Meng Shenji's Night Visit to Shrek

Inside the council hall, the four discussed a few more details before finally going their separate ways when the moon stood high overhead.

Xiao Yun stepped out of the council hall and looked up at the night sky.

The lights of Spirit City still shone brilliantly, and the outline of the Pope's Palace rose majestically against the night. But in his eyes, the radiance of this holy city had already begun to fade.

He turned and headed toward his room.

Behind him, the night wind swept past, carrying the scent of the distant Star Dou Great Forest. Within that scent was Tang Hao's blood, Xiao Wu's tears, and Tang San's footsteps fading ever farther away.

And the road ahead was still long.

The next morning, Heaven Dou Royal Academy's convoy left Spirit City on schedule.

Carriages rumbled, banners snapped in the wind, and the guards were heavily deployed. Inside one carriage, Dugu Yan leaned against the window and watched Spirit City's silhouette recede into the distance. She asked softly, "Xiao Yun, will we come back again?"

Xiao Yun sat across from her, his gaze calm. "We will. But by then, everything will be different."

The wheels rolled onward, kicking up clouds of dust along the road.

Behind them, Spirit City still stood tall.

The convoy had been away from Spirit City for a full day.

As the last afterglow of the setting sun sank below the horizon, Heaven Dou Royal Academy's party made camp in a sheltered mountain hollow. Campfires were lit, cooking smoke curled upward, and the guards took shifts on watch. Everything appeared to be an ordinary night's rest.

Yet Meng Shenji's heart remained uneasy.

He stood atop a rock at the edge of the camp, gazing back in the direction they had come from. In the deepening