Recap
“Princess?” Augusta scoffed.
Then, it hit him. The realization of who Long Shiyu’s “princess” was struck him like a bolt of lightning. The image of Akasa Mo and Shen Chaomu together, the strange “Ying” sounds, the blatant affection…
“What are you talking about?” he sputtered, his eyes wide with disbelief. “Who is your princess?”
“The princess is the princess,” Long Shiyu replied, annoyed by his dismissive tone.
Worried that Shen Chaomu would be upset if he lingered, he turned to leave.
“Have you been sitting on the throne so long that your brain has rotted?” Augusta scoffed. “Shen Chaomu, a princess? If he’s a princess, I’m a fairy! And you’re shorter than him!”
Augusta’s mind raced, trying to comprehend this absurdity. “A dragon shorter than a princess?” he cackled. “A short-legged dragon! Hahahaha, you’re a short-legged dragon!”
He watched in stunned silence as flames erupted from Long Shiyu’s mouth.
The evil dragon was enraged.
Augusta went flying, his spiritual power barely cushioning the blow. He coughed, blood filling his mouth, his body screaming in pain. This was just a casual attack from Akasa Mo.
Trees toppled around them, their trunks snapping like twigs under the force of the dragon’s wings.
Enraged, Long Shiyu prepared to unleash another fiery assault, but a deafening thunderclap split the sky.
The old Dragon King, his mane crackling with electricity, his claws tearing through the storm clouds, turned his attention toward them.
Long Shiyu hesitated. Royasno’s killing intent was palpable. He clicked his tongue in frustration.
Augusta scrambled away. He wasn’t worried about dying here. His shadow writhed, and the panting of a beast echoed from within. This was Shen Di’s parting gift, a shadow infused with sinister power. The price: nightly nightmares filled with the screams of tortured beasts.
Long Shiyu, still furious, turned to pursue Augusta, but a hand clamped down on his collar.
“Why are you running around again?” Shen Chaomu demanded.
“He insulted me!” Long Shiyu cried, flames erupting from his mouth.
Shen Chaomu reacted quickly, erecting a spiritual barrier to deflect the flames. Golden light flakes restrained the remaining mercenaries as he approached Augusta.
Augusta’s shadow twisted, morphing into a grotesque amalgamation of strange beasts, their forms indistinct, their features a horrifying blur. They surged toward Shen Chaomu’s golden attack.
light flakes pierced the shadows like swords, but it was too late. Augusta slumped to the ground, his face ashen, his fingertips tinged with green. He wasn’t breathing.
As Shen Chaomu’s spiritual power brushed against his skin, it crumbled into dust.
“Xuanchan,” Shen Chaomu said, recognizing the energy signature. “He used Xuanchan’s power.”
Xuanchan, a creature from a distant galaxy, was known for feigning death to evade capture. It had taken scientists years to obtain a live specimen. Augusta had used this power to escape.
“How did Shen Di get Xuanchan’s power?” Shen Chaomu wondered aloud. “Is he mimicking the mantises’ twinning ability? How many strange beasts has he consumed?”
“I don’t know,” Long Shiyu replied, his anger still simmering. “He’s always doing strange things.”
“I was gone for minutes. Why did you run off?”
“I smelled Augusta. I hate him. I wanted to warn him, but he insulted me.” Flames flickered around Long Shiyu’s mouth, and his tail lashed the ground.
“What did he say to make you so angry?” Shen Chaomu asked, recalling Augusta’s panicked retreat and likely injuries. He had never seen Long Shiyu this violent.
“I won’t tell you.”
“Why not? I won’t laugh.”
“I won’t tell you.”
“Fine. But there’s something I want you to see.”
With Shen Chaomu’s presence masking him, Long Shiyu was no longer a target for the old Dragon King. The storm calmed, and Royasno resumed his frantic search for the usurper.
Long Shiyu, still sulking, followed Shen Chaomu back to the Colosseum. The Black Knight stood in the center of the arena, rain streaming down his armor.
“Why are you just standing there?” Yang Zhiming asked, sorting through the mercenaries’ confiscated goods with Song Qianqian.
“I haven’t been here in a long time,” the Black Knight replied wistfully. “This is where I first met the children.”
Shen Chaomu’s spiritual power sensed a wave of intense nostalgia emanating from the knight.
“Why did you come here?” Song Qianqian asked.
“It’s a long story,” the Black Knight sighed. “My friends, even a valiant knight faces hardships. Before I met the children, Potato and I wandered into Tabu. They brought us here, to this place of blood. Potato was injured, and we couldn’t leave.”
He recounted his memories of the Colosseum, a thousand years ago. The stands were filled with a roaring crowd, their faces blurred, their bloodlust palpable.
“Kill him! Kill him! Crush his skull!” they chanted.
In the arena, dust swirled as the Black Knight, astride his warhorse, battled an orc warrior. His armor was pierced by the warrior’s lightsaber, the wounds causing him pain despite his ghostly form.
But he fought on, his horse rearing and whinnying, his greatsword a blur of motion. The warrior retreated, his weapon finally knocked from his grasp.
“I won!” the Black Knight declared.
But the crowd booed as officials restrained him and dragged the defeated warrior away. The Black Knight was returned to his cage, awaiting the next bloody spectacle.
“Look at that monster who thinks he’s a knight,” someone sneered.
“What are you betting on next time?” another voice asked. “I bet he’ll lose.”
“I bet he’ll win. It’s fun to watch him. I don’t want him to die yet.”
Eventually, the knight lost. His armor was battered, his body pierced by spears and swords. He lay motionless, his warhorse silent beside him.
“They thought I was dead,” the Black Knight said, his voice filled with sadness. “They dumped me in the forest. But a true knight never gives up. The monkeys kept me company while I slept, just like when you found me.”
“So that’s how you met them?” Yang Zhiming asked, surprised.
“Of course. They’re good creatures.” The Black Knight chuckled.
He recalled that sunny afternoon.
The White Deer siblings, having finished their afternoon tea, were on a forest adventure. Doris, her white hair adorned with flowers and colorful leaves, led the way, helping her younger brother navigate the mossy stones and cross the narrow bridge. They reached a towering tree, its leaves a fiery tapestry of autumnal hues.
A clearing lay ahead, Dead Leaf Monkeys watching them with curious eyes.
And in the center, a knight and his warhorse lay amidst the fallen leaves, still as statues, bathed in the warm sunlight.
Doris froze, but Cosimo, ever the mischievous one, broke free and ran toward the knight, patting his armor. “Hey! Who are you? Why are you in our forest?”
The armor clanked.
The knight stirred from his long slumber.
And the rest, as they say, was history.
The Black Knight sighed dramatically. “I haven’t been here in so long. It’s such a pity…” He gestured to the ground, scarred by countless battles, his own blood staining the earth. But his thoughts were on that fateful encounter, a turning point in his long existence.
They handed over the confiscated mercenary supplies and returned to the defense line. Shen Chaomu kept the strange container.
On the aircraft, Long Shiyu played his card game.
“How many Happy Beans do you have left?” Shen Chaomu asked, settling beside him.
“Almost none. I just went ‘Super Double’ again…”
“I’ll recharge it for you.” Shen Chaomu topped up Long Shiyu’s account.
“Why are you so nice?” Long Shiyu asked, his eyes shining. “Do you want to play with me?”
“Not yet.” Shen Chaomu confiscated the terminal and handed him two bags of snacks. “I have something to ask you.”
Long Shiyu, happily munching on chips, nodded eagerly. “Ask away.”
Shen Chaomu showed him the container, the five milliliters of liquid swirling within like a miniature galaxy.
“Is this the light rain you mentioned?” he asked.
Long Shiyu’s eyes widened. “Where did you find that?”
“Hidden among the mercenaries’ strange beast blood. Is this it?”
“Yes,” Long Shiyu confirmed. “I haven’t seen it in years. It only appears occasionally, in some hidden corner of the universe.”
“Why was Shen Di collecting it?”
“I don’t know,” Long Shiyu said slowly. “It’s just…”
“Just what?”
Long Shiyu hesitated.
“I bought you Happy Beans and gave you snacks,” Shen Chaomu coaxed. “You have to tell me something in return, right?”
Long Shiyu, in a moment of weakness, started to chew on his fingers.
“Stop that!” Shen Chaomu chided, pulling his hand away. “Why do you eat everything?”
Long Shiyu sighed dramatically. “Fine,” he conceded. “Remember the story I told you about the light rain? That wasn’t the whole story. You need an umbrella in that rain, or the colors will stain your clothes forever. Because those colors…they’re from the past.”
He continued, “Stars have memories. They remember everything, from the Big Bang to now. If you walk in that rain, you can see the past, things you’ve forgotten.”
He described the scene – a traveler walking through starlight, each drop a forgotten memory, the colors revealing secrets, the past colliding with the present.
“That’s where my name comes from,” Long Shiyu concluded. “This little bit of rain won’t do much, but you might see something. Everyone sees different things.”
“That’s incredible,” Shen Chaomu said, awed. “If others knew, it would be priceless. Everyone fears forgetting. But why didn’t you tell me about this? And why does Shen Di want it?”
“Ying!”
“Why are you scared?”
“Because,” Long Shiyu whispered, “if you remember something, you might not like me anymore.” He burrowed into his nest of blankets, his voice muffled.
“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Shen Chaomu reassured him. His memories were intact. He had looked into the swirling colors and seen nothing. He pulled Long Shiyu from his hiding place and ruffled his hair.
The aircraft landed near the defense line.
They remained there for three days, just in case. Shen Chaomu patrolled the wildfire perimeter with Long Shiyu, both in the aircraft and the all-terrain vehicle, watching for strange beast activity. There were a few isolated incidents, quickly handled by the hunters, but no full-scale riots.
Long Shiyu spent his days playing cards, eating, and sleeping. And every time they returned to the defense line, one of the Black Knight’s miniature plants would mysteriously disappear.
The knight had been distraught when the miniature apple vanished. But after the peach and the orange met the same fate, sacrificed to the evil dragon’s insatiable appetite, he was resigned. Potato whinnied sympathetically and continued to munch on carrots.
The wildfire raged closer, painting the sky crimson.
Another overnight mission was assigned, an eighty-kilometer trek to the next defense line. The vehicle rumbled through the forest, its headlights cutting through the rain and darkness.
Long Shiyu dozed, his head resting against Shen Chaomu. The storm continued, rain drumming against the roof. He was bundled in the oversized trench coat, its long sleeves covering his hands, his pale neck exposed, his eyelashes fluttering against his cheekbones. He was a picture of innocence, framed by the flickering lights and the rain-streaked windows.
As they neared the wildfire, the world turned a demonic red. Shen Chaomu, his senses alert, spotted a crimson salamander, its flames illuminating the smoke-filled air. He launched himself from the vehicle, golden light flakes surging toward the creature. Before it could unleash its fiery breath, it was pinned and subdued. Hunters swarmed it, tranquilizing it and transporting it to the aircraft.
Back in the vehicle, Long Shiyu stirred, snuggling closer to Shen Chaomu and instinctively reaching out to caress his waist.
The vehicle continued its journey, the roar of the fire and the scent of burning wood fading into the distance.
Shen Chaomu thought of Song Qianqian’s words: “Brother Shen, you like him, don’t you?”
A spark ignited within him, a warmth spreading through his chest.
___
To support the author’s raw: click here.
Support me here + advanced chapters: click here.
Update: Every Weekday
Leave a Reply