Purifying the Evil Fire

What made Nezha's scalp prickle even more was that the instant Ma Xiaotao pressed against him, the evil fire surging inside her seemed to find an outlet. It actually poured into his body through the places where they touched.

That evil fire was scalding and violent. The instant it entered Nezha's body, the soul power cultivated through the Great Firmament Celestial Art jolted in his dantian. Like a startled beast, it surged forward to meet it.

The two forces collided in his meridians. Not only did the evil fire fail to hurt him, but the Great Firmament Celestial Art enveloped, devoured, and dissolved it, turning it into threads of warmth that merged into his soul power.

On Ma Xiaotao's side, meanwhile, the aura of Ultimate Fire at the surface of Nezha's body swept against her evil fire. Like thin ice beneath a blazing sun, it was driven back, retreating inch by inch.

With her face buried in the crook of Nezha's neck, her breathing suddenly paused. Then she let out a long breath. As though a thousand-pound burden had been lifted from her shoulders, her taut body abruptly went limp, all but collapsing into his arms.

"So... comfortable..."

She murmured indistinctly, her voice soft and husky, like a cat whose fur had been stroked smooth. She rubbed her cheek against the side of his neck, her fiery-red hair brushing his chin with an indescribable fragrance.

Nezha stood frozen, his hands still held in the position they had taken when he tried to dodge sideways. Now that Ma Xiaotao had him locked in a tight embrace, neither moving nor staying still felt right.

He lowered his head to look at the fiery-red head buried in the crook of his neck, then registered the two soft mounds pressed against his chest. The corner of his mouth twitched.

In his previous life, he had spent over twenty years as a corporate drone and had barely even held a girl's hand. After transmigrating, he had cultivated at the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect for six years. Though he was close to Ning Tian and Wu Feng, that was the bond of childhood companions. He had never faced anything like this.

Ma Xiaotao, the Flame Maniac, one of the Inner Court's strongest students, was currently hanging off him, wrapped around him like an octopus, and still mumbling, "So comfortable."

Nezha took a deep breath, suppressed all the chaotic thoughts in his head, and tried to make his voice sound as calm as possible. "Um... Senior Xiaotao, could you let go first?"

Ma Xiaotao did not answer. Resting against the crook of his neck, she gradually began breathing more evenly, and her scorching body temperature slowly fell.

Nezha could feel the evil fire inside her being steadily suppressed by the aura of Ultimate Fire emanating from him. That violent, chaotic force was settling down bit by bit.

But she still had not let go.

Ma Xiaotao felt so utterly comfortable that she was unwilling to release him. Instead, she even wriggled a little.

Nezha's entire body stiffened.

At that moment, Ma Xiaotao hung off him like an octopus, her arms locked around his back. At some point, her legs had wrapped around his waist as well, leaving her almost entirely suspended against him.

With that wriggle, the curves of her body rubbed back and forth against him. The two full mounds at her chest pressed even tighter, while the warmth between their waists and abdomens came through distinctly despite the layer of fabric.

Nezha felt so tightly squeezed that he could barely breathe. His heart sped up uncontrollably, and a certain ill-timed reaction began stirring.

Nezha silently recited the Heart-Clearing Mantra once.

After all, he was someone who had received nine years of compulsory education, with sound values and clear moral boundaries.

Though he currently had a warm, fragrant beauty in his arms, he absolutely would not take the initiative to take advantage of her.

So he chose to stand still, his hands hanging at his sides. He neither pushed her away nor returned her embrace, quietly serving as a human pillar and doing his utmost to... help Ma Xiaotao suppress her evil fire.

Yes, help. Purely out of friendship between fellow students.

A long while later.

"Mm-"

Ma Xiaotao let out a long breath and opened her star-bright eyes a fraction. At last, a little clarity returned to those bloodshot eyes.

She blinked. The purplish-red flames dancing in her pupils gradually subsided, and her breathing steadied. Since becoming an Evil Fire Phoenix Soul Master, she had never felt as clearheaded as she did now.

It was as though a life-giving rain had extinguished most of the evil fire inside her. The searing pain that scorched her internal organs had vanished completely, replaced by an indescribable ease and clarity, as though every meridian had been rinsed with warm water.

Then she saw the position she was in.

She was hanging off a man, her round, pert backside resting against his thighs, her chest pressed to his, and her head nestled on his shoulder.

Ma Xiaotao's mind exploded with a buzz.

Her body reacted faster than her mind. She shoved hard with both arms and sprang off Nezha, stumbling two steps before regaining her footing.

Purplish-red flames flickered around her as though they might explode at any moment, but she gritted her teeth and forced the fiery surge back down. Yet her face, as lovely as peach and plum blossoms, had already flushed crimson, the heat spreading from her cheeks all the way to her ears.

"Who are you?"

She glared at Nezha, her voice filled with embarrassment and irritation. A trace of lingering haze remained in her fiery-red eyes.

Instinctively, she raised a hand to straighten her disheveled fiery-red hair, then looked down at the rumpled front of her clothes. The blush on her face deepened.

Nezha stayed where he was and slipped his hands back into his pockets, his expression unchanged, as though nothing had happened. He tilted his head slightly, looking at the red-faced Flame Maniac before him, his tone utterly level.

"Freshman Class Nine. Li Nezha."

He paused, then added another question.

"Senior, is your evil fire feeling any better?"

Ma Xiaotao stood rooted to the spot, her chest still rising and falling. The blush on her face simply would not fade.

She was the Inner Court's renowned Flame Maniac, yet here she stood before a freshman, her clothes disheveled and her face burning red. The image of herself hanging off him, rubbing and wriggling against him, kept replaying in her mind. She wanted to plunge headfirst into Sea God Lake and drown herself.

At the same time, however, an indescribable shock welled up inside her.

Her evil fire had been purified.

A twelve-year-old freshman had forcibly purified it with the fire-attribute aura emanating from his body.

Ever since her martial soul awakening, Ma Xiaotao had always relied on her teacher to suppress her evil fire, or on Xu Sanshi's Xuanming Turtle martial soul to barely alleviate it. Every attempt at suppression had been agonizing, like forcing a lump of red-hot coal back into her chest.

Yet just now, the evil fire that denied her peace night after night had been effortlessly dissolved by the aura emanating from the boy before her. The effect was even better than when her teacher intervened. Her whole body now felt clear and unburdened, her meridians flowed freely, and her mind was so lucid that she felt like a different person.

"You..."

Ma Xiaotao opened her mouth, wanting to ask what his martial soul was, but when the words reached her lips, she felt it would be too presumptuous.

She took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed her surging emotions. Raising a hand to gather her disheveled fiery-red hair, she barely managed to recover some of the composure expected of an Inner Court senior.

"Freshman Class Nine, Li Nezha." She repeated the name, as though rolling it around in her mouth. An indefinable look appeared in her red eyes. "I'll remember you."

Nezha tilted his head slightly, his fiery-red eyes calmly studying Ma Xiaotao. Though she had regained her reason, the residual heat of her Evil Fire Phoenix still radiated around her. The air was considerably warmer than it had been before her arrival.

"Senior Ma, how often does your evil fire flare up?"

Ma Xiaotao froze briefly, then pursed her lips. The question was intrusive, and normally she would never have answered. Yet for some reason, looking at the boy's calm face, she found herself answering almost despite herself.

"About once every two weeks. Every ten days when it's bad."

Nezha nodded, as though working something out in his head. Then he raised his eyes and said casually, "If you can't keep it under control in the future, you can come find me."

Ma Xiaotao was taken aback.

Her fiery-red eyes widened, and she stared at Nezha for several breaths. Her lips moved, as though she wanted to say something to thank him.

She turned her face away. Her fiery-red hair fell over her shoulder, hiding half her flushed cheek. After a long silence, she finally spoke haltingly.

"Thank you, Nezha. I'll keep that in mind."

Nezha nodded and turned toward the dormitory building. After taking a few steps, he tossed another remark over his shoulder without looking back.

"Get some rest early, Senior."

Ma Xiaotao remained where she was, watching that black-haired figure with his hair tied in a bun disappear into the depths of the dormitory building, a complicated expression in her fiery-red eyes.