North Mang, Ten Thousand Woods.
The dense forest that had once sprawled layer upon layer, its branches interwoven, was long gone.
All that remained was devastation as far as the eye could see, the earth charred black and split open.
Ten Thousand Woods no longer had a single tree.
The wind swept across the land, carrying fine black ash and fluttering the hem of a coat.
A figure in a black-and-gold trench coat stepped onto the scorched earth, the dark-gold Phoenix lurking on its back silent within the shadows.
The full curve of her chest stretched the golden star embroidered on the coat.
An Xiaotong gazed calmly at the unfamiliar Ten Thousand Woods with her light brown eyes, several loose strands of hair before her forehead drifting in the wind.
A trace of reminiscence flashed through her eyes.
"Master, what exactly are you trying to do!?"
"You taught me to pursue justice, punish evil, and uphold good, so why are you destroying North Mang now? Were you lying to me all along!?"
"Yes. I lied to you."
Those icy words seemed to echo faintly by her ears as she stepped back onto her homeland.
Yet An Xiaotong's eyes held only calm. The pain of ten years ago had long been worn smooth by wind and frost.
She gently stroked the somewhat damaged Star of Glory on her wrist, reining in every tangled emotion in her heart.
Time had destroyed the forests and scattered old friends, but it could not crush the unyielding resolve in her bones.
She walked forward slowly, her ponytail lightly tapping the Gilded Cross Sword on her back.
"Not in Ten Thousand Woods?" An Xiaotong frowned slightly. "Then where could he be?"
She knew Li You had been driven delirious by the curse, but she also knew