In Nick Fury's eyes, no matter how powerful Chen Long was, he was just an ordinary person without formal training. Even with his mysterious Eastern martial arts, they had so many people here; they could subdue him with sheer numbers.
Soon, Nick Fury realized he was wrong, terribly wrong. You couldn't approach Chen Long with conventional thinking.
Here, a dozen heavily armed agents swarmed forward, but not only did they fail to capture Chen Long, they were spun around by him. Tables, chairs, benches – anything became a handy weapon in his hands, defeating these well-trained agents so they couldn't even get close.
Didn't they say Chen Long was corrupted by the demon's mark and had no self-awareness? How could he still fight so skillfully?
Just as Nick Fury was considering whether to use tranquilizer darts, the unconscious Xiao Yu gradually woke up.
"Where am I?"
Scratching her messy hair, Xiao Yu opened her sleepy eyes and looked around.
It was one thing to look, another to see Chen Long, who had been making a dozen SHIELD agents dance.
"Uncle Long?"
Just awakened, Xiao Yu was confused. She didn't understand why her Uncle Long had turned into a little blue person, nor why Uncle Long was fighting with SHIELD agents.
However, the situation had devolved into chaos, and no one had time to answer Xiao Yu's questions. Instead, Chen Long, after dealing with the SHIELD agents in front of him, turned his gaze to Xiao Yu, who looked utterly bewildered.
No matter how confused Xiao Yu was, she realized something was wrong. Chen Long, now a little blue person with a pair of blood-red eyes, lunged at her.
Xiao Yu wanted to fight back, but after patting herself all over, she found she had no tools required for casting spells. Chen Long had already reached her.
With agile movements, Xiao Yu dodged to the side, successfully evading Chen Long's lunge. But as she stood up to escape, her right leg was grabbed by Chen Long. The next moment, Xiao Yu felt the world spin as she was lifted upside down by Chen Long. Soudan Novel Network
The agents, who had been preparing to attack Chen Long, instantly stopped their actions upon seeing Xiao Yu in Chen Long's grasp.
For one, none of them could guarantee that a lunatic wouldn't harm the hostage in his hands due to their actions. If it were ordinary people, they might not have been so hesitant, as there were always quotas for rescues. But this little girl now was no ordinary little girl. If their actions caused her harm, it might incur the wrath of the Great Sorcerer, which they, as mere employees, could not afford.
While they were hesitant, the deranged Chen Long had no such qualms and raised his hand, ready to perform a "crushing flowers with a cruel hand" demonstration.
Xiao Yu, after all, was just a child and was no match for Chen Long's strength. After a struggle, she could only watch as Chen Long's fist drew closer and closer.
"Uncle Long, no!"
Xiao Yu braced herself for the impact, her last cry a desperate struggle.
After a long moment, Xiao Yu, with her eyes closed, found that the anticipated fist never landed. Tentatively, she opened her eyes and saw Chen Long's fist stopped inches from her face.
Looking at Chen Long's still blood-red but slightly bewildered eyes, Xiao Yu tentatively said, "Put me down."
Upon hearing Xiao Yu's words, the deranged Chen Long actually let go and set Xiao Yu down.
After setting Xiao Yu down, Chen Long still wanted to attack others. Seeing this, Xiao Yu quickly said, "Stand still."
As soon as Xiao Yu spoke, Chen Long stopped again, standing motionless like a pillar.
"What's going on? Why can I control Uncle Long's actions?"
Even with the evidence before her, Xiao Yu still couldn't believe what was happening. She looked towards her father in the distance, seeking help.
However, her father, having gone through too much, was mentally and physically exhausted and had no extra energy to ponder such matters. Since Chen Long had stopped, the priority was to remove the demon's mark on his hand. Otherwise, as time passed, the mark would become increasingly difficult to remove.
In fact, the reason Xiao Yu could command Chen Long was simple.
Chen Long had gone berserk due to the erosion of the demon's mark. Xiao Yu, after having a large amount of righteous energy extracted by Bai Qi, had been supplemented with a substantial amount of dark energy, all originating from Bai Qi.
This dark energy, imbued with Bai Qi's aura, was forcibly injected into Xiao Yu's body. Perhaps over time, Bai Qi's aura within it would weaken and eventually be replaced by Xiao Yu's own energy, but for now, Xiao Yu exuded Bai Qi's aura.
It was this aura emanating from Xiao Yu that made Chen Long mistake her for Bai Qi, thus making him obedient to her commands.
Soon, his father prepared the potion and poured it onto Chen Long's hand.
As the potion took effect, the demon's mark on Chen Long's hand gradually faded and eventually disappeared.
The demon's mark was gone, but it only stopped the further erosion of the mark on his body; the damage caused during that period still remained.
Seeing Chen Long collapse to the ground, his father let out a sigh of relief. The continuous high-intensity work was clearly not suitable for an elderly man like him.
Nick Fury, noticing all this, gave a look to Coulson. Coulson, understanding the signal, stepped forward and personally escorted the exhausted father to the adjacent room to rest. As for the remaining agents, they were responsible for cleaning up the battlefield.
The damaged chairs and benches needed to be replaced, and the unconscious Tru and the de-energized Chen Long were to be transferred to the medical bay for further treatment.
In the Black Shadow Kingdom.
After sending off Chen Long and his companions, Bai Qi turned and entered the laboratory.
In the laboratory, Wu Dawei, who was conducting experiments, noticed Bai Qi's arrival. Without turning his head, he continued with his experiment and said, "Your Majesty, I don't understand. You could have asked for more? Why only want that old man to teach at the academy?"
Bai Qi walked to the experimental bench, picked up a beaker containing an unknown solution, swirled it slightly, and then drank it. He savored it for a moment before saying, "You think I asked for too little?"
"Yes." Taking the empty beaker from Bai Qi, Wu Dawei said, "We hold so many chips in our hands. We could have made more demands, or you could have kept them. With our technology, we could have extracted all the memories from that old man's mind."
Bai Qi shook his head and said, "No, we could have done that, but doing so would have been a severe blow to righteousness."
This further confused Wu Dawei. He put down his test tube and asked, "Isn't confronting righteousness what we are doing?"
Bai Qi shook his head again. "We are indeed on the side of dark energy, but blindly attacking righteousness and causing its decline is not a wise choice. We want to maintain a balance between righteous energy and dark energy. Only then can the world develop to a higher level."