💖 If you enjoy my work, consider supporting me on Patreon! I'm offering advanced chapters there as a thank-you to readers.
--------------------
Check out advanced chapters on : patreon.com/Veni_V
---------------
Shortly after Liu Erlong left the area in deep grief, a sudden and loud eagle cry broke the silence of the forest. High above, a fast figure appeared in the sky and began to descend with a very powerful aura.
It was Flender, who had left earlier but had now returned to the scene. He pulled back his spirit power and landed softly on the ground. His eyes moved quickly, looking at everything that had happened while he was gone.
He first looked at Tang Hao, whose face was cold and filled with a scary pressure. Then his eyes landed on Yu Xiaogang. Yu Xiaogang was sitting on the ground, looking like a mess.
He was covered in dirt and blood, looking like someone who had just been dragged out of a fight for his life. Flender also saw the many dead spirit beasts piled up like small mountains. Not far away, he saw a strange version of the Clear Sky Hammer. It smelled terrible and was covered in gross maggots. Nearby, Tang San looked very weak and tired.
Flender's face showed a lot of shock and confusion, though it almost looked like he was acting. He looked around and asked, "Yu Xiaogang! Your Excellency Tang Hao? What happened here? Why does everything look like this?"
Tang Hao did not say a word. He only gave Flender a cold, mean look and made a small sound of disgust. It was clear that he did not think Flender was important enough to talk to, and he did not want to explain anything.
When Yu Xiaogang saw Flender, he felt like he had found a way to save his life. He was in a lot of pain, but he didn't care about explaining what had happened. He grabbed onto the hope of leaving and shouted, "Flender! You came at the perfect time! Please, you have to help me! Take me away from this place and get me back to Shrek Academy right now!"
A second later, Yu Xiaogang pointed his shaking hand in the direction where Liu Erlong had run off. His face looked very worried and sad. He said quickly, "Erlong... she misunderstood what happened. She ran away because she was angry. We have to find her quickly and tell her the truth so she won't be mad anymore!"
Then, Yu Xiaogang seemed to remember something even more important. He added with a serious face, "Once we get back to Shrek and I am safe, I have to go to Spirit City immediately. I have something very important that I must do there!"
"Go to Spirit City?" Flender repeated quietly. A small, hidden light shined in his eyes for a moment. He first looked at Tang Hao very carefully. He knew he couldn't take Yu Xiaogang away unless Tang Hao allowed it. Tang Hao didn't show any emotion on his face, but after a moment, he gave a small nod. He was letting Flender take the injured man away.
Since he had Tang Hao's permission, Flender walked over to Yu Xiaogang's side. He bent down and spoke in a low voice, "Gangzi, get on my back. I will carry you out of here."
Yu Xiaogang felt a huge sense of relief, as if he had been saved from a death sentence. He moved his hurt body with a lot of effort and climbed onto Flender's back. At that moment, Flender's back felt like the safest place in the world to him.
"Hold on tight, Gangzi! We are going to fly now!" Flender said. He took a deep breath and started to move the spirit power inside his body. Huge, glowing wings of an owl appeared behind him. He bent his knees and then jumped hard into the air, flapping his wings with great strength.
With a loud sound, a strong wind blew around them, kicking up dust and old leaves from the forest floor. It looked like a small storm. In just a few seconds, Flender was high in the sky, carrying Yu Xiaogang steadily.
"What did you call me? Gangzi?" Yu Xiaogang was very confused. He stayed on Flender's back but couldn't help asking, "Flender, why are you calling me that name all of a sudden? I remember that you always used to call me Yu Xiaogang. The only person who ever called me Gangzi was that annoying brat, Tang Chen!" It was clear that Yu Xiaogang did not like the name because it sounded a bit rude and unusual coming from his old friend.
Flender gave a fake little laugh to hide his true feelings. He laughed twice and said, "Oh, don't worry about it. I am just in a very good mood today. I thought using a nickname would make us feel like closer brothers, that's all."
"A good mood?" Yu Xiaogang sounded very angry when he heard that. He shouted, "I have been beaten up until I can barely move, Erlong ran away in tears, and Tang Hao is still very mad at us! How can you say you are in a good mood? Flender, something is wrong. Why do you feel so strange today? Your voice and the way you are acting... it just doesn't feel like you at all!"
As he lay on Flender's back, Yu Xiaogang felt the muscles of the man underneath him get very tight for a split second after he asked that question.
"Gangzi, you are just tired and confused because of your injuries. Stop thinking about crazy things! I am perfectly fine. Just hold on tight, we need to hurry if we want to catch up to Erlong and talk to her!" Flender quickly tried to change the subject, using a voice that sounded relaxed and normal.
He continued to flap his wings, moving quickly through the trees of the forest. Yu Xiaogang tried to ignore the bad feeling in his heart. He watched the trees below to see where they were going.
At first, it looked like they were heading toward the edge of the forest. But soon, he noticed something scary. The trees were getting taller and closer together. He could feel the power of very strong spirit beasts in the air. This was the way to the center of the Sunset Forest, not the way out!
"Flender!" Yu Xiaogang shouted with a terrified face. He couldn't stay quiet anymore and yelled, "Where are you taking me? This isn't the way to Heaven Dou City! What are you doing?!"
Instead of slowing down, Flender started to fly even faster. He let out a cold, scary laugh that didn't sound like him at all. He said, "Hmph, where am I taking you? I'm taking you to meet the King of Hell!"
As soon as he said those words, Flender jerked his body hard. A sudden burst of power came from his back. Yu Xiaogang wasn't ready for it at all. He felt a huge force push him, and he was thrown into the air like a heavy bag of trash. He screamed as he fell from the high sky.
He crashed through thick bushes and hit the hard ground with a loud bang. He rolled several times before he finally stopped. His body was covered in bruises, and he felt dizzy. He felt like every bone in his body was broken. The injuries that Tang Hao had tried to help earlier became much worse, and blood began to leak from his mouth and nose.
"Ugh..." Yu Xiaogang made a small sound of pain. He tried to lift his head to see what was happening. But before he could see anything, a figure in blue and gold appeared behind him. The figure moved as fast as a ghost!
Suddenly, Yu Xiaogang felt a cold and sharp pain in his back. It felt like a hot piece of metal was being pushed into his spine. It was a cruel and painful feeling that went through his whole body.
"Ah!!" He let out a loud, terrible scream. His body shook like he was being shocked by lightning. Then, his eyes rolled back, and everything went dark. He fell unconscious and didn't make another sound.
A moment later, a very handsome young man with long, blue hair walked out from the shadows. He looked down at Yu Xiaogang, who was lying on the ground looking like a limp bug. The man's face was pale, and he looked like he was almost dead.
"Heh... last time I didn't have enough time to take it all," the young man said quietly. "I left a little bit of your power behind. But now, it is finally done. I have taken it all. Keeping the bloodline of the Golden Sacred Dragon on a useless person like you is just a waste of a great treasure."
Meanwhile, far away in the capital city of the Heaven Dou Empire, everything was quiet at the Crown Prince's mansion. In the garden, many beautiful flowers were blooming, and the air smelled very sweet.
Crown Prince Xue Qinghe was dressed in simple but expensive clothes. He looked very noble and calm. He held a white watering can made of jade and was carefully watering a rare flower. The sunlight made him look like he was glowing with gold. Everything seemed very peaceful.
But that peace was broken very quickly. A dark shadow appeared silently in the garden, kneeling on the ground behind him. It was a spirit master who was very good at hiding.
"Young Lord," the man in the black robe said in a respectful voice.
Xue Qinghe stopped watering the flower for a moment. He didn't turn around, but his eyebrows moved slightly. He spoke with a voice that was calm but very powerful. "Speak," he said.
The man in black nodded and reported, "There is a lot of strange movement in Spirit City. Lately, at least ten Platinum Cardinals and more than thirty regular Cardinals have been traveling there. They are trying to be secret, but we noticed. This many high-level people moving at once is not normal. It looks like they are planning something very big very soon."