Ye Chuan clutched his head and rested for a good while before the sharp, piercing pain finally began to fade.
He looked up, meeting Bess's worried gaze, and forced a smile. "I'm really fine, just a sudden headache."
Bess handed over a waterskin. "Drink some water... The environment in the Black Pine Forest is harsh as it is. It's too dangerous to be out here alone."
"Thanks." Ye Chuan took the waterskin and took a sip, but his mind was still dwelling on what had just happened.
He hesitated for a moment before asking, "Miss Bess, could you tell me more about Princess Irena? I... I just feel like that name is very familiar."
"Of course." Bess smiled, her tone turning gentle.
"Her Royal Highness just turned one month old last month, and the entire Hill Empire has been celebrating her birth."
"His Majesty dotes on her immensely and gave her the name 'Irena', which means 'Gift of Light'."
As she spoke, she pulled a delicate parchment scroll from her coat and handed it to Ye Chuan.
"I have a portrait of Her Highness from her one-month celebration right here. It was painted by the royal artist. On this patrol, we are required to display the portrait in every region to pray for the Princess's blessings."
Ye Chuan took the scroll and carefully unrolled it.
The painting depicted an exquisite, rosy-cheeked infant wrapped in white velvet swaddling clothes, eyes closed in deep, peaceful sleep.
And right in the center of the swaddling clothes hung a pendant.
The moment he saw the pendant, Ye Chuan frowned. He felt a bizarre sense of familiarity.
"This pendant..." Ye Chuan looked at Bess.
"Is it very special?"
"Of course it is," Bess nodded and explained. "This is a birth gift personally presented to the Princess by the Elven race. It's polished from the core crystal of the Elven Sacred Tree. It can grant immunity to all negative effects and bless the wearer with peace and health. It is the only one of its kind on the entire continent."
"Is that so..." Ye Chuan muttered.
"Mr. Ye Chuan? What's wrong?" Seeing his face turn pale and his eyes lose focus, Bess couldn't help but grow even more worried.
Ye Chuan took a deep breath and finally confessed, "Actually... I have amnesia. About three months ago, I woke up outside the town of Yisu with no memories at all. I don't know who I am, where I come from, or where I'm supposed to go."
"When I heard Princess Irena's name just now, I suddenly got a terrible headache. And seeing this pendant, it feels incredibly familiar, as if... I've seen these things before."
"Amnesia?" Bess and the merchant Toby were both stunned.
The merchant Toby pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and suddenly spoke up, "Mr. Ye Chuan, I actually know a bit of restoration magic."
"Though it might not work on amnesia caused by severe soul trauma, we can give it a try. It might just awaken some fragmented memories."
"Really?!" Ye Chuan's eyes lit up, and he stood up abruptly. "Please do! Mr. Toby! You must help me try it!"
He desperately wanted to know his past. Those blank memories were like a thorn, constantly piercing his heart.
"No problem." Merchant Toby nodded, took a crystal wand out of his leather suitcase, and stood in front of Ye Chuan.
"Just relax and don't resist the magic's power. I will guide your soul and see if we can find the lost memory fragments."
Ye Chuan took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and tried his best to relax.
Merchant Toby raised his wand and began chanting an ancient incantation.
A soft white light shot forth from the tip of the wand, slowly enveloping Ye Chuan's body.
But the moment the white light touched Ye Chuan's skin, a sudden change occurred.
A faint, nearly transparent black halo suddenly surfaced over Ye Chuan's body.
The moment the white magical light touched the dark halo, it was like snow meeting the blazing sun—it instantly melted and vanished without a trace.
"Ugh—"
Merchant Toby let out a muffled groan, forced back several steps by the rebounding magical energy. The crystal wand in his hand nearly fell to the ground.
"What happened?!" Merchant Toby stared at Ye Chuan in sheer disbelief. "My magic... it was devoured!"
"I have never encountered anything like this! Your soul is encased in an incredibly powerful force that completely repels any external magic! Forget about restoring your memories, my magic cannot even penetrate your body!"
Ye Chuan opened his eyes and looked at his own palms, his heart filled with bewilderment.
It was like this again.
Whether it was the slashes of swords and axes from before, or the magic just now, nothing could inflict any effect on him.
What exactly was hiding inside his body?
Bess stood up as well, looking at Ye Chuan with eyes full of shock and curiosity.
She had originally thought Ye Chuan was just an ordinary adventurer with a bit more strength than usual. Now, it seemed his true identity was far from simple.
"I'm sorry..."
"Oh, it's fine. You tried so hard to help me, and I'm very grateful to you," Ye Chuan said immediately. However, even he hadn't expected that his amnesia would be impossible to fix.
"Um... before your amnesia, Mr. Ye Chuan, was your name really Ye Chuan?" Bess asked from the side.
"Well... I also remember the name Huang Haotian," Ye Chuan replied.
Bess shook her head; it was clear she had no knowledge of either Huang Haotian or Ye Chuan.
Ye Chuan remained silent for a moment before another name suddenly surfaced in his mind. "What about Luo Xi?"
"I'm sorry, I haven't heard any of those names. Plus... these names don't sound like common ones in the Hill Empire."
"I see..." Ye Chuan could only murmur in response.
...
The rest of the night passed in silence.
Early the next morning, the heavy rain finally stopped.
Golden sunlight pierced through the gaps in the leaves and shone into the cave. The air was filled with the fresh scent of wet soil and grass after the rain.
Ye Chuan packed up his cloth bag, strapped his longsword to his back, and bowed to Bess and the merchant Toby.
"Thank you both for your help last night. And Mr. Toby, thank you for being willing to help me. I should set off now to find the Demon Wolf."
"Wait!"
Bess suddenly spoke up, picking up her own longsword and shield. "I'm going with you."
Ye Chuan was taken aback. "There's no need, Miss Bess. It's too dangerous. This is my own business, and I can't drag you into it."
"You're not dragging me into anything." Bess shook her head, her eyes resolute.
"Clearing out monsters and protecting civilians is the duty of a knight of the Hill Empire."
"Besides, the Demon Wolf has already killed so many people. I was planning to go deal with it anyway. Not to mention, it's too dangerous for you to go alone. I have experience dealing with Tier 3 monsters. If we go together, our chances of winning are much higher."
She looked at Ye Chuan and said earnestly, "I can't just stand by and watch you go to your death."
Seeing the determination in her eyes, Ye Chuan felt a wave of warmth in his heart. He hesitated for a moment before finally nodding. "Alright. I'll be counting on you then, Miss Bess."
Bess joined the party.
e bizarre and supernatural had descended. The previous emperor was a thoroughgoing tyrant; no longer satisfied with human women, he had set his sights on a stunningly beautiful supernatural entity. He met his end in his bedchamber, drained of all his vital essence. As the legitimate eldest son and crown prince, Wang Hao was thus hastily enthroned, becoming the young emperor of the Great Zhou Dynasty. No sooner had he awakened the "Imperial Sign-In Intelligence System" than he was assassinated by a Son of Destiny—a classic villain's opening. The Great Zhou, ravaged by the former emperor's excesses, was in national decline. The great families within its borders harbored their own treacherous schemes, martial sects began to defy the imperial court's decrees, and border armies, their pay and provisions in arrears, grumbled incessantly against the central government. Fortunately, the central capital was still held secure by the half-million Imperial Guards and fifty thousand Imperial Forest Army who obeyed the court's orders, along with the royal family's hidden reserves of power, barely managing to suppress the realm. As the Great Zhou's finances worsened and supernatural activities grew ever more frequent, the court sat atop a volcano. Ambitious plotters everywhere dreamed of overthrowing the dynasty, and even some reclusive ancient powers emerged, attempting to sway the tides of the world. At the first grand court assembly, the civil and military officials nearly came to blows, fighting tooth and nail over the allocation of fifty million taels of silver from the summer tax revenues. The spectacle opened Wang Hao's eyes—the Great Zhou's bureaucracy was not only corrupt but also martially proficient, a cabinet of all-rounders. Some officials even had the audacity to suggest the emperor release funds from the imperial privy purse to address the emergency. Wang Hao suddenly felt weary. Let it all burn.
m back to his original world. In the end, he realized he had overthought things. [Hey, why is Shen Manni, the female lead, acting strange? Shouldn't she be fawning over the male lead at this point?] [Zhou Qiaoqiao, are you sick? Weren't you supposed to break off your engagement today?] [Damn it! An Youyi, please do your job as an undercover agent and sell my information to the protagonist, you idiot!] ... At this moment, Xu Mo himself didn't know that these female leads had already heard his inner thoughts. Then they decided not to play by the rules. Xu Mo: Please respect my profession as the big villain!
ing gift was a patch of barren land, and disciples were all picked up along the way. He spent fifty years diligently building three "ramshackle little sects," thinking he could finally live a carefree life relying on his disciples. But right at the fifty-year mark, he was suddenly swept away by a spatial rift and exiled to the Chaos Desolation, the Disorderly Ruins. There was no spiritual energy there, only slaughter. Relying on the cultivation feedback from his disciples, Gu Changyuan hacked his way through a sea of blood for eleven hundred years. When the system finally fished him back out, he discovered the ramshackle little sects he'd built back then had developed a rather... unusual style. Hold on... I vanished for a thousand years, so how did my ramshackle little sects become holy lands?!
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
