Chapter 114: Get my child back.

"...Phoenix, Phoenix?"

Cheng Huang's voice echoed from afar, bringing Shang Youqing, who was stunned at the foot of the misty steps, back to consciousness, but he didn't move immediately. The

shimmering golden tail feathers still fluttered around him until Cheng Huang arrived. Shang Youqing's eyes were still fixed on the slender feathers that swept across every cloud.

He watched as the long feathers on the tail feathers danced from the sky and fell, passing by his fingertips.

Cheng Huang stepped forward worriedly and saw Shang Youqing standing motionless on the steps. He quickly nudged her frozen hand with his furry yellow head: "

What's wrong, Phoenix? What did the Heavenly Dao say? Did something happen? Tell Cheng Huang quickly, and Cheng Huang will help you find a solution!"

Shang Youqing shook her head slowly, saying nothing. She sat silently on Cheng Huang's back, her cold, delicate hands clutching Cheng Huang's half-moon horn with a hint of uneasiness.

Even Cheng Huang, for all his carelessness, sensed at that moment that something was seriously amiss with his phoenix.

He glanced up at the seemingly endless staircase, towards the sacred Lingmen Tree. Knowing that the area outside the Nine Heavens Spiritual Gate wasn't a good place to talk, he immediately turned and flew away from the Nine Heavens with Shang Youqing.

After leaving the Nine Heavens boundary, Cheng Huang stopped near a sacred spring, transformed back into his youthful form, and took Shang Youqing's hand, shaking it and asking anxiously.

"Phoenix, can you please say something? Cheng Huang is so worried!"

Shang Youqing raised his eyes and stared at the anxious Cheng Huang for a moment. Suddenly, he took a half step forward and buried his head in Cheng Huang's shoulder. He opened his mouth slightly, his voice muffled, and said, "I feel a little uncomfortable." "

Uncomfortable... Who made Fenghuang feel uncomfortable? Did the Heavenly Dao say something unpleasant again?"

Cheng Huang raised his hand and patted Shang Youqing's thin back to comfort him. Quickly thinking of something, he asked, "Or... is it because of the child?"

"No," Shang Youqing said slowly, as if trying to calm himself down from the empty and suffocating feeling. "The Heavenly Dao praised me for doing a good job this time." While

Cheng Huang was still confused, Shang Youqing let him go. He couldn't help but turn his head away, staring at the gurgling fairy spring on the bank, and smiled low and coldly.

He told Cheng Huang the truth about what happened in Guixu.

Then, after a pause, she cast her eyes down at the phoenix tail feathers that loomed behind her, shimmering with golden light. "He cut off his own divine bone and gave it to me. Funny, isn't it?"

Cheng Huang was stunned by what he heard. It took a long moment for him to come back to his senses. He glared, but then, sensing that Shang Youqing seemed to need more comfort, his tone shifted slightly. "Phoenix, Phoenix... calm down."

Before she could finish her words, Shang Youqing's fingertips had already gathered all her spiritual energy. Her face was gloomy, and without a second's thought, she was about to violently pull the feather bone from the tail feather. Terrified, Cheng Huang rushed over and restrained her hand. "Phoenix, what are you doing?"

But the next second, they both stopped moving.

The divine bone covering the tail feathers of his true form was bound in a shackle.

It was a shackle that could not be removed except by the owner of the divine bone.

In other words, unless Ying Shixue personally untied it, the divine bone would remain entwined with Shang Youqing for eternity.

Shang Youqing stared at the ripples covering his tail feathers.

A deathly silence filled him.

After a long pause, the corners of his cold, straight lips twitched slightly.

"Don't you think he's sick?"

"Yes..." Cheng Huang hesitated, about to nod in agreement, when he saw his Phoenix, speaking calmly, tears streaming down her face.

"Phoenix!" Cheng Huang anxiously moved over to wipe her tears, then carefully coaxed her, "Phoenix, don't cry yet..."

"Have you asked me?"

Shang Youqing slowly closed his eyes, his voice cold. "What do you think of me? Who is he? Do I have to accept everything he gives me?"

At the end, his breath suddenly caught uncontrollably, as if he had given up completely. With suppressed hatred, he uttered two words, "Madman!"

Cheng Huang hugged Phoenix again, patting her back soothingly, but for a moment, he was speechless.

Because, belatedly, he realized that the evil dragon was not what he seemed.

He had done so much to hurt Phoenix before, and now, without warning, he had severed his most important divine bone and given it to her.

The phoenix thus successfully escaped from the Guixu, its tail feathers restored to a power even greater than before.

Most importantly, the Heavenly Dao, having observed the divine bone cloaking the phoenix's tail feathers, refrained from punishing her.

The things the phoenix was once expected to do to atone for her sins and perform meritorious deeds were no longer necessary.

All of this was because Ying Shixue had given the phoenix the divine bone.

But Cheng Huang couldn't understand

why Ying Shixue, such a cunning and evil dragon, would give the phoenix the divine bone that even the Heavenly Dao feared.

Without it, his own divine attainment would be lost.

What was his purpose?

The only possible reason was that

he loved the phoenix.

But was that a plausible reason for Ying Shixue, a dragon like him?

Were dragons' emotions so complex and difficult to understand?

Cheng Huang frowned and thought for a long time. Before he could sort out his thoughts, Shang Youqing suddenly struggled slightly and said in a hoarse voice, "Cheng Huang, I'm fine, let go first."

Cheng Huang carefully let go of Fenghuang, looked at Fenghuang with a bitter look at the corners of his eyes, which were obviously red, and asked cautiously in a low voice, "Have you thought about what to do next? Are you going to... kill him?" "

Why not." Shang Youqing's expression was cold, "He'd better hide where I can't find him, otherwise he's dead."

Cheng Huang hesitated to speak, "Fenghuang..."

"Let's go."

Seeing Fenghuang got up and was about to leave, Cheng Huang hurriedly followed her, holding her hand and persuading her as they walked, "Fenghuang, listen to me, Ying Shixue is indeed mentally ill. Let's not get involved in this kind of lunatic--"

Shang Youqing glanced at him, "You kept saying he was an evil dragon before, why are you calling him by his full name now?"

"Uh," Cheng Huang's tongue almost got tied, and he put on a stern face and changed his tone back to the previous tone, "I mean, that evil dragon is always on the move, so don't rush to his sea area on impulse, because he might be planning something..."

"Who said I was going to find him?"

Cheng Huang was stunned when he heard that, "Not going to find him? Then..."

Before he finished speaking, he saw Shang Youqing transformed from Fuze Xianquan into a phoenix and flew over with clouds and mist. Cheng Huang followed closely, "Phoenix, where are we going now?"

Phoenix looked back, with a dignified and cold attitude.

"Bring my child back."