At this time, Xiang Yong finally arrived in front of the door to the guard's room. The other demon hurriedly stepped aside and motioned at the door. "It's here."
Xiang Yong gave him a deep look and huffed. "That better be the case." He didn't bother knocking on the door and just opened it, going inside. Nothing could be seen of the person living here or An Bai though, making him turn back to the demon with a stormy expression. This guy had actually dared to lie to him! If anything happened to An Bai because of that …
The demon visibly paled and stared at the room in shock. He was sure that this was the room of the other guard. They should be here! Could it be that they had gone somewhere else? He looked around in a panic and then finally spotted the door to the bathroom. His expression lit up and he pointed over. "I'm sure they're inside there." He didn't wait for Xiang Yong's response and rushed over, pulling the door open.
Xiang Yong narrowed his eyes and followed behind him, peering into the bath himself.
The whole room was shrouded in steam that made everything seem blurred. He could still see the bathtub in the middle of the room and the fair shoulders above the rim that were slightly hunched up, showing how uncomfortable the person inside was.
A man was standing next to him, one arm around An Bai's slender waist, pulling him up against his body. His other hand was curled around An Bai's white hair, forcing him to face up and surrender his lips to the demon.
Xiang Yong's expression turned even worse but he knew that he couldn't act rashly. If he said or did the wrong thing, then these demons would notice what was up. He first had to get rid of the person next to him and then deal with this other one.
The movement at the door alerted the demon inside the bath and he looked up. Seeing one of the other guards, as well as somebody he didn't know, he let go of An Bai and furrowed his brows. "What's going on here?" He looked at the other guard, wanting to get an explanation from him.
The other guard tensed and turned to Xiang Yong instead, afraid that he would get pulled into this if the other guy made it seem as if he was somehow involved. "See? It's just as I said. He's indeed here. Now, I should get back to the dungeon to do my own job. I'm sure your Excellency will be able to deal with this yourself." He didn't even wait for Xiang Yong's response and just bowed, rushing out of the room as if it was on fire. He even smashed the door shut on the way out as if not being subjected to Xiang Yong's gaze could save him somehow.
At that time, the demon in the bath figured out that something had to be wrong. He took another look at Xiang Yong but couldn't recognize him.
An Bai also turned around and a faint smile lit up his face when he saw Xiang Yong. He got up, his gaze cooling when he turned to the demon. He extended his claws and before the demon could question any further, a red streak appeared on his neck.
He reached up and touched his skin where he felt a sting, his brows furrowed. When he took it back it came back red with his own blood. He stared at it in a daze and then turned to An Bai, his eyes widened in surprise.
From the very beginning, he had thought that An Bai would try to escape somehow. But with everything going so smoothly, he had forgotten about that at this moment. And he certainly had never thought that An Bai would actually dare to attack them. He had thought this dragon was utterly helpless and would need to accept whatever he wanted to do to him. Now, he paid the price.
With his eyes still opened widely, the demon fell over, finally lying still on the ground.
An Bai shook his hand, getting rid of the blood on his claws before retracting them without taking another look at the demon. Then, he turned to Xiang Yong. "You were just in time."
Xiang Yong nodded and then picked up the robe on the ground, giving it a look. "Do you have anything else to wear?"
An Bai nodded and took out a robe from his spatial ring, stepping out of the bathtub and putting it on. He glanced at the bracelet that was still on his wrist but didn't take it of. Doing so would still require a bit of time and it was best if they left immediately.
"What about the other demon just now?"
"He should've returned to the dungeon. They might figure out later on what happened but we'll be back in the dragon realm by then. Let's just go." He turned around and An Bai followed him out of the room and through the corridors of the demon king's palace.
With Xiang Yong still in the same get-up as before, he just seemed like somebody escorting a prisoner. Especially since An Bai made it a point to flash the bracelet on his wrist every now and then. As it turned out, the thing could actually come in so handy. It seemed he had made the right call before when he left it on.
Soon enough, the two of them had left the palace. They exchanged a glance and Xiang Yong changed into his other form, picked An Bai up in one hand and then flew off, leaving the demon realm behind.
He didn't care at all about the demons that might see them and just sped up as much as he could, making sure that they would be far away when anybody found out what happened. Soon enough, they reached the dragon king's palace.
An Bai looked up at the familiar walls and heaved a sigh of relief. "It's good to finally be back. Thank you for your help. I'm really not sure if I would have been able to get out this easily on my own."
"Don't mention it. It's what I should do." Xiang Yong motioned inside and the two of them went back to Xiang Yong's study, sitting down to contact their king. It was as if the time in the dungeon had merely been a trifle.