The Love Story of the Red King

"How could Yan just disappear out of thin air?" Jiang Mian asked, his expression surprised. "Someone who can take Yan away so silently, right under the noses of Bear Lord and Yan Wang, must be incredibly powerful."

"Not necessarily incredibly powerful. Perhaps it's a spirit beast that's exceptionally skilled at hiding," Yan Wang replied. "If it were that strong, it wouldn't need to hide from me and Bear Lord."

Before Yan Wang could finish speaking, Xie Yue suddenly vanished from his spot as silently as he had appeared, his whereabouts unknown.

"Another one gone," Jiang Mian's lips trembled slightly as he quietly moved closer to Bear Lord.

"I think I know who it is," Bear Lord and Yan Wang exchanged a knowing smile. The two spirit beasts already had an answer in mind.

"Who?" Jiang Mian asked, astonished. "Is it an old acquaintance of yours?"

"You could say that," Bear Lord chuckled. "She's still quite playful. Yan and Xie Yue might be having tea somewhere right now."

"Who exactly is it?" Jiang Mian inquired, his curiosity piqued.

"She's not ranked among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, but her strength is on par with, if not superior to, ours," Yan Wang said slowly. "And this one is best at concealing her presence. If she doesn't want to be found, even Di Tian would have a hard time locating her."

"That strong?" Jiang Mian's eyes widened. Indeed, the Star Dou Great Forest was teeming with hidden talents. This individual was clearly an ultimate assassin!

"The reason she didn't make the list of the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts is because she rarely shows herself. Those who have seen her true form are all dead," Yan Wang said with a sigh. "If we were to truly compare, I'm no match for her, and I suspect even Bear Lord would be wary of her."

"You can put yourself down, but why drag me into it?" Bear Lord looked at Yan Wang speechlessly. "Don't think I don't know about the two of you."

"Shh, don't say it," Yan Wang lunged forward, covering Bear Lord's mouth firmly. "This kind of thing can't get out, or she'll kill me."

"Something interesting?" Jiang Mian's eyes lit up, but he felt a chilling sensation on his neck, an icy dread.

The next moment, Jiang Mian felt as if he were plunged into an infinite, pure darkness. When people close their eyes, they can still vaguely see a glimmer of light, but this darkness was like dark matter, devouring all luminescence.

A white light flashed on Jiang Mian's forehead, but it was quickly swallowed by the endless darkness. It was as if the world itself harbored a hatred for the dark, a terrifying, dreadful thing.

"Oh?"

A sigh of amazement echoed from all directions. The voice seemed to be everywhere at once, feeling both distant and intimately close.

"You have a connection with the Snow Empress? And you carry a scale from Di Tian? Who exactly are you, child?" the mysterious voice marveled.

"Who are you, senior?" Jiang Mian asked back.

"It's none of your business who I am!"

Jiang Mian felt something approaching him in the darkness. Unable to see, he could only sense it. The presence felt ethereal, intangible, yet undeniably there.

"Then, senior, you don't need to know who I am either," Jiang Mian chuckled. "However, Yan Wang and Bear Lord are my bodyguards, and Di Tian and the Snow Empress are my friends."

"Kid, you're going to talk yourself into trouble with such big claims," the shadowy figure laughed heartily. Her voice was crisp and clear, leading Jiang Mian to imagine her as a mature, assertive woman.

"Why would I lie?" Jiang Mian spread his hands, remaining remarkably composed. "If I didn't have any connections with them, where would all these tokens on me come from?"

"Interesting," the mysterious voice said. "I've never seen the Snow Empress and Di Tian simultaneously value a human this highly."

"Perhaps I am not an ordinary human," Jiang Mian laughed heartily. "What should I call you, senior?"

"Isn't Yan Wang with you?" the mysterious voice asked, a hint of playfulness and jealousy laced in her tone. "Go ask him why he's afraid to see your auntie!"

"Uh..." Jiang Mian scratched his head. He couldn't pinpoint the location of the mysterious voice and could only awkwardly cup his fist in greeting. "Senior, do you happen to know where my two friends are?"

"Of course, I do. But I've dumped them somewhere in the Divine Eagle Canyon. You can find them yourselves," the mysterious voice said, seemingly reveling in the chaos. "If you find them, it's your skill. If not, they'll just become food for spirit beasts."

"Se..."

Before Jiang Mian could finish his sentence, he was ejected from the pitch-black abyss. He blinked, looking at the pre-dawn clouds painting the eastern sky, and said solemnly, "That senior has dumped Xie Yue and Yan somewhere in the Divine Eagle Canyon. She wants us to find them ourselves, and if we don't, they'll be eaten."

"What does this woman want?" Yan Wang's expression turned ashen. He grumbled indignantly, "Does she really expect me to go looking for her?"

"You go ahead, no one's stopping you," Bear Lord retorted without mercy. "You might even find our disciples if you go."

"But then I realized, this could also be a valuable trial for Xie Yue and Yan," Yan Wang rubbed his nose and chuckled. "Let's let them stay there for a while longer."

"Can your nose even find them?" Bear Lord asked.

"I'll try," Yan Wang suddenly revealed his true form, lowering himself to the ground to sniff the surrounding air carefully.

Hu Liena and Zhu Zhuqing looked on with worry, unaware of Xie Yue and Yan's condition. Jiang Mian's safe return was purely due to the senior giving face to Di Tian and the Snow Empress; otherwise, Jiang Mian might have been tossed into the Divine Eagle Canyon to fend for himself as well.

"Do you smell anything?" Bear Lord pressed.

"Follow me," Yan Wang lifted his head high, exuding an air of confidence. He activated his four limbs and moved with remarkable speed.

Jiang Mian took Hu Liena and Zhu Zhuqing's hands, shielding them behind him. Bear Lord covered their rear as the group followed Yan Wang, venturing deep into the Divine Eagle Canyon.

"This doesn't feel right," Jiang Mian observed the dead trees surrounding them. His sixth sense told him something was amiss.

"What's wrong?" Yan Wang's rightmost head turned to him. "You should trust my nose. After all, I'm most familiar with her scent."

"Is it possible that the entire Divine Eagle Canyon carries her scent?" Jiang Mian's eyebrows rose as he questioned, "Shouldn't you be looking for Yan and Xie Yue's scent?"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing," Yan Wang replied with a confident expression that, however, made Jiang Mian suspect he wasn't genuinely searching for Yan and Xie Yue.

Jiang Mian didn't say anything further. He tightly protected Zhu Zhuqing and Hu Liena, following Yan Wang step by step into this desolate, godforsaken place.

The surrounding dead trees looked grotesque, as if deliberately carved into grimacing faces. The stones on the ground were much darker than usual, resembling volcanic rock, yet there were no volcanoes near the Divine Eagle Canyon.

"This place is almost identical to Yan Wang's lair. Even the stones by the roadside are so similar," Jiang Mian caught a whiff of gossip. He quietly leaned towards Bear Lord and asked, "What secrets does Yan Wang have that we don't know about?"

"That's a story from a long, long time ago," Bear Lord looked up at the sky, a rare, reminiscent expression gracing his face. "When Yan Wang was just a little pup, she took care of him without ever leaving his side."

"Oh, is that so? It sounds like an older woman, younger man relationship!" Jiang Mian's interest was piqued, and he pressed further, "Then why has Yan Wang remained so tight-lipped about this matter?"

"The two of them had some trouble later, but it shouldn't be a big problem," Bear Lord scratched his head, recalling. "After that, he left the Star Dou Great Forest and wandered the world. It seems like that fool Yan didn't get the hint and made her sad."

"I thought Yan was pretty good at flattering people?" Jiang Mian asked, surprised.

"Everyone improves," Bear Lord chuckled. "After all, the last time they met was probably over ninety thousand years ago. I don't remember too clearly, but after that meeting, Yan became obsessed with learning how to flatter girls."

Jiang Mian couldn't help but let out a laugh. Yan's three heads simultaneously turned to glare at Bear Lord, as if to say, You're telling people about this stuff? Don't I have any shame?

Hu Liena and Zhu Zhuqing stifled giggles. The group suddenly felt that letting Xie Yue and Yan struggle for their lives a little longer wouldn't be a problem.

After all, their masters weren't in a hurry, so why should they be? It would only cause them more trouble.

"Come out, I'm here." Yan led everyone to a gloomy-looking castle. Yan howled three times, saying, "Aren't you going to see me?"

"How did you find this place?"

The mysterious voice spoke again.

"Your scent, how could I forget?" Yan lay on the ground, like a well-behaved puppy.

The castle gate opened, and a wolf, completely black with a white patch on its forehead, slowly walked out. She moved with noble elegance, her gaze arrogant, and her aura like that of an Empress.

She gracefully walked up to Yan and gently licked the fur on his neck, smiling, "Your scent hasn't changed either."

"This is the scent of us together," Yan stood up, gently resting his claws on her neck, and said softly, "How could I bear to change it?"

"Interesting." The grey wolf tilted Yan's chin up, like a queen looking at her pet, "When did you become so glib?"

"Meeting you made me unable to help myself." Yan had already forgotten everything else. He quietly cleaned a bit of fur from the wolf queen's neck and said affectionately, "We haven't seen each other for a lo-long time."

"You weren't going to come find me, were you expecting me to come to the Star Dou Great Forest to find you?" The wolf queen giggled, "Do I, Nether Empress, need to be so subservient?"

"I was always looking for you, but I never got any news about you," Yan said, his eyes lowered, feigning hurt. "I didn't expect you to return to the human world's canyons."

"I didn't stay here long, less than a thousand years," Nether Empress said calmly. "I also stayed in the Extreme North for a while, and you didn't come looking for me then either?"

"The Extreme North is Snow Empress's territory. How could I dare to intrude?" Yan said cautiously.

"Preposterous." Nether Empress patted Yan's shoulder and grinned, "With me there, Snow Empress wouldn't dare to kill you, would she? That would be too much of an insult to me."

"Heh heh." Yan chuckled awkwardly. Nether Empress looked at Bear Lord and said with a smile, "Old Bear, you have the mood to wander around with this guy?"

Bear Lord laughed heartily, "I'm just being a bodyguard for these little ones."

"The dignified Bear Lord would escort humans?" Nether Empress's interest in Jiang Mian grew. She truly couldn't understand it. Bear Lord's temper was second only to the Evil Eye Tyrant Overlord among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts, and he was notoriously short-tempered. Yet, at this moment, he was willing to stay by this child's side. She really wanted to know why.

Bear Lord shrugged and said, "This is Di Tian's mission. There's nothing I can do."

"Don't lie to me," Nether Empress said with a laugh. "How many times have you actually listened to Di Tian's orders? Trying to fool me here..."

"Hahaha, actually, this kid has done me a great favor. Even if Di Tian hadn't assigned me to protect him, I would still protect this child with all my might," Bear Lord patted Jiang Mian's head and chuckled, "He is the hope of spirit beasts."

"Oh?" Nether Empress raised an eyebrow and asked, "Could he be the reincarnation of the Dragon God?"

"Not at all," Bear Lord shook his head. "Little Ming, why don't you feel it? How much have Yan and I improved in cultivation and strength?"

"Yan is already 410,000 years old?" Nether Empress swallowed and looked at Bear Lord again, realizing he had also broken through the 500,000-year mark. She immediately guessed most of what was going on. It seemed this kid's Martial Soul could boost the strength of spirit beasts, allowing them to cultivate faster.

"Little Ming, if you don't work harder, Yan will really surpass you," Bear Lord teased.

"If he surpasses me, so be it. He's my man. If he's stronger than me, why wouldn't I be happy?" Nether Empress slowly walked to Jiang Mian's side and smiled, "Kid, I think I understand now why Di Tian and Snow Empress have such high hopes for you."

"Nether Empress, what about those two youths? Hurry and let them out," Yan said. "One of them is my disciple, and the other is Bear Lord's disciple. Both are peerless geniuses."

"You two have taken disciples too?" Nether Empress looked at Bear Lord and Yan with disbelief, sighing, "Even the two who are most fond of keeping secrets have let go of their reservations?"

"It's mainly because those two disciples have exceptionally good talent, and Bear Lord and I don't want a pearl to be hidden in dust," Yan said solemnly.

"Interesting." Nether Empress laughed heartily. A gust of chilling wind swept over, enveloping her. Soon, a handsome, mature woman dressed in all-black leather emerged.

Her aura was complex, possessing both the aloofness of an older woman and a lively, cheerful disposition, like a young girl playing soccer in school. She was a pleasing sight.

Yan also reverted to his human form. He held Nether Empress's hand and whispered, "What do you think of him?"

"A very good young man," Nether Empress commented. She subtly leaned closer to Yan and smiled, "If I'm not mistaken, this kid must be quite popular, right?"

"That sounds strange," Jiang Mian scratched his cheek. He didn't dare to interject. To be able to analyze his abilities based on mere fragments of conversation, without any prior knowledge, showed how terrifying Nether Empress's strength was.

Hu Liena and Zhu Zhuqing huddled together, hiding behind Jiang Mian. Nether Empress's true form was a Fingle Wolf, and her control over darkness was far more powerful than Yan's control over flames.

However, just as Yan had said, Nether Empress rarely displayed her power, so no one knew the true extent of her strength or her specific age. This was why she wasn't listed among the Ten Great Ferocious Beasts.

As they chatted and laughed, Nether Empress suddenly said mysteriously, "Come with me, I have something amazing to show you."