Pei Zichen’s dream was to be Shen Yuqing.

This matter was an enormous shock to Jiang Zhaoxue.

She looked at Pei Zichen with complex emotions. Pei Zichen seemed not to recognize her, only standing before her with his sword in hand. He appeared to want to say something, yet remained silent throughout.

This attitude left Jiang Zhaoxue suspicious and uncertain. He didn’t remember her?

But according to Ye Tianjiao’s explanation, only people related to the Lingxu Fan would fail to remember things from the outside. Song Wuya was the Lingxu Fan’s master, Qian Sisi was the one who opened the fan—what was Pei Zichen’s situation? Why didn’t he remember either?

Jiang Zhaoxue pondered this. Pei Zichen looked down at the ground. After thinking for a long while, he finally said, “If there’s nothing else… Miss Jiang should head back first? I… I have something I wish to say to Miss Jiang.”

Listening to this, Jiang Zhaoxue nodded dumbly. There was too much information—she could barely digest it all.

But as soon as she mentioned going back, she suddenly remembered, “Where’s Tianjiao?”

Hearing this “Tianjiao,” Pei Zichen’s heart felt as if it had been suddenly strangled by a rope.

He unconsciously tightened his grip on the sword hilt, pressing his lips together, unable to speak.

At this moment, Ye Tianjiao was dragged back by others. He said weakly, “Don’t drag me. If you’re going to help, help properly. I’m begging you, okay? I’m a patient.”

“Senior Brother!”

The two disciples dragging Ye Tianjiao threw him to the ground. When Ye Tianjiao saw Pei Zichen, his eyes immediately lit up. “Brother…”

Just as the words left his mouth, Qian Sisi stepped on Ye Tianjiao’s head, grinding his face into the dirt.

Seeing Qian Sisi’s actions, Jiang Zhaoxue’s heart jumped. She couldn’t help but say, “Um… Sisi, he’s a spell cultivator. He’s quite fragile. Could you… not hit him so hard?”

“Ah,” hearing this, Qian Sisi immediately lightened her touch, showing a smile. “Miss Jiang, I’m so sorry. It’s a habit. But don’t worry—since I hit him, I’ll definitely take responsibility for him. How about this: you follow Senior Brother back by sword first, and I—” Qian Sisi grabbed Ye Tianjiao, revealing his dirt-covered face with a bloody nose and lifeless expression, saying earnestly, “—will take responsibility for bringing him back!”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue became even more uneasy.

She felt that Qian Sisi would secretly finish off Ye Tianjiao.

Ye Tianjiao obviously felt the same way, but he sensed a small knife secretly pressed against his neck, so he dared not speak.

Seeing that Ye Tianjiao wasn’t resisting, Jiang Zhaoxue hesitated for a moment before nodding. “Then… let’s do it that way.”

With that, she turned to look at Pei Zichen and said hesitantly, “Daoist Shen…”

Hearing this, Pei Zichen’s eyelashes trembled slightly. Qian Sisi quickly said, “Miss Jiang! You used to call our Senior Brother ‘A Chen’!”

Jiang Zhaoxue paused. Pei Zichen quickly said, “It’s fine. I’ve already heard about Miss Jiang’s injury. Right now, there’s still miasma in the forest, so it’s not safe. Please hold onto my sword sheath, and I’ll take you back.”

“Oh.” Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue didn’t hesitate. She raised her hand and grasped Pei Zichen’s sword sheath.

Seeing her complete lack of hesitation, Pei Zichen’s movements froze. His heart ached densely, yet he dared not make a sound.

In the past, he had also been this proper, but the person before him was never happy about it. She would always push away his sword sheath and grab his hand instead, saying, “We’re going to get married. Why are you still so old-fashioned?”

He had never refused, because he truly did want to hold her hand.

But since they weren’t married, taking the initiative in such matters would be improper. Even asking would be presumptuous. Therefore, he could only passively wait, passively accept.

But now that the woman before him didn’t take the initiative to hold his hand, he finally knew how agonizing it was when such silent waiting went unfulfilled.

What was even more terrifying was that he had grown accustomed to being satisfied, only to then be abandoned. This made him feel as if he were rolling on a bed of needles.

Even his wounds didn’t seem to hurt anymore. His mind was in chaos. He forced himself to maintain composure as he gripped the sword sheath, rose on his sword, and took Jiang Zhaoxue back.

The two remained silent the entire way. Jiang Zhaoxue secretly observed the person ahead.

Having been blind before, she hadn’t had a clear sense of it. But now, watching the young man ahead who was obviously much taller than her, she finally had a vivid, concrete feeling.

He had grown up.

He was no longer the tender-looking youth of his teenage years. Instead, he had the sharp angles of a mature man. He even seemed slightly taller than Shen Yuqing. Just looking at his back, he already faintly had the bearing of a Divine Lord capable of supporting an entire immortal sect.

She secretly studied him. Pei Zichen noticed her gaze but dared not turn around.

Actually, he knew he should ask, should get things clear. But he was also afraid of hearing some frightening answer, so he could only delay things as long as possible.

The two returned in silence. As soon as they landed, Jiang Zhaoxue began searching for Ye Tianjiao. “Where’s Tianjiao?”

These repeated calls of “Tianjiao” finally made Pei Zichen unable to restrain himself. He said in a low voice, “Miss Jiang can rest assured. Sisi knows what she’s doing. Young Master Ye will be fine.”

“Oh.” Jiang Zhaoxue realized she was being overly worried, appearing not to trust Qian Sisi. She quickly smiled apologetically. “Of course I trust Sisi. It’s just that Ye Er easily provokes people’s anger. I’m worried about Ye Tianjiao.”

“Miss Jiang…” Listening to this, Pei Zichen lowered his eyes. He said with some difficulty, “Are you… very familiar with Young Master Ye?”

“Uh… somewhat.” Jiang Zhaoxue hesitated. “I understand him to some extent.”

“Miss Jiang remembers him.” Pei Zichen stated it as fact.

Jiang Zhaoxue nodded. “That’s correct.”

“But Miss Jiang…” Pei Zichen spoke, then raised his eyes. His blue-black eyes looked at her quietly. “Yet you don’t remember me anymore.”

Jiang Zhaoxue froze, not knowing how to answer.

How could she remember? Who else was as immersed in experiencing this illusion as he was? She still wanted to ask him how he managed to have memories from this place since childhood!

Jiang Zhaoxue dared not speak. Seeing her troubled expression, Pei Zichen realized what he had said. He turned away awkwardly and said in a low voice, “I apologize. As long as Miss Jiang is safe, then please rest.”

With that, he seemed to have reached his limit of endurance and hurriedly left.

Jiang Zhaoxue glanced in his direction, then heard Ye Tianjiao’s voice from the sky.

Looking up, Jiang Zhaoxue saw Ye Tianjiao being thrown down by Qian Sisi. Then the people from Wenjian Manor landed one after another. Qian Sisi smiled and bowed. “Miss Jiang.”

“Uh…” Jiang Zhaoxue looked at Ye Tianjiao, who had clearly been tormented, and said hesitantly, “Miss Qian, on your way…”

“Is Miss Jiang going to sleep?”

Qian Sisi immediately asked. Jiang Zhaoxue glanced at Ye Tianjiao on the ground and began using hand gestures to secretly signal him to come over later, then nodded. “That’s right. I’ll sleep first.”

With that, Jiang Zhaoxue decisively turned and closed the door to her room.

Only after closing the door did Jiang Zhaoxue finally catch her breath. She said with some shock, “What’s going on here?”

How could Pei Zichen be Shen Chen?

She couldn’t figure it out and planned to wait for Ye Tianjiao to come discuss it.

Late at night, Jiang Zhaoxue heard something scratching at the window. She quickly extinguished the lamp and came to the window, opening it to see Ye Tianjiao crouching at the entrance. Jiang Zhaoxue looked left and right, then beckoned to Ye Tianjiao, who was covered in talisman papers. “Come in quickly.”

Ye Tianjiao quickly climbed through the window, then began posting talismans. Jiang Zhaoxue immediately pressed down his hand urgently. “If people sense your spiritual power in my room, they won’t even need to think—they’ll know you’re inside!”

“You’re right.”

Ye Tianjiao nodded and only continued posting his invisibility talismans on himself. He sat cross-legged on the ground, panting. “You don’t know—that woman Qian Sisi nearly beat me to death. If I stay here any longer, I really will die.”

“Then what do we do?”

Jiang Zhaoxue also sat down and said urgently, “Both Qian Sisi and Pei Zichen are here. Pei Zichen doesn’t remember anything.”

“How is that possible?” Ye Tianjiao couldn’t understand. “He has no connection to the Lingxu Fan.”

“The fact has already occurred. With him, anything is possible.” Jiang Zhaoxue advised, “Now the key point is that he’s Shen Chen, he’s my fiancé, and we’re about to get married. I can’t marry him, right?!”

This question left Ye Tianjiao somewhat bewildered. “Why not?”

“I…” Jiang Zhaoxue was stunned by his righteous question, then came to her senses. “I’m his master’s wife. Me marry him? Are you crazy or am I crazy?”

“But…” Ye Tianjiao thought about it. “Isn’t this an illusion?”

Jiang Zhaoxue froze. Ye Tianjiao continued, “After we leave, not a single person will remember these things. What does it matter if you’re his master’s wife or not? The key point right now is the Lingxu Fan. Look, Pei Zichen is at Wenjian Manor, Qian Sisi is at Wenjian Manor. When the Lingxu Fan appeared, there were many strange phenomena. When it emerged, almost all of the Shu immortal path was destroyed. Now Wenjian Manor is already catching demons, which means Wenjian Manor was involved from start to finish in the Lingxu Fan’s emergence, right?”

Hearing this, Jiang Zhaoxue gradually calmed down and thought aloud, “And Qian Sisi would risk her life to find the Lingxu Fan and knows how to use it. This shows she must have encountered the Lingxu Fan back then. So if we follow her, we’ll have many opportunities to find the Lingxu Fan. Recently, Pei Zichen has been going out frequently to catch demons. He even postponed the wedding, which shows the matters he’s handling are extremely serious. Perhaps he knows even more information.”

“If you’re his fiancée, won’t it be convenient for you to gather information?” Ye Tianjiao continued, “And although we’ve been assigned roles, these roles actually truly exist. If we change things randomly, it might affect the way the Lingxu Fan emerges. I suggest you don’t need to force things. Fiancée is fiancée. Sis, don’t worry.” Ye Tianjiao said seriously, “I’ll forget everything once we leave.”

Listening to this, Jiang Zhaoxue was quite tempted. Just then, footsteps suddenly came from outside.

Jiang Zhaoxue and Ye Tianjiao were startled. Ye Tianjiao instinctively wanted to run, but Jiang Zhaoxue quickly raised her hand to cover his mouth, keeping him from making any sound.

At this moment, someone seemed to stop outside. After struggling for a long while, they said, “Miss Jiang, are you asleep?”

Hearing Pei Zichen’s voice, Ye Tianjiao was like a cat with all its fur standing on end, looking at Jiang Zhaoxue pleadingly.

Staying in a room together late at night without lights, a man and woman alone—if Pei Zichen saw this, he would die. He really would die.

Jiang Zhaoxue saw Ye Tianjiao’s plea for help and used her eyes to calm him down. Pretending to have just woken up, she called out, “What is it?”

“Miss Jiang…” Pei Zichen seemed to have thought for a long time before saying somewhat anxiously, “Today, Shi Cang has already seen Miss Jiang’s engagement-breaking letter.”

Oh, the courtesy name was still the same.

Just the surname and given name had changed.

Jiang Zhaoxue and Ye Tianjiao exchanged glances, both seeing the question in each other’s eyes.

Of all the things to change, why change to the surname Shen?

When he was young, he liked to imitate Shen Yuqing. Now he was even doing role-playing.

Jiang Zhaoxue grumbled internally. Outside, Pei Zichen said somewhat dejectedly, “Logically… if Miss Jiang’s heart truly belongs to Young Master Ye, I should help fulfill your wish and not obstruct you. But… but right now, you don’t remember many things. Could you give Shi Cang some more time? Wait until you remember everything, and if you still… still give your heart to Young Master Ye, I…”

Pei Zichen seemed unable to continue. He hesitated, only saying softly, “In the past, Miss Jiang and I, we… we were also very good together. You said you wanted to grow old with Shi Cang. If we just separate like this, I cannot accept it. If from the beginning you had…”

As Pei Zichen spoke, his voice suddenly stopped. He keenly heard some strange sound from inside the room and looked up coldly.

Jiang Zhaoxue looked down at the jade pendant Ye Tianjiao had dropped on the floor, glared at him fiercely, and quickly said, “Oh, I understand. I’ll think about it carefully. I’m tired now. Let’s talk tomorrow, okay?”

“Alright.”

Pei Zichen responded and then left.

Jiang Zhaoxue and Ye Tianjiao breathed a sigh of relief. Ye Tianjiao patted his chest. “That was sca—”

Before he could finish, Pei Zichen returned. His sword energy instantly split open the door and swept in sharply. Jiang Zhaoxue and Ye Tianjiao almost instinctively grabbed at each other trying to hide behind one another!

This grabbing made it look as if they were embracing. Pei Zichen’s sword edge stopped abruptly. He looked in disbelief at the two people rolling on the ground in an embrace, his eyes wide. Then he swung his sword at Ye Tianjiao and shouted urgently, “Outrageous!”