Chapter 1242: Including the Heavenly Dragon

Di Hu gasped for air, standing up and looking down at Di Long.

This once arrogant giant lizard was now bruised and swollen from Di Hu’s beating, looking even worse than when Yang Ge had gotten to him.

"Old thing..." Di Hu took a few deep breaths and said roughly, "Do you know how long I've wanted to hit you? I can't stand people like you who bully others with your power and act superior because of your age."

Di Long was clearly dazed from the beating. Normally, even if someone offended him, they would hold back out of respect for his "Long" status.

After all, as the manager of all "Di Ji," he represented Qing Long to some extent. But today, Di Hu seemed to have completely ignored the rules of the "Lian Che."

Di Hu saw that Di Long wasn't responding at all, so he turned to look at the group of "Ren Ji" fighting nearby.

Among them were his own students and Di Long's students—nearly twenty "Ren Ji" were brawling. This spot might be the biggest battlefield on the "Lian Che" since the rebellion began.

Countless "Zhe Ji" boarded from the side, and upon seeing the "Sheng Xiao" clashing, it invisibly strengthened their resolve to join the resistance.

The fights among the "Ren Ji" seemed much simpler than those of the "Di Ji." They were basically ordinary people, so their brawls were no different from street fights, except that because of their "Sheng Xiao" identities, they focused more on ripping off each other's masks.

As a few masks were torn off, something unexpected happened.

Not only did no "Shen Shou" intervene, but even Qing Long and the "Tian Ji" didn't show up.

The "Ren Ji" who had followed Di Long to suppress the rebels suddenly felt isolated. They might be the only ones on this "Lian Che" choosing to fight back, and despite their prolonged struggle, they had no reinforcements.

But thinking about it, this wasn't surprising. Even with the "Sheng Xiao" fighting so fiercely, Bai Hu hadn't appeared to stop it, so why would ripping off masks bring Zhu Que?

A sense of unease spread among all the "Sheng Xiao." Although the battle between Di Hu and Di Long hadn't been fully decided, the news that "removing masks won't kill you" spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the ears of the many "Ren Ji" and gradually brewing a feeling of "collapse" in their hearts.

If removing masks right now wouldn't kill them... did that mean they could quit being "Sheng Xiao" and go back to being "Zhe Ji"?

After all, everyone had their own reasons for becoming "Sheng Xiao"—some for fame, some to survive, and others just for self-protection, forced to wear the masks.

The open fight between Di Hu and Di Long in the center of the "Lian Che" was undoubtedly telling all the "Ren Ji Sheng Xiao" that they had a chance to regret their choices.

"Damn it..." Di Hu saw his students overwhelmingly beating Di Long's people and got annoyed for a moment. "You guys are so respectful to me normally, but when it comes to fighting, you're even rougher than I am?"

While Di Long was still down, Di Hu stepped forward and quickly lifted all of Di Long's students, tossing them aside and ending the fight in an instant.

Di Long's students realized the tide had turned. They scrambled up from the ground and hurried to help their teacher.

Di Hu checked on his own students and saw that none of them were seriously hurt, so he was about to relax when he suddenly noticed one was missing.

"Shit..." Di Hu's fur twitched, and his heart jumped. "Where's Ren Hou?! How could all of you fail to protect one teammate?!"

He looked around frantically and confirmed that there was no "Hou" mask nearby.

As he spoke, a clean-cut, fair-skinned girl nearby hesitated and said awkwardly, "Teacher... I'm right here."

"Huh...?"

Hearing that familiar voice, Di Hu was momentarily speechless. He turned to look at the girl and saw that her face was worlds apart from the ugly Hou mask— no one could recognize her in this situation.

Caught in her gaze, Di Hu thought to himself that if he didn't have this face full of white fur, he'd probably be blushing right now.

"Why didn't you say something when you took off your mask?" Di Hu grumbled. "You had me worrying for nothing!"

"Uh..." Ren Hou felt helpless with this teacher of hers. He was a good guy, but his impulsiveness was a real headache. "Teacher, I think I spoke up right away."

"I don't care." Di Hu said. "As long as everyone's okay. I didn't learn much from Yang Ge, but the one thing I did learn is that 'my people are mine to deal with.'"

In the crowd, a chubby Di Hou watched this scene and couldn't help but take an interest in Di Hu.

If he remembered correctly, Di Hu had only recently been promoted to "Di Ji," just a few cycles ago. Yet in such a short time, he had made all his students willing to fight desperately for him, even in a rebellion without anyone backing out. They'd only known each other for about a month, which showed Di Hu had some real strengths.

"Old thing."

Di Hu looked at Di Long, who was being helped up by his students. He was so beaten that he was barely conscious and could only stand with effort.

"Want to keep fighting?"

"You..." Di Long tried to speak but ended up spitting out a mouthful of blood. It was clear he wouldn't last much longer even without continuing.

"I'll say it again." Di Hu shouted to the crowd around them. "This rebellion is aimed at all the 'Tian Ji.' You 'Di Ji' should stay out of it and not throw your lives away. If we fail, it has nothing to do with you!"

His booming voice made everyone around fall silent again, and some "Di Ji" even went back to their rooms and shut the doors, pretending nothing had happened.

"Ha..." Di Long clutched his chest and forced a ugly smile. "Even if you talk until you're blue in the face... I have to die here."

"What gives?"

"The other 'Di Ji' can wait for the 'Tian Ji' to die... but I'm the 'Long'... " Di Long gave a bitter laugh, followed by a few more coughs of blood. "Are you suggesting I just sit back and wait for Tian Long to die?"

"What about it?"

"Tian Long is a 'Tian Ji,' right?"

"You..."

"I said it clearly earlier." Di Hu stepped closer and said, "Our target this time is all the 'Tian Ji,' including Tian Long."