Douluo: Wuhun Qimen Formation, control everything!

Zhou Xuan simply nodded: "Then I'll be going now."

After he left, Elder Xuan stayed for a while and then left as well, as he still had many things to do.

Cai Mei stayed by the bedside, her eyes never leaving Ma Xiaotao.

After an unknown amount of time, the eyelashes of the figure on the bed trembled slightly.

This subtle movement instantly perked Cai Meier up.

Ma Xiaotao struggled to open her eyelids a crack, the glaring light causing her to squint instinctively. Then, she slowly opened her eyes.

“Water…” A hoarse, dry syllable was squeezed out of her throat.

"Xiao Tao!" Cai Meier quickly bent down, her voice filled with uncontrollable joy. She quickly poured a glass of warm water and carefully fed it to Ma Xiao Tao.

After taking a few sips of water, Ma Xiaotao felt much better in her throat, and her consciousness gradually returned.

She felt her body; although she was still very weak, the manic feeling had disappeared, and this sense of control over herself made her feel as if she were in another world.

"What... what's wrong with me?" She turned her eyes and saw Cai Meier.

“Your anger got out of control during the competition, and you almost…” Cai Meier’s eyes reddened halfway through her sentence.

Ma Xiaotao's memories began to resurface, gradually becoming clearer.

She tried to sit up, propping herself up on the bed, and scanned the room, but couldn't find that familiar figure.

"What about the teacher?"

Cai Meier's expression froze, and the atmosphere in the room instantly solidified. She opened her mouth, but didn't know how to speak.

After thinking for a while, she realized that what she needed to know would eventually come out, and there was no point in hiding it from her. She sighed and stepped forward, saying, "Xiao Tao, lie down first."

Seeing the evasive looks in Elder Xuan's and Cai Meier's eyes, Ma Xiaotao's unease grew stronger.

"Master's wife, where did Master go?" Ma Xiaotao didn't listen. She stared at Elder Xuan stubbornly, a strong sense of unease suddenly rising in her heart.

"Did something happen to him?"

"He's in trouble, and it's serious!" Elder Xuan appeared in the room at some point.

"What?" Ma Xiaotao was stunned.

Elder Xuan did not hide anything and told the whole story of how Yan Shaozhe, out of concern for her, impulsively attacked Zhou Xuan in an attempt to forcibly seize the Snow Emperor's embryo, and was ultimately stripped of his position as Dean of the Martial Soul Academy.

He also mentioned Moon's passing, but when he spoke of it, his eyes were filled with uncontrollable sorrow.

Her expression went from initial astonishment to disbelief, and finally to complete blankness.

"No...it's impossible..." she murmured, shaking her head violently, "How could the teacher...how could he..."

She knew better than anyone how proud her teacher was. How could he do something like attacking a fellow disciple and forcibly stealing treasures for her sake?
"Master's wife, you're telling me it's fake, it's all fake!" She gripped Cai Meier's hand, her knuckles turning white from the force.

With tears in her eyes, Cai Meier could only shake her head painfully: "It's true, Xiao Tao."

Ma Xiaotao let go of his hand, slumped against the headboard, and stared blankly into the eye.

She wanted to defend her teacher, but she knew that Master Xuan wouldn't lie to her about something like this.

It turns out that I was the culprit. If it weren't for her anger, the teacher wouldn't have lost her composure and made such a big mistake.

“It’s all my fault…” Ma Xiaotao repeated absentmindedly, “If it weren’t for me… Teacher… Old Mu…”

A hot tear slid down her cheek, landing on the bedding and quickly spreading into a small wet patch.

Overwhelmed with regret and self-blame, she felt her heart clench so tightly that she could barely breathe.

If her anger hadn't spiraled out of control, how could the teacher have done such a thing?
If it weren't for suppressing her, why would Old Master Mu have exhausted his last bit of energy?

"Xiao Tao, don't be like this, it's not your fault..." Cai Meier reached out to hug her, but Ma Xiao Tao instinctively dodged away.

"Teacher's wife, don't try to comfort me." Ma Xiaotao smiled bitterly. "It's my fault, it's my fault that I harmed Teacher, it's my fault that I harmed Elder Mu..."

"shut up!"

A furious shout rang out in the room, making the window frames vibrate.

Elder Xuan's face was now covered with a livid expression of anger at his son's lack of ambition.

"Crying and sobbing, wallowing in self-pity! Is this the top student of my Shrek Academy's inner court? Is this the disciple that Shao Zhe, despite his rebellious nature, still tried to save?"

"Do you think that if you lie here and try to kill yourself, Yan Shaozhe will come back? Or that Old Mu will come back to life?"

Ma Xiaotao was stunned by the sudden reprimand, and she looked up at Elder Xuan.

"I……"

"What do you mean, 'you'!" Elder Xuan didn't give her a chance to explain, stepping forward. "You only know that you harmed them, but do you know who saved your life?"

He stretched out his finger, almost poking Ma Xiaotao's nose.

"It's Zhou Xuan! The junior brother your teacher tried to snatch without asking any questions!"

"When you were consumed by lust and your mind was clouded, it was he who disregarded past grievances and went to great lengths for you, pulling you back from the brink of death!"

Elder Xuan's voice grew louder and louder.

"You think this is the end?"

"To compensate him, the academy took out the Ten-Thousand-Year Profound Ice Marrow from its treasure vault! And gave him a Soul Bone that was a hundred thousand years old! Mei'er and I guarded you for two days and two nights, not daring to blink even once!"

"Ma Xiaotao, tell me!" Old Master Xuan slammed his hand on the edge of the bed with a loud thud. "So many of us have paid such a high price just to save a good-for-nothing who only knows how to lie in bed and cry, taking all the blame on herself?"

For a moment, he felt as if he were seeing his former self, which is why he was so deeply moved and angry.

A series of words left Ma Xiaotao's mind blank.

She stared blankly at the furious Elder Xuan, then slowly turned to Cai Meier beside her.

So...is that so?
Was it that junior she had once disliked and even considered teaching a lesson that saved her?
He not only saved himself, but also paid such a high price for it...

And here I am, like a coward, unable to do anything but shed tears and blame myself.

Shame, embarrassment, gratitude, shock... countless complex emotions surged into my heart in an instant, shattering the thick, overwhelming regret.

"I..." She opened her mouth, but her throat was so dry that she couldn't make a sound.

"Your life no longer belongs to you alone!" Elder Xuan's voice softened somewhat. "It carries the academy's expectations, and also the burden of your teacher's mistakes!"

"You want to atone for your sins? Fine!"

"Then live well! Take complete control of your evil fire! Become stronger than before!"
You're strong enough to make up for your teacher's mistakes, strong enough to support Shrek Academy's future! That's what you should be doing! Not giving up on yourself like this!

Although it was somewhat of a moral blackmail, Elder Xuan had been through similar experiences and knew that if he didn't say that, Ma Xiaotao might really never recover.

After saying that, Elder Xuan gave a heavy snort, turned his back to her, and said no more.

Ma Xiaotao slowly lowered her head and looked at her hands.

There was no longer any black aura clinging to it, and its skin was smooth, but she could feel that deep within her soul, the evil fire had not disappeared. She clenched her fists one by one.

Her fingernails dug deep into her palm, sending a sharp, stinging pain through her, but this pain also brought her to a state of unprecedented clarity.

Master Xuan is right.

Dying is too easy.

Living is the most difficult thing, and also the only way to atone for one's sins.

"I understand."

Elder Xuan's expression finally softened, and he nodded: "Good that you understand. From today onwards, you must not use your soul power lightly anymore. Only when you can completely refine it with your own will will you be considered truly reborn."

"Yes," Ma Xiaotao replied softly.

Elder Xuan said no more and turned to leave the room.

Cai Meier sat back down on the edge of the bed, took Ma Xiaotao's hand, and patted it gently: "Don't overthink it, it's not your fault."

"Master's wife, I'm sorry," Ma Xiaotao said softly.

Cai Meier shook her head and reached out to brush away the stray hairs on her forehead: "Silly child, don't say sorry. It's better that you understand."

……

A few days later.

After a week of rest, the aftereffects of Yan Shaozhe and Mu En's deaths have finally subsided, and Shrek Academy is back on track.

Poseidon Lake.

Inside the room, Zhou Xuan sat cross-legged with his eyes closed.

For him, Ma Xiaotao's matter was over; what he needed to do now was to quickly familiarize himself with the martial spirit that Xue Di had given him.

A series of light footsteps approached from afar and stopped not far from him.

Zhou Xuan opened his eyes and looked at the person who had come in.

It was a woman, dressed in a dark green dress from Shrek Academy's inner courtyard. She had a slender figure, beautiful features, and a gentle and elegant demeanor. She was none other than Zhang Lexuan, the senior sister of the inner courtyard.

“Junior Brother Zhou Xuan.” Zhang Lexuan smiled slightly, like a gentle spring breeze.

“Senior Zhang.” Zhou Xuan stood up and nodded.

"Junior brother is really hardworking. The academy is about to hold the Sea God's Fate Blind Date Event, and you still have the mind to cultivate here." Zhang Lexuan's tone was a bit teasing.

"The Sea God's Fate?" Zhou Xuan nodded in realization. "What's wrong? Logically speaking, this matter has nothing to do with me, right?"

Zhang Lexuan nodded and smiled, "Indeed, but the academy holds the Sea God's Fate event in the hope that the elites of the inner academy can unite and join forces, which will benefit each other's future. This has been a tradition of Shrek Academy. I was thinking that you should host this Sea God's Fate matchmaking event?"

Zhou Xuan frowned; to be honest, he wasn't very interested in this kind of thing.

"Your senior contacted me just to say this?"

Zhang Lexuan seemed to sense his lack of interest, so she didn't beat around the bush and said seriously, "You are the most outstanding student in this year's inner academy, as well as Elder Mu's last disciple and the youngest member of the Sea God Pavilion in our academy. If you preside over it, it will be of great significance to this Sea God's Fate."

"Junior brother, I know you don't care about this, but the Sea God's Fate Blind Date Event is also an important stage for inner court disciples to showcase their strength."

The more outstanding your performance at the assembly, the more outstanding people you will attract. More importantly, this is also the best opportunity for you to truly establish your authority among all the inner court disciples.

This is also good for you.

"I'm not interested." Zhou Xuan's answer was simple and direct; he didn't need to prove anything in this way.

His time is precious, and he doesn't want to waste it on this.

Seeing his determination, Zhang Lexuan had no choice but to give up: "Alright, since that's the case, I won't force you. But please do me a favor and come to participate, okay?"

"Okay." He didn't mind just participating, since he wouldn't have to put in any effort.

After Zhang Lexuan left, Zhou Xuan didn't take the Sea God's Fate to heart. Instead, he went to the Soul Guidance Academy. He was just there to join in the fun, and he couldn't possibly have anything to do with it.
After greeting the students on duty at the Soul Guidance Computer's control panel, Zhou Xuan got to work.

This soul-guided computer is his masterpiece, with tens of thousands of core magic arrays engraved inside, giving it extremely strong deduction capabilities.

Zhou Xuan connected to the control panel with his mental power, and the indicator lights flashed wildly.

As mental energy was injected, the soul-guided computer began to operate, and a human projection appeared. Zhou Xuan closed his eyes slightly, and his massive mental energy probed into it, dominating the entire calculation process.

The evil fire within Ma Xiaotao's body is now deeply bound to her soul's origin.

The smoldering glue can purify, but it cannot eradicate, because it cannot distinguish which part is Ma Xiaotao's original essence and which part is the mutated evil fire.

The only way is for Ma Xiaotao herself to "refine" this power back into a part of the original source.

However, the prerequisite is that there is a way to refine the evil fire, and what Zhou Xuan is doing now is using the powerful deductive ability of the soul-guided computer to deduce the method to refine the evil fire.

Time flew by as the simulation unfolded.

Three days later, the indicator lights on the control panel finally stopped, and a projection slowly rotated in front of Zhou Xuan.

"Chi~"

A crystal popped out from the operating table. This was a knowledge crystal that recorded the method of refining evil fire. This storage method preserved the knowledge for longer than paper books and contained more information.

Zhou Xuan reached out and caught it, probing it with his spiritual power. After confirming that the information inside was correct, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

"It's finally done!"

He took the crystal, got up, and left the Sea God Pavilion.

He was about to go find Ma Xiaotao, but coincidentally, he hadn't gone far when he saw a familiar figure.

Ma Xiaotao was sitting alone on a bench by the lake, quietly watching the shimmering surface of the lake.

She changed into a simple and elegant outfit, losing her former flamboyance and fiery personality and gaining a more serene demeanor.

She is completely different from the person she used to be.

Seemingly sensing Zhou Xuan's arrival, she turned her head and saw him.

Ma Xiaotao looked at Zhou Xuan with a complicated expression, a mixture of gratitude, shame, and a hint of unease about how to face him.

But she still stood up, walked to Zhou Xuan, took a deep breath, and bowed solemnly to him.

"Junior Brother Zhou Xuan, thank you."

“I…” She seemed to want to say something more, but Zhou Xuan didn’t want to hear it.

He raised his hand and tossed the rhombus-shaped crystal over.

Ma Xiaotao caught it subconsciously, and it was icy cold to the touch. She looked at Zhou Xuan with some confusion.

"Here lies the method to completely refine the evil fire within your body."

"What?!" (End of Chapter)