Endless darkness.
"Is this what death feels like?" Chu Yun's thoughts drifted. He felt as though he were wandering through the dark.
There was no direction, no light. He drifted through the wilderness like a wisp of a lonely soul.
But gradually, something began to feel strange. "Why can I still feel my body? Could it be that I'm not dead?"
He tried to open his eyes.
Whoosh.
Light burst forth, and a humble bedroom came into view.
A familiar feeling quickly spread through his heart.
"Isn't this my childhood bedroom? What kind of dream is this? Why does everything seem so real?"
Chu Yun sat up in bed, touched the bedside, then felt his own body. His heart was full of uncertainty.
Carefully, he rose to his feet and paced around the cramped room.
"Something's wrong! My leg!" His eyes flew wide, and he stared fixedly at his left leg. In his memories, his left lower leg had been missing and replaced with a prosthetic. Now it was whole and healthy.
What was going on?
"Could I have been resurrected in someone else's body?!" His heart gave a jolt. Then he caught sight of a mirror hanging on the wall.
Hesitant but hopeful, he slowly walked toward it. His feelings were mixed with fear of the unknown. It was all terribly complicated.
In the mirror was a familiar face.
Far too familiar!
It was none other than his younger self!
Chu Yun was utterly shocked. What on earth was happening? Had he fallen into an illusion array?
He had been gravely ill, lying beneath a tree on the brink of death. But the moment he opened his eyes, he had gone from the Star Sea Dragon Palace to his childhood bedroom.
It was utterly inconceivable.
"If this is an illusion array, it's not bad." Chu Yun gave a self-mocking smile, opened the door, and strode outside.
When he was young, the island lord of Shu Family Island, Shu Tianhao, had taken him in as his adopted son. He lived in Shu Family City.
As he opened the door, the morning sunlight spilled across the courtyard, where flowers and plants grew on either side. Servants came and went through a covered walkway in the distance.
"This illusion array is incredibly realistic." Chu Yun stretched and drew a deep breath of fresh air, unable to keep from sighing.
"Chu Yun, how dare you! Why didn't you come to my room first thing this morning to pay your respects?" At the sound of a woman's shrill, spiteful voice, a lady approached.
She wore luxurious clothes and had powdered her face white, trying desperately to hide the marks of age, but without much success. Her sharp chin lifted slightly, revealing her haughty nature.
Chu Yun stared blankly as she came closer, thinking, This illusion array is almost too real.
"How rude!" The lady furrowed her brows, taking Chu Yun's gaze as a grave insult. Her expression immediately turned cold, and she snapped at him.
"Chu Yun, you're getting more and more insolent. Never mind that you didn't pay your respects. How dare you fail to kneel and greet me when you see me?" She looked down at Chu Yun with scorn and open hostility.
"Lady Shu..." Chu Yun's voice was cold. The scene before him stirred emotions buried deep in his heart.
The woman before him was his adoptive father's wife. She had been born Ning Qishuang, but after marrying Shu Tianhao, she had taken her husband's surname.
She had two sons and had always treated Chu Yun with utmost cruelty. The slightest displeasure was enough to earn him a beating and a scolding. She had always wanted to drive him out of Shu Family City, but Shu Tianhao had kept her from acting on it.
Today, Chu Yun had failed to pay his respects on time. She had seized the opportunity, ready to "teach" her adopted son a lesson.
Little did she know that when she arrived, the once-timid Chu Yun seemed to have become an entirely different person. His gaze held shock, scrutiny, and hatred.
With a whoosh, rage surged through her heart.
What was that look? How dare this little bastard, this brat, look at me like that?!
Lady Shu felt her dignity had been gravely insulted. She was about to seize on Chu Yun's offense and make an issue of it.
But then Chu Yun suddenly let out a cold laugh. "Lady Shu, you can stop now. You just want to use this as an excuse to drive me out of Shu Family City, don't you? You're always making things difficult for me because you're afraid Father will favor me and I'll take the inheritance of Shu Family Island from you."
"You—you..." Lady Shu's face changed in shock. She took an involuntary step back, pointing at Chu Yun with a trembling finger. His words had clearly startled her.
She had only meant to use this as an excuse to put Chu Yun in his place, to establish herself in his mind as an authority no one dared to offend.
She hadn't expected Chu Yun to say something so shocking, exposing the scheme in her heart with a single sentence.
It was true. In her eyes, the foundation of Shu Family Island belonged to her sons, Shu Da and Shu Er. But Shu Tianhao was very fond of his adopted son. He treated Chu Yun like his own flesh and blood, and had even publicly declared that one of the three boys would be chosen as the future heir of Shu Family Island.
Why should a bastard inherit what belonged to her family?!
Lady Shu absolutely refused to let that happen. But her two sons were both shameless wastrels, while Chu Yun had been clever, sensible, and well-behaved from childhood. The difference between them was plain as day.
Chu Yun continued with a cold laugh. "I've always treated you with respect, but whenever I make even the slightest mistake, you seize on it and blow it out of proportion. Today I was only a little late in paying my respects, and you couldn't wait to come over and make things difficult for me. Hmph! If I had another chance, I'd utterly defeat your precious sons. I'd make you watch as I inherited Shu Family Island's legacy openly and honorably. Father would be proud of me, too! As for you..."
Lady Shu took another involuntary step back, cowed by Chu Yun's icy presence.
Chu Yun's outburst had shaken her to the core. She had always thought he was an ignorant little rabbit, easy to bully.
But today, right before her eyes, the little rabbit had become a young tiger. Though it had yet to fully grow, the sharp gleam of its fangs was already showing! A forceful aura was gathering within him!
"Fine! Very fine! You dare defy your elders in public! You unfilial brat, you rebel!" Lady Shu was beside herself with rage.
"Silence! I acknowledge only Father. When did I ever accept you as my adoptive mother? I used to pay my respects only for Father's sake. Everyone in Shu Family City knows how you've treated me. You've tried to drive me out time and again. Do you deserve to be called my elder?" Chu Yun vented the resentment buried deep in his memories for more than twenty years.
Heaven knew that back then, he had never thought of usurping the foundation of Shu Family Island.
Yet in his previous life, his adoptive father had been ambushed by pirates and, as he lay dying, passed the legacy of Shu Family Island on to Chu Yun. After taking over, Chu Yun had put the past behind him for his father's widow. He had treated Lady Shu, Shu Da, and Shu Er very well.
And yet Lady Shu, the very woman standing before him, had joined forces with her family, working from within and without, and driven him away!
Fine. If you wanted to drive me away, then I simply wouldn't leave. You've treated me like this—did you expect me to repay your enmity with kindness?
You were never merciful to me. Why should I still feel any obligation toward you?
"You ungrateful little wolf! You've got the heart of a wolf! A heart of a wolf!" Lady Shu shrieked, her face twisted as she stamped her feet in fury. "Get out! Get out! Someone! Throw this little beast out!"
The servants around them looked uncertain, lingering in place without knowing what to do.
One side was the adopted son favored by the island lord; the other was the island lord's wife. This...
"You don't have to drive me out. I'll leave on my own. But sooner or later, I'll return here openly and honorably." Chu Yun felt a great sense of relief. Suddenly, he thought this illusion was wonderful—truly wonderful.
There were so many things he had never said that he could say now, so many things he had never done that he could do now.
So what if it was an illusion?
His life had lasted only thirty short years, as fleeting as a dream or a bubble. Wasn't it all just a dream?
Without another glance at Lady Shu, whose face had gone livid and whose whole body was trembling, Chu Yun strode forward and left the mansion of his own accord.
"What did Young Master Chu Yun say to make Lady Shu look so angry?"
"Lady Shu waited until the island lord was away, then drove Young Master Chu Yun out again. How vicious!"
"Strange. Young Master Chu Yun seems different today. He finally stood up to her and made Lady Shu furious. That was so satisfying to watch!"
The servants chattered among themselves. Lady Shu was so mean-spirited that the servants were all delighted to see her get knocked down a peg.
In his previous life, Lady Shu had driven him out of the lord's residence more than once or twice. But every time, it wasn't long before his adoptive father, Shu Tianhao, brought him back.
The servants were used to it. Lady Shu, meanwhile, kept at it, never tiring of finding fault. Only Chu Yun could truly understand the bitterness and humiliation of it.
As he walked through the bustling streets of Shu Family City, Chu Yun's heart gradually settled. Treating it as a trip back to familiar places, he wandered aimlessly around the city.
But gradually, the ease on his face faded, replaced by a grave, troubled look.
He discovered that he could feel not only joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, but also hunger! When he punched the city wall, it hurt.
And his thoughts were clear and calm; he didn't feel at all as though he were trapped by an illusion array. Whenever he interacted with someone in the city, he got a different response.
A bold guess surfaced in his mind.
Could it be that I really had been reborn?
Make a bold hypothesis, then test it carefully. Chu Yun had his own way of handling things.
"Generally speaking, this kind of illusion array draws on a person's memories to construct its world. There are naturally places in Shu Family City that I've never been..."
A moment later, a boy stood frozen in the middle of Shu Family City.
Suddenly, he threw his arms up, cheered, and shouted at the top of his lungs, weeping with joy!
"Heaven has eyes! I really have been reborn! Twenty-three years back, and everything has begun again. Stay calm, stay calm. According to my memories, the coming event should be the coming-of-age ceremony. We'll choose Demon Beast eggs at the ceremony, and one of them will be that Demon Beast egg. This is the turning point of my life! I have to seize it—no matter what!"