The night was deep, and all was still.
The combined armies of the Heaven Dou Empire and the Sky-Blasting Gang occupied Star Luo City without a hitch. Zhu Zhuqing entered the city with the others and returned home.
The Zhu Clan was a powerful family second only to the Imperial Family in the Star Luo Empire. Since Zhu Zhuqing's elder sister, Zhu Zhuyun, was Dai Weisi's consort, only Zhu Zhuqing had been taken captive; the rest of the Zhu Clan had not been implicated at all. And when Star Luo City fell, Yang Ming had refrained from settling accounts with the Zhu Clan for Zhu Zhuqing's sake, allowing its sprawling estate to remain intact.
Everything she had endured over the past few days had long since exhausted Zhu Zhuqing in both body and mind. Not long after lying down in bed, she slipped into sleep.
What Zhu Zhuqing failed to notice, however, was that her soul left her body at that moment and drifted into the Six Paths Reincarnation World above the roof.
"Where... am I?"
At first, Zhu Zhuqing's soul was dazed and muddled. Then, amid a succession of ringing bells, she gradually regained her senses and discovered that fog surrounded her, so thick she could not see her own hand before her face. She was somewhere entirely unfamiliar.
Zhu Zhuqing instinctively walked forward. As she ventured deeper, the surrounding fog gradually thinned. From being unable to see her own hand, she slowly began to make out her surroundings, until the mist cleared completely, revealing the Yellow Springs and a Naihe Bridge ahead.
And there stood the figure who haunted Zhu Zhuqing's dreams.
"Dai Mubai?"
At that moment, Zhu Zhuqing did not even notice the faint tremor in her voice.
For a little while, she chose to forget the