Chapter 135: Extra 2 The Strange Amnesiac Adventures of His Highness the Crown P

WHEN XIE LIAN opened his eyes, he found himself lying on the floor inside a strange house. This puzzled him.

He had been training at the Royal Cultivation Hall on Mount Taicang. How had he ended up here?

Confused, Xie Lian sat up. He noticed he was wearing a simple white cultivation robe, but it was too simple—it was starkly basic, as if he were some peasant. The material wasn’t great either; it was coarse and chafed his skin.

Xie Lian frowned. He wanted to climb to his feet, yet as he straightened up, he noticed further signs of discomfort from his body—his waist was sore, his legs were sore, his lower belly was sore, and his neck was sore. Was it because he’d been lying there uncovered on the floor the entire night?

…Surely not. He was hardly so delicate.

Where were Feng Xin and Mu Qing? As they came to mind, Xie Lian called out, “Feng—”

He promptly dissolved into a fit of coughing and was left utterly baffled. His throat didn’t feel great either.

The night before, Feng Xin and Mu Qing had argued again over something trivial. They were so loud that Xie Lian couldn’t concentrate on his meditation, so he ordered them to go outside and train idioms. He’d gotten drowsy as he listened to them train two hundred idioms or more while continually blowing their tops, so he headed off to rest. How had he woken up in this unbelievable, hugely perplexing situation?!

Xie Lian finally pulled himself to his feet using the table next to him and surveyed his surroundings. This place was probably an inn, but if he chose to stay at an inn instead of camping outdoors, he wouldn’t select one that looked so economical. His hands and feet weren’t bound, nor were the doors and windows locked, meaning he wasn’t being detained. If someone or something had ambushed him, why would they toss him here?

The more Xie Lian thought about his situation, the more peculiar he found it, particularly his current physical condition. With aching arms, he stripped off his outer robe to check for injuries—and yet, when he looked down at himself, the blood instantly drained from his face.

Amorous red marks covered him densely from chest to stomach. It was as though a shower of oversized flower petals had fallen and landed on his jade-fair skin and bloomed into blossoms of vivid red—so very red—and he was left deeply unsettled.

He threw himself at a nearby mirror, and it was just as he’d expected! It wasn’t just his chest and midriff—the marks covered his neck and back too.

Xie Lian was shocked speechless. He didn’t dare remove any more clothing down below for further checks, as it was already more than obvious what had happened.

During the period that he’d been unconscious, someone had…taken his virginity.

For the first time in his life, Xie Lian understood what the phrase “legs going weak” meant, but he ultimately managed to stay upright and steady.

A long time ago, he’d heard horrible gossip from the palace maidens who attended him—tales of shady establishments run by evil crooks who specialized in rape and sex trafficking. They would drug girls, then commit their crimes. But…but…

Xie Lian clutched his head and mumbled to no one, “But I’m a man…!”

His appearance right now was unseemly to the extreme. In addition to the kiss marks and fingerprint bruises from a heavy hand, there were also—mortifyingly enough—bite marks. Xie Lian covered his face, feeling his mind burn while his body ran cold.

Then, something extremely serious hit him. Oh no!

In the cultivation method he practiced, carnal acts were strictly forbidden. Didn’t this mean he’d broken that precept?

Quickly, he tried to test his spiritual power. Sure enough, there was nothing!

Xie Lian had always been a calm person, but under the current circumstances, he was on the verge of breaking down.

He didn’t know how this had happened…but he found himself—like that—when he woke up. Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both gone, and someone had done something somehow and now he wasn’t a virgin anymore. He really was going to fall apart!

Even after trying to compose himself for a long moment, he still couldn’t accept this. He was in a tizzy. Nevertheless, he couldn’t just stay as he was, so he grabbed his clothes and scrambled into them before rushing out of the inn. No one on the road stopped him as he went, and Xie Lian sighed in relief at that. He didn’t have the mind to care about the oddness of his surroundings—from the architecture, to the dress of the pedestrians, to the accents around him.

Perhaps it was just the shame he felt, but he kept thinking that everyone could tell what had happened to him and were giving him odd, appraising looks. This urged him to walk faster and faster until finally he broke out into a mad dash. He charged into a small forest and slammed his fist into one tree, snapping it with a crack.

“Jerk!” he shouted angrily.

He wanted to curse the one who had abused him with the most malicious words there were, but again and again, all he could come up with was “jerk,” “scumbag,” and “sleaze.” He felt stifled, unable to vent the fire inside him—and there was no way he would burst into tears. All he could do was set his mind to furiously swing his fists.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

He knocked down dozens of trees in a row. At last, the local Lord of Soil and Ground crawled out and hugged his leg.

“Your Highness! Your Highness, please stop hitting things!”

Although Xie Lian’s rage still brimmed within him, this old man gave him pause—as obviously no ordinary human could have popped out of the ground.

“Who are you?” Xie Lian demanded.

“I’m the local Lord of Soil and Ground, Your Highness!” said the old man as he wiped away his tears. “I retired to this little wood to pass my old age. If Your Elderliness keeps hitting the trees, I’ll be made homeless!”

Xie Lian knew that his own problems had nothing to do with everyone else and that he shouldn’t randomly take his issues out on them. Besides, no matter how insignificant the position, a Lord of Soil and Ground was still a heavenly official—and this one was an elderly official, a senior to whom he needed to show respect. Thus, Xie Lian arduously pulled back some of his temper and stopped the violence.

“Forgive me…I was overly riled up,” he said, his tone now softened. “How about this—I will compensate you for all the trees I broke.”

The Lord of Soil and Ground dropped the hands hugging his leg and hurriedly assured him, “No, no, no, no, no, no need, no need! How can I ask Your Elderliness to pay?! The mere fact that your lordship is willing to talk to me brings light to this humble little god’s dwelling!”

Xie Lian found his words a bit strange. A Lord of Soil and Ground was, in all seriousness, a heavenly official, and this one appeared to be much older than he was. So why was he so afraid of him, and why did he call him “Your Elderliness”? He wasn’t in the mood to ask about it, though.

“Sir, you are the Lord of Soil and Ground of this area, correct? You must be very familiar with the region? Might you aid me in seeking out two individuals?” Xie Lian asked politely as his hand dug into his sleeve to reach for a few pieces of gold foil as an offering.

The Lord of Soil and Ground waved his hands wildly when he saw what Xie Lian was doing. “Oh no, no need for that! Whom does my lord seek?”

Just as well, for Xie Lian didn’t manage to pull out anything. He took his hand back out. “My two servants, Feng Xin and Mu Qing,” he replied.

“…”

The Lord of Soil and Ground’s expression suddenly turned very strange.

“What’s the matter? Is there a problem?” Xie Lian asked.

“No, no, no, no, no problem,” said the Lord of Soil and Ground. “It’s just…”

It’s just…what’s wrong with His Highness? It’s been eight hundred years, so why is he still calling General Nan Yang and General Xuan Zhen his servants? Would the generals get mad about that? Gosh, forget it. Those two getting angry isn’t as scary as that lord getting angry if this lord isn’t well taken care of.

Thus, he said, “Please wait here for a moment, your lordship. I will go and find them for you right now!”

“Thank you for your trouble,” Xie Lian said. He was about to bow in courtesy, but when he looked up, the deity was already gone. His forehead was still burning, and he pressed a hand over it.

Some time later, a confused voice came from ahead.

“What’s going on?”

Xie Lian looked up and saw Feng Xin and Mu Qing—but they weren’t the same Feng Xin and Mu Qing he knew.

Sure, their general appearance was the same, but their demeanor had changed. They didn’t seem like two rash young men, but more like generals with years of battle experience under their belts. Moreover, both were wearing black robes that looked rather sumptuous, quite unlike the dress that ordinary folks wore, and quite unlike anything Xie Lian had ever seen them wear.

The one who had spoken was Feng Xin, and he walked over. “Your Highness, what are you doing out here by yourself?”

“That’s what I was going to ask,” Xie Lian said. “Where did you two run off to? I told you guys to train idioms outside last night, but why could I not find a shadow of you this morning?”

An odd look that matched the Lord of Soil and Ground’s crossed both Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s faces, like they couldn’t comprehend what he was saying.

Xie Lian felt his head splitting, and he cried, “And what’s with those outfits? What in the world is going on?!”

Feng Xin looked down at himself and wondered, confused, “What’s wrong with my outfit? Isn’t this normal?”

Mu Qing, on the other hand, said, “What are you talking about? Are you still addled from sleep? I was certainly not at your place last night.”

Xie Lian clutched his head, wanting to scream and shout, but he forced himself to be calm. After thinking for a moment, he said, “I get it. Something has overtaken both of you too, right? Just like me?”

The odd looks on Feng Xin and Mu Qing’s faces only grew odder.

“I’m confused,” Feng Xin said. “Your Highness, why don’t you just tell us why you called us here?”

Mu Qing rolled his eyes. “Don’t bother. I was wondering why he called us and not him. His brains are probably fried.”

Xie Lian couldn’t follow their exchange at all. “Him? Who? The state preceptor?”

“…”

Feng Xin and Mu Qing exchanged a look of dismay, then Mu Qing took a step forward.

“Your Highness,” he called.

“What?” Xie Lian answered.

“My memory is a little fuzzy right now,” Mu Qing said. “Can you tell me what we’ve been doing for the past few days?”

“Haven’t we been training at the Royal Cultivation Hall?” Xie Lian said.

“Where’s Hua Cheng?” Mu Qing asked.

The sound of that name was extremely familiar, but when Xie Lian considered it further, he simply couldn’t place it. He asked, sounding lost, “Hua…Cheng? Who is that?”

There was a long silence.

“Very good. I get it,” Mu Qing declared at last.

He shot a look at the shocked Feng Xin, and the two went to the side to talk.

Xie Lian suddenly found them somewhat suspicious. “What did you get?” he asked, on alert. “What are you two talking about?”

Once an agreement had been reached, the two turned back around.

“Your Highness, let’s go,” said Feng Xin.

Xie Lian was even more suspicious now. “Where to?”

“To someone who can solve this problem,” answered Mu Qing. “Come!”

Xie Lian was wary, and he backed away. Mu Qing noticed that he wanted to flee, and he cried “Don’t go!” as he swung his arm out and shot forth a streak of spiritual light that seemed meant to bind Xie Lian.

As if Xie Lian was going to stick around. He bolted!

Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both utterly perplexed, and they yelled at each other as they ran after him.

“What the fuck?! What the actual fuck?!” Feng Xin cried. “What’s wrong with him?! He can’t seriously have memory loss this bad?! Forgetting eight hundred years?!”

“Finally! His brain is finally shot after eating so much random crap!” Mu Qing yelled.

“That’s impossible! Something probably happened when he went out by himself. Let’s hurry and find him! His mind is only seventeen years old right now!”

Even at a time like this, Mu Qing couldn’t resist making a sarcastic jab. “Yeah, and he’s innocent and naive and silly to boot. A pampered, spoiled seventeen-year-old crown prince!”

“Wait! Let’s tell him first. Quick, tell him!”

He, of course, must be informed of this!

***

Xie Lian ran for over a dozen kilometers in one breath and only began to pant after he’d stopped. He still felt like he was lost inside a massive cloud of fog, trapped in a giant net of peril.

What in the world was going on?

This wasn’t normal. Everything was too abnormal!

Because of course he knew exactly what Mu Qing was capable of! Creating that spiritual light would’ve taken him several hundred years of cultivation at minimum, so there was no way he could be the real Mu Qing! He must’ve been an impostor!

And as for himself…he wasn’t normal either. Through this run, he discovered that he was as light as a swallow—well, he was already as light as a swallow, but his agility had somehow increased exponentially. He was even more formidable now.

Everything was wrong!

He calmed down, calmed down, calmed down. Once he did, it suddenly occurred to Xie Lian that Mu Qing had mentioned a name.

“Hua Cheng,” he murmured.

For some reason, his heart stirred as he said the name, even though it should’ve been very foreign to him. It was as if a small flower had bloomed in a corner at the bottom of his heart. He repeated the name again and again, unable to help himself.

Hua Cheng, Hua Cheng, Hua Cheng.

This person was probably an immensely significant character—perhaps he’d played a critical role in this incident. Xie Lian had to find him.

With his mind made up, Xie Lian headed for the city.

When he first realized what had happened to his body, Xie Lian couldn’t accept it at all, but he had gotten over it less than an hour later. While his body and mind were still in turmoil, the mystifying situation at hand left him no time to panic. The real Feng Xin and Mu Qing were missing, which only proved that the evil mastermind was a terrible creature. He had to get ahold of himself immediately and uncover the truth.

Thus, by the time he entered town, he had regained his usual composure.

Though he hadn’t the mind to drink tea, he picked a teahouse at random and sat by the window on the upper level. Xie Lian picked up the cup on the table and glanced at it—it was caked with years of stains that couldn’t be wiped clean. Even a single look at it made him weary, so he placed the cup back down and ignored it.

In the teahouse, there was a relatively attractive and graceful woman playing a pipa and singing like a warbler. A group of men, old and young, sat around her and snickered as they watched. The woman was singing an ordinary local song—something about a girl going out in the morning to pick flowers—but she hadn’t sung it for long before the group of men began hollering at her.

“Bah, how boring. Next!”

“Yeah, this song is bad. Change it up, change it up!”

“Sing this one!”

Helpless, the songstress had to comply with the crowd and switched to a rather titillating tune. Gently and slowly she plucked the strings, and she sang with a voice so sweet and supple it made one blush. Satisfied at last, the audience cheered and applauded. In contrast, it made Xie Lian feel a little uncomfortable as he sat in his window seat at the corner of the second floor.

Listening closer to the lyrics, he found that the ballad described the intense love and passion of a newly wedded couple on their wedding night. It was extremely, audaciously explicit—Xie Lian had never heard such perverted songs in the royal capital. In the past, he would’ve brushed it off as a foul breeze that blew past his ears; it would have had nothing to do with him, for he would never in his life think about such things. But now, it was different.

Although he had no memory of what had happened, the act had been done, so listening to a song about the subject affected him differently. And he’d also discovered something terrifying: his thoughts were no longer under his control!

A few shameless lyrics made his heart wander wildly. Broken, fragmented images continuously poured into his head—two hands tightly intertwined, a red string desperately entangled between the fingers. He could almost hear the broken gasps, the pleading whimpers, and…the coaxing murmurs of a certain man.

What were these images…? What the heck were they?!

Embarrassed and frustrated, Xie Lian bit his bottom lip and clenched his fists. At last, unable to bear it any longer, he slammed his fists violently on the table.

The loud bang made the patrons at nearby tables stare at him with wide eyes. Only then did Xie Lian snap out of it and mumble an apology. He desperately wished he could cover his ears with his hands and block out the song—if the songstress kept it up, he’d have to leave!

All of a sudden, the singing came to an abrupt stop, and a sharp cry pulled him from his wandering thoughts. Xie Lian’s head shot up, and he saw that a large group of men had surrounded the girl and were attempting to grope her.

The songstress stood up in shock, hugging her pipa to her chest tightly. “Sirs, let’s just listen to the songs. Please don’t touch me…” she pleaded.

Some of the men started kicking up a fuss. “So what if we feel you up? There’s no way we’re the only ones who’ve done it. I refuse to believe you’ve never gotten touched while you’re out here selling yourself!”

The songstress was so upset that her eyes grew red around the rims. “What do you mean, selling myself?” she cried. “I’m selling my voice, not my body!”

The men purposely ignored her.

“Heh—you talk like you’re so chaste! If you were really so proper, you wouldn’t be out here selling yourself!”

“Yeah! You sang such a provocative song, but now you turn around and say you’re not selling what your mouth is offering? ‘Chaste,’ my ass—what a joke!”

The songstress was going to pass out from anger. “You’re the ones who told me to sing it,” she exclaimed, her voice trembling. “I only sang it because all of you made me!”

Yet no matter what she said, the awful patrons always had a comeback. “You sang it because we told you to? So obedient. Only goes to show that deep down, you wanted to sing something like that and seduce people!”

Xie Lian couldn’t listen anymore. He was already in a bad mood, and now his rage was peaking. There was a flash of white, and before those rowdy men had any clue what was happening, a row of them had already been knocked to the ground.

“Who the hell are you?!” yelled the ringleader of the group, whose ass was now facing the sky. “You dare to provoke us?!”

Xie Lian stood in front of the songstress and shielded her. He cracked his knuckles, though he did not allow his anger to show on his face.

“Quit while you’re ahead,” he said darkly. “Anyone would be moved by the sight of a flowerlike beauty, but if you do not understand how to treat her with respect, then you are shamefully classless.”

“She’s the one who sang that song,” someone complained. “She can sing, but we can’t touch?!”

“Correct.” Xie Lian repeated each word slowly and firmly and threw several large men down the stairs as he did. “She can sing, but you can’t touch!”

The men landed on their behinds in a terrible tizzy. The fall wasn’t actually a serious one, but it was more than enough to frighten them—and since no one could even see his lightning-fast moves, there was no chance of fighting back. They fled in a hurry.

When Xie Lian turned back around at the top of the stairs, the songstress curtsied to him in immense gratitude.

“Thank you so much for helping me, Daozhang!” she said.

“It required no effort on my part,” Xie Lian said. “Miss, are you going to be staying here?”

The songstress nodded, so Xie Lian nodded in return. “Very well. Then keep singing your songs.”

With a whirl of his sleeves, he sat back down with upright poise to stand guard over her.

The other men saw that he wasn’t leaving and was keeping an eye on the place, so they didn’t dare harass the girl anymore. Understanding his intention, the songstress felt even more grateful. As she carefully began to sing once again, she picked one of the same lively, local tunes she’d been performing at first.

Xie Lian poured himself a cup of tea, but just as he was about to drink it, he noticed the heavy stains again. After a brief hesitation, he still couldn’t win against himself and put down the cup with a sigh. As he idly turned his head, he paused.

He saw a man sitting in a far more magnificent red tavern across the street.

The man was rather tall and dressed all in red. Although he wore a black eyepatch that added an air of wildness to him, it couldn’t obscure his handsome features. Robes redder than maple, skin as white as snow, a silver flagon in his hand that shimmered like the two silver vambraces around his wrists. At a glance, he was exceptionally eye-catching—and he was looking this way.

Their eyes met. When the man saw that Xie Lian had noticed his gaze, he smiled and raised his flagon slightly, as if he was toasting him.

“…”

For some reason, when Xie Lian’s eyes met that man’s, it felt like lightning coursing through him. He quickly averted his gaze, but while he pretended not to care, his heart started to race.

How strange. The man certainly was dazzling and he had a mysterious appeal, but it wasn’t as if Xie Lian had never seen an attractive man before. Why was he reacting like this at the sight of him?

He pondered for a moment and amended that last thought, for it wasn’t correct—upon reflection, he knew he had never met a man as dazzling and handsome as this one.

He’s a rare character—I should pay more attention, Xie Lian thought.

When he turned his head to look again, however, the man in red had disappeared—just like that. He was like a splendid falling maple leaf that mischievously fluttered across his vision, stunning him and disappearing in an instant. It was almost unreal, like a fleeting dream.

Trying to be inconspicuous about it, Xie Lian peered at the magnificent tavern across the way for a while. When he could find no trace of the man, he finally gave up. He exhaled softly, uncertain whether he was really feeling disappointed.

Oh well, he thought, rubbing his forehead.

Yet when he turned his head, there was someone sitting across from him. He had a hand propping up his cheek, and he was staring at Xie Lian.

When their eyes met, Xie Lian’s mind went blank.

The man, however, simply said with a wide grin, “Daozhang, might you treat me to a cup of wine?”

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