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Evening, Blazing Academy's temporary quarters.
Huo Wu locked herself in the training room, practicing her spirit skills over and over again. Flames danced wildly around her, the temperature high enough that the walls began to turn red, but she was still unsatisfied.
"Why... why is the gap so large..." She gritted her teeth, punching a specialized training dummy. The dummy's chest caved in, and cracks spread.
That battle today was too great a blow to her. She was a once-in-a-century genius of Blazing Academy, a Rank 43 Control System Battle Spirit Ancestor who should have been a dazzling existence in any tournament. But today, she couldn't even put up a decent resistance before being easily crushed by those girls.
Especially that rabbit-ear girl's fifth spirit skill... remembering the expression on Huo Yu's face after he was hit made her spine tingle even now. That wasn't a normal mental attack; it was something... filthier, more debased.
"Dammit!" Huo Wu punched again, and the dummy finally couldn't hold out any longer, shattering to pieces.
She stopped, panting heavily, sweat having already soaked her clothes and clinging to her body, outlining her full curves—her breasts heaving, nipples faintly visible through the damp fabric, her toned stomach glistening, and the curve of her hips shining with perspiration. There was no one else in the training room, so she simply took off her outer coat, wearing only the small camisole underneath. Her sun-kissed skin was covered in fine sweat, glowing with a healthy luster under the lights, the thin fabric sticking to her hard nipples.
The man's gaze flashed in her mind again.
Calm, deep, as if capable of seeing through everything.
"Soul-Forging Douluo... Mo Bai..." Huo Wu muttered to herself. It wasn't that she hadn't heard of this name, but Mo Bai had acted low-key for the last half-year, so there was little intelligence on him. All that was known was that he came from Notting City, was originally an ordinary teacher, and then somehow became a Titled Douluo and trained a group of monster-like students.
"Rongrong, Yan'er, Zhuqing... and that Xiao Wu and Ye Lingling, they are all his people." Huo Wu leaned against the wall, slowly sliding down to sit on the floor. "Their speed of strength improvement... is not normal at all."
She thought of Ning Rongrong's Nine Treasure Glazed Tile Tower. The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Tower evolving into nine treasures was rare in the entire history of the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect. Then there was Dugu Yan, with that strange poison and spirit ring configuration; Zhu Zhuqing's speed and ten-thousand-year fourth ring; Xiao Wu's bizarre fifth skill...
Everything pointed toward that man.
"If I could get his guidance..." This thought surfaced in Huo Wu's mind, but she immediately shook her head fiercely. "No, no way. That guy definitely has problems; the way those girls look at him isn't right... that is absolutely not the look a student gives a teacher."
It was... the look of submission. Or even worse.
But deep in her heart, another voice said: Power is power, regardless of how it comes. You lost today, lost completely. If things continue like this, Blazing Academy will struggle even to qualify. And you, Huo Wu, will never catch up to those people in your entire life.
The two thoughts fought in her mind, giving her a splitting headache.
Just then, there was a knock on the training room door.
"Who is it?" Huo Wu asked alertly.
"It's me." Huo Wushuang's voice came from outside. "Huo Wu, are you still training? It's time to eat."
"I'm not hungry." Huo Wu said dully.
There was silence outside for a moment, then Huo Wushuang said: "I just heard some news... those girls from Heaven Dou Royal Academy Team One were only in their early thirties in rank more than half a year ago. It was Mo Bai who allowed them to jump over a dozen ranks in half a year and obtain rings that exceed the limit."
Huo Wu stood up abruptly and rushed to the door, pulling it open: "What did you say?!"
Huo Wushuang stood outside, his expression solemn: "Ning Rongrong went from Rank 37 to Rank 51. Dugu Yan went from Rank 51 to Rank 58. Zhu Zhuqing went from Rank 39 to Rank 52... the most exaggerated is that Xiao Wu; two years ago she was just a working student at Notting Primary Academy, and now she's a Rank 50 Spirit King."
"That's impossible!" Huo Wu blurted out. "Even a Titled Douluo couldn't make spirit masters improve that fast!"
"That's why there's a problem." Huo Wushuang lowered his voice. "I heard that Mo Bai has a special 'Soul-Forging' ability that can modify spirit rings, and even... modify the martial soul itself. The changes in those girls are very likely the result of being 'modified'."
Huo Wu's breathing grew rapid. Modifying the spirit master themselves... what kind of concept was that? If this were true, then the power Mo Bai possessed had already overturned the common knowledge of the spirit master world.
"Brother, do you mean..."
"I don't mean anything." Huo Wushuang interrupted her, his expression complicated. "I'm just telling you the intelligence. As for how you choose, that's your own business. But Huo Wu, I want to remind you—the price for that kind of power must not be small. Look at the way Ning Rongrong and the others are; do you think they are truly normal?"
Huo Wu fell silent.
She recalled the eyes of those girls on the stage today. Cold, hollow, only flashing with a trace of near-fanatical obedience when looking at that man in the VIP seats. Those were not the eyes a normal spirit master should have.
"I understand," she finally said. "Let me be alone for a bit."
Huo Wushuang sighed, patted her shoulder, and turned to leave.
Huo Wu closed the door and sat down slowly with her back against it. She was the only one left in the training room, so quiet she could hear her own heartbeat.
A price... huh?
She looked down at her own hands. These hands could release scorching flames and control the Fire Shadow martial soul, but today on the stage, they were so powerless. Dugu Yan's poison easily extinguished her fire, Zhu Zhuqing's speed meant she couldn't even touch a corner of her clothes, and Xiao Wu's bizarre spirit skill made her heart turn cold.
What if... what if she could possess that kind of power too?
Even if she had to pay a price?
Once this thought rose, it could no longer be suppressed.