Once the arena gate rose, Ma Xiaotao immediately strode out slowly on her long legs. With every step, waves of red soul power billowed around her.
Clearly, Ma Xiaotao knew what she had come here to do. She was doing her utmost to imitate the baleful ferocity of a soul beast whose every stride stirred the wind.
The corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. Then he turned to the examiner beside him and said,
"What rank of beast is this thing supposed to be? This thing? Is this how you demean an Inner Court disciple?"
The examiner narrowed his little eyes, tucked the blue registration roster under his arm, and said sternly to Huo Yuhao,
"You're the animal! Your senior from the Inner Court gave up time she could have spent on missions outside just to take part in your assessment. Show some respect!"
Speechless, Huo Yuhao pointed at Ma Xiaotao, who was still enjoying the feeling of striding along with the wind at her heels, and said,
"Are you sure that ridiculous act looks like a sacrifice? Why does she look like she's having the time of her life?"
Ma Xiaotao could only be described as smugly pleased with herself. Clearly, she enjoyed the astonished cries her six soul rings drew in the Outer Court, where everyone clustered around her like stars around the moon, as well as the "panic" Huo Yuhao was currently displaying.
Watching her ridiculous performance, Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched slightly. Then he loosened up his limbs and said,
"All right. As the old saying goes, since you've come, don't go. Now that you're here, let's have some real fun. Neither of us should hold back. Let me see just what an Inner Court senior is made of."
As he spoke, Huo Yuhao took his stance, first adopting a guarded posture as he watched Ma Xiaotao.
The referee seemed to know how impatient Ma Xiaotao was. Without wasting any words, he abruptly raised his hand and addressed the two of them.
"Once I leave the center of the arena, you may begin the match.
"Don't worry about me, and don't worry about hurting each other. I'll control how far this match goes."
Having said that, the referee suddenly leaped away, landing at the edge of the arena in an instant.
At the same time, Ma Xiaotao leaped along with him.
As she leaped, a pair of fiery-red phoenix wings unfurled behind Ma Xiaotao. The instant she drew close to Huo Yuhao, his eyes narrowed.
After Ma Xiaotao's aura collided with Qiongqi's for an instant, her pupils vanished, replaced by a deep red.
The next moment, her aura surged explosively, and the oppressive might of a Soul Emperor bore down on Huo Yuhao's nerves without restraint.
The corner of Huo Yuhao's mouth twitched. Then black fur covered his hands as well.
He could more or less guess what had happened. Qiongqi was one of the Four Fiends, a creature of utmost ferocity and evil that delighted in punishing the good and rewarding the wicked.
The aura surrounding him inherently nurtured evil. The instant it collided with Ma Xiaotao, it fully ignited the evil fire within her Evil Fire Phoenix.
In that single instant, Ma Xiaotao had already lost control.
Once the Qiongqi Martial Soul finished possessing him, Huo Yuhao's entire aura changed. Although he had only five soul rings, his presence firmly overpowered even Ma Xiaotao in her berserk state.
Just as the two drew within a certain distance of each other, Ma Xiaotao opened her mouth under the evil fire's control, and a dark-red Phoenix Fire Line shot out.
Huo Yuhao's expression sharpened. He immediately stepped forward, making no attempt to dodge. Instead, he activated the enhancement from his first soul skill and seized the Phoenix Flame.
Although the flames were scorching, they failed to breach the physical enhancement granted by the Qiongqi Martial Soul's possession. Instead, Huo Yuhao gathered them between his hands and began compressing them inward.
As Ma Xiaotao unleashed that mouthful of Phoenix Fire Line, Huo Yuhao condensed the evil fire into a ball and held it in his hand.
Ma Xiaotao had completely lost her reason. Almost immediately after that attack, she swung her hand like a claw. Although she had no claw-type martial soul skills, that swipe still drove a bloody-smelling gust into Huo Yuhao's nostrils.
Following her momentum, Huo Yuhao caught Ma Xiaotao's slender wrist, then smashed the ball of evil fire into the hollow on the inside of her elbow.
Ma Xiaotao could no longer keep her hand rigidly curled, and it loosened in Huo Yuhao's grip.
She let out a piercing cry, then kicked at Huo Yuhao's face.
Huo Yuhao caught Ma Xiaotao's ankle with his other hand, then supported her abdomen with his palm and flung her away.
The instant Huo Yuhao threw her, Ma Xiaotao adjusted her posture in midair. The moment she landed, she slammed her fist into the ground.
Immediately, Huo Yuhao saw a dark-red phoenix totem form beneath his feet.
He could not help cursing inwardly. Tang Jia San Shao really couldn't be bothered to think up new soul skills when he wrote the novel! Ma Xiaotao's skills were practically identical to the previous Evil Fire Phoenix's.
He immediately leaped away, dodging the Phoenix Roaring Sky Strike.
For natives who lacked this information, the delayed eruption of Phoenix Roaring Sky Strike was an underhanded move that was exceedingly difficult to counter.
For Huo Yuhao, however, that delayed eruption instead gave him more leeway to dodge.
Huo Yuhao dared not be careless now. After activating Spiritual Detection, he used the spiritual enhancement granted by his fourth soul ring to fully strengthen his hands, then lunged at Ma Xiaotao.
When it came to ranged soul skills, his Qiongqi Martial Soul ultimately fell a little short of the Evil Fire Phoenix, which specialized in ranged attacks. Now, facing the lunatic Ma Xiaotao, who was completely consumed by evil fire, his best option was to close in and fight at close quarters.
In her current state, Ma Xiaotao was an utter madwoman. Although she no longer had any delay between soul skills, nor the habit of announcing their names that seemed almost hardwired into soul masters' underlying code, she had also lost her most basic human fighting abilities.
Once Huo Yuhao closed in against Ma Xiaotao, he instantly seized the joints of both her arms. Then he caught both her wrists in one hand and drove his other fist into her chest.
The punch carried tremendous force. As Huo Yuhao struck, he released the hand restraining Ma Xiaotao's wrists, and she instantly flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
Yet Ma Xiaotao in her evil-fire state truly was unnerving. Under circumstances that would have left an ordinary person completely unable to fight, she instantly adjusted her posture in midair and let out a battle cry at Huo Yuhao.
It was precisely that utterly inhuman battle cry that made Du Weilun and Yan Shaozhe, who were watching the assessment, turn pale.
Only now did they detect that Ma Xiaotao had entered her evil-fire state. After all, whenever they had seen her in that state before, even Dai Yueheng had been beaten back without reprieve. They had never seen anyone overpower her head-on while she was consumed by evil fire.
"What is the referee standing there for? Get in there and restrain Ma Xiaotao! The assessment is over..."
Before you continue