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"The prince has given orders! First and second battalions of the Royal Guard are to seal off the entire capital. No one is allowed in or out!"
"Third and fourth battalions, start thorough street-by-street searches from this location. If anyone resists, they are to be killed on the spot!"
Outside the inn, Shui Wuya heard the loud and urgent commands of the Mingdu guards as they frantically searched for Ma Xiaotao and Tang Yin.
It was clear that the girl who had crashed into his room had turned into a major liability.
Shui Wuya examined Ma Xiaotao's condition. Although she was severely injured, the phoenix fire within her was working to heal her wounds, ensuring she wouldn't die anytime soon.
To avoid detection, Shui Wuya used his spiritual power to create an illusion in the room, concealing Ma Xiaotao's presence. Unless a Titled Douluo arrived, no one would be able to sense her.
Three days passed, and Ma Xiaotao's internal injuries were mostly healed, with her breathing becoming more stable, but she still hadn't regained consciousness.
Inside the room, Shui Wuya, monitoring her state, had a plan. He reached out and placed his hand above her head.
"Buzz!"
A sharp sound echoed as Shui Wuya used his Ice Soul Power to forcibly extract the remaining bit of extreme cold energy from Ma Xiaotao. This energy was the same one that Han Feng had stored in a soul device and given to Ma Xiaotao years ago.
"Boom!"
The moment the extreme cold energy was removed, the suppressed evil fire erupted from Ma Xiaotao's body, engulfing her in intense flames. As the flames blazed, Ma Xiaotao's eyes snapped open, glowing a vivid scarlet.
Seeing Ma Xiaotao on the brink of going berserk, Shui Wuyah quickly sent his spiritual power into her mind, temporarily suppressing her actions.
"Han Feng, take her outside."
Shui Wuya called for Han Feng, who entered the room, grabbed the subdued Ma Xiaotao, and swiftly flew out into the sky.
Watching Han Feng disappear into the distance, Shui Wuya finally let out a sigh of relief. He couldn't afford to let Ma Xiaotao disrupt his soul device crafting process.
Given her current condition, it might be best to release her evil fire completely, allowing the Holy Soul Sect to find her. Perhaps that would be the best outcome for Ma Xiaotao.
After all, in Shui Wuya's memory, Ma Xiaotao had become a Titled Douluo within a few years of joining the Holy Spirit Sect. If she had stayed at Shrek Academy, who knows how long it would've taken for her to reach that level?
"Captain Zhou, I heard that the Emperor was furious last night. Is that true?"
In Mingdu, a patrol squad of eight or nine people was on duty late at night. They whispered among themselves, all showing signs of worry.
"Don't ask what you shouldn't. We get paid a few dozen gold soul coins a month. Remember, our main priority is keeping ourselves alive," said the armored man leading the patrol, his voice firm and stern.
"The captain's right. For a few dozen gold soul coins a month, we're not risking our lives. If that so-called Saintess of the Holy Soul Sect is out there, let her go wherever she wants. Just don't let us cross paths with her."
The armored man's words were quickly echoed by someone in the patrol squad.
As they approached an alley, they noticed a flickering fire in the distance.
"Captain, there's a fire!"
One of the soldiers called out in surprise and instinctively moved toward the flames to investigate.
"Get back!"
The armored captain was suddenly gripped by fear. He knew that seeing fire in the middle of the night, especially in such a place, was not a good omen.
However, before his warning could reach the soldier, the man was already at the source of the fire.
"Aaah!"
A scream of agony filled the night as the flames engulfed the soldier, turning him into a charred corpse in an instant.
Then, the source of the fire moved, revealing a vague human silhouette, staggering unsteadily.
The rest of the patrol squad was overcome with terror. They immediately unleashed their soul power and fled as fast as they could, desperate to escape.
The fiery figure attempted to pursue, but as she took a single step forward, she collapsed to the ground.
It was none other than Ma Xiaotao, with her evil fire fully unleashed!
With the suppression gone, Ma Xiaotao's body couldn't handle the immense power of the evil fire, causing her recently healed wounds to reopen.
She was now at her breaking point. The pure evil fire surrounding her was on the verge of backfiring, threatening to burn her alive.
But just as things seemed most dire, several powerful presences descended from the sky.
"Found her! The Saintess is here!"
"Quick, take her! The Sun and Moon Royal Guards are on their way!"
One of the gray-robed figures released a surge of icy soul power, instantly suppressing the rampaging evil fire within Ma Xiaotao.
The figures swiftly scooped up the unconscious Ma Xiaotao and vanished into the sky, heading toward the horizon.
Moments later, several figures from the Sun and Moon Royal Palace arrived, but all they could do was watch as their quarry disappeared into the distance, each one letting out a sigh of frustration.
"..."
"How could there still be traces of the clan leader's aura this far into the Sun and Moon Empire?"
The Northern Sea, near the Sun and Moon Empire's border, was where Shui Yanjun was skimming low over the ice, sending out his spiritual power to sense any activity beneath the ice and water.
Originally, he had left the Ice God Temple intending to go directly to the Slaughter Hell. But as he passed through the northern Sea, he'd heard rumors of sightings of a giant ice turtle clan, which made him think of Shui Wuya.
That's why he'd been following the coastline where the ice and sea met, searching for any trace of Shui Wuya.
Fortunately, his efforts paid off. In the past few days, he found several residual traces of Shui Wuya, but the trail led him toward the Sun and Moon Empire's border.
"Could the clan leader really be in the Sun and Moon Empire?"
As a distant city of the Sun and Moon Empire came into view, Shui Yanjun couldn't help but speculate.
After a moment, he decided to stop overthinking.
"If there's a trace of the clan leader here, I'll just search every city until I find him."
With that, he picked up speed, heading toward the nearest city.
Ten days passed in the blink of an eye.
Shui Yanjun searched through city after city, from Sunset City to the surrounding dozen cities, then onward through the several cities on the way to the Sun and Moon Empire's capital.
All in all, he had scoured dozens of cities. To save time, Shui Yanjun employed a high-powered method of search, releasing his spiritual power to scan entire cities at once.
This aggressive search method did help him find some of Shui Wuya's residual traces, but it also attracted a lot of attention.
On several occasions, when Shui Yanjun released his spiritual power, powerful Titled Douluos or Level 9 Soul Masters appeared, attempting to intercept him.
The outcome was always the same—Shui Yanjun defeated them all.
It wasn't until many powerful figures in the Sun and Moon Empire realized that Shui Yanjun was heading straight toward Mingdu, the capital, that a collective panic set in.
Nobody could predict Shui Yanjun's intentions for going to Mingdu, so several of the empire's strongest figures gathered at a critical point on his route, waiting for him to show up.
(End of Chapter)