After asking Yan Shaozhe to step out to avoid any interference with the upcoming sealing of Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire, Huo Yuhao recalled the previous interaction, and the suspicions in his heart became clear.
Unsurprisingly, he had been scouted by Dean Yan once again...
Sigh.
Huo Yuhao found it inexplicably amusing. He then composed himself and returned to the experimental table.
Looking at the young girl on the table who was staring back at him, Huo Yuhao simply said, "Endure it, and don't move around," before placing his hand on Ma Xiaotao's lower abdomen once more.
As her body was touched again, Ma Xiaotao's expression turned slightly unnatural. However, thinking of the Evil Fire within her that hindered her cultivation, she made a decision and slowly closed her eyes.
Seeing Ma Xiaotao's submissive manner, Huo Yuhao no longer hesitated. Soul power carrying the Ultimate Ice attribute seeped into Ma Xiaotao's body through his palm, bit by bit.
"Ngh..."
Ma Xiaotao let out a strange sound.
Realizing what happened, she immediately covered her mouth with her hand, an abnormal flush appearing on her cheeks. She wanted to struggle, but in the next moment, the icy soul power circulating through her body completely sealed her own soul power and restricted her movements as well.
The immobile girl was like a fish on a chopping block, at the mercy of others. Deprived even of the right to speak, she could only glare at Huo Yuhao with a face full of shame and indignation!
However, facing such a defenseless girl, Huo Yuhao merely frowned slightly.
This was a genuine accident.
Huo Yuhao had subconsciously used the techniques for suppressing the Evil Fire from his previous life.
He had forgotten that back then, even if Sister Xiaotao made strange sounds, she would endure and stay still, only to bite and gnaw on him afterward—but that was built on the foundation of their close relationship.
In this life, he and Sister Xiaotao didn't even know each other!
A major blunder!
Straightening his expression, Huo Yuhao stared at Ma Xiaotao with an air of clear conscience, speaking with a serious face:
"Didn't I tell you not to move? The quality of my soul power is too high for you; you can't handle it. If you move recklessly, the soul power will run wild inside your body and seal you up entirely!"
This was actually the truth. Watching Huo Yuhao's expression, Ma Xiaotao's own expression froze, and the thought did I misunderstand him? couldn't help but surface in her mind.
Ma Xiaotao looked conflicted.
She knew from her teacher that this middle-aged looking "Teacher Skydream" wasn't actually much older than her!
She even sensed from her teacher's tone that he might have intentions of playing matchmaker between them.
She was inherently resistant to the idea. After all, she hadn't even seen his real face; she definitely wouldn't agree to be with a strange man!
If it weren't for the Evil Fire, she wouldn't have come at all!
She had intended to treat this as a normal sealing session, but then that guy had heard the strange sound she made...
"You... you continue..."
Ma Xiaotao turned her head away, gritted her teeth, and closed her eyes. She refused to look at Huo Yuhao, silently praying in her heart that this sealing would end quickly.
Huo Yuhao's face remained calm.
He placed his hand on Ma Xiaotao's lower abdomen once again.
The icy soul power began to spread from her abdomen once more. Muffled yet clearly suppressed whimpers began to echo within the laboratory...
...
A moment later, Ma Xiaotao, forcing her limp and aching body to move, wordlessly grabbed Huo Yuhao's lab coat from the side and put it on. She then stumbled and fled the laboratory at high speed.
Waiting outside, Yan Shaozhe watched the fleeing figure of his student with a look of astonishment before turning toward the innocent-looking Huo Yuhao.
"Xiaotao, she..."
"Seal after-effects. It will subside in a short while," Huo Yuhao said without blinking or blushing.
Yan Shaozhe's expression was somewhat complex. Remaining silent, he nodded and chased after her.
For a moment, Huo Yuhao was the only one left in the laboratory.
Huo Yuhao breathed a slight sigh of relief, gradually clearing the mental images of Ma Xiaotao lying on the experimental table from his mind.
After resting for a short while, Huo Yuhao raised his hand to summon the light portal to the Spectral Demiplane and stepped inside.
A moment later, in a certain soul beast forest outside Maple Leaf City on the border of the Heavenly Soul Empire, Huo Yuhao—now in a different disguise—stepped out of the portal. After pulling out a map and a compass to confirm his direction, Huo Yuhao equipped a Rank 9 flying soul tool and continued his journey.
This had recently become a rather special part of his daily routine.
There were currently about three weeks left before the start of the new semester at Shrek Academy.
The start date for the Sun Moon Imperial Soul Tool Academy was similar to Shrek's, only a few days earlier; likewise, their recruitment period would also be a few days earlier.
Time was tight, but he could still make it.
Fortunately, he only had to make the trip once. Once he obtained the spatial coordinates for Radiant City, he could use the Spectral Demiplane for spatial teleportation. Otherwise, if he had to run this distance every day, he'd probably die of exhaustion...
Sighing, Huo Yuhao habitually checked the time.
Mm... 2:00 PM. I'll travel until 5:00 PM, then head back to cook dinner...
While thinking, Huo Yuhao covered his body with mental power, skillfully masking his aura before flying directly across the defense lines deployed by the Sun Moon Empire on the border, streaking straight toward Radiant City.
...
Meanwhile, on the other side, at Shrek Academy's Soul Dueling Arena.
Ling Luochen fell into silence as she watched Ma Xiaotao taking on two opponents at once.
Wait? Didn't this girl just break through to Rank 46?! How is she just pinning down two Soul Ancestors of the same level and beating them? Is she really that ridiculous?!
"Sister Luo, what kind of provocation did Sister Xiaotao receive?"
Wearing a rabbit-eared hood, Xixi blinked while eating a macaron, asking Ling Luochen in a low voice. Her tone was calm, but it carried a hint of worry.
Ling Luochen shook her head. "I don't know... I only heard she was called away by the Dean a few days ago and only returned today. But as soon as she came back, she was like this..."
As the only three members of the next generation of the Shrek Seven Monsters remaining at the academy, and since they were all girls, their relationship was decent... on the surface, at least.
One had to know that from the very first day of enrollment, because one possessed an ice martial soul and the other fire—combined with their similar cultivation levels and equally outstanding looks—some busybodies had ranked them together.
Ling Luochen, who had been first in everything since childhood, couldn't stand being ranked alongside someone else. Consequently, Ling Luochen and Ma Xiaotao had been at odds ever since.
Although two years had passed and Ling Luochen had grown enough to realize how childish she had been, she couldn't bring herself to apologize and mend their relationship.
After all...
If I apologize first, wouldn't that be admitting I'm inferior to her?!
How could that be okay?!
Absolutely not!
However...
Ling Luochen watched Ma Xiaotao using soul skills in the arena with zero restraint and noticed something was off.
Did this girl's Evil Fire disappear? No... the color of the flames hasn't changed. So, it's being suppressed? But if the Evil Fire is suppressed, shouldn't she be happy? Why does she look so angry?
Ling Luochen rested her hand on the railing and her chin in her palm, watching the frantically fighting Ma Xiaotao in the distance. A thought inexplicably formed in her mind.
—Could it be that she's angry precisely because the Evil Fire was suppressed?