Book 9: Escape
Chapter 59.1: The Berserk Flamedevil Ma Xiaotao!
Right, Ma Xiaotao had arrived. She’d left the academy from Shrek City’s northern gate the moment she saw Huo Yuhao release the inner courtyard disciple distress signal. With her level of speed, she was able to make it just in time to save Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong.
Though there were a total of six enemies, Ma Xiaotao wasn’t afraid in the least. Despite being a girl, she gave off the air of a general as she stood there.
Bei Bei caught Huo Yuhao while the speedier Jiang Nannan caught Wang Dong. The latter was actually a four-ringed Soul Ancestor making her cultivation no less than Bei Bei’s and Xu Sanshi’s. This surprised Huo Yuhao somewhat. No wonder she was a core disciple of the outer courtyard.
“Junior disciple, are you okay?” Bei Bei asked in a low voice.
This was the first time Huo Yuhao saw a fierce killing intent in his senior brother’s eyes; there was a true fire in his eyes. If Ma Xiaotao hadn’t made it in time when they’d fallen from the sky earlier, they would’ve suffered severe injuries, if not died.
“We’re fine senior brother. We just overexerted ourselves a little.” Huo Yuhao whispered.
Bei Bei nodded and gently placed him on the ground. Over on the other side, Jiang Nannan was also putting Wang Dong down.
Their six opponents were all gathered together. The golden light on the Soul Emperor who’d been struck by the Golden Road had finally disappeared by now but his clothes were burnt apart and his facial expression was extremely unsightly.
Within the blink of an eye, he was forced to waste over thirty percent of his soul power in order to take on the Golden Road. He was a Soul Emperor! He’d actually been put into such an embarrassing position by the teamwork of a Soul Grandmaster and a Soul Elder. How could he not be angry?
Hidden within his anger, however, was fear. A deep sense of fear.
Sure enough, they’re worthy of being called core disciples of Shrek Academy! A Soul Elder and a Soul Grandmaster were actually able to escape with their lives from an encirclement consisting of a Soul Emperor and five Soul Kings. If this were to be leaked out publically, who’d believe it? That golden light is probably a mysterious fusion skill.
Although he was inwardly furious, the Soul Emperor already had thoughts of retreating. Ma Xiaotao and the other students behind her wouldn’t be able to take them on, but at the end of the day they were still students of Shrek Academy. It wouldn’t be possible to defeat all of them within a short period of time. On top of that, Shrek Academy was so close to them and in the event one of their experts came...
With that, the commander made a prompt decision. He suddenly waved his right hand, turned around and ranoff with his subordinates.
“You want to run? If I let even one of you escape, this momma can’t be called the Berserk Flamedevil Ma Xiaotao!” The moment she noticed that they were about to flee, Ma Xiaotao immediately flew into a rage. In the past hundred years, nobody had been presumptuous enough to kill a disciple of Shrek Academy while being this close to Shrek City. As a disciple of the academy’s inner courtyard, her sense of pride towards the academy was extremely intense. Moreover, she had wanted to find Huo Yuhao to help her do something in the first place, so it was natural that she would spare nothing to help her underclassmen.
Ma Xiaotao shouted, “Xu Sanshi, protect these two students! Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan, you two flank me on the right! If we let even a single one escape, I’ll hold you personally accountable!”
With that, the six soul rings around Ma Xiaotao’s body shone with a bright light. Of these, her second and third soul rings lit up simultaneously. An intense golden-red flame exploded out from her body like a geyser as she flapped the wings behind her fiercely, which then propelled her body towards the six like a fiery meteor.
She was clearly trying to take on six enemies by herself!
Was this fierce? Yes, this was definitely fierce! However, this was also a symbol of strength.
They were both Soul Emperor-ranked experts, but Ma Xiaotao’s six soul rings weren’t ordinary! Two yellow rings, two purple rings, and two black rings, this was the optimum combination for a soul master. On the other hand, her opponent had three yellow rings, two purple rings, and one black ring. This was a relatively decent combination among normal soul masters but he was still completely outclassed by the inner courtyard disciple Ma Xiaotao.
Her six opponents were very quick but Ma Xiaotao was still quicker than them after using her second soul skill, Phoenix Baptism, and her third skill, Soaring Phoenix. Furthermore, she’d activated another soul skill the instant she’d flown out to intercept her opponents. Although it was more accurate to say that they were two soul skills but not skills that came from a soul ring.
Ma Xiaotao’s legs lit up and reddish-golden patterns started to revolve around them. Following which, reddish-golden flames shot out from her legs.
Due to her rapid acceleration, a series of explosions and whistles erupted behind her as she moved.
Although Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong were somewhat tired, they were still extremely clear-headed and couldn’t help but widen their eyes at this scene.
They naturally knew that disciples of the inner courtyard were strong, but now they finally understood just how strong they were from this battle. She’d actually used four soul skills in a row to chase after an opponent. The speed she’d reached wasn’t something they even dared to think about. Even seven or eight-ringed experts wouldn’t be able to compare with her current speed. Furthermore, the last two skills she’d unleashed had come from her soul bones. In other words, she had fused her legs with soul bones. To be precise, an identical set of soul bones.
The whistling and rumbling Ma Xiaotao shot viciously into her enemies like an artillery shell. Only two or three seconds had passed since she’d activated her Phoenix Baptism and Soaring Phoenix to speed up and her soul bone’s skills to explosively accelerate. She instantly into their formation and didn’t leave them any time to react, causing them to be caught completely off guard.
Ma Xiaotao’s target was the enormous warblade-wielding Soul Emperor and she shot straight towards him.
The Soul Emperor’s perception naturally exceeded that of the Soul Kings beside him. But at that moment he felt something off and turned around to find that Ma Xiaotao was already in front of him.
When facing a life-and-death crisis, the first reaction of an overwhelmingly large majority of people would be self-preservation and this Soul Emperor wasn’t an exception to that rule. He tried his best to lean to the side while he charged forward in order to dodge Ma Xiaotao’s attack.
The spectacular aura coming from her attack simply wasn’t something he could take head-on.
However, it no longer mattered if he dodged or not since Ma Xiaotao had already forcefully entered the nucleus of their formation.
“Hong”
Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong only saw Ma Xiaotao charge into the enemy formation and release a terrifying explosion. Her golden-reddish flames formed an enormous pillar of flame that was over ten meters high and released a sonorous phoenix cry. The figure of a fiery phoenix circled around that enormous pillar of flame.
Four figures simultaneously flew out in four different directions. The instant the pillar of flame vanished, only these four of their six opponents remained.
Huo Yuhao swallowed a mouthful of saliva and mumbled, “Wang Dong, I’m very suspicious as to how we escaped from this senior sister of ours at that time…”
Wang Dong couldn’t even reply.
Xu Sanshi, who was responsible for them, smiled bitterly. “That’s because senior Xiaotao’s been suppressing the demonic fire within her, so she won’t use all of her strength in a normal situation. Today, however, she’s truly enraged. That’s why she’s using all of her strength. Senior Xiaotao’s a girl, but where’d you think the title of ‘Berserk Flamedevil’ came from…”
During the short period of time in which their conversation occurred, Ma Xiaotao’s figure reappeared. Her four soul skills hadn’t been used just to allow her to chase after her opponents but had the added purpose of raising her strength to to its limits. Her previous attack was already comparable to that of a seven-ringed Soul Sage.
As a student of Shrek Academy, she not only possessed enormous strength but also an extremely refined amount of control over her soul skills. There were many different ways of using soul skills that were secrets of Shrek Academy and only students who’d signed confidentiality agreements would be able to learn them.
The four enemies who’d been sent flying including the Soul Emperor all had reddish-golden flames enshrouding their bodies. Their bodies swayed and collapsed to the ground as they had all been similarly affected by her attack.
Ma Xiaotao didn’t immediately follow up since her previous attack had drained her soul power by a large amount. She looked towards the sky and then spread her arms and wings wide.
She took a deep breath as a large number of faint red dots of light immediately began to gather towards her at a noticeable rate. She was actually recovering her soul power during battle.
At this moment, Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan had just caught up to her. The two of them simultaneously made a move, taking on an enemy Soul King each.
The higher one’s cultivation was, the faster one’s rate of recovery would be. The enemy Soul Emperor was already filled with astonishment, was she even human? A single Soul Emperor had instantly obtained an overwhelming advantage against six opponents. He no longer dared to even try to resist the terrifyingly hot flames that surrounded her body and soul power.
Without even daring to waste any more time, he turned around and fled. At this moment, he no longer cared about his teammates. He knew that Shrek Academy students were very powerful but had never expected them to be this strong. All of them hadn’t even been able to face a single Soul Emperor.
Ma Xiaotao’s eyes had by now turned a fiery red. A trace of disdain appeared at the corners of her mouth as she saw the fleeing Soul Emperor. She flapped her wings once more, causing her body to move horizontally. Her target wasn’t the Soul Emperor but the other living Soul King who Bei Bei and Jiang Nannan hadn’t taken on.
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