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The eerie, quiet forest slowly becomes darker as minutes pass by. The silent trees remain still while the chirping birds fall asleep after a while on the branches of the peach blossom. Waving its withering leaves all over the forest, the trees make silent movements. With Su Ruo behind him, Xiao Fan stops for a moment when he spots a mark on the tree.

Su Ruo also stops after him and rests her hand on the bark of the tree taking in deep breaths. Her unstable breaths make her go numb slowly as her eyes dim alongside. Holding on to the tree, Xiao Fan on the other hand moves his finger slowly towards the carved mark on the tree.

“It’s the same mark,” he concludes. Passing his fingers delicately over the carved mark, his eyes flicker for a moment. It was the same mark he made hours ago when they first entered the forest. How did they get here again? Who was playing with them in the forest.

With a heavy sigh, he quickly takes his hands off the mark before taking a keen glance at their current position. Feeling exhausted, he firmly shut his eyes and takes a deep breath.

“The search is going no where. We should rest here for the night and continue tomorrow. There’s something fishy about this place.”

She doesn’t respond with words and just nods at him. Holding on to the bark of the tree, she exhales sharply. “I’ll stay right here.”

The wilted leaves fall aimlessly to the tune of the wind when dusk settles. Looking around, he turns to their relieves to pass it over to the exhausted Su Ruo. But he finds an empty container and just a meat bun. “Get it,” he exclaims while stretching his hand towards her.

On the contrary, his hands remain in the air for several minutes. Confused as to why she didn’t take it, he quickly turns around. But he only finds her lying unconscious on the floor closer to the tree she stood by earlier. He rushes over to her and puts her in his arms on desperation. After shaking her and calling out to her continuously for minutes, an unfamiliar smell runs through his nose.

“Su Ruo! Wake up.” After getting no response from her, he looks up only to find a foggy atmosphere, unlike before. The area they were was completely foggy and invisible to even know where they were at the moment. He quickly covers his nose with his arm and rip a part of his hanfu to cover her nose.

“Who’s there?! Show yourself!” With no response coming his way, he looks through the misty forest for any sign of a silhouette or footsteps in order to know his stand. As the aura gradually takes hid consciousness away, he grabs his sword and point it in the air at numerous directions. In hesitation, he clings to her hand so tightly.

“Who are y-you?” he mumbles while trying to keep himself from falling into a deep slumber. As he stares at Su Ruo in desperation, a silhouette slowly approaches them. Under his long black coat, he approaches them in slow steps. When he gets right in front of them, he lifts his head with a smile.

He passes out in no time, falling beside the sleeping Su Ruo. Two other silhouettes appear beside the first one to approach them.

“Bring them over.” They both nod and move towards them to carry them away. But when one of them lift her up, they find them holding so tightly to each other. “It’s a pair, master.”

Sighing, he turns around and walks forward. The other two pick them up and walk alongside in order to make it through the forest. With the way they penetrate the forest, they find their way in the maze in no time. After clearing out from the forest, a beautiful, large mountain site appears.

With a large waterfall and blooming peach blossom leading them from the entrance, birds move out from their abode in the trees to flap their wings in the air.

“Who are they?” Murmurs start to run through the noisy little town under the mountain. With children running up and down, the entrance to the town was quite cheerful. Working adults from the field and shops turn to watch their town chief walk in with strangers.

When they get to a little spot by the town square, the two followers drop them on the floor before tying their hands so they sit behind each other. The townspeople slowly gather around whispering among each other.

One of the followers feed a pill through their mouths and splash a bucket of water on them. The cold water immediately awakens their senses and knock them out of the sleep. Trembling, they lifts their heads simultaneously adjusting to their caged bodies.

“Untie us! Who are you?”

“Where’s this place?”

The chief in his traditional baggy hanfu takes a step closer to them and stamps his beady stick against the floor. “I should ask you what you’re doing in our forest! What’s your agenda?” The raging townspeople nod and lift their hands to debate.

“Yes!”

“Who are you people from?”

Su Ruo keeps shaking her head and attempts to look for her sword but the chief slowly wags it in the air. “Is this what you’re looking for?” A flash of anger lurks over her eyes when she finds her sword in his hands. “Whatever it is we came here for, you don’t have the right to tie us up, steal out things and question is in this crude way!”

Murmurs escalate with her daring words. Raging, the townspeople start shouting. Their chief nods and moves another step closer to them. Xiao Fan becomes anxious from the reaction of the people. When he attempts to keep her silent, she doesn’t budge at all. “We’re going to kill you if you don’t talk. No one will ever find you and no one cam successfully leave this place.”

Turning to Su Ruo, his reluctance to remain quiet also dwindled. With each passing minute, the aggressive crowd scream for death sentence while the two of them remain tied up and ready to be killed.

As he looks around, Su Ruo keeps on trying to unleash the knot on her hand. The chief and his followers stand by waiting for answers. When he suddenly spots a smell of the aura that knocked them out from before, he remembers Zhao Yun’s words before.

Following him from behind, Zhao Yun stopped by the balcony staring at the busy streets with his hands behind him. Xiao Fan seemed reluctant to watch him as he wasn’t talking.

“What’s your agenda by pairing me with Junior Cheng?” He kept his eyes on the bottom of the building while studying the atmosphere. “Although you both don’t see eye to eye, you’re the best combination to shake those people up.”

His eyebrows furrowed at his deduction. As he took a step forward, Zhao Yun turned to him with a dedicated look. “I’ve not come into contact with them before but I know one thing. They are scared of strangers. Their medicine is even strong against strong practitioners like us.”

“They’ll reconsider once you provide pitiful information. I trust you’ll know what to do in that situation.”

“You’re right. We have an agenda for coming here.”

His stern reply shakes the murmuring crowd up as they turn to each other in shock. Even Su Ruo keeps her eyes on him speechless. “We’re just engaged commoners. I’m looking for a cure for her.” Perplexed and annoyed by his words, Su Ruo resumes forcing her hands to unleash the knot.

Xiao Fan tilts his head and whispers in her ear when the chief looks away to calm the people down. “Please bear with this arrangement. They’ll only let us go if we’re related. Trust me.” The words ‘trust me’ lingers in her ears whither hands go numb.

“I’m not a medicine practitioner. You got the wrong person.”

A slight chuckle escapes his lips as he looks up. “Apothecary Valley, the only medicine practitioner sect secluded from worldly affairs. Only your incense can knock out anyone without notice.”

He quietly plays with his hairy chin before turning to him curiously. “Great! You’re quite knowledgeable! Tell me why you came here. I can tell your fiancee is indeed sick.” As they both turn to each other in surprise, their chief sighs.

“Phoenix tears. You don’t remember your past right?”

Standing by a bridge, her hair floats behind her while she admires nature on silence. Drops of rain water from the earlier rain fall slowly splashes into the air with a gush of wind. She rubs her palm over her shoulders to keep warm from the cold breeze.

With a warm coat emerging from behind her, she steps back startled. Maids bow in fear looking down. “Please have mercy on us. I didn’t mean to startle you.” Her eyes fall in silence after finding seven maids waiting on her. She wasn’t even conferred yet and already had maids to wait on her.

What was the meaning of this? Why did it feel like she was betraying her promise by accepting the Crown Prince’s bargain. She sighs and covers herself properly with the coat. She looks away after that and continues staring below the bridge.

“Never mind. You can go now. I want to be alone.” Trembling, they all get on their knees and shake their heads. “We’re sorry but we can’t leave you alone. It’s our job to watch over your needs from now onwards. Please understand, miss.”

Her lips part as they rattle together. Watch over her needs? It was obvious they were tailing her every move by giving her such a number of maids as a commoner in Great Wei.

She wasn’t that dumb not to realize their motive. Nodding, she grasps on to the supporters on the bridge and clutch her fingers together angrily. She had to be alert from then. Whether it was the Crown Prince, his aggressive brother, the Emperor or the Empress who sent the maids, she had to be careful nevertheless.

“Isn’t that the prisoner who was conferred the title in just a day?” Three passing maids scoff at a short glance of her. “I bet she seduced the Crown Prince. She’s not even that good looking.”

“I wonder what he saw in her!” Their strong comments unsettles when they find two feet in front of them. With a smile on her face, she taps one of them by their shoulder and scoff. “Do you know what punishment lies for those who stain the reputation of royals in the palace? I don’t think I need to remind you.”

They quickly get on their knees bending their heads over the floor repeatedly. “Please punish us!” Two guards walk in with the Crown Prince. When he spots her, he turns away and continues towards the main hall.

“I just need you to get me in the Jing Xin hall. It’s simple, right?” Nodding, they stand up on their feet and turn to each other in thoughts. After a while, they manage to get her a pass into the main hall. As she stands by, she finds the two princes standing before the emperor.

“It’s great you two are here. There’s something I want you to do. Your suspension would be ceased if you pass.” Bowing, Xu Feng reacts to his words. His brother eyes him keenly lowering his head before their father. “I’d need you two to move to Ming for several days. Your merits will determine your chances in Wei. Don’t let me down.”

She inhales deeply thinking about their conversation. After folding her trembling hands, she steps out of the dark and approach the center of the room with much confidence. The two brothers stare at her in shock as she models to them.

“As the future consort, I plead to earn my reputation in order to put your Majesty at ease by embarking on this journey with them. If I successfully complete this, the rumors unsettling the palace will reduce.”

The two princes stare at each other wondering what she was planning by requesting to go with them. “I, Anning request your reconsideration!” Moving forward, his brother bows to the Emperor.

“I personally think this is a bad idea. She’s not a martial arts practitioner and will drag us down.”

“What if I win a duel against you?” Confused, all three stare at the gullible girl who claims to know martial arts. “Great! How about we start now?”

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What is Anning planning?

What did the chief mean by that?

Will Su Ruo recover her memories?

Who is she?