1598 Revenge of the Flame Soul!
Xia Fan opened his eyes and blurted out to Travelling Buddha, “Travelling Buddha, on your left at nine o’clock!”
“Got it!” Travelling Buddha was originally looking unconcerned and nonchalant but he instantly became vigilant. His entire body radiated a soft golden glow as he darted forward in the direction Xia Fan had indicated. Having spent years depending on each other, the two men had absolute faith in one another. Travelling Buddha immediately understood that his role was to serve as the first line of defense when facing a great enemy.
Travelling Buddha was well aware that the simpler Xia Fan’s instructions were, the more severe the situation they had found themselves in!
*Boom!*
Several seconds later, the wall suddenly shifted open, revealing a secret door. The sound of footsteps slowly closed in as a blurry dark figure came into view, a head taller than Travelling Buddha.
However, Xia Fan and Travelling Buddha were already in a battle-ready state. The figure who strode out from the darkness regarded the two young men and got the strangest feeling. But he did not panic, and instead curled his lips into a playful smirk.
“Humans, you’re all very vigilant. To be capable enough to slay my son means you are bound to be quite talented,” the figure said in a deep voice. He approached Xia Fan and Travelling Buddha, and just as he looked like he was closing in on the two with every step, he ultimately veered off and arrived near the altar, as well as the three metal cabin pods.
Without Xia Fan explaining, Travelling Buddha already understood what was happening right now. This burly middle-aged man in front of him right now was none other than Flame Soul, Scarlet Blaze Demon King Stanley’s mount, the father of the Son of the Flame Soul!
Upon a closer inspection of Flame Soul, people would realize that while he possessed a humanoid form with red skin, a wide chin, and a high nose bridge, there were still very obvious differences between him and humans. The haughty gaze of the Dragons held an inherent loneliness common to those with great power. It was just like how someone who stood a head above the rest would see people below them as ants, giving off a sense of undisguised superiority.
This innate sense of superiority was found in every dragon. One could defeat dragons, but there was no way to fully subjugate them. Even people as powerful as the Skywings only managed to be seen as equals with the dragons, since dragons would never give in and see themselves as lower beings. The latter had not been convinced by the former’s combat strength, but they felt that the Skywings were people full of personality and found them to be interesting. Dragons liked being around with the Skywings, which was why they had become friends with some.
When Travelling Buddha and Xia Fan saw Flame Soul, they were immediately reminded of Bright Pearl. The proud little white dragon shared a gaze very similar to Flame Soul’s, the only difference being Pearl was much younger, and had a stronger and purer sense of curiosity. In contrast, the haughtiness of Flame Soul was incomparable, filling up every cell in his body!
“Indeed, your son was killed by our hands. Do you intend to avenge him?” Xia Fan replied calmly, flashing him his signature smile.
Provoking his enemy was another of his favorite stratagems. Against a powerful foe, he had no qualms doing everything he could, from physical to psychological attacks, grasping at every chance he could use. Xia Fan would really prefer to meet an old Demonic Dragon that had lost all rationality in his anger because he had lost his son.
But unexpectedly, Xia Fan’s provocative words did not successfully goad the enemy. Instead, a look of sadness flashed across his eyes.
Flame Soul continued to step forward, arriving at the metal cabin pods to the left of the altar and stood there. Like a loving father, he stroked the metallic surface of the cabin pod with one calloused hand.
“Imagine you have a defective son from birth, and though he looks a lot like you, he does not inherit any of your intelligence. Year after year, you hope he could grow up, yet the unintelligent boy would only be left behind more and more as he competes with his siblings.
“While your intelligent offspring are already able to be independent, your foolish son is still calling out the names of his father and mother in his dreams. He even fails the simplest tasks you assign him to do, to the point where he becomes a stain on your life. Other Dragon Kings mock you for having a useless son, and you have no way of refuting their words because that is just how unremarkable your son is. Like a child that would never grow up.
“There was a period of time you would hate him for making you lose face, treating him coldly, locking him up in some place no one knew. You would even think how much better it would be if such a stupid son was not born at all.
“But when you hear your foolish son call out your name in the darkness, sadly curling up in a corner to lick his wounds, you would feel this wave of sadness and pain wash over you. He was obviously so weak and stupid, but you still loved him. The reason why you had been so strict was because you were afraid he wouldn’t be strong enough, incapable of dealing with the harsh realities of life, and that you would lose him one day.
“That is why you grit your teeth and are at your strictest to teach that silly son of yours, in hopes that he would one day grow up, able to independently face the complexities of the world. As his father, you don’t want him to hide under your wings his entire life, hoping that there comes a day when he could fly on his own and find his own glory.
“Days passed, and era after another era. Every time you hope, every time you are disappointed, but you still can’t give up. You hate it, but you have to have him by your side, because he isn’t like your other son, and isn’t capable of dealing with any crafty humans by himself.
“That is until one day, you had him stay in a very safe spot, waiting for you to return. You thought nothing could go wrong, but because of his dull nature, he ended up running into a trap that resulted in his death.
“By the time you realize what had happened, it was already too late. The foolish little child that you had been taking care of all this while did not even have a corpse left. All that remains is an eternity of sadness and guilt. You will howl in the middle of the night and pray to the demonic powers that be, but you ultimately understand that the foolish son of yours that would always be yelling for his father that you needed to take care of, is no longer around.”
With that said, Flame Soul lifted his head, and his eyes were actually filled with tears. However, his body was trembling slightly from his grief and rage over losing his son. He needed to dig deep and use every bit of strength he had to prevent himself from going mad.
Staring at Xia Fan, Flame Soul swallowed and softly said, “If you were in my shoes, what would you do after losing your stupid child?”
Was this really a Demonic Dragon?
Travelling Buddha was troubled. From his words and how he acted, Flame Soul was completely like any father who was heartbroken over the loss of his son. He was shedding tears, even mourning and reminiscing about his son, just like a human would. He was even walking up to the enemies that had killed his son, his sheer rage causing his body to tremble, just like how a human would.
Xia Fan frowned. “I guess I would avenge him!”
“Hahaha!” Flame Soul suddenly looked up and burst into laughter. He was clearly smiling, but tears were still streaming from the corners of his eyes. In an instant, it was as if he had aged greatly, adding plenty of wrinkles to his humanoid face.
“Well said. Avenge!” Flame Soul repeatedly softly. “Though avenging him would not bring back your foolish son, it would at the very least alleviate quite a lot of the anger inside. But even if you avenge him a thousand, or tens of thousands of times, going as far as to eradicate all the crafty humans, the guilt and the regret would still bind you for the rest of your life, lingering on. You would have nightmares every stormy night, finding tear stains streaking down your cheeks. The pain you feel would be akin to a dagger stabbing right into your heart, a pain that accompanies you every day, and every second of your life!”
“Now do you understand?”
“I come here looking for you, not for my foolish son, but for myself. I am a father, doing what I ought to do.”
This was a very tragic story, such that even Xia Fan was somewhat moved after hearing it. That was because he had been that very weak son himself! His elder siblings were all very outstanding, capable of speeds close to light itself. He was the only one who was not good at the hereditary power of his family, requiring all sorts of other techniques and skills in order to make up for his own shortcomings.
His elder brother was at the frontlines with his father, yet Xia Fan had been sent to Subduing Demon City for continued studies, so that he could keep up with the tempo set by the Skywings!
The only fortunate difference was that while Xia Fan might not be too powerful in terms of his abilities, he was at least still quite smart!.
‘Hey Old Demonic Dragon, quick come on out!
‘You’re usually rather talkative, so what happened today?
‘I’m facing Flame Soul, the Scarlet Blaze Demon King Stanley’s mount. He’s a real Demonic Dragon, and he’s already gone mad! Shouldn’t you be telling me some technique to defeat a Demonic Dragon? After all, you’re just like him, so you ought to understand him very well.’
Xia Fan was calling out in his mind, but it was too bad. The mysterious demonic dragon Cid Raleigh seemed to have disappeared. Ever since he had arrived here to the North Sea, the old Demonic Dragon had not shown himself once. It was almost as if he was afraid of being discovered by some powerful individual from the Demon Palace.
That was when Little Old Buddha suddenly arched an eyebrow impatiently, “I say, Flame Soul. Are you here to fight, or here to act in some stage play? What has your dead son got to do with us? The fact that he’s stupid, wasn’t he still born from your seed? Since he was going to be a waste of space while being alive anyway, he was far better off dying early. We actually did him a favor killing him, get it?”
‘Travelling Buddha, how heartless can you be! Can you not barrel head first into death every time?!’, Xia Fan facepalmed, wondering why he had forgotten about Travelling Buddha and his quirks.
Travelling Buddha had been the heartless sort since birth, nor was he one for patience. He had treated Flame Soul’s painful grievances as nothing more than nonsense and hypocrisy. Since he was here to fight, he might as well just bring it on!
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