After testing their Martial Soul Fusion Skill with Su Tong several times, Huo Yuhao left the Pure Heart Retreat and cultivated overnight in his private dormitory.
He continually discussed Second Awakening with Electrolux, the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, and the Ice Empress, exchanging their views.
At the first glimmer of dawn the next day, Huo Yuhao stretched luxuriously and headed for the Dean's Tower, brimming with energy.
He looked up at the rebuilt tower, deliberately weathered to look old, and could not help marveling inwardly:
The dean really does have refined tastes.
He knocked lightly on the office door and entered after receiving Xue Xin's permission.
Although Xue Xin knew why Huo Yuhao had come, he still had to pretend otherwise. "Yuhao? What brings you here?"
"Dean, Sister Su Tong agreed to join Di'ao Academy last night," Huo Yuhao said.
Xue Xin's fingers twitched haphazardly beneath his desk as he considered what expression he should use to respond.
When Xue Xin remained silent for a long while, Huo Yuhao prompted, "Dean?"
"Ahem." Xue Xin coughed twice. "Understood."
"You've done very well. I'll report your contribution to my imperial brother."
Huo Yuhao looked at Xue Xin in puzzlement.
For some reason, he felt that Xue Xin did not seem surprised by this news.
Growing uncomfortable under Huo Yuhao's gaze, Xue Xin tried to cover himself. "Incidentally, Elder Jin Peng visited the Tang Sect's former grounds last night."
The Tang Sect's former grounds lay in an inconspicuous corner of Heaven Dou City, now occupied by a minor faction called the Iron Blood Sect.
After Jin Peng arrived at the Iron Blood Sect, its sect master, Tie Li, and Young Sect Master Tie Tang assumed that their bribing the City Defense Army to destroy the Tang Sect had been exposed.
They tearfully confessed to Jin Peng and disclosed every last member of the City Defense Army involved that night.
Huo Yuhao did not know whether to laugh or cry. "Does this count as planting a willow without thought, only for it to grow into shade?"
"How was the matter handled in the end?"
"It involves the internal affairs of the City Defense Army, so it requires careful handling," Xue Xin said. "But with conclusive evidence, the imperial family certainly won't show leniency."
"With the Heavenly Body Ring's designation being reinstated, the imperial family plans to gradually transfer some of the City Defense Army's authority to it, letting you familiarize yourselves with some duties first."
"Ao Tian has gone off as an exchange student, and you've spent long enough as the Heavenly Body Ring Deputy Commander who leaves everything to others. Once Uncle Du returns, it'll be time for you to shoulder the burden."
Xue Xin handed Huo Yuhao a sheet recording the imperial family's discussions from the previous night. "Tie Li and his son Tie Tang have been imprisoned. Once the others have been investigated, those who haven't committed crimes will be treated leniently."
"The Iron-Armed Bear Martial Soul may be ordinary, but it provides a fair bit of strength for blacksmithing."
Huo Yuhao studied the plan carefully.
"The imperial family intends to turn the Iron Blood Sect into a secret base for the Mind-Soul Research Institute?"
"That place was the Tang Sect's former grounds, after all," Xue Xin said, pointing at the plan.
"We suspect that after the Tang Sect's decline, there might still be things it left behind in places no one knows about."
"The Tang Sect continued to flourish for some time after driving away the Four Great Clans, so we believe they must have retained some of the Strength Clan's forging insights."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "The Tang Sect was destroyed overnight. Tang Ya couldn't have taken much with her when she fled."
He then told Xue Xin about his chance encounter with Tang Ya in the Star Dou Great Forest.
"The Tang Sect's sect master joined Shrek?"
Xue Xin rubbed his chin. "Let's make a note of that for now. We'll have to maintain strict security at the Tang Sect's former grounds."
Xue Xin then told Huo Yuhao many more details concerning the Mind-Soul Research Institute.
As the originator of the Mind-Soul Forging Method, Huo Yuhao had both the right and the obligation to know these things.
While they were talking, a commotion suddenly sounded outside the tower.
"Dean!"
A Di'ao student hurried over in a panic. "Shrek's Ma Xiaotao is fighting Senior Jiang Peng and a girl I don't recognize!"
Xue Xin and Huo Yuhao frowned and immediately followed the student outside.
By now, people crowded the edges of Di'ao Academy's plaza.
At the center of the plaza, three figures were locked in fierce combat.
Blazing Phoenix Flame enveloped Ma Xiaotao, and enormous fiery wings spread behind her. Moving with tremendous speed, she traced fiery red streaks through the air.
"Phoenix Roaring Sky Strike!"
A fiercely burning pillar of flame erupted from the ground, forcing the watching students to retreat repeatedly.
Seeing Ma Xiaotao actually dare to run wild inside Di'ao Academy, Jiang Peng's expression hardened. Five Soul Rings-two yellow, two purple, and one black-rose from beneath his feet.
Following a thunderous boom, Jiang Peng leaped high, sweeping his arm around like an iron spear.
The Soul Power surging from his entire body erupted with a crash.
His ink-black Heaven-Shaking Axe radiated a chilling aura, like a great river unfurling vast, raging tides as it cleaved straight down at Ma Xiaotao's head.
The Heaven-Shaking Axe was an exceptionally powerful Martial Soul that could rival the Clear Sky Hammer in destructive power and attack strength.
"Heaven-Collapsing Fall!" Jiang Peng's fourth Soul Ring blazed.
The enormous Heaven-Shaking Axe, its blade fully five feet wide, let out a sharp, thunderous shriek through the air.
But Ma Xiaotao was simply too fast in the air.
Phoenix Wings Soaring granted her flight, and she beat her wings, dodging Jiang Peng's mountain-cleaving strike.
"I'm not in the mood to waste time on you!" Ma Xiaotao snapped.
She turned, her eyes fixed on Su Tong below. "Are you coming back to Shrek with me or not?"
That morning, Ma Xiaotao had expected Huo Yuhao to come and perform her routine monthly Evil Fire suppression.
She had never expected a girl to come instead-a girl with the Heavenly Snow Woman Martial Soul.
And this Su Tong apparently had not joined any faction?
Su Tong stood at the center of the plaza, her long, snow-white hair dancing in the wind, her gaze indifferent.
Four Soul Rings pulsed slowly beneath her. The temperature around her plummeted because of her presence, forming a stark contrast with the searing heat surrounding Ma Xiaotao overhead.
"I've already made myself perfectly clear," Su Tong said with particular firmness. "I'm not going to Shrek."
The fury in Ma Xiaotao's eyes intensified. "Do you know what you're turning down? You have an Ultimate Martial Soul, not Twin Martial Souls like Huo Yuhao!"
"If he ruins his Ultimate Martial Soul, at least he still has his Body Martial Soul to fall back on. What about you? You only have this one Martial Soul!"
Su Tong shook her head. "My choices aren't yours to judge."
"Besides, I've already joined Di'ao Academy."
The moment Su Tong spoke, an uproar swept through the crowd.
Ma Xiaotao's expression changed in midair.
Su Tong had joined Di'ao Academy?
Her first reaction was not that she was attempting to seize a student by force, just like Xuan Zi.
Nor was it that the trouble she caused this time would bring problems down on Shrek.
Instead, it was: why?
Why would Su Tong, with her Heavenly Snow Woman, not want to join Shrek?
Yan Shaozhe had secretly come to Heaven Dou City the previous night and told her that Mu En had awakened only a handful of times over the past two months or so, spending the rest of the time unconscious.
That meant her Evil Fire problem had to be resolved as soon as possible.
Even if she had to pretend her Evil Fire had gone out of control, she could not let the Body Sect drag its feet.
Ma Xiaotao found it difficult to understand and could hardly believe this was an order from Mu En.
After all, even she could tell that the Heaven Dou Empire's regulations were aimed squarely at restricting Shrek.
But Yan Shaozhe said that as Mu En spent increasingly longer periods unconscious, he had gradually delegated authority to Xuan Zi, who had resolved to thoroughly mend his ways, and the Sea God Pavilion Elders.
At the recent Sea God Pavilion Meeting, hawkish elders such as Xuan Zi, Yan Shaozhe, and Xian Lin'er had overwhelmingly prevailed over dovish elders such as Qian Duoduo, arguing that urgent circumstances demanded flexibility and that Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire problem had to be resolved within a year.
The Body Sect's Long Aotian was sweeping through the Shrek Outer Court.
With his bare hands, he had defeated everyone in the Outer Court. Even Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi together could barely last a few exchanges against him.
Even some members of the Shrek Team were no match for Long Aotian, a Soul Ancestor, in single combat.
This young powerhouse, only fourteen yet already at rank forty-eight in Soul Power and proficient in Second Awakening, had begun stirring unrest in some Shrek students' hearts.
The most obvious examples were the twin sisters Lan Susu and Lan Luoluo, whose Martial Souls were their hair.
They had actually submitted applications to withdraw, wanting to follow Long Aotian into the Body Sect.
And that was not even Shrek's greatest headache.
What truly worried them was that the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect, long accustomed to attaching itself to the powerful, had also begun making frequent contact with Long Aotian over the past few days.
The unconscious Mu En, Long Aotian and Huo Yuhao with their boundless potential, Du Busi whose strength surpassed Xuan Zi's, students beginning to doubt Shrek's position as the continent's number one...
For the first time, all these things made Shrek, which had stood on the continent for ten thousand years, feel a mountain's worth of crushing pressure.
Shrek truly could no longer afford to wait for the Body Sect to resolve Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire problem at such a leisurely pace.
They desperately needed Ma Xiaotao to resolve her Evil Fire, then carry the banner of Shrek's younger generation and prove that Shrek was still Shrek-the Shrek that no one could shake.
"Not just you. We'll also urge Bei Bei and Lexuan to intensify their cultivation."
"Before his most recent loss of consciousness, Mu En mentioned cooperation. We believe he wanted us to seek out an ally: Clear Sky Castle."
"One of the Martial Souls of Wang Dong, the Outer Court freshman, happens to be the Clear Sky Hammer. Since Clear Sky Castle let her join Shrek, they must also be interested in cooperation. It's a signal that they want to emerge into the world again."
"You'll have to find a way to handle Huo Yuhao yourself. Time is too tight. I need to go find Clear Sky Castle now."
Thus, despite knowing full well that her actions could very likely bring enormous trouble upon Shrek, Ma Xiaotao still disregarded everything and tried to make Su Tong join Shrek Academy.
As long as Su Tong joined Shrek, she believed its inspiration would make Su Tong wholeheartedly embrace Shrek and thereby embark upon a bright path.
Then Shrek would possess two Ultimate Martial Souls and would surely repay the humiliation inflicted by the Body Sect twofold.
It would not matter even if Di'ao Academy sent her back because of this.
As long as she brought Su Tong back, everything would be worth it.
Yet now, Su Tong was actually saying she had joined Di'ao Academy?
With his Body Martial Soul, Huo Yuhao's choice to join the Body Sect was something Ma Xiaotao could not fault.
But what right did Su Tong have?
In what way was Shrek Academy inferior to Di'ao Academy?
Why did the Lan sisters want to withdraw?
Why was the Nine Treasures Glazed Tile Sect approaching the Body Sect?
Why had Huo Yuhao accepted Shrek's deposit of spirit medicines without doing the work, sending Su Tong to treat her instead?
At that thought, the anger Ma Xiaotao had bottled up for over two months erupted.
An almost imperceptible wisp of black flame quietly spread across her pupils.
Just as her Evil Fire was about to become impossible to suppress, a ringing dragon's roar suddenly erupted nearby!
Roooar-!
Bearing Huo Yuhao's tremendous Spiritual Power, the Azure Sky Soul-Shattering Chant descended upon Ma Xiaotao without restraint, as resplendent as heaven's might and mingled with the ferocity born of battling Sea Soul Beasts!
Apart from Huo Yuhao himself, Electrolux, the Ice Empress, and the Sky Dream Ice Silkworm, no one knew how immense his Spiritual Power had become after over two months of cultivation through the three-pronged approach of spirit medicines, Soul Magic, and a Talisman Master's Spiritual Power Cultivation Method.
Ma Xiaotao felt as though millions of red-hot iron needles had plunged savagely into her mind in an instant, carrying spiraling, piercing waves.
She clutched her head in agony and screamed.
Huo Yuhao beat his Ice Dragon Wings and landed directly beside Su Tong, his robes snapping in the wind.
"Is she causing trouble?"
Su Tong nodded.
"Then there's nothing more to say."
Huo Yuhao held out his hand to Su Tong. "Let's hit her!"
Without hesitation, Su Tong clasped his hand.
Their Soul Power merged in an instant.
In that instant, a layer of solid ice formed across the ground for dozens of meters around Huo Yuhao and Su Tong.
Huo Yuhao released his Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon Martial Soul. Ice-blue dragon scales covered his entire body, and his presence surged.
A magnificent, towering radiance slowly blossomed from him!
Roooar-
A tall, indistinct ice dragon phantom, majestic and fearsome in form, appeared behind him!
Su Tong's Heavenly Snow Woman Martial Soul transformed into snow filling the sky and merged into the ice dragon phantom, making its body incomparably solid.
This was a Martial Soul Fusion Skill led by Huo Yuhao, which he and Su Tong had named-
Dragon Hunt Across the Eight Desolations!
Huo Yuhao's right arm had now fully assumed the form of a dragon's claw.
This was not Martial Soul Possession, but a genuine ice dragon's claw!
Huo Yuhao drew a deep breath and looked toward Ma Xiaotao, who had barely recovered her senses overhead. His arm muscles suddenly knotted.
He stepped forward, hunching his shoulder and swinging his arm in a full arc, opening his fist before clenching it again.
The ice dragon phantom raised its head and swept its tail, transforming into a terrifying torrent of extreme cold that poured into Huo Yuhao's arm!
His arm was like a dragon's spine, his fist like a dragon's head.
Boom-
A roar like collapsing glaciers resounded in every direction!
As Huo Yuhao swung his fist, incredibly thick dragon-shaped streams of white vapor actually trailed from between his clenched fingers!
Dragon-shaped force spread around him. Huo Yuhao beat his dragon wings, surging upward like a great waterfall flowing in reverse.
Sensing the aura of Huo Yuhao's punch, Ma Xiaotao, her consciousness still muddled, instinctively launched an attack.
"Phoenix Meteor Shower!"
Cluster after cluster of fierce Phoenix Flame rose from her body, their blazing radiance scorching the entire area red.
Fire rained from the sky, streaming with magma-like crimson light.
The Phoenix Meteor Shower covered nearly half the plaza, its flames surging in dazzling torrents.
Xue Xin intended to intervene, but when he saw Huo Yuhao already poised to strike, he stopped.
"What are you all still watching for?"
He shouted at the surrounding students, "Get farther away!"
The students immediately retreated together, leaving Huo Yuhao and Ma Xiaotao enough room to fight.
The same was true of Jiang Peng.
After feeling the mighty sweep of Huo Yuhao's fist wind, he knew that this Martial Soul Fusion Skill of Huo Yuhao and Su Tong was simply beyond Ma Xiaotao's ability to stop.
His momentum soaring like a rainbow, Huo Yuhao thrust a fist forward.
It was nothing more than a simple straight punch, yet its force swept up raging waves like great battle banners unfurling, ferocious beyond measure.
Everyone could feel it: this punch was enough to subdue Ma Xiaotao even after she had unleashed her sixth Soul Skill.
"Azure Dragon King!"
Someone began cheering Huo Yuhao on.
Ma Xiaotao's strength was plain for all to see. She was undoubtedly the elite among Shrek Academy's elites and would surely represent Shrek in next year's Soul Master Tournament.
If Huo Yuhao could defeat her with one punch, it undoubtedly meant that Di'ao Academy would sweep through all opposition in next year's team battles!
As Huo Yuhao punched, the white dragon of force slowly floating behind his fist suddenly surged, letting out a piercing shriek!
At that moment, Huo Yuhao was like a long dragon bursting from the water. A chilling, intimidating radiance rose in torrents with his fist, unleashing deafening detonations in the air.
The fire rain filling the sky fell like meteors, colliding with the Dragon Hunt Across the Eight Desolations Huo Yuhao had unleashed!
Utter silence.
Boom-
The next second, the explosion thundered across the surrounding land!
The watching students retreated one after another, and some were even knocked to the ground by the violent shock wave.
Extreme cold and blazing heat collided in midair. Ice-blue, dragon-shaped fist force battled crimson phoenix fire rain, erupting in dazzling light.
The fist wind stretched on unbroken, becoming a great dragon that wound and twisted. Surging waves of extreme cold actually froze every last drop of fire rain!
After the Azure Sky Profound Ice Dragon underwent Martial Soul Fusion with the Heavenly Snow Woman, it was like a mighty river with billowing waves pouring straight into the vast ocean, driving relentlessly forward as murderous intent seethed without end.
Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Meteor Shower was forcibly torn apart!
She could not believe it. Phoenix flames gathered wildly before her.
"Phoenix Bathing in Fire!"
"Phoenix Cloud-Piercing Strike!"
Ma Xiaotao unleashed her strongest single-target offensive skill, bolstering its power with the Soul Skill Phoenix Bathing in Fire as she tried to block Huo Yuhao's attack.
The dragon reared up, coiling majestically around Huo Yuhao's fist, unimpeded by the phoenix.
"You dare run wild!"
Huo Yuhao's fist slammed straight into Ma Xiaotao!
At that moment, Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Martial Soul was frozen solid by the cold spilling from Huo Yuhao!
A dragon-shaped mark silently branded itself into Ma Xiaotao's Phoenix Martial Soul.
Bang!
Ma Xiaotao plummeted like a cannonball, slamming hard into the nearby Dean's Tower.
The walls cracked at the impact and collapsed with a crash, sending dust billowing everywhere.
Ma Xiaotao coughed up mouthfuls of blood, her eyes filled with shock and unwillingness as clarity returned to them.
She looked at Huo Yuhao, who hovered quietly in the sky with his wings beating, like a god in the sunlight.
No one knew what was going through her mind at that moment.
Amid the Di'ao students' fervent cheers, her head lolled to one side, and she lost consciousness completely.
Su Tong's body manifested again, and she reached out to support Huo Yuhao, whose spiritual power and soul power were completely depleted. "Are you all right?"
Huo Yuhao shook his head. "Didn't she want to purify her evil fire?"
"She wouldn't accept the gentle approach." He and Su Tong took the Milk Bottles Xue Xin handed them. "Then I'll use this method to clear her head."
"Good thing you reined in your strength in time." Su Tong looked toward Ma Xiaotao. "Otherwise, you really could have killed her with one punch."
"Only my soul power is depleted, but Dragon Hunt Across the Eight Desolations doesn't just consume your soul power. It burns your spiritual power too."
"Let me help you find somewhere to rest for a while."
Huo Yuhao nodded. "All right. My current state could be considered breaking before rebuilding. It's just right for practicing Second Awakening."
Xue Xin said nothing. He silently handed Huo Yuhao some medicine for restoring spiritual power and gestured for him to rest in the dean's lounge.
Then, with an utterly pained gaze, he looked at his tower, which had already become a heap of rubble.
It had collapsed again.
Meanwhile, at the Body Sect.
Du Busi held a hundred-meter-long sea dragon in one hand and slammed it viciously into the Body Sect's square.
The ten-thousand-year sea dragon shrieked in pain.
Du Busi planted a foot on it and continued reinforcing the soul power seal on its body to keep it from detonating itself.
"Yuhao!"
He looked toward the bustling Body Sect.
"I've caught a sea dragon and brought it back for you!"