Part Two

But the absurd thought flashed through Zhou Yi's mind for only an instant before the shackles of morality crushed it to dust.

"Stop daydreaming!"

Zhou Yi drew a deep breath, her ample chest rising and falling. Her lovely face turned frosty as she refused outright. "I belong to Shrek in life and in death. I'm a married woman, too. If you have the ability, kill me with one blow today. Otherwise, don't dream of making me yield an inch!"

Xiao Dong did not grow angry at her stubborn defiance. Instead, he laughed and shook his head.

"Teacher Zhou Yi, you really do have a fiery temper."

Xiao Dong slowly rose from the cushioned chair and looked down at the beautiful woman. A mocking chill touched his lips. "But before you decide, you'd better think carefully about Fan Yu. You wouldn't want anything to happen to him over at the Soul Tool Department, would you?"

At those words, Zhou Yi's eyes narrowed sharply. A storm surged through her heart, and a bone-deep chill shot from her spine to the crown of her head.

After her brief shock, however, she quickly recovered and gave a derisive sneer.

"Threaten me with Fan Yu? You little beast, you must still be dreaming!"

Zhou Yi lifted her pointed chin slightly, pride flashing in her eyes. "This is Shrek City. The Sea God Pavilion in the Inner Academy houses the continent's greatest elders, with the level ninety-nine Mu En himself presiding over it. Fan Yu is an eighth-rank Soul Engineer and a senior teacher in the Soul Tool Department. Countless powerful people protect him. No matter how strong you are, if you dare touch a hair on his head inside the academy, those elders will tear you limb from limb and leave you without a grave!"

Hearing Zhou Yi invoke Shrek's leaders to bolster her courage, Xiao Dong understood. This woman had been steeped in Shrek's ten thousand years of glory. A few spoken threats would never break her deeply rooted pride.

"If you think Shrek's name can protect you, then I'll show you what true supreme power looks like."

Xiao Dong smiled faintly, but his eyes turned cold and uncanny. Step by step, he approached Zhou Yi.

At the sight of the black-clad youth closing in, Zhou Yi's heart jolted. She instinctively tried to retreat, only to watch in horror as the space around her hardened like iron, pinning her in place. Even moving a finger had become an impossible luxury!

"W-what are you doing? Are you going to force yourself on me?!"

Panic finally spread across Zhou Yi's beautiful face. Her chest heaved, and her voice trembled.

Xiao Dong ignored her cry. He stopped half a foot away, so close that his breath brushed her smooth, pale neck.

Then an extraordinarily strange, icy pulse stirred without warning at the center of his forehead.

Hum!

With a faint sound, a milky-white flame as fine as a silkworm's thread emerged from Xiao Dong's forehead and hovered quietly above his fingertip.

It was a white flame of heart-stopping beauty, with the faint shape of a lotus flickering within it.

The instant it appeared, the room's ambient Soul Power was purified away. Even the Soul Power protecting Zhou Yi recoiled into her body as though it had met its natural enemy!

"W-what is that? Is it your Martial Soul?!"

Staring at the pure-white flame so close to her face, Zhou Yi's eyes widened. Terror flooded them. From that tiny flame, she felt a deadly pressure bearing down on her very soul!

This is no crude Martial Soul. It's called the Purifying Lotus Demon Flame, Xiao Dong thought. A cruel smile curved his lips. This was the flame's true tyranny: beyond burning all things to ash, it could feed on an enemy's emotions and desires to ignite a fire deep within their soul. It could even erase a person's will entirely and turn them into a Fire Slave who obeyed only him!

Of course, Xiao Dong still had a use for Zhou Yi. He had no intention of reducing her to a mindless puppet. He only needed to purify every defiant feeling in her heart—every trace of resistance and loathing toward him.

"Go."

Xiao Dong tapped a finger. Under Zhou Yi's terrified gaze, the milky-white flame drifted forward and touched the center of her forehead.

Boom!

The instant it touched her, Zhou Yi's body went rigid as though lightning had struck her!

The flame did not harm her flesh in the slightest. Instead, it fed on the anger, resistance, and loathing raging in her heart, setting off a towering blaze of purification deep within her soul!

"Ah!"

A cry of utter agony tore from Zhou Yi's red lips.

The pain of having her soul and emotions burned clean inch by inch was a hundred times crueler than any bodily torture. As the flame raged, her devotion to Shrek, her emotional bond with her husband Fan Yu, and every impulse to resist or defy Xiao Dong were rapidly melted down and stripped away!

The agony lasted less than half the time it took an incense stick to burn.

As the milky-white flame withdrew into Xiao Dong's forehead, Zhou Yi's pain-contorted face slackened, and her whole body went limp.

Before she could fall, a strong arm encircled her slender waist and pulled her warm, voluptuous body against him.

The hall fell silent as death once more.

Zhou Yi was drenched in fragrant sweat, a feverish flush covering her exquisite face. The sharpness, ferocity, and resistance that had filled her eyes were utterly gone.

In their place lay absolute reverence and obedience, sunk deep into her bones, as though she stood before a god.

The flame had forcibly reshaped her mind. The youth before her had become the sole master of her life!

Seeing the complete reversal in Zhou Yi's manner, Xiao Dong nodded in satisfaction. A playful smile touched his lips as he reached out with two fingers and lifted her smooth, rounded chin with a teasing, imperious touch.

Her skin was smooth and warm beneath his fingers, like the finest piece of warmed jade, tempting him to keep touching it.

Held so brazenly by the chin, Zhou Yi's mature face flushed crimson with embarrassment. Yet her body rested limply against Xiao Dong's, without the slightest attempt to struggle. Instead, she lowered her eyes meekly, like a cat thoroughly tamed.

At that moment, a resigned thought even crept into her mind.

So be it. Fan Yu, that unromantic blockhead, neglects me day after day. He won't even touch me. What would be wrong with following this powerful youth, who is as unfathomable as a god or demon...

But if this domineering little tormentor really takes me right here, should I find a moment to prepare some contraception? It would be troublesome if I actually became pregnant...

Yet just as Zhou Yi, flushed with shame, closed her eyes and prepared to let him have his way, Xiao Dong's calm voice came from above her, carrying a trace of coldness.

"Zhou Yi, set the matter of leading me there aside for now. Tell me: where exactly in the Star Dou Great Forest are the older Soul Beasts with the Mental Attribute found?"

"..."

The unexpected question left Zhou Yi frozen. Her eyes were still shut, her body tense in anticipation.

She opened her eyes blankly and looked at the youth's face, so close to hers. There was not a hint of lust in it, only cold scrutiny. Her mind buzzed.

After all that, after using such earthshaking, godlike power and shattering every defense around my heart... he only wanted to ask where to find some Soul Beasts?!

For a moment, Zhou Yi did not know whether to breathe a secret sigh of relief or feel an irrepressible pang of disappointment at being so thoroughly overlooked despite her beauty.