A sharp glint flashed in Huo Yuhao's eyes, but they soon returned to calm.
He shook his head slightly and said evenly, "Trying to goad me won't work."
Surprise surfaced in Ma Xiaotao's eyes. Clearly, she had not expected Huo Yuhao to refuse so decisively.
Seeing this, the Body Sect elders standing nearby could not help nodding in satisfaction.
Approval showed on their faces. "Unshaken in the face of a shock. Now that's a worthy disciple of our Body Sect."
Ma Xiaotao snorted, the fiery-red strands at her temples fluttering gently. "What, a great genius of the Body Sect doesn't even dare accept a challenge from someone his own age?"
Huo Yuhao looked at her calmly. "First, I refused not because I'm afraid, but because there's no need."
"Second, I haven't learned the Body Sect's various secret arts yet. If I lost, it wouldn't be fair to the Body Sect. And if I won..."
He turned to Xuan Zi, the corners of his mouth lifting slightly as he said with a trace of disdain, "I'm afraid you people from Shrek would find another excuse, saying that, as a Soul Master with twin Martial Souls, I was bullying you with your single Martial Soul. Win or lose, this fight would be meaningless."
Ma Xiaotao's brows knitted tightly. "You..."
Just then, Du Busi suddenly kicked Xuan Zi away.
He brushed the dust off himself and roared with laughter. "Well said! That's my disciple!"
Then he turned and glared at Xuan Zi. "You old ox, now do you understand what a gap looks like? What can the students you teach at Shrek do besides fight without using their brains? A Soul Master needs a brain."
Xuan Zi retorted, "A brain?!"
"Does that whole-body Body Martial Soul of yours include your brain, your tongue, and that thick skin of yours?!"
The two old men promptly started grappling again.
Ma Xiaotao still refused to give up.
The problem with her phoenix evil fire had grown increasingly severe as her cultivation deepened.
If she did not find a solution in time, she would either burn to death or fall into becoming an Evil Soul Master. Neither was something she could accept.
And Huo Yuhao's ultimate ice was precisely the best means of suppressing her phoenix evil fire.
If she could not make him fight her and use his ultimate ice to suppress the evil fire, Elder Mu and her teacher Yan Shaozhe's arrangements would probably have been for nothing.
Seeing that her verbal provocations had failed, Ma Xiaotao steeled herself, stamped her foot, and drove her Soul Power into motion. The flames around her abruptly surged!
"If you won't make a move, I'll force you to!"
"I'll collect some interest from you first for your Body Sect's humiliation of Elder Xuan!"
A phoenix phantom appeared behind her, and her hundred-year second ring instantly lit up. Bathed in scorching flames, she shot toward Huo Yuhao like a meteor.
"Insolence!"
Jin Peng bellowed angrily.
He infused that shout with the pressure of his Soul Power. The sound waves formed by the Soul-Shattering Chant crashed down on Ma Xiaotao, halting her before she fell heavily to the ground.
Song Yunzhi was just about to act when Jin Peng, Hong Yue, and the others blocked her, staring at her coldly.
"Du Busi!" Seeing this, Xuan Zi tried to break free of Du Busi. "Your Body Sect elders interfere in a spar between juniors? Have you no shame?!"
Du Busi sneered. "So you do know it's shameless for the older generation to bully juniors? Then why didn't that occur to you when you bullied Di'ao Academy?!"
Fine beads of sweat seeped from Ma Xiaotao's forehead.
She raised her head stubbornly and said through gritted teeth, "Huo Yuhao, can you do nothing but hide behind your elders?"
Huo Yuhao remained calm. "Then why did you hide behind Shrek when you first started hunting Soul Beasts?"
He walked slowly forward and crouched down to look at Ma Xiaotao.
"From the very beginning, you've been using this as a pretext, constantly provoking me and challenging me to a fight. You've been far too impatient."
His voice was soft, yet every word pierced Ma Xiaotao's heart like a needle.
"I read a book in the Heaven Soul Library about the First Generation Shrek Seven Devils."
"It said that the Phoenix God's Ten-Headed Fire Phoenix Martial Soul was originally called the evil fire phoenix, and it, too, was impure ultimate fire. Only with the Sea God's help was he able to successfully evolve it into its later form."
The pupils of Ma Xiaotao, Xuan Zi, and Song Yunzhi abruptly shrank to pinpoints.
Hong Yue, however, frowned.
The Heaven Soul Library had that book? I don't remember it.
But she soon felt reassured.
When the seven gods ascended ten thousand years ago, Shrek had lavishly boasted of their past deeds. It was nothing unusual for the Heaven Dou public library to have some records.
In particular, Yu Xiaogang, known as the Grandmaster, had written about it at great length, detailing how, under his guidance, Blue Silver Grass had evolved into the Blue Silver Emperor, the evil fire phoenix into the Ten-Headed Fire Phoenix, and the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda into the Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, among other things.
To this day, that handwritten account sat in the Heavenly Soul Royal Family's collection room as a joke.
Thus, the Body Sect did know something about the seven gods' Martial Souls.
Huo Yuhao's gaze grew deep as he recalled the accounts in the Records of the Seven Gods.
He stood and looked down at Ma Xiaotao. "Whenever a phoenix Martial Soul appears, it is invariably ultimate fire."
"But your phoenix fire isn't at the ultimate level, which means your Martial Soul is impure. There are only two possibilities."
"Either, like the Phoenix God at the beginning, your flames are mixed with evil fire, or you're just one final step away and need the impact of an utterly opposing power to blast through the last barrier, undergoing an evolution like rebirth through fire, with only one chance in ten of surviving."
"But whether it's evil fire or rebirth through fire, you need a completely different power."
"And my ultimate ice is a ready-made 'extinguishing agent' or 'detonating agent.'"
"Do you think I'd help your Martial Soul evolve for no reason?"
Ma Xiaotao's face turned deathly pale.
The problem with her evil fire was Shrek Academy's greatest secret. Aside from the Sea God Pavilion Elders, only Xu Sanshi, who treated her, knew about it.
She had never expected Huo Yuhao to deduce the nature of her Martial Soul merely from a story passed down for ten thousand years and her own behavior.
The admiration in the eyes of the Body Sect members deepened.
No wonder Dai Hao has eyes but cannot see, someone thought. He refined his eyes into a Martial Soul and passed them on to Yuhao.
Ma Xiaotao's face went from white to red, then quickly from red to ashen, her body trembling uncontrollably.
Xuan Zi shoved Du Busi aside and shouted sternly, "Boy, stop spouting nonsense here!"
Du Busi said, "Old ox, are you lashing out in shame because he exposed your intentions?"
Huo Yuhao's expression did not change.
He bowed to Du Busi and said, "Teacher, actually, after I finished comprehending the Ultimate Secret Manual, Elder Mu explained Ma Xiaotao's condition to me. He hoped I could help resolve her evil fire problem."
Du Busi raised an eyebrow. "You agreed? That Old Bai Dragon Mu En is up to no good. He's tossed a bomb at our Body Sect. If we mishandle it and Ma Xiaotao dies here, what are we supposed to do if he demands a fire phoenix in compensation?"
Huo Yuhao said, "Elder Mu said he could provide me with a hundred-thousand-year Spirit-type Soul Beast, plus a hundred-thousand-year ice- or water-attribute Soul Beast."
At the end, Huo Yuhao paused before continuing, "And access to all of Shrek Academy's materials except classified documents."
"As well as one opportunity to have Shrek Academy come to the Body Sect's aid in a fight, provided it doesn't involve interference in any country's internal affairs."
Huo Yuhao bowed deeply. "I wouldn't dare decide on my own. Please make the decision, Teacher."
Hearing this, Du Busi's face broke into a teasing smile.
"It looks like this Ma Xiaotao's problem is no ordinary matter. Otherwise, would that Old Bai Dragon be willing to pay such a steep price?"