Huo Yuhao's eyes snapped open. His right hand shot out like lightning and seized the dark-purple core in the Soul-Devouring Banshee's chest.
He poured all the rampaging Senjutsu Soul Power in his body into it, along with every scrap of excess Natural Energy.
The Soul-Devouring Banshee's body swelled violently.
Gray-white mist churned, and the dark-purple core turned an eerie gray-green in an instant.
Then—
Crack.
In just a few breaths, the Soul-Devouring Banshee became a palm-sized toad statue and dropped beside Huo Yuhao's foot with a clack.
Huo Yuhao looked down at the toad statue, then at the stony patterns fading from his right arm. A smile slowly curved his lips.
"If there's such a simple way to do it, training in Senjutsu won't be a problem!"
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm was utterly dumbfounded in the Sea of Consciousness.
"You can do that? Good heavens, how does your mind even work?"
Electrolux let out a long, thoughtful sigh.
"Using an undead creature to bear the cost when your Senjutsu runs out of control... Child, you're bolder than I imagined."
Over the next few days, Huo Yuhao's life became even harder than his final year of high school in his previous life.
By day, he studied Soul Master theory under Wang Yan in Freshman Class One, always the least conspicuous student in the room.
When he occasionally ran into Xiao Yan in the corridor, they would exchange smiles and greetings, and Xiao Yan would give his shoulder a friendly pat.
But Huo Yuhao could tell that Xiao Yan's face was pale and the Soul Power fluctuating around him was unstable.
Clearly, Xiao Yan had not fully recovered from his injuries in their earlier battle.
But Xiao Yan rarely left Shrek Academy, so Huo Yuhao had no chance to kill him.
Each night, once the dormitory building had fallen completely quiet,
Huo Yuhao locked the doors and windows, had Electrolux open a rift to the Undead Demiplane, and slipped inside to train.
His Rasengan training went more smoothly than expected.
He possessed the Wind Attribute, giving him a natural affinity for changes in the form and nature of Soul Skills.
He progressed from the most basic exercise of bursting a water-filled ball, to bursting a Rubber Ball, and finally to uniting rotation, power, and stability.
In fewer than three all-nighters, Huo Yuhao succeeded in gathering a fist-sized, azure sphere of Soul Power in his palm.
"It worked!"
Training in Senjutsu, on the other hand, was far more difficult.
Every attempt to merge Natural Energy with his Soul Power demanded a delicate balancing act inside his body.
Fortunately, the Soul-Devouring Banshees served as "safety valves." Whenever he was on the brink of losing control, he grabbed one and poured the excess Senjutsu Soul Power into her.
There were only seven Soul-Devouring Banshees in the Undead Demiplane.
After putting five of them through the wringer, he could finally control the ratio of Natural Energy to Soul Power with consistency.
He had also gained a preliminary grasp of Sage Mode!
Meanwhile, the Blackwater Pill and Soul Ascension Pill continued to take effect.
The Blackwater Pill cleansed his marrow and remade his sinews, strengthening his meridians and bones another notch.
The Soul Ascension Pill worked alongside the Blackwater Pill and his grueling training, pushing his Soul Power cultivation from Level 16 all the way to the threshold of Level 20.
And by replacing sleep with the Divine Illumination Scripture's meditative state to restore his mental strength, Huo Yuhao spent nearly three times as long training as an ordinary person.
In just one month, Huo Yuhao's strength was worlds apart from what it had been.
During that time, the deaths of Tang Chuan and Tang Ya finally received an official "resolution."
Huo Yuhao saw it on the cafeteria noticeboard that morning.
The Shrek Inspection Corps' announcement was written in the most righteous of tones.
[Following an investigation, the recent murders in Shrek City were found to be the work of an Evil Soul Master who committed crimes while on the run.] [This Evil Soul Master used cruel methods and wicked Soul Skills to slaughter innocent Soul Masters, gravely threatening peace across the continent.] [The Shrek Inspection Corps struck overnight, apprehended the culprit yesterday, and publicly executed him this morning in Shrek City's central square!]
The final paragraph of the announcement was especially impassioned.
[Evil Soul Masters are the common enemy of every Soul Master on the Douluo Continent. Shrek Academy will, as always, shoulder the mission of eradicating them and safeguarding peace and justice across the continent!]
Huo Yuhao stood before the noticeboard and read the entire announcement.
Electrolux's Withering Spell stripped away life force directly, and Shrek Academy's investigators had mistaken the traces it left behind for the work of an Evil Soul Master.
The misunderstanding could not have come at a better time.
Under Xuan Zi's questioning, Zhou Yi had confessed the whole truth in less time than it took an incense stick to burn.
A teacher had attacked and killed students in the street over a personal grudge.
If that got out, Shrek Academy's ten-thousand-year reputation would be ruined in an instant.
But the traces suggesting an Evil Soul Master's involvement had provided the perfect solution.
The Shrek Inspection Corps had seized a genuine Evil Soul Master from somewhere overnight and pinned all four deaths—Wu Shi's, Lan Sheng's, Tang Ya's, and Tang Chuan's—on him.
The wicked Evil Soul Master was publicly beheaded, and Shrek Academy once again stood tall as a glorious beacon of righteousness!
As for whether that Evil Soul Master had actually killed anyone, no one would ask.
The dead could not speak!
Although Zhou Yi had been reinstated as homeroom teacher, she had yet to return to class.
Wang Yan continued to teach Freshman Class One in her place.
Huo Yuhao had no interest in any of that mess.
He attended class by day and trained by night, devoting all his energy to growing stronger.
Now, his Soul Power cultivation had finally reached Level 20.
Level 20 meant he could absorb his Second Soul Ring.
And Huo Yuhao had already chosen what that Soul Ring would be.
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm—a Million-Year Soul Ring!
Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's core power was sealed within the Eight Trigrams Seal in his Dantian. All Huo Yuhao needed to do was reach Level 20 and release the power in the seal,
and together with Sky Dream Ice Silkworm's consciousness, it could become an unprecedented Million-Year Wisdom Soul Ring!
That evening, Huo Yuhao returned from dinner at Shrek Academy's cafeteria and pushed open the door to his dormitory.
He shut the door behind him and let out a long breath, ready to begin absorbing the Soul Ring.
Then he abruptly stopped.
There was a smell in the dormitory: roast chicken mingled with the rich, greasy scent of wine.
That smell had no business being in his room.
Huo Yuhao slowly turned his head.
Someone had taken a seat on the edge of his single bed at some point.
The man leaned against the wall with one leg crossed over the other, a half-eaten chicken leg in one hand and a vermilion wine gourd in the other.
Graying hair lay in a wild tangle on his head, and his clothes were so greasy they almost shone. He looked scarcely better than a beggar.
But a strange greed gleamed in his eyes as he smiled at Huo Yuhao.
"Back, kid?"
Huo Yuhao's pupils contracted slightly.
Taotie Douluo, Xuan Zi?
Before you continue