Helping Ma Xiaotao Resolve the Evil Fire

"Mm, Class Nine for new students."

Ye Chen pondered for a moment before speaking.

If he remembered correctly, Mu Jin was the homeroom teacher of the new Class Nine, and Wu Feng and Ning Tian were both pretty good teammates.

"Class Nine... What do you think of Class One? Their homeroom teacher is Teacher Zhou Yi, who was transferred from the upper grades. She has more teaching experience..."

Du Weilun recommended instinctively.

Although Zhou Yi's teaching methods had some issues, she was genuinely capable. He felt that a "monster" like Ye Chen should be placed in Zhou Yi's class to receive the best possible guidance.

"No, I still think Class Nine is luckier." Ye Chen smiled as he politely declined.

Going to Class One? Wasn't that just asking to be abused?

Zhou Yi was just a Yu Xiaogang knockoff—good for nothing but theory, with barely any real ability.

She just got lucky and had some talented students assigned to her class, yet she actually treated that as her own achievement?

Everyone knew her teaching methods. If they really worked, why hadn't the entire academy adopted them?

Could it be that everyone in Shrek Academy was an idiot, while Zhou Yi alone was some super-genius teacher?

"Fine, then."

Upon hearing that, Du Weilun did not press the matter. He handed Ye Chen the newly made freshman badge and a dormitory key. The key was marked Dormitory 112.

It seemed to be right next to Huo Yuhao's room—or maybe across the hall...

"Why go to the dormitory? Just stay with me." Ma Xiaotao moved swiftly, snatching Ye Chen's key away and pulling him toward the Inner Court.

Today, she still needed to examine Ye Chen's body... Ah, no, examine his cultivation.

How could she possibly let Ye Chen stay in a dormitory?

Besides, the Outer Court dormitories were incredibly shabby—run-down and drafty. If Ye Chen caught a chill, she would feel terrible.

"Alright..."

Ye Chen helplessly allowed Ma Xiaotao to drag him out of the Dean's Office.

A short while later, Ma Xiaotao pulled Ye Chen toward the academy's Training Room.

"Uh, Sister Xiaotao, didn't you say we were going back to the Inner Court?" Ye Chen was a little bewildered.

Yan Shaozhe had flown him around for half the day. He was exhausted from the journey and had not even had a sip of water, so why was Ma Xiaotao bringing him here?

"Of course it's to check Junior Brother's cultivation~" Ma Xiaotao said with a smile.

The best way to deal with her evil fire was through martial soul opposition.

Before this, she had always grabbed Xu Sanshi and beaten him up.

Only the water-element Soul Skills of Xu Sanshi's Mysterious Nether Turtle could help her vent a little of her evil fire, but the effect had been getting worse and worse.

Now that she had a brand-new outlet, how could Ma Xiaotao possibly restrain herself?

Of course, she would hold back.

Ye Chen was her precious treasure. She could not bear to damage him.

The two rented a private room. It was roughly the size of two basketball courts from Ye Chen's previous life. It was certainly too small for a normal battle, but for simply testing Soul Skills, it was more than enough.

The entire training ground was constructed from extremely special Black Iron, capable of withstanding the aftershocks of combat below the Soul Emperor level. In one corner, a large Soul Tool lamp illuminated the entire room brightly.

"Come on, let me see what you're capable of, Junior Brother."

Ma Xiaotao shouted sharply and directly released her Phoenix Evil Fire. Six Soul Rings emerged beneath her feet, radiating powerful pressure.

As Ma Xiaotao released her martial soul, the temperature inside the Training Room suddenly soared. Waves of fire swept through the room one after another, scorching the air until it refracted and distorted Ye Chen's vision.

"Alright."

Feeling the burning heat on his face, Ye Chen hurriedly released his own martial soul as well.

"Roar—"

A dragon's roar rang out as the phantom of the Ice Dragon King appeared behind Ye Chen. The entire training ground was suddenly enveloped by a chilling, murderous cold.

Because it was a scaled-down phantom, it stood only three meters tall. Its entire body was covered in sharply defined Ice Crystal scales, each one seemingly carved from millennia-old black ice, with pale blue light flowing across their surfaces.

Its dragon head was held high, its eyes like two cold moons hanging in the sky. Within its pupils, fragments of light seemed to surge like shattering glaciers. A single glance was enough to chill one's bones.

Its dragon body resembled an icy mountain ridge, several rows of sharp ice spikes protruding from its back, their cold gleam as fierce as unsheathed swords.

As its tail swung, it whipped up howling winds, and the air in its path condensed into fine icy mist.

Though this Ice Dragon phantom was not solid, the powerful dragon's might it exuded made even Ma Xiaotao's martial soul instinctively recoil.

Although Ye Chen and Ma Xiaotao were separated by more than twenty levels, Ma Xiaotao was not using her full strength. If they were merely competing in pressure, Ye Chen's Ultimate Ice was enough to make up for the gap of over twenty levels.

However, since this was only a spar, Ye Chen restrained his dragon's might. Terrifying cold swept forth, instantly dispersing Ma Xiaotao's scorching heat.

"So strong! So amazing! So icy! So cool!"

Ma Xiaotao instantly grew excited as she felt that surge of Ultimate Ice rushing toward her.

This was true Ultimate Ice!

Xu Sanshi's trash turtle's Mysterious Nether Water was completely incomparable to Ye Chen's Ultimate Ice!

"Come on, Junior Brother, let me see what you've got!" Ma Xiaotao licked her red lips, clearly unable to wait any longer.

"Alright."

Ye Chen nodded.

The next moment—

"Crack, crack, crack—"

A layer of crystalline armor instantly emerged over Ye Chen's body, resembling dragon scales and gleaming with starlike radiance beneath the lights.

This was Ye Chen's second Soul Skill—

Ice Scale Armor: Ice Crystal Dragon Scales cover the entire body, increasing physical defense by 200%, elemental resistance by 300%, fire resistance by 500%, and all attributes by 100%. When struck by physical attacks, it sprays ice spikes and inflicts freezing control...

"Roar—"

Ye Chen let out a roar, and a burst of Ultimate Ice mist exploded outward, instantly sweeping toward Ma Xiaotao.

This was Ye Chen's first Soul Skill, Ice Dragon Breath: He exhaled frigid dragon breath, freezing targets within range and applying "Frost Erosion," causing a continuous slowing effect.

"What a powerful Soul Skill!"

Ma Xiaotao was engulfed in flames. Feeling the surrounding chill, she felt incomparably refreshed.

Ice countered fire, but fire also countered ice.

Standing within the icy mist, Ma Xiaotao's blazing flames swept outward, continuously offsetting the frosty vapor around her.

At the same time, the large amount of Evil Fire accumulated within Ma Xiaotao's body was also being neutralized.

Ma Xiaotao acknowledged that Ye Chen's Soul Skill was powerful, but she was still a Soul Emperor. Naturally, she would not be affected by such a small amount of cold air.

"Is there anything stronger? I'm getting a little impatient!" Red light flickered in Ma Xiaotao's eyes as she stared fixedly at Ye Chen, her gaze filled with anticipation.

"Of course there is."

Ye Chen did not hold back his Soul Power in the slightest and directly unleashed his fourth Soul Skill—Ice Dragon Wings: Blizzard.

A pair of dragon wings instantly appeared behind Ye Chen. The wings suddenly snapped together, forming a terrifying tornado that swept toward Ma Xiaotao.

The tornado was mixed with countless sharp ice crystals!

Even a Soul King from the Defense System would not dare take this move head-on.

"Phoenix Roaring Heaven Strike—"

Ma Xiaotao was a battle mage by nature and did not excel at defense. Seeing Ye Chen's powerful attack, she did not dare meet it head-on and hurriedly unleashed her own fourth Soul Skill.

"Boom, boom, boom—"

Dozens of wide-area pillars of fire erupted from the ground, offsetting Ye Chen's Soul Skill.

Yet a large number of ice crystals still shattered and struck the walls, embedding themselves deeply within them.

Clearly, the power of Ye Chen's move had already reached the Soul Emperor level.

Only Ma Xiaotao could withstand it. If it had been another Soul Emperor, and they failed to dodge, they would basically have been doomed!

"Alright, alright, let's stop here for today."

Ma Xiaotao waved her hand and voluntarily dispelled her Martial Soul Possession. There was a hint of resentment in her gaze as she looked at Ye Chen.

That attack had truly startled her.

Under normal circumstances, she definitely could have dodged it. But the space here was too small, leaving her no room to evade. Fortunately, she was not weak; otherwise, she really would have suffered badly.

But the good news was that after this battle, the Evil Fire accumulated in her body had been reduced by half. That was enough to allow her to continue cultivating.

Although there had been no physical contact, the large amount of ice element that had dispersed was still continuously reducing the Evil Fire within Ma Xiaotao's body.

The effect was comparable to 500 Xu Sanshis!

Sure enough, she had truly found a treasure this time!

PS: The stats aren't even that high. Being able to fight roughly twenty levels above his own is about right. The Ice Dragon King was one of the Nine Sons of the Dragon God, after all—he couldn't be too weak, could he?