“Tasha, sweetheart!” Harleen gently patted Tasha’s head.
“You only have one more year until you graduate from kindergarten. After graduation, your classmates will go to different elementary schools. Even if you stay in Ozin, you’ll only be able to see them during winter and summer vacations. But Mom and Dad promise that if you want to go back to Ozin to play with your friends during vacations, we will go back. How about that?”
“Mama can’t lie!” Tasha’s mood brightened up upon hearing this.
“Of course!” Harleen smiled.
In the following days, Stout and Harleen, along with Fletcher and his wife, and Tasha, went sightseeing in various attractions in the capital city, accompanied by the four SHADOW brothers. Meanwhile, Ivy, Night Orchid, Bob, and Ian moved into the manor one by one.
At noon that day, they all gathered at the SHADOW base.
“Ivy, did Minister Woolery mention when we will depart for the Polar Domain?” Bob looked at Ivy and asked in the meeting hall.
“It’s already been confirmed!” Ivy nodded in response. “We’ll depart in two weeks!”
“Really?” Bob’s eyes lit up.
“Yes!” Ivy nodded and continued. “The Guardians have handed over the management rights of the spiritual spring in the Polar Domain to Glavale!”
“Well, they’re quite obedient, willing to hand over the spiritual spring, huh?” Bob spoke up. “Northfortia didn’t intervene?”
“They definitely have a lot of grievances!” Ivy chuckled lightly. “Before the Global Martial Arts Competition, when the Guardians voted on whether to use the spiritual spring as a prize, Northfortia believed that the championship was theirs, so they enthusiastically agreed. Now that the championship is in the hands of Glavale, I bet they regret it so much.”
“Hahaha, I really want to see their faces as if they’ve eaten flies!” Bob burst into laughter.
“Ivy, with the spiritual spring being such a valuable resource for cultivation, Northfortia won’t just give up, right?” Night Orchid asked.
“Indeed. That’s also Minister Woolery’s concern!” Ivy nodded.
“What do you mean?” Ian furrowed his brows slightly. “Is Northfortia planning to take it by force?”
“The spiritual spring was established as a prize for the Global Martial Arts Competition, so openly, they probably won’t make any drastic moves.” Ivy responded after a moment of thought. “But behind the scenes, they definitely won’t stay quiet. For us in Glavale, how to protect the spiritual spring is also a challenge!”
“I see.” Ian nodded.
Just then, Billy’s phone rang. He picked it up and saw that it was Casey calling.
“Casey, what’s up?” Billy answered the call and asked.
After a while, a sense of coldness filled the air around Billy. His face changed, and he spoke in a low voice, “I’ll be there right away. Let’s talk when we meet!”
“What’s going on?” Night Orchid asked once Billy hung up the phone.
“Donald is in trouble. He’s been seriously injured, a close brush with death!” Billy responded in a serious tone.
“What?!” Night Orchid and the others exclaimed in unison.
“Ivy, grab Stout’s medical kit and let’s go take a look!” Billy instructed Ivy.
Ivy nodded and headed towards the door.
After about half an hour, the five of them arrived at the military compound.
“Boss!” As soon as the car stopped, Casey hurriedly walked over.
“Casey, what’s going on?” Ivy asked as she opened the conversation.
“To be honest, I’m not entirely sure. We’ll have to wait for Elder Donald to wake up to find out.” Casey shook his head and continued, “He’s been negotiating with the ancient martial arts world lately, asking them to send more reinforcements to the Polar Domain. If nothing unexpected happened, it should be because of this matter.”
“Darn it, is it those punks from the ancient martial arts world again?” Bob said angrily.
“Casey, is Grand Elder here? He should know the situation.” Ivy spoke up again.
“He’s not here, he went to the Polar Domain a couple of days ago.”
“Let’s go see Donald’s injuries first!” Billy quickly walked towards the medical building in the compound.
A few minutes later, the group arrived at one of the hospital rooms, where Cole Wilson and several medical personnel were busy.
“Greetings, Lord Dragon!” The group bowed simultaneously when they saw Billy.
Billy waved his hand and walked to the side of the bed.
“Lord Dragon, Donald is seriously injured, his whole body is wounded, and his meridians are severely damaged!” Cole Wilson spoke up. “The palm strike to his chest was just a hair’s breadth away from crushing his heart.”
Billy nodded grimly, a strong aura of killing intent emanating from him. He had already used his spiritual power to check Donald’s condition, and it was definitely a near-death experience. This kind of injury was clearly not caused by one person alone. Donald must have been surrounded and severely attacked, and it was obvious that the assailants’ intention was to take his life.
“Ivy, help me out, let’s try to stabilize Donald’s injuries first.” Billy said, taking out silver needles.
“Alright!” Ivy nodded in response.
Then, the two of them began their busy work. Donald’s injuries were worse than they had anticipated, and they worked for four to five hours before finally managing to stabilize him.
“Boss, is it alright now?” Night Orchid asked once Billy removed the silver needles one by one.
“For now, we can only prevent the injuries from getting worse.” Billy took a deep breath.
“When will Elder Donald wake up?” Bob asked.
“At the earliest, not until tonight!” Billy replied.
“Boss, with Elder Donald’s skills, the person who could inflict such injuries on him should only be from one of the top two super sects.” Bob continued.
“That’s a possibility!” Billy nodded slightly.
“Who else could it be besides them?” Bob was a little stunned.
“Don’t forget, Bob, there are also hidden forces and ancient families in the ancient martial arts world!” Ivy explained.
“I did forget about them!” Bob shrugged his shoulders.
“General Wilson, how did Donald come back?” Billy then turned to Cole and asked.
“Donald had a specially made phone from the War Department. This morning, we received a distress signal from his phone. After receiving the signal, I immediately led a team to rescue him. When we found the source of the signal, we discovered Donald unconscious and covered in injuries in a valley.”
“Did you find anything else at the scene?” Billy continued to ask.
“Yes!” Cole nodded. “In addition to Donald, there were seven or eight corpses at the scene. They were probably all killed by Donald.”
“Has anything unusual happened in the ancient martial arts world recently?” Billy asked again.