“So it was still because I looked like your childhood friend Consort Chen that you wanted me to help you put on an act,” Yusang said with an eye roll, clearly annoyed.

Yan Qige glanced at Yusang disdainfully and said, “If I wanted someone dead, not even thousands of troops would matter to me. Do you think I went through all that trouble to bring you back to the capital and get you into the palace just to stage a fake death scene?”

“Then what was it for?” Yusang was suddenly confused.

Yan Qige stopped his horse and turned to look at Yusang, staring at her. “Do you not remember ever seeing me before?”

“Have I?”

Yan Qige looked at Yusang’s face and said seriously, “I’ve always had a dream where I was trapped in the palace garden and couldn’t leave. Then a woman appeared who used her palm blood to help me break the seal. She told me to remember her appearance, that we would surely meet again someday…”

Yusang listened with her mouth gradually falling open, remembering that day when she had accidentally entered the phantom barrier beneath the imperial palace. There, she had encountered Yan Qige, who was just a wisp of soul, and helped him reincarnate into Consort Yan’s womb. Previously, she had thought it was just an accident, but now it seemed that everything that happened that day might have truly occurred.

“Yan Qige, tell me honestly—was that underground palace beneath the imperial palace in the capital just a phantom barrier?”

“What are you trying to say?” Yan Qige suddenly frowned, his expression becoming very strange.

“I never told you, but that day I accidentally entered that place. I encountered your soul trapped in the palace garden…”

…

…

“So it was you…” Yan Qige frowned, his expression becoming very odd.

“Just tell me—what exactly was that place?”

“It was a soul exchange,” Yan Qige answered, then paused before continuing. “Twenty-five years ago, the emperor at the time doted exclusively on Consort Yan. After she became pregnant, the emperor intended to depose the empress and make her the new one. The empress at the time—who later became the Empress Dowager—received guidance from a master who helped her find a hairpin ornament. The master told her this hairpin was a divine artifact, and if she was willing to pay the price, it could fulfill her wish.

The Empress Dowager desperately wanted to bear a prince to secure her position. Following the master’s guidance, she renovated her Yongze Palace, building beneath it a phantom barrier identical to the imperial palace using the Five Elements formation. She placed the hairpin inside to channel spiritual energy, creating a soul embryo within that would make her pregnant. But since the soul embryo was formed from dead souls that hadn’t passed through the underworld, Zhao Zhang was born without intelligence. The world in that barrier was frozen on the day she successfully gave birth.

Ten years ago, when the previous emperor died, the empress used her remaining lifespan to grant Zhao Zhang intelligence so he could ascend the throne. I sent her soul into the barrier for preservation. After the ten-year period ends, her soul will be released to the underworld for reincarnation. This way it doesn’t violate the laws of reincarnation while fulfilling her maternal love.”

After listening, Yusang thought carefully for a long time before slowly sorting through the details. She nodded and made a sound of understanding, then frowned again. “But what does this have to do with me?”

Yan Qige tilted his head slightly to meet Yusang’s confused gaze without answering. At first, Yusang didn’t understand what he meant, but after staring into Yan Qige’s eyes for a while, she suddenly understood his implication. She stared at him in shock, pointing at him. “You don’t mean me, do you? How could that be possible? I’ve never been to the imperial palace.”

“The Empress Dowager once painted a portrait of the master who guided her. It looked exactly like the woman who helped me in my dream. I knew then that such a woman truly existed. Later, when I saw Consort Chen, I was even more certain I hadn’t guessed wrong. Consort Chen was originally a spring swallow that was cultivated into a human form in the palace. When demons take human shape, they often model themselves after appearances they’ve seen. Her appearing in the palace looking exactly like you—how could that be a mere coincidence?”

“A spring swallow?” Yusang remembered that she had indeed saved a swallow caught in wind and rain in the barrier that day, but she still refused to believe it. “I only accidentally entered that place and then escaped. It should have just been a coincidence.”

“Impossible. The palace had demon-suppressing formations then—you couldn’t have used magic at all. If you had truly fallen into the barrier, how could you have possibly escaped?”

“I… I…” Yusang stared blankly, gradually recalling what happened in the barrier that day. She hadn’t noticed before, but now that it was mentioned, she increasingly felt something was wrong. It seemed the clothes she wore in the barrier were somehow off, and after leaving the barrier, the wound on her palm had completely healed without a trace.

“That day, you didn’t break into the barrier—you just fainted there. Under the barrier’s influence, you saw memories from the past and mistakenly thought you had entered the barrier when you woke up.”

“Impossible. How could I not remember meeting you at all? Twenty-five years ago, I was… I was…” Yusang frantically tried to defend herself, attempting to recall what she was doing twenty-five years ago. Twenty-five years might seem distant to a mortal, but to a demon, it was like yesterday. She tried hard to remember where she had been then, but found herself unable to continue speaking despite having the words on her lips.

“Where were you?” Yan Qige frowned slightly and pressed.

“I… how did I suddenly forget? I can’t remember…” Yusang frowned as she tried desperately to recall, but her mind was completely blank. The longer she thought, the more her temples began to ache, and she couldn’t help but raise her hands to hold her head.

Seeing Yusang’s obvious distress, Yan Qige quickly reached out to support her. “If you can’t remember, don’t force it. You demons live long lives—having poor memory is normal.”

“Is it?” Yusang looked up at Yan Qige in confusion, feeling extremely tired. Her mind was blank, and a heartache and discomfort made her eyes blur with moisture, but she couldn’t remember anything or understand why she felt such pain and distress.

Because Yusang was unwell, they stopped traveling and dismounted in the lee of a dune. Seeing a withered tree nearby, Yan Qige helped Yusang down and over to sit against it, then broke off some branches to pile together and light.

Yan Qige tied the horses behind the tree. Seeing that Yusang was still lost in thought, he brushed the sand dust off himself and sat down beside her. “Stop thinking about it. Get some sleep.”

Yusang made a sound of agreement and tiredly closed her eyes, leaning back against the tree. But because she wasn’t paying attention, her head bumped against a protruding knot on the trunk, making her grimace in pain.

Yan Qige looked at Yusang and smiled, reaching out to rub the back of her head where she’d been hurt, then guided her head to rest on his shoulder. “Sleep here instead.”

“That’s more like it. I am your life-saving benefactor after all—treating me well is the right thing to do,” Yusang said smugly, despite getting the advantage, smiling as she temporarily set aside the confusion and doubts in her heart.

Sleeping in a half-dream state, Yusang felt as if someone was watching her. She suddenly startled awake and opened her eyes to see Zi Feng in his brocade robes standing on the sandy ground in front of them.

Yusang glanced at Yan Qige, who was resting with his eyes closed beside her, carefully moved her head away from his shoulder, and quietly stood up, gesturing for Zi Feng to talk on the nearby sand dune.