When the two of them regained consciousness, a completely different landscape greeted their eyes.
They found themselves inside a massive karst cave filled with bizarre rock formations. An underground river ran right through the middle, casting a gentle fluorescent glow across the entire cavern that made visibility reasonably clear.
Supporting one another, they stood up, only for their gaze to fall upon a colossal horned dragon. The creature was entirely encased in ice, yet its eyes remained wide open. It stood there motionless, its scales flared outward and its dragon whiskers seemingly drifting in the current, looking astonishingly lifelike.
A flickering barrier shimmered in the space between the horned dragon and the two men.
Before Yan Mingqiu could react, Hanzhou rose to his feet like a marionette on strings and strode toward the barrier. Realizing the danger just as Hanzhou was about to make contact, Yan Mingqiu lunged forward in a panic to pull him back.
Yet it was far too late. Hanzhou’s hand had already brushed against the barrier. The instant his fingertips made contact, a massive gravitational pull dragged both of them inside, causing them to collapse unconscious within the barrier’s confines.
Plunging into a deep slumber, their divine consciousnesses were cast straight into a dreamscape.
Waking from his slumber, Yan Mingqiu discovered he was lying within a cramped, pitch-black space where wood planks brushed against him on every side, accompanied by the faint, muffled sound of suona horns playing outside.
Subconsciously flicking his hand outward, Yan Mingqiu shattered the wooden board right before him with a sharp bang.
The space suddenly flooded with light. Raising a hand to shield his eyes from the glare, Yan Mingqiu blinked repeatedly to adjust.
The surrounding crowd gasped in unison upon hearing the loud crash, instantly falling dead silent. As they stared in horror at the corpse springing back to life inside the coffin, they shrieked in terror, “Ghost!”
Gazing at the mourners dressed in traditional white mourning garb, Yan Mingqiu’s mind swam with confusion: Who am I? Where am I?
No one answered his unspoken questions; the swirling mass of people simply scattered in panic to spread the news.
Moments later, a handsome man dressed in blue and white robes approached, his brow furrowed with deep sorrow. Stretching out a hand, he probed Yan Mingqiu’s aura from a distance using spiritual energy.
“Not a ghost, not a ghost! Junior Brother, thank the heavens you’re alive!” Tears brimming in his eyes, the man yanked Yan Mingqiu straight out of the coffin. “If you had really died, it would have been too humiliating! How could you ever show your face to Master in the underworld after dying a death like that?!”
Stunned for a moment, Yan Mingqiu tilted his head and asked, “What kind of death?”
The man’s expression froze. “Ah… you don’t remember? You were… well, you were killed by your own disciple… ugh, I can’t bring myself to say it!”
Before they could finish speaking, a second man arrived this one dressed in dark robes, possessing a tall, upright posture, a sharp gaze, and an air of mature composure.
Upon seeing Yan Mingqiu alive and breathing, he froze as well.
The blue-and-white-robed man called out, “Eldest Senior Brother, come look! Mingqiu is back he’s alive!”
At those words, the dark-robed man’s face lit up with joy. “Splendid, splendid, splendid! Pass down the order: change the funeral to a celebration. We are celebrating Immortal Yunling’s return to the mortal realm!”
A wave of cheers erupted through the hall as the assembly rapidly stripped off their mourning clothes and tore down the white banners. The mournful suona music abruptly shifted into a lively, celebratory melody celebrating a hundred birds paying homage to the phoenix.
Listening to their exchange, a realization dawned on Yan Mingqiu. “So my name is Mingqiu, and my dao title is Immortal Yunling?”
“You don’t remember any of it?” The dark-robed man let out a long, heavy sigh. “It seems returning from the dead carries side effects. Well, forgetting is perhaps for the best…”
“How can I forget that kind of humiliation?! I swear I’ll flatten the Eastern Sea, capture that punk, strip his skin, and pull his tendons to avenge you!” the blue-and-white-robed man raged indignantly. “You must have been blinded by greed to take him on as your personal disciple in the first place!”
“So, exactly how did I die?” Yan Mingqiu found his curiosity thoroughly piqued.
Looking deeply embarrassed, the blue-and-white-robed man muttered, “You… died in bed…”
Yan Mingqiu: “…”
Though he desperately wished to avoid confronting such an unspeakable past, the terror of the unknown weighed even heavier, forcing him to piece together his history.
As it turned out, he was the master of Yunling Peak within the Heavenly Sword Sect, sharing the same master as Sect Master Pei Huai and Canglang Peak Master Fang Huai. The individual who had driven him to such a disgraceful end was none other than his sole personal disciple, Hanzhou.
In this world, humans and demons coexisted peacefully, meaning various sects regularly recruited disciples from demonic lineages. Hanzhou hailed precisely from the Eastern Sea Horned Dragon clan.
Countless treasures lay buried beneath the Eastern Sea. Back during the recruitment ceremony, Hanzhou had arrived bearing dozens of chests filled with pearls and gemstones as a welcoming gift for his prospective master.
Blinded by the glittering bounty, Yan Mingqiu had immediately accepted Hanzhou as his personal disciple.
While the young horned dragon had initially treated Yan Mingqiu with absolute reverence and devotion, nobody anticipated that a bout of seasonal rutting would drive Hanzhou to literally drive his master to death.
Consequently, over the past few days, aside from organizing funeral arrangements, the Heavenly Sword Sect’s master and peak lords had mobilized a contingent of disciples to blockade the Eastern Sea, demanding that the Eastern Sea Dragon King hand Hanzhou over.
Pei Huai stated, “Since the Eastern Sea Dragon King refuses to surrender Hanzhou, we’ve already finalized our procurement negotiations with the Medicine Spirit Sect today. The first batch of water-breathing pills will arrive in ten days. Once they do, we will lead an army of thirty thousand disciples to lay siege to the Eastern Sea.”
Hearing this left Yan Mingqiu’s throat bone-dry. Having just regained consciousness without his prior memories, he felt no emotional attachment to the trauma he had endured, simply nodding along. “We’ll do as Senior Brother says.”
That night, Yan Mingqiu tossed and turned in deep unease, plagued by a harrowing nightmare.
In his dream, he was knocked flat to the ground by a man. Struggling hazily to flip over and crawl away, he was suddenly grabbed by both ankles and dragged off by the man.
Instantly, a crushing, overwhelming wave of pain swallowed him whole…
Meanwhile, far away in the magnificent, glittering dragon palace at the bottom of the Eastern Sea, the Dragon King sat upon his throne in the main hall, flying into a blind rage as he hurled a crystal goblet directly at the man kneeling before him.
A deep gash instantly split open across the kneeling man’s forehead, spilling blood down his face.
“Look at the mess you’ve caused! The Heavenly Sword Sect has already issued a formal declaration of war against us; ten days from now, their troops will arrive at the Eastern Sea. Our horned dragon clan has spent over a millennium resting and recovering here, and now our homeland is about to be plunged into devastation!” The Dragon King’s face turned livid, his fingers gripping the armrests so hard his knuckles turned white.
Hanzhou remained kneeling on both knees, his spine held rigidly straight. “Father, I was drugged. If we’re assigning blame, whoever spiked my drink bears primary responsibility. Father, let me go out there and explain things to them.”
When Hanzhou woke up inside the dragon palace, he realized he had transformed into the Crown Prince of the Eastern Sea Horned Dragon clan, complete with the full memories of the crown prince residing in his mind.
The crown prince shared his name, Hanzhou. Sent to study at the Heavenly Sword Sect at the age of ten, he had been selected by Yunling Peak Master Yan Mingqiu to serve as his personal disciple. Recently, after allegedly torturing and murdering his master, he had fled back to the Eastern Sea prompting the Heavenly Sword Sect to launch a vendetta against them.
Recalling how he had impulsively touched the barrier earlier, Hanzhou deduced that the action had sucked him into a dream trial. He also remembered that Yan Mingqiu had been pulled into the barrier right along with him.
Within this dream realm, his name remained unchanged, but his identity and appearance had shifted. Reasoning that Mingqiu’s name was likely unchanged as well, he deduced that the Yunling Peak Master, Yan Mingqiu, was almost certainly the person he was searching for.
Slamming his palm against the table, the Dragon King bellowed, “Absurd! Are you rushing out there just to throw your life away? Before the Heavenly Sword Sect arrives, pack your bags immediately. I’m sending a detachment to escort you safely to your grandfather’s territory. Leave the rest to us.”
“Father, we can’t do that. What will happen to all of you if I leave? Let me go out and explain everything to them I truly am innocent!” Hanzhou pleaded, crawling forward on his knees toward the throne.
“This is non-negotiable!” With a wave of his hand, the Dragon King flicked out a Spirit-Binding Cable that instantly bound Hanzhou tight. “If you won’t go willingly, we’ll drag you there by force.”