Forgetting

But this concerned the safety of his own younger sister and his old friend Dugu, after all. What else could he do?

Lan Changsheng could only let out a helpless sigh. He had yet to recover his lost insights, and completing the second trial had now become a distant prospect.

It seemed he would have to return to the Ice and Fire Yin Yang Well sooner.

"Brother, why are you sighing?"

"It's nothing. I'm going to find Xiao San. Do you have anything you want me to tell him?"

"Nothing much. Just tell him to stay safe."

"All right. You all stay safe too. I'll head back after I see Xiao San."

Lan Changsheng continued onward, recalling what Auntie had said: "The Life Divine Power he left behind was missing something."

But what was missing? Lan Changsheng could no longer remember. He remembered every battle before this, and even the details of every use remained vivid in his mind, but he could not remember a single thing he had learned or understood from those battles.

Those insights were still there, though. He had merely forgotten them. Just as the system had said, he needed to recover them.

But now they lay submerged deep within his consciousness, somewhere he could not reach, like a book locked inside a drawer. He knew the answers were written inside, but he could not open the lock.

He sighed, stopped dwelling on it, and continued on his way. At the edge of the woods, he spotted a stumbling figure.

It was Yu Xiaogang. He wiped the sweat covering his head, dirt and dead leaves clinging to his clothes. His steps were uneven; clearly, he had fallen in his haste.

"Grandmaster, why are you here? Where are Xiao San and the others?" Lan Changsheng stopped in front of him.

Yu Xiaogang did not answer the question directly. He looked at Lan Changsheng's injuries, hesitating to speak. Although they had met only once, he had truly never imagined seeing Lan Changsheng in such a sorry state. If even Changsheng, as powerful as a million-year soul beast, had been injured this badly, then she...

So he still asked, "How is she?"

"Who?"

"Bibi Dong... how is she?" Yu Xiaogang's voice carried a hesitant, indefinable emotion. Even he himself seemed unsure what tone to use when mentioning that name.

Lan Changsheng froze for a moment. He had not expected the first thing Yu Xiaogang said upon seeing him to be an expression of concern for an "enemy."

"Answer my question first."

"Xiao San and the others are over there." Yu Xiaogang pointed in the direction he had come from. "Clear Sky Douluo is protecting them. They'll be fine."

Only then did Lan Changsheng loosen his grip on his spear shaft. "She's pretty badly injured too." With that, he lingered no longer, vanishing into the woods in a flash.

Yu Xiaogang stood there for a moment, brushed the dust clinging to his clothes away, and straightened his attire before continuing to stumble toward Bibi Dong's location.

When he arrived, Bibi Dong was leaning against a large rock, regulating her breathing. She was in an even worse state than Lan Changsheng. Blood had congealed into dark scabs along the cracks in her armor. Her breathing was still regular, but the fluctuations of soul power around her came in fits and starts.

He hurried up to Bibi Dong, only to be held back by a layer of soul power.

"Dong'er, does it hurt...?" Yu Xiaogang's tone carried a concern that even he had not noticed.

Bibi Dong raised her eyes, her gaze falling on him with scrutiny and the coldness of someone looking at a stranger. "Who are you? How dare you disrespect me?"

Yu Xiaogang froze for a moment. He thought she was sulking, throwing a tantrum. He took a step forward. "Dong'er, stop this. Focus on recovering. I'll stay with you."

But at that moment, Bibi Dong's gaze turned utterly cold. "I don't know you. Please leave."

Looking at her, Yu Xiaogang finally realized she was not sulking. She truly did not remember.

The past he had believed would remain forever engraved in her heart had already fallen away from her memories.

"How is that possible? How could that be! I'm Yu Xiaogang! I'm Xiaogang, Dong'er!" Yu Xiaogang clutched his head as he broke down.

Watching Yu Xiaogang fall apart, Bibi Dong thought that she must have "forgotten" him, that he had once been someone very special in her memories.

That was also why Bibi Dong had not killed him outright, although she did not understand why a soul master below rank thirty would have left beautiful memories in her mind.

But the man before her was simply too weak to offer her any help, so she had no intention of having any further entanglement with him.

Feeling that she had regained her ability to move, Bibi Dong stood up, ready to leave.

Yu Xiaogang tried to rush forward again. Bibi Dong tilted her head slightly, her eyes icy, and an aura of death enveloped him, stopping him in his tracks.

"Considering that you may be an old acquaintance of mine, I won't kill you today. If you dare behave like this again, I will cut you down!"

Then Bibi Dong turned away without the slightest lingering attachment, leaving Yu Xiaogang standing there alone.

His knees buckled, and he dropped to the ground, his hands braced in the mud, his knuckles white. His shoulders and back shook violently, and an exceedingly low, hoarse wail escaped his throat.

"No, Dong'er," he cried toward the wilderness, where even her retreating figure had long since vanished. "How could this happen? How could this happen!"

Elsewhere, where Tang San and the others were hiding, a clump of Blue Silver Grass grew wildly, weaving itself into Lan Changsheng's form.

That unique manner of appearing let Tang San recognize at once that it was his uncle.

"Uncle!"

"Brother-in-law!"

Two voices rang out at once. Lan Changsheng looked at them with a smile, seeing that Tang San and Xiao Wu were unharmed apart from a few flecks of mud on their clothes, and seemed in fairly good spirits.

"Now that I know you're all safe, I can rest easy." His voice, however, carried a weariness he could hardly conceal.

"You're the one we should be worrying about. The commotion from your fight with Bibi Dong reached all the way over here." Tang San circled Lan Changsheng and could not help letting out a sigh of relief only after finding no injuries.

This was Xiao Wu's first time meeting the uncle Tang San had spoken of. Curious about Lan Changsheng, who was a soul beast like her, she kept staring at him. Whenever he looked her way, however, she quickly shrank back, wringing her hands in front of her, a little unsure where to put them.

Lan Changsheng reached out and stroked Tang San's hair, then went over to Xiao Wu and crouched before her, meeting her eyes as he greeted her. "Hello, Xiao Wu. My name is Lan Changsheng. I'm Tang San's uncle, and I'm also a soul beast, Blue Silver Imperial Emperor Grass."

Xiao Wu responded timidly, "H-hello. My name is Xiao Wu. I'm a hundred-thousand-year soul beast, a Soft Bone Rabbit."

But Lan Changsheng's next words stunned Xiao Wu. "I met your mother."

"She was a very gentle person. I'm sorry. I was in seclusion at the time and couldn't save her."

Hearing this, Xiao Wu's eyes immediately reddened. Her right hand tightened around the pouch at her waist, which held the keepsake her mother had left her, that sandalwood comb. Her voice trembled. "It's all right. I know..."

"I want to change this world as it is, to change the hostility between humans and soul beasts. Would you be willing to help me?"