No One Knows the Evil Fire Phoenix Better Than I Do!

Surprise flashed in Ma Xiaotao's eyes.

The purity of that bone-deep cold surpassed even her expectations. She had intended to keep suppressing her evil fire, but when she sensed how powerful Huo Yuhao's energy was, she assumed he had strength to spare and eased her restraint a little.

"Yuhao, now!"

In the Sea of Spirit, Yu Xiaogang barked, "Your attribute is suppressing her evil fire. Pour in more Soul Power and drive it all the way back in one push!"

Huo Yuhao did not dare hesitate. He channeled every last bit of his Soul Power into his arms.

In an instant, the aura of Ultimate Ice surged again, driving the evil fire inside Ma Xiaotao back step by step.

But that advantage lasted only a few breaths.

His Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion martial soul had yet to fully stabilize, and Huo Yuhao had only two soul rings. Ultimate Ice might be an extraordinary attribute, but he had nowhere near enough Soul Power to sustain such reckless output.

His Soul Power quickly ran dry.

The surging cold faltered. Frost cracked across Ma Xiaotao's arms, and great patches began to melt.

Ma Xiaotao had not expected Huo Yuhao to run out of strength so soon either. With nothing to stop it, the evil fire she had just allowed to flare surged back through their joined palms.

Boom!

Huo Yuhao shuddered, his face flushing red.

Restless evil fire rushed into his arm and raced along his meridians toward his chest. The cold of Ultimate Ice scattered before it, and the edges of his sleeves turned black in an instant.

"Not good! Withdraw your Soul Power, now!" Yu Xiaogang shouted.

"I can't!" Huo Yuhao gritted his teeth. "If I pull back now, all the evil fire will flood in!"

Yu Xiaogang's expression stiffened. His understanding of Body Martial Souls and ultimate attributes had always been limited, and he had never imagined the evil fire inside Ma Xiaotao could be this fierce. For a moment, he had no idea how to fix the situation.

"First... first stabilize your Soul Power!" Yu Xiaogang kept changing his instructions, leaving Huo Yuhao scrambling to keep up.

Just as the scorching energy was about to reach his chest, Huo Yuhao's dormant Sea of Spirit shook violently.

A faint golden light appeared, and the plump figure of the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm squeezed its way out. Before he had even fully opened his eyes, he sensed the evil fire raging through Huo Yuhao's body and cried out:

"Whoa! How long was I asleep? How did little Yuhao nearly get roasted alive?" He hurriedly drew on a sliver of his own source energy to help Huo Yuhao through the crisis.

Forcing himself to stay awake, he scanned Huo Yuhao's condition. His voice shot up.

"You've only got two soul rings, and you're throwing all your Soul Power against a Soul Emperor? Who taught you to suppress evil fire like that?"

Huo Yuhao instinctively glanced at Yu Xiaogang in a corner of the Sea of Spirit.

Yu Xiaogang's face darkened, but he kept his hands clasped behind his back and forced himself to appear calm. "I merely misjudged the evil fire's strength. The Evil Fire Phoenix was my disciple ten thousand years ago. No one knows the Evil Fire Phoenix better than I do!"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm followed Huo Yuhao's gaze and narrowed his eyes. "Little Yuhao, I asked you a question. Who told you to do that?"

"I..." Huo Yuhao lowered his head guiltily. "I thought Ultimate Ice could suppress evil fire, so I tried to force it down all at once."

"You thought of that yourself?"

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm circled him with a suspicious look, then curled his lip.

Huo Yuhao looked even more embarrassed, but he did not name Yu Xiaogang.

For one thing, Yu Xiaogang had formally accepted him as a disciple. For another, he did not want to admit that his teacher's first lesson on using his second martial soul had nearly ended in disaster.

"Enough. This isn't the time to sort out blame."

The Sky Dream Ice Silkworm clearly did not believe him, but he stopped pressing and said sternly:

"Stop pushing Soul Power outward! You're already running on empty. If you keep forcing it, your meridians will lose all protection."

"Relax your right arm and draw on the source of your Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion martial soul. Ultimate Ice's real strength lies in the nature of its attribute, not in how much Soul Power you can throw at a problem. Let your martial soul repel the evil fire on its own and slowly push it out!"

Enduring the burning pain in his meridians, Huo Yuhao followed Tian Meng's guidance. He stopped releasing Soul Power, focused his mind, and tried to awaken the Ice Jade Emperor Scorpion's source within him.

Jade-green light appeared again.

This time, the cold did not burst outward. It crept along Huo Yuhao's meridians, pushing the evil fire that had invaded his body back toward his palm bit by bit.

Ma Xiaotao sensed the change and immediately reined in her own power, drawing the retreating evil fire back into herself. It took them another full half hour to bring the runaway energy under control.

The moment their palms parted, Huo Yuhao fell onto his back in the grass, gasping for air. His right arm was charred black, yet bits of ice still clung to his hair. He looked absurd.

Ma Xiaotao did not look well either. "Sorry. I misjudged your Soul Power. The Ultimate Ice you released was so strong that I thought you could keep it up for at least fifteen minutes."

Huo Yuhao managed to shake his head. "I pushed too hard at the start."

In the Sea of Spirit, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm chuckled. "Pushed too hard? Well, well..."

Yu Xiaogang gave a cold snort and turned away.

Tian Meng wanted to tease him a little more, but his body was already turning translucent. He had been jolted awake by force, and now that the danger had passed, sleepiness washed over him again.

"Little Yuhao, I'm going back to sleep. Remember, next time someone tells you to risk your life, wake me up first..."

As his last words faded, the golden silkworm sank back into the Sea of Spirit. Huo Yuhao remained sprawled on the grass, looking more embarrassed than ever.

Two days later, a notice bearing the outer academy's administrative seal was delivered to every core disciple under fifteen.

It offered no explanation of the assessment, only two short lines:

"All core disciples of the Martial Soul Department and Soul Tool Department under fifteen must gather at the Soul Dueling Arena this afternoon."

"The details of this event are confidential. Anyone absent without cause will lose their status as a core disciple."

In the Class Two classroom, Huo Yuhao gripped the notice tightly.

Meanwhile, Gu Mingyuan, Cao Jinxuan, Zhou Sichen, and the others in Class One received the same summons.

The atmosphere at the Soul Dueling Arena was tense.

By the time Gu Mingyuan arrived with Cao Jinxuan and Zhou Sichen, nearly all the outer academy's core disciples taking part in this so-called "secret selection" had gathered.

Bei Bei had originally been on the list, but he was still bedridden and had no choice but to miss it. That left twenty-seven participants in attendance.

Xuan Zi looked as disheveled as ever. Holding a greasy wine gourd in one hand and a chicken leg in the other, he announced the rules through a mouthful of food.

"Free-for-all. No rules." Xuan Zi took a bite of his chicken leg.

"Give up, or get beaten so badly you can't stand and have me haul you out, and you're eliminated. The last seven standing win. Begin!"