"Nine ropes, polarized light, crow and declaration, between front and back"

How were they supposed to answer that? After all, Xiaotao really did seem a little like an Evil Soul Master when her evil fire erupted.

And if not for this boy, she really would have made a terrible mistake.

Yan Shaozhe cared nothing for any of that. Seeing his disciple so badly injured, he was just about to deliver a scolding.

But then he saw the white-haired boy's face and asked uncertainly, "Are you Yang Lin, the strongest new student?"

He had read this year's new student records, so naturally, he knew plenty about the strongest newcomer.

If he hadn't spent the past two days suppressing his disciple Ma Xiaotao's evil fire, he would have wanted to meet this new student whom Du Weilun had praised to the skies.

Yang Lin nodded. "That's right. You still haven't answered my question. Why is this Evil Soul Master at Shrek Academy?"

Yan Shaozhe frowned. "She is my disciple, not an Evil Soul Master. There was simply a problem with her cultivation. I apologize for her nearly harming you."

If this fellow hadn't possessed such talent, along with a rather impressive background,

Yan Shaozhe would have taught him a lesson long ago for daring to speak to him so rudely.

"Oh, so she's your disciple. Anyone who didn't know would have thought she was an Evil Soul Master. Then let's discuss compensation.

Your disciple injured us and even nearly killed all three of us. As her teacher, shouldn't you take responsibility for what she did?"

With that, Yang Lin tossed Ma Xiaotao toward the teachers as though throwing away garbage.

Yan Shaozhe caught Ma Xiaotao. His eye twitched as he looked at her swollen cheeks and her still-bleeding forehead.

This fellow really had a heavy hand.

He quickly handed Ma Xiaotao over to the healing Soul Master beside him for treatment.

Yan Shaozhe looked the three of them over again and found that, apart from the pink-and-blue-haired student looking slightly disheveled,

the other two were perfectly fine. He decided it was no big deal. No one had died, after all.

Then he casually took three pills from his Storage Ring and said indifferently, "These are Soul Ascension Pills. You may have them as compensation, but you must forget what just happened, or you will be expelled from the academy!"

Yang Lin sneered at the three pills. "Are you saying our three lives are only worth three pills?"

This Martial Soul Department Dean really was as stingy as the original story described.

Yan Shaozhe said impatiently, "Don't open your lion's maw and demand the moon. These Soul Ascension Pills are already precious treasures for people at your level. If you still aren't satisfied, I'll have no choice but to expel you."

Yang Lin waved a hand and looked toward a patch of woods. "I can't be bothered to argue with you. Elder Mu, you've been watching long enough. Isn't it time you came out?"

"Hahaha, young Yang, your senses are as sharp as ever."

Mu En wheeled himself out, still wearing his usual genial smile.

The moment Yan Shaozhe saw Mu En, his pupils contracted, and he hurriedly bowed. "Teacher."

The other Inner Academy teachers also bowed respectfully. "Elder Mu."

Mu En waved a hand. He was just about to speak when he sensed an immensely powerful energy forming behind the white-haired boy.

He asked curiously, "Young Yang, what are you doing with your hand behind your back?"

Yang Lin brought out his concealed right hand. At some point, a deep-purple orb of energy had already formed at his fingertips.

He looked at Mu En and smiled. "Shrek's people have gone far too far, trying to brush us off with a few lousy pills. If you hadn't come, Elder Mu, I was just about to teach them a lesson."

Yan Shaozhe sneered at that. "I admit you have some talent, but you, a three-ring Soul Elder, want to teach me a lesson? With that orb in your hand? Such shameless boasting."

Mu En first glanced at his disappointing disciple, immediately silencing him.

Then he looked at the deep-purple orb on Yang Lin's fingertips and said with a smile:

"Now that I'm here, I will naturally see that you receive justice."

"We can discuss justice later. Since this teacher is so eager to see what I can do..."

Yang Lin looked over everyone present. They were all fairly important figures in the original story.

Showing them a finishing move should earn him quite a bit of emotional value.

Besides, he had yet to unleash a complete Hollow Technique: Purple.

The three black Soul Rings at Yang Lin's feet lit up, and he began reciting an incantation:

"Nine ropes, polarized light, crow and declaration, between front and back."

As he recited the incantation, the deep-purple orb at his fingertips grew larger, gathering an extraordinarily powerful force of annihilation within it.

Yang Lin flicked his finger, sending the deep-purple orb shooting toward Sea God Lake.

Everywhere the orb passed, it carved a smooth trail of vacuum across Sea God Lake. All the water in its path was devoured, without a splash or a wisp of steam, as though it had simply vanished into thin air.

When the deep-purple orb reached the center of Sea God Lake, it instantly expanded from the size of a palm to hundreds of meters across, then plunged straight into the lake.

In the next instant, Hollow Purple, at two hundred percent power, erupted.

It was not the explosion of energy they had imagined, but an annihilation so silent it made their hair stand on end.

Vast swathes of water were erased around the orb. An enormous hollow collapsed into existence at the center of the lake, and countless torrents poured into it, forming a massive whirlpool that could not fill the void for a long time.

Deathly silence instantly fell over the shore.

[Host gained emotional value from Yan Shaozhe +333]

[Host gained emotional value from Yan Shaozhe +555]

[Host gained emotional value from Mu En +777]

[Host gained emotional value from Wang Dong'er +999]

[Host gained emotional value from Jiang Nannan +666]

[...]

Yan Shaozhe stared at the scene in the center of Sea God Lake, his mouth hanging open.

Th-this was an attack a three-ring Soul Elder could unleash? Why did its power seem comparable to his eighth and ninth Soul Skills?

In terms of destructive power alone, it might even be a little stronger.

Wang Dong had long since retreated behind Mu En. Looking at the white-haired boy, who was panting slightly, she cursed inwardly, Freak.

Yang Lin nodded in satisfaction as he watched his emotional value climb.

Not bad. Nearly fifty thousand emotional value in such a short time, with Wang Dong and Mu En contributing the lion's share.

Then he looked at Yan Shaozhe, still wearing a relaxed smile. "Well? Not bad power, was it?"

Yan Shaozhe's eye twitched. He wanted to retort, but the dangerous look in his teacher's eyes frightened him into shutting his mouth.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Truly, heroes emerge from the young. At your age, I probably wouldn't have been a match for even one of your hands."

Mu En lightly clapped his withered hands. His formerly narrowed eyes were now fully open as he looked at the white-haired boy with admiration.

His heart was filled with regret. If only such a promising seedling could remain at Shrek.