Ma Xiaotao seemed a little lost when she first opened her eyes, but her soul seemed to return when she saw Huo Yuhao in front of her.
Ma Xiaotao’s face flowed with pleasant surprise, and she seemed like she wanted to say something, but she immediately felt Huo Yuhao’s flourishing Ultimate Ice soul power that was coursing through her body, and she hurriedly channeled her own soul power to cooperate with him.
Everything became a lot smoother once she started to cooperate. Huo Yuhao’s formidable Yin Yang Equilibrium soul cores’ spiritual power was overbearing, and terrifying soul power swept over her and quickly wiped out the evil qi in her body. Much of Ma Xiaotao’s soul power was also purified.
Much of her soul power was still filled with evil qi, and that would continue affecting her if he didn’t cleanse it all.
Huo Yuhao exhaled deeply as he withdrew his palms.
Ma Xiaotao also took a deep breath, and her body felt very comfortable and relaxed, but she felt a little empty at the same time. Her strength had plummeted, and she didn’t just lose her Ultimate Fire. She had also lost almost a third of her soul power. Even though she would recover very quickly, she knew that there was something wrong with her martial soul, and that the evil qi in her body could relapse if she recovered her cultivation. The underlying problem was still there, but at least her mind was back to normal.
Light flashed on Huo Yuhao’s hand at this moment as a jade box appeared in his hands.
The box opened, and a golden-red paste that resembled honey appeared in front of Ma Xiaotao. A faint aroma that was mixed with dense and pure elements of fire immediately caught Ma Xiaotao’s attention.
Huo Yuhao came up to Ma Xiaotao and he fed the Blazing Rubber inside the box into Ma Xiaotao’s mouth bit by bit.
Ma Xiaotao didn’t speak from the beginning to the end, and neither did she decline as she swallowed the Blazing Rubber piece by piece. Tears were welling up in her eyes.
“I’m sorry, sister. I was too slow, and you’ve suffered so much as a result. I will definitely fix you once and for all this time, and you will become a true soul master of Ultimate Fire after today. You will not have to worry about that evil qi anymore. This is called Blazing Rubber, and it’s a fire-type immortal herb’s essence. It will only appear after gestating for at least ten thousand years.”
Ma Xiaotao felt the Blazing Rubber in her stomach as thick elements of fire rose within her body, and the weakness that she felt was immediately replaced by a swelling feeling. Gorgeous rosy red colors radiated all over her body as those thick elements of fire continued swelling and rippling.
Huo Yuaho couldn’t help her anymore, because his Ultimate Ice would only be counterproductive if he injected it into her body now. How Ma Xiaotao would emerge from her cocoon was now up to her own cultivation process.
Huo Yuhao didn’t doubt the Blazing Rubber’s potency. He had almost squeezed the Blazing Delicate Apricot dry back then for this piece, and a hundred thousand year soul beast’s essence should be sufficient to help Ma Xiaotao purify her martial soul.
Ma Xiaotao quickly entered meditation, and Huo Yuhao finally heaved a sigh of relief. He had finally treated his elder sister successfully, which had been one of his greatest wishes.
Huo Yuhao didn’t just leave, but instead sat opposite Ma Xiaotao and quietly channeled his soul power so that he could recover, while he protected her at the same time.
Ma Xiaotao was absorbing the Blazing Rubber more quickly than he had expected, and she only took two hours before her aura began to transform drastically.
The temperature around her began to rise continuously, and the ground beneath her feet turned dark red. Faint golden-red light shone twenty meters around her and pulsed with her breathing, and Huo Yuhao was forced further away because of that scorching aura so that he wouldn’t be affected.
“Ang—” A bright phoenix call echoed through the skies as a pair of golden-red phoenix wings stretched out behind Ma Xiaotao’s back.
Yes, her wings were golden-red, no longer dark red, as her fiery aura surged into the sky.
Ma Xiaotao flapped her wings heavily as she took herself high into the sky. There seemed to be another golden-red sun in the sky that shone over the great earth and triggered countless undead creatures’ agonizing howls at the same time.
Sunlight was an important part of life for the Douluo Continent, but such intense sunlight only meant death and destruction inside this spectral demiplane.
Most of the undead creatures fell to the ground in fear and waited for this destructive and apocalyptic force to descend upon them.
Fortunately, everything was just temporary.
The golden-red light gradually receded in the sky, and Ma Xiaotao’s fiery red hair regained its color. Every strand seemed to be formed from red jewels threaded together.
Ma Xiaotao’s attractive frame gradually drifted down as she arrived in front of Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao was already on his feet, and he stared at her with a faint smile on his face.
“Welcome back, sister,” Huo Yuhao said with a smile.
Ma Xiaotao opened her arms and gave him a bear hug. She was a buxom girl, and her busty body squeezed Huo Yuhao until he felt a little suffocated and awkward. But he felt more happiness and bliss.
Ma Xiaotao kissed his cheek heavily as she looked up and said, “Thank you, little brother.”
Huo Yuhao shook his head. “No, I was too late. You wouldn’t have had to suffer so much if I had come for you earlier.”
Ma Xiaotao’s face darkened. “I will take back what the Holy Ghost Church owes me someday. Where are we? Why are there so many undead creatures here? Watch me kill a whole bunch of them first.” She turned and was about to walk away as she spoke.
Ma Xiaotao’s mind had recovered, and her fiery temper was also back.
Huo Yuhao hurriedly pulled her back as he briefly explained his spectral demiplane’s origins, and only then did Ma Xiaotao change her mind.
“Let’s go out, sister. Everyone in the academy is worried sick about you, and there are some things that I have to deal with.”
The black spectral gate reopened as Huo Yuhao took Ma Xiaotao back to the Sea God’s Pavilion.
The Sea God’s Pavilion was still radiating faint golden light, and the tall Golden Tree was still there. Everything that Ma Xiaotao was familiar with was still here, and tears fell from her eyes uncontrollably when she saw everything as she knelt on the ground.
“I’m back. I’m finally back! I’m finally back home!” Ma Xiaotao started bawling, and she was like a wanderer who had returned home in this moment. She didn’t seem like a formidable Titled Douluo at all.
Roughly ten years had gone by since she had been captured. Those ten years passed like a dream! She had been immersed in evil qi and killing from the beginning to the end, and she didn’t have control over her mind. Huo Yuhao had rescued her halfway for a period of time, and she tried to control herself, but she wasn’t able to do that for long. She fell back into that dreadful cycle in the end.
Her martial soul had finally sublimated, and she finally became a true soul master of Ultimate Fire. Evil qi would no longer cause her any trouble, and she felt like she had been reborn.
Huo Yuhao knelt down beside Ma Xiaotao, but he didn’t attempt to console her. She had been immensely affected by all that evil qi over these years, and her emotions had been stifled too much. Catharsis was definitely beneficial for her.
Ma Xiaotao cried for fifteen minutes. There was someone else tearing up at the same time, but it wasn’t Huo Yuhao. Instead, it was the Dean of Shrek Academy’s Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe, who was standing in front of the Sea God’s Pavilion.
Ma Xiaotao finally cried until she was a little tired. She raised her head, and when she saw Yan Shaozhe, she immediately exclaimed at the top of her voice, “Teacher!”
Ma Xiaotao dashed into Yan Shaozhe’s arms with a quick step, and continued crying uncontrollably.
Yan Shaozhe had raised her since she was a child, and teacher and disciple were very close. Yan Shaozhe didn’t have any kids, and he had always treated her like his own daughter. He had never given up searching for her even though she had been missing for so many years, but the world was vast, and the Holy Ghost Church was the one who had kidnapped her. How could he possibly find her?
But now Ma Xiaotao had returned, and her mind was back to normal. How could Yan Shaozhe hold back his tears any longer?
Ma Xiaotao’s deafening cries finally attracted the elders’ attention as they stepped out from the Sea God’s Pavilion one after another.
Everyone revealed gratified expressions as they witnessed Ma Xiaotao’s return, and that she was back to normal. Furthermore, her return represented an addition to the academy’s strength. They had seen Ma Xiaotao’s strength during her battle against Huo Yuhao. Even though she was still weaker in comparison, she was still more talented overall than Zheng Lexuan. Ma Xiaotao was almost a Transcendent Douluo.
She had been one of the inner courtyard’s most outstanding students before she had been captured, and her return was definitely wonderful.
Just when everyone was feeling happy and excited, Huo Yuhao quietly entered the Sea God’s Pavilion and walked into Tang Wutong’s room as he sat down next to her quietly.
“I wish to be alone with Wutong for a while. Is that alright, Xiao Xiao?” Huo Yuhao asked softly.
Xiao Xiao nodded as she turned to leave.
A faint smile appeared on Huo Yuhao’s face as he stared at Tang Wutong’s ghastly pale face as she lay on her bed. He gently combed her pinkish-blue hair before he kissed her gently on her tender cheeks.
“I’ve done everything I can. The Sun Moon Empire’s army has retreated, and sister Xiaotao has returned. Two of my wishes have been fulfilled. Even though there are some other things that require my attention, you are more important. We will go home right now, back to your home. No matter what those two sect leaders do to me, I have to help you recover. If you don’t, then I will go wherever you go. I will never leave your side again for the rest of my life no matter what, even if I have to become a corpse.”
Huo Yuhao took out a piece of paper as he spoke, and wrote some things before he placed the paper gently on a table beside him. He began chanting, and a spectral gate quietly opened.
