"Sect Master, look, I made a discovery too."
At that moment, Sword Douluo cried out in surprise and rushed forth as a sword light, arriving in front of Ning Fengzhi in great urgency.
"What have you found?"
Before Ning Fengzhi could speak, Bone Douluo, unable to wait, asked.
He was impatient to find out exactly what had happened here.
"I've found this." Sword Douluo, as he spoke, displayed a bloodstained piece of cloth to Ning Fengzhi and Bone Douluo.
Bone Douluo raised his eyebrows, "Just this?"
Sword Douluo nodded gravely, "Just this!"
Bone Douluo sarcastically remarked, "What can we make out from a rag? If I could deduce anything from this piece of cloth, I'd eat it."
However,
Sword Douluo, quite uncharacteristically, didn't bicker with Bone Douluo, but instead turned to Ning Fengzhi and asked, "Sect Master, does this cloth look familiar to you?"
"This cloth!"
Ning Fengzhi trembled all over, showing a look of horror in his eyes, "Uncle Jian, are you suggesting Qin Xiao!"
He remembered, the material of this large piece of cloth was exactly the same as the clothing on Qin Xiao's body.
Daring to speculate further, Qin Xiao had just battled that mysterious and unknown soul beast!
Beside him, Bone Douluo also realized what had transpired and spoke with some shock, "What?!"
As he spoke, his mind also began to recollect everything about Qin Xiao.
It seemed that this cloth was identical to the fabric of Qin Xiao's clothing.
"Here, eat up."
Sword Douluo furrowed his brow and handed the bloodstained cloth to Bone Douluo.
"No, no, please."
"I was just saying things off the cuff. You can't actually think I'd..."
Bone Douluo quickly found an excuse to let himself off the hook, "Right, just consider it was child's talk, no offense meant."
God damn child's talk... Sword Douluo glanced at him, unable to muster any retort to Bone Douluo's shamelessness.
He had no desire to deal with the shameless Bone Douluo any longer.
"Sect Master, you don't think something bad has happened to Qin Xiao, do you?" he said, fraught with concern.
Ning Fengzhi frowned deeply and said in a heavy voice, "Uncle Jian, if you faced the powerful being we sensed earlier, how likely do you think you would win?"
Sword Douluo turned pale slightly, "The chances are slim. Exactly how slim, I really couldn't say."
Ning Fengzhi nodded, then asked, "Between you and Qin Xiao, who is stronger?"
Sword Douluo thought seriously for a moment, then slowly spoke four words, "It's hard to say."
He remembered the last time they had sparred outside Shrek Academy.
At the time, he had admitted defeat, but that was because he had not intended to fight Qin Xiao to the death. Otherwise, it would have been difficult to say who would have been the last man standing.
"Then, you should have your answer now."
While Sword Douluo was lost in thought, Ning Fengzhi's deep voice resounded among those present.
"I do."
Sword Douluo replied, then fell silent.
He already had his answer in his heart.
An opponent even he couldn't defeat, Qin Xiao naturally wouldn't stand a chance.
He just hoped that the boy Qin Xiao could hold on!
He couldn't help but start praying for Qin Xiao in his heart.
There weren't many among the younger generation whom he took a liking to.
Qin Xiao and Ning Rongrong were two of them. As for the third, he had not yet laid eyes on them.
"Sect Master, is Qin Xiao alive or dead now?"
Bone Douluo too realized the severity of the situation, dropping his frivolous smile and asking solemnly.
Almost without hesitation, Ning Fengzhi shook his head, "I'm unclear about the life or death of Qin Xiao..."
Saying this obviously meant he wasn't optimistic about Qin Xiao's chances, thinking that Qin Xiao was more likely to be dead than alive.
But he wouldn't make a final judgment until the very end.
"However, I have a way to find out."
Listening to Ning Fengzhi's words, both Sword Douluo and Bone Douluo's eyes lit up, and they simultaneously asked, "What would that be?"
"Hasn't he been staying at Blue Tyrant Academy the whole time?"
Ning Fengzhi shared his thoughts, "Rongrong mentioned that there are several people in the academy who are quite close to Qin Xiao. The battle is over now; if there's been no accident, he should have already returned to Blue Tyrant Academy."
"That makes sense."
Bone Douluo nodded, finding Ning Fengzhi's reasoning sound.
Sword Douluo was even swifter, "Sect Master, you go ahead and take your time with Old Bone, and I'll go see whether Qin Xiao has returned to Blue Tyrant Academy or not."
As his voice fell, Sword Douluo turned into a flash of sword light and vanished from the spot.
He was in quite a hurry.
...
On the other side.
Blue Tyrant Academy.
Flander looked surprised as he greeted Liu Erlong, "Er Long, you've returned."
However, Liu Erlong's eyes lacked luster, and a barely-there smile appeared on his pale face, "Old Master Fu..."
"Your Highness?"
Flander asked again.
He thought that since Liu Erlong had returned, Qin Xiao should have returned as well.
Why was there still no sign of him?
"Qin Xiao..."
In Liu Erlong's already dim eyes, a hint of sorrow flashed through.
She couldn't forget the words Du Gu Bo had told her, that Qin Xiao, in order to save her, probably...
would never come back.
"Old Master Fu, I still have things to do. I may have to take Meng Yiran and Zhu Zhuqing away for some time. For now, the academy is in your hands to manage."
Liu Erlong hadn't forgotten Du Gu Bo's instructions, to quickly gather those close to Qin Xiao and then leave this place.
"All right, if you feel upset and want to go out for a change of scenery, then do so."
Flander nodded and did not refuse.
He could tell that something had happened.
But since Liu Erlong wouldn't speak of it, he wouldn't ask.
Soon.
Liu Erlong arrived outside the house where Zhu Zhuqing and Meng Yiran were staying.
By chance, both of them were in the courtyard.
"President Liu?"
The two of them looked over together.
"Zhu Qing, Yiran, I, I am sorry to you both."
Seeing them, Liu Erlong could no longer restrain the grief in her heart and spoke with a crying voice.
"What!"
Zhu Zhuqing and Meng Yiran were both struck as if by lightning.
Immediately after was a wave of vertigo.
They knew something must have happened, and it was related to Qin Xiao.
"It's like this..."
Liu Erlong concisely recounted the previous events to Meng Yiran and Zhu Zhuqing.
Many powerful individuals of the Xingluo Empire.
As well as Yu Yuanzhen, the old patriarch of the Blue Electric Overlord Dragon Clan.
"His Highness he..."
"His life and death are unknown! But I believe Qin Xiao will definitely come back to find us."
Of course, Liu Erlong was afraid the two women would be too shocked and didn't dare to directly say Du Gu Bo's speculation.
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."
At that moment, a gust of wind arose in the courtyard.
With the gust, Du Gu Bo's figure appeared.
"Are you ready?"
Du Gu Bo looked at everyone with a serious expression and asked in a deep voice.
"Grandfather, are these women all Qin Xiao's?"
But, in the very next moment, a little head peeked out from behind Du Gu Bo, none other than Dugu Yan.
Du Gu Bo was worried that Dugu Yan would be in danger if she stayed in Tiandou City, so he took the girl out of the Sky Dou Royal Academy and headed to Icefire Polarized Eyes to avoid trouble.
"Indeed."
Du Gu Bo glanced at Dugu Yan and nodded.
"Then I think I could too..."
Dugu Yan said with a bit of dissatisfaction.
Upon hearing this, Du Gu Bo's eyelid twitched and he sighed, "Alas, in this lifetime, there is probably no chance..."
...
After a long, long time.
A sword light tore through the sky, descending upon Blue Tyrant Academy with incredible speed.
The strong presence, almost completely unshielded, made the weaker Soul Masters want to kneel on the ground.
Without a doubt, this person was Sword Douluo!
"So it is Your Excellency Chen Xin!"
Flander stepped forward from the crowd, arrived in front of Sword Douluo, and saluted respectfully.
Upon seeing this, Sword Douluo scanned the crowd.
Then he looked at Flander and said, "You stay, the rest of you leave."
As his voice fell, the others left the front of the academy building's square like they had been pardoned, fleeing for their lives.
In a few breaths of time, only Sword Douluo and Flander were left in the front square of the hall.
Sword Douluo frowned. Something was very wrong.
Usually, Qin Xiao would have appeared by now.
And now?
Still no sign of Qin Xiao.
There really was a problem... His heart skipped a beat, and he already had an unpleasant guess.