He Escaped

What Brother Blue said wasn't an exaggeration like what the Head Patrol Commander thought. The serpent general might not know the extent of Xu Rouguang and Emodao's new relationship, but the way the deathless general glared at him was enough for him to assume so. Even Botangca thought it wasn't anything excessive.

"Wait!" The empress got up and waited for Brother Blue to regard her. "You said Dunzhao of the Torn? Wasn't he imprisoned in heaven? What is he doing down here?"

"...Not something you should know. Just make sure you won't be colluding with them." Brother Blue took a deep breath and ran off, chasing the others who had gone away. Just like that, the Head Patrol Commander left like he didn't even cause any trouble to the demons.

"Dammit." Botangca looked down at Lai Mingjie and bit her lip. "General Xu Rouguang, you must kill that monster. If they keep on coming, the Crimson City might get overrun. By then, we won't have a home anymore..."

Even if Botangca didn't whisper into the wind, there was no way Xu Rouguang would let Dunzhao off the hook. Harming Lai Mingjie to that extent was already getting third base with Death. It wasn't mere courting anymore.

Unlike what Brother Blue would imagine, Xu Rouguang was not behaving like how he did that night. Even those who had seen his fight with General Qilin knew that this was different. Fear glazed their eyes as they realized that even Xu Rouguang was able to play with General Qilin like he was some kind of child.

Who was General Immaculate Ivory Qilin? He was another general from the first battalion that had taken all the glory from General Xu years after Emodao passed away. Then again, everyone in the first battalion knew that the only reason why General Qilin snatched the number-one title was that General Xu rarely came out of the barracks after killing Emodao. He never went to the frontlines unless he was directly commanded by the Chief General of the Imperial Army of Heaven or even Goddess Nuwa herself. It wasn't like he dulled like a blade kept in an old shed.

Right now, Xu Rouguang was butchering a demon that escaped the heaven's prison. Even if Dunzhao gained some kind of new power, it wasn't enough not to be decimated by Xu Rouguang. The immortals who were keeping him from escaping ended up watching; they couldn't even move in fear.

None of them would say that General Xu Rouguang had gone terribly stronger than he ever was before, but if someone did, none of them would deny it either. The Xu Rouguang they could see right now was not an immortal general anymore; he was a monster even the strongest demons would fear. He kept on healing himself that every blow did nothing to him. In contrast, Dunzhao could barely move now that he was crippled by Xu Rouguang.

Dunzhao felt like screaming in frustration as he stared in the eyes of a maniac. However, unlike the Xu Rouguang he remembered, this one had kept his mouth shut. Then again, if he knew that Emodao was the only demon who Xu Rouguang screamed at, he'd feel a bit better. It didn't matter who they really were—as long as they weren't Emodao, Xu Rouguang cared too little.

The shredder demon started laughing, even though blood oozed from his mouth and the holes in his abdomen and created more blood pools in the area. "Xu Rouguang! Xu Rouguang! You must be so regretful. You've thrown everything you've ever had... all for rubbish of a result." He spat out blood and tried to balance his broken body with just the remaining of his thighs and a half-limb left. "I've seen what became of Emodao. It didn't matter who was responsible for it, but he would never become who he was. Are you happy to be able to squash him in one snap?"

Xu Rouguang only stared at the broken demon and spoke without anything but coldness like a ten-thousand-year-old glacier, "He's too fragile, yes." He walked closer, converging energy on his palm and making the temperature all over rise like crazy. The general stopped in front of the broken demon before flicking his hand to send the energy ball towards Dunzhao.

However, a sudden tear in space came out behind Dunzhao. Like a mouth, it swallowed Dunzhao before the energy ball kissed any portion of his body. Then again, he did hit something as the ball sizzled and unleashed its destructive heat. The energy was like acid; anything it touched would scorch to the flesh. It's a pity it wasn't fast enough to get inside the tear. It only hit the ground and evaporated—Xu Rouguang managing to disperse all the hot wind inside it without harming anyone else.

His cold eyes were then filled with wrath. The demon who hurt Lai Mingjie escaped. He escaped.

Xu Rouguang only closed his eyes and contained himself. He then sensed the immortals watching them, and he hunted for Brother Blue's gaze. The serpent general felt a murderous aura wash over him; he even froze before he could even talk when their gazes met. "H-He was with the demon empress... you should hurry."

The general only walked towards Brother Blue and the Head Patrol Commander. "I'm giving you forty-eight hours to find out how he fled and where he fled to." He then turned into a light arrow and traveled to where Botangca and others supposedly were.

A deep breath came from Brother Blue as he looked down at his shaking hand. How come he was getting subconsciously terrified of General Xu? He looked up to that person's strength even if he was disgusted by General Xu's personality and envied him terribly. Deep, bone-penetrating fear wasn't anything they would associate with Xu Rouguang since he never bullied any of them. Unlike the other first battalion generals, Xu Rouguang regarded everyone equally as soldiers though he stepped on a lot of people's ego; he never threatened anyone for fun.

Until today, they could all take his presence lightly. Until today, they had never seen so much anger and rage in the eyes of their supposed-dethroned champion. Even when he fought with Emodao, it wasn't like this.

Brother Blue shuddered and woke himself up with a slap on his face. A general with a higher standing than him ordered him to find out how Dunzhao escaped. Forty-eight hours was too short to find out anything, but he had a feeling that it would be ideal to at least present an idea to Xu Rouguang.

After dispersing the crowd of immortals, the illusion scene had been lifted. Brother Blue looked up at the rising sun which saw everything that had happened. He used a hand to shade his eyes from its rays before looking around. Crimson City continued as if there were no tides of battle presences that churned most of the demons' stomachs in the place. The clueless humans only continued with their day.

The serpent general loitered to a place that looked like a bike rental shop. However, when the owner saw him, the old man's wrinkled face lit up on a smile. The old man picked up an order form and a pen from the counter and laid it flat on the counter which Brother Blue filled up.

The old man friendly asked, "To whom are you writing a letter to, Prince Blue?"

Brother Blue only lifted the sides of his lips like a smile. "To my King Father. I'm on probationary right now, but General Xu asked me to do something. I had to let my father know I won't be home for long... again."

"General Xu Rouguang?" The old man saw Brother Blue nod. He then produced a letter from one of the drawers behind him. "Prince Blue, may I trouble you with something? I heard that General Severed Glacier had passed away so I must deliver this now. This was addressed to General Xu Rouguang. Could you take this to him?"