Chapter 6

He advanced toward them step by step, a vicious look on his face.

"Ah!" Zhou Yuan instinctively shielded her face with her hands and cried out, "Don't touch me!"

Lin Yu shielded Zhou Yuan behind her defensively. Every time Zhang Dian tried to grab Zhou Yuan, Lin Yu blocked him. Zhang Dian's anger flared instantly, and the atmosphere grew tense and strained.

At that moment, Fu Ming spoke unhurriedly, "So you are Crown Prince Zhang Dian?"

Fu Ming took a sip of tea. "The Crown Princess and my wife have hit it off and are deep in conversation. My wife rarely meets someone who truly understands her. The Crown Princess will stay tonight to share some heart-to-heart words with my wife. I apologize for troubling the Crown Prince with a late-night visit."

Zhang Dian glanced at Fu Ming with utter disdain. "Who are you?" He made to grab Zhou Yuan from behind Lin Yu again.

"Fu Qing, Commander of Liangcheng." Fu Ming set down his teacup. His voice was not loud, but Zhang Dian heard every word clearly.

Zhang Dian froze mid-motion. Liangcheng sat on the frontier, and Fu Qing commanded its military forces. In the past, a mere Commander of Liangcheng would not have earned so much as a second glance from him. But his situation was dire now. Not long ago, he had sought out Fu Qing to propose an alliance, intending to wrest away his military power and take over Liangcheng. Yet Fu Qing had refused to see him for days on end. He never expected to run into Fu Qing here.

"What a coincidence, then," Zhang Dian said, eyeing Zhou Yuan's cowering form. "My Crown Princess is willful by nature, and she's slipped away again. Since the Crown Princess and the Commander's wife have hit it off so well, perhaps I'll bring her to visit the Commander tomorrow?"

His motive was all too transparent—he wanted to use Zhou Yuan as a pretext to build a connection with Fu Qing.

Lin Yu wanted to say something more, but Fu Ming gently patted her hand. "Then my wife and I will await the Crown Prince and Crown Princess at our residence tomorrow."

Zhou Yuan said nothing more. Despite the fear still written on her face, she followed Zhang Dian away.

"You just let the Crown Prince take her? What if she continues to suffer at his hands?" Lin Yu asked, watching their retreating figures with confusion.

Fu Ming offered no further explanation. "She'll be fine."

Lin Yu leaned against the railing, watching Zhou Yuan quietly trail behind Zhang Dian downstairs. Their silhouettes gradually dissolved into the crowd, and an inexplicable sense of worry crept over her.

Not long after, the patrons listening to the storyteller dispersed as well, and the surroundings fell completely silent.

Zhang Dian shoved Zhou Yuan roughly onto the horse, paying no attention to her skirt catching on the carriage door. The fabric tore with a sharp ripping sound, and the noise only added to Zhang Dian's irritation.

He pressed the tip of the dagger he had been clutching against Zhou Yuan's face, tracing it along her cheek. "My dear Crown Princess, how exactly did you come to know the Commander's wife, hmm?"

Zhou Yuan's throat trembled so much she could barely speak, her breathing ragged.

"Speak!" Zhang Dian grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Did I not tell you that you are not to meet anyone without my permission!"

Zhou Yuan remained silent, her almond-shaped eyes brimming with tears that spilled over, a pitiful sight as she stared wordlessly at Zhang Dian.

After a long moment, Zhang Dian released his grip on her shoulder and shoved her back hard. He then stepped past her into the carriage and sat down beside her.

Zhou Yuan's back slammed against the corner of the carriage from the push, and she winced in pain. Seeing that Zhang Dian was unmoved, she tried to explain, "Your Highness, please calm down. I... I..." But she couldn't think of any excuse to appease him, so she fell silent, watching his face cautiously.

"Enough. At least you helped me make contact with the Commander of Liangcheng. That counts for something."

The carriage lingered in place for a while before Zhang Dian waved his hand and ordered the driver to head home. The wheels creaked as the carriage disappeared into the night.

...

The next morning, dawn.

A pale sliver of light had just appeared on the horizon when layered clouds blocked most of it. Before long, a fierce wind whipped up dust, and the sky, which had barely begun to brighten, darkened again.

Lin Yu climbed into the sedan chair wearing a bridal dress that didn't fit well. The outfit had been bought at the last minute. Because the plan had come together suddenly, she didn't even have a proper hairpin in her hair.

"What's wrong?" Lin Yu held a round fan half-covering her face, looking at Fu Ming, who seemed lost in thought.

Fu Ming snapped back to attention, his gaze falling on Lin Yu's lips. She had applied lip balm today, and her black hair cascaded over her shoulders, making her skin look even fairer.

As emperor, Fu Ming had been bound by all manner of tedious etiquette since childhood. Rituals and rules were practically carved into his bones. He simply felt that all of this was too shabby. Though it was all an act to enter the Mountain God's temple, they were still dressed in bridal attire and climbing into a sedan chair, without even a betrothal gift. It simply wasn't proper.

"Hmm?" Lin Yu sat in the sedan, startled, as something was pressed into her hand. She lifted the red veil and saw Fu Ming's face outside the sedan.

Before Lin Yu could ask, Fu Ming explained first, "A betrothal gift."

Lin Yu looked at the small sword tassel in her hand. It was black and gold, adorned with a single dark red bead—something she had never seen before, and it appeared quite valuable.

"Even a fake marriage shouldn't be too shabby. The basic rites must be observed, or what kind of spectacle would this be? How would we fool the Mountain God?"

Lin Yu didn't reply. The sedan jolted as the wind continued to rage. Eight bearers lifted the bridal sedan and set off toward the main road.

By the time they reached Gujin Mountain, it was just like Lin Yu's first visit—ancient trees densely packed, overgrown to an excessive degree, with only enough space between trunks for a single person to squeeze through. The mountain path was difficult to traverse, so Lin Yu got out of the sedan, intending to have the bearers carry the empty sedan to a clearing halfway up the mountain before she continued on foot.

As soon as Lin Yu lifted the curtain, Fu Ming guessed her intention. "A bride's feet must not touch the ground before she enters the house."

Lin Yu shrugged. She thought Fu Ming had been completely steeped in etiquette. Not only did he insist on giving a betrothal gift for a fake marriage, but now he was fussing over customs.

So Lin Yu ignored him, lifted the curtain, and prepared to step down. Just as her foot was about to touch the ground, Fu Ming suddenly swept her up into his arms.

Lin Yu lost her balance momentarily and instinctively wrapped her arms around Fu Ming's neck. She was bewildered. She didn't know what her relationship with Fu Ming had been before she lost her memories, or how they normally interacted. But this man had given her a jade pendant, added a betrothal gift, and now deliberately carried her—could he actually have taken a liking to her?

Fu Ming didn't notice how tense she was. Holding Lin Yu, he directed the bearers to carry the sedan up the mountain.

Deep in the dense forest, branches stretched everywhere. Lin Yu had already lifted her veil, but Fu Ming covered her with it again.

Blind beneath the veil, Lin Yu could only hear the soft rustle of twigs scraping against her bridal dress.

They finally reached the halfway point, and it was nearly noon—the same time as yesterday's wedding procession had been swallowed up.

Lin Yu sat back in the sedan. The bearers lifted it again and continued along the riverbank.

Unlike yesterday's clear sky, the wind grew stronger and stronger.

"Boom!"

Suddenly, a thunderclap crashed down, and lightning illuminated the area for dozens of miles.

The earth split open with a crack!

Exactly as Lin Yu had anticipated. She was prepared and quickly jumped out of the sedan, instructing the bearers to run in the opposite direction of the fissure. Just as the bearers had taken a few steps clear of the gap, the crack beneath Lin Yu and Fu Ming's feet widened instantly!

Then, a dizzying spin, and the two plunged into the depths of the earth!

...

Dim yellow light flickered back into Lin Yu's vision. A colossal divine tree trunk loomed before her. The trunk was at least a dozen people's arm spans around, and it had to have at least a thousand years of cultivation. But when Lin Yu saw what was piled densely at the base of the roots, her eyes flew wide open.

She saw countless bones stacked like a mountain, scattered haphazardly on the ground. The bones closest to the roots had already corroded to a pitch black, covered in ants and insects.

Behind the divine tree was another pitch-black cave, bottomless and dark, with an extremely complex underground layout.

Lin Yu crouched down to examine a leg bone of unknown origin. When she looked up again, she understood—this tree hadn't cultivated for a thousand years through proper means. It had taken a demonic path, nourished by countless bones!

The tree's leaves still appeared lush and green, but the trunk was old and withered. The contrast between the two was stark, as if forcibly stitched together, creating a jarring dissonance.

Lin Yu gathered her mana at her fingertips and pressed it against the trunk. She could only rely on her body's instincts to unleash a bit of mana now, not enough to be of any real use. Her mana was quickly devoured by the tree's spirit.

A burning sensation shot through her fingertips, and Lin Yu recoiled, snatching her hand back.

Fu Ming pulled Lin Yu away, putting some distance between her and the roots. "Someone must be offering to this divine tree. If we don't destroy it, people will keep being fed into the fissure as its nourishment."

Lin Yu raised an eyebrow. "You have mana?"

Fu Ming's mana had been sealed the moment he entered the illusion, so he answered simply, "No."

Lin Yu: "It has a thousand years of cultivation. How are we supposed to destroy it without mana..."

Fu Ming froze. "Then what did you use to hit me earlier?"

Lin Yu: "Instinct..."

Lin Yu was telling the truth. Her mana came and went unpredictably, and she wielded it purely by bodily instinct. She was starting to doubt whether she even truly knew how to use mana...

The two stared at each other for a long moment, then said in unison, "Then how are we supposed to destroy it..."

The silence hung in the air for a while until Lin Yu remembered something. "Everything has a root. To destroy a divine tree with a thousand years of cultivation, we should start from its roots."

Fu Ming pondered her words, then walked around the trunk, stopping at a spot where the roots were dense and fine. Without a moment's hesitation, he plunged his sword into the earth and sliced through the fine root branches one by one.

Suddenly, the roots snapped, and the ground shook violently. The cavern began to collapse, and countless stones mixed with dirt came raining down!

"Master! Your soul has appeared! It's on the leaf of this divine tree!" The Xuanyang Mirror, which had been dormant for a long time, finally awakened.

Lin Yu looked up and indeed spotted a leaf glowing with light. Her soul had been infused into that leaf!

Ignoring the collapsing cavern, Lin Yu dashed forward, desperate to reach the leaf that held her soul. Just as she was about to touch it, the leaf suddenly lifted off the branch and flew past her, behind her!

Lin Yu spun around. A familiar old man appeared behind her and caught the leaf—it was the vine spirit.

The vine spirit's expression was grim. "Didn't I tell you not to come back to Gujin Mountain?"

"Master! There's killing intent!"

The Xuanyang Mirror's warning was followed by countless vines. They burst forth from the vine spirit's body, snaking toward Lin Yu and Fu Ming!

Fu Ming reacted swiftly, pulling Lin Yu behind him and cutting the vines down one by one with his sword. But the vines seemed to possess endless regenerative power, surging toward them like weeds!

Lin Yu dodged the flurry of vines, realizing something was wrong. The vine spirit was a kindly old man, but the person before her now had a sinister air. Natural spirits of heaven and earth were inherently good-natured and wouldn't deliberately harm others.

"Who are you?"

"Perhaps you should ask who you are!" The vine spirit's face gradually blurred, shifting into a different visage—a hunched figure with a long beard.

Lin Yu: "You... are the Mountain God?!"

The Mountain God's voice trembled with uncontrollable fury. "How do you have the Xuanyang Mirror! Who exactly are you?!"

The cavern shook more violently, making it nearly impossible to stay upright. The mountain of bones was scattered across the ground in the tremors.

"I am the Divine Maiden of the Yu Kingdom." Lin Yu answered directly. "You're not the Mountain God. What exactly are you?!"

As her words fell, the vines paused in midair for an instant. Then, thousands of vines merged into one, transforming into a dark green long whip. The Mountain God gripped the whip in one hand and lashed it at Lin Yu with even greater savagery!

Seeing no way to dodge, Lin Yu steeled herself and caught the whip midair!

The whip was clenched tightly in Lin Yu's hand!

Crimson blood seeped from her palm, trickling down the vine. The Mountain God watched the whip transform, his eyes bulging in disbelief!

After absorbing Lin Yu's blood, the whip seemed to come alive, sprouting tender green shoots.

The Mountain God yanked the whip back violently, tearing it from Lin Yu's grasp. She stumbled forward several steps, nearly tripping over the bones scattered on the ground.

"She died long ago! You're not her! You're deceiving me!" The Mountain God's emotions were spiraling out of control.

Suddenly, he burst into manic laughter. "Half-immortal body! Hahaha! You again... Why? Why is it that I cultivated for a hundred years without attaining immortality, while you... you were born with a half-immortal body!"

"Why?! I already killed you! I killed you! Why won't you die! Why do you keep appearing before me!"

The Mountain God's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, his face contorted with envy. He stared at Lin Yu, and the bones scattered across the ground rose into the air. The vine whip transformed into a bone whip!

The bone whip scraped along the ground, emitting a shrill, grating sound. Infused with mana, it shot straight toward the leaf that held Lin Yu's soul!

At the same time, the crumbling cavern could hold no longer. It collapsed completely!