"But Brother Beibei, although I don't know the medicinal properties of herbs, I can sense that this herb doesn't contain much ice-elemental power. It wouldn't be very effective in treating injuries caused by fire-type energy."
Though Huo Yuhao didn't recognize specific herbs, he could sense the elemental attributes within them—especially the quantity of ice energy.
"To treat fire-type injuries, what matters isn't the medicinal property of the herb itself, but rather the ice-elemental energy it contains," Huo Yuhao explained further.
He explained this mostly to avoid Beibei thinking he was just making things up.
And as expected, upon hearing this, Beibei believed him and began to feel hopeful.
After a moment of thought, Beibei asked, "So what we're looking for isn't any specific herb, but rather any plant that contains a large amount of ice-type energy?"
"That's not entirely accurate, but it's close enough. The goal is to use the ice-elemental energy in the herb to counteract the remaining fire energy in the injury. Once that's neutralized, the rest of the injury will be much easier to treat," Huo Yuhao said honestly.
Then he began to explain further to Beibei.
"Actually, what we need isn't limited to herbs. If we could find a high-quality ice-elemental treasure—or even an ice-type soul beast—that would work as well. Though using treasures or soul beasts is a bit more complicated than using herbs."
Beibei's eyes lit up.
"Little Brother Huo, are you saying we can use treasures or soul beasts too?"
Good herbs were hard to find, but perhaps suitable treasures or soul beasts might be a bit more available.
"In theory, yes. If we're using a treasure, it needs to be high-quality, and we'd need a powerful cultivator to help draw out its elemental energy."
"As for using a soul beast, it would have to cooperate. But you know, getting a soul beast to willingly cooperate is basically impossible. And if it dies, its elemental energy dissipates, rendering it useless."
Xuanzi was eavesdropping nearby on Huo Yuhao and Beibei's conversation—he couldn't eat his chicken drumstick because it had frozen solid in the icy weather, so he had to find something else to entertain himself.
As he listened, Xuanzi suddenly felt that what Huo Yuhao was describing sounded oddly familiar.
"Using treasures to channel attributes—wasn't that how Xiao Tao used to cultivate?"
Back when Ma Xiaotao wasn't yet strong, she used ice-type treasures to suppress her evil fire.
But as her power increased, ordinary ice-type treasures became ineffective. High-quality ones were rare to begin with, and using them consumed them permanently.
Fortunately, Ma Xiaotao's teacher was Yan Shaozhe. He had been actively helping her collect ice-type treasures, even reallocating some of the training resources meant for inner court ice-type disciples.
Was it fair to the other disciples? Well, Ma Xiaotao was the dean's personal disciple. If you were just an inner court student, what could you say? What dare you say?
Still, it was just a drop in the bucket.
High-quality ice-type treasures were simply too rare!
In the end, Yan Shaozhe had to pull strings so Shrek Academy could recruit extreme ice-type soul masters from all over the continent. He also arranged for the academy's high-quality ice- and water-type soul masters to help suppress Ma Xiaotao's evil fire with their soul power.
After all, treasures were nonrenewable, while soul masters could recover their soul power.
The downside? Helping suppress Ma Xiaotao's evil fire wasn't easy on the assisting soul masters—it could damage their own cultivation foundations. After doing so, they'd be weakened for several days, which affected their own training.
Currently, the one helping suppress Ma Xiaotao's fire was Xu Sanshi from the outer court.
His martial soul, the Black Tortoise, carried the Xuanwu bloodline, with dual water and earth attributes. His water attribute was high-quality, making it effective against Ma Xiaotao's fire, and his equally high-quality earth attribute gave him resistance against the backlash.
But Xu Sanshi's strength was far below Ma Xiaotao's. He simply couldn't withstand her power. Each time he helped suppress the fire, he'd be exhausted for days.
Actually, Shrek Academy did have other high-quality ice-type soul masters, some with strength closer to Ma Xiaotao's.
So why was it that Ma Xiaotao kept going to Xu Sanshi? And why hadn't the Xuanming Sect, which Xu Sanshi belonged to, raised any complaints?
Xu Sanshi was their young master. His training was being delayed, and he might even suffer long-term damage. There was no way the sect would be indifferent.
Naturally, it was all about interest exchange between factions.
Though Ma Xiaotao and Xu Sanshi didn't know it, Xuanzi—being part of Shrek Academy's senior leadership—knew very well.
Only with sufficient benefit would the Xuanming Sect agree not to make trouble.
And Shrek's leadership wasn't naive. They understood what the Xuanming Sect was aiming for.
While gaining benefits from Shrek, the sect was also hoping that Xu Sanshi might end up with Ma Xiaotao.
Ma Xiaotao was Yan Shaozhe's disciple and a future leader of Shrek. If Xu Sanshi and she got together, the Xuanming Sect could gain a foothold in Shrek's leadership.
A sect that relied on women to awaken its bloodline wouldn't see such tactics as shameful—in fact, they might even take pride in them.
Shrek knew all this.
And Shrek, for its part, wouldn't mind swallowing up the Xuanming Sect either.
That sect had some valuable things—like the Xuan Shui Pill, which could improve a soul master's aptitude.
But Shrek wasn't desperate to absorb them. So they let the two youths interact but didn't push things or meddle further.
If the Xuanming Sect was willing to "sacrifice" its young master, Shrek had no reason to sacrifice its own inner court geniuses.
It's just that this time, Ma Xiaotao's evil fire had flared up far more severely. Xu Sanshi's strength was no longer sufficient.
Shrek Academy had to call on inner court disciples and even elders to stabilize Ma Xiaotao's condition.
Whether she could be saved now depended on whether Yan Shaozhe could find a treasure of sufficient quality—
Or…
Whether Huo Yuhao could awaken his Ultimate Ice martial soul completely!
Before they left, Mu En had explicitly reminded Xuanzi about this matter.
So Xuanzi was keeping a close eye on Huo Yuhao.
Now that Yuhao had mentioned a method similar to Ma Xiaotao's previous treatment approach, Xuanzi grew even more curious. At the same time, he started wondering: "Little Huo said soul beasts could also work. Could one help Xiao Tao?"
After Beibei finished digesting the explanation, he asked Huo Yuhao, "So what kind of treasure or soul beast do we need to find to treat Xiao Ya's injury?"
"Hm…" Huo Yuhao thought for a moment and replied, "The flame that injured Sister Xiao Ya is comparable to an Ultimate Fire. So naturally, we need to find a treasure or soul beast comparable to Ultimate Ice."
Beibei froze, then gave a bitter smile and shook his head. "Ultimate Ice… That's not exactly easy to find."
Xuanzi scoffed. "That's about as helpful as saying nothing."
Hearing your words… is like hearing words.
If they knew where to find an Ultimate Ice treasure, would they even need to bring Huo Yuhao and Beibei out treasure hunting?
Yan Shaozhe would've already handed it to Ma Xiaotao, problem solved.
"I know where one is," Huo Yuhao said sincerely, blinking.
"…Huh?" Beibei was stunned.
Xuanzi, too, was taken aback.
(End of Chapter)