In the Palm of His Hand

The leader was a tall young man.

He wore an expensive blue brocade robe, his face pale as paper.

It was Yu Tianheng!

By a remarkable coincidence...

Two fast horses galloped in from outside the city, pulling a black carriage behind them.

Jiang Ming instinctively moved closer to the roadside, putting on the appearance of an honest, unassuming man.

The carriage and horses met at that moment!

The carriage curtain was lifted, and someone stepped out.

The man was around thirty, dressed in a green robe.

Qin Ming.

Jiang Ming recognized him as a teacher at Heaven Dou Royal Academy and an early graduate of Shrek Academy.

"Teacher Qin Ming!"

"I was just about to find you!"

Yu Tianheng swung down from his horse. The movement pulled at his wound, making his face turn even paler.

"Yanzi was kidnapped? Who did it?"

Qin Ming asked.

"A boy named Ma Hongjun. He looked thirteen or fourteen."

"He said he was from Suotuo City."

Yu Tianheng's face was as dark as water.

Qin Ming's pupils contracted slightly.

Ma Hongjun?

Thirteen or fourteen?

Suotuo City?

When those words came together, Qin Ming's first reaction was not anger.

It was an absurd sense of familiarity.

Could that Ma Hongjun be a student of Shrek Academy?

Shrek Academy had a school motto!

[Those who dare not cause trouble are mediocrities!]

Because of that saying, Ma Hongjun had kidnapped Dugu Yan?

Was that reasonable?

Extremely reasonable!

Because he had come up that way himself!

"Tell me everything that happened, from beginning to end."

Qin Ming asked with a frown.

Yu Tianheng took a deep breath and recounted everything from the previous night without leaving out a single word.

"You said... he defeated you in one move?"

Qin Ming's voice was somewhat dry.

"One move!"

"I couldn't even force him to summon his Martial Soul."

Yu Tianheng closed his eyes, his face filled with pain.

Qin Ming frowned even more deeply.

He had defeated Yu Tianheng in one move without even using his Martial Soul.

Qin Ming knew Yu Tianheng's strength well. He was a direct descendant of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon Clan and a Soul Elder-level expert!

For someone to achieve that, their Soul Power had to be at least rank forty or above.

"Teacher Qin Ming, did you think of something?"

Noticing Qin Ming's unusual reaction, Yu Tianheng's gaze suddenly sharpened.

"Suotuo City... does indeed have a place capable of producing such students."

Qin Ming hesitated for a moment before finally speaking slowly.

"What place?"

Yu Tianheng asked.

"Shrek Academy."

Yu Tianheng froze upon hearing that answer.

He was no stranger to the name Shrek Academy.

Qin Ming often spoke of it, calling it his alma mater and describing it as a gathering place for monsters.

But hearing that name now, Yu Tianheng only felt a surge of evil fire rising from his chest.

"You're saying that people from Shrek Academy kidnapped Yanzi?"

Yu Tianheng forcibly suppressed the anger in his heart.

"That's not what I mean."

"I'm only saying that someone capable of doing this may very well have come from Shrek."

"But who it was and what their purpose was, we can't draw any conclusions yet."

Qin Ming waved his hand, trying to keep his tone calm.

"Poison Douluo has already gone over there!"

Yu Tianheng said expressionlessly.

"What did you say?"

Qin Ming's expression changed drastically.

"You know Senior Dugu's temper better than I do."

"If he finds that Ma Hongjun first, whether the other party is truly the culprit or not, things will become very ugly."

Yu Tianheng said flatly.

"Then we have to get there right now! We can't let our own people start fighting!"

Qin Ming said anxiously.

Our own people?

That phrase made Yu Tianheng's pupils tremble slightly.

Qin Ming had used the words "our own people."

That meant that, in his heart, the boundary between Shrek Academy and Heaven Dou Royal Academy had already blurred.

But Yu Tianheng had no mind to dwell on that now.

He only wanted to find that Ma Hongjun and rescue Dugu Yan.

"Let's go."

Yu Tianheng mounted his horse.

Just then, his gaze inadvertently swept toward the city gate.

The middle-aged man in black cloth was walking unhurriedly out of the city.

The man's back looked utterly ordinary, his shoulders slightly hunched.

Yet Yu Tianheng felt that something was off.

That man's build, the rhythm of his steps, the lines of his shoulders and back...

He seemed to have seen them somewhere before, but he simply could not remember where.

"Wait..."

Yu Tianheng called out instinctively.

"Tianheng, what is it?"

Qin Ming poked his head out from the carriage.

"Nothing."

Yu Tianheng glanced once more at the receding figure and buried that faint sense of unease deep in his heart.

"Hurry, we can't afford to waste time!"

Qin Ming said urgently.

Nothing could happen to his alma mater!

He had to stop Dugu Bo!

Otherwise, he would regret it for the rest of his life!

Several fast horses and a black carriage gradually disappeared down the official road, kicking up dust along the way.

The crowd at the city gate returned to order, and the line continued moving forward slowly.

At the fork leading to Sunset Forest, the middle-aged man in black cloth stopped.

In the lingering red light of the setting sun, a meaningful smile appeared on his weathered face.

He had seen Yu Tianheng's momentary hesitation.

But he also knew that Yu Tianheng could not possibly recognize him.

He had prepared three human-skin masks before coming to Heaven Dou City.

The 996 Wage Slave was one of them.

The ordinary-faced young man was another.

And there was one final mask that he had yet to use.

And he was Jiang Ming.

The truth behind every falsehood!

Everything had unfolded just as he had expected.

The name Ma Hongjun had already been pushed into the spotlight.

Dugu Bo's anger would be directed toward Suotuo City, toward Shrek Academy.

A Titled Douluo's arrogance would drive him to Suotuo City alone.

And in order to placate Dugu Bo, Prince Xue Xing would inevitably send people to investigate.

Qin Ming, who knew some clues, would rush to Suotuo City as well.

By then, Qin Ming and Dugu Bo would surely meet.

And he could seize this gap in time to seek his opportunity!

Sunset Forest lay east of Heaven Dou City and was one of the largest Soul Beast gathering grounds within the Heaven Dou Empire.

There were countless varieties of Soul Beasts here, ranging from ten-year to ten-thousand-year varieties. There were even rumors that Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beasts existed here.

The sky gradually darkened. The canopy of Sunset Forest blotted out the heavens, and it grew darker beneath the trees faster than outside.

Jiang Ming lit a torch and continued forward through the forest.

By the latter half of the night, Jiang Ming finally sensed something unusual.

A thin poisonous mist had appeared in the air!

The farther forward he went, the denser the poisonous mist became!

This poisonous mist had clearly been set up by someone.

Then...

Space Shift!

When Jiang Ming had no Soul Rings, the range of Space Shift had been very small.

But after absorbing two spatial Soul Rings, its range had increased dramatically.

How thick could the poisonous mist Dugu Bo had set up be?

Ten meters?

Twenty meters?

No matter how thick it was, Jiang Ming directly pushed his output to the maximum!

The next second...

Jiang Ming saw light!

He remembered how someone had borrowed the light from him back then.

So now, his life was shrouded in darkness!