Chapter 394: Chapter 290: Old Friends Reunite
Long Yi was parrying every attack, while silently on high alert.
Suddenly, Aidong feinted with a punch. Long Yi took a half-step backwards in response but suddenly, a severe stabbing pain erupted from his foot. A sour numbness surged from his foot, spreading up his leg! Immediately, Long Yi’s body swayed and collapsed to one side.
"Ha!"
Aidong lunged forward, landing a punch on Long Yi’s neck. Another brief, sharp pain stabbed through him, followed by a spreading numbness that reached his entire head!
Poison?
A curse?
Are they joking? Do they believe such tricks would work on me? Long Yi recovered almost instantaneously, but did not immediately retaliate. He wanted to see just how these children intended to play their part! If they were merely attempting to earn the Emperor’s praise with petty schemes, Long Yi would simply beat them up and end the scuffle. However, if there was a deeper plot at play, Long Yi was interested in discovering what it could be.
"Brother Long? Are you okay? Are you feeling unwell anywhere?"
All four stopped simultaneously to ask with concern. Meanwhile, Aidong forcefully pressed against Long Yi’s chest, resulting in a sudden intense pain. Long Yi was left feeling weak and unable to speak— theoretically speaking.
In reality, as a Giant, such a situation would have ended before it even started, but Long Yi had no reaction, staring fiercely at Aidong.
A smug smile crept up on Aidong’s face as the four of them leaned in closer.
"Brother Long, are you okay? Brother Long!" The four of them pressed in ever closer.
"Damn it! They’re spies! Capture them!" Wesley suddenly cried out and lunged forward.
"Go!" Aidong growled. In an instant, a black wormhole appeared, swallowing up all five of them, including Long Yi!
"They’re spies from the Green Dragon Empire!"
The Emperor suddenly roared.
"Spies from the Green Dragon Empire!"
With this proclamation, the entire Dragon Knight Academy was plunged into chaos. The Academy quickly fell into disorder.
Wesley glanced at the spot Long Yi had vanished from, shaking his head: "Ah, they clearly used the magic of the Black Dragon Empire, yet His Majesty insisted they were spies from the Green Dragon Empire. His acting is so exaggerated, it completely lacks authenticity."
With Long Yi’s disappearance, the opening ceremony was hastily concluded and the entire nation immediately entered a state of emergency. The search for Long Yi was deemed a top priority. Soon after, the master mages managed to determine the approximate location of the teleportation, but there was no trace of Long Yi to be found.
"Prepare for war!"
Upon the Emperor’s order, the entire White Dragon Empire entered a state of emergency. The Dragon Rider legion was immediately dispatched to the borders of the Green Dragon Empire, with supplies hastily being transferred as well.
However, Ai Lin and the others, who were Long Yi’s closest friends, remained cloistered in their rooms.
"So, Brother Long just wants us to stand back and observe?"
Wesley asked.
"Hmm, stand back and observe. That’s what he told me before he left." Isrile said. Of everyone, she was least concerned about Long Yi’s disappearance. Due to the servant contract between them, even though she couldn’t communicate with him directly, she knew that his condition wasn’t terrible. At the most critical moment, Long Yi could exhaust a large amount of his Fighting Aura to summon her to his side.
"The Emperor acted too swiftly. I suspect that he may have planned to take action against the Green Dragon Empire long before now. Firstly, he completely ignored the fact that their magic was from the Black Dragon Empire, and claimed that they were spies from the Green Dragon Empire. Then, upon Brother Long’s disappearance, he managed to present an entire combat plan to the war council within five minutes." Wesley said in a hushed voice.
"For now, let’s not worry about that. The main question is, where was Long Yi taken?" Although Ai Lin appeared calm, she was still incredibly worried.
"At this point, he’s probably already on the Green Dragon’s territory." Wesley guessed.
Even Long Yi himself currently had no idea of his whereabouts. His eyes had been covered and a bag had been placed over his head. He had even been placed inside a large container specially designed with a miniature array that could suppress Little Zi’s appearance. The container was filled with tantalizingly fragrant fruits. Unfortunately, he was unable to reach them through the bag. Long Yi understood that the fruits were likely meant to mask any discernible aura.
The container was picked up and placed in a rocking area; it seemed that the container had just been loaded onto a ship. From the sounds of the footsteps outside, Long Yi could tell the ship wasn’t particularly large. Then, he heard a knock against the ship’s hull, and it immediately began to move forward. From its acceleration, Long Yi could tell that its propulsion didn’t come from human power, nor was there a dragon flying overhead pulling it.
Could it be that there’s a dragon swimming underneath?
After a considerable time, the ship maintained its speed, indicating that it was on a large body of water – likely a lake. Based on what Little Zi had seen of the surrounding scenery before being locked in the container, Long Yi deduced that they were likely at the only border shared by the Blue Dragon Empire and the White Dragon Empire – Blue Scale Lake. Theoretically, this lake was split equally between the Blue Dragon Empire and the White Dragon Empire, but due to the presence of the Blue Dragon, no one from the White Dragon Empire ever went near it.
The plan was quite elaborate.
They disguised themselves as new arrivals, challenged him, begged for his help, then poisoned and suddenly teleported him. They had sealed themselves within a rune-encrusted container to resist Little Zi’s appearance and used the Blue Dragon Empire’s waterway for quick transportation. All these events were clearly orchestrated specifically against him.
This was getting interesting.
Long Yi didn’t struggle—instead he just waited obediently. He was curious to see what the orchestrator of these events wanted to accomplish.
After a long while, the small boat finally arrived at its destination. The container Long Yi was in was lifted by a dragon, which took off into the sky. Bored, Long Yi drifted off to sleep. After what seemed like ages, he was jolted awake by a violent shake—the container had been roughly dropped on the ground. He could hear the sounds of the container’s structure being torn apart.
Clearly, it seems they no longer care whether I can break free or not.
Alright then.
Bang!
With just one kick, Long Yi sent the lid of the box flying. Fruits scattered all over, and ripping off the bag from his face, Long Yi finally saw that he was in a golden cage.
The cage was suspended in mid-air, with a chain fixed at each corner to the vast walls of the cave. Warriors were constantly watching him from all sides. They didn’t look like Dragon Knights, and they didn’t need to be, as the cage was enough to hold Long Yi.
The bars were as thick as an arm, and the spaces between them did not allow for a person to pass. Outside the cage was a layer of golden net continuously streaming energy, evidently capable of blocking any form of energy. Yep, definitely prepared for me.
Reaching out his hand, the moment he touched the golden bars, a bolt of golden lightning zapped down, sending him flying.
Huh?
Long Yi hesitated, this feeling... could it be...
"Hahaha! Long Yi, Long Yi! Even you have your bad days!"
A vaguely familiar and hoarse voice came from below. Looking down, Long Yi spotted an unusually pale face looking up at him, wearing a grin of sheer excitement.
"Who are you?" Long Yi was baffled, the man looked somewhat familiar but he couldn’t quite recognize him.
"You’ve forgotten about me?" The man paused before erupting into laughter, "Well, I don’t blame you. Right now, I’ve completely transformed into a different person, one that you will never surpass!"
With that, the man took a few steps forward, elevating himself to the same level as Long Yi with the help of a similar cage.
"Even though you don’t remember me, I will never forget you, Long Yi! If it weren’t for you, I would be the emperor of the White Dragon Empire now! I wouldn’t have to endure this torment!"
On hearing these words, Long Yi scrutinized the man’s completely bloodless face and exclaimed, "You’re Tilian!"
"Hahaha, astonishing! You still remember old friends." Tilian sneered.
"Buddy, looking at your complexion, you really look pitiful. Have you been soaked in water and then fished out?" Long Yi joked.
"Exactly! How did you know?" Tilian drew back his lips to reveal wilting teeth.
"What? Seriously?" Long Yi just meant to mock him; he hadn’t expected it to be true.
"Hehehe, you will never know what I had to endure. You will never know how much pain I suffered to kill you!" Tears welled up in Tilian’s eyes as he trembled, "But it’s all worth it! Because now, I’m high above! And you are nothing more than my prisoner!"
"Is that so? Why don’t you come in here and demonstrate exactly how high and mighty you are?" Long Yi scoffed, brandishing his fists.
"Ignorant human, you will never realize that true power is not in fighting aura, but in wisdom!"
"So you mean to say that you think you’re very smart?"
"My wisdom! It is far superior to yours!" Tilian roared. "I masterminded this plan! I designed this cage! I arranged for the four chameleon spies to capture you! And now, you are in the deepest depths of the Green Dragon Empire, a prisoner in a jail unknown to all. Here I am, standing before you, high and powerful, while you grovel before me in vain! Useless! I have defeated you! I shall also defeat that fool Kirei. With my wisdom, I shall conquer the entire White Dragon Empire!"
Clap! Clap! Clap! Clap! Long Yi applauded.
"That’s a fine speech you made there. Judging by your confidence, you don’t seem to have changed much from the idiot you once were. I just hope your brain works out as well as you think it does," Long Yi mocked.
"Hehehe, if it doesn’t work well, I could change it, and keep changing it until it does," declared Tilian. As he spoke, he pulled open his collar, revealing a glass container fit snugly against his chest. Inside the container, suspended in glowing fluid, was a human brain!
"Whichever brain is useful, I will use. If one is not enough, I’ll find more. I am the wisest man. Everyone’s knowledge will be mine!"
Tilian spoke madly.
After his tirade, Tilian’s cage lowered slowly, he turned and left. The heavy door closed behind him as all the guards around watched Long Yi intently.
"Little Zi, what do you make of this?" Long Yi asked.
"That’s the Organ Grafting technique from the Undead Necromancy, but, it seems to have been enhanced. Tilian is permeated with a strong aura of death. Perhaps, he’s already dead, only being kept alive with the undead art," Little Zi replied.
"Hmm, so does this mean the Black Dragon Empire is planning to mass-produce geniuses?"
"That’s impossible. Organ grafting also creates rejection responses. A person’s body will instinctively reject the organs of others, especially the brain which is a dwelling place for the soul. Their magic might be killing the soul to make the brain obey another body, but even if the soul dies, the residual traces left by the soul will interfere with the consciousness of the brain. When two different consciousnesses clash, there is only one result."
"Dual personality disorder."
"Exactly."
"Hmm, if we get a chance, we should take Tilian alive for research. It could greatly aid the White Dragon Empire in fighting the Black Dragon Empire. But for now, we should deal with the immediate problem." (To be continued. If you like this book, please come to qidian.com to vote and tip. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users, please visit m.qidian.com to read.)
