I am the son of the Dragon God in Douluo Continent.

At this moment, Ma Xiaotao and the other inner court students led the outer court students and the rescued refugees.

However, her eyes, filled with resentment, were fixed on Zhang Lexuan and Elder Xuan, who were still being restrained by the evil spirit master, as well as the other internal trainees who were still fighting.

You must know that Ma Xiaotao is a brave and righteous woman. Seeing such a tragic scene but not being able to help her brothers, sisters, and fellow Shrek people must have been incredibly painful for her.

The reason she didn't choose to disobey orders and join the battle is because she knows that if she, as the strongest among the internal trainees responsible for the assessment, rashly leaves, she will feel guilty for the rest of her life if anything goes wrong with the team.

So now she could only swallow her anger and lead the team out of the outskirts of Lingxing Village as quickly as possible.

However, this did not mean that she had given up her willingness to participate in the battle. After arriving at a safe area, the first thing Ma Xiaotao did was to instruct an inner student named Siqi to immediately send a message to the academy.

After that, she turned to return to the battlefield she had just left, but as she walked back, Xu Xingyu appeared in front of her and asked, "Ma Xiaotao, what are you doing?"

Looking at the boy who was younger than herself, Ma Xiaotao simply replied indifferently, "I need to go back and help Elder Xuan and the others."

This made Xu Xingyu frown and say, "Ma Xiaotao, although your cultivation is very strong, you alone cannot change the course of the battle."

"The best option now is to wait here for reinforcements, while preventing any evil spirit masters from escaping in this direction, right?"

"I know!" Ma Xiaotao shouted, "But I can't just watch our Shrek people die like this!"

"I know that you, coming from Chilling Tower, can't understand how we Shrek people feel, but no matter what conflicts exist within Shrek, we Shrek people are one family. Now that someone has killed our family members, I can't stand idly by, or I'll despise myself for the rest of my life!"

Normally, unless the situation is tense, Ma Xiaotao would never bother to explain her actions to anyone. However, although the young man in front of her had a lower cultivation level than her, his combat strength had long surpassed hers.

Therefore, he wouldn't back down unless Xu Xingyu was given a suitable reason, so she could only try to force her way through.

Ma Xiaotao recalled seeing the remains of countless inner court students during her escape, which ignited her fury. At that moment, all she wanted was to get back as quickly as possible and make those evil soul masters suffer the consequences they deserved, no matter the cost!

However, for the safety of these refugees and students from the outer academy, she suppressed her anger and continued towards the location where she could lead the remaining people to safety.

Now that she has completed her duties, she has no reason to stay here. She knows that Xu Xingyu's plan is the most correct one, but she just can't swallow her anger.

Seeing this, Xu Xingyu couldn't help but sigh. When she read the original novel, she felt that Shrek Glory and its protective behavior were almost like brainwashing, and now that she had experienced it firsthand, it was indeed true.

Even though he was already aware of Shrek Academy's many problems, Ma Xiaotao's remarks still stirred his passion.

Looking at Ma Xiaotao's determined expression, Xu Xingyu knew she couldn't stop her, so she simply let her go.

Xu Xingyu said, "Alright, since you've already brought it up, it would be rude of me to continue trying to stop you."

After saying that, he stepped aside, and Ma Xiaotao looked at him gratefully before starting to walk towards Lingxing Village.

However, just as she took a step, Xu Xingyu said, "Wait a minute, there are conditions for me to let you go."

"What are the conditions?" Ma Xiaotao was genuinely surprised that Xu Xingyu would raise conditions at this time, and what she said next shocked her even more.

"That means I'll go with you."

"Oh, I didn't ask you, you're coming too!?"

To be honest, Xu Xingyu's decision really surprised Ma Xiaotao. After all, in her understanding, Xu Xingyu was the young master of the Spirit Tower, a power that surpassed Shrek Academy, and the relationship between Shrek and Spirit Tower had only recently eased, and the relationship was not good enough for them to support each other.

Of course, Ma Xiaotao did not object to Xu Xingyu returning to Lingxing Village with her to help the inner court students who were still there. After all, she was well aware that Xu Xingyu's strength was comparable to that of the senior students who had been cultivating in the inner court for a long time.

So with his help, Shrek's side will gain a very strong fighting force. But why would Xu Xingyu want to help Shrek?

Is it because he can't stand those evil spirit masters who commit crimes? Or has he begun to admit that he is a member of Shrek Academy? Or is it for...?

A strange possibility occurred to Ma Xiaotao, and her face flushed slightly. She thought to herself, "Could it be because of me? But he already has so many wonderful girls! How could he possibly be interested in a hot-tempered tomboy like me?! ...

If Xu Xingyu could hear Ma Xiaotao's inner thoughts, he would only reply with one sentence: "Girl, you're overthinking it."

It's true that Xu Xingyu helped Ma Xiaotao partly because he couldn't stand those evil spirit masters who did evil deeds, but that was only part of the reason.

The remaining reason is that when the blood-red light that amplified the evil soul master faction appeared earlier, he felt something calling to him.

His intuition told him that this thing was very important to him, and if he missed it, it could lead to a huge disaster.

So he had to find this thing, and coincidentally, the location of that thing was the same location as the sky filled with blood-red light.

Just then, Xu Xingyu asked, "By the way, do you have any plans?"

Upon hearing this, Ma Xiaotao was completely stunned, then touched her head in embarrassment and said, "I was so focused on how to avenge my companions that I didn't think about these things."

"Hey, you weren't originally planning to just rush into the battlefield and recklessly charge in, were you?"

Ma Xiaotao did not respond to this, but unconsciously turned her head away, not wanting the other person to see her embarrassment.

This action further confirmed Xu Xingyu's suspicions about Ma Xiaotao, and she said helplessly, "If you don't mind, I have a plan. If it succeeds, we might be able to turn the tables."