Douluo Continent: The Eye of Truth

Chapter 39 Something's Wrong with Ma Xiaotao

In Huo Yuhao's view, Xuanzi's so-called guidance was meaningless. Once a week, under Xuanzi's guidance, it was just a chaotic free-for-all among the seven reserve team members.

To put it nicely, this guidance is meant to allow everyone to showcase what they've learned so that their teammates can understand and become familiar with it, and also to allow Xuanzi to offer guidance or make corrections to their fighting styles.

However, this kind of training is actually to make the seven people more like a team, to make the seven reserve team members develop a subconscious tacit understanding, so that each person has a clearer understanding of their role in the team.

While it's not entirely wrong, cattle and sheep roam in herds, while tigers often roam alone.

If nothing unexpected happens, the soul masters trained in this way will ultimately only be 'students' who are good at fighting in arenas, rather than truly powerful soul masters who can stand on their own.

Three weeks have passed since the previous selection competition, and today is Xuanzi's teaching day again. Huo Yuhao and the other six have arrived at a closed area in the assessment zone, waiting for Xuanzi's arrival.

Not long after, after Bei Bei, Xu Sanshi, Jiang Nannan, Ning Tian, ​​Xiao Xiao, Huo Yuhao, and Wang Dong arrived, Xuan Zi also appeared in the assessment area.

Unlike before, this time, in addition to Xuanzi, seven figures dressed in blood-red school uniforms accompanied Xuanzi.

These seven individuals are the official members of Shrek Academy participating in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament this year. They were also sacrificed by the will of the universe in the original story so that Huo Yuhao could make a name for himself.

Under the blessing of the Great Universe Will of the Douluo World, in an ordinary mission on the eve of the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Student Battle Tournament, a single evil soul master, a Soul King, managed to kill or injure these seven people, which is nothing short of laughable.

Xuanzi nodded and said to everyone present, "Everyone is here. In ten days, the new Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament will begin."

"You've probably all guessed who you are. Standing before you are the starters and substitutes for this competition. Today, I'm having you meet and get to know each other."

Xuanzi then looked at Huo Yuhao and the other six: "Although the substitute players will mostly be spectators in this competition, each of you will definitely have a chance to play in order to hone your skills."

"When facing some weaker opponents, we will field you as the team members to conceal the strength of the main players."

"Therefore, you all need to pay attention: victory is the only acceptable outcome, defeat is not an option. Shrek Academy does not produce mediocre talents. You all know the consequences of losing the match. Do you understand?"

"Yes, we understand!" Huo Yuhao and the other six replied in unison.

"As for anything else, I won't say much. I've always believed that fists are the best form of communication. To help you get to know each other's personalities and abilities as quickly as possible, let's have a friendly match as a warm-up!"

Then Xuanzi turned his gaze to Ma Xiaotao and her group: "Before the friendly match begins, why don't you introduce yourselves to each other, starting with the official teams?"

"Inner Courtyard, Ma Xiaotao, Level 67 Power Attack Type Battle Soul Emperor." A woman with long, dark red hair tied in a ponytail stepped forward and spoke first. Her eyes were also dark red, as if burning with two flames.

Without Huo Yuhao's ultimate ice spirit suppressing her in the original work, although Ma Xiaotao is still a regular member of Shrek Academy and her spirit power cultivation is no weaker than in the original work.

However, through his Eye of Truth, Huo Yuhao could see that beneath Ma Xiaotao's physical appearance, her soul power was like surging magma.

In fact, even the suppression by the ultimate ice in the original work would be nothing more than drinking poison to quench thirst for Ma Xiaotao.

Because what troubles Ma Xiaotao is always the evil energy within the Evil Phoenix, not the flame itself.

Ultimate Ice only suppresses the problem by forcefully altering the attribute's position, ultimately only addressing the symptoms, not the root cause.

Moreover, as the suppression of the evil fire intensifies, the power it eventually unleashes will become even more terrifying.

Therefore, if you really want to get rid of the influence of evil fire, it is best to start from the direction of purification.

However, in the Douluo Continent, the cultivation system of Soul Masters is determined from the moment they awaken their Martial Soul.

Even the so-called ultimate attributes are just advantages on one path.

They also cannot extend their advantage to other areas.

Regarding abilities like purification and baptism, the Angelic Martial Soul is naturally among the best. As a divinely bestowed Martial Soul, the Six-Winged Angel, with the help of a high-level Soul Master who is also a Six-Winged Angel, can easily eliminate the so-called evil fire.

However, ten thousand years ago, with the destruction of the Spirit Hall by Tang San, the Angel Clan scattered and fled, no longer appearing in the world. Even if they did, they were some impure Angel Spirit bloodline inheritances.

For example, martial souls like the Healing Angel, while extremely powerful, have lost the most fundamental purity and strength of divinely bestowed martial souls.

With the Six-Winged Angel Martial Soul Inheritance concealed, after ruling out the usual purification methods, the second option to eliminate the evil fire is purification.

Once the flame attribute of the person possessed by the evil fire is pure and powerful enough, the evil energy that has penetrated deep into the martial soul will naturally be eliminated.

But looking at Ma Xiaotao now, Huo Yuhao couldn't help but fall silent. This girl is no longer the Evil Fire Phoenix, is she? This evil energy is about to explode. Are you sure she's not an evil phoenix?

"Mr. Yi, what do you think?" Huo Yuhao was not sure at the moment, because he did not expect Ma Xiaotao's condition to become so bad.

If things really got out of hand, Ma Xiaotao, driven by her evil nature, would tear everyone present apart if no one stopped her.

"Little guy, take another look." Compared to Huo Yuhao, Electrolux seemed much more composed and said calmly.

Upon hearing this, Huo Yuhao frowned slightly and carefully scanned Ma Xiaotao's body through his Eye of Truth.

Only then did he notice that although Ma Xiaotao's soul power seemed chaotic, it was actually orderly despite its disorder. On the contrary, the flames within it were like some kind of impurity, hindering the flow of soul power and thus interfering with Huo Yuhao's judgment.

"The power within this girl has been tainted by evil energy, and it seems to have entered a stable transformation phase; it's not as unstable as you imagined."

"However, once this transformation phase is over, the girl's mind will inevitably be disturbed by this evil energy. If she cannot maintain her resolve, she will surely perish."

Without guidance, what will emerge from this destruction—a new monster? Or a completely new self? No one can say for sure.

"However, you don't need to worry about that. After all, even if the opponent's strength increases dramatically, I have the ability to protect you. Mere evil energy, no matter how much it increases, is nothing more than a piece of cake for me unless she can completely control it."

Having said all that, Huo Yuhao had no more questions. He then turned his attention to the other members of the Shrek Academy's inner court team.

Especially the student named Gongyang Mo, because his martial soul has a very special nature.

Level 59, Rainbow Dragon Martial Soul, whose status in the Soul Master world is like that of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda.

Both are considered extremely powerful support-type martial souls, but they are similarly affected by the constraint of reaching a maximum of seven rings and being unable to break through further.

Unlike the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Pagoda, which is a weapon spirit, Huo Yuhao was very curious about the Rainbow Dragon, which, as a beast spirit, actually had a prototype, and some of them were even 100,000 years old.

Rainbow Dragons are known as the dragon race because of their beautiful appearance and powerful multi-elemental magic abilities, which grants the dragons they follow a powerful and unshakeable status.

However, once this martial soul falls into the hands of a human soul master, it will be severely restricted when all seven colors are present, which is the seventh ring strength, making it almost impossible to make a breakthrough.

This is why Gongyang Mo chose to position his Rainbow Dragon Martial Soul as a support-type Martial Soul.

In fact, due to its inherent strength, Rainbow Dragon can be perfectly adapted to all types of attacks, controls, and supports.

However, due to the limitations imposed by their martial souls, in terms of their ability to interfere with high-level soul masters' battles, offensive and control-type soul masters are clearly less useful than support-type soul masters.

To become an inner disciple of Shrek Academy, one must possess other skills if they cannot reach the level of Soul Douluo.

This is why Gongyang Mo's cultivation path is support-oriented, but in Huo Yuhao's opinion, this is a terrible waste of this powerful dragon martial soul.

Although after the fall of the God Realm, apart from the Golden-Eyed Black Dragon King Di Tian, ​​there were no other pure-blooded dragons of the next generation, the Rainbow Dragon's bloodline can still be considered one of the purest in the Douluo Continent.

If one could analyze his martial soul and use it to strengthen his physique, thereby gaining the ability to control multiple elemental affinity, it would be beneficial for Huo Yuhao's future growth.

After all, although Electrox called himself the Holy God of Necromancy, the amount of magic of other elements in his memories was not to be underestimated, while Huo Yuhao was limited by his physique and the laws of the plane.

The spells he learned, or the soul skills he used with his soul power, were all relatively weak except for ice-attribute abilities. This was Huo Yuhao's current weakness; he had a treasure trove of knowledge but couldn't use it, which always bothered him.

There's not much to say about the other inner court disciples.

Dai Yueheng, a level 64 offensive-type Soul Emperor, is the elder brother of Dai Huabin and the eldest son of the White Tiger Duke. Due to the original owner's resentment, he also became one of the people Huo Yuhao included on his revenge list.

The remaining four inner court students are all above level 50.

Yao Haoxuan, a level 55 martial soul master with the giant-type control and support martial soul, Xixi, a level 56 agility-type martial soul master, and Chen Zifeng, a level 57 power-type martial soul master.

These are the four unlucky guys who suffered along with Gongyang Mo in the original work, except for Ling Luochen, who was a level 55 control-type battle soul king and was spared by the will of the universe because he and Huo Yuhao were both ice-attribute.

These three, along with Gongyang Mo, suffered heavy casualties in their battle against the Grim Reaper, which led to the main storyline of Huo Yuhao showing off and getting humiliated in the All-Continent Advanced Soul Master Academy Battle Tournament.

After the main team members finished their self-introductions, Huo Yuhao and other reserve team members also reported their strengths and majors according to the previously decided age order.

After everyone finished introducing themselves, Xuanzi continued, "Alright, Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng, you will each lead a team. Ma Xiaotao, your cultivation level is higher, so you can only lead two regular team members."

"However, you can choose the starting players and reserve players once. Dai Yueheng, your team will have three starting players, and then the reserve players."

After glancing at everyone present, Ma Xiaotao coldly said, "Gongyang Mo."

After a brief moment of consideration, she chose Bei Bei, the strongest member of the reserve team, who was also the most famous in the outer academy and was known as one of the twin stars alongside Xu Sanshi.

Then, Ma Xiaotao said to Dai Yueheng with a blank expression, "It's your turn."

Seeing this situation, Dai Yueheng chose Chen Zifeng and Xu Sanshi, the two strongest students among the remaining people present.

After all, they are not very familiar with the abilities of the outer court students. Apart from Xu Sanshi and Bei Bei, who are somewhat famous in the outer court, even the inner court disciples have heard of them to some extent. However, the remaining second-year students have only been enrolled for a year.

In that case, it would be most advantageous to choose the one with the strongest soul power as a teammate.

Xu Sanshi, who was chosen by Dai Yueheng, looked miserable, after all, he and Ma Xiaotao were quite familiar with each other.

Because he had to help Ma Xiaotao suppress her evil fire, he was also put through a lot of trouble. As a result, he became more aware of Ma Xiaotao's strength and temperament, and she became increasingly eccentric over the past year.

It was Ma Xiaotao's turn again. This time, Ma Xiaotao chose Ling Luochen and Jiang Nannan. However, Ma Xiaotao had already used up all the spots she had for selecting inner court disciples. Next, Dai Yueheng chose Xixi and Yao Haoxuan.

Although Huo Yuhao didn't understand why Dai Yueheng would choose two inner court disciples first when Ma Xiaotao was no longer able to choose, he expressed his respect despite not understanding.

Ma Xiaotao chose Ning Tian and Wang Dong, two of the stronger Soul Masters among the second-year students, as her teammates. Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao were naturally assigned to Dai Yueheng's team.

Now that both teams have chosen their members, Xuanzi, holding his wine gourd, chuckled and said, "Very good. Now that you've divided into teams, I'll give you ten minutes to plan your tactics. Ten minutes later, the sparring will begin."

"But add some prizes, the loser just has to shout 'I'm a pig'."

(End of this chapter)