Chen Jie withdrew his consciousness from his sea of consciousness, straightened his clothes, and hurried toward Class Seven's classroom.
The classroom door stood ajar, and a constant clamor of voices came from inside. The moment he pushed it open and stepped in, someone shouted.
"Run! The Ball-Buster is here!"
The classroom instantly erupted into commotion.
The boys' expressions changed, and they instinctively clamped their legs together as an ominous foreboding rose in their hearts.
During the last match in the Soul Fighting Arena, the shock wave unleashed by Chen Jie's eruption of soul power had taught the arrogant Xu Sanshi a harsh lesson. Everyone still remembered that shocking scene vividly, and none of them wanted his soul power to run wild again.
Quite a few girls covered their mouths and giggled, looking curiously toward the doorway.
The sisters Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo sat in the front row. At the shout, they turned together to look at Chen Jie as he entered.
Lan Susu's eyes brimmed with admiration, and she spoke first. "Chen Jie, you looked so cool when you taught Xu Sanshi a lesson in the Soul Fighting Arena yesterday."
Lan Luoluo's cheeks grew slightly warm. Her gaze rested on Chen Jie, revealing an affection she could not hide, and she hurriedly nodded in agreement. "Exactly! Xu Sanshi spends all day pestering girls everywhere. Watching you give him a good thrashing felt so satisfying."
On the other side of the classroom, Ning Tian and Wu Feng sat side by side and also looked up at Chen Jie.
Ning Tian had watched everything that happened in the Soul Fighting Arena yesterday, from beginning to end.
Remembering the ice martial soul Chen Jie had revealed yesterday, she was secretly astonished. So he had twin martial souls.
Not long ago, Chen Jie had still been a three-ring Soul Elder, yet in that brief span of time, he had advanced straight to five rings.
His cultivation's rapid strides, along with his decisive way of handling matters, had sparked her intense curiosity.
In her mind, she had already quietly marked Chen Jie as the foremost person worth keeping a close eye on.
But after considering it calmly, she developed a few reservations. Chen Jie had always been surrounded by girls, and his gentle manner inevitably made him seem rather inclined to spread his affections around. That bothered her a great deal.
Beside her, Wu Feng noticed every subtle change in Ning Tian.
Until now, Ning Tian had mostly devoted herself to cultivation and handling her family's affairs. The person closest to her in everyday life had been Wu Feng.
But ever since Chen Jie appeared, Ning Tian's attention had often been drawn to this boy. Not only did she pay particular attention to his every move, but she had also marked him as someone to observe closely.
Wu Feng felt a heartfelt aversion toward Chen Jie. To her, he was the one who had stolen her young mistress away.
She pressed her lips tightly together and looked coldly at Chen Jie, her heart full of resistance.
Just then, Lan Susu asked with a puzzled expression, "We remember you only had three rings before. How did you break through to five rings in such a short time?"
Facing everyone's gazes, Chen Jie remained calm. He smiled faintly and answered composedly, "While I was away gaining experience, I did encounter quite a few opportunities. Among them, I also came across immortal herbs."
"Immortal herbs?" Ning Tian froze, her eyes instantly lighting up, unable to conceal the shock and excitement on her face.
Almost instinctively, she rose and hurried over, excitedly catching Chen Jie by the wrist as she eagerly asked, "It's said that Ning Rongrong, the ancestor of our Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, took the immortal herb Aromatic Silk Beauty back then, and that was what evolved her Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda! Did your cultivation soar because of that kind of immortal herb too? Do you still have any?"
Chen Jie nodded slightly, then channeled a thread of pure soul power to transmit his voice silently into Ning Tian's ears, so that only she could hear. "Come to the Sea God Statue tonight. We'll meet privately and discuss it in detail."
With her fingertips resting against Chen Jie's wrist, Ning Tian's heart beat a little faster, her eyes filled with anticipation and excitement.
Wu Feng took in this intimate scene from beside them. The chill in her eyes deepened, and the resistance in her heart grew ever stronger.
Just then, soft yet commanding footsteps came from the classroom doorway.
Their homeroom teacher, Mu Jin, walked slowly into the classroom. His gaze swept across the lively class as he said evenly, "All right, quiet down. Class is starting."
The noisy classroom instantly fell so silent that even a crow's call would have stood out. Ning Tian hurriedly released her grip and returned to her seat.
Mu Jin's gaze finally settled on Chen Jie, and he said softly, "Chen Jie, come to my office after class."
With that, he opened his lesson plan and formally began the lesson.
Everyone in the class sat up straight. No one dared to keep talking casually, though their hearts remained full of curiosity about Chen Jie's opportunities.
Yan Shaozhe's office
Word soon reached Yan Shaozhe, and he immediately sent someone to fetch the Soul Master with the ice martial soul from yesterday's match in the Soul Fighting Arena.
Yan Shaozhe leaned forward slightly, his brows tightly furrowed and his eyes full of disbelief. Fixing his gaze on the Soul Master, he asked in a grave voice:
"What? A boy suppressed your martial soul?"
After listening to the ice martial soul Soul Master's detailed account, word by word, Yan Shaozhe's expression grew utterly solemn.
This Soul Master was far from untalented. His ice martial soul was pure and solid, and he had few rivals at his level. Yet yesterday in the Soul Fighting Arena, an unfamiliar boy had completely suppressed his martial soul at its very source. His soul power had frozen, his soul rings had dimmed, and he had been unable to summon even a trace of strength.
Ordinary martial soul suppression could never reach such a degree.
Yan Shaozhe had lived for over a hundred years and witnessed countless martial souls across the continent. His thoughts raced, eliminating possibility after possibility.
The next moment, his pupils abruptly contracted as an earth-shattering answer exploded into his mind!
"Ultimate Ice!"
Yan Shaozhe blurted out in a low cry, his voice filled with overwhelming shock and elation.
Only an ultimate attribute could achieve absolute domination at the level of the source!
Before ultimate ice, an ordinary ice martial soul was like an ant looking up at the heavens. Their attributes, sources, and levels existed on entirely different planes, so it was only natural for the lesser one to be sealed off completely.
The instant everything fell into place, Yan Shaozhe's entire body trembled violently. The worries accumulated over many years vanished, and unprecedented excitement appeared on his face.
"Wonderful... wonderful!"
He murmured to himself, his eyes filled with wild joy.
Everyone knew that his disciple, Ma Xiaotao, possessed the evil fire phoenix martial soul.
This martial soul was extraordinarily domineering, with sky-high potential, yet it came with an innate, fatal flaw-evil fire!
The evil fire was sinister, volatile, and violent. It burned the heart and ate into the bones, eroding the soul and unsettling the mind as it accumulated over time.
Over the years, he had exhausted countless resources, sought out renowned physicians throughout the continent, and used countless supreme treasures to suppress evil, calm the mind, and quell the flames. Yet he could only suppress it, never eradicate it.
As the evil fire accumulated, it would only grow stronger. One day, it would completely devour Ma Xiaotao's sanity and reduce her to an evil demon!
This had been the greatest knot in his heart for years, and the deadliest predicament of Ma Xiaotao's life.
But ultimate ice was different!
The utmost cold, the utmost cleansing, the utmost purity!
Ultimate ice naturally countered all evil flames, sinister flames, and volatile flames. It was the ultimate bane of every flame under heaven, and the only supreme power in the world capable of gradually neutralizing, cleansing, and suppressing phoenix evil fire!
What others could not do, ultimate ice absolutely could!
Yan Shaozhe tightened his fists slightly, his gaze utterly resolute as countless emotions surged through his heart:
"Xiaotao can be saved!
The evil fire that has tormented her for years finally has hope of being cured completely!
Who would have thought! A gifted boy with ultimate ice has quietly appeared right here in my Shrek City!"
He immediately reined in his excitement, his expression becoming exceptionally solemn. Looking at the ice Soul Master before him, he commanded in a grave voice:
"Tell me everything in detail-the boy's appearance, height, bearing, soul power fluctuations, and every last detail of yesterday's match!
I must find him myself!"
Before you continue