Before he had finished speaking, Tang Qi's pupils abruptly contracted.
Not far ahead, a petite figure was running toward them. It was Xiao Xiao, who had chased after them.
Her little face was filled with bewilderment.
Tang Qi abruptly accelerated. In a few flickering steps, he appeared beside the little girl.
"Xiao Xiao, summon your Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron!" Tang Qi spoke at lightning speed.
Xiao Xiao instinctively complied.
As soul power surged, an ancient, round cauldron with three legs and two handles appeared out of thin air, landing firmly before them.
Without another word, Tang Qi grabbed a handle with one hand and stuffed the two girls into the cauldron, one after the other, with the other.
"Hold on tight!"
He gave a low shout and sprang into the air.
The instant he left the ground, the blood-red figure behind him crashed into the spot where he had just been standing.
Boom!
Broken stones scattered, and dust billowed.
Even curled up inside the cauldron, Xiao Xiao and Huo Yutong could clearly feel the intense heat coming through its walls.
Missing her strike seemed to enrage the blood-red figure.
She kicked off the ground and lunged viciously at Tang Qi like a rabid hyena, intent on tearing into him.
"Chasing me down to bite me?"
Tang Qi jerked his arm, tossing the Three-Life Soul-Suppressing Cauldron high into the air.
Then he opened his left hand. The Clear Sky Hammer materialized, its scarlet and purplish-black divine patterns shining against one another.
Carrying the force of ten thousand tons, the Clear Sky Hammer smashed toward Ma Xiaotao.
Bang!
The blow forced Ma Xiaotao back several steps, but she charged at him again.
Tang Qi smoothly caught the massive cauldron falling from the sky, retreating in rapid succession like a ghostly shadow.
After several rounds of being tossed and caught, the two girls inside the cauldron were already dizzy enough to feel the world spinning.
Xiao Xiao clung to the cauldron's wall, her little face deathly pale. Huo Yutong, already exhausted after a sleepless night, simply closed her eyes and passed out.
Tian Meng's spiritual form slowly floated out and hovered in midair. Watching Tang Qi repeatedly toss the cauldron while maneuvering around Ma Xiaotao below, she could not help frowning.
She had thought Tang Qi would use some heaven-defying trump card belonging to a deity's inheritor, yet all he did was "flee," without making any other move.
During another brief opening after Ma Xiaotao was driven back, Tian Meng swiftly floated beside Tang Qi, a trace of anxiety flashing across her pretty face.
"Tang Qi, we can't get away. Let me possess Yutong and freeze her!"
As though afraid Tang Qi would not believe her, she patted her full, perky chest. "Don't forget, I'm a million-year soul beast with both mental and ice attributes!"
Tang Qi shook his head and tossed the massive cauldron up again, his tone leaving no room for doubt. "As long as I want to leave, the road is right beneath my feet!"
"Clear Sky Nine Absolutes, Quake Art!"
Wave upon wave of vibrating force abruptly erupted from the hammer, meeting Ma Xiaotao's mindless lunge head-on like a raging tide crashing against the shore.
"Aaargh!"
A shock wave visible to the naked eye exploded from the point of collision.
Ma Xiaotao flew backward, hit the ground, and rolled several times.
Meanwhile, a slightly weaker recoil traveled along the hammer toward Tang Qi's arms.
At that hair's-breadth moment, he circulated the internal energy of the Mysterious Heaven Skill, using four ounces to move a thousand pounds and redirecting the recoil into the Clear Sky Hammer.
An ordinary Clear Sky Hammer soul master would never dare let their martial soul bear that recoil.
The slightest mistake could damage their martial soul at best, or injure their body at worst.
But Tang Qi was no ordinary Clear Sky Hammer soul master.
That little bit of evil fire power Ma Xiaotao had wanted to shatter a Clear Sky Hammer branded with destruction divine power and Asura divine power?
If she really could shatter it, what more was there to say? She could have it. He, Tang Qi, might as well start over.
Hovering in midair, Tian Meng stared wide-eyed.
She had thought she already understood Tang Qi well enough, but now it seemed she was still a long way off.
"Tang Qi! You really do have plenty of secrets!"
Her eyes shone, and her voice brimmed with barely restrained excitement. Her slender hands made a couple of grabbing motions in the air. "When I get the chance, I'm definitely going to thoroughly explore your potential!"
Tang Qi caught the massive cauldron falling from the sky and shot her an exasperated glare. "Now you want to explore me? Just be good and get ready for me to thoroughly explore you one of these days!"
Tian Meng shrank back and sensibly slipped into Huo Yutong's Sea of Consciousness. "Haki Qi, all you can do is talk dirty to me~"
Tang Qi looked back. Without realizing it, he had reached Shrek Academy's famous tree-lined avenue.
Ten statues stood on either side, depicting the First-Generation Shrek Seven Devils and the Golden Iron Triangle.
He leaped into the air and used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track, hopping back and forth between several statues as easily as walking on level ground.
Classes were in session, so traffic along the avenue was sparse, but quite a few students still passed through.
At this point, Ma Xiaotao could not have cared less about any statues.
With a roar, she turned into a streak of fiery light and shot straight toward Tang Qi.
Under Ma Xiaotao's collisions, statue after statue lost arms and legs, leaving them in a pitiful state.
Broken stones rained down, frightening the students below into scattering in every direction. The scene was utter chaos.
"This barnyard chicken's gone demonic." Standing on "Tang San's" shoulder, Tang Qi clicked his tongue in amazement.
"An evil soul master?! An evil soul master has broken into the academy!"
"Damn it! How could there be an evil soul master at Shrek Academy?!"
"Go find a teacher! We can't handle this!"
The Outer Court students who had yet to enter the Inner Court had not, after all, been infected by the Shrek loyalty gu. They still had some brains.
They did not do anything as stupid as charging to their deaths while shouting about bonds and hot-blooded passion.
Elsewhere, in Freshman Class Nine.
Mu Jin stood at the lectern. The bell had rung quite some time ago, yet Tang Qi's, Xiao Xiao's, and Huo Yutong's seats remained empty.
His temper immediately flared.
"They gave me a lecture, then turned around and skipped class? They haven't even won the Freshman Assessment Tournament yet, and they already dare to act this outrageously!"
Mu Jin folded his arms and snorted. Rather than waiting any longer, he beckoned to the students below. "Everyone, assemble downstairs!"
After a quick head count, Mu Jin led the students of Freshman Class Nine toward the Soul Fighting Zone in a grand procession.
The Soul Fighting Zone was one of Shrek Academy's signature attractions. Countless energetic boys and girls, itching to throw punches and kicks, spent the year passionately trading blows there.
Since the Soul Fighting Zone was not open to first-year students, their homeroom teacher had to book it with the academy in advance if they wanted to use it.
Yet the central tree-lined avenue, which they had to pass through to reach the Soul Fighting Zone, was now in complete chaos.
"Move! Who the fuck stepped on my shoe?!"
"We pay so much every year, and this is how Shrek Academy handles things? An evil soul master's gotten inside, and there's still not a teacher in sight!"
"Get out of the way! My uncle is the Star Luo Empire's Giant Strength Douluo! Block my path and I'll have every last one of you blasted!"
Students of every year fled toward them in panicked groups of three or five, terror written all over their faces.
Standing at the front of the group, Mu Jin furrowed his fine brows. He grabbed a male student who was sprinting past him.
"I'm Mu Jin, a teacher in the Outer Court's Martial Soul Department." Mu Jin spoke rapidly, his gaze sharp as a blade. "What exactly happened up ahead? Explain clearly."
The student was already frightened out of his wits. After all, an evil soul master's reputation was like a tree's shadow, and these pampered noble children had never witnessed anything like this.
Hearing the word "teacher," he seized on it like a drowning man clutching a straw and hurriedly said, "A fire-attribute evil soul master appeared in the academy from who knows where! She's crashing into everything! But... but a student wearing a white uniform is keeping her occupied!"
"Yes! That student's carrying a really huge cauldron, too, and he runs incredibly fast! Unfortunately, that evil soul master has the fire attribute, and his martial soul seems to be plant-type. She completely counters him! I'm afraid his chances look grim!"
An evil soul master?
What were they talking about?
How could an evil soul master possibly appear inside Shrek Academy?
Before you continue