148. Tragedy 1
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Gruesome warning!
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Yan Liwei's warm acceptance filled Bailong with warmth and new hope, and he wondered if he might be able to turn things around.
And as if to dim the gloom further, a voice suddenly rang out, "Xiaobai! You were right!"
Yinying suddenly appeared, his sleek black paws landing on the floor behind them.
"Something is really buried beneath Jinyu City's Arena! I couldn't even transform whenever I came close to that place!"
He noticed the couple hugging before him, though they jumped apart in his presence. "Hao. Hao hao hao...
"Aiya!" He wailed suddenly, transforming to his old man form and falling heavily on the ground. "Lao Deng, ever since you left, your son has been disrespecting me everywhere!" He cried out, slapping the ground.
"You tiny dragon seedling! So now you can deliberately send this old man away on some random mission, just so you and your wife can be alone here like this?!"
"Eiss! Laoying, how come I never noticed you were so dramatic?!"
"Heh! 'Dramatic', you say?! I won't ask what drama you and the lady were acting just now!"
"Laoying!" Bailong protested, while Liwei giggled into her sleeves demurely.
"Ahem! Anyway, as I was saying..." Yinying continued...
A few weeks before, on the day Liwei had been possessed, Bailong had sent Yinying back to Jinyu City to investigate, and he had just returned with news.
Whenever he approached the City's Arena, he was forced into his Tiger form and couldn't transform back till he distanced himself.
"A-Bai, isn't that similar to what happened to you?" Liwei asked, and Bailong nodded.
"It's indeed suspicious because I felt the demon aura right before I transformed. However, I was nowhere near Jinyu City when it happened..." He filled them in about the battle with Sky Realm and how he had transformed in the Out worlds.
"Xiaobai, such a treacherous battle, and you didn't summon me back?!" Yinying admonished, a rare annoyed look on his face. "Xiaobai, I watched you grow from when you resembled a tiny white snake...
"You say I'm the last thing your father left to you, then why don't you realize you're also the last thing he left to me?!"
Bailong hung his head in repentance. "Ehehe, I'm sorry, I'm sorry!"
The three sighed in unison, the weight of the day's events, hanging in the air.
"From now on, Sky Realm would surely consider us traitors, and Caoyang, a den of traitors..." Liwei voiced out what they were all thinking.
And now, with Yinying's discovery, Bailong realized both he and Liwei's possessions were likely direct attacks.
"We already left Jinyu City before Liwei became possessed. Still, I assumed it was the city, but it was more likely someone around the Sky Villa.
"She was attacked because these enemies know she's my bottomline, so I would likely go against A-Tian to protect her..." He squeezed her hand, linking their fingers before continuing.
"And in my case, I had gone near the Arena several times with nothing happening to me, so how did it suddenly follow me to the Out worlds...?
"Hmph. Someone clearly wanted me to appear as the Demon King incarnate, so a final wedge between me and Tianlong would arise."
"But would the Sky Emperor really abandon you completely?"
Bailong shook his head, pushing away the doubt in his own heart. "Even with all that has happened, A-Tian would hear me out first!"
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Meanwhile, after Bailong left the Out worlds, the Immortals had picked themselves up... literally, and under Tianlong's guidance, they began taking stock of how many teleportation talismans they had, how many could leave per turn, and how to arrange the unconscious or wounded immortals.
Soon, they were back to Sky Palace, and several Immortals were put in charge of carrying the wounded and unconscious to the Medicine Villa, with strict orders to turn back if Yin Xiaolong was present.
"Astounding! Such peerless power, and he didn't kill a single person...!" One of the Sky Generals exclaimed in awe as the top ranking Immortals milled around the throne room, waiting for orders.
He was the same one whose sword Bailong had flicked into oblivion, and he realized a true foe might have killed him on the spot!
"Is something really not wrong here? Not even one person is seriously injured! Is Yin Xiao-, er... High Grand Immortal Yin truly a traitor?!"
Immortal Jin was quick to overturn his words by saying, "And what about the thousands of soldiers he sent into that strange seal of his, hmm?!"
"He sent them to the West Sea!" Another Immortal pointed out.
"So he says! How can we simply believe his words?!" Yet another countered.
"Because he has no reason to lie!"
"Exactly! He could have killed all of us today!"
"He gave his dragon Pearl to Immortal Yan Liwei, and yet he's still so powerful?!"
Immortal Jin wore a sour look. 'Yin Xiaolong wreaked so much damage even without his own Dragon Pearl... If we let him grow any further, wouldn't he be able to crush us all in his palm?!
'It's just right that we turn his own strengths against him!'
Immortal Jin smirked. "You're singing Yin Xiaolong's praises here... But isn't he ultimately a Black Dragon?!" He reminded them. "And with such fearsome power, he is most likely the Demon King's incarnate!"
"How are you so certain?" The Sky General directly asked Immortal Jin. "This whole thing might have been a misunderstanding from the start."
"Yes! who doesn't know Immortal Yin is the most loyal to the Sky Emperor?!"
"As for being a black dragon, he might simply be possessed like Yan Liwei, and he merely flew off to heal himself in some way!"
All the while, Tianlong quietly listened on the throne, his hand paused over a floating edict waiting for his seal. He had a pensieve look on his face as he mulled over what his own eyes had seen, and now he hoped these men were right and that it was indeed a misunderstanding.
'I'll hear what A-Bai has to say!' He resolved, waving the edict away.
Immortal Jin noted his actions but remained far too calm as he faced the men.
"Hao! I hope you all do not end up eating your words here today!" He warned.
The Sky General opened his mouth to say more, but another Immortal suddenly appeared before Tianlong.
"Report!" The Immortal knelt and saluted, his presence filling the space with the scent of flowers. "A Black Dragon appeared from nowhere and ravaged part of the Floral Realm! T- The Sky Empress has been harmed!"
"What??!!" Tianlong shot to his feet, a jolt of worry shooting through him. "Where's the Empress?! Take me to her at once!!"
The Floral Immortal rose and vanished, Tianlong following instantly, but most of the other immortals present stood in shock.
"B- Black Dragon-?"
"Heh! I warned you about eating your own words!" Immortal Jin leered, his cohorts gathering around him. "The winds of Sky Realm are changing! Supporters of Yin Xiaolong must beware.....
"Lest they be accused of siding with demons!!"
The shift was almost instant, as none wanted to be associated with demons.
Besides, it was a little too easy to accept that Yin Xiaolong was indeed the Demon King, especially since a Black Dragon had just wreaked havoc in the Floral Realm, and they had all seen Yin Xiaolong transform into a black dragon with their own eyes...
The Sky General shook his head as he and the other soldiers overcame their shock and followed after the Sky Emperor, leaving the throne room to drown in endless whispers...
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Meanwhile, as the sun dipped, the Floral Realm seemed to lose its vibrance.
By now, Tianlong had found his dear empress dead, and he presently clutched her mangled body.
There was blood everywhere... In her hair, on her face. Her legs and neck were broken, there were slashes across her arms, and a large, gruesome gash right across her protruding but now pallid stomach.
A sure sign that the child within was long dead.
At first, Tianlong had run to her in blind panic... 'Surely A-Bai can heal her! He can pull mother and child back from the brink of death!'
But as he first touched Yuexia's lifeless body and noted the brutal slash across her stomach, he recalled it was the same Bailong who had transformed into the Black Dragon before him...
The Black Dragon who had done this!!
Now, Tianlong wept with heart-wrenching cries, his tears rushing freely to fall on his dearest companion and his lost child.
But of course, the same nature which granted them unbelievably long lives, did not spare Yuexia's remains, and she soon faded away into a flurry of brilliant purple particles...
Tianlong shot to his feet as an unbelievable rage settled in to feed his heartbreak and grief.
He barely registered that Fei Yun knelt some distance away, mourning Zhurong Fen's death, and by the time Tianlong realized his little sister was dead as well, it only added a fresh layer of hurt and anger.
In one day, Sky Realm had lost its Sky Empress, its Floral Deity, several High Ranking Immortals from the Floral Realm, and more than a thousand innocent flowers.
A massive tragedy that chilled the hearts of the Immortals across the Realm...
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