Yan Shaozhe's Troubles

Lately, Yan Shaozhe, dean of the Martial Soul Department, had been in a foul mood. Ever since his teacher had proposed gradually accepting Soul Spirits at the last emergency Sea God Pavilion Meeting, Yan Shaozhe had been deeply displeased.

That was because, when Soul Spirits first appeared, he had been one of the main leaders opposing the new system.

Yan Shaozhe had been among those who went to blockade the Spirit Contract Pagoda, and during that endeavor, he had inevitably received a savage beating from Gu Yuena.

It was precisely because of that beating that Yan Shaozhe not only rejected Soul Spirits, but also harbored deep resentment toward the Spirit Contract Pagoda.

He, Yan Shaozhe, was not blind. He could see how greatly the Soul Spirit system strengthened Soul Masters, but could this new cultivation method alone have made the legendary Beast God Di Tian willingly cooperate with the Spirit Contract Pagoda and become its enforcer?

Wasn't the whole affair far too bizarre?!

Had the long-standing conflict between humans and Soul Beasts really been resolved just like that?

Yan Shaozhe would never believe there was no special conspiracy behind it all!

Yan Shaozhe even suspected that the Spirit Contract Pagoda was actually an organization formed by a large number of transformed Soul Beasts, and that its very purpose was to use the Soul Spirit Method to control all the Soul Masters on the continent in a roundabout way.

Then the Spirit Contract Pagoda began establishing separate ranger bases in various places where Soul Beasts gathered, using the righteous cause of forbidding the indiscriminate slaughter of Soul Beasts to stop Soul Masters from obtaining Soul Rings by hunting them.

That made Yan Shaozhe even more certain of his suspicions. He believed the Spirit Contract Pagoda wanted to recreate what Spirit Hall had done ten thousand years ago and bring the entire Douluo Continent under its control.

Yet his own teacher had actually said that the Soul Spirit Method might have received the gods' permission!??

So his teacher thought Shrek Academy should begin trying to accept the Spirit Contract Pagoda, and was preparing to negotiate with its pagoda master about establishing a branch in Shrek City!

Didn't that mean he, Yan Shaozhe, was a petty, narrow-minded villain who went against the way of heaven?

Besides, were those two new students really the so-called God Examination candidates?

Wang Dong'er was easy enough to explain. She came from the Clear Sky Sect, which meant she might be a descendant of their ancestor Tang San from ten thousand years ago. So she might have awakened ancestor Tang San's Sea God's Power on the day of her Martial Soul Awakening.

But according to the records, Xu Xingyu was just a genius with rather exceptional talent. He couldn't see any reason at all for the gods to choose him!

In Yan Shaozhe's eyes, there were quite a few students in Shrek Academy's inner court whose talent far surpassed that of the Spirit Contract Pagoda's young pagoda master.

His prized disciple Ma Xiaotao was the strongest example. Before even turning twenty, she had already reached the cultivation of a level sixty-five Soul Emperor.

If not for the trouble caused by her Evil Fire, she might even have reached Soul Saint!

A Soul Saint under twenty! Surely such a genius could only have existed in the era of ancestor Tang San ten thousand years ago?

Yet such a genius had never received the protection of her beloved ancestor from ten thousand years ago, nor gained her own God Examination.

So why did Xu Xingyu get a God Examination?!

All right, to put it bluntly, Yan Shaozhe was a little jealous of the flourishing Spirit Contract Pagoda and believed it was very likely to shake Shrek's current standing in the future.

After all, one organization held the continent's cultivation method in its grasp and wouldn't let others cultivate using the old method. It was impossible not to be suspicious.

Since the Spirit Contract Pagoda appeared, Soul Masters had hunted far fewer Soul Beasts, but some powerful organizations still chose to hunt them while evading those so-called rangers.

Shrek Academy was the strongest of those organizations.

That had also made relations between Shrek Academy and the Spirit Contract Pagoda extremely poor. They might not have been as incompatible as fire and water, but they were at least opposing forces at daggers drawn.

And now, just because the Spirit Contract Pagoda seemingly had a god and two God Examination candidates, Shrek Academy had to throw away its dignity of ten thousand years, admit its mistakes, and maintain friendly relations with the Spirit Contract Pagoda?

Yan Shaozhe didn't know what the other Sea God Pavilion Elders thought, but he maintained his own opinion.

He still thought there was something wrong with the Spirit Contract Pagoda and that it couldn't be trusted.

But faced with his teacher's unyielding attitude, Yan Shaozhe had no courage to say any of this at the Sea God Pavilion Meeting.

At the thought, Yan Shaozhe couldn't help getting a headache. For now, he could only take things one step at a time. Time would tell them who was right and who was wrong.

Just then, Du Weilun, the director of instruction in charge of the outer court and one of Yan Shaozhe's capable subordinates, rushed into Yan Shaozhe's office.

Before Yan Shaozhe could scold him for being so flustered, Du Weilun cried out with an anxious look, "Dean, something terrible has happened! Ma Xiaotao was overwhelmed by Evil Fire and went on a rampage. She's left the inner court while out of her mind!"

At that, Yan Shaozhe cried out in alarm, "What?! Didn't the other inner court teachers stop her?"

"They tried, but Xiaotao broke through in the end," Du Weilun explained helplessly. "Some are still chasing Xiaotao, who's already gone far ahead, but she's expected to reach the outer court soon."

After hearing Du Weilun's report, Yan Shaozhe stood up and said, "I'll hurry over now! We have to stop her before she reaches the outer court!"

Yan Shaozhe quickly flew out of his office and headed in the direction Ma Xiaotao had gone.

As he went after Ma Xiaotao, Yan Shaozhe muttered involuntarily, "Damn it, didn't we agree she wouldn't cultivate for a while? Her Evil Fire outbreaks were already difficult to deal with before, and now she's awakened Yin Fire, making each outbreak even harder to handle. If this continues, I'll have to consider using Soul Restriction Handcuffs to stop her from cultivating."

Yes, Yan Shaozhe knew about the Yin Fire inside Ma Xiaotao.

As for how Yan Shaozhe knew, that story began a year ago.

A year ago, Ma Xiaotao had gone on a rampage like this too, but an outer court female student named Jiang Nannan had stopped her.

She had been able to stop the frenzied Ma Xiaotao because she had a special cultivation physique called the Supreme Yin Jade Body.

Jiang Nannan had used the large amount of Yin Qi emitted by her physique to suppress Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire.

For a time, Yan Shaozhe thought he had finally found a way for his disciple to cultivate without ever suffering the Evil Fire's invasion again.

After obtaining Jiang Nannan's permission, Ma Xiaotao went to her to suppress the Evil Fire whenever it was about to erupt.

At first, there were no problems. Jiang Nannan's Supreme Yin Jade Body kept Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire firmly suppressed, but one day, an unexpected change occurred.

It was as though Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire had developed resistance to Jiang Nannan's Yin Fire. Not only did it cease to be affected by the Yin Qi, it also absorbed some of it, giving rise to a strand of Yin Fire inside Ma Xiaotao's body.

With the appearance of the Yin Fire, Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire became increasingly uncontrollable. The ice bed originally used to help suppress her Evil Fire was burned to nothing by the Yin Fire.

As a result, Yan Shaozhe could only strip Ma Xiaotao of her position as captain of the Shrek Seven Monsters and order his disciple not to cultivate until a solution to the Evil Fire was found.

If she wanted her captain's position back, she had to find a solution quickly. After all, Shrek Academy wasn't her family's property; it couldn't always disregard the safety of the other students for her sake.

Clearly, however, his precious disciple had not obeyed his order.

Yan Shaozhe was already considering whether to put Soul Sealing Handcuffs on his disciple until a solution to the Evil Fire was found, so she wouldn't do something she would regret for the rest of her life.

That way, she wouldn't stir up so much trouble.

Yan Shaozhe soon found Ma Xiaotao, but to his surprise, she was fighting an outer court student!

And the student fighting her was none other than Xu Xingyu, who had been giving him such a headache!

Even more unbelievable was that Xu Xingyu had the upper hand in the fight. His disciple was being run around in circles by him from beginning to end.

Granted, that was partly because Ma Xiaotao was out of her mind as she fought Xu Xingyu, but Xu Xingyu was only a Soul Elder!

Normally, shouldn't he have been slapped to death in a single blow?

But what happened next surprised Yan Shaozhe even more. Xu Xingyu revealed the existence of his Second Martial Soul and used it to suppress Ma Xiaotao, leaving her unable to move.

Watching from a distance, Yan Shaozhe could also feel a powerful pressure from that unknown dragon Martial Soul.

Only then did Yan Shaozhe finally understand why his teacher held this young man in such high regard.

And when he saw Xu Xingyu use Ultimate Ice to suppress Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire, Yan Shaozhe was truly overjoyed. After all, this was Ultimate Ice.

A disciple like this had to be given special attention! You say I have a grudge against the Spirit Contract Pagoda? No problem, just pretend nothing happened.

Just as Yan Shaozhe was about to express his thanks to Xu Xingyu, the sight before him made him unable to resist swearing.

"Fuck! Why are they kissing?!?!?!"