After the steward left, Hu Song finally asked the nearby Wu Changkong in a low voice, "Has Tang Wulin offended anyone recently?"
"I think yesterday it was very likely that some powerful person infiltrated his room and took him away," Wu Changkong replied.
"Moreover, this person must be highly skilled in concealment, perhaps even possessing spatial abilities. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to sneak in silently and take Tang Wulin away."
When he spoke of this powerful figure, deep caution flashed in his eyes. To dare infiltrate the Tang Clan and take Tang Wulin without anyone noticing, this person's strength should far surpass his own — at least at the Super Douluo level.
"Offended someone…" Wu Changkong furrowed his brows and fell into thought. Slowly, he said:
"We only arrived in Mingdu yesterday. After entering the city, we went straight to the Sun-Moon Royal Academy. If anyone was offended… it could only have been them."
"Sun-Moon Royal Academy?" Hu Song frowned and shook his head. "They have no reason to act against Tang Wulin. If Tang Wulin's side had won, maybe they would have a motive, but the Sun-Moon Royal Academy won — what reason would they have to target him?"
"Although the Sun-Moon Royal Academy and Shrek Academy are not on friendly terms, they would not stoop to attacking students covertly. This matter is far from honorable. If it became public, it would severely damage their reputation — their millennia-long prestige would be destroyed. If Shrek Academy found out, they would face its wrath."
"The benefits are minimal, but the disadvantages are massive. Unless they're completely out of their minds, they wouldn't do something so foolish."
Wu Changkong thought Hu Song had a point, but then he recalled: "Before coming to Mingdu, Tang Wulin did encounter some evil spirit masters and killed several of them…"
After hearing Wu Changkong's account, Hu Song considered the possibility that it was the evil spirit masters' doing even more likely.
To avoid escalating the situation, they did not make a fuss immediately. By noon, when Tang Wulin's whereabouts were still unknown, Hu Song began mobilizing his connections across Mingdu to search for him.
Acting as the Tang Clan branch hall master, Hu Song contacted the federal police, requesting their assistance in the search.
Some locations in the city had already begun posting Tang Wulin's missing-person notices. Even prominent advertisement spaces had been replaced with them.
Tang Wulin was not yet worthy of the Tang Sect making such a large-scale effort. The reason for the commotion was the directive from Shrek Academy.
The Shrek Academy high-level staff were well aware of Tang Wulin's talents. Even ignoring his cultivation potential, his extraordinary forging talent alone made it worthwhile for them to expend great resources to find him.
Furthermore, Tang Wulin was a disciple of Zhuoshi and Feng Wuyu from the Sea God Pavilion. If he was not found, there would be no explanation to them.
In the afternoon, Zhuoshi arrived in Mingdu and immediately vented his anger at the Tang Clan branch, showing no respect for Hu Song and directly issuing criticisms.
Having known each other for years, Hu Song took little offense. After all, Tang Wulin went missing in his jurisdiction, and he bore responsibility.
Zhuoshi had originally come to take Tang Wulin and the others back to Shrek Academy. Now that Tang Wulin was missing, the plan was naturally delayed.
In the past few days, Shrek Academy had leveraged numerous connections to search for Tang Wulin, but no information surfaced. He seemed to have vanished from the world entirely.
To the north of Mingdu, beyond mountains more than two hundred miles away, the flat terrain was covered with dense, intertwining lines that dazzled the eyes. The lines vaguely outlined a dragon's head.
At the dragon's mouth lay a person — Tang Wulin, whom Shrek Academy had been desperately searching for. His eyes were tightly shut, and he was in a deep slumber.
Standing outside the lines were Gu Yuena, Di Tian, and Xiong Jun.
Yun Ze stood beside Tang Wulin, using a small knife to cut a mark on his finger. The cut was deep, but no blood flowed.
Using spirit power to squeeze, he allowed water-drop-shaped blood to fall onto the array's core.
After dripping the blood, Yun Ze stepped outside the array, moving naturally without stepping on the array lines.
The wound on his hand quickly healed, leaving no trace it had existed.
The array activated. Golden light began to shine from where the blood fell, spreading rapidly along the lines.
The moment Yun Ze stepped out of the array's range, all the lines lit up. The ground trembled, the clouds shifted, and the sky darkened as energy gathered in a whirlpool shape.
A massive amount of earthly and heavenly energy poured into the array. The invisible energy became visible due to its density, taking on a golden hue under the array's light.
The converging energy formed a golden dragon, slowly taking shape.
Tang Wulin's body lifted off the ground, floating in midair. The dozens-of-meters-long dragon coiled around, looming over him.
The dragon opened its mouth, generating immense suction, seemingly ready to swallow Tang Wulin whole.
In reality, Tang Wulin's body did not move. What was truly being absorbed was the golden energy within him.
Golden energy began to seep from Tang Wulin's body, taking the shape of dragons — lifelike, like miniature dragons.
The golden dragons thrashed violently, emitting defiant roars, appearing fierce and wild.
Seeing these golden dragons, Gu Yuena felt a strong urge to devour them, staring intently, tempted to directly absorb them.
These golden dragons were part of the Golden Dragon King's bloodline, so the attraction was understandable.
The bloodline extraction process was extremely painful, akin to skinning and tendon-stripping. If Yun Ze hadn't administered a pill to temporarily numb Tang Wulin, he would have already woken in agony, screaming hoarsely, possibly passing out or even dying from the pain.
Yun Ze had no desire to torture him and had considered preventing his death. That's why he prepared the pill.
For twenty-four hours, even if Tang Wulin broke a leg or foot, he would feel no pain and sleep deeply.
The struggling golden dragons were futile, unable to resist the giant dragon's suction, and were absorbed into its belly.
As the golden dragons were removed, Tang Wulin's vitality weakened. Initially, it was not noticeable, but after dozens of golden dragons left, his vitality clearly declined until it stabilized at a lower level.
When thirty percent of the seal was broken, the Golden Dragon King's energy absorbed by Tang Wulin was drawn away, causing his blood energy to drop sharply.
Strange energy fluctuations appeared within Tang Wulin's body, forming a golden trident pattern on his brow, which emitted a beam of light.
Yun Ze immediately sensed the anomaly, forming hand seals. The golden dragon's aura surged fiercely, exuding terrifying pressure.
The light beam above Tang Wulin gathered, forming a humanoid figure — golden, transparent, like a light projection, its exact appearance unclear.
"What are you doing?!" The golden figure demanded angrily, its voice filled with wrath.
It had been asleep, awakened by the loss of bloodline energy from Tang Wulin.
Di Tian and Xiong Jun immediately positioned themselves in front of Gu Yuena and Yun Ze, slightly apart, without blocking their view.
"Do you recognize him?" Yun Ze asked calmly, showing no surprise at the appearance of the golden figure.
Gu Yuena studied the figure and felt its aura, shaking her head in confusion. "I don't know him."
"I can't see his face clearly, nor sense divine fluctuations in his body, so…" she added awkwardly.
"That doesn't matter. The end result will be the same," Yun Ze said. He had no interest in the identity of this being.
Forming the hand seals, the dragon's fierce aura exploded. Its mighty roar shook the sky, dispersing the swirling energy above.
(End of Chapter)