Soul Backlash

"Spirit Essence — you need a massive amount of Spirit Essence. Whatever it takes, you have to control your power right now. If you can, I'll bring you back to military headquarters, and the army will provide enough Spirit Essence to keep your soul from being devoured in return. The Demon Element really is demonic — accepting it is like signing a pact with a devil. The devil gave you its power, and now it's coming to collect your soul." Zhankong said urgently to Mo Fan.

Even with Four Elements at his disposal, the stronger the power Mo Fan unleashed, the fiercer the backlash that would consume him in return.

The only way to protect his soul was to obtain a great quantity of Spirit Essence.

Spirit Essence was a vital treasure for nourishing the soul. If the demon that had granted Mo Fan his power was now siphoning away his young soul, a sufficient supply of Spirit Essence could at least offset some of that drain.

The amount required was staggering, and Zhankong wasn't even sure whether military headquarters could supply it indefinitely — there was simply no way to know how much it would take to keep Mo Fan's soul intact. But whatever it cost, Zhankong swore he would keep Mo Fan alive.

"Get yourself under control. I'll take you to headquarters—" Zhankong said.

**"GROOOAARRRR!"**

Mo Fan's consciousness seemed to have vanished entirely. He threw his head back and howled like a savage wolf.

In an instant he leaped upward and shot forward like an arrow, vanishing from Zhankong's sight at terrifying speed.

Zhankong's expression darkened. He tried to summon his Wings of Wind to give chase, but the moment the surrounding air currents began to gather, they scattered and fell apart. Only then did he realize his own wounds were more serious than he'd thought — he could barely muster the Magical Energy needed for Wings of Wind.

"Mo Fan!!!" Zhankong shouted after the demonic silhouette tearing through Jinlin City.

The figure didn't stop. It sprinted madly in a fixed direction, and at the rate it was moving, it would clear the Jinlin district in no time.

The problem was, charging blindly into the deep mountain wilderness like that — there was only one thing waiting for him out there: having his soul sucked dry.

Zhankong stared at the spot where the shadow had disappeared, the anguish on his face beyond words.

In truth, ever since the disaster at Bo City, Zhankong had kept a close eye on Mo Fan — including asking Dean Xiao to give him special attention.

Zhankong had known that Mo Fan's innate Dual Elements would eventually become public knowledge. Once he learned of the terrifying military experiment involving the Demon Element, he had set someone to watch Lu Nian's faction within the military. Sure enough, they had made their move.

He had simply underestimated just how far Lu Nian was willing to go. The man had actually ordered loyal subordinates to strip off their military uniforms and commit such atrocities.

Nearly half the students were dead. Mo Fan himself had vanished because of the backlash, his fate unknown. Fury surged through Zhankong and he drove his fist into the ground. *Why hadn't he moved sooner?!*

Pursuit was out of the question — he had no strength left for it. Flying here from another city had already drained a tremendous amount of his Wind Element Magical Energy, and even with Wings of Wind, there was no guarantee he could keep pace with Mo Fan rampaging at demonic speed through the wilderness.

Forcing himself back to his feet, Zhankong turned and made his way toward the devastated city center.

He found the four surviving students soon enough, along with several of Lu Nian's men.

"If any of you try to resist, I won't hesitate to execute you where you stand." Zhankong fixed Jiang Yi and the others with a cold stare.

Jiang Yi shook her head and raised her hands in surrender. "We won't resist. But... can you tell us — what happened to the Military Commander?"

"Dead. Torn apart by the demon you created." Zhankong answered flatly.

Jiang Yi and the other officers stiffened, refusing to believe it until they stood before Lu Nian's body themselves.

There it was — Lu Nian's corpse, his chest caved in and hollow.

His face was nearly unrecognizable, contorted into a mask of agony. Just as Zhankong had said: his soul had been torn away by the demon that Mo Fan had become.

Jiang Yi and the officers broke into sobs. For Zhao Manyan, Bai Tingting, and Mu Nujiao, however, the sight brought nothing but fierce, bone-deep satisfaction. They had come to despise Lu Nian with every fiber of their being. The cold-blooded silencing, the slaughter that made a mockery of every principle a Military Mage was supposed to uphold — what crime had the students on this Field Expedition actually committed? Had all of this been sacrificed to feed one madman's insane ambitions?

"Wh— where's Mo Fan? Is he hurt? I can heal him." Bai Tingting asked quickly.

"We'll talk about it when we're back." Zhankong didn't want to say more.

"Please tell us." Mu Nujiao's tone was firm.

"I'll notify his family." Zhankong said quietly. His eyes reddened as he looked at Jiang Yi and the others.

His anger ran just as deep. He raged at these executioners — every bit as deranged as Lu Nian — who had turned a talent capable of blazing brilliantly across the entire world of magic into a monster.

Just as he had always said.

Even without any of this, given time, someone born with Dual Elements would have made his name known across the entire world. None of this had ever been necessary.

No one believed in Mo Fan more than Zhankong.

Lu Nian's body was taken away.

The students who had come to Jinlin City for a routine survey Field Expedition returned to the Imperial Capital Magic Academy with the lowest survival rate in its history — an outcome no one had anticipated.

The military dispatched personnel to receive Lu Nian's body and to take Jiang Yi into custody; she had agreed to testify before a military tribunal.

Lu Nian's faction within the military wanted to bury the whole affair quietly and prevent any damage to the service's reputation, but the Academy refused to let it go.

At Zhankong's insistence, neither the military nor the Academy disclosed anything about the Demon Element — the official statement referred only to "a malicious experiment." Mo Fan's Demonization was likewise kept from the public. The only people who knew the truth were Zhankong, Dean Songhe, Dean Xiao, Professor Qiu Yuhua, and the four companions Mo Fan had saved.

Jiang Yi and the other officers who also knew the truth were all executed. In the end, Jiang Yi preserved one last shred of her conscience: she ensured that Mo Fan would be remembered in the world's eyes as a hero who sacrificed himself to save his teammates — not as a demon whose whereabouts and fate were unknown.

Familiar birdsong filled her ears — the small creatures nesting in the great parasol tree at the center of the courtyard. They seemed to have grown; their calls were richer and more assured than she remembered.

She opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the potted plant on the windowsill, the one that filled the room with soft fragrance through the night. While she'd been gone, a little maid had apparently been watering it faithfully — it had grown lush and full.

The room was drenched in familiar scents: the smell of her bedding, a lingering delicate fragrance in the air, the sachet tucked beside her pillow...

"The young miss is awake! The young miss is awake!"

The words pierced Mu Ningxue's slowly returning consciousness — a little maid calling out to whoever waited beyond the door.

Then came the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and moments later Mu Zhuoyun burst through the door. He looked haggard, aged, his face lit with barely contained emotion.

"You're awake — my dear girl, you've finally woken up." The relief in his voice was absolute.

"Father..." Mu Ningxue managed to curl the corners of her lips — as close to a smile as she could manage.

"I'm never letting you go on another Field Expedition again. Never." Mu Zhuoyun declared.

Mu Ningxue slowly pieced together what had happened before she lost consciousness. A monstrous demonic face surfaced in her mind — and the memory of pouring every last ounce of her strength into a single arrow to freeze them.

*Had she actually escaped?*

But it hadn't felt that simple. Through the haze of her fading consciousness, she had heard someone crying beside her — someone speaking in grief about something that seemed to involve Mo Fan.