A Temporary Farewell! Heaven Dou City! Sunset Forest!

Zhu Zhuqing's ears reddened slightly, but she did not refuse.

Huang Yun deftly pulled a clean bedsheet from the cabinet. With a casual flick of Soul Power, the sheet spread out smoothly in midair. Under his control, it hung steadily in the middle of the room, dividing the large bed in two. He clapped his hands and nodded in satisfaction. "There. We won't disturb each other."

Zhu Zhuqing looked at the hanging sheet, silently slipped into the inner side, wrapped herself in the blanket, and lay on her side facing the wall.

Huang Yun lay down on the outer side, pillowing his head on his hands as he stared at the ceiling. Listening to the occasional chirping insects outside the window, his gaze drifted over the curtain separating them, and he could not quite tell how he felt.

After a while, Zhu Zhuqing's muffled voice came from the other side of the curtain. "You're going to Heaven Dou City tomorrow. Will you come back?"

"Not necessarily," Huang Yun answered honestly. "Once I'm done in Heaven Dou City, I might head north, or maybe west. Depends on my mood."

"Then... will we be able to meet again someday?"

Huang Yun fell silent for several seconds, then the corner of his lips curved faintly. "If fate allows it, we will."

Zhu Zhuqing's side remained quiet for a long time, so long that Huang Yun thought she had fallen asleep. Then he heard her say very softly, "Be careful on the road."

Huang Yun closed his eyes and softly answered, "Mm."

As the night deepened, the lights of the Rose Hotel went out one by one.

In Room Three of the Heavenly Grade on the third floor, their breathing gradually steadied. Separated by a single curtain, the two of them sank into dreams, each carrying their own thoughts.

Before dawn the next day, Huang Yun woke up.

He quietly got up, put on the mask from last night, glanced at Zhu Zhuqing, who was still asleep on the bed, then took a small cloth pouch from his storage ring and placed it on the bedside table.

Inside were fifty Gold Soul Coins and some dried provisions, enough to last her for a while.

He did not wake her. Opening the window, he leaped out. Blue wings unfurled in the morning light, and he transformed into a streak of blue-white lightning that tore through the sky toward Heaven Dou City in the north.

Zhu Zhuqing opened her eyes the moment the window closed.

She turned her head and looked at the cloth pouch on the bedside table, then at the blue streak of light already fading in the distance outside the window. Her lips pressed together almost imperceptibly.

She put away the pouch and sat up, her gaze becoming resolute.

Shrek Academy.

It was time for her to go there.

In the heartland of the Heaven Dou Empire, beneath a cloudless sky stretching for thousands of miles, a blue-white streak of lightning crossed the heavens at astonishing speed. The land below receded like a flowing painting.

Huang Yun spread his Lightning Falcon wings, his figure nearly blending into the clouds. The airflow from his high-speed flight formed a thin layer of white air around him.

It had been a full day and night since he left Suotuo City. Along the way, he had only rested for two hours atop a large tree in the wilderness to recover his Soul Power. He had spent the rest of the time traveling through the sky.

Even at his speed, crossing such a great distance had taken a considerable toll on his stamina.

Still, the gains were worth it. When the majestic city in the distance appeared on the horizon, Huang Yun's spirits lifted slightly.

Heaven Dou City.

The capital of the Heaven Dou Empire, and one of the most prosperous cities on the entire continent.

From afar, its city walls towered into the clouds. The blue-gray stone walls shone with a steady, weighty luster beneath the sunlight. Buildings within the city stood in dense rows, layered upon one another as they stretched toward the horizon. In the direction of the imperial palace, he could faintly see the iconic dome of the Heaven Dou Great Soul Arena gleaming in the sun.

Under normal circumstances, Huang Yun might have landed to take a look around, sample Heaven Dou City's food, watch the Soul Masters and merchants moving through the streets, and experience the splendor of the imperial capital.

But he was not in the mood for that now.

His gaze passed over Heaven Dou City's towering walls and endless rooftops before settling on the vast emerald expanse northeast of the city.

Sunset Forest.

The continent's second-largest Soul Beast forest, surpassed only by the Star Dou Great Forest. It covered a vast area, with complicated terrain where hills, valleys, swamps, and dense woods intertwined.

Compared to the Star Dou Great Forest, Sunset Forest had a more diverse range of Soul Beasts. Because it was close to human cities, the Soul Beasts in its outer regions had been hunted heavily. But the deeper one went, the danger was no less than in the core region of the Star Dou Great Forest.

Most importantly, Huang Yun knew that an enormous opportunity lay hidden there.

The Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well.

It was a peculiar natural spring where extreme cold and extreme heat coexisted. Two utterly opposing energies achieved perfect balance within it, giving rise to many rare plants that could not be found anywhere else.

Every one of those Immortal Herbs would be enough to make the Soul Master world fight until their heads bled, yet that place had remained hidden deep within Sunset Forest, unknown to all.

Its only guardian was Poison Douluo, Dugu Bo.

Huang Yun adjusted his direction in the air, tilting slightly as he bypassed Heaven Dou City's main gate and walls. He swept past from high above the side of the city and flew straight toward Sunset Forest.

He did not land in the city or pass through its gates. Detouring through the sky was both the fastest and least conspicuous method.

Although flying was prohibited over Heaven Dou City, the restriction mainly applied to low-altitude flight and busy urban areas. He flew high enough and fast enough that the people below did not even have time to look up and make out his shadow before he had already shot past.

Fields and villages swept by beneath him. After crossing a broad river, the green below grew denser, the trees taller, and the air began to fill with the distinctive scent of a Soul Beast forest—a mingling of earth, grass, and animal musk.

He had reached Sunset Forest.

Huang Yun slowed down and descended from the sky, hovering roughly a hundred zhang above the forest canopy as he looked down over the vast woodland.

From above, the entire forest looked like an enormous dark-green carpet stretching to the horizon. The treetops rose and fell like waves. Occasionally, he could see traces of Soul Beasts moving through clearings in the woods, while one or two deep, resounding beast roars echoed through the forest in the distance.

He found a giant tree that stood higher than the surrounding trees and landed atop its canopy. Folding away his wings, he crouched on a branch and narrowed his eyes as he surveyed the terrain.

Where exactly in Sunset Forest was the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well?

Huang Yun frowned as he thought.

In the original story, Tang San had been brought to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well by Dugu Bo, and the exact route had not been described in detail.

He only remembered that the place was deep within Sunset Forest, surrounded by unusual vegetation. Influenced by the two energies of extreme cold and extreme heat, the plants nearby were clearly different from those in an ordinary forest.

There was one more thing. That place should have been near some valley or basin. Otherwise, the spring's energy could not have converged within a single area and formed such a unique ecosystem.

"Fine. Looks like I'll have to find it myself."

Huang Yun rolled his neck, rose from the treetop, and began weaving through the skies above Sunset Forest in a spiraling path.