Huo Yuhao's expression remained calm as he shook his head and spoke softly:
"There's no need for thanks. As I said before, suppressing the evil fire is a transaction between me and Shrek. You don't need to thank me personally.
"As for my appearance—apologies, but that is not possible."
"You—"
Ma Xiaotao was momentarily speechless. Seeing Huo Yuhao's non-negotiable expression, she could only let out an angry "humph" before reaching out to snatch the card he was holding.
I don't believe it! One day, I will see exactly what you really look like!
Ma Xiaotao thought to herself. Clutching the card, she turned and walked away.
Watching her retreating back, Huo Yuhao felt a slight sense of relief.
After several months of interaction, his relationship with Ma Xiaotao had basically eased. At the very least, they weren't at each other's throats like they were after the first treatment.
The only issue was that Ma Xiaotao had grown curious about the real face beneath Huo Yuhao's disguise.
After every routine evil fire sealing session, she would request to see his true appearance, and every time, Huo Yuhao would refuse.
Perhaps due to some specific reason, Ma Xiaotao was incredibly patient regarding this matter. Even when rejected, she never seemed discouraged. Though she might be annoyed for a brief moment, she would quickly prepare for the next time she could ask.
One could say she was remarkably indomitable.
Stowing his thoughts, Huo Yuhao shifted his gaze toward a street corner where a young girl was peeking out, staring at him.
Finding his gaze fixed on her, the girl didn't panic. She stepped out from her cover and walked over quickly.
"Student Ling Luochen, how many times have you stalked me now?"
Huo Yuhao spoke softly, but Ling Luochen replied with a smile: "Apologies, Teacher Skydream, I was simply too curious.
"Besides, the school rules state that 'students cannot stalk students' and 'teachers cannot stalk students,' but there's no rule saying 'students cannot stalk teachers.'"
Ling Luochen spoke in a light tone. Meanwhile, her eyes, much like Ma Xiaotao's just moments ago, were fixed intently on Huo Yuhao's face.
Huo Yuhao didn't answer.
To be honest, it was a strange feeling. Meeting the people he knew from his previous life ahead of time allowed Huo Yuhao to see a different side of them in their youth.
For instance, the younger version of Sister Xiao Tao could actually get shy, and the younger version of Senior Ling Luochen didn't have her later arrogance, possessing instead a peculiar sense of curiosity.
It was strange, but also quite interesting.
Ling Luochen looked at Huo Yuhao, and after a bit of hesitation, she asked:
"Teacher Skydream, you aren't actually as old as you look on the surface, are you?"
Huo Yuhao didn't respond, but Ling Luochen continued: "That girl Ma Xiaotao is so fixated on you—don't you feel even a little bit moved?"
As a member of the next generation of the Shrek Seven Monsters, Ling Luochen was privy to some insider information.
For example, she knew this new Soul Tool Department teacher possessed Ultimate Ice, a rarity seen once in a century. She also knew that it was because of this Ultimate Ice that Ma Xiaotao's evil fire could be suppressed.
Thus, driven by curiosity, Ling Luochen had instinctively begun to peek and snoop to find out what was really going on.
The first few times seemed normal enough, leading Ling Luochen to wonder if her intuition was wrong—that it was just a simple matter of suppressing evil fire and she was overthinking it.
However, once while walking through the academy to clear her head, she suddenly spotted Ma Xiaotao—and a clearly dressed-up Ma Xiaotao at that! This shocked her even more.
How could she not be curious about what was happening?
Ling Luochen knew Ma Xiaotao very well. She knew that, like herself, Ma Xiaotao was arrogant to the bone.
Normally, Ma Xiaotao wouldn't care about her appearance. After all, with the blessing of a top-tier martial soul, even without makeup, Ma Xiaotao's looks were number one in the Outer Court... well, tied for first with herself.
Furthermore, based on her understanding of Ma Xiaotao, that girl's head was filled with nothing but fighting and cultivation, with the rest dedicated to suppressing the evil fire. She shouldn't care about her appearance at all.
And yet, she was actually dressing up!!!
Something was wrong—very wrong!
Especially after her investigation revealed that the purpose of Ma Xiaotao's elaborate grooming was to visit this "Teacher Skydream" who had only recently joined Shrek! This left her even more stunned.
The plot of a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl dressing up to visit a middle-aged uncle in his forties seemed incredibly bizarre no matter how you looked at it!
Especially when that girl was Ma Xiaotao!
Even if this uncle had Ultimate Ice, Ma Xiaotao would never wrong herself like that!
Moreover, looking at the situation, it seemed to have the silent approval of Dean Yan...
Thus, after much contemplation, Ling Luochen reached a conclusion: This "Teacher Skydream's" appearance as a forty-year-old was likely a fake! His actual age probably wasn't much different from Ma Xiaotao's!
Once she reached this conclusion, everything else started to make sense.
However, like Ma Xiaotao, she developed a curiosity regarding Huo Yuhao's true appearance. Of course, that was only one of the reasons she had come to find him.
"Student Ling Luochen, why don't you tell me directly what you want?"
Huo Yuhao didn't answer her question but threw another one back at her.
Ling Luochen froze. Hesitating, she finally spoke:
"...Actually, I want to know if my martial soul has the possibility of becoming Ultimate Ice."
Indeed, this was Ling Luochen's more fundamental goal.
While digging for gossip—especially gossip about Ma Xiaotao—was interesting, it couldn't compare to the evolution of her own strength.
With Huo Yuhao around, Ma Xiaotao didn't have to worry about her evil fire and could cultivate recklessly. In just a few months, that girl's level seemed to have reached another threshold.
At this rate, Ma Xiaotao might break through to Soul King before her fourth year, and by the time the Soul Master tournament arrived in a few years, she might even be a Soul Saint!
And what about herself? She was only at Level 43, being left far behind by Ma Xiaotao.
The arrogance in her bones made her unwilling to settle; she was desperate to find a way to improve her strength.
Unfortunately, there were no Ice-type powerhouses in the entirety of Shrek Academy. So, naturally, she set her sights on the newly arrived Huo Yuhao.
Under Ling Luochen's expectant gaze, Huo Yuhao nodded calmly:
"It is possible. Or rather, any martial soul can achieve its own 'Ultimate' attribute through post-natal evolution."
This happened to be exactly what Huo Yuhao was currently researching.
After basically solving the soul ring problem, Huo Yuhao didn't stop to rest. Instead, he continued researching other subjects and making bold hypotheses.
For example, he wanted to sublimate the spiritual attribute of his Spirit Eye martial soul into "Ultimate Spirit."
Then, he would shatter his original spiritual soul core and re-condense it as an Ultimate Spiritual soul core! This might allow him to achieve a certain "Ultimate" correspondence with the Ultimate Ice soul core he planned to condense!
Of course, at the moment, this was still just a hypothesis.
"Let's go, Student Ling Luochen. We can chat inside. It just so happens I need to spend some time decorating this place."