"Soul Essence, you need a large amount of it. You should try your best to control the power, so I can bring you back to the military. They have enough Soul Essence to prevent your soul from breaking down due to the aftereffects. The Demon Element is indeed a demon. It's like signing a contract with a demon, which can grant you its power, before coming back to claim your soul," Zhan Kong said to Mo Fan.

Although Mo Fan possessed four Elements, the more power he used, the stronger the aftereffects he would have to bear.

The only way to protect his soul was by using a large amount of Soul Essence!

Soul Essence was useful in strengthening a Magician's soul. If the demon that had granted Mo Fan the power was drawing his soul away, he could neutralize it by using a sufficient amount of Soul Essence.

As such, the amount of Soul Essence required was huge. Zhan Kong had no idea if the military was willing to let Mo Fan take all he needed, since there was no way to tell just how much he needed to overcome the situation. However, Zhan Kong wanted to save Mo Fan's life at all costs!

"Control yourself, I'll bring you to the military now..." Zhan Kong said.

"ROAR~!" Mo Fan uttered a savage roar into the sky as if he had totally lost his last remaining shred of reason.

Suddenly, he leapt to his feet and sprang into the distance like an arrow, rapidly disappearing from Zhan Kong's sight.

Zhan Kong was taken by surprise. He tried to activate his Wind Wings to chase after Mo fan, but the airflow quickly dissipated just as it appeared. Zhan Kong realized that he was in quite injured himself too, and there was no way he could use the Wind Wings, which required a significant amount of energy.

"Mo Fan!" Zhan Kong screamed at the ghostly figure sprinting across Jinlin City.

The figure did not stop. He ran wwildly in a certain direction and soon left the boundary of Jinlin City.

The problem was, if he continued to run aimlessly in the wild, his soul would end up being sucked dry.

Zhan Kong stared at the disappearing figure with an indescribable pain in his heart.

As a matter of fact, since the calamity of Bo City, Zhan Kong had always kept an eye on Mo Fan. He had even asked Dean Xiao to specifically look after him.

Zhan Kong knew it was only a matter of time until Mo Fan's Double Innate Elements was made known to the public. After learning about the shocking experiment on the Demon Element that the military was performing behind the scenes, he had been keeping an eye on Lu Nian for quite some time. As he expected, he did make his move.

However, Zhan Kong had underestimated the devil's madness. He had surprisingly asked his loyal subordinates to forfeit their positions in order to carry out his demented operation.

More than half of the students were killed. Even Mo Fan had disappeared due to the aftereffects, with no way of telling if he would survive in the end. Zhan Kong was so mad that he kept punching the ground with his fists. Why didn't he act earlier to prevent this from happening!?

It was no longer possible to chase after Mo Fan. Zhan Kong had run out of the energy to do so. He had just flown all the way here without stopping, using up quite a huge chunk of his Wind Energy. Even with the Wind Wings, it would be rather difficult for him to catch up with the demonized Mo Fan's ridiculous speed in the wild.

Rising to his feet, Zhan Kong headed back to the center of the city.

He soon found the four students and the rest of Lu Nian's subordinates.

"If you were planning to resist, I don't mind executing you on the spot." Zhan Kong cast a cold glance at Jiang Yi and her crew.

Jiang Yi shook her head in surrender. "We won't be doing that, but could you please tell us what happened to the commander?"

"He's dead, torn apart by the demon you all made," Zhan Kong replied.

Jiang Yi and the soldiers were stunned. They were unwilling to believe it before seeing the corpse in person.

They did manage to find the corpse, whose chest was punched clean through and blackened.

His face was greatly contorted, as if he had suffered incredible pain right up until the very last moment of his life. According to Zhan Kong, Mo Fan had torn his soul apart.

Jiang Yi and the soldiers burst out crying. On the other hand, Zhao Manting, Bai Tingting and Mu Nujiao were pleased, knowing that they were avenged. Their hatred toward the devil who had killed their friends so inhumanely despite calling himself a Battlemage was indescribable. What wrong had the students who were here for training done? Why did they have to suffer just because of his wild ambition?

"Where… where's Mo Fan? Is he hurt? I'll treat his wounds." Bai Tingting blurted out.

"We'll talk about it later." Zhan Kong was unwilling to talk about it.

"Please tell us." Mu Nujiao said firmly.

"I'll notify his family." Zhan Kong said in a soft tone. He was glaring at Jiang Yi and her crew with bloodshot eyes.

Zhan Kong was furious. He was angry at these cold-blooded killers who were as mad as Lu Nian. They had turned a rising talent who could possibly be the greatest Magician of all time into a demon!

Just like what he had said before...

Even without the Demon Element, his Double Innate Elements could easily have let the whole world know his name. It was totally unnecessary!

No one had higher hopes for Mo Fan than him!

------

Lu Nian's corpse was brought back to the safe zone.

The students who had initially gone to investigate Jinlin City for their training had returned to Imperial College with the lowest survival rate in history. No one had expected this to happen.

The military had sent someone over to collect Lu Nian's corpse and Jiang Yi, who was willing to testify at the court-martial.

The army headquarters which Lu Nian belonged to tried to keep the news down to avoid unnecessary consequences, but the schools demanded otherwise.

At Zhan Kong's request, the information about the Demon Element was not made public by the military and the schools. They were only describing it as some evil experiment. No one knew that Mo Fan had been demonized too. The only people who were aware of it were Zhan Kong, Dean Song He, Dean Xiao, Qiu Yuhua, and the four friends who Mo Fan had rescued.

Jiang Yi and the soldiers who knew the truth were all sentenced to death. Out of Jiang Yi's final hint of kindness, she told everyone that Mo Fan was a hero who had sacrificed himself to save his classmates, instead of a demonized human who was lost somewhere in the wild.

------

The familiar chirps of birds were heard. It seemed like the little creatures living on the trees in the garden had grown up. Their voices sounded more mature.

Opening her eyes, the first thing that came into her vision was the potted plant by the window, which provided a delicate fragrance throughout the night. It appeared that some maids had remembered to keep it watered while she was away, allowing it to grow healthily.

The room was filled with a familiar scent, the scent of the blanket from the perfume satchel placed beside the pillows...

"She's awake, Young Mistress is awake!"

As soon as Mu Ningxue regained consciousness, she could hear the maid screaming at the top of her lungs.

It was followed by the sound of someone rushing down the stairs. Mu Zhuoyun, who looked slightly haggard, dashed into the room excitedly.

"She's awake, my good daughter, you're finally awake." Mu Zhuoyun said in a deeply concerned manner.

"Father..." Mu Ningxue's lips curled slightly.

"I'll never let you go on a training mission again, never!" Mu Zhuoyun snapped.

Mu Ningxue slowly recalled the events before she passed out. She could remember the evil faces of the Battlemages, and her freezing them using all her energy.

Did she manage to escape?

But, it wouldn't be that simple. While she was half-awake, she heard people crying beside her, someone trying to tell her something, and it seemed to be related to Mo Fan...