บท 29: Desicions

In Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, over a private room in the dormitories, Meijing, Biyun and Chenxiang faced each other while they talked with each other

"Something must have happened to Big Brother" Biyun said with a worried look.

"He has not been seen for a day and he didn't tell any of us about, disappearing without any trace" Chenxiang said worriedly. They had planned to have dinner all of them the day before but Haotian didn't appear, not notifying any of them or letting any trace behind. It was clear that something strange was happening.

"You should calm down, girls" Meijing said with a calm and cold voice "We won't gain anything worrying about it, we should keep our cool and prepare for an uneventful accident."

"How can you so be so calm when Big Brother is missing?!" Biyun shouted angrily at Meijing.

"Stop, Biyun" Chenxiang stopped Biyun from jumping over Meijing "You should take a better look."

Biyun fixed over Meijing and discovered a few things. Even if Meijing's face seemed calm, her eyes glinted with a strange glow. Moreover, Meijing had her hands tightly closed, almost injuring herself as trying to control her emotion.

If it were for Meijing's, she would charge over to find Haotian, but she knew that she wouldn't gain anything as even if something happened to him, it would make it easier for her to also be affected.

"Sorry, sister Mei" Biyun said ashamed "You should be the one that had it worst, always being together with Big Brother."

"We must trust and wait for Tian" Meijing put her right hand over her clavicle, over a little gray scale over it "I can sense that he is fine. He will surely come shortly as nothing happened." Meijing said "Anyway, let's prepare for needing to immediately left."

The other two nodded and started to quickly prepare their bags for a travel.

'Tian, had something happened to you?' Meijing looked over the windows at the distance 'Had the Tè Clan found about us?'

While they were preparing for the unknown, Meijing suddenly stopped still, followed by the other two after some second, the three gazes fixed over the entrance door.

"Tock, tock!" Someone nocked the door and without waiting for an answer, opened the door and entered the dormitory.

Seeing the person entering the dormitory, Chenxiang was the first to talk "What are you doing here, Yan?" The one that had entered was Dugu Yan from the Emperor Team. "It's not the best moment, you should leave now." She said with a little intimidating air.

Yan ignored her and looked over the group "It's rare to see the three of you together without that commoner of Haotian. Are you missing him, by any chance?" She said grinning.

"Yan, what did you do?" Chenxiang asked glaring furiously at Dugu Yan.

Yan smiled at her and arrogantly said "I simply showed someone his plac-" "BANG!" Before Yan could even finish his sentence, she was shut up by Meijing.

Meijing pounced over Yan, throwing Yan to the ground and invoking her Seven Kill Sword, placing it over Yan's neck, at a mere inch of cutting her throat.

Meijing's move was so swift and deadly that none of the other three girls could even react.

"Tell what happened to Tian" Meijing said in a threatening and incredible cold voice, her voice alone seemed to be able to cut.

Yan's face became pale. Before she could even react, she found herself pinned on the ground with a sword pointing at her neck. If Meijing had wanted, her head could have gone flying.

"I-I had called my grandfather" Yan said trembling in fright. Then she started spilling it all, how she had talked with her grandfather, Dugu Bo, and explain about Haotian and even the girls, about exaggerating Haotian's actions, calling them bullying and asking for revenge of him.

"My grandfather dotes me very much and he is ruthless with his enemies. Haotian might be even dead by now." As Yan said the last part, she instantly regretted it. Talking about Haotian's death would only make the girls angrier and maybe even be killed by them.

Yan was simply too scared to act cautiously and cunningly. She had grown always protected and doted by his grandfather and everyone, having experienced very few setbacks in her life. In the end, she was a flower grown in a greenhouse, spilling everything under the face of death, even if it might be safer to keep the information.

"Mei, calm down" Chenxiang touched Meijing's shoulder, trying to calm her down "Now you are the one that can't think properly."

Meijing breathed profoundly and nodded, recovering her cool "You are lucky that Tian is still alive. If something were to happen to him..." Meijing traced a thin line of blood over Yan's neck "It will be the time when you will lose your head."

"Hiiii!" Yan shrieked "Y-you can't. If you hurt me, my grandfather will kill you!" Yan shouted trying to seem threatening using her grandfather's name.

"If I were to lose Tian, I will be left with nothing, losing my reason to continue forward," Meijing said coldly "I will gladly die when that time come."

Yan opened her eyes shocked as she looked at Meijing's eyes. There wasn't any shred of doubt, it was an immense conviction that wouldn't be changed forever. At that moment, Yan realized that her standing didn't mean anything now, not being able to protect her and that her life was now linked to Haotian's survival.

"Now tell me, where is Haotian?" Meijing coaxed her.

"I-I don't really know" Yan said with a trembling voice "My grandfather should have taken him to a private place to punish him. But!" Yan quickly said "He shouldn't have killed him without asking me, only..." She avoided Meijing's gaze "a little poisonous torture."

Meijing stood up leaving Yan on the floor and looked over the window, completely ignoring Yan "He is coming" Meijing said with a smile.

Haotian's and the girls' bond was two-sided and even the girls were able to sense Haotian from it. While their ability to sense him was far weaker than Haotian, they were able to detect at a certain distance, this was especially true for Meijing whose bond was the strongest.

"Bang!" After few seconds, a figure arrived over the window, opening it with a big bang.

"Tian!" Mejing jumped in joy towards Haotian, throwing herself at her arms "I was so worried. I thought that something bad happened to you."

Haotian hugged her tightly, touched at how Meijing was so worried about him even when only a day had passed "I was also worried about you." Haotian looked at his girls "I'm glad that everyone is alright."

"How could you be here!?" Yan shouted shocked as she pointed to Haotian "Grandfather should have captured you. There's no way for him to free you so easily."

"Shut up, bitch!" Haotian said with a deadly glanze.

"Y-you!" She trembled in shock and anger. Due to it, it seems that she had regained some of her lost confidence. She invoked her spirit, her legs morphing into a snake's tail and 4 spirit rings, 2 yellow and 2 purple, appearing under her.

"Die!" She shouted as her third and fourth spirit rings shined. From her mouth, she spitted two poisonous mists, one violet and the other one yellow in color.

Haotian nodded at the girls and they reacted.

"Ice Hecatomb!" Blue flames exploded over Biyun as her 3rd ring shined, covering and protecting Haotian's group while is also surrounded all the room, encompassing them in ice.

"Wind Wrath!" Chenxiang's fourth spirit ring shined, wind accumulated over her palm and she quickly released them over Dugu Yan's direction.

"Bang!" The wind-wave pushed over the misty poisons and impacted Yan, crashing her to the wall.

Meijing's eyes shined with killing intent, she was about to unsheath her sword, throwing a sword qi blade to Yan, but Haotian stepped over her, lifting his hand commanding her to step behind, Meijing obliging.

Haotian dashed forward, crossing over the poison, completely disregarding it. He caught Yan by her neck, gripping it tightly causing her difficulties to breath.

"Without your grandfather, you don't feel so confident, eh?" Haotian looked with contempt "What it feels to be looked down, bitch!" He spatted.

"P-please" Yan stuttered with difficulty by the hand pressing her neck and the pain "I-I don't want to die" She cried in terror, she had finally discovered that there's no way for her to escape this situation, her grandfather's influence not being able to do anything now. "P-please" Tears started to fell from her eyes as she begged for her life.

"What unsightly view" Haotian spatted "Clank!" Haotian hit over the back of Yan's neck, her final tears falling to the ground with a groin as she fell unconscious, falling to the ground.

Haotian turned to the girls "We need to quickly leave the place for now. It won't be long before someone appears after these noises and spirit skills. I'll explain everything later."

The girls quickly nodded, quickly giving Haotian their own belongings already prepared. 'They sure are prepared. They are truly the best' Haotian lightly smiled seeing the girls already prepared. He quickly putting everything over his spatial ring.

"What should we do with Yan?" Meijing said looking with contempt at her unconscious body.

"We will take her with us for now" Haotian answered and at the same time left a letter over a near desk "She would have some uses." Meijing nodded.

"Ready!" Chenxiang, Biyun and Haotian invoked their wings. Haotian held Meijing in his arms and Chenxiang caught Dugu Yan.

"Let's go!" They flapped their wings, flying over the window. They could already see people reuniting over their dormitory to investigate. Haotian's group ignored them, quickly flying away from the academy towards the horizon.

...

They continued flying for an hour until Biyun whose flying ability was the lowest couldn't go any longer.

The group landed over the forest, making sure that they were no being followed.

"Would you tell us what happened, Tian" Chenxiang asked.

"Yes. I was kidnapped by Yan's father, the poison douluo Dugu Bo and ..." Haotian started explaining the story, not omitting any point as he had full trust in his girls.

"So we are now chased by a titled douluo" Meijing said thoughtfully. She turned to Yan "Would you use Yan to negotiate with him?"

"Not directly" Haotian shook his head "We are in a too low standing to be able to negotiate. Even if Yan is extremely important for Dugu Bo and would stop him to attack us, it would be a problem to travel with Yan as a captive, becoming very limitating. Moreover, if Dugu Bo discovers Yan's whereabouts it's game over. He would be able to take out us while protecting her from even a kilometer away. Then we are good as dead."

The girls' faces became paler, all of them nodding understanding Haotian's reasoning.

"Wouldn't it better to leave or kill Yan? We can keep ourselves in a low key, hiding away from him, even going towards Star Luo's Empire." Meijing told.

"It's not a bad plan. I had already thought about it, but..." Haotian turned to Chenxiang with a pained look.

Chenxiang blinked and quickly realized about the problem "My clan will be attacked and chased by Dugu Bo!" She shouted with a panicked look at Haotian.

Haotian nodded "If we disappear, he would try to force our way out. There's no problem with me, Mei and Yunyun as they don't have family and mine is completely a secret" 'Even if mother was the only one that I cared there' "But for you Xiangxiang is different. Dugu Bo knows our relationship and know about you being part of the speed clan, so the most probably is that attacked them to vent his anger and trying to force our way out from our hideout."

Chenxiang's ties had become a weakness for all, not wanting to leave them behin

Chenxiang's face became pale, she would need to choose over them or her family and clan. Even if he was sure that her clan's members will be able to escape from Dugu Bo with their superior speed, they would not be able to avoid loses, most of the young ones dying and the clan facing extinction again after having no longer recovered from the damage from the Clear Sky Clan's hiding.

"Don't worry, Xiangxiang" Haotian hugged Chenxiang tightly, comforting her "I already had planned something. It does not go without danger but it has high probability to work."

"What should we do?" Biyun asked curiously.

"We'll need to lift our standings" Haotian said with a smile.

...

At Heaven Dou Imperial Academy, over the principal's office, the board of edication stood there while discussing something.

"BANG!" A great power pushed the robust doors, destroying them. From there, a furiously green-haired man appeared.

"Lord Dugu" Meng Shenji stood up, towards the new guest.

"Where is my granddaughter?!" Dugu Bo ordered furiously, causing the three douluo to go pale. "And where's that Haotian and his group?!"

Dugu Bo had returned to his medical garden not long ago, preparing to find Haotian's corpse or at least him badly hurt by the poison. But once he arrived, he didn't find any trace of him, in the Well or in its surroundings.

Dugo Bo thought that he should have died over the Well or he tried to escape and had been eaten by the spirit beasts. Nevertheless, he came to Heaven Dou Imperial Academy trying to find something from Haotian's group to make sure that he didn't return.

However, he found that again not trace could be found. The girls disappeared from the academy, some people saying that they flew away in the morning without communicating to anyone. Also, and most important, it seemed that Yan had also disappeared at the same time.

"We don't know what happened, lord Dugu" Shenji tried to say calmly "There was some commotion over the girls' dormitory and they disappeared before we could react. We don't know where they had gone. But we are sure that it wasn't an outsider attack as we had tight control over everyone not registered. They should be fine."

"Are you telling me to not worry?!" Dugu Bo said threatening, the aura around him flared, poison being liberated and corroding all his surrounding due to his anger "It's my granddaughter of who we are talking about!" He shouted. All his family had died due to his poison, his granddaughter the only remaining one. She was the most important for him and he vowed to make everything possible to keep her alive. How can be calm in this situation?

"It's normal to be worried but it shouldn't be anything," Bai Baoshan said receiving Dugu Bo's cold gaze "They had even left a letter" Baoshan quickly said showing a letter over his hand "It was directed to lord Dugu so we didn't dare to open it."

"Give it, quickly!" Dugu Bo commanded. Using his spirit power to take the letter away, catching in his hand.

The letter was in a simply closed envelope with Dugu Bo written over it. Without waiting for a second, Dugu Bo quickly opened it.

[Hello, poisonous bastard,

Did you miss something? A certain granddaughter?

Yan is with me now and she is safe so you can relax. If you want to see her again, let's meet after a week over your medical garden, the XX day at noon.

Don't make any suspicious move or I wouldn't be able to assure Yan's security

Firmed: Hu Haotian]

"This kid!" Dugu Bo shouted in anger, the letter melting in his hand.

...

Three hooded people could be seen walking over an asphalted road. One was leading them while the other two were at the sides and a step behind.

They continued leisurely walking until they finally arrived at an immense mansion surrounded by a high and robust wall.

"Halt!" Four guards appeared from the wall, quickly surrounding the group of three and pointing their lances at them. They were wearing luxurious and strong armor and all of them were spirit master, the weaker of them being a Spirit Elder while the strongest was a Spirit King

"You are trespassing the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Clan's domain. Reveal yourself and your motives!" The one that seemed their leader commanded.

The hooded person at the front was the first to act. She took out her hood, revealing long and shiny white hair and a beautiful and enchanting young face with strong and piercing red eyes.

She moved elegantly with a strong air of nobility and commanding force around her "I am Chen Meijing. I came to see my grandfather, Chen Xin!" She said at the same time that she invoked her spirit, a Seven Kill Sword appearing over her hands.