Under Qi Xuan's taunts, Shen Yao's expression grew increasingly ugly.
"Yaoyao, you... only love me, right?" The man holding Shen Yao suddenly raised his head, looking utterly lost.
"Shut up!"
Shen Yao snarled impatiently, then blew into the instrument in her hand. A nearly transparent cloud of mist seeped out of the man and plunged straight into her mouth.
The man wilted in an instant. His eyes vacant, he collapsed to his knees as though his whole body had lost its support.
Shen Yao, meanwhile, seemed to have consumed some potent tonic, her aura growing stronger still.
She licked her lips and gave Qi Xuan a seductive smile.
"Little brother, want to play with big sister for a while?"
Xiao Xiao cried out in shock, "You swallowed his soul? You're an Evil Soul Master!"
No wonder her strength had risen so quickly. Shen Yao had actually become an Evil Soul Master over these past few years!
"Xiao Xiao, go first. Get help." The moment Qi Xuan heard the words "Evil Soul Master," he knew they were in deep trouble. He immediately ordered Xiao Xiao to retreat.
As the academy's core disciples, they both carried warning signal flares.
They were so close to the academy that help should arrive within five minutes.
Xiao Xiao's wrists went pale. "If we leave, we leave together."
"There's no time," Qi Xuan said, his gaze solemn. "If an Evil Soul Master is allowed to do whatever she wants without restraint, none of the ordinary people here will survive."
"Quite right. But neither of you is leaving." Another voice drifted eerily out of Shen Yao's private room.
A mass of black mist then floated to Shen Yao's side, bobbing up and down as though sizing up Qi Xuan and Xiao Xiao.
"Utterly useless. You can't even handle a trivial matter."
Shen Yao pressed her forehead firmly against the floor. "Please punish me, Master."
"Still, these two have decent talent. Capture them, and your merits will cancel out your faults. I've already sealed this space. Don't disappoint me again."
Cold sweat broke out on Shen Yao's back. "As you command."
Just as she treated other people's souls as food, her master could likewise treat her as a tonic.
Qi Xuan glanced sideways. Sure enough, thick black mist had coiled around the staircase behind him, radiating undisguised malice toward them.
Shen Yao's master possessed unfathomable strength. Anyone who could seal space with a casual gesture had to have at least eight rings.
What's wrong with this matchmaking system? Why does it keep throwing me into these heaven-cursed matches?
"Xiao Xiao, listen to me. Protect yourself, and run the moment you get a chance."
"All right." Xiao Xiao agreed at once. She had no idea what Qi Xuan intended to do, but since he had said it, she trusted him without question.
"But you..."
Qi Xuan did not answer. He merely said softly:
"Slaying evil and purging wickedness is the natural law of heaven and earth."
He abruptly pulled the Thunder Dragon Jade Bracelet off his wrist and smashed it to pieces!
The jade bracelet Mu En had made for him had lived to the ripe old age of eight hours.
"Roar!"
As the jade bracelet shattered, a dragon's roar rang out from the dust.
Freed from its restraints, the thunder dragon essence immediately unleashed its full power.
"Explode!" The instant he released the thunder dragon, Qi Xuan's first soul ring blazed with light.
Crimson Palace Thunder Transformation: Thunderfall!
Countless tiny, densely packed bolts of lightning bombarded every corner of the space enclosed by black mist. Bathed in this sea of lightning, the thunder dragon essence actually began swimming about joyfully.
Thunder embodied the righteous energy of heaven and earth, powerfully suppressing all manner of evil beings.
Qi Xuan intended to use this eruption of lightning to blast open their cage.
For a moment, the surrounding mist thinned considerably. Only then did he see what lay hidden beneath it: souls with faces twisted in agony.
But the gap in their cultivation meant Qi Xuan still could not pry open the shackles sealing the space.
The black mist dimmed a little and regarded Qi Xuan coldly. "Struggle. Keep struggling. I'll make your soul experience true suffering in hell."
"I'll leave you unable to live or die, trapped in the Blood Soul Execution Array for eighty-one full days!"
Qi Xuan treated his words as nothing but hot air.
He remembered Mu En saying that a wisp of genuine heavenly tribulation lay hidden within this trace of thunder dragon essence.
The only thing he could do now was help the thunder dragon essence connect with heaven and earth and summon a true heaven and earth tribulation.
As Qi Xuan unleashed his power without any regard for the cost, the thunder dragon essence gradually solidified its body within the waterfall of lightning.
It circled and swam around Qi Xuan. The black mist tried several times to command those resentful souls to attack him, but each was struck by lightning and utterly annihilated half a meter from him.
How could ghostly souls and evil energy withstand the heavenly might of thunder!
At last, under the relentless bombardment, a tiny crack appeared in the space sealed by the black mist. Then, like a chain reaction, cracks began spreading in every direction.
"Xiao Xiao, go!"
Seizing the opportunity, Xiao Xiao leaped up and burst through a third-floor window.
But the black mist had no attention to spare for Xiao Xiao now. The lightning within the sealed space was growing denser and denser, nearly reaching the point where it could threaten him.
Even if he killed Qi Xuan now, the situation would not improve at all.
The thunder dragon had already connected with the world outside. With or without Qi Xuan, the heavenly tribulation's descent was now inevitable.
"Ha ha ha ha..."
Qi Xuan felt lightning scour his entire body and burst into wild, unrestrained laughter. He could feel his body gradually breaking apart beneath these savage strikes, his life draining away at a terrifying pace.
But that did not matter, because the two people before him were in far worse straits.
Shen Yao's master had immediately used her as a shield. By now, the lightning had reduced her to a bloody mess, barely clinging to life.
The black mist finally revealed his true form as well-a sinister face beneath a black robe.
At this moment, however, he could not spare a thought for hunting down Qi Xuan. His eyes held nothing but the desperate desire to survive.
For someone as steeped in evil as he was, a single strike from the heavenly tribulation would leave nothing but scattered ash.
Rumble.
Dense black clouds heralded the arrival of judgment, and figures sprang out from every corner of Shrek City.
Xiao Xiao's distress flare had already shot into the sky, and quite a few teachers from the academy were rushing over.
A scruffy old man holding a wine gourd arrived in an instant and shielded Xiao Xiao. "What on earth happened here?"
Xiao Xiao remembered this old man. He had come to watch their match and had even sat in the seat of honor.
"There are Evil Soul Masters inside. Qi Xuan summoned the heavenly tribulation to fight them. Please hurry and save him!"
Xuan Zi felt as though his brain could not keep up. What did she mean, Qi Xuan had summoned the heavenly tribulation?
Does his family own the heavenly tribulation? Can he just call it up whenever he wants?
Is he a hundred-thousand-year soul beast that's taken human form or something?
But the scene before him left him no choice but to believe her. He waved his hand, and a giant palm formed from earth and stone reached toward Qi Xuan, attempting to scoop him out of the heavenly tribulation.
Crack! Several enormous bolts of lightning struck the hand directly, shattering the giant palm.
Xuan Zi's brows knitted tightly. "This kid has already become part of the heavenly tribulation. He really did summon it."
Qi Xuan now felt as though his entire body had transformed into an element. He had lost his purely physical flesh and become true lightning.
It seemed his thoughts could travel along the flashes of lightning to somewhere thousands of miles away in an instant.
Thunder roared endlessly overhead, and the lightning element in the air had reached an inconceivable concentration.
The time has come.
And so, that night, all of Shrek City heard Qi Xuan's declaration.
"Divine Firmament Righteous Law, let thunder ring through heaven and earth!"
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