Huo Wu Was Captured

How could he control the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword? Cao De pondered the question as he fought.

This isn't right either! Cao De thought.

Each time an exchange ended, Cao De tried a different approach.

The man's mouth had grown dry from all his taunting, yet the man before him remained utterly impassive, as though he hadn't heard a word.

The man's blood pressure instantly shot up. "I'm talking to you!!!"

Cao De remained expressionless, immersed in his own world.

Silent, cold indifference was terrifying. General Yu had used that very trick back in the day to defeat his enemy outright.

Let alone this lackey now. "Go to hell!!"

"Second Soul Skill-"

Cao De had just begun to grasp something, and the shout irritated him.

"You're very noisy," Cao De said coldly.

Four soul rings instantly appeared around him! "Fourth Soul Skill, Piercing!"

In an instant, all of them collapsed into pools of blood. The man who had been taunting him moments earlier had eyes filled with terror.

If you're this powerful, why didn't you reveal your martial soul sooner? You were baiting me into courting death!!

The man breathed his last, filled with resentment.

Cao De scratched his head in frustration. He had sensed the faintest hint of something, but still couldn't figure it out.

"You've been watching for so long. Aren't you coming out?" Cao De said toward the mouth of the alley.

A fiery-red figure appeared. It was none other than Huo Wu.

Cao De put away his martial soul and looked at Huo Wu. "So, miss, why did you follow me here?"

Huo Wu's eyes were wary. When Cao De had struck, she had been about to slip away, but now he had discovered her. She had no idea what he intended to do-kill her to silence her, or...

Huo Wu's mind raced, while she feigned composure. "I saw Feng Xiaotian's men following you. I thought they might cause trouble, so I followed them."

Cao De smiled. "You care so much about me that anyone who didn't know better would think you were my maid."

Then he added, "Keep this secret for me, then. I don't like trouble. And help me clean this up. Thank you."

Cao De gave her a polite smile.

Without paying any attention to what Huo Wu might be thinking, he walked out of the alley.

Only after Cao De had gone far away did Huo Wu let out a long breath of relief. She had just seen four soul rings with her own eyes: purple, purple, black, black.

His first soul ring was purple. The sight shattered everything she had understood as common sense.

"Is he even human?" Huo Wu murmured, though her hands worked deftly to clear away the corpses.

Cao De was no longer in the mood to browse the shops for novel trinkets. The battle had given him a sliver of insight, and now he needed to recall and analyze it immediately.

He found a nearby hotel, paid for a room, and went straight inside.

After shutting the door, Cao De stood quietly and summoned his martial soul, the Thousand-Blade Demon Sword, into his hand. With his eyes tightly closed, he considered every detail of the earlier battle.

Each swing, each collision, the circulation of the Great Sun Heart Method-Cao De let no frame of those changes escape him.

Beads of sweat the size of beans appeared on Cao De's forehead. His face gradually flushed red, and wisps of white steam rose from the top of his head.

The images in Cao De's mind froze on the state of his body at the moment he unleashed his soul skill.

"I think I've found it," Cao De murmured. His body went limp, and he sprawled on the floor and fell asleep.

Meanwhile, after disposing of the corpses, Huo Wu was still recalling the terrifying power of Cao De's soul skill. She failed to notice that there were fewer and fewer passersby around her.

Suddenly, she turned to look behind her. "Who's there?"

Clap! Clap! Clap!

An old man with graying hair clapped as he slowly approached Huo Wu, a smile curling his lips. "You're Huo Wu, aren't you? Your senses are quite keen."

Three soul rings appeared around Huo Wu as she watched the newcomer warily. "Who are you?"

"Don't be afraid, little girl. I won't hurt you," the old man said with a smile as he approached her.

"Third Soul Skill, Repelling Fire Ring!" Huo Wu cried.

Yet her soul skill failed to form. "What's going on?" Huo Wu began to panic.

The gray-haired old man laughed, raised his hand, and snapped his fingers sharply. Huo Wu instantly fainted.

"Caught in an illusion without even realizing it. Huo Canghai, your daughter is nothing special," the gray-haired old man said with a sneer.

The scenery around them gradually shattered. Their surroundings were still that same alley.

The gray-haired old man wore a smile. Behind him, Huo Wu and another person wearing a Blazing Fire Academy uniform stood with their heads lowered and their eyes vacant.

The old man pointed at the man. "Go to the Blazing Fire Academy and tell your dean that if he wants to see his daughter, he must come alone. And bring what he recently acquired."

The man nodded woodenly and walked out of the alley.

Her body stiff, Huo Wu followed the old man toward the outskirts of the city.

The passersby seemed unable to see the two of them, ignoring them completely.

Back on Cao De's side.

Tang San lay on the floor, sleeping especially soundly.

Xiao Wu, Ning Rongrong, Zhu Zhuqing, Qian Renxue, Bibi Dong, and Bo Saixi.

Each wore her most distinctive, most beautiful outfit.

One after another, they picked up a bamboo tube and shook it, drew a bamboo slip from within, glanced at the writing on it, and then walked toward Cao De.

A happy smile spread across Cao De's face.

The fragrance of facial cleanser...

Bang, bang, bang! Urgent knocking rang out, instantly shattering the beautiful dream.

Furious, Cao De rose and strode over. As he pulled open the door, he roared, "Knock again, and I'll twist your head off and kick it around like a ball!"

The door opened!

A large group stood outside. At their head was a red-haired man whose icy eyes were fixed on Cao De.

Cao De frowned. He had never seen these people before and had no idea why they had come.

The man at the head spoke coldly. "Is Huo Wu here with you?"

As he spoke, the pressure radiating from his body enveloped Cao De.

Cao De hadn't feared even the Sky Azure Bull Python's pressure, let alone that of the man before him. He paid it no mind whatsoever.

"Huo Wu isn't here," Cao De said, looking straight into the red-haired man's eyes.

The red-haired man's eyes were icy as he stared fixedly at Cao De and said, stressing each word, "Huo Wu was last seen following you into an alley. Then she disappeared. How do you explain that?"

"So you suspect I did it?" Cao De asked in return.

"Just let Elder Jias perform a simple examination. We won't make things difficult for you," the red-haired man continued in a forceful, unyielding tone.

Beside him, the gray-haired man named Jias conjured a small mirror in his hand.

"The Illusion Mirror Martial Soul. You're trying to destroy my future," Cao De said with a cold laugh.

Cao De had read about the Illusion Mirror Martial Soul in the library. It was an illusion-type martial soul that could reflect a person's mental sea and reveal events from their memories.

However, that reflection inflicted irreversible damage on the person's mental sea.

Cao De wore a cold smile. If the people before him still insisted on forcing the issue, he wouldn't mind exchanging a few blows with them.

Even though the red-haired man's soul power was far higher than his own, Cao De wasn't afraid in the slightest.

If I can't beat him, I'll just escape with the One-Time Teleportation Mark. Once I'm strong enough, I'll fight my way back.

Cao De was very cautious.

"So you're refusing!" the red-haired man said coldly, his eyes locked on Cao De as he continued increasing the pressure.

To his astonishment, however, Cao De remained completely unfazed by the full force of his pressure. Even his expression didn't change, and not a trace of panic appeared in his eyes.

He was beginning to find this young man's true capabilities difficult to gauge.

Cao De said slowly, "Of course I'm refusing."

The scene instantly sank into an eerie silence. The people behind the red-haired man wore murderous expressions, ready to act at any moment.

But their dean hadn't given the order, so they could only wait.

"D-Dean! Dean, something terrible has happened!"

A man rushed toward the red-haired man in a panic and whispered a few words into his ear.