It couldn't be blamed on Ma Xiaotao for having such a strong reaction.
In truth, deep down, she had always felt something unusual toward Yu Tianhuang. After all, he was the first man with whom she had ever had intimate contact.
From the fact that she stubbornly ventured alone into the peril-filled Extreme North to suppress her evil fire, one could see her personality.
Back before Xu Zihuang entered Shrek Academy, Ma Xiaotao had also sought help from Xu Sanshi, using his water-attribute Xuanming Turtle Shell martial soul to suppress the evil fire. But with Xu Sanshi, she never felt that kind of sensation.
It was precisely because of that special feeling toward Yu Tianhuang that the proud Ma Xiaotao refused to trouble him again after he and Ning Tian had confirmed their relationship.
And now, after four years of training in the Extreme North, the first familiar person she encountered was once again Yu Tianhuang. It was impossible to say that her heart felt no ripple.
The Yu Tianhuang of four years later seemed to have gained yet another distinctive aura. The moment their eyes met, her mind unconsciously sank into it, as if she were immersed in a vast starry domain beyond the world.
A moment later, Ma Xiaotao's slightly dazed pink eyes regained their clarity. Only then did she notice the Giant Demon Whale beneath Xu Zihuang's feet, and her pupils abruptly contracted.
Judging from the ferocious yet familiar scar on its head, it was precisely the Giant Demon Whale with 50,000 years of cultivation that had attacked her earlier. Although the Giant Demon Whale was not as powerful as the Demon Spirit Great White Shark or the Deep Sea Demon Whale, its racial advantages were undeniable. Just like the weakest tiger-type soul beast, at the same cultivation level, could not be matched by ordinary cow- or horse-type soul beasts.
A demonic whale-type soul beast with 50,000 years of cultivation in the ocean was enough to threaten Soul Douluo-level experts.
Even she, having reached level 70 soul power and possessing multiple high-quality soul bones, could only flee in embarrassment when encountering it in the sea.
Yet that Giant Demon Whale had now perished here.
Ma Xiaotao glanced around the surrounding sea area and asked thoughtfully,
"Did an academy elder bring you here to hunt soul beasts? Speaking of which, this fellow does have a few decent innate mental-attribute soul skills."
Yu Tianhuang's fourth soul ring had already reached 35,000 years, so she didn't doubt his ability to absorb this Giant Demon Whale's soul ring.
"Which elder brought you here?" Ma Xiaotao grew increasingly puzzled.
As far as she knew, the silver beam of light that had just pierced the sky didn't resemble the abilities of the academy's elders. The only one whose abilities somewhat matched were the inner courtyard's eldest senior sister, Zhang Lexuan.
But even if it were the eldest senior sister here, it shouldn't have been that easy to deal with a 50,000-year Giant Demon Whale, right?
Black-purple lightning flickered as the whale brain rapidly shrank under the high-temperature baking, yet the nutrients within were perfectly locked in under Xu Zihuang's exquisite control. Its color also became deeper, condensing from the original brilliant golden paste into a nearly pure golden, semi-transparent gel.
This was precisely the characteristic of top-grade whale glue. Its quality was nearly comparable to the piece of 100,000-year whale glue that Gu Lao had given him.
However, that 100,000-year whale glue was only the size of a fist, while the whale glue condensed from this Giant Demon Whale's brain was as large as a millstone.
Xu Zihuang unhurriedly stored the whale glue into his storage soul tool and said to Ma Xiaotao with a calm expression,
"Senior Sister Xiaotao, I came out this time alone for training."
Ma Xiaotao raised an eyebrow, clearly not believing him.
"You're not going to tell me that you killed this Giant Demon Whale yourself, are you?"
Xu Zihuang nodded and gave a faint smile in acknowledgment.
"Senior Sister Xiaotao, if the elders were present, would there be any need to deliberately avoid you?"
Ma Xiaotao was stunned for a moment, but she still remained skeptical. She flapped the golden-red flaming wings behind her, landed in front of Xu Zihuang, and carefully examined him.
With the passage of time, Xu Zihuang's height had already surpassed Ma Xiaotao's by nearly half a head.
This upward gaze made Ma Xiaotao somewhat unaccustomed. And she had to admit that Yu Tianhuang's appearance and temperament were truly impeccable. In complete contrast to Gongyang Mo's feminine beauty, that confidence rooted in his very bones was genuinely attractive to the opposite sex.
Ma Xiaotao gave a light hum, thinking that Yu Tianhuang's words did make a lot of sense. However, it obviously wouldn't be easy for her to accept the reality before her eyes in such a short time.
Wouldn't that mean this brat Yu Tianhuang's current strength was already greater than hers?
"Brat, what's your current cultivation level?"
"Soul Emperor," Xu Zihuang answered frankly.
"Soul Emperor?" The doubt in Ma Xiaotao's eyes did not diminish.
Even looking across Shrek Academy's ten-thousand-year history, the number of students who broke through to Soul Emperor at age sixteen could be counted on one hand. But to her, it wasn't anything special; she had achieved it herself back then, though she was nearly seventeen at the time. Going back three hundred years, the previous record-holder was the equally heaven-defying Elder Mu.
And Yu Tianhuang's talent was only higher than hers and Elder Mu's.
However, killing a 50,000-year demonic whale with Soul Emperor-level cultivation was simply too astonishing. Shrek Academy's inner courtyard disciples were outstanding, but there should still be a limit to cross-level combat, right?
"That silver beam of light earlier, was it your soul skill?"
Xu Zihuang said indifferently, "That was my skull bone skill, Evil Eye Gaze."
Ma Xiaotao's gaze immediately sharpened.
She naturally knew of the skill Evil Eye Gaze; it was the innate soul skill of a special soul beast from the Sun Moon Empire, the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler. But the power of that silver beam just now was far too terrifying.
It had been clearly visible even from dozens of kilometers away.
At this moment, she couldn't help but recall the mental power she had sensed earlier, instantly connecting it to a certain possibility.
However, just as she was about to continue asking, she noticed Xu Zihuang suddenly raise his head and look toward the sea in the northeast direction.
Xu Zihuang's deep purple eyes instantly transformed into brilliant gold, with an illusory brilliant golden halo flowing around his pupils.
Ma Xiaotao instinctively followed Xu Zihuang's gaze, and her expression drastically changed.
In a vast area to the northeast, both the sky and the sea had been completely dyed gold.
Golden Flames Burning the Heavens.
In the air, divine firebirds wrapped in golden flames rapidly approached them. The intense heat distorted the space within dozens of kilometers, melting countless ice floes and icebergs in just a few breaths. The seawater seemed to boil, with vast amounts of steam rising upward.
Even from such a distance, they could feel the scorching heat rushing toward them.
"A domain?" Xu Zihuang's mind stirred slightly.
Only a domain could achieve such an effect. And soul beasts possessing domains were, without exception, extremely powerful existences.
This flock of golden flame birds was the Golden Flame Birds that Shen Ce had mentioned, top-tier fire-attribute flying soul beasts with a trace of Three-Legged Golden Crow bloodline.
Of course, among this flock of Golden Flame Birds, only the leader possessed a domain; the others were merely amplified by the domain, their auras surging before feeding back to strengthen the domain itself.
There were over a hundred Golden Flame Birds in total, resembling crows but with entirely golden feathers.
The leader's pair of wings, wrapped in golden flames, spanned over seven meters when fully extended. Most peculiar was the third leg, seemingly condensed from golden flames growing from its abdomen. Its powerful soul power fluctuations and aura far surpassed the Giant Demon Whale that had previously fallen to Xu Zihuang.
The Golden Flame Birds' sharp cries resounded through the sky. Ma Xiaotao no longer hesitated, releasing her phoenix wings behind her and carrying Xu Zihuang into the air.
"Let's leave here first! This flock of Golden Flame Birds is very difficult to deal with. I've seen them hunt a ten-thousand-year Patterned Tiger Shark before, devouring its brain. They must have been attracted by the aura of this Giant Demon Whale's brain."
The Patterned Tiger Shark was also a considerably powerful and ferocious sea soul beast, its combat strength not much inferior to the Demon Soul Great White Shark.
In mid-air, Ma Xiaotao tightly gripped Xu Zihuang's wrist, causing his expression to turn subtle. No matter how unlikable Ma Xiaotao's personality was, her nature wasn't bad.
A piece of dark red crystal mirror condensed beneath his feet, and he used the force to break free from Ma Xiaotao's right hand.
"Brat, what are you—" Ma Xiaotao immediately grew angry, but in the next instant, her voice abruptly stopped.
Five pitch-black soul rings successively appeared around Xu Zihuang. When she saw the final demonic blood-red soul ring, her facial expression completely froze.
"100,000-year soul ring?!"
The minuscule possibility she had previously considered had ultimately become reality.
Xu Zihuang calmly turned to look at Ma Xiaotao and smiled faintly.
"Senior Sister Xiaotao, that leading Golden Flame Bird has around 65,000 years of cultivation, it should be very suitable as your seventh soul ring."
Under normal circumstances, a level-70 soul master could absorb a seventh soul ring between 30,000 and 50,000 years. But with Ma Xiaotao's powerful martial soul and the amplification from several high-quality soul bones, she was fully capable of absorbing a ring around 65,000 years.
After all, her sixth soul ring had already reached over 40,000 years.
Ma Xiaotao was still immersed in the shock of witnessing Xu Zihuang's five black and one red soul ring configuration, remaining silent. Meanwhile, the flock of Golden Flame Birds was now less than five kilometers away, waves of heat rolling over one after another. Even the Giant Demon Whale's corpse faintly emitted a charred smell.
Amid a series of sharp screeches, all the Golden Flame Birds simultaneously flapped their wings.
Countless feather-shaped golden flames shot toward Xu Zihuang and Ma Xiaotao like arrows.
Ma Xiaotao, finally reacting, was about to respond when she saw Xu Zihuang's sixth blood-red soul ring shine brightly.
"Weaken."
Xu Zihuang's calm voice rang out. A golden pupil phantom appeared behind him as circles of strange, twisting golden patterns spread outward, instantly covering a thirty-kilometer radius over the sea. The domain released by the leading Golden Flame Bird abruptly shrank by half. Every Golden Flame Bird suffered from mental weakening, unable to receive the leader's domain amplification, and naturally unable to feed back to strengthen the domain.
"Interference."
"Paralysis."
"Dizziness."
"Confusion."
Xu Zihuang's voice continued one after another. His sixth soul skill, Mental Force Field, applied various negative statuses to the flock of Golden Flame Birds. Mental interference caused the dense feather-shaped, golden flame arrows to deviate from their original trajectories, perfectly avoiding the area where Xu Zihuang and Ma Xiaotao were.
Mental paralysis and mental dizziness caused all Golden Flame Birds below ten thousand years to powerlessly plunge into the sea. The five Golden Flame Birds, above ten thousand years, barely resisted the paralysis and dizziness, falling toward the sea for several seconds before rising again, only for their minds to then fall into complete confusion.
In a state of mental confusion, they frantically attacked their companions, even assaulting the leading Golden Flame Bird.
This was the truly perverse aspect of one of Xu Zihuang's sixth soul ring skills, Mental Force Field.
That kind of solidified top-grade soul bone generally recorded the innate soul skills the soul beast controlled while alive, but soul skills formed when combining a soul ring with different martial souls often varied.
A soul master's soul ring skill might be based on one of the soul beast's innate soul skills, but the more powerful the martial soul, the stronger the resulting soul skill, sometimes even producing beneficial variations.
For example, A soul master with a high-level vine-type plant martial soul and one with an ordinary Blue Silver Grass martial soul, upon reaching the level-10 bottleneck and absorbing the same hundred-year Mandala Snake soul ring, would undoubtedly obtain a stronger skill with the former.
Because Xu Zihuang's Golden Pupil martial soul was of such high quality, the Mental Force Field skill obtained from fusing the 100,000-year pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler soul ring had undergone a rare beneficial variation. He could, at will, produce the effect of any mental control-type soul skill, something even the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler Main Body could not achieve.
The second 100,000-year soul ring skill he used next was similarly the case.
Although the leading Golden Flame Bird was also affected by various mental control effects, relying on its powerful cultivation, it was merely suppressed and did not lose combat ability like the others.
Its third leg, condensed from flames, shone brightly as it raised its head and let out a sharp cry. The golden flames wrapping its body suddenly expanded outward, shaking off the other five ten-thousand-year Golden Flame Birds attacking it, turning into a golden afterimage as it streaked through the air straight toward Xu Zihuang.
This leading Golden Flame Bird was thoroughly enraged.
But before it could approach within a thousand meters of Xu Zihuang, its body froze in place.
The void a thousand meters away shattered as dozens-of-meters-long tentacles emerged. The tentacles resembled those of the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler but were noble and dazzling gold-silver in color. The patterns on them also differed from the Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler's, instead matching the obscure golden patterns around Xu Zihuang's Golden Pupil.
A total of sixteen tentacles danced in the air, seeming to exist between illusion and reality. The style was eerie, yet carried no trace of ferocity.
Two of the tentacles tightly wrapped around the leading Golden Flame Bird's body, the golden patterns flashing with intense, brilliant golden light.
100,000-year soul ring skill: Soul Touch.
This was the second soul skill granted to Xu Zihuang by that 100,000-year pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler soul ring.
No matter what kind of creature, even plants, once touched by these sixteen tentacles, immediate disaster followed. The tentacles carried a soul-devouring effect. Upon contact, they released powerful mental shock explosions that drilled into the opponent's body, first destroying their mental world before devouring and absorbing their soul as supreme nourishment.
This was also the most commonly used innate soul skill of pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant Rulers. Pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant Rulers did not need to eat; for them, the best nutrients were pure mental power and souls.
That 65,000-year Golden Flame Bird struggled frantically, bursting with intense golden light, as if it had become a dazzling golden sun. The mental shock explosion ability of Soul Touch could be resisted with soul power and mental power, but since it failed to break free immediately, its fate was already sealed.
As one side weakened and the other strengthened, its aura visibly withered at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"Senior Sister Xiaotao," Xu Zihuang gently reminded Ma Xiaotao.
Only then did Ma Xiaotao snap out of her daze and swiftly fly toward the Golden Flame Bird. During her flight, intense dark blue light emerged in her eyes. As she fixed her gaze, two beams of dark blue light suddenly shot from her eyes, precisely striking the Golden Flame Bird's head.
This was the soul skill attached to her skull bone of Mental Condensation of Wisdom, a high-intensity, concentrated single-target mental attack skill. It came from an 80,000-year-old Illusory Magic Ape. The Illusory Magic Ape was among the top-tier ape-type soul beasts and possessed mental attributes.
Ma Xiaotao's skull bone skill was similar to Xu Zihuang's Evil Eye Gaze; both attacked the opponent's mental origin within their sea of spirit. However, whether in power, attack range, or attack distance, it was far inferior to Evil Eye Gaze.
An 80,000-year soul bone and a 100,000-year soul bone might seem close in years, but the actual difference was like heaven and earth.
Moreover, the bloodline of a pure mental-type Evil Eye Tyrant Ruler was far nobler than that of an Illusory Magic Ape.
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