“Big Brother! Hug me, I feel cold!” 

A soft childlike voice resounded coquettishly and giggled as Xu Ningyan reached out the child before him. Was he dreaming? Even if he was, who was this? He did not recognise him at all. This was the first time he had ever seen something like this. Since when could anyone order him around?

Even in a dream, this was not possible. This face… 

Given that this was a dream, he who never dreams, had no control over it. If that was the case, he could only see how far this would go. 

For every insolence he was put through, he would remember to collect debt from the owner of this face in the near future. 

“A baby like this wouldn’t be able to find a wife. How are you going to live up to that bastard’s expectations?” 

A voice, unlike his own. And yet, at the same time, very much like his own. Indifferent with a hint of indulgence. A foreign feeling. 

The child lifted his head; his doe-like innocent eyes brimmed with an emotion Xu Ningyan could not comprehend. There were hints of mischievousness and a look her second brother always adorn when in front of Xi Yunhe.

“Does Big Brother want to be my wife?”

“No, too troublesome.”

“Then I don’t need a wife. I only want Big Brother.”

“Oh? How are you going to explain that to that bastard? What if he blames me for seducing his son?”

“Baby will take the blame for his wife!”

“Oh? Didn’t you say you won’t take a wife?” 

“You’re seducing me and you won’t take responsibility for me?” The child frowned and feigned being wronged, replying to a question with a question.

“Rascal.”

What a silly face. How could such shameless words be said by such an innocent child? Xu Ningyan knocked his head lightly. A straight feeling filled him as the child’s giggling resounded and before he could hear what the child said, he woke up. 

At the same time Song Wenyue woke up as well.

Song Wenyue, seeing his arms around Xu Ningyan, quickly let go and he grumbled slightly but his breathing was stable and unchanged, believing that he was still asleep.

He was relieved but also scared as well. How should he explain himself? No, he had committed a great sin! He must take responsibility! How could he have done this? 

If he could, he would have been startled and moved back a couple of meters. But with the tree behind him, there was nowhere to run. 

Xu Ningyan could feel his nervousness and unwittingly smiled. He could almost imagine his silly face. 

Song Wenyue noticed her smile and shuddered. Was he awake the whole time?! He felt dizzy and uncomfortable all over. 

“Xu N-ningyan, you’re awake?” 

“Song Wenyue.” 

“W-what?!” 

“How long are you going to take advantage of this young master?” 

“I’m sorry!!!” 

Song Wenyue quickly released his hold on his waist. Xu Ningyan then got up to his feet and stretched. 

“I’ll take responsibility for you!” 

“?”  

Xu Ningyan raised an eyebrow at him, and then as if recalling something, he chuckled. He drew near, pinching his chin and forced him to look at him. 

“How will you do that? Marry me?” 

Song Wenyue blushed with shame. “No! I meant yes-no! We don’t have time for this! We should leave!” He quickly averted his gaze and looked around. 

Xu Ningyan stared at him thoughtfully. Maybe it would not be that bad to marry this idiot back into his house... 

“Which way should we go?” He quickly spoke, almost biting his tongue. He scrambled to his feet, taking her hand off his chin.

He asked as he caught up to him. They were walking alongside the river.

“Oh, you trust me that much? Have you forgotten where we are?” He laughed as fire flying beasts hovered around them happily as if affected by his laughter.

“Forgotten Woods are known to mislead people to their deaths but…” Song Wenyue looked at Xu Ningyan. “I feel like you can bring us out.” 

“You know it’s my first time here right? And you're the actual citizen of this country...” 

“Yes, but even so…” 

“You’re not wrong though. For us to leave this place, we just need some help from the locals here.” 

“?” Locals? There are people staying here? 

The flying beasts became agitated at Xu Ningyan’s words. As if wanting to be the one to lead them out, they started pushing one another away, crying at him to pick them. 

Song Wenyue watched them in disbelief; afterall magic beasts were known to be temperamental and unwilling to be following another’s orders unless it was their own master. For those that had lived in the wild for ages, it was even impossible for them to lower themselves for a person. 

Song Wenyue himself was very unlucky in this matter. Among his fellow martial brothers, he was the only one unable to win the favour of any magic beasts that their Master brought to them. And this age even, he must be the only one among his peers that did not possess a single magic beast. 

He did not know why but most of the magic beasts he had seen seemed to shun him from fear or from loathe, he did not know. The ones around Xu Ningyan, did not seem to shun him as much but…? Something tells him that if he tried to bind a contract with any of them, something bad would happen.  

The beasts around her seemed to be at a higher cultivation level than him but acting like mere pets… Magic beasts were separated into different rarities and nine ranks like cultivators with rank one the lowest and nine the highest. He was pretty sure he saw a tiger looking one in there… flying and size as small as a dragonfly…  

As he was lost in his thoughts, he did realise that Xu Ningyan had stopped and bumped into him. 

“....sorry.” He quickly backed away. 

Even though he wanted to tease him some more, he had to push it aside for now and settle the matters at hand. 

He pointed upwards and both of them jumped up and hid in one of the trees. 

Shuffling in the bushes could be heard and two people dressed in black, face covered, appeared and walked towards the river. 

“How can this be!” 

“I don’t sense them anymore…” 

“It’s okay if we cannot find them, remember what the Lady told us. We can lure them by going to that place.” 

“....That...ohhh, but why?” 

“The Lady did not tell us why, only wanting Xu Ningyan to die but judging by how Master was acting…”

Song Wenyue stiffened and looked at Xu Ningyan. There was a slight mocking smile on his face.  They want his life? They would have to see if they even had the ability to do so in the first place. 

“Is that young man… Master’s bastard son?” 

“Should be or the Lady wouldn’t be acting so crazily. One has to know the Poetry Garden isn’t some weak organisation that can be just trampled upon. There’s even Yunwu Shi behind them…” 

“Only when it comes to the Master would the Lady lose her head right… but it isn’t like the Master would ever look at her that way…” 

“Shh, let’s hurry before we get in trouble.” 

Both of them darted forward after they finished talking. There were sounds of movement ahead. Movement of magic beasts trying to lure them away from Song Wenyue and Xu Ningyan. 

“Son eh?” Xu Ningyan snorted.  

“They must be crazy to think that the Young Master Xu is related to their master,” Song Wenyue said without much thought.

“But what if they aren’t crazy? What if there is some truth to their words?” 

“That… but you’re from a noble birth, how would you have anything to do with demonic cultivators?” 

“What if I told you that Gentleman Xu isn’t my actual father and that my biological father was said to be a real scum though?” he laughed like it had nothing to do with him. 

Song Wenyue looked at Xu Ningyan worriedly. “You should not have told me that.” 

“It changes nothing, you don’t have to take my words seriously,” the corner of his lips curled. “It’s not like you’re going to spread rumours about me.” 

“I would never,” he replied seriously. 

“So serious. I know you won’t, but… forget about it. It’s baseless, even if my father truly was their master, it doesn’t change the fact that they want my life. That said,” he chuckled, “that ‘father’ is just another target that I have to kill.” 

“...” 

“You don’t have to worry your silly little head about it. ‘Father’ is just a name without any meaning to me.”  

Did that not seem a bit heartless of him? No matter, a father is… but who was he to judge? He did not know his story at all.  

“I understand.” 

“Seriously, my guards are such slowpokes. How long are they going to make me wait?” 

“???” 

“Hmm? Don’t worry, our enemies might be in the dark and we, in the light but my guards are also in the dark. Who knows who will win in the end.” 

“Oh… you’re well prepared.” 

“If I’m not, I wouldn’t be able to live up to both my reputation.” 

“How will they find us though? This is the Forgotten Woods after all…” 

“The locals will lead them straight to us.” 

“Locals? We haven’t seen anyone…” 

Xu Ningyan raised an eyebrow at him and looked around them. 

“Then, what are these?” Xu Ningyan spread his arms, hinting at the fire magic beasts surrounding them. 

“Fire… magic beasts?” 

“And…?” 

“...” 

“Have you realised something?” 

“How…?” 

“Well, for one, there is not a single fire magic beast that would not listen to me when they see me. Haven’t figured out the reason behind this, but I know for sure they would not turn against me baselessly. Even those bound by contracts would think twice before going against me.”

“??? Do you possess a special magic tool or something?” 

“No such things.” 

“Then how…?” 

“Who knows? But, I would be an idiot if I don’t use it to my advantage.” 

“As expected of Young Master Xu, very resourceful,” Song Wenyue nodded, pushing down the concern in his stomach. Though he was flattered to know more about this Palace Master, he felt like he knew too much for a normal friend… They are friends right?  

Was he like this with all his friends? But he did not look like the type to socialise nor enjoy the company of others. He felt like… he did not really like talking but with him, he already told him too much.

“Come on, let’s hurry. I want to know what they are pulling,” Xu Ningyan said as he sped up. 

“...We’re heading directly to a trap?” Song Wenyue frowned. 

“Yes, a place I will definitely go. I can’t wait to see what’s in store for me.” 

“...” 

“Hurry, hurry, we mustn’t disappoint our enemies.” 

Even though he was urging him to speed up, there was not a speck of excitement in his voice. He sounded cold and disinterestedly, a huge contrast to his actions. 

Are we not supposed to disappoint our enemies though? Song Wenyue thought, sighing inwardly. He really cannot keep up with Xu Ningyan’s thoughts. He assumed the Palace Master to be aloof; unbothered by the tricks of his enemies and the world but… every assumption he had of him seemed to be destroyed into bits by him.

Meanwhile at the other side of woods, Xu Ningyan’s five shadow guards were traversing the forest without much interaction. To say the mood was tense, it would be wrong and to say otherwise was also wrong. It might be for the fact that they were used to their master disappearing on them or getting separated from them and also that they believe in their master’s ability to stay calm and able to act rationally no matter what the situation might be. 

Though ‘acting rationally’ might be a little too much for their master. After all, he only acted on whims. That was of course forgivable only when one was him.  

“Hey, A-Yun, I’ve never seen Shi Mo that angry. What did you say to her?”   

“I think in the whole of Mt Yunwu, only you can piss her off…” 

“Seriously, can’t you speak nicely to her?” 

“What can you expect from a man who’s bad with women?” 

The other seemed to agree with each other silently. Shi Yun was extremely annoyed with his companions. They had been nagging nonstop since they left for the Forgotten Woods. 

It was a good thing, they had someone guiding them, he thought, staring at the fireflies in front of them without a word or else, he would have beaten them up by now. 

Who said he was bad with women? How could Shi Mo, a fellow shadow guard, be considered a woman????! What woman would not fall for his good bearings and words???? Not like he had either, but still… No matter what, he was still considered a gentleman amongst young ladies. 

As to why they were following the fireflies blindly, it was because of their master’s influence over fire magic beasts. While they held doubts over their master’s ability to control all fire type magic beasts, up till now, there was still no evidence to prove their doubts correct. 

In the distance, they could hear a hawk’s cry. Shi Yun squinted his eyes. The cry was shrill and foreboding. 

“Could that be a signal from his highness?” 

“Do you think he’s waiting for us to join the fun?”

“...” 

“A-Yun?”  

“Let’s hurry,” Shi Yun sighed inwardly and dashed ahead. Seriously, these guys have no sense of urgency. They do not even know if their master got hurt or not. Why are they so carefree? Was their faith in him so strong that they believe he is fine and just sitting around waiting for them to go pick him up? Or was it that his faith was the one that was lacking? 

Xu Ningyan and Song Wenyue entered a small clearing. When they looked up, the stars seemed to shine dimly. Ahead of them was a large stone rubble that they could have imagined to be a grand fountain with a huge statue in the middle. Water leaked through the holes between the holes and blue flowers were scattered everywhere. 

Their two pursuers were not in sight. Xu Ningyan’s eyes locked onto the stone rubbles. His chest felt incredibly heavy and uncomfortable. What was it? 

While he was getting distracted, something shot up from the waterfall. It was a hawk who was crying angrily. Song Wenyue instantly felt something amiss.  

The hawk flew down, trying to chase them away but Xu Ningyan would not budge as his breathing grew erratic. There were cuts on his face and attire but his gaze never left the stone rubble. 

Song Wenyue called out to Xu Ningyan, wanting to retreat together but there was no response. He turned to his side and noticed that something was wrong with the Palace Master. 

“Ah, as expected, you recognised it,” a feminine voice came from behind. 

The hawk at this moment stopped what it was doing, opting to return to the statue and watched the situation unfold before it. 

Song Wenyue turned towards the voice and his back was against Xu Ningyan’s back. He raised his sword defensively. 

From the forest came an extravagantly dressed woman and two people clad in black. The woman’s blue robe hugged her body loosely, showing off her voluptuous appearance. Her golden accessories glimmered incessantly, her wealth displayed in full view. Her phoenix eyes and makeup complemented her fair skin so well anyone who stood next to her would feel lacking. A long whip hung on their waist belt.  

She smiled haughtily and the captivating red paint on her lip glimmered devilishly as she looked down at Xu Ningyan.  

“Xu Ningyan ah Xu Ningyan, you should have stayed dead. Why did you decide to show up again?” 

Dead? What was this person talking about?  

Song Wenyue nudged at Xu Ningyan and glanced at him. It did not seem like he could hear them at the moment. He turned back and glared at the woman.

“What did you do to Young Master Xu?”  

“Tsk, tsk, wrong question kiddo. It should be ‘what did I do to the Black Tortoise?’” 

Black Tortoise? One of the heavenly beasts? Do heavenly beasts actually exist? Even if they do, how could a human be able to do anything to it?  

What did that have to do with Xu Ningyan? 

“You look like you don’t believe it. I really did not do anything to him. He’s just being affected by the Black Tortoise’s death because he has the Vermillion Bird’s inheritance. These heavenly beasts are closer than any kins, after all.”  

The woman shrugged, looking down at them mockingly and smirked.  

Why was that woman spouting on and on about ‘Black Tortoise’s death’?  

How could a human be able to kill him?  

Impossible. 

Impossible. 

“Shut up!”  

Xu Ningyan turned; his expressions were dark and unreadable. It seemed like he was unhappy about something and yet, at the same thing, there was something else.  

“Shut up? A bastard has no right to ask me to shut up,” the woman broke in a hysterical laughter before whipping her whip at Xu Ningyan a couple of times but Song Wenyue swung his sword to block her attacks. 

Annoying.  

“Hey young man, don’t get in the way or I’ll bury you with him.” 

“You’ll only get to hurt him… Over my dead body,” Song Wenyue gritted his teeth.  

The corner of the woman’s full lips twitched. She did not have time for this brotherly facade. 

“Then, die.” 

The sound of her laughter attracted Xu Ningyan’s attention and so he scrutinised the woman’s features. He looked unpleasantly familiar, that snake face, that obnoxious laughter…  

When their eyes met, hatred could be reflected in both their eyes. The woman raised her whip hatefully. Song Wenyue pursed his lips as he watched the woman and her followers approaching them. 

Unwillingness, hatred… Negative feelings seemed to pour from Xu Ningyan’s sea of consciousness. He felt like he hated this person the more he looked at her… and it was not just a simple hatred. His mind was screaming at him, asking him to rip the woman’s flesh and bones out until there was nothing left… but why?  

They had never met each other before this, right? 

Images of a familiar figure being tortured flashed before him. One of the torturers was a woman. Then all he could was red.  

Weakness and hopelessness.  

Unmistakably, this woman and the one in his mind had similar figures.  

Xu Ningyan’s chest tightened in discomfort, his gaze lowered, immersed in the emotions broiling in his soul. Oblivious to the woman’s attacks, which despite being countered by Song Wenyue at times, still managed to reach both of them in searing strikes.

He could hear things crawling into her ears when there were none. Each step of those things overwhelmed his entire being in pain, clawing and burrowing into his flesh. 

Whose experience was this? Was it the ‘Black Tortoise’? Or was it someone else? 

It felt like he was being torn apart. 

“Are you frustrated? Angry? Do you hate me?”  

The woman spoke out, laughing proudly in attempts to provoke the unmovable Xu Ningyan. 

“What are you trying to do? Stop it!”

Song Wenyue was out of breath as he struggled to fend off every attack raised at them, and could not help but shout. He still could not use his qi properly and felt desperate. If he fell here, they would kill her. He kept an eye out for Xu Ningyan, covering for him as much as he could. There was only so much he could do.

If anything happened to him… he would not be able to live with it.  

Stronger, he needed to be stronger…  

“Isn’t it obvious? The Vermilion Bird was known to have a bad temper. When they’re angry, even gods and demons alike would have to bow down to them.” 

The woman stared at Xu Ningyan, thinking that as the Vermillion Bird’s host, he was truly an unstable vessel. If she could rile him up more and make him lose control, she would have an easier time at controlling him. 

The woman waved her hand and the masked men clad in black attacked Song Wenyue simultaneously, leaving him no chance to retaliate at all so she could finish Xu Ningyan off without disturbance. Not when he had not fully recovered, and not when he could not use his qi properly at all. 

With openings, they changed their target to Xu Ningyan. 

“With that broken inheritance of yours, you are prone to self-destruction. We do not need you alive. Hurry up and die, won’t you? Your friend here won’t be able to hold on anymore.” 

Noticing that the air around Xu Ningyan was growing more and more volatile, she quickly added. The more unstable Xu Ningyan was, the happier and more brilliant the smile on the woman’s face was. She stood where she was like an art piece, watching both youth in pain.

When the stench of their blood permeated the air, the dark skies suddenly changed. The attackers could not help but backed away in caution. Waves of wailing and howling resonated through the air. 

Xu Ningyan snapped out of it as if hearing whisperings. He turned and met Song Wenyue’s unwavering gaze. There was a mix of determination and concern in his eyes. Sourness filled his nose, as if recalling something, something really important, but that memory slipped away before he could recall them.  

His weak body was filled with cuts; his robes were once again tainted with red. Both of them were drenched in sweat. Every new cut on him seemed to add the anger and killing intention in Xu Ningyan. His heart started pounding violently in anger.  

While there was dangerous air around them, it felt like Song Wenyue would collapse at any moment. 

Unforgivable. Mere humans dare to lay their hands on this lord’s…   

“What are you fools standing around for? Get the bastard!” The woman snapped, swinging the whip around. 

Song Wenyue was out of breath but when he heard her speak, he snapped. Like he would allow them to hurt Xu Ningyan.  

Over my dead body!  

He lunged forward, towards the woman and swung his sword at her mercilessly. There was a strange glint in his eyes. 

The woman squinted her eyes at Song Wenyue and cracked her whip in defence. His swings were not supposed to reach her but each swing grew sharper than before.  

Strange flames enveloped themselves around his sword. Following them, strange markings appeared on the blade. She was taken aback by the development, noticing that the strange flames seemed to be trying to reach out for her.

What was strange was that the flames were emitting a different aura in contrast to his own. It was burning strongly and wildly as if having a mind of its own and broke through her defence. 

The flames danced haughtily as they burnt her and she quickly backed away. She looked at Song Wenyue cautiously before breaking into a smile nervously. She could recognise that aura anywhere. She tasted the lethalness of said flames in full glory first handedly after all. She bit her lips angrily and glared at the youth before her hatefully. 

“Song Wenyue, was it? Who are you, really? Why do you possess the flames of the Fire Sovereign?” 

Song Wenyue, noticing the strange gazes on him, looked at the woman calmly. Though he too, did not know what was going on, there was no way he would let the enemies in on that secret right? “I don't know what you’re talking about,” he replied, feigning ignorance.  

The woman looked at him and then at Xu Ningyan before laughing once more.

 

“Interesting, might you be a more important existence than you think? Can’t wait to take you back and dissect you. Might just be able to lure him out from hiding finally.” She licked her lower lips that were bleeding. Her gaze flickered from fear to hatred and curiosity quickly. 

Xu Ningyan, who had long reached Song Wenyue’s side, shocked everyone when he suddenly had his chin resting lazily on his shoulder while a hand lay on the other shoulder. A lazy smile on his face. His once black irises were golden now. The air around him that was once unstable and violent was now calm and dangerous.  

A dangerous chuckle resounded close to Song Wenyue’s ear. He felt a slight itching in his heart as it thumped. He turned to him worriedly but his gaze was onto the enemy before them.  

“Before you take him away you’ll need my permission. And unfortunately, no, you’re not allowed to.” 

The wailing and howling around them grew louder and the woman could not help but feel threatened. She could not tell what Xu Ningyan’s level was at this very moment. Before, it barely reached her rank but now… she could not tell at all. How did the bastard jump ranks so fast? Was he hiding it the entire time? How could they have never heard of this? 

“...Impossible. He said that your inheritance was incomplete, you’re a waste and would never ever transcend beyond rank five…?”