Dark Hummingbird was a handsome middle-aged man, and he was also Long Bing's father.

That's right, the woman that Wu Zhangkong had fallen so deeply in love with was the daughter of an Evil Soul Master.

At the time, he had been unaware of this.

Instead of inheriting the Dark Hummingbird martial soul, Long Bing had inherited her mother's martial soul, but ever since she was a child, Dark Hummingbird had been trying to put her onto the path of becoming an Evil Soul Master.

As one of the four heavenly monarchs of the Holy Spirit Cult, Dark Hummingbird treated even his own daughter as nothing more than a tool. He raised his daughter and used the fact that her martial soul didn't belong to an Evil Soul Master to his advantage. 

He made her enroll in Shrek Academy, and she was in the same cohort as Wu Zhangkong.

They were in the same class, and both of them were top students. Having lived under the shadow of an Evil Soul Master all her life, Long Bing was always very cold and forbidding, but she was very beautiful, and due to the seating arrangement in class, Wu Zhangkong sat next to her every day.

During their lessons, he would inevitably catch sight of the beautiful figure sitting next to him, and at some point, her image had been branded deep into his heart.

After entering Shrek Academy, Long Bing's state of mind began to change. For the first time, she came to realize that there was such a place in the human world that wasn't entirely cruel and cold; she discovered that the ideals that her father had drilled into her from birth weren't entirely correct.

She saw with her very own eyes students helping one another and even taking attacks for their companions; she saw everyone develop from fellow students to friends in a joyful family-like environment.

Time slowly passed by, and all of this was influencing her personality in subtle ways.

No one was born evil, not even Evil Soul Masters. Besides, she wasn't an Evil Soul Master, and she had a very kind heart.

However, Dark Hummingbird naturally had an ulterior motive for planting her in Shrek Academy, which was to make her collect information on the academy. At the same time, she was to do her best to make it into the inner court so she would have access to more of Shrek Academy's secrets.

Long Bing became very conflicted and began to detest her mission, and it was at this point in time that Wu Zhangkong began to make an impression on her.

In a group sparring session, they were coincidentally put in the same group.

Even though Long Bing was very beautiful, her cold demeanor meant that she had virtually no friends, and even male students refrained from approaching her.

At the time, both of them were in the primes of their youth, and they began to cultivate and train together.

Wu Zhangkong had always been one of the top performers of their class, and at the time, he was still an exuberant and enthusiastic young man.

Long Bing was slowly infected by his exuberance, and the two of them naturally grew closer and closer.

Upon graduating from the outer court, Wu Zhangkong swore a vow to the heavens that he would do everything in his power to become a four-word battle armor master, and that the name of his four-word battle armor would be Sky Frost Dragon Ice!  

[1]

Long Bing fell hopelessly in love with him, but on one side was the joy and exhilaration of first love, while on the other side was the constant mounting pressure from her father.

Once they entered the inner court, Dark Hummingbird began to make more and more demands of her, ordering her to steal more information from Shrek Academy.

By then, Long Bing was already extremely averse to all of this, but she couldn't just not listen to her father.

She was irrevocably in love with Wu Zhangkong and Shrek Academy, but at the same time, she was naturally well aware of her own roots.

She didn't dare to tell anyone about her father, even Wu Zhangkong, as she was afraid that doing so would make her lover and everything that she derived joy from.

Thus, she could only continue to live in constant pain and conflict while carefully carrying out her father's orders.

However, it was not to last. Shrek Academy was the number one academy on the continent, and there was no lack of Titled Douluos in the academy, especially in the inner court.

One time, when she was stealing files from Shrek Academy's database, she was caught red-handed.

As Long Bing's lover, Wu Zhangkong was naturally stunned to discover this, and he shielded her with his own body, frantically promising his teacher that there was no way she would do something like steal information from Shrek Academy. Meanwhile, Long Bing merely wept in silence.

In the face of the concrete evidence, the reality was undeniable, regardless of how unwilling Wu Zhangkong was to believe it. However, Long Bing hadn't incurred any substantial damage to the academy, so in the end, it was decided that she would merely be expelled.

On the day that she left, Wu Zhangkong stubbornly went against Zhuo Shi's wishes and decided to leave with her. Thus, both of them left the academy that they had grown to love so dearly. When weighing up the person that he loved and the place that he loved, he chose the former in the end.

However, they had only just emerged from Shrek City before Dark Hummingbird arrived.

He first denounced Long Bing as useless and worthless, then set his sights on Wu Zhangkong.

Only then did Wu Zhangkong realize that he had been wrong, that Long Bing really was a spy planted in the academy by an Evil Soul Master. He had fallen in love with the daughter of an Evil Soul Master, and she had been lying to him this entire time.

The agony in his heart was unbearable and he asked Long Bing why over and over again.

However, Long Bing wasn't in any less pain than he was.

Through their interaction, it became apparent to Dark Hummingbird that the two of them shared a special relationship. All those who managed to make it into Shrek Academy were exceptional prodigies, so he immediately tried to lure Wu Zhangkong to his side, telling him that he would allow Wu Zhangkong to be with his daughter if he agreed to replace her as a spy in Shrek Academy.

However, Wu Zhangkong was too proud, and he was still fuming from discovering his lover's deceit, so he vowed to choose death before surrender.

Thus, Dark Hummingbird decided to kill him before taking Long Bing away.

At the time, Wu Zhangkong was already an inner court disciple and had become quite powerful, but he was naturally no match for Dark Hummingbird, one of the four heavenly monarchs. After just a few exchanges, he was already severely wounded.

Right as Dark Hummingbird was about to land the killing blow, Long Bing threw herself in front of Wu Zhangkong and took the lethal blow for him.

Dark Hummingbird was momentarily rooted to the spot at the sight of his daughter falling to the ground, but as opposed to trying to save her, he merely turned and left, leaving Long Bing on the brink of death.

She fell into Wu Zhangkong's arms, and with her dying breaths, she finally told him everything.

In the end, she passed away in Wu Zhangkong's arms, suffering a tragic and premature end to her life right as she was entering her prime.

Prior to her death, Long Bing held tightly onto Wu Zhangkong's hand, imploring him not to avenge her. Regardless of what Dark Hummingbird had done, he was still her father.

This was why Wu Zhangkong later went to a seaside city to become a teacher. Even though his heart was filled with hatred, he chose to abide by Long Bing's dying request.

However, upon seeing Dark Hummingbird on this battlefield and thinking back to what he had done, the hatred in Wu Zhangkong's heart was ready to explode.

How irredeemable did one have to be to kill even their own daughter? Even if it weren't for Long Bing's sake, he should kill this vile man here for the greater good.

[1] [Quick reminder that the literal translation of Long Bing's name (龍冰) is Dragon Ice.]