After Xuan Zi left, Wang Yan immediately busied himself tending to the injured students,checking their wounds, treating them, administering medicine to suppress the corpse poison, and using his own soul power to further stabilize the more seriously injured Yao Haoxuan.
At this moment, the only other person who could help was Ning Tian. She stepped forward to assist the main team, using her second soul skill to help suppress the corpse poison.
Aside from Gongyang Mo and Ning Tian, no one else in the team had the ability to heal or suppress corpse poison. Therefore, the rest spread out to keep watch or to recover the soul power they had consumed earlier in the battle.
Huo Yuhao, meanwhile, closed his eyes and pretended to rest, using the heavy consumption of soul power from using a fourth-rank defensive soul tool as his excuse. In truth, his consciousness had entered his Spiritual Sea, as his soul power could be replenished by the Skydream Iceworm.
Once his consciousness entered the Spiritual Sea, the normally quiet gray sphere lying at the bottom slowly rose and appeared before him.
"Old Yi," Huo Yuhao greeted. He had more or less guessed why Electrolux took the unusual initiative to appear.
First, coming into contact with the Death God's Envoy had restored part of Electrolux's memories related to necromancy.
Second, Electrolux had noticed that Huo Yuhao influenced and controlled Dai Yueheng with a soul skill, leading to Dai Yueheng being killed by the corpse explosion. This made it clear that Yuhao had already anticipated the dangers of this battle,but had chosen not to warn the others.
"Dai Huabin, Dai Yueheng, the White Tiger Duke's Mansion,I do have old grudges with them. I did this deliberately, and because I did not wish to expose my abilities, I had no intention of revealing everything to the others," Huo Yuhao said bluntly.
"But I did not sense any real hatred from your emotions," Electrolux sighed, his old voice continuing, "which means your grudge was not strong enough to make you want to kill him."
"Or perhaps," he added, "when you chose to influence Dai Yueheng and push him toward death, I didn't sense any emotional fluctuation from you at all. No positive or negative feelings,nothing."
Huo Yuhao nodded and spoke frankly. "I had already calculated the dangers this battle would bring. Aside from Dai Yueheng, the others suffered injuries, but all within an acceptable range."
"And without Dai Yueheng as the sacrifice, the others would have been hurt far more seriously. As for emotions,good or bad, like or hate,I don't think these things should affect my will."
He continued calmly, "The reason I chose Dai Yueheng is simply because he was the right candidate, appearing at the right moment."
Electrolux's drifting voice came from the gray sphere. "And this is exactly what confuses and surprises me."
"Child, you treat the lives of others too lightly. This is not a good thing. Those who do not hold respect for death are more prone to destroying themselves."
"If you carried strong emotions,good or bad,I could guide you and show you the direction you should take. But when you feel nothing, I do not know how to help you."
"Though this is not entirely bad. As you said, only you can control your own self."
Electrolux looked at Huo Yuhao with a trace of melancholy. Was the gap between himself and this world too large? Or was this child simply too unusual?
From the start, Electrolux had chosen Huo Yuhao as the host for his fractured divine sense because he had a very good impression of the boy.
Diligent in study, hardworking in cultivation, quick-thinking, calm in handling matters,he was unquestionably excellent mage material. Combined with his unique talent, the Eye of Truth, and his extraordinary destiny, he was unquestionably a candidate favored by the gods.
And Electrolux could sense that this world's laws allowed the birth of gods. Given everything Huo Yuhao possessed, he already had the foundation to become one.
The Heart of Light and Eternal Tower that belonged to Electrolux had already been passed down in the Sacred Demon Continent. His only regret was that his final and most powerful creation,necromancy,had no successor.
Necromancy was not inherently evil; it was merely another form of existence at the end of life. It was born from mages studying death and the state beyond it.
Although Electrolux's memories were incomplete because his divine sense was damaged, some memories and the emotions tied to them had begun to return.
His past grudges and painful obsessions… the peace he later found… and his desire to pass on necromancy,all had resurfaced, at least a little.
From his observations, Electrolux had believed Huo Yuhao would be the perfect heir to necromancy.
But now, Electrolux felt conflicted. Huo Yuhao's personality leaned toward neutrality and unpredictability, neither good nor evil in essence, and centered purely around his own will.
For a mage, this was not necessarily wrong. But neither was it right. If someone like this learned necromancy… what would happen?
And Electrolux knew Huo Yuhao could have pretended to win his favor. Instead, Yuhao showed his true self directly.
After a moment of silence, Huo Yuhao spoke calmly. "Old Yi, if there's nothing else, I'll return to my research."
Electrolux's reaction was exactly as Huo Yuhao had anticipated.
With Electrolux's background and history, it wasn't hard to predict what kind of person he was.
If the Electrolux born as the Child of Light was lawful good…
Then the vengeful Electrolux who became a necromancer was his complete opposite,chaotic evil,acting purely for revenge, dragging down even the innocent if needed.
After perishing with the Pope and being sealed within the Eternal Tower for ages, his old hatred had dissolved.
After being redeemed by Long Haochen and Sheng Cai'er, Electrolux leaned toward a more neutral good nature,or, more accurately, he became a true mage, choosing kindness but not bound by it.
Because of this, Electrolux was not rigid. Even when faced with the original-story version of Huo Yuhao consumed by hatred, he did not immediately judge him.
So Yuhao chose to reveal his true self openly. Electrolux's judgment would be his own.
Pretending to be kind like the original Huo Yuhao, or acting to win Electrolux's approval, held no value for him.
Even if Electrolux did not choose him as a successor, he would not harm Yuhao. The only loss would be the inheritance of necromancy.
Although necromancy would be a great help, there were many resources in the Douluo Continent.
Spending time exploring the seas for other opportunities was better than suppressing his true self just to gain the inheritance,only to end up clashing with Electrolux later.
And Yuhao believed Electrolux would not dislike his honesty. At most, he would simply observe him longer.
"Sigh…" Electrolux let out a long breath as the gray sphere sank back to the bottom of the Spiritual Sea.
"Forget it… I'll watch this child Yuhao a bit longer."
After spending some time researching soul tool core arrays, Yuhao received a mental reminder from the Skydream Iceworm,something had changed outside, though it wasn't urgent.
Opening his eyes, he saw Xuan Zi already standing beside Wang Yan. The others had gathered as well. As Yuhao expected, Xuan Zi had returned in the same fury he had left with.
Thinking of the earlier chase, Xuan Zi still felt suffocated with frustration.
He had killed twelve disgusting corpse puppets, each exploding upon death. They could not hurt him, but the nauseating stench still lingered in his nose.
As for the Death God's Envoy, the real culprit had vanished without a trace. As a Super Douluo, he hadn't caught a mere Soul King-level evil soul master, and even let a Shrek inner-court disciple die at that person's hands.
If news of this spread, his old face would be trampled upon!
But since the situation was already set, Xuan Zi calmed himself a little and asked Wang Yan gruffly, "Wang Yan, how are the children?"
Wang Yan shook his head helplessly. "Elder Xuan, aside from Yao Haoxuan, most only suffered light injuries. Xixi and Ling Luochen just need a bit of rest before they can expel the corpse poison with their soul power. But they won't be able to fight at full strength for a while."
"As for Ma Xiaotao, aside from her soul power being overly drained, she's fine and only needs rest."
"Chen Zifeng and Gongyang Mo accumulated more corpse poison, but it isn't too serious. With the academy's medicine, half a month of rest should restore them."
"Yao Haoxuan, however, has corpse poison deep in his body. He'll need at least a month of careful treatment to expel it bit by bit, or it could affect his future cultivation."
"As for the reserve team, thanks to Huo Yuhao's fourth-rank defensive soul tool, almost none of them were affected by the corpse poison. Only Yuhao himself has suffered heavy soul power consumption."
Hearing this, Xuan Zi's anger lessened. "Is that so? Good. Wang Yan, take the others to Star Luo City. You will handle all early preparations for the competition."
"I will take Yao Haoxuan back to the academy for treatment and try to return before the competition ends."
"As for Dai Yueheng and the White Tiger Duke's Mansion, I will give them a proper explanation."
"Yes, Elder Xuan," Wang Yan replied helplessly.
With Xuan Zi leaving, the responsibility of leading the team now fell entirely on him. If Shrek Academy were to lose face in the Continental Advanced Soul Master Academy Soul Dueling Tournament, he would bear the blame.
Normally, even the lowest-ranked teacher in Shrek should be at least a Soul Emperor. However, Wang Yan had benefitted from Xuan Zi's influence.
As Xuan Zi's grand-disciple, Wang Yan,a theoretical scholar with only Soul King cultivation,still managed to become a Shrek lecturer. Rumors had always followed him.
This was why he rarely revealed his martial soul,showing it would also reveal he had only five rings.
Being selected as the supervising teacher for Shrek Academy in the continent-wide tournament was originally meant to decorate his resume. After all, no one believed any academy could defeat Shrek's main team.
But with their current losses, if anything went wrong, Wang Yan might not be able to remain at Shrek.
His eyes darkened as he made up his mind. No matter what, he had to endure,for Shrek's glory, and for his future as a teacher.
Xuan Zi did not speak further. With an oily gesture of his large hand, he lifted the unconscious Yao Haoxuan in a thick layer of white soul power. Then he flew off at high speed toward Shrek Academy.
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