyed Golden Lion and the Eye of Destiny. What a lively day."
The black mist split abruptly. One part clawed at Wang Qiu'er, while the other stabbed straight at Huo Yuhao.
Dong'er spread her wings of light and moved directly in front of Huo Yuhao. The black mist struck her radiant aura, making it shudder violently, but she did not give an inch. Huo Yuhao steadied his gaze. Rather than look straight at the blood shadow, he traced the soul chains backward to find their anchor. Three breaths later, he saw it. The Scorpion Tiger blood shadow's true anchor was not outside the city. It was beneath the academy's old training ground.
Just then, a streak of dark-red fire cut across the distance.
The flames pierced the black mist and burned through the Blood Baleful Intent soul chains pressing down in front of Wang Dong'er. The air grew scorching hot. A woman in red landed before Huo Yuhao and Wang Qiu'er, her long hair swept up by the firelight, her striking face as sharp as an unsheathed blade.
Ma Xiaotao.
"The Holy Spirit Cult dares reach into Shrek?"
She looked up at the blood shadow and smiled coldly. "Zhang Peng, you're afraid to come in person, yet you think one soul fragment can take someone away?"
Phoenix Flame surged. She was the most outstanding senior disciple from the previous generation of the Inner Academy, not some ornament there to complicate a love triangle. The instant her fiery wings spread, every disciple around the training ground felt an overwhelming pressure. Dark-red flames tore a corner from the Scorpion Tiger blood shadow. Huo Yuhao seized the chance. He used Ultimate Ice to stabilize the recording plate, pinned the underground anchor with his Mental Interference field, and drove a soul attack into the blood shadow's core through the opening Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire had burned.
Boom!
A violent explosion erupted beneath the old training ground. The anchor for Zhang Peng's soul fragment was blown apart, and Phoenix Flame consumed most of the Scorpion Tiger blood shadow. In the distance, Xuan Zi's pressure descended like a mountain. At last, the black mist began to break apart.
Zhang Peng did not stay to fight. His chilling voice came from deep within the mist.
"Huo Yuhao, Wang Qiu'er... the Holy Spirit Cult won't let you go."
The black mist receded. More than half the Evil Soul Masters lay dead or wounded.
Ma Xiaotao landed with her red clothes billowing, a smile still on her lips. But Huo Yuhao's Spirit Eyes saw clearly that the Phoenix Flame behind her had not subsided. It burned darker and hotter. Zhang Peng's Blood Baleful Intent had bitten into her fire. Ma Xiaotao faltered slightly as she turned, and Huo Yuhao hurried forward. "Sister Xiaotao."
Ma Xiaotao put a hand on his shoulder, partly to steady herself and partly, it seemed, to draw closer. Her fingertips were astonishingly hot. He could feel the heat even through his clothes.
"Don't panic." Fine sweat beaded at her temples, but she still sounded amused. "My fire's just being a little disobedient."
Dong'er saw Ma Xiaotao's fingertips scorch the fabric at Huo Yuhao's shoulder, and her brow twitched. Qiu'er said bluntly, "Her fire is going out of control." Ma Xiaotao glanced at Wang Qiu'er, her smile unchanged. "You've got sharp eyes, little girl."
Huo Yuhao immediately released his Ultimate Ice. Icy blue cold spread up Ma Xiaotao's wrist. The moment her Evil Fire touched his ice, it coiled around it as though it had found the one thing that could hold it in check. Ma Xiaotao's breathing faltered.
With her Evil Fire temporarily restrained, Ma Xiaotao lost her strength and fell into Huo Yuhao's arms. She looked at him, her low voice carrying a teasing rasp.
"Looks like Xuan Zi was right... you really can help me."
"Senior Bei Bei, sorry for the trouble, but please take Sister Xiaotao to Isolation Array Three." Huo Yuhao stood. "Zhang Peng's Blood Baleful Intent has retreated, but the destroyed anchor means he has other arrangements inside the academy. I'll investigate and clear them out as quickly as I can."
Huo Yuhao grew more uneasy. Why had there been an anchor beneath the old training ground? When had Zhang Peng planted it? The crushed grit on the back hill, the markings in the corridor, the interference with the sensor array—what did the timing between these surveillance points mean? He remembered Bei Bei's earlier judgment: perhaps Wang Qiu'er had never been the only one the Holy Spirit Cult was waiting for. They had been waiting for the moment the Spirit Eyes and golden soul power appeared together.
And now there was another lead: Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire. Zhang Peng had quietly slipped Blood Baleful Intent into her fire. It had not been a spur-of-the-moment decision. He was testing whether Ultimate Ice could suppress multiple kinds of power at once. Huo Yuhao had a feeling this attack was only the beginning. Zhang Peng had left more than one hook behind.
Ma Xiaotao lay at the heart of the Isolation Array, her red clothes spread around her as Phoenix Flame surged outward in waves. The Evil Fire had burned the color from her lips. Huo Yuhao's Ultimate Ice had only suppressed it briefly, and both her body and mind had suffered. After confirming Shrek was safe, Huo Yuhao returned to Isolation Array Three. He sat cross-legged beside her and closed his eyes. His Spirit Eyes opened, and a fine thread of Ultimate Ice reached into the heart of the array. He meant to remove the danger of her Evil Fire losing control for good. At once, heat rushed against his Spirit Eyes like a dark-red tide. This was no simple eruption of soul power. It was an evil force mingled with Zhang Peng's Blood Baleful Intent, gnawing and corroding, its feverish agitation threatening to overwhelm reason.
Huo Yuhao pushed his Ultimate Ice deeper. The fine icy blue thread wrapped around the dark-red Evil Fire and peeled Zhang Peng's Blood Baleful Intent from the Phoenix Flame, inch by inch. Black-red flames burst through the array, only to be frozen by Ultimate Ice. The soul tool recording plate lit up, capturing the full frequency of Zhang Peng's Blood Baleful Intent.
Ma Xiaotao slowly woke. Her shoulders trembled, and her fingers gripped the edge of the array platform until her knuckles turned white. "Yuhao..." she whispered weakly.
Huo Yuhao's throat tightened. "Sister Xiaotao, you're awake."
"Looks like I'll have to come to you next time my Evil Fire gets out of control." Ma Xiaotao's lips curved into a smile.
Huo Yuhao thought nothing of it and put away the soul tool recording plate. But the instant it closed, a new coordinate surfaced along the edge of its platinum pattern: southwest of the city, on an abandoned post road.
It was the next hook Zhang Peng's soul fragment had deliberately left behind before retreating.
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