Chapter 206 Torturing Huo Yuhao! Is this your justice?
At that moment, Huo Yuhao's body completely blocked Ma Xiaotao's path.
He felt the destructive power contained in Liu Yuan's fist, but in that instant, the grayish-brown energy sphere dissipated on its own less than thirty centimeters from his chest.
Liu Yuan withdrew that deadly energy, but he did not completely stop.
He swayed slightly, his right hand forming a claw, grabbing Huo Yuhao's shoulder and using the momentum to fling him against a rock to the side.
Huo Yuhao crashed into the hard ice rock with a dull thud before sliding to the ground.
Liu Yuan stood still, looking down at him.
"Are you going to protect this evil soul master?" Liu Yuan asked calmly.
Orange and Coco, who had been hiding in the distance, finally arrived at the edge of the battlefield.
They looked at the red-haired woman protected behind Huo Yuhao, and then at Du Busi standing beside Liu Yuan, radiating terrifying soul power. Their faces were full of confusion and bewilderment.
Keke didn't understand Huo Yuhao's behavior. She took two steps forward, trying to distance herself from Ma Xiaotao: "Yuhao, what are you doing? That woman is an evil soul master. She almost killed those four soul masters just now!"
Ju Zi frowned, looking at Ma Xiaotao on the ground, then at Liu Yuan, a strong sense of doubt rising in her heart.
She originally thought Liu Yuan was the one carrying out this cleanup operation, but Huo Yuhao's obstruction has complicated the situation.
Huo Yuhao had no time to answer their questions at that moment.
He stood up again, brushed the snow off his body, and fixed his gaze on Liu Yuan.
"She's not an evil spirit master. She's Ma Xiaotao." Huo Yuhao said, panting, his voice firm. "Didn't you recognize her?"
Upon hearing the name, Liu Yuan remained unmoved, simply looking at him coldly: "You recognized her. So what? She is Ma Xiaotao, that's a fact."
"But she's out of control right now. Her martial soul attribute leans towards evil, and she almost caused the death of all life in this area just now, which is another fact. Right now, she is an evil soul master."
Huo Yuhao was momentarily speechless at those words, but he still refused to back down: "This was an accident. She mutated because of the mission, and her cultivation went wrong, which is why she became like this. It wasn't her intention. She is a victim."
Liu Yuan looked at Huo Yuhao and suddenly smiled.
His smile was faint, but it made the temperature in the air drop even further.
"Something went wrong with your cultivation?" Liu Yuan repeated, then shook his head. "Huo Yuhao, you really are hypocritical."
He took a step forward, each step landing on the scorched earth left by the battle.
"If you Shrek Academy students become evil soul masters, it means you've gone astray in your cultivation. You're victims, you're geniuses who need to be protected."
"Fine, even if she messed up her cultivation. Then let me ask you, is she now an evil soul master? Does she reek of blood?"
"Did she kill anyone during the time she became an evil spirit master? If she did, can the blood on her hands be washed away simply because she made a mistake in her cultivation?"
Huo Yuhao clenched his fists, his lips trembling, but he couldn't refute it.
Liu Yuan continued speaking, his voice not loud, but every word pierced Huo Yuhao.
"Don't you Shrek Academy people always pride yourselves on being the guardians of Douluo Continent? Don't you always enjoy annihilating evil soul masters?"
"What? The person standing in front of you is from Shrek Academy, so the standards are different now?"
"If we follow Shrek Academy's usual practices, shouldn't we just kill any evil spirit master of this level?"
Liu Yuan walked up to Huo Yuhao and looked down at him.
"Are you protecting her now in accordance with your Shrek Academy's code of justice? Or is this kind of justice from Shrek Academy—judging people based on their status?"
"Then let me ask you, what makes you so sure that the other evil spirit masters didn't go wrong in their cultivation? And what makes you so sure that the evil spirit masters you killed weren't victims like Ma Xiaotao in front of you?"
Liu Yuan's questions were like heavy hammer blows, striking Huo Yuhao's heart one after another.
Huo Yuhao looked at Liu Yuan, his mind a complete mess.
His upbringing was based on Shrek Academy's definitions of "justice" and "responsibility." He genuinely believed Ma Xiaotao was innocent, that she had fallen to this state due to the injustice of fate. However, Liu Yuan's logic directly shattered this sense of "compassion."
If the standards of judgment differ simply because of different identities, then is what is called justice still justice?
"I..." Huo Yuhao felt his throat go dry.
He didn't know how to answer.
Because he realized that Liu Yuan was right. In Shrek Academy, this would be called salvation; if it happened to someone else, it would be called evil.
This collapse of his thinking caused him to lose his ability to speak for a short period of time.
Seeing Huo Yuhao's speechless expression, Liu Yuan stopped his mockery.
He doesn't have time to waste here.
"If you can't explain it, then step aside."
Liu Yuan raised his hand again, and the grayish-brown energy of the Destruction Beast Soul gathered at his fingertips.
His mind was very clear: Ma Xiaotao was a hidden danger, and since Huo Yuhao could not provide a reasonable solution, he had to eliminate this hidden danger.
Huo Yuhao looked at the ball of energy, the confusion in his eyes vanishing in an instant, replaced by a resolute determination.
He couldn't let Liu Yuan make a move.
He knew Liu Yuan was an extremely rational person, rational to the point of being cold. If he didn't stop him, Ma Xiaotao would surely die today.
"I can't let you kill her."
Huo Yuhao's mental sea was completely boiling at that moment.
He did not use any soul skills, nor did he mobilize his soul power to confront the enemy head-on.
He directly activated the original power of the Spirit Eye Martial Soul.
A near-tangible mental shock burst forth from his eyes.
This was the strongest mental attack he could muster at the moment, condensing all his mental power, aimed directly at Liu Yuan's sea of consciousness, attempting to forcibly interrupt Liu Yuan's attack in this way.
This is a do-or-die approach.
He knew that Liu Yuan had strong mental power, but this was his last line of defense as a Soul Master.
The mental shockwave tore through the air and arrived in front of Liu Yuan in an instant.
However.
The expected violent explosion resulting from the clash of mental energies between the two sides did not occur.
Liu Yuan stood still, his body not even swaying.
Faced with a mental attack powerful enough to cause even a Soul Saint to be momentarily stunned, Liu Yuan's double pupils only flashed with a purplish-gold light.
He did not summon any spirits, nor did he use any special mental defense techniques.
He simply placed his massive spiritual energy, enhanced by the souls of the Destroying Beasts, directly in front of the impact, like a thick wall.
The sound of the collision was extremely faint.
That was the sound of spiritual energy shattering.
Huo Yuhao's all-out mental attack, upon contacting Liu Yuan's mental defenses, was like a small stream of water hitting a solid dam, failing to create any ripples and being directly rebounded.
The intense backlash flowed directly back into Huo Yuhao's sea of consciousness.
Due to the vast difference in the total amount and purity of the spirits of both sides, the backlash resulted in a devastating outcome.
Huo Yuhao's eyes dimmed in that instant, and his body fell straight backward like a puppet without its strings.
In his last moments before losing consciousness, he saw Liu Yuan's calm, serene, and purplish-gold eyes.
(End of chapter)