Douluo Continent, Huo Yuhao who returned from Sekiro

Chapter 61 Spontaneous Fear (45 words per day)

While the outer academy was abuzz with news about Zhou Yi, in a secret room on the island in the heart of Shrek Academy's Poseidon Lake, a person gradually awoke from unconsciousness.

"Mmm..." The woman in red stirred slightly, instinctively covering her chest with her right hand, murmuring, "So hot. How long does this evil fire intend to burn?"

Gradually, she opened her eyes. Her eyes were a pale pink, the original bloodshot color gone, and there was a slight hint of confusion in them. "Strange, why am I not hot anymore?"

She suddenly sat up and subconsciously looked down at herself; her clothes, which had been wet, were now completely dry.

He jumped off the bed, ripped off his mask, revealing a slightly pale, oval face. He looked to be around twenty years old, with somewhat cold facial features, but that couldn't hide his stunning good looks. Standing there, his voluptuous and captivating figure was even more striking, like a ripe peach.

"You're awake." An aged voice sounded, followed by a long sigh. "Xiao Tao, you almost made a terrible mistake this time!"

The old man in white saw that the other person had finally woken up and slowly stood up: "You little girl, the other elders and I have been telling you not to rush into cultivation. We will help you find a way to suppress the evil fire. Why are you so impatient? Sigh."

The old man sighed as he spoke, and although he was criticizing the other person, he didn't seem very confident.

"Teacher, Elder Xuan should be back by now. He promised Elder Mu that he would return from the far north within six months, regardless of whether he had any gains or losses."

Ma Xiaotao pulled her legs back, leaned forward slightly, and stretched out her arms, which were as white as scallion segments, to hug her legs. She stared blankly at the wall in the secret room while muttering to herself, a hint of sadness showing in her pink eyes.

"By this time, Elder Xuan should be back no matter what, right?"

Ma Xiaotao's words made the white-robed elder sit back down on the stool, feeling powerless. Yes, such a thing could not be kept from Xiaotao. If Elder Xuan had really found a treasure that could suppress the evil fire in Xiaotao's body, he would have excitedly come over to tell him and Ma Xiaotao long ago, right?

"Xiaotao, it's because the teacher is useless, teacher."

As the old man in white spoke, he found himself speechless. Outside, he was the renowned Phoenix Douluo and Dean Yan of Shrek Academy, but here, he was nothing. At best, he was a loser who couldn't even solve the troubles of his own disciple.

The air in the sealed room seemed to freeze, a suffocating feeling pervaded the space. The girl hugged her legs, lost in thought. The old man hesitated to speak, worried that it would all be a false alarm, and remained silent for a long time.

"Xiao Tao, during the days you were unconscious, the other elders and I carefully examined your physical condition, and the results were somewhat unexpected."

After pondering for a while, the old man said, "The evil fire on your body, no, not to mention your evil fire, even your evil fire phoenix seems to have dissipated for a while."

The old man took a long time to organize his thoughts before he could utter these words, as even with their experience, the situation that had befallen Ma Xiaotao seemed unbelievable.

"dissipate?"

Ma Xiaotao turned her head, a look of confusion in her eyes.

"Yes, it will dissipate, not be suppressed. The best-case scenario we envisioned was that we would find an external ice-attribute power to flow into your body, suppress the evil fire within you, and allow you to cultivate to a certain level and try to control the evil fire."

The old man's eyes showed disbelief: "However, on the day you fainted by the shore of Sea God Lake, the evil fire in your body completely dissipated. The elders and I carefully examined your meridians many times, and the result was that there was no perceptible external force that affected you."

The old man paused before continuing, "It wasn't extinguished, it wasn't suppressed, it dissipated. Do you understand? We can't detect any power other than the evil fire. The flames on your body suddenly disappeared for some reason."

At this point, even the old man himself found it hard to believe that to deal with one power, one must introduce another; the mutual generation and restraint among the elements is just like this.

To extinguish a flame, you can either pour water on it, cover it with soil, or remove the fuel source directly, so the flame will not last long.

However, Ma Xiaotao's situation was not one of the above. At that time, Ma Xiaotao was like a raging flame. Without any external intervention, the evil fire on her body suddenly disappeared, leaving only Ma Xiaotao herself as kindling.

As long as the fuel is used up, the fire will never go out—this is common sense. But the situation Ma Xiaotao encountered that day completely defied this principle.

There were no traces of power left on Ma Xiaotao's body, which meant that the power on her body was definitely not suppressed by other, more powerful forces. But if that was the case, Ma Xiaotao should have continued to burn like firewood unless her soul power was exhausted. However, it was under these circumstances that the evil fire on Ma Xiaotao's body went out.

Ma Xiaotao tried to circulate her soul power and discovered that the originally raging, fierce, and arrogant soul power in her body had become docile. How many years had it been since she had been able to control the soul power in her body so easily as she had today?

No, it wasn't docile; it was more like it was intimidated, like a pet dog that had encountered a lion. Even though the lion had left, the intimidation it brought still lingered in the pet dog's heart.

With a flick of her wrist, a ball of orange-yellow flame danced in her palm. Both Ma Xiaotao and the white-robed elder were astonished by this sight.

"Xiao Tao, where's your lustful desire?"

The old man in white asked in shock.

"I'm trying to let the evil fire out, but it seems to be afraid and doesn't look like it will dare to come out again anytime soon."

Ma Xiaotao used her soul power to repeatedly cleanse the darkest part of her martial soul, trying to force out the evil fire that was running rampant in her body.

However, the evil fire that had been swaggering inside Ma Xiaotao's body was now like a quail, merely holding onto its basic territory within the martial soul, unwilling to come out no matter how much Ma Xiaotao tried to stir things up.

Finally, seemingly realizing that the sacred, inviolable, indecent, and untouchable noble flame was no longer beside her, Ma Xiaotao's soul power was once again infused with the power of the evil fire, and the orange flame that had been dancing in her palm turned deep red again.

"Is it that little guy's power?"

Ma Xiaotao parted her lips slightly, and the image of a little black-haired, golden-eyed creature flashed through her mind. In the few seconds before she lost consciousness, she seemed to vaguely hear a word being recited twice, and the spontaneous fear that had been igniting the arrogant evil fire within her body seemed to originate from this.

(End of this chapter)