Chapter 40: The Terrifying Evil Fire Phoenix
The seven people on both sides distanced themselves and began to discuss tactics.

Dai Yueheng smiled as he looked at Xu Sanshi, Xiao Xiao and Huo Yuhao who were the reserve team.

Whether it was competition or cooperation among their official team members, they had already performed it repeatedly several times in the inner courtyard, so they were very familiar with each other's abilities.

Therefore, the only thing he was uncertain about in this battle was the ability and strength of these three reserve players.

"Younger students, please introduce your martial spirits and abilities first. Sanshi, let's start with you."

Xu Sanshi nodded and said, "My soul power level and cultivation direction are clear to you all. I am a level 43 defense-type battle soul master."

"My martial soul is the Mysterious Nether Turtle Shield. My first soul skill is a control-type soul skill, my second soul skill is a defense-type soul skill, and my third soul skill is an amplification-type soul skill. My fourth soul skill is quite special. It can exchange my position with anyone within a certain range of my vision."

Hearing this, Dai Yuheng nodded and said, "Very good, Junior Sanshi, your ability will be very helpful for our next tactical arrangement. Junior Xiaoxiao will be the next one."

Xiao Xiao felt a little embarrassed. After all, her current strength was only at the second ring, and the gap between her and the Soul Masters, Soul Sects, Soul Kings, and Soul Emperors was quite large. However, she still reported her martial soul and soul skill configuration.

Dai Yuheng nodded after listening. Xiao Xiao's first and second soul skills can be regarded as dispensable in a battle of this level.

All Xiao Xiao can do is to protect himself as much as possible. If he can block one or two offensive soul skills for the friendly team at the critical moment, it can be considered a great achievement.

When it was his turn, Huo Yuhao calmly reported the spirit skill configuration he had prepared long ago: "My martial soul is the Spirit Eye, and my first spirit skill is Insight, which allows me to more easily discover the trajectory and loopholes of other people's actions."

"My second soul skill is mental suggestion. Under the effect of mental suggestion, I can interfere with the minds of people within a certain range. The larger the range, the worse the effect. If it's just one person, even if it's a soul king, I have the confidence to control it for a period of time."

"Oh?" Hearing this, Dai Yuheng's eyes lit up slightly: "Not bad, this way it will be easier to fight next. The next battle will mainly rely on the cooperation of Junior Brother Sanshi and Junior Brother Yuhao."

"The most threatening person in Xiaotao's group, apart from herself, is Ling Luochen, and Ling Luochen's cultivation level is just enough to be suppressed by Junior Brother Yuhao."

"When the battle begins, I will lead the charge and fight Xiao Tao. The rest of you will advance together. Sanshi, your mission is very important. You must replace Ling Luochen as soon as possible."

"From now on, it's up to you, Yuhao. Zifeng, you will come with me later to create pressure for the opponent and at the same time give Xixi opportunities."

"Haoxuan, you and your junior brothers should work together to control Ling Luochen. Don't give Ling Luochen a chance to struggle."

The short Yao Haoxuan beside him nodded and said, "I understand."

"Xixi, just go with Yuhao and the others, deal with Ling Luochen first, and then go support Zifeng."

"In this battle, apart from Xiao Tao and Ling Luochen, the only inner court student on the opposing team is Gong Yang Mo."

"Gong Yang Mo is an auxiliary spirit master. Without the protection of his teammates, the combat effectiveness he can exert can be ignored."

"Next, as long as Xixi gets rid of Gong Yang Mo, I will hold Ma Xiaotao back. With Xixi and Zifeng working together, it shouldn't be a problem to take down the others."

Upon hearing this, Xixi and Chen Zifeng nodded and approved of Dai Yuheng's plan.

"Okay, then let's all cheer for the best. We must win!" Dai Yuheng nodded. Although he said that they must win, his eyes were looking at Ma Xiaotao and his group in the distance with a bit of worry.

Previously, due to the influence of her martial spirit evil fire, although Ma Xiaotao was a member of the main team, she rarely participated in the team's actions.

Therefore, except for Gong Yangmo, who has a better temper, Ma Xiaotao's relationship with other members of the regular team can only be considered average.

And for unknown reasons, Ma Xiaotao has not participated in the training of the main team for nearly a year. Until recently when she came back, Ma Xiaotao's soul power has surpassed Dai Yuheng, and her status and position are also slightly higher than his.

However, since coming back, Ma Xiaotao's temperament seemed to have become particularly cold, and his actions and fighting became more violent than before.

Even Gong Yangmo, who originally had a good relationship with Ma Xiaotao, seemed to have been alienated by her. In addition, in the previous competitions, Ma Xiaotao had always suppressed Dai Yuheng. This was why Dai Yuheng had made a seemingly reasonable plan.

But in fact, he was troubled by a sense of worry in his heart. However, this battle was just a friendly match, and there was also Master Xuan watching from the sidelines, so there shouldn't be any problem, right? Dai Yuheng thought so.

However, compared with the team led by the shrewd Dai Yueheng, the harmonious scene at this time is different.

In Ma Xiaotao's team, the atmosphere at this moment can be said to have dropped to freezing point.

Because of Ma Xiaotao's presence, her aura and invisible pressure made everyone present feel a little breathless.

Gong Yang Mo forced a smile. As he had a good relationship with Ma Xiaotao, he was the first to speak: "Xiaotao, how are you going to fight next?"

Ma Xiaotao looked at everyone present and spoke in a somewhat stiff tone.

"Dai Yueheng, Chen Zifeng, leave it to me."

"The rest are up to you."

Ling Luochen frowned when she heard this, but she was not the talkative type, so she did not object to Ma Xiaotao's arrangement.

Gong Yang Mo sighed with a wry smile, and said to the other four reserve team members who were still a little restrained at the moment.

"Four juniors, please introduce your abilities. I believe that with Xiaotao's abilities, as long as we cooperate properly, defeating the opponent will not be a problem."

After Beibei, Jiang Nannan, Ning Tian, ​​and Wang Dong introduced their abilities, Gong Yangmo nodded and said, "Okay, then the auxiliary duties will be handed over to me and Ning Tian." "First, help Xiao Tao to strengthen. Secondly, Beibei and Jiang Nannan, you will be responsible for holding Xixi back. I believe that with Ning Tian's and my amplification abilities, plus the cultivation of the two of you, there shouldn't be any big problems."

“As for the rest”

“Leave it to me.” Ling Luochen’s cold voice sounded: “Wang Dong, you just need to protect yourself. If you have the chance, you can try to get rid of Huo Yuhao and Xiao Xiao who have lower soul power cultivation.”

Listening to everyone's discussion, Ma Xiaotao didn't say much. She just closed her eyes and waited quietly for time to pass.

Xuanzi saw the performance of both sides. Seeing Ma Xiaotao who was a little reluctant to approach, he couldn't help but sigh silently in his heart.

Ever since the incident at Poseidon Lake a year ago, Ma Xiaotao seemed to have become a different person and shut herself off from the world, although she would still follow her teacher's instructions to carry out daily practice or participate in training.

But he was not as lively as before, and this incident made Yan Shaozhe, the dean of the Wuhun Department, very anxious, and the matter seemed to be getting worse as time went by.

Originally, Yan Shaozhe just thought that Ma Xiaotao was emotionally disturbed, so he gave her some time to adjust herself, but until later, it seemed that even the evil fire that had been bothering Ma Xiaotao had disappeared without a trace.

It was from this moment that Xu Sanshi was finally liberated and no longer had to serve as the evil fire suppressor.

But even though the evil fire disappeared, Ma Xiaotao's self-isolation showed no signs of recovery, and even Moon was helpless.

As an elder of the Sea God Pavilion, Xuanzi was naturally an insider, but he had no way to deal with it. After all, even Moon, an Extreme Douluo, couldn't solve it, and he couldn't even see Ma Xiaotao's problem. So what could he do?

According to Moon's understanding, this matter might be a problem that Ma Xiaotao was worried about, but because Ma Xiaotao resisted communication, they had not been able to identify the root cause and could only let it go.

Now Xuan Zi only hopes that Ma Xiaotao can open her heart again and get out of the haze with the help of her teammates.

But they don't know that the knot in the heart is just a trigger. The problem Ma Xiaotao is facing now is no longer a simple heart disease. The influence of the evil spirit has already penetrated into her bones and will erupt sooner or later.

Ten minutes later, Xuan Zi's voice sounded again: "From now on, you are not classmates but opponents. In order to fight for the opportunity of not being a pig, I will not say more about what to do. Let's get started!"

Following Xuan Zi's order, both sides immediately entered a state of combat readiness.

Ma Xiaotao rushed out first, with fiery red feathers growing out of her body and transforming into blazing and gorgeous wings. Incomparably hot, golden-red phoenix flames burst out around her, lighting up the surrounding environment.

But in Huo Yuhao’s eyes, beneath those tiny bits of golden-red sparks, was bound an incomparably cold and deep flame of hell.

Two rays of colorful light of different colors lit up behind Ma Xiaotao. They were the brilliance of the Seven Treasures Glazed Pagoda and the Rainbow Dragon Martial Spirit.

The colorful lights were flowing and gorgeous. Several rays of light of different colors accompanied by the flashing of Ning Tian and Gong Yang Mo's soul rings merged into Ma Xiaotao's body.

With the addition of their soul skills, the already extremely domineering phoenix flames surged again, adding several different colors to Ma Xiaotao's already gorgeous wings.

Bei Bei and Jiang Nan Nan followed closely behind, using the cover of the phoenix wings to rush towards Dai Yueheng's team, while Wang Dong and Ling Luochen were slightly inferior, but they also consciously hid themselves behind Ma Xiaotao.

During the tactical discussion just now, they naturally revealed the situation of Xu Sanshi and Huo Yuhao, who were the most threatening in the opponent's reserve team. At this time, they were also on guard against Xu Sanshi's actions.

But this is only a stopgap measure. After all, you can't guard against thieves for a thousand days even if you are a thief for a thousand days. As the battle progresses, even the most conservative strategy will eventually reveal flaws after fighting with the enemy.

Dai Yaoheng took the lead, and saw the Evil Eyed White Tiger and the Evil Fire Phoenix fighting each other, but the battle soon became one-sided.

There was originally a gap in soul power between Ma Xiaotao and Dai Yueheng. Coupled with the amplification of Gong Yangmo and Ning Tian's soul skills, Dai Yueheng's side suddenly fell into a disadvantage.

Even if Dai Yueheng activated the White Tiger Body Barrier, White Tiger Vajra Transformation and White Tiger Demon God Transformation at the first opportunity, the three major defense and amplification soul skills worked together, and with the auxiliary support from Yao Haoxuan in the rear, it was of no avail.

The fourth soul skill, Phoenix Roaring Sky Strike, saw Ma Xiaotao transform into a flaming phoenix with flames wrapped around her body and collide with Dai Yueheng. Then a powerful and hot air wave made it difficult for others around to get close.

Dai Yuheng, who took the blow hard, felt as if his whole body was being burned by flames. At the same time, the flames were accompanied by a strong impact force that made his arms numb.

You should know that Ma Xiaotao's Evil Fire Phoenix is ​​more good at strong attacks in terms of attributes, and is only average in terms of physical attack. But at this time, it actually made the Evil Eyed White Tiger, which is good at physical attacks, feel difficult to deal with. This is no longer an ordinary gap.

But Ma Xiaotao's attack was not over yet. She activated her fifth soul skill, Phoenix Piercing the Clouds. The flames that had been caused by Phoenix Roaring Sky and had not yet dissipated were re-aggregated by Ma Xiaotao.

The flames carried Dai Yuheng towards Chen Zifeng who was standing aside.

Chen Zifeng's eyes widened upon seeing this. It was true that he was good at violent attacks, but his defense was too weak. Ma Xiaotao was probably trying to kill him from this perspective!
Looking at Ma Xiaotao's cold eyes, Chen Zifeng's heart was beating fast. He summoned his martial spirit, the Soul-Chasing Sword, and slashed at the flames that were coming straight towards him.

The soul ring flashed repeatedly, and the extremely sharp Soul-Chasing Sword actually directly cut through the most ferocious first wave of attack from the Phoenix Piercing Clouds Strike. Although he was still injured by the residual power of the flames, he seized the opportunity and rescued Dai Yuheng from Ma Xiaotao.

At this time, Dai Yuheng's face looked a little ugly, and his whole body was a strange red color, obviously he was burned.

He overestimated himself and underestimated Ma Xiaotao. Under Ma Xiaotao's pressure, he and Chen Zifeng beside him were dragged into the battle, which directly disrupted the tactics and plans originally formulated by Dai Yuheng.

Even though Dai Yueheng and Chen Zifeng were both outstanding disciples of the inner courtyard, they were beaten so badly that they could not raise their heads, because Ma Xiaotao's attacks were too aggressive at the moment when the nature of their martial souls had begun to change.

The evil energy of the Evil Fire Phoenix's original self-conflict has turned into the source of its power. With the blessing of this power, Ma Xiaotao's strength is now far superior to her previous level. The Evil Fire Phoenix and the Evil-Eyed White Tiger are no longer martial spirits of the same level.

(End of this chapter)