"Smack! Smack! Smack!"
Those familiar sounds rang out again. The hotel attendant had long since grown used to them. After leaving the late-night snacks and tea Huo Yuhao had ordered outside his room, the attendant walked straight away.
Inside, Huo Yuhao's entire body was already covered in livid bruises, with thin trails of blood still seeping from some places. Yet his eyes remained wide open, and he let out neither a cry nor a muffled groan.
Over the past few days, he had grown familiar with this pain. He also knew it was only temporary. The more pain he endured now, the more easily he could absorb the medicinal potency of the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid, and the faster his cultivation would grow.
At last, the ribbon of red energy lashed viciously against Huo Yuhao's chest, and Yao Lao's count reached one hundred and eight.
Huo Yuhao had endured a full one hundred and eight lashes of energy without even collapsing from exhaustion, leaving Yao Lao inwardly amazed.
Even in Yao Lao's world, people with a mind as unyielding as Huo Yuhao's were exceedingly rare. And every one of them had already reached the summit of the cultivation world, revered by countless people.
Huo Yuhao forced himself to walk toward the large wooden tub inside the room, step by step. The footprints he left were dripping with blood, showing just how terrible a pain he was enduring.
With a splash, Huo Yuhao toppled headfirst into the bathing tub filled with pale green medicinal liquid. As the cool liquid soaked his wounds, he sighed in satisfaction, then passed out.
Yao Lao shook his head helplessly and gave Huo Yuhao a pitying look. Then he opened the small porcelain bottle on the table and guided the drop of blue-green medicinal liquid he had refined earlier into Huo Yuhao's mouth.
"Hum!"
A hazy layer of mist seeped from Huo Yuhao's pores, and his body seemed to gleam with a faint blue-green radiance.
Huo Yuhao's skin seemed to ripple slightly, and with each ripple, tiny currents of air continually escaped from his pores.
Meanwhile, the pale blue-green mist kept flowing into his pores and back out again. As time passed, its color gradually deepened, while its fragrant scent slowly faded.
As the mist flowed in and out of Huo Yuhao's pores, it carried away large quantities of impurities from his body and meridians. Meanwhile, the powerful medicinal potency circulated through his meridians, gradually transforming into pale yellow Flame Mantra soul power that Huo Yuhao absorbed into his body.
Without Huo Yuhao realizing it, his soul power cultivation broke through to rank twelve, then rank thirteen... fifteen... sixteen...
Only after he finally broke through to rank eighteen did the fluctuations of soul power around his body gradually stabilize.
Yet the greatest effect of the medicinal liquid Yao Lao had refined was not to increase Huo Yuhao's cultivation, but to improve his innate talent.
Due to congenital malnutrition, Huo Yuhao's meridians had originally been extremely thin and fragile, with blockages in many places. With the aid of the medicine, however, the soul power in his body easily cleared every blockage. His once-narrow meridians also became wider and more supple, better suited to the circulation of soul power.
If the human body's meridians were compared to modern roads, an ordinary Soul Master's meridians had more green lights and fewer red ones. Though soul power did not travel through them particularly quickly, the speed was sufficient.
In Huo Yuhao's original meridians, however, nine and a half out of every ten traffic lights were red, and the remaining half was yellow. The speed at which his soul power circulated was simply horrifyingly slow.
But under the catalyzing effect of this drop of medicinal liquid, Huo Yuhao's meridians now had green lights all the way. His soul power could flow through them without obstruction, and the effect was stronger than that of the original Mystic Water Pill by an untold margin.
Yao Lao observed the path the medicine took through Huo Yuhao's meridians and the main areas it affected, mentally selecting the ingredients needed to refine the [First Origin Pill · Soul Master Edition] he had mentioned earlier.
Suddenly, Yao Lao frowned. His figure turned into a streak of light and instantly returned to the Black Ring.
"Creak..."
The guest room's window was slowly pushed open, and a red-clad figure leaped through it. It was Ma Xiaotao.
After entering the room, Ma Xiaotao looked curiously at the bloody footprints on the floor. Following them with her gaze, she immediately spotted Huo Yuhao soaking in the bathing tub.
"Ah!"
Huo Yuhao had already absorbed all the medicinal potency of the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid in the tub, and the formerly pale green liquid had gradually turned clear. From Ma Xiaotao's angle, she could see his naked body in its entirety.
Ma Xiaotao was nearly twenty years old and knew something about such matters. But the sight of Huo Yuhao's beautifully proportioned muscles, tempered by both the Foundation Establishment Spirit Liquid and the blue-green medicinal liquid, along with certain other parts of him, instantly made her blush scarlet.
"Huh?!"
With the medicine fully absorbed, Huo Yuhao slowly awoke from his deep sleep. His instincts as a top assassin immediately alerted him to an unfamiliar presence in the room. Water splashed as he sprang straight out of the tub.
His figure blurred into an afterimage. Instinctively, Huo Yuhao snatched a table knife from the table and pressed it against Ma Xiaotao's throat. But he soon recognized her face, and his expression shifted from icy menace to indifference.
A sharp gleam flashed through Ma Xiaotao's eyes. The keenness of Huo Yuhao's instincts and his speed just now were nothing like those of a Soul Master barely above rank ten. Even an agility attack system Soul Elder's maximum speed would have been no better.
Although she could have evaded the table knife in Huo Yuhao's hand, even if he had actually stabbed her, he would not have been able to hurt her through the Phoenix Evil Fire protecting her body. Thus, she did not panic.
"Oh, it's you?" Huo Yuhao tossed the table knife back onto the table and spoke flatly. "So, what did you come to see me for? There doesn't seem to be any connection between us, does there, Senior Ma Xiaotao?"
"You know me?" Ma Xiaotao immediately frowned.
"Ma Xiaotao, the Flame Maniac. You're quite famous at Shrek Academy. A little asking around was all it took." Huo Yuhao shrugged. "But I've never cared much for heaven's favored children like you, with your eyes perched on top of your heads, and I don't want anything to do with you."
"I know you resent me, but I had difficulties that left me no choice. First, let me apologize to you."
"Apologize? If apologies worked, what would we need the authorities for?" Huo Yuhao sneered. "You're one of the Inner Academy's favored geniuses. Even if you'd killed me beside Sea God Lake, the academy's higher-ups would only have confined you to your quarters. They would never have expelled you."
"But what about me?! I was merely admiring the academy's scenery beside Sea God Lake, and I nearly got killed on the spot by a fellow student! And afterward, someone even warned me that if I dared tell anyone about it, I'd be expelled from Shrek!"
"One Soul Ascension Pill-that was my compensation for nearly losing my life! Isn't it laughable? Even I find it laughable! Sorry, lowborn scum like us can't compare to a favored genius like you. I won't help you with anything, either. Please leave!"
Ma Xiaotao's eyes widened, and her pink irises suddenly darkened several shades. An indescribable pressure instantly bore down on Huo Yuhao.
"You're not afraid of me?"
Huo Yuhao gave a cold smile, revealing his stark white teeth, and said each word distinctly, "You can try attacking me, but you'll definitely be the first to die. If you don't believe me, try it."
Huo Yuhao extended his hand, and a wisp of eerie dark red flame suddenly appeared in his palm. It swayed gently in the breeze, giving off a strange air of darkness and evil.
"Phoenix Evil Fire?! How could you possibly..."
Ma Xiaotao paled in shock and was about to say something, but she suddenly sensed the Phoenix Evil Fire inside her growing restless under the influence of the Core Flame in Huo Yuhao's hand.
"Stop! Stop!" Ma Xiaotao shrieked, forcibly suppressing that familiar feeling of scorching heat inside her.
If Huo Yuhao continued manipulating it like this, the scene at Sea God Lake would inevitably repeat itself.
But this was the heart of Shrek City. If she truly lost control and caused a massacre here, even Shrek Academy would never be able to protect her.
"As long as you're willing to help me suppress the backlash from the evil fire, I'll give you anything you want!" Ma Xiaotao shouted anxiously.
"You seem very afraid of your own power." Huo Yuhao withdrew the Phoenix Evil Fire's Core Flame and chuckled. "Since you've already said that, I won't stand on ceremony."
"If you want me to help suppress the evil fire's backlash, that's fine. But the payment I want is a Soul Bone!"
Before you continue