The Calm Before the Storm

Within a large suite, Wu Zhangkong stood in front of his students with his back straight and a cold expression on his face. His hands were behind his back, as he exuded a frosty aura.

"The tournament has been cancelled."

Those words stunned the Shrek Academy group into silence. Nonetheless, they all swiftly recovered as their curiosity took hold of them.

"Teacher Wu, why is that though?" Tang Wulin inquired.

A sigh came from Wu Zhangkong's lips. "You may have heard of the imperial palace of Star Luo being invaded by now correct?"

Several nodding heads gave Wu Zhangkong the reply he needed.

"Apparently, the forces that invaded the imperial palace took advantage of the leaving of the stations of the four men that fought with Huang Yu that day to invade the palace. They took more or less everything, including the spirit bones that were meant to be the prizes of the individual competition."

"What do you mean 'more or less', Teacher Wu?" Xu Xiaoyan asked in curiosity.

Hearing this, the lips of Wu Zhangkong and Huang Yu twitched briefly. Wu Zhangkong cleared his throat before he continued.

"They took everything other than needles and threads in the castle…"

There was an awkward silence for a few moments before the room suddenly burst out into laughter. None of them could believe that the Star Luo Empire had received their justly deserved karma for their actions that day.

Watching all of them laugh, Wu Zhangkong steeled his expression before it became cold once more. "What are you all laughing at? This is no laughing matter you know? This was believed to have been done by evil spirit masters and it's being predicted that the evil spirit masters will be doing something big soon!"

At those words, everyone quieted down. A grim expression formed on their faces as they properly thought about the consequences of their actions.

Wu Zhangkong at this moment in time, chose to take a glance at Huang Yu to see if there was anything off about his expression. Wu Zhangkong clearly felt something was wrong about Huang Yu's actions on that day despite himself not wanting to doubt his own student.

The moment Huang Yu caused a scene and made the four men leave their stations, the imperial palace was invaded and everything inside other than needles and threads were taken! Anyone would believe that this wasn't just a coincidence.

Huang Yu was still young, and it was easy for him to be led astray. It was his duty as Huang Yu's teacher to make sure that Huang Yu didn't go on the wrong path.

The consequences of that would be horrible for the entire world.

"Huang Yu, have you joined any organisation recently?" Wu Zhangkong suddenly asked in a cold voice.

Hearing his name called, Huang Yu perked up. "No, I haven't Teacher Wu." Huang Yu's answer was curt and perfunctory, with no flaws in his expression at all.

Wu Zhangkong's lips pursed into a thin line. "In that case, can you explain about your spirit rings? Why were all of them red?"

Tang Wulin and the others all shifted their gazes on Huang Yu at this moment. They were rather curious about this as well.

As Huang Yu opened his mouth to give an excuse that he had made up, Gu Yue suddenly spoke up before him.

"Teacher Wu, isn't it improper etiquette as a teacher to learn about a student's secrets?"

Wu Zhangkong's cold eyes shifted onto Gu Yue. "As your teacher, I believe I should be privy to anything that may concern the well-being of my student. With Huang Yu's current cultivation, it shouldn't be possible for him to not only be able to handle four hundred-thousand year old spirit rings, but also be in the Spiritual Domain realm."

Huang Yu scratched the back of his head as he gently squeezed Gu Yue's hand with the other, making her back down. A smile appearing on his face, Huang Yu spoke, "Teacher Wu, my body is just innately very strong. It isn't really a problem for me to handle these."

Wu Zhangkong's brows furrowed. "If you say so then…"

It was unfortunate that Wu Zhangkong at this time didn't notice Huang Yu's skill with words. Huang Yu had specifically chosen to address the part that didn't concern how he had obtained his hundred-thousand year old spirit rings, redirecting the conversation away from it and completely nullified any reason that Wu Zhangkong would have to ask about it.

Gu Yue however, noticed this. A soft hum emerged from her lips as she noticed that Huang Yu's way with words still hadn't changed at all.

A sigh emerged from Wu Zhangkong's lips as he sat down on the sofa in the suite. "Well, that's all I have to say for now. You all can leave now. You're all free to do whatever you want in Star Luo for the next few days since we don't have anything to do after the tournament has been cancelled. However, don't cause trouble." His gaze was specifically focused on Huang Yu as he said those words.

"Teacher Wu," Tang Wulin suddenly interrupted.

"Hm?"

"I have a mission that I need to do from the Tang Sect. I want to inform you first so that you know why I'm gone."

Hearing this, Wu Zhangkong nodded his head in affirmation.

Tang Wulin continued on. "The mission is about—"

Before Tang Wulin could finish, he was stopped by Wu Zhangkong who raised a palm. "Don't discuss the Tang Sect's secret mission, even if it's with us."

An expression of surprise filled Tang Wulin's face before it turned serious once more. "Okay, Teacher Wu."

As the Shrek Academy group left the suite, Huang Yu and Gu Yue walked side by side.

"Gu Yue." Huang Yu said.

The aforementioned person shifted her gaze to Huang Yu. "Yes?"

"I have something to do for the next few days. I might not be able to meet up with you during that time…" Huang Yu spoke softly.

An expression of loss appeared on Gu Yue's face, causing Huang Yu to feel that a knife was stabbing into his heart. Nevertheless, he couldn't go and delay his own private business.

A man had to continue moving onwards. Facing this new threat that he wasn't confident against, Huang Yu knew he needed to speed up with his gathering of strength.

Gu Yue quickly hid the expression of loss on her face, not wanting to make Huang Yu feel guilty. She smiled a little stiffly, "Don't worry about it. I don't mind waiting for you here."

Although she really wanted to spend more time with Huang Yu since she was going to be very busy herself soon, she didn't want to use that as a reason to stop Huang Yu from doing his own things. She wanted him to be happy, not feel constrained as a result of her own selfishness.

Hearing this, pain flashed in Huang Yu's eyes. He pulled her into his arms as he gave a soft kiss on her forehead. "I'm sorry... for now, why don't we just go enjoy ourselves first? Let's go on a date." Huang yu said with a soft smile.

Gu Yue nodded her head as she gave a quiet "mm" in reply. The two of them left together hand-in-hand as they left the luxurious hotel together.

The two of them spent the entire day together as they made the best of their time together. They were completely inseparable as the two of them drew a lot of attention from other people with how well they looked together.

As the two of them walked down the line of shops, a female voice suddenly broke the two of them out of the world they were in.

"Wanna play a game? Hit the balloons with the darts without using any spirit power to win the prize! Hit all five darts to win the grand prize!"

Those words attracted the attention of Huang Yu and Gu Yue as they made their way to the shop. Shifting his gaze to Gu Yue, he saw her eyes shining as she stared at the top prize which was a giant teddy bear.

"Handsome boy, your girlfriend seems to be really interested in one of the prizes! Wanna give it a try?" asked the owner of the little game shop. It was a middle-aged lady of moderate height. She had dark-black hair and had many laugh lines on her face.

Hearing the middle-aged woman's words, Gu Yue's face turned burning red as she desperately looked away. "I wasn't…"

Seeing this, Huang Yu laughed out, causing Gu Yue to hit him softly on the shoulder. He walked to the shop as he placed down a silver coin. "Lady boss, I'll play one game."

Gu Yue pulled Huang Yu's sleeve. "Hey, there's no need for that…"

"Nah, it's fine. I just wanna play the game." Huang Yu said with a smile.

"Ara ara?" the lady said with mirth as she looked at Gu Yue who was as meek as a cat at this moment. " In that case, do your best! Auntie is cheering for you!" the lady said as she covered her mouth with her hand.

Huang Yu sweatdropped seeing this. Nonetheless, he took the darts that had been placed on the table as he took aim. The teddy bear that Gu Yue wanted required Huang Yu to hit four darts, and he was confident that he could do it.

Throwing the dart gently yet accurately, Huang Yu expected the dart to pop the balloon easily. Despite his expectations however, he found the dart being affected by an outside force as it missed the balloon by the tiniest of margins.

"Oh, it seemed that you unfortunately missed the first one. However, don't worry, you still have another chance to make sure that you win the teddy bear!"

Huang Yu's brows furrowed as his senses alerted him that there was wind being used to misdirect the balloons. Hence, unless he did a big brain and calculated the trajectory along with the wind strength, it wasn't likely for him to succeed with popping the balloons easily.

'Hmmph, that only applies for normies though.' Huang Yu smirked internally.

He threw all four of the remaining darts with pinpoint accuracy. Just as the wind appeared and was about to misdirect the darts, Huang Yu discreetly used the King's Wisdom(which didn't use spiritual energy so it wasn't against the rules mind you), to yeet the wind.

Four loud pops sounded in succession as the smile on the old lady's face turned into one of surprise. An impressed look appeared on her face. "Wow, that was amazing."

In a swift movement, the lady brought the teddy bear and handed it to Gu Yue who received it with a burning red blush still on her face.

She was the esteemed Silver Dragon King! How could she like teddy bears?!

"Do you like it?" Huang Yu asked.

"I love it." Gu Yue involuntarily blurted out. Realising what she had just said, the tips of her ears turned crimson as she buried her head into Huang Yu's chest.

Huang Yu let out a chuckle seeing this. He stroked Gu Yue's hair before the two of them left that place.

The day continued on merrily as they had fun until the sky turned dark. When they returned to the hotel, the two of them had a remarkable night together allowing Gu Yue to 'recover' quite a bit.

And of course, as usual… 4000 words were omitted from their tussle at night.

— — — —

Landing on the top of a mountain, Huang Yu's feet stepped on the snow as the cold winds blew on his body. Despite this, Huang Yu didn't feel cold in the slightest as his body's sheer prowess protected him from such minor things.

Two other figures appeared behind Huang Yu at this moment. The two of them were actually the two Bishops of Nox that had come along with Huang Yu to Star Luo Continent.

"Your cultivations?" Huang Yu asked coldly.

"My king, the both of us have reached the Hyper Douluo rank."

"That's enough then. Good. What about the spirit bones from the royal family?"

Romario opened his mouth ahead of Xiao Chen as he answered first. "My king, we have collected all of the bones for your excellency to study."

A nod of the head was Huang Yu's reply to the both of them.

As they continued walking, Romario and Xiao Chen couldn't help but look at Huang Yu's broad back with a fanatical look in their eyes.

They couldn't help it! Their king just looked so cool!

"The two of you know what to do right?"

"Yes, my king!" shouted the two of the Bishops at the same time. "We shall do our best to keep the dimensional portal open for your excellency."

Huang Yu didn't deign to reply this time. Instead, he showed it with his actions.

The third eye opened widely on the top of Huang Yu's head before he raised his hand. Then, he swung it down at invisible speeds.

"Open!" Huang Yu shouted coldly.

Space in front of him distorted before it began splitting apart, causing the creation of a crack in space. From the crack in space, spiritual energy akin to that of a dragon's emerged from it.

An uneasiness rose in the chests of the two Bishops at this moment regardless of their faith. They were loyal to their king to the point of fanaticism, but they weren't dumb to dangers.

"My king, forgive this lowly one for speaking out of turn, but will you please rethink this? This feels very dangerous..." Xiao Chen couldn't help but say out. She was the arguably the most normal one out of all the Bishops despite their quirks. It was just that her admiration sometimes blinds her common sense,

A wry laugh sounded in the ears of both Bishops after she had spoken those words.

"I cannot. This is something that I have to do. My will shall remain firm across all of eternity no matter what tribulation I may face and I shall never submit…

For I am Huang Yu, the King of Nox."