Chapter 126: Do You Not Have Eyes?
Sensing the oncoming wave of heat—so intense it was nearly suffocating—Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao did not dare to delay. They promptly followed Furina's instruction and ducked behind her and Huo Yuhao.
Within Huo Yuhao's spiritual sea, the Ice Emperor observed Furina's actions and added, "Ah, right. I nearly forgot about that little girl. The essence of her martial soul is also ultimate water. Although her soul ring configuration has yet to be fully revealed, she is clearly capable of wielding a multitude of water-attribute skills. That means we effectively have the suppression of dual ultimate attributes on our side. As long as this rampaging fellow's soul power hasn't reached the Soul Douluo level, she's fated to fall flat here today."
No sooner had the words been spoken than Ma Xiaotao—her entire body wreathed in crimson flames, her eyes completely bloodshot—crashed toward the shore like a meteor. Furina's gaze hardened. With an elegant sweep of Splendor of Still Waters, she resonated instantly with the power of the three Salon Solitaire members.
In that very instant, a colossal wave, imbued with the pure, refined power of ultimate water, materialized out of thin air. With irresistible, overwhelming force, it slammed with pinpoint precision into the airborne Ma Xiaotao.
Utterly lost to her rampage and acting on nothing but instinct, Ma Xiaotao couldn't even comprehend evasion—and at such close range, there was no time for it anyway. The surging wall of water struck her squarely. The scorching flames and the ultimate water collided violently, erupting with an explosive hiss as vast clouds of white steam billowed into the air.
Ma Xiaotao let out a pained grunt. The flames shrouding her body dimmed visibly, and like a kite with its string cut, she was fiercely swatted down into the waters of Sea God's Lake.
Furina's movements flowed like water. Before Ma Xiaotao could sink beneath the surface, Splendor of Still Waters lightly tapped the lake again. Several pliant yet solidly condensed threads of blue energy—composed entirely of the water element—shot into the depths, swiftly entwining themselves around the unconscious, sinking Ma Xiaotao. They dragged her up from the lake and laid her gently onto the grassy bank.
Having suffered, in rapid succession, the backlash of her cultivation deviation, the attribute shock of ultimate water, and near-drowning, Ma Xiaotao had long since fallen into a complete coma. Her face was pale, her breathing faint. It was clear she would not be waking up any time soon.
Only then did Furina allow herself to seem to relax a little. She brushed off her hands, her tone carrying a mixture of lingering fear and playful sarcasm: "Who would have thought that even a prestigious Inner Courtyard elite could suffer a cultivation deviation and nearly harm others? It's a good thing we reacted fast enough, or this could have been rather troublesome."
Wang Dong and Xiao Xiao poked their heads out from behind her. They looked at the unconscious Ma Xiaotao on the ground, then at the completely composed Furina, and both felt a strange sensation rising in their hearts. That entire sequence of countermeasures from Furina had been far too fluid, too swift—as if she'd had a prearranged plan and not a trace of the panic an ordinary person would feel in the face of sudden danger.
Wang Dong couldn't help but ask, "Furina, back there... how did you manage to subdue an Inner Courtyard senior in a single move? Even if your soul power is at rank 49, that person didn't look weak either. And that sword in your hand... is it some kind of advanced soul tool? Its power was incredible."
Furina smiled faintly and gave Splendor of Still Waters a little shake. Mysterious radiance flowed along its blade. "That was mainly thanks to the power of ultimate water that Lord Usher and the others wield. Against non-ultimate-attribute flames, it carries a natural suppressive effect. As for this sword..." She paused deliberately, then added with casual nonchalance, "You could say it's my exclusive weapon. Or perhaps you could call it... a divine artifact? After all, being the Water God, I ought to have at least some equipment befitting the title, wouldn't you agree?"
Wang Dong was at a complete loss for words, choked by an answer that was half-truth, half-fabrication, yet entirely impossible to rebut. Xiao Xiao, too, was left wide-eyed and speechless, feeling that the layers of mystery surrounding Furina had just thickened considerably.
Whether it was casually producing cultivation manuals and secret arts, debating a teacher in the classroom, or now, so effortlessly "resolving" a rampaging Inner Courtyard expert—everything she did seemed so thoroughly in control, so utterly unfathomable.
Huo Yuhao, for his part, was praising her from the bottom of his heart: As expected of Sister Furina. Truly formidable!
After settling the unconscious Ma Xiaotao to the side, Furina turned to her three companions, and a sly, mischievous smile suddenly surfaced on her face: "Alright. Now, I need everyone here to cooperate in putting on a little act. I'll need you all to lie down and try to look as disheveled as possible—get your clothes dirty, mess up your hair, maybe rub some dirt or bits of grass on your faces. In short, act like you were fairly seriously injured and have only just regained consciousness after passing out."
Seeing the bewildered looks from the three, she lowered her voice and added, "No matter what sounds you hear in a moment, or whoever comes to ask questions—as long as I haven't given the signal, you keep 'unconscious' or 'weak.' Do not move recklessly. Understood?"
Xiao Xiao and Wang Dong exchanged baffled glances, completely at a loss.
Huo Yuhao, however, held absolute trust in Furina. Without a second word, he immediately followed her instructions and lay down. With practiced ease, he rolled half a turn on the ground, and in an instant his face and hands were thoroughly smudged with dust and charred blades of grass. Combined with his slightly furrowed brow and deliberately shallow breathing, he looked every bit the wounded victim who had only just barely regained consciousness after a brush with calamity.
Seeing this, Xiao Xiao—though still confused—followed suit. She lay down and tried her best to arrange her features into an expression of pain, though her acting was a touch stiff.
Wang Dong rolled his eyes and muttered under his breath, "What kind of scheme is this?" Still, he grudgingly lay flat as well, doing his best not to look quite so "healthy." However, his overly pristine clothing and slightly awkward posture betrayed the fact that he was hardly a master of this particular art.
Furina herself ruffled her own hair a little and smeared a bit of grime onto the hem of her skirt before recalling the members of Salon Solitaire and Splendor of Still Waters. Then, she deliberately adjusted her breathing and posture, making herself look slightly unsteady on her feet. Limping noticeably, she made her way toward the unconscious Ma Xiaotao, her face carefully composing itself into an expression of lingering shock mixed with barely suppressed fury.
Today, she was absolutely determined to make Shrek Academy pay dearly for this "oversight in supervision."
When Ma Xiaotao's evil fire had erupted and she had almost completely lost her reason, her teacher—Yan Shaozhe, the Dean of the Martial Soul Department, a rank 95 Hyper Douluo titled "Bright Phoenix"—couldn't stop a single Soul Emperor student? What's more, this was likely not the first time it had happened.
And then there was Elder Mu En, the Dragon God Douluo, who dwelt in seclusion at the Sea God's Pavilion. As a Limit Douluo, even with a crippled body, his spiritual power was more than sufficient to blanket the entire academy. Could he truly have been oblivious to Ma Xiaotao's violently rampaging aura? Even if it was inconvenient for him to act personally, alerting Yan Shaozhe to intervene in time was well within his means.
In Furina's view, Mu En might bear little responsibility for this incident. But as Ma Xiaotao's direct supervising teacher, Yan Shaozhe was absolutely culpable—at the very least, ninety-nine percent of the blame rested squarely on his shoulders. Shrek Academy's supervision was simply far too lax.
Just as these calculations were running through her mind, over a dozen figures shot across the surface of Sea God's Lake from its distant depths at astonishing speed, slicing through the air and leaving ripples spreading in their wake.
The white-robed elder at the front seemed to sense something, and his expression abruptly changed. "This is bad! Xiaotao's aura... it seems she's injured some outer courtyard students!"
Before his words had even finished, without any visible grand gesture, he simply seemed to take a casual step forward through the air. The space around him appeared to warp faintly, and in the very next instant, his figure had materialized, ghost-like, directly at the scene of the incident on the shore.
What greeted his eyes was his beloved disciple Ma Xiaotao, unconscious on the ground with a weak, thready aura; three students who looked like freshmen sprawled on the grass with clothes in disarray and appearing to have suffered an impact; and the sole standing figure—a white-haired girl who seemed unsteady on her feet, her expression a mixture of fear and fury: Furina.
The white-robed elder was none other than the Dean of Shrek Academy's Martial Soul Department, Yan Shaozhe.
Though the scene before him already explained plenty, Yan Shaozhe—whether out of a need for confirmation or simply force of habit—still spoke in a deep, grave voice: "What happened here?"
Hearing this, the corner of Furina's mouth twitched almost imperceptibly. She nearly lost control of her expression. Inwardly, she was screaming with indignation: Do you not have eyes in your own head?! Isn't the scene before you clear enough?!
And this intense internal rant actually caused her to momentarily lose control of her tongue. That sharp, sarcastic retort slipped right out of her mouth: "Esteemed Dean, do you... truly not have eyes?"
As it happened, the Inner Courtyard teachers and duty personnel who had been following closely behind Yan Shaozhe arrived just in time to hear—with perfect clarity—this "respectfully phrased" demand from Furina.
Everyone froze. Then, their expressions became exceedingly colorful. The words sounded deferential, with the formal "you"... but the content was, without question, a merciless slap to the face!
The words that Yan Shaozhe had been about to speak lodged instantly in his throat. How many years had it been? Aside from the few venerable elders residing in the Sea God's Pavilion and a handful of his peers, who dared speak to him in such a tone? Let alone an outer courtyard freshman!
A surge of irritation rose in his heart, but he was, after all, a Dean of high station, and he forcibly suppressed it. On second thought, he reasoned, these children had just suffered a calamity through no fault of their own. They were frightened; a bit of excessive vehemence in their words was forgivable.
Moreover, this Furina had a unique status. She was not only a person Elder Mu had specifically instructed him to keep an eye on, but also the Pope of that mysterious Church of the Water God—with limitless potential. It was not wise to create bad blood lightly.
With this in mind, Yan Shaozhe forcefully swallowed his displeasure and forced a somewhat awkward, conciliatory expression onto his face: "My apologies. My words were inappropriate. Teacher Li, please examine these students' injuries first and administer treatment."
"Ah? Yes, Dean!" The person he had addressed was a middle-aged-looking teacher, who quickly stepped forward in acknowledgment. At his feet, two yellow, two purple, and three black soul rings—the optimal configuration of seven rings—slowly rose, marking his cultivation at the Soul Sage level.
Teacher Li raised both hands, and a vibrant, verdant green glow brimming with life force blossomed from his palms.
As his soul rings flashed in alternating sequence, his body abruptly began to transform. In the span of a breath, he metamorphosed into a towering, ancient tree with luxuriant foliage, vibrant and overflowing with lush vitality.
The ancient tree gently swayed, and countless jade-green, lustrous leaves, imbued with the pure, refined essence of life energy, drifted down in a flurry. With unerring accuracy, they settled upon Furina, Huo Yuhao, Wang Dong, and Xiao Xiao.
At the same time, the surrounding flowers, grasses, and trees seemed to resonate, releasing specks of shimmering emerald radiance that converged into the falling leaves, further augmenting their healing effect.
A cool, soothing, life-giving energy seeped into their bodies through the leaves. Even though Furina wasn't actually injured, she still felt a wave of profound comfort wash over her. The tightly drawn furrow of her brow eased naturally.
Soon, Teacher Li reverted to his human form and reported respectfully to Yan Shaozhe: "Dean, the four students are all unharmed in any major way. They have merely suffered some energy shock and fright, with minor fluctuations in their soul power. A brief rest should suffice."
Yan Shaozhe, upon hearing this, visibly exhaled in relief. "That's good, then..."
But before he could even finish speaking, Furina raised her head. Her heterochromatic eyes fixed directly upon him, but the feigned "lingering shock" from moments before was now entirely gone, replaced by a gaze of unmistakable, crystalline calm—and an unmistakable intent to demand answers. The real show was only just beginning.