Hidden in the icy mist, Ling Luochеn sensed that Ma Xiaotao was being faintly suppressed. Seizing her chance, she lit up the black Soul Ring beside her. "Fifth Soul Skill, Ice Radiance Ring!"
A ring of dark blue ice floated out and slowly rose into the air. After a flash of blue light coursed around it, the ice ring instantly fired a blue beam at Ma Xiaotao.
Ma Xiaotao gritted her teeth. She knew full well that she would be in trouble if that attack hit her.
The phoenix wings behind her beat fiercely. Ma Xiaotao unleashed her Soul Power, and with a phoenix's cry, her Phoenix Cloud-Piercing Strike blasted straight toward it.
Ice and fire mingled, their Soul Power devouring each other. A vast cloud of white vapor exploded outward in an instant, spreading into the surroundings.
As the mist gradually dispersed, Ma Xiaotao and Ling Luochеn discovered that Xuan Zi was now standing between them.
"Ling Luochеn, you've improved a great deal. And your Martial Soul seems stronger than before. Can you tell me why?"
Ling Luochеn had already exhausted her Soul Power and was taking shallow breaths. At Xuan Zi's question, she merely turned her face slightly aside.
"It's a secret method of our family..."
Hearing this, Xuan Zi shook his head and asked no further questions.
"Your Soul Power couldn't match Ma Xiaotao's in this match. If you'd kept fighting, you would definitely have lost. But based on your performance just now, I'll call it a draw."
"Yes."
Ma Xiaotao wanted to say something more, but she pressed her lips together and left it unsaid.
The Soul Power Ling Luochеn had unleashed just now had faintly suppressed her restless Evil Fire...
That definitely wasn't some family secret method. If she had a method like that, why hadn't she used it sooner? Waiting until she'd lost to me several times before using it-wasn't that masochism?
But that raised a question. If it wasn't a family secret method, what was it? Ling Luochеn didn't seem to be hiding anything, either. She'd only secretly lured away a little junior...
Wait, that junior...
A thought suddenly flashed through Ma Xiaotao's mind, and the look she gave Ling Luochеn instantly turned peculiar.
Meanwhile, Ling Luochеn felt thoroughly pleased. Thanks to her recent cultivation with Huo Yuhao, her Martial Soul could now briefly suppress Ma Xiaotao.
Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Ma Xiaotao secretly studying her, and her heart tightened slightly. What was that woman Ma Xiaotao thinking?
"Ling Luochеn."
After training ended, Ma Xiaotao called out to Ling Luochеn, who was preparing to make a quick escape.
At Ma Xiaotao's clear voice, Ling Luochеn's back suddenly stiffened.
What did Ma Xiaotao want?
She turned around, only to discover that the other woman had already closed the distance.
Ma Xiaotao stood with her arms folded, a hint of a smile in her pink eyes, her gaze fixed firmly on Ling Luochеn.
Ling Luochеn glanced around and discovered that they were now the only two left in the Soul Fighting Zone.
Why had everyone left so quickly today?
With no other choice, Ling Luochеn forced herself to look composed and asked, "What is it? Do you need something?"
Ma Xiaotao looked Ling Luochеn up and down, an amused smile curling her lips. "Don't rush off. I still have something I want to ask you about."
That ice-element Soul Power from their earlier fight lingered in Ma Xiaotao's mind. Her Evil Fire Phoenix was already a top-tier elemental Beast Martial Soul. The only thing that could suppress her was...
"That little friend has an Ultimate Ice Martial Soul, doesn't he?"
When Ma Xiaotao exposed it with a single remark, Ling Luochеn's lashes instantly fluttered, and the calm expression on her face nearly cracked.
Since when had Ma Xiaotao become so clever?
Ling Luochеn's eyes darted everywhere, but she still denied it. "What nonsense are you talking about?"
"Then I don't understand. What do you like about that junior? Is it just because he's cute?"
"Y-yes, so what? I like them young, and I like them cute. What's wrong with that?"
"...Nothing."
Ma Xiaotao waved a hand. If that junior could make Ling Luochеn say something like that, there had to be something about him.
There was certainly no point in questioning Ling Luochеn any further. She would have to conduct a thorough investigation herself.
Watching Ma Xiaotao's retreating back, Ling Luochеn couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong. She wouldn't go straight to Little Yuhao, would she?
Probably not... probably.
"I only just recovered! Couldn't you go a little easier on me, Sister Xiaotao?"
Xu Sanshi looked thoroughly scorched as he lay on the floor tiles, looking as though he had nothing left to live for.
Seriously, the academy had gone mad, too, insisting that he serve as a punching bag. Was this a job for a human being?
Ma Xiaotao didn't answer. Instead, she slowly asked, "Little Xu, how well do you know this year's new students?"
"...The new students? I don't know many of them. Uh... but one did leave a very deep impression."
Xu Sanshi remembered his humiliating battle. His opponent seemed to have been a new student.
It seemed to be...
"Then have you seen a boy with blue-and-white hair and ice-blue eyes who looks rather cute?"
"..."
"...Why aren't you saying anything?"
"Can I not tell you?"
"No."
That afternoon, in the Shrek Outer Court's plaza, Xiao Xiao nudged Huo Yuhao beside her with her elbow. "You two really are something. You slept straight through class."
"It's all Wang Dong's fault. She fell asleep, too."
"Now you're blaming me? If you hadn't been fooling around last night..."
Fooling around? Just what had you two been doing?
While the two were still bickering, a fiery, dazzling figure in red slowly emerged from the shade of a nearby tree.
Ma Xiaotao was wearing a thin black veil that covered most of her face, but Huo Yuhao recognized her at a glance from her bearing: she was the senior Ma Xiaotao from yesterday.
Ma Xiaotao walked up to the three of them in a few steps, her fiery-red phoenix robe swaying gently with her movements.
Wang Dong instinctively shifted closer to Huo Yuhao and asked, "Senior?"
Xiao Xiao also studied her with a trace of curiosity.
Ma Xiaotao ignored the two girls, her gaze landing directly on Huo Yuhao. "Hello, Huo Yuhao. Did you have fun yesterday?"
Wang Dong's pupils contracted sharply at those words. Well, well, Huo Yuhao. I'd only said you had an older woman, and you really did have one!
Could he have gone out with her yesterday...?
Xiao Xiao's brain was already overloaded. Wang Dong had said Huo Yuhao had been fooling around, and this senior was asking whether he'd had fun-
Huo Yuhao had gone out fooling around with a senior!
Huo Yuhao's heart also lurched. He bowed slightly. "Hello, senior."
"Why so formal? Didn't I say I'd come find you to play again?"
Huo Yuhao was speechless. So she'd actually meant that.
Ma Xiaotao looked at the dark circles beneath Huo Yuhao's eyes, which had yet to fade completely, and her smile deepened. "There are still a few things I'd like to ask you."
Before any of the three could react, Ma Xiaotao swiftly reached out and pulled Huo Yuhao into her arms.
The warm sensation pressed against his body, turning Huo Yuhao's face bright red.
"Senior, let go. We barely know each other."
"It's fine, it's fine."
Ma Xiaotao's sudden intimacy instantly stunned the other two, but she didn't stop. Instead, she smiled at them. "I'll be taking Huo Yuhao with me now. See you next time."
With that, she left with Huo Yuhao.
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