Right, Ma Xiaotao had arrived. She'd left the academy from Shrek City's northern gate the moment she saw Huo Yuhao release the inner courtyard disciple distress signal. With her level of speed, she was able to make it just in time to save Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.
Though there were a total of six enemies, Ma Xiaotao wasn't afraid in the least. Despite being a girl, she gave off the air of a general as she stood there.
Bei Bei caught Huo Yuhao while the speedier Jiang Nannan caught Wang Dong. The latter was actually a four-ringed Soul Ancestor making her cultivation no less than Bei Bei's and Xu Sanshi's. This surprised Huo Yuhao somewhat. No wonder she was a core disciple of the outer courtyard.
"Junior disciple, are you okay?" Bei Bei asked in a low voice.
This was the first time Huo Yuhao saw a fierce killing intent in his senior brother's eyes; there was a true fire in his eyes. If Ma Xiaotao hadn't made it in time when they'd fallen from the sky earlier, they would've suffered severe injuries, if not died.
"We're fine senior brother. We just overexerted ourselves a little." Huo Yuhao whispered.
Bei Bei nodded and gently placed him on the ground. Over on the other side, Jiang Nannan was also putting Wang Dong down.
Their six opponents were all gathered together. The golden light on the Soul Emperor who'd been struck by the Golden Road had finally disappeared by now but his clothes were burnt apart and his facial expression was extremely unsightly.
Within the blink of an eye, he was forced to waste over thirty percent of his soul power in order to take on the Golden Road. He was a Soul Emperor! He'd actually been put into such an embarrassing position by the teamwork of a Soul Grandmaster and a Soul Elder. How could he not be angry?
Hidden within his anger, however, was fear. A deep sense of fear.
Sure enough, they're worthy of being called core disciples of Shrek Academy! A Soul Elder and a Soul Grandmaster were actually able to escape with their lives from an encirclement consisting of a Soul Emperor and five Soul Kings. If this were to be leaked out publically, who'd believe it? That golden light is probably a mysterious fusion skill.
Although he was inwardly furious, the Soul Emperor already had thoughts of retreating. Ma Xiaotao and the other students behind her wouldn't be able to take them on, but at the end of the day they were still students of Shrek Academy. It wouldn't be possible to defeat all of them within a short period of time. On top of that, Shrek Academy was so close to them and in the event one of their experts came…
With that, the commander made a prompt decision. He suddenly waved his right hand, turned around and ran off with his subordinates.
"You want to run? If I let even one of you escape, this momma can't be called the Berserk Flame devil Ma Xiao tao !" The moment she noticed that they were about to flee, Ma Xiaotao immediately flew into a rage. In the past hundred years, nobody had been presumptuous enough to kill a disciple of Shrek Academy while being this close to Shrek City. As a disciple of the academy's inner courtyard, her sense of pride towards the academy was extremely intense. Moreover, she had wanted to find Huo Yuhao to help her do something in the first place, so it was natural that she would spare nothing to help her underclassmen.
Ma Xiaotao shouted, "Xu Sanshi, protect these two students! Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan, you two flank me on the right! If we let even a single one escape, I'll hold you personally accountable!"
With that, the six soul rings around Ma Xiaotao's body shone with a bright light. Of these, her second and third soul rings lit up simultaneously. An intense golden-red flame exploded out from her body like a geyser as she flapped the wings behind her fiercely, which then propelled her body towards the six like a fiery meteor.
She was clearly trying to take on six enemies by herself!
Was this fierce? Yes, this was definitely fierce! However, this was also a symbol of strength.
They were both Soul Emperor-ranked experts, but Ma Xiaotao's six soul rings weren't ordinary! Two yellow rings, two purple rings, and two black rings, this was the optimum combination for a soul master. On the other hand, her opponent had three yellow rings, two purple rings, and one black ring. This was a relatively decent combination among normal soul masters but he was still completely outclassed by the inner courtyard disciple Ma Xiaotao.
Her six opponents were very quick but Ma Xiaotao was still quicker than them after using her second soul skill, Phoenix Baptism, and her third skill, Soaring Phoenix. Furthermore, she'd activated another soul skill the instant she'd flown out to intercept her opponents. Although it was more accurate to say that they were two soul skills but not skills that came from a soul ring.
Ma Xiao tao's legs lit up and reddish-golden patterns started to revolve around them. Following which, reddish-golden flames shot out from her legs.
Due to her rapid acceleration, a series of explosions and whistles erupted behind her as she moved.
Although Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were somewhat tired, they were still extremely clear-headed and couldn't help but widen their eyes at this scene.
They naturally knew that disciples of the inner courtyard were strong, but now they finally understood just how strong they were from this battle. She'd actually used four soul skills in a row to chase after an opponent. The speed she'd reached wasn't something they even dared to think about. Even seven or eight-ringed experts wouldn't be able to compare with her current speed. Furthermore, the last two skills she'd unleashed had come from her soul bones. In other words, she had fused her legs with soul bones. To be precise, an identical set of soul bones.
The whistling and rumbling Ma Xiaotao shot viciously into her enemies like an artillery shell. Only two or three seconds had passed since she'd activated her Phoenix Baptism and Soaring Phoenix to speed up and her soul bone's skills to explosively accelerate. She instantly into their formation and didn't leave them any time to react, causing them to be caught completely off guard.
Ma Xiaotao's target was the enormous warblade-wielding Soul Emperor and she shot straight towards him.
The Soul Emperor's perception naturally exceeded that of the Soul Kings beside him. But at that moment he felt something off and turned around to find that Ma Xiaotao was already in front of him.
When facing a life-and-death crisis, the first reaction of an overwhelmingly large majority of people would be self-preservation and this Soul Emperor wasn't an exception to that rule. He tried his best to lean to the side while he charged forward in order to dodge Ma Xiaotao's attack.
The spectacular aura coming from her attack simply wasn't something he could take head-on.
However, it no longer mattered if he dodged or not since Ma Xiaotao had already forcefully entered the nucleus of their formation.
"Hong"
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong only saw Ma Xiaotao charge into the enemy formation and release a terrifying explosion. Her golden-reddish flames formed an enormous pillar of flame that was over ten meters high and released a sonorous phoenix cry. The figure of a fiery phoenix circled around that enormous pillar of flame.
Four figures simultaneously flew out in four different directions. The instant the pillar of flame vanished, only these four of their six opponents remained.
Huo Yuhao swallowed a mouthful of saliva and mumbled, "Wang Dong, I'm very suspicious as to how we escaped from this senior sister of ours at that time…"
Wang Dong couldn't even reply.
Xu Sanshi, who was responsible for them, smiled bitterly. "That's because senior Xiaotao's been suppressing the demonic fire within her, so she won't use all of her strength in a normal situation. Today, however, she's truly enraged. That's why she's using all of her strength. Senior Xiaotao's a girl, but where'd you think the title of 'Berserk Flame devil' came from…"
During the short period of time in which their conversation occurred, Ma Xiaotao's figure reappeared. Her four soul skills hadn't been used just to allow her to chase after her opponents but had the added purpose of raising her strength to to its limits. Her previous attack was already comparable to that of a seven-ringed Soul Sage.
As a student of Shrek Academy, she not only possessed enormous strength but also an extremely refined amount of control over her soul skills. There were many different ways of using soul skills that were secrets of Shrek Academy and only students who'd signed confidentiality agreements would be able to learn them.
The four enemies who'd been sent flying including the Soul Emperor all had reddish-golden flames enshrouding their bodies. Their bodies swayed and collapsed to the ground as they had all been similarly affected by her attack.
Ma Xiaotao didn't immediately follow up since her previous attack had drained her soul power by a large amount. She looked towards the sky and then spread her arms and wings wide.
She took a deep breath as a large number of faint red dots of light immediately began to gather towards her at a noticeable rate. She was actually recovering her soul power during battle.
At this moment, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan had just caught up to her. The two of them simultaneously made a move, taking on an enemy Soul King each.
The higher one's cultivation was, the faster one's rate of recovery would be. The enemy Soul Emperor was already filled with astonishment, was she even human? A single Soul Emperor had instantly obtained an overwhelming advantage against six opponents. He no longer dared to even try to resist the terrifyingly hot flames that surrounded her body and soul power.
Without even daring to waste any more time, he turned around and fled. At this moment, he no longer cared about his teammates. He knew that Shrek Academy students were very powerful but had never expected them to be this strong. All of them hadn't even been able to face a single Soul Emperor.
Ma Xiaotao's eyes had by now turned a fiery red. A trace of disdain appeared at the corners of her mouth as she saw the fleeing Soul Emperor. She flapped her wings once more, causing her body to move horizontally. Her target wasn't the Soul Emperor but the other living Soul King who Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan hadn't taken on.
The Soul King was astonished and spared no cost to activate a soul skill in order to block Ma Xiaotao. However, her fiery wings suddenly vanished and were replaced by a red light that severed the sky before vanishing without a trace. Suddenly both the Soul King's body and his soul skill froze in midair.
Ma Xiaotao didn't even spare him a glance. Her slender body rose into the air while a sonorous phoenix cry rang out. A countless number of magnificent feathers had appeared on her body before forming a beam of red light with an incomparably beautiful tail that shot towards the Soul Emperor as it left behind dots of reddish-golden starlight in the sky.
At that moment, her last black soul ring finally lit up with a dazzling light,
The golden-reddish light devoured everything and the Soul Emperor and his falling comrades were no exception. He was unable to put up a fight against Ma Xiaotao despite them both being Soul Emperors.
Over on the other side, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan hadn't disappointed her.
When a Soul Ancestor fought against a Soul King, the former would normally be suppressed by the latter. However, the two of them were both core disciples of Shrek Academy. It would be hard to determine the victor even if the two parties were at their peak conditions, let alone when the two Soul Kings had already been injured by Ma Xiaotao's attack. When Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan rushed over, the Soul Kings hadn't even recovered their strength yet.
Bei Bei was an explosive assault-type soul master while Jiang Nannan was an explosive agility-type soul master. The results of their respective matches were obvious.
By the time Ma Xiaotao finished her match, one of the two Soul Kings had been electrocuted till he was a block of coal while the other had been sent flying ten meters into the air by Jiang Nannan's attack before being stomped on in midair.
Only a minute had passed since Ma Xiaotao had started her onslaught when it ended; out of six of five of their enemies had fallen in this short period of time and only one was alive that was the soul emperor who can save his life because of armor. But now he pretend to dead very well.
When she realized that all of them had been killed, Ma Xiaotao scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly. "I forgot to leave someone alive…"
Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan could only stare at her helplessly. Knowing how fierce she was, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan naturally had to go all-out the moment she said that she 'wouldn't let a single one escape'. Their opponents were Soul Kings, so they naturally had to be vicious.
"Whatever. I'll let the academy's guardian team examine their corpses once we're back. I'm sure they'll be able to find a few hints." Ma Xiaotao waved her hand and brushed off her mistake.
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's eyes were filled with nothing but admiration towards Ma Xiaotao; Ma Xiaotao's earlier performance could only be described using the phrase 'as swift as wind, as aggressive as fire'.
Even though they were both soul masters, Ma Xiaotao's six soul rings seemed to have come alive. They'd flickered one after another, and whenever she'd alternated between them, she'd always used the soul skill most suitable to the situation. Huo Yuhao and the rest could barely use their soul skills this quickly with a single soul ring, yet she'd seemed entirely uninhibited by the number of soul rings she had!
This was the main reason that her opponent had had no chance against her, despite them both being Soul Emperors.
Of course, Ma Xiaotao was also an extraordinarily talented soul master who possessed the Evil Phoenix. Her powerful martial soul and soul bones already made her much stronger than an ordinary six-ringed Soul Emperor.
By this point, seven or eight prominent figures had appeared atop Shrek City's city walls, and a large number of soldiers stood behind them respectfully.
Elder Lin and Yan Shaozhe were included in this group of seven or eight people.
The distress signal of an inner courtyard disciple was an extremely important matter to Shrek Academy. In truth, they'd already arrived earlier on; with their cultivation levels, it was natural that they'd arrive earlier than Ma Xiaotao.
However, as teachers, they hadn't instantly made a move, as they wanted to see what their students were capable of.
And their students hadn't disappointed them. The word 'remarkable' could be used to describe everything that had happened, regardless of whether it was Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's escape, or if it was Ma Xiaotao, Bei Bei, Jiang Nannan, and Xu Sanshi's timely rescue. The intruders had all fallen, with their only mistake being that they think that hadn't left anyone alive but it was not true they can see at the glance that soul emperor was pretending .
Yan Shaozhe was somewhat speechless. "This Xiaotao girl is too explosive and native. She becomes an entirely different person the moment she enteres combat."
Elder Lin smiled slightly. "Though that's mainly dictated by her temperament, it's also because of her martial soul. However, this child's cultivation has increased by quite a large amount. In fact, I reckon that she'll be able to break through the seven-ringed stage within three years."
Yan Shaozhe chuckled. "Elder Lin. I didn't have any assurance of my plan back then. However, it seems that I can now give a definite answer to your question because of Huo Yuhao's appearance. Haven't you sensed that the most astonishing part of this entire event was their escapade?"
They naturally hadn't seen everything that had occurred. However, the person who'd been closest to the battle had been Elder Lin. The instant she'd appeared atop the city walls after discovering the distress signal had been the same instant that Huo Yuhao had unleashed the jade-green light that had caused the three Soul Kings to lose their ability to move.
Even though Yan Shaozhe had been somewhat late, he didn't arrive from the city. Because of this, his line of sight hadn't been obstructed, which had allowed him to vaguely witness that scene. The level of speed that these consummate-level experts had couldn't be compared to that of ordinary soul masters. Their escape however, combined with the stunning Golden Road that they'd fired off, had given these two members of the academy's upper echelon—and the experts beside them—a deep impression.
Ma Xiaotao's performance had admittedly been outstanding, but she was already a disciple of the inner courtyard. Thus, there simply hadn't been any suspense in her victory over her six-ringed opponent. However, it was a different case for Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. A Soul Elder without soul ring like Soul Grandmaster and a Soul Elder had actually managed to escape from a formation of five Soul Kings and a Soul Emperor. This was enough to illustrate the doubts they had.
If Ma Xiaotao hadn't made it in time, though they still would've been bruised from their fall, the possibility of their death was extremely small. At that time, Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, and Jiang Nannan had already arrived, at which point temporarily staying alive would've posed no problem to them. It could be said that their escape had been entirely successful.
Yan Shaozhe and Elder Lin were both members of the Sea God's Pavilion, yet they couldn't find any faults with Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong's earlier performance.
"Shaozhe, were you able to see what skill Huo Yuhao used when he was being chased in the air?" Elder Lin smiled slightly.
Yan Shaozhe was still somewhat stunned by what he'd seen, thus he shook his head. "I was too far away from them, thus I wasn't able to see it clearly. Elder Lin, you must've seen it. Just what sort of soul skill did he use? It was actually able to cause three Soul Kings to lose their ability to fly."
Elder Lin smiled. "My heart was still aching after those two fellas took away a precious soul bone from my pavilion, but I now think that it was extremely worth it now that I've seen this skill. If I'm not mistaken, he used a domain-type skill, which should've come from his soul bone. Perhaps this soul bone of his is related to the second martial soul."
Yan Shaozhe was flabbergasted. "Elder Lin, are you sure that it was a domain-type skill?!"
Elder Lin glanced at him, but didn't reply. She turned around and walked into the city as she unhurriedly said, "Someone had a lot of guts. To think that he'd bully one of our students all the way until they reached the academy… do as you wish."
Yan Shaozhe knew that it was a slip of the tongue. He bowed towards Elder Lin, then stood back up, his eyes filled with killing intent. He turned towards someone beside him and said, "Take all of the corpses and capture that Soul Emperor back to the academy. Spare no expenses; discover just who dared to attack one of our students in Shrek Academy's territory."
"Yes."
It was not that Yuhao did not able to know this but due to his loss of soul power and extreme tried he did not have power to do it.
———-
Within the city.
"Thank you, senior sister." Even though Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had overdrafted their soul power, there wasn't anything wrong with their physical bodies. They respectfully bowed towards Ma Xiaotao, their eyes full of admiration.
Ma Xiaotao waved them off. "You don't need to thank me. These fellas must've been tired of living. To think they'd dare to cause a ruckus in our Shrek Academy… have you offended anyone recently?"
"No!" The moment Huo Yuhao said this, however, he suddenly thought of something, and immediately turned towards Wang Dong.
Wang Dong was also looking at him. Both of them felt a sense of chilliness in their hearts when their gazes met.
There was only a single person that they could have offended recently: Dai Huabin. Dai Huabin had lost to them twice in a row, which had resulted in him having to kowtow to them. He was from the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, and was therefore capable of mobilizing several people to serve him. A Soul Emperor and five Soul Kings weren't forces that ordinary powers would possess.
Before Huo Yuhao could even speak, Bei Bei walked up to him. "Two junior brothers, this place isn't safe. Let's head back to the academy before we continue this conversation."
In reality, there was no way they could be in danger anymore. Huo Yuhao's distress signal had directly summoned the top powers of Shrek Academy. After a brief moment, even Fan Yu arrived.
There was no doubt that Huo Yuhao's distress signal had been given to him by Fan Yu, who'd added something special to the signal flare so that he'd also know to immediately rush over the moment Huo Yuhao released it.
Because of this, even though only Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong had originally gone to the auction, their returning party turned was much larger. The corpses left behind were all taken away by Yan Shaozhe's men.
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong weren't able to sleep well that night. They were only allowed to return to their dorms early in the morning after the academy's unceasing interrogation. Although the academy hadn't given them a definite answer, they clearly had their own conjectures.
Huo Yuhao wasn't worried about how the academy would deal with this matter. He and Wang Dong had truly been too careless this time. They'd never thought that Dai Huabin would use a tactic like this in an area so close to Shrek Academy.
The corpses gave them no leads. They had indeed been sent over by Dai Huabin, but they'd wiped away all traces of their identities before going to ambush Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong. This wasn't done just to avoid anything troublesome for Dai Huabin, but also to prevent any suspicion falling upon the White Tiger Duke's Mansion! But the survival of Soul Emperor was just a misfortune for it.
Academy directly expelled Dai Huabin and also write the letter to the white tiger Duke. Not only that given order by Academy Dai Huabin not able to join any soul master Academy in near future in three Empire and the reason was also send to all Empire. After knowing that all Empire approved it. Similarly, In this way Dai Huabin Force to join army with his father but due to his deeds he never able to become a commander in his life if there was no exception condition was happen . The Academy also charge some other things from white tiger Duke in compassion that only Academy and White Tiger Duke knows .