When Huo Yuhao opened his drowsy eyes, the beautiful scenery that met them was enough to make one's blood boil. He was already used to this and couldn't help but marvel at how big-hearted these three girls were, to trust a lecher like him so much.
He might as well, so he slapped Wu Feng on her round bottom. "Get up, you all."
"Don't mess around, let me sleep a little longer..."
Looking at the drowsy Wu Feng, a rare playful mood arose in Huo Yuhao. He pulled a feather from the Purple Cloud Eagle carcass he had bought two days ago from his storage soul tool and gently tickled Wu Feng's pert, jade-like nose back and forth with it.
"Achoo—"
"Huo Yuhao! I'm going to kill you—" For a moment, the bedroom was in a state of chaos.
After breakfast, the four of them set off on the road to attend classes at the academy. Since coming to Shrek Academy, Huo Yuhao's mood had gradually brightened. Here, he finally had his own small team base, and even more, the three girls, Wu Feng and the others, who cared about him. It was a much better atmosphere than the cold one in the Holy Ghost Cult where everything was frigid.
"There's still a while before class starts. Let's go for a stroll by Sea God Lake," Wu Feng said, lazily stretching her hot body, looking exceptionally alluring in the morning sun.
"Alright," Huo Yuhao readily agreed. In the few days since enrolling, he had not yet been to Sea God Lake. And there was indeed still half an hour before class time, so it would be good to take a walk.
The two of them bypassed the new student teaching building and followed the south side of Shrek Plaza eastward. Before long, they arrived at the lakeside path.
Passing through the woods next to the path, the sparkling Sea God Lake presented itself before their eyes.
A gentle water vapor mixed with fresh air washed over them. Although Sea God Lake was only an artificial lake, the water was extremely clear. The azure lake water was pure blue, deep blue, and also gentle and elegant blue. On the satin-like surface of the lake, a layer of slight ripples rose and fell, like the watery autumn gaze of a young girl. It reflected the blue sky, white clouds, and the shady green trees on the lake shore.
"So beautiful!" Nanmen Yun'er couldn't help but take a deep breath, a moving smile blooming on her delicate little face.
Huo Yuhao looked towards the far side of Sea God Lake. This lake, just as recorded in the original work, occupied an extremely vast area, probably even larger than the main campus of Shrek Academy to the west of Shrek Plaza. In the distance, over the water's surface, there was also a layer of hazy mist.
After his Spirit Eyes martial soul had undergone multiple evolutions, his vision had once again improved significantly. Even without channeling soul power into his Spirit Eyes, he could still see far. He could clearly see that among the water mist on the distant lake surface, there were scattered buildings of various heights. Recalling the description in the original work, he couldn't help but think to himself, That should be the inner court over there.
Even outstanding soul masters like Bei Bei and Xu Sanshi can only study in the outer court. The students of the inner court must be several levels stronger!
"Huh?" Just as Huo Yuhao was lost in thought, suddenly, he seemed to see a red dot appear in the water mist in the lake.
"What's wrong?" Ning Tian at his side asked with confusion.
Ning Tian followed the direction of Huo Yuhao's finger but only saw a patch of water mist. "Where?" She had just questioned his words when, the next moment, her eyes widened. She saw it too. What red dot? That was clearly a red figure, running on the surface of the water at an astonishing speed. And from the looks of it, it was actually rushing in their direction.
Wu Feng and Nanmen Yun'er looked at each other and exclaimed at the same time, "An inner court senior?"
The speed of that red figure was simply astonishing. In just a short while, he had already rushed to the center of the lake. Every time the tip of his foot tapped on the lake surface, it would create a ripple. But he used that slight buoyancy to continuously accelerate, like a red cloud drifting rapidly forward.
As he got closer, the three girls could also see more clearly. Not only were the clothes on the red figure red, but even his hair was blood-red. His figure was slender, but his entire body exuded a fierce and chilling majesty, like a terrifying soul beast. The air around his body was slightly distorted, and wherever he passed, ripples of water mist even appeared under his feet.
"This senior looks so strong! Look, he can run on the lake surface without even releasing his martial soul," Nanmen Yun'er analyzed excitedly to Huo Yuhao.
Huo Yuhao's spiritual perception was far superior to theirs. He soon revealed a thought-provoking smile. "I know who it is!"
The red figure arrived extremely quickly. While they were talking, he had already approached within a hundred meters of the shore. A terrifying high temperature instantly swept over them. A look of horror appeared in the eyes of the three girls at the same time. Because they simultaneously felt an indescribably terrifying aura erupt from that senior, which was definitely not the pressure a normal student should have.
"Huo! Yu! Hao!" It was a clear and melodious female voice, and the extremely suppressed emotions seemed to explode in an instant. "I finally found you!"
"Yuhao, she's coming for you!" Nanmen Yun'er's little face turned pale. It seemed this fierce-looking senior sister held no small amount of hostility towards Huo Yuhao.
"You guys go back to the classroom first. If I can't get back on time, please trouble yourselves to ask for a leave of absence for me from Teacher Mu Jin," Huo Yuhao stood in front of the girls without dodging or evading, puffing out his chest and letting the figure rush towards him.
The red figure arrived in an instant. With a reach of her hand, she directly grabbed Huo Yuhao's collar, lifted him into the air, and without even a glance at the three girls at the side, flew directly towards the distance.
Feeling the piercing lake wind whistling past his ears, Huo Yuhao calmly raised his hands and placed them behind his head. "Ma Xiaotao, after a year, you actually still miss me this much?"
"Shut up! You evil spawn of the Holy Ghost Cult! Do not disturb my Dao heart!" Ma Xiaotao gritted her silver teeth and glared at Huo Yuhao.
"Saintess, I can help you cultivate, no matter what position..." Huo Yuhao laughed loudly, seeming not at all afraid that she would do anything to him.
"Position your big head, get lost!" Ma Xiaotao threw Huo Yuhao into the lake. At this time, Huo Yuhao had no ability to fly and naturally ended up like a drenched chicken.
Just at this moment, Huo Yuhao triggered the spiritual brand deep in Ma Xiaotao's mind. The latter only felt the world spin, and instantly lost her balance in the air, falling into Sea God Lake together with Huo Yuhao.
After choking on a large mouthful of water, Ma Xiaotao was then casually fished out by Huo Yuhao, equally soaked to the bone.
"You..." Ma Xiaotao looked at the youth so close to her, and her consciousness returned to the night of her second martial soul awakening, to the scene in that spiritual illusion where she had completely let herself go.
"You're not troubled by the evil fire anymore, are you?" Huo Yuhao sized up the out-of-breath Ma Xiaotao, his gaze frivolous. "Looks like you should be at the Soul Sage realm. Not bad, my efforts weren't in vain."
"You say it so lightly!" Ma Xiaotao said fiercely. "Ever since you helped me evolve my martial soul into this damned Sinful Desire Demonic Phoenix, the male students in the inner court now become like perverts every day they see me..."
"Perverts are good. Have you been a reverse-pervert back at them?" Huo Yuhao laughed loudly, and was pinched hard on the soft flesh of his waist by the ashamed and angry Ma Xiaotao, who twisted it a full one hundred and eighty degrees.
The Sinful Desire Demonic Phoenix, as the top-tier version of the Evil Fire Phoenix, retained the almost unsolvable evil fire characteristic while possessing the ultimate fire attribute. It could also maximally trigger the original sin instinct of the opposite sex around it. If not for Ma Xiaotao's naturally fiery and arrogant personality, she would have long been pestered to death by the group of male students in the inner court.
As for the spiritual brand Huo Yuhao had left her, it had been planted with the help of the Rakshasa divine power. Not even Shrek's Limit Douluo could see through it, and could only determine that Ma Xiaotao had been frightened by someone.
After returning to the academy, no longer having to worry about the backlash of the evil fire, Ma Xiaotao could be said to have made rapid progress this past year. Not only had her soul power increased to level seventy, but she had also obtained an extremely powerful soul ring of nearly one hundred thousand years with the help of Shrek's experts.
It was no exaggeration to say that the current Ma Xiaotao, if she participated in the upcoming soul master academy tournament, could very easily crush the entire field.
After all, this was a Soul Sage of ultimate fire!
Ma Xiaotao had also only learned that Huo Yuhao had been admitted to Shrek Academy two days ago. After all, Long Xiaoyao had revealed the matter of the Holy Son's descent to Mu En. Shrek Academy, which had always been on guard against the Holy Ghost Cult, naturally kept an eye out for this, until Huo Yuhao personally came to Shrek Academy to report.
For now, Huo Yuhao had not shown any abilities of an evil soul master. Mu En had also personally met this child and had not done anything extra to him.
Whether a person would become an evil soul master in the future was not determined by their mutated martial soul. Mu En, as the most far-sighted old man in Shrek, saw things much more thoroughly than the other elders.
"You came to see me. Do you have some plan?" Huo Yuhao put one arm around Ma Xiaotao's soaked waist while using his feet to paddle underwater to keep them afloat.
"State your conditions. When will you remove your spiritual brand from me?" Ma Xiaotao was held in his arms, her pretty face uncontrollably flushing red. She had naturally come to find Huo Yuhao with a purpose, which was for the spiritual brand he had planted in her.
"I'll have to think about this..." Huo Yuhao said, sizing up her curvaceous figure, a wicked smile appearing on his face.