Ice Empress

"Old Zhao?!"

Flender shot to his feet and rushed over in two strides, catching the swaying Zhao Wuji. "What happened? Who did this?!"

Zhao Wuji panted heavily. His lips trembled for a long while before he finally forced out a sentence:

"Karma Fire Phoenix... that brat... Poison Douluo..."

Flender's pupils contracted sharply, his face turning ashen in an instant.

"Poison Douluo? Dugu Bo?!"

"Yes..."

Zhao Wuji gritted his teeth, his voice shaking. "That brat... he's Dugu Bo's man... I-I had an arm severed by him, and he poisoned me..."

Flender lowered his gaze. Dark green poison was spreading from Zhao Wuji's wound, strange patterns surfacing across his skin.

He took a deep breath, his fists clenching with audible cracks.

"Karma Fire Phoenix... good, very good..."

Zhao Wuji grabbed Flender's sleeve, a trace of pleading in his voice. "Old Flender... hurry, think of something... that poison... if it isn't cured within seven days, I'll..."

Flender fell silent for a moment, a complicated look flashing through his eyes.

He turned toward the room. Under the dim glow of the oil lamp, Ma Hongjun lay on a wooden table, staring blankly at the ceiling beams, tear tracks still hanging from the corners of his eyes.

One was crippled, and the other maimed.

Shrek had truly lost all face this time.

Flender drew a deep breath, suppressing the anger in his heart. "Don't panic yet. I'll go find Teacher Shao Xin right away and see whether he can cure this poison."

Zhao Wuji nodded, but then seemed to remember something and added, "Oh, right... that brat asked me to pass a message to you..."

"What message?"

"He said... he'll welcome you to seek revenge anytime."

Flender was silent.

He stood there, staring at the dim oil lamp in the courtyard without speaking for a long time.

Zhao Wuji grew anxious. "Old Flender, say something! Are you afraid of that brat?"

"Afraid?"

Flender turned and glanced at him. "I, Flender, have traveled the continent for so many years. When have I ever been afraid?"

"Then you..."

"I'm thinking about how we're supposed to swallow this humiliation."

Flender returned to the broken wooden table, poured himself a cup of cheap liquor, drained it in one gulp, and wiped his mouth. "Dugu Bo stands behind that brat. What do you expect me to do?"

Zhao Wuji opened his mouth, then shut it again.

"You're right. We really can't swallow this humiliation."

Flender poured another cup. "But even if we can't, we have to. Think about what happened to Fatty. In the end, he was the one who started it. He ran to Heaven Dou City and declared a challenge against the other party, only to be crippled. Who can he blame?"

"But that still doesn't mean..."

"Doesn't mean what? That we can't just let it go?"

Flender slammed his cup onto the table and looked up at Zhao Wuji. "Didn't you just go seek revenge? And what happened? You lost an arm and got poisoned."

"Tell me honestly. How many days do you have left?"

Zhao Wuji lowered his head, his voice hoarse. "Poison Douluo said the poison will erupt completely in seven days. When that happens, I'll become a puddle of corpse water."

"Only seven days..."

Flender stood and patted Zhao Wuji's shoulder. "Go recover first. I'll find a way to deal with the poison."

"What about Fatty..."

"I'll talk to Fatty."

Flender sighed and turned toward the room.

Under the dim light of the oil lamp.

Ma Hongjun was lying on the wooden table, staring blankly at the ceiling beams, tear tracks still at the corners of his eyes.

When he saw Flender enter, he quickly sat up. "Teacher, Teacher Zhao, he..."

"He's fine. He lost an arm. He'll recover after a few months."

Ma Hongjun: "???"

This counted as fine?

Flender pulled over a chair and sat down in front of Ma Hongjun. "Hongjun, I need to tell you something."

"Please do."

"We'll put revenge aside for now."

Ma Hongjun froze. "Teacher, what do you mean?"

"It means we can't touch that Karma Fire Phoenix for the time being."

Flender rubbed his temples, helplessness in his voice. "Dugu Bo is backing him. If we clash head-on, forget revenge—even all of Shrek will be dragged down with us."

Ma Hongjun lowered his head. After a long silence, he finally nodded. "I understand, Teacher."

Flender walked out of the room and stopped in the courtyard, gazing up at the night sky as he drew a deep breath.

Zhao Wuji was still sitting in a corner of the courtyard. Seeing him emerge, he hurriedly asked, "What did Fatty say?"

"What else could he say? He accepted it."

Flender sat beside him, pulled out a wineskin, and took a swig. "Old Zhao, don't you think we're being too pathetic over this?"

"We are pretty pathetic."

Zhao Wuji gave a bitter laugh. "But what can we do? We can't beat them."

"True."

Flender handed him the wineskin. "Here, have a drink. Build up your courage."

Zhao Wuji took the wineskin and tipped his head back for a gulp. Lowering it, he suddenly asked:

"Old Flender, what exactly is that Karma Fire Phoenix?"

Flender was quiet for a moment before shaking his head. "I don't know. But anyone connected to Dugu Bo can't be ordinary."

"What about the poison in my body?"

"..."

Above Sunset Forest, an emerald-green figure tore through the clouds at incredible speed, carrying bone-piercing cold.

"This is the place."

Ice Empress hovered in midair, her emerald eyes sweeping over the endless forest below as her brows furrowed slightly.

She had followed the lingering aura left by Snow Empress all the way here, from the Far North to the Heaven Dou Empire, then from the outskirts of the Star Dou Great Forest to the edge of Sunset Forest.

"What the hell is Snow Maiden doing... running so far away without even saying a word."

Ice Empress muttered as she raised a hand and condensed a wisp of icy-blue chill, lightly drawing it through the air.

The cold energy transformed into a thin line and extended toward the depths of the forest below.

"Hm? There's a reaction?"

Ice Empress's eyes lit up. With a flash, she became an emerald streak of light and dove toward where the cold energy pointed.

Deep within Sunset Forest, at the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

Ye Feng sat cross-legged beside the spring, holding a piece of Whale Rubber in his hand, just about to shove it into his mouth.

Suddenly, he felt an utterly terrifying chill descend from the sky, as though an entire glacier had crashed down upon him from overhead.

"Hm?"

Ye Feng abruptly looked up and saw an emerald-green figure descend from the sky, landing atop a huge boulder beside the Ice and Fire Yin-Yang Well.

She was a tall woman in a long emerald dress. Her hair was as translucent as ice crystals, her eyes emerald green, with slightly upturned corners that carried both arrogance and sharpness.

Cold energy swirled around her, and the rock beneath her feet instantly froze beneath a thick layer of frost that spread in all directions.

"Holy shit, Ice Empress?!"

Ice Empress landed on the boulder and was about to question him when the red-haired youth blurted that out.

She froze, confusion flashing through her emerald eyes. "You know me?"

Ye Feng: "..."

Damn it, I spoke too fast.