The excitement of last night's celebration still lingered in the hearts of the newly-formed Tang Sect members. With full stomachs, laughter in their ears, and new bonds forged by fire and food, a fresh sense of unity had been born. A legacy was reborn, and a future laid its first bricks.
The morning sun rose lazily over Shrek Academy's coastal edge, casting shimmering reflections across the surface of the Sea God Lake. On this particular free day, Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong rode their soul-powered bicycles along the scenic stone path bordering the lake, their laughter occasionally rising above the sound of waves. The view was breathtaking—azure skies, clouds like cotton wadding, and the lush tree-covered islands dotting the horizon, with the massive Sea God Island crowned by its ancient colossal tree standing proudly in the distance—home to the prestigious Inner Academy.
But serenity didn't last long in a world where soul beasts, power struggles, and uncontrollable martial spirits reigned.
As the two sat at the shore facing the Sea God Island, Yuhao observed in the distance that the surface of the Sea God Lake split apart like a gaping maw. A torrent of searing fire erupted from the water in the shape of a crimson phoenix. The waves parted as a silhouette clad in fire and madness dashed forward with speed unnatural even to Soul Kings.
Ma Xiaotao.
Wang Dong instinctively stiffened, her gaze locking onto the blazing figure approaching. "Yuhao! That's... she must be a senior student of the inner court?!"
Yuhao's face twisted in worry, and his spiritual detection swept out reflexively. He could feel it—her soul power was chaotic, her flame wildly out of control.
Before either of them could react further, a towering wall of brilliant blue crystal emerged from the lake, rising high into the sky between them and the onrushing phoenix. The heat of Ma Xiaotao's attack slammed into the wall and scattered like waves upon a cliff.
Atop the crystal platform stood a boy with dark hair fluttering in the wind, his arms calmly folded. It was Xiao Tian. His expression was serene, but his eyes were sharp.
"I was waiting for this," he muttered.
Without stopping, Xiao Tian raised his arm and circled it gently. The crystal wall that had shielded Yuhao and Wang Dong stretched and encircled her like a giant coliseum around Ma Xiaotao, encasing her in a glowing, diamond-shaped field atop the surface of the lake.
Ma Xiaotao was powerful, but in her current state, she was unstable. Ma Xiaotao roared. Her crimson wings flared wide, She reacted on instinct, attempting to fly upward and she took flight to escape—but before she could ascend, black tendrils of dark energy snaked out from the ground, wrapping around her limbs like iron chains.
A circular platform of crystal emerged just beneath her feet on the lake, locking her movement. Xiao Tian had tapped into his 10,000-year Black soul ring. With his Shadow Dragon's recent breakthrough after devouring the mutated snake-spider hybrid soul beast, his dark attribute had evolved and the strength of his constructs improved resembling the strong exoskeleton of the hybrid beast, and Void Travel a new skill had awakened within him.
But today, he wouldn't use those gifts to destroy. Today, he would purify.
Xiao Tian closed his eyes, reaching into the darkness swirling around Ma Xiaotao's flames. The evil fire she bore from her inherited Evil Fire Phoenix martial spirit from her Ancestor Ma Hong Jun had long gnawed at her mind. And though the fire was her own, the malevolent darkness inside it was something even her Ancestor struggled with only being able to release it regularly with his frequent sexual actions. But she being a girl and not wanting to follow that method she ended up like this occasionally going berserk.
He extended his right hand forward, dark wisps drifting toward his palm from the fire around Ma Xiaotao and her body.
Come forth... pull the darkness into my palm... he thought.
A pulse of soul power spread out. His shadow tendrils entered the flame, threading between embers and spirit power. Slowly, absorbing the darkness and the oppressive aura of rage and chaos that cloaked Ma Xiaotao began to ebb. The crimson turned lighter. Her eyes, once crazed, began to focus.
Yuhao and Wang Dong stood on the crystal wall, speechless.
"He's... purifying her flames?" Wang Dong whispered.
"It looks like it," Yuhao said, eyes wide observing the process with his martial spirit and understanding how difficult it is to do and how much control one needs to have over soul power. "And he's doing it without hurting her."
After five long minutes, Ma Xiaotao's flames dimmed and the oppressive spiritual aura vanished. Her body slumped from exhaustion—but before she could collapse into the lake, a blur of light appeared beside her.
A female teacher from the inner court appeared, grabbing Ma Xiaotao mid-air and setting her gently on the crystal floor.
Moments later, several more teachers arrived, soaring down from the skies. Among them were Director Yan Shaozhe of the Martial Soul Department and Elder Zhuang Yunsen from the Sea God Pavilion.
Yan Shaozhe landed and glanced between Ma Xiaotao and Xiao Tian with a mix of tension and awe.
"You suppressed her?" he asked. "And even cleansed the flame?"
Xiao Tian nodded. "I extracted a portion of the darkness. Her Evil Fire Phoenix remains just as powerful, but the flames are stable for now. This is only a temporary solution—if she truly wishes to rid herself of the darkness entirely, she'll have to either evolve her martial soul or find a compatible mate to help her balance it."
Elder Zhuang stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Impressive... truly impressive. I've never seen dark attribute used like this. You didn't corrupt—you purified. As expected of our little prodigy, Xiao Tian."
The elder's eyes flicked toward Yuhao and Wang Dong. With a wave of his hand, he tossed two boxes with a shimmering jade-colored pill inside them.
"Eat these. And remember nothing of what you saw here."
Yuhao caught his and looked down at it. It pulsed with soul energy. He understood—it was a bribe for silence, and he wasn't foolish enough to refuse.
Wang Dong raised an eyebrow. "Tch. Fine."
The teachers gathered Ma Xiaotao and quickly retreated, with Yan Shaozhe shooting one last look toward Xiao Tian impressed with my growth before vanishing into the sky.
The crystal constructs began to fade. Walls and platforms dissolved into glittering soul light, dispersing like snow into the lake breeze.
Xiao Tian turned to Yuhao and Wang Dong, both of whom stared at him in amazement—not just because of his strength, but the precision and grace with which he handled the crisis. The sheer control over crystal constructs, his mastery of dark attribute suppression, and the seamless extraction of malevolent energy had left them stunned. He seemed more like a battle-hardened commander than a fellow first-year student.
"She'll be fine," he said. "But she'll need help keeping that darkness away. You'll probably see her again."
Yuhao bowed his head. "Thank you. I wouldn't have known what to do."
The trio stood silently on the lake shore, the wind brushing past them. Above, the sky was once again calm. The only trace of battle was the faint warmth lingering in the air.
And in that moment, Huo Yuhao realized something.
This world was far more complicated than he imagined. But with people like Xiao Tian by his side—and bonds like those they'd formed the night before—he might just have a chance.