Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire, One Year Later, the Plan for the Land of Extreme North

"Do you know where Sister Tao is?" Su Wen rubbed his overstuffed stomach and asked curiously.

"You mean Ma Xiaotao? You'll have to ask our great Dean Yan about that." Lu Xiaoxiao chuckled as she cleared away the plates, then raised her brows toward the space behind Su Wen.

"Dean Yan?"

Su Wen turned around.

Yan Shaozhe had appeared at some point and was looking at him with a smiling face.

"Sorry for the trouble, Xiaoxiao. This child only just woke up, and as dean, I failed in my duty. From now on, I'll cover all his meals. Put them on my tab."

"Tch~~ If great Dean Yan wants to do someone a favor, fine, but don't make me the bad guy." Lu Xiaoxiao rolled her eyes, then looked at Su Wen with a beaming smile. "Xiao Wen, if you're hungry, just come find Aunt Lu, all right? Aunt Lu may not have any other Cultivation Techniques or pills here, but there's plenty of food."

"Golden Crocodile meat, Rain Dragon tendons, materials from ten-thousand-year Soul Beasts—it's not like we don't have those..."

"Mm-hmm." Su Wen nodded.

"Looking for Xiaotao?" Yan Shaozhe had been jabbed at, but he still kept a calm, breezy attitude and revealed a kindly smile.

Inside, he was practically blooming with joy. Ever since learning that Su Wen had been brought back by Xiaotao, he had secretly thought this was in the bag. Xiaotao was simply the perfect plan for getting close to Su Wen. Xian Liner could go eat dust later...

"Yes. Do you know where Sister Tao is?"

"Come with me."

Sea God Island.

Inside a hidden chamber.

Su Wen saw Ma Xiaotao lying weakly on the bed, her red hair scattered messily across the pillow. Her pretty face was rather pale, and from the tip of her fine, upturned nose, a bead of sweat the size of a bean dripped down.

It was as if she had just endured some extreme torment.

Su Wen's heart jolted.

He had actually forgotten about this!

Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire needed the opposing attributes of "ice" and "water" to suppress it. It had been like this since she was young. In the Original Work, Shrek Academy's inner courtyard was full of experts, and Ling Luochen was far from the only Ice Element user. Even with those geniuses helping her suppress it, Ma Xiaotao still lost control and went berserk, nearly killing Huo Gua, let alone now in the inner courtyard.

At this point, there were very few Ice Element experts in the inner courtyard, and none of them could possibly stay by Ma Xiaotao's side at all times.

As a result, Ma Xiaotao often had to endure it on her own, while Yan Shaozhe and the others could only watch helplessly, powerless to do anything...

After listening to Yan Shaozhe's explanation.

Su Wen nodded slightly.

It seemed that for his second Soul Beast, he would have to make a trip to the Land of Extreme North.

"Xiao Wen..."

Ma Xiaotao slowly opened her eyes. Her peach-blossom eyes blinked, clearly somewhat surprised, and also a little shy. She seemed unwilling to let Su Wen see her in such a weak state, and forced herself to get up.

But Su Wen pressed her shoulder and made her lie back down.

"Sister Tao."

Su Wen was silent for a long while. "Rest well..."

"Teacher!"

Ma Xiaotao's pretty face flushed red, but she glared angrily at Yan Shaozhe, who was snickering off to the side.

"Using your own direct disciple as bait—do you have no shame left?!"

"Aiya, what do you mean bait? It's a matter of mutual affection. Don't make it sound so ugly." Yan Shaozhe chuckled. "But Xiaotao, you really did get lucky. While saving him, you also saved yourself."

"What do you mean?" Ma Xiaotao froze.

"Do you believe his next Soul Beast will be Ice Element?" Yan Shaozhe grinned.

"You mean..." Ma Xiaotao's red lips parted, her expression complicated. She was not stupid, so she naturally understood what her teacher meant. After Su Wen learned about the flaw of her Evil Fire, if his next soul skill was Ice Element, then it would be specifically for helping her dispel the Evil Fire...

"Hahahahaha, childhood sweethearts, innocent young love. Even if there's a six-year gap, they say a woman three years older is like holding a gold brick, so six years older means two gold bricks, hahahahaha..."

Yan Shaozhe left with a loud laugh.

Ma Xiaotao slowly curled up, her beautiful eyes staring blankly at the doorway, in the direction Su Wen had left.

Countless times, her Evil Fire had erupted, and she had fainted from pain in this room.

This place was like a heart demon too, firmly imprisoning her inside.

But now, it seemed as if a beam of light was about to shine in...

One year and two months later.

Su Wen was already quite familiar with the inner courtyard. Every day followed the same cycle: cultivate, go find Aunt Lu for a meal, continue cultivating, eat dinner...

Lu Xiaoxiao was worthy of being Shrek Academy's number one nutritionist. The food she arranged was delicious without being greasy, and the portions were generous. Even Zhang Yi was envious of this "special treatment," after all, other Inner Courtyard Disciples had to pay for their meals...

And the prices were not low.

Su Wen's daily food intake alone, converted into Gold Soul Coins, came to a full thousand-plus.

His height had gone from one meter thirty to one meter fifty, barely reaching Ma Xiaotao's chest, because the girl had already shot up to one meter seventy-nine...

At the same time, his strength had risen from rank fifteen to rank twenty. Just yesterday, after his soul power broke through the threshold, a second Pokeball had slowly emerged—yellow, meaning a hundred years.

He studied the yellow Pokeball floating in his Sea of Consciousness alongside Hurricane's white Pokeball.

Su Wen fell into thought.

Hurricane's white Pokeball had suddenly changed after he broke through to rank twenty yesterday—half white, half yellow. That meant his guess was correct.

Once he officially captured his second Soul Beast and reached rank twenty-one, Hurricane's Pokeball would most likely turn completely yellow, marking Hurricane's official entry into the cultivation level of a hundred-year Soul Beast.

Although the pet panel displayed levels, it would convert them into Soul Beast age cultivation by tier: the iconic white, yellow, purple, black, and red.

Wind Baboon

Level: 20

Strength: 10.4 (2.0)

Speed: 13.4 (2.4)

Stamina: 10.4 (1.4)

Defense: 13.1 (5.1)

Skill: Wind Blade (Common)

Attribute: Wind (Common) (Pending refresh)

Potential: 8 (Premium)

Next evolution stage: Storm Baboon

Hurricane's various stats had all risen evenly. The values at the front were his current attribute values, while the small numbers in parentheses behind them were the extra increases gained over these days through the principle of "you are what you eat."

For example, eating the meat of a defensive Soul Beast like an Ironclad Rhinoceros would supplement defensive attributes. Eating an agility-attack type would raise speed. It was similar to increasing potential points—the higher the age of the Soul Beast, the greater the numerical increase it could provide.

Su Wen had eaten a meal of five-thousand-year Dark Gold Dreadclaw Bear meat, and after digesting it, both his defense and strength had increased by 0.1 attribute points!

These boosts had strengthened Hurricane's overall combat power by a full one and a half times.

"Mmm..."

Inside the wooden cabin.

A lazy female voice sounded.

The corner of Su Wen's mouth twitched.

His gaze helplessly shifted toward the bed. Ma Xiaotao had commandeered his bed, stretching lazily, her fair jade feet bare in the air and tensing with her movements. As the blanket was kicked aside, her pale, long, shapely legs were exposed as well.

Ma Xiaotao sat up, her beautiful red hair draped over one shoulder. She rubbed her eyes, giving off the distinct impression of a beautiful airhead.

"Mmm, sleep with me a little longer."

When she saw Su Wen, Ma Xiaotao hooked her leg out by habit and instantly swept Su Wen, who had been sitting cross-legged beside the bed, into her arms.

"You've already slept for an entire day..."

Wrapped in softness, Su Wen sighed expressionlessly.

"But my Evil Fire only went out of control the day before yesterday," Ma Xiaotao said pitifully.

Su Wen: "..."

As time passed, Ma Xiaotao had only become more and more clingy with Su Wen. The fiery temper she showed in front of others was completely gone; instead, she seemed like a delicate little beauty.

Still.

It was about time to put the Land of Extreme North plan on the agenda.