When Huo Yuhao opened his eyes, warmth suffused his entire body. He felt bathed in the radiance of life, as though every cell were greedily breathing in the air.
He pressed a hand to his forehead, vaguely remembering that he had been on a deserted road outside the North Gate. Then there had been that terrifying heat, hot enough to scorch the air...
That was right!
Huo Yuhao jolted upright. "Brother Xuan! Brother Xuan, are you all right?"
"He woke up a little before you. He's resting next door."
The wooden door creaked open, and Yan Shaozhe walked in.
Huo Yuhao hurriedly offered a respectful greeting, but Yan Shaozhe waved it aside. "The academy owes you both an apology. That child Xiaotao nearly caused a terrible disaster."
The images in Huo Yuhao's mind gradually grew clearer. "Dean Yan, that senior from the Inner Court..."
Yan Shaozhe nodded. "Her name is Ma Xiaotao. She's a descendant of our forebear Ma Hongjun, and her martial soul is the same as his-the Evil Fire Phoenix."
"Evil fire?" Huo Yuhao seemed to grasp something.
"Exactly. Because of it, Xiaotao sometimes loses her senses and goes berserk, hurting others. This time, she happened to encounter you two. Fortunately, neither of you was killed or injured."
"I should have had her come apologize in person, but she's still bedridden. As her teacher, I'll do it on her behalf."
Ma Xiaotao was Yan Shaozhe's direct disciple. He had raised her from childhood; though they were teacher and student in name, they were as close as family.
With that, Yan Shaozhe actually bowed ninety degrees to Huo Yuhao.
Startled, Huo Yuhao hurriedly stepped aside, accepting only half the bow.
Yan Shaozhe continued, "Kindness must be repaid, and wrongs must be redressed. That is only right and proper. Once Xiaotao's condition improves, she'll express her apologies herself. As her teacher, I can personally agree to fulfill one request of yours."
An academy taught far more than knowledge alone. The sound values and positive attitudes it imparted to its students could have an even greater influence on their lives.
A belligerent, domineering disposition might grant someone an advantage for a time, but once they reached the Titled Douluo stage, flaws in their heart might prevent them from advancing another inch for the rest of their lives.
Huo Yuhao's breathing grew heavy. Who was Yan Shaozhe? A rank ninety-five Super Douluo, the dean of Shrek Academy-one of the very greatest figures on the continent.
Although Yan Shaozhe had emphasized that this was a personal promise and did not represent Shrek's position, a favor from a Super Douluo like him was truly a priceless treasure!
He only needed to ask, and he could immediately retrieve his mother's remains.
But that was not the revenge he wanted. No matter how he looked at it, this was an internal matter of the Duke's Mansion. Nor could Yan Shaozhe kill the White Tiger Duke for him; that would send violent tremors through international affairs.
He still had to rely on himself.
Huo Yuhao calmed himself and asked curiously, "Dean Yan, even with the academy's strength, is there no way to help her suppress the evil fire?"
Yan Shaozhe chatted with Huo Yuhao like an ordinary grandfather. "Xiaotao is already rank sixty-eight. The evil fire has become entangled with her soul power, and they can no longer be separated. The academy's historical records describe two ways to remove it."
"The first is to find a top-grade fire-attribute immortal herb. After our forebear Ma Hongjun took a cockscomb phoenix sunflower, he not only rid himself of the evil fire but also elevated his martial soul into a Ten-Headed Fire Phoenix. If Xiaotao could obtain one too, there's a very good chance her attribute would evolve into ultimate fire. But despite searching for years, the academy has yet to find an immortal herb of a suitable age."
Eighteen years old, rank sixty-eight.
Huo Yuhao inwardly marveled. Was this the strength of the Inner Court? It was almost too incredible!
"Ultimate fire?" Huo Yuhao vaguely remembered the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm mentioning the concept of ultimate attributes to him.
"When an attribute is cultivated to its absolute pinnacle, reaching the very summit of its kind, it undergoes a qualitative change and ascends into an ultimate attribute. People with ultimate-attribute martial souls are exceedingly rare. Only three have been recorded in the past ten thousand years."
"The second method is to find an ice-attribute Soul Master to help ease the pressure of her evil fire. But that's merely a stopgap. It can only provide temporary relief, not truly eradicate the evil fire. With ultimate ice, however, there should still be hope. That is the power of an ultimate attribute."
Yan Shaozhe patted Huo Yuhao's shoulder. "I'll have someone take you both back in a little while. Get some proper rest over the next couple of days."
Ma Xiaotao lay in bed, her mind swimming, as though an axe had split her head in two. At times, she hardly felt like herself anymore.
She knew her evil fire was becoming increasingly difficult to suppress.
But both those methods were so terribly difficult.
After all, she was already rank sixty-eight.
A fire-attribute immortal herb would have to be at least thirty thousand years old to have any effect on her, and such herbs were rare across the entire continent.
Plants were naturally vulnerable to fire. Apart from a handful of exceptional species, almost no fire-attribute immortal herbs lived beyond ten thousand years.
As for the second method, it was no more than drinking poison to quench her thirst.
Repeatedly easing it with cold would only lead to an unstoppable backlash one day.
So Ma Xiaotao decided to use a third method.
Endure it head-on.
A phoenix was born bathed in fire. In fire, it turned to ash; in fire, it rose anew.
Although no records could prove this, Ma Xiaotao firmly believed it.
The evil fire that accompanied her innate martial soul was merely a trial heaven had set for her. Before now, under her teacher's arrangements, she had always been evading it, putting it off.
Now there was nowhere left to retreat.
Ma Xiaotao slowly began circulating her soul power, feeling the intense heat laced with that sinister aura.
Through her rapid cultivation, the sinister aura and the fiery energy had long since fused, becoming inseparable.
That sinister aura also deserved some of the credit for her astonishing cultivation speed.
Since there was no way to separate them, she might as well destroy them both.
Break first, then rebuild. Leave life and death to heaven.
Ma Xiaotao glanced at the tightly shut door and listened carefully. She heard no movement.
Her teacher would never allow her to do this. Ever since she was little, he had doted on her, unwilling to let her suffer even the slightest injury.
But she had to walk this road herself.
Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth and let her soul power flow throughout her body. Waves of disorientation began washing through her mind again.
Martial Soul Possession-Evil Fire Phoenix!
Blazing heat, outspread wings, resplendent tail feathers.
The sovereign of birds-the phoenix!
So you're a sinister aura? Watch me force you out!
Ma Xiaotao clenched her teeth and actually ignited the soul power inside her body, setting herself ablaze from within.
The soul power she had painstakingly cultivated over twelve years, the soul power steeped in that sinister aura-she cast it aside like worn-out shoes, burning it all as fuel!
Fall in rank?
Become crippled?
Ma Xiaotao refused to consider any of it. A phoenix roosted only in the parasol tree, ate only bamboo fruit, and drank only from sweet, pure springs.
How could a phoenix, the embodiment of nobility and purity, submit to a mere evil fire?
She ignited every last shred of her will and resolve, carving a new path toward heaven.
Better to seek the Way with her own body than bow down and cling to a miserable life.
O phoenix, O phoenix, seek your mate!