Waking up once, a scar disappeared from her face. Waking up again, an anklet appeared on her foot.

Shi Yan lifted her leg with notably careless movement. She fiddled with the silver anklet and thought it looked truly beautiful—the kind of treasure that had “nobility” written all over it.

This position didn’t allow for close inspection, so she rolled over to sit up, kicked away a cushion, and examined the anklet, turning it back and forth. It consisted of two slender silver bands connected by delicate chains. The complex patterns resembled peonies, or perhaps tree peonies, with a hollow inner core inlaid with a hint of transparent, refreshing pale green jade.

Worn on her foot, it seemed weightless and unobtrusive, emitting only a faint coolness. Based on her years of experience in Hexian City, Shi Yan was certain this was a magic treasure of very high quality—exactly how high, she wasn’t sure, since she’d never had enough money to buy such powerful magical items before. Though it appeared to be made of silver and jade, it felt different to the touch.

“How do you like it?”

Sima Jiao’s voice suddenly sounded from behind.

Startled by him, Shi Yan scratched her ear and said, “It’s very nice, but I’m not used to wearing anklets. Couldn’t I wear it on my wrist instead? And such a precious magical treasure—you’re giving it to me?” It felt like a family heirloom-level treasure, yet there was no gifting ceremony or anything; he’d just put it directly on her ankle.

Sima Jiao looked at her and suddenly smiled, reaching out to touch the anklet on her ankle. “Once it’s fastened and bound to its master, even I cannot remove it. This defensive magical treasure is the only one of its kind in the world. No one can break through its defense to harm you.”

No one? Shi Yan was stunned and instinctively asked, “Ah, not even you?”

Sima Jiao didn’t even move his eyebrows, just looking at her with a tenderness that Shi Yan didn’t quite understand. “Correct, not even me.”

Hearing this, Shi Yan inwardly cursed—wasn’t this an anti-domestic violence device? If even Sima Jiao couldn’t overcome it, couldn’t she walk around without fear? Not just walk—she could probably even lie down and stroll.

In this world, who could subdue her?

Sima Jiao carefully observed her expression and tilted up her chin. “You don’t find anything strange?”

Shi Yan asked, “Strange about what?” She was confused for a moment before finally realizing what was odd. Why did she think of it as anti-domestic violence? Why did she naturally categorize Sima Jiao’s actions as domestic violence?!

That wasn’t what Sima Jiao meant.

He suddenly burst into laughter. Shi Yan didn’t know what he was laughing about but felt her forehead being kissed. Sima Jiao seemed quite pleased, nuzzling her nose tip as he asked, “Don’t you think I have evil intentions to imprison you?”

Not that she didn’t trust him, not that she was raised by that old Shi Qianlü for so many years, not that she’d forgotten him—why did she still trust him?

Shi Yan thought: I always feel confused by this ancestor’s thought process, but seeing him so happy, I think it’s better to keep quiet.

When you wake up and find beautiful jewelry on your body, isn’t the first reaction naturally that you received a gift? Isn’t that normal? Why would anyone associate it with imprisonment? She didn’t understand.

Sima Jiao’s finger brushed her chin and grasped her wrist. With just a gentle pull forward, Shi Yan felt herself float up as if her body had become weightless. Sima Jiao, holding her wrist, guided her to step onto the floor.

Before Shi Yan knew what he was doing, he was suddenly holding her hand and quickly walking outside.

The floor of the Forbidden Palace was smooth and black, almost clearly reflecting their shadows. Shi Yan walked barefoot on it, and due to their hurried pace, the two slender rings on her ankle collided, making soft clinking sounds.

Sima Jiao wore a black robe. When he walked, it was like lightning speed, giving the impression that each stride could cover nearly two meters. Shi Yan, pulled by her wrist, was practically dragged along as they ran, their shadows—one black, one cyan—reflecting on the pitch-black floor.

Shi Yan was barefoot, her hair undone, and she hadn’t even washed her face after waking up. She felt like a female ghost, but Sima Jiao, in some kind of mood, just dragged her along without giving her time to say a word.

They walked for a while in the Forbidden Palace. The vast halls showed no trace of anyone else. Looking around, all they could see were the great pillars supporting the domed ceilings and the various ornate caisson ceilings.

In such a vast place, with only the sounds of the two of them, for a moment, Shi Yan felt this scene seemed somehow familiar.

Scientifically speaking, it should be called the brain’s secondary memory.

Sima Jiao led Shi Yan to the center of the Forbidden Palace, where there stood a tall tower with golden tiles and red walls, clashing with the white Winter City around it—its vibrant colors were almost jarring.

Again, she felt a vague familiarity.

Sima Jiao led her toward the tower.

The path in between was paved with white stones that emanated cold. The way these cold stones were embedded in the ground reminded Shi Yan of the little path in the park near her home, also inlaid with pebbles, where elderly people exercising would repeatedly step on them, claiming it could massage the acupuncture points on their feet.

Shi Yan expressed doubt about this. She once thought those uncomfortable stone paths couldn’t massage acupuncture points—they could only kill people. Of course, now she wouldn’t mind such stone paths. With her cultivation level, she could walk on a path of knives without changing expression. Ordinary blades couldn’t pierce this Transformation Deity stage body.

Just as her mind wandered slightly, Sima Jiao turned to look at her. He first gave her a questioning glance, then noticed her bare feet. Then, quite naturally, he picked her up and carried her onto the path embedded with cold stones.

Shi Yan thought: …I didn’t mean that.

But since he’d already picked her up, she was too lazy to struggle.

However, she felt this great lord must rarely carry women—who would carry an adult woman in this child-carrying posture? She sat on Sima Jiao’s arm with her hand on his shoulder and thought, I haven’t sat on my father’s arm like this since I was seven.

Her supposedly fake father, Comrade Shi Qianlü, had never held her this intimately either. This great lord who claimed to be her boyfriend was quite skilled at acting like a father.

She felt her body’s reactions were also quite practiced, instinctively positioning her hands correctly. This might be the power of love—the aftereffects in her body were quite serious.

After crossing that cold stone path, the temperature around them plummeted. Sima Jiao pushed open the door, set her down, and resumed holding her wrist.

The floor inside the tower was carpeted—extremely luxurious, with patterns of blooming flowers. The surrounding walls were painted with scenes of singing, dancing, and immortals ascending to heaven, all radiant and full of vitality.

“Come.”

Shi Yan stepped onto the stairs and followed him up. These stairs were very long, one section after another, seemingly endless. She looked up at the light filtering in from above, and Sima Jiao’s silhouette also fell into her view—his long black hair and the curled hem of his robe gave her that familiar sense of dizziness again.

Sima Jiao suddenly turned to look at her and said, “Back then, when you climbed the high tower, you were so tired on the stairs that you almost sat down. I thought at the time…”

“I thought you were truly weak. I had never seen anyone weaker than you. Even the snakes I casually raised were a hundred times more powerful than you.”

Shi Yan thought: Does this person know how to talk?

Truly, for the original owner of this body to date this ancestor, she must have been a remarkable person. Such a tactless man, if not for his good looks and high cultivation, would definitely be unable to date.

The laughter in Sima Jiao’s voice suddenly disappeared. He said, “Now you won’t get tired climbing stairs like these.” There was a sighing quality that Shi Yan didn’t understand.

Shi Yan felt she couldn’t keep quiet forever, so she could only dryly respond, “After all, with Transformation Deity stage cultivation, climbing stairs is no problem.”

Sima Jiao made an affirmative sound, his expression becoming inscrutable again. Shi Yan was once more picked up by him. Though she had only spent a short time with this great lord, his impulsive personality had already made a deep impression on her.

Carried like a little girl, Sima Jiao leaped upward, his toes touching floating lanterns, instantly ascending several floors in the blink of an eye.

Shi Yan thought: Hey, this is much faster than an elevator!

Beside the stairs were lanterns floating in mid-air. These lanterns all had openwork flower patterns. If lit, they would probably cast various flower shadows on the ground, very much to Shi Yan’s aesthetic taste. She watched as Sima Jiao shamelessly stepped on them to leap upward, keeping her eyes on those lanterns.

A weight pressed on her head as Sima Jiao patted it. “These are all lanterns you like, newly added after the tower was moved here.” As he spoke, the lanterns lit up, indeed casting overlapping flower shadows.

There was a hint of self-satisfaction in his tone as if saying, “I knew you would like them.” How to put it—it was rather cute.

One could only marvel: love makes even a fearsome lord childish.

She reached the highest level and, in that equally vast hall, saw a pool of emerald-green water.

Inexplicably, Shi Yan felt something was missing from the pool—something should have been inside. Sima Jiao went forward and reached into the water, bringing up a trembling red lotus flower from the bottom. As the bud slowly opened, it revealed a quietly burning flame inside.

Pitiful, grieving cries echoed throughout the great hall—endless whimpering sounds. A child’s crying voice penetrated like bewitching music.

The flame suddenly leaped up, like a person baring its teeth and brandishing its claws, pouncing toward Sima Jiao. The child’s voice cursed hatefully, “Aaaaah, I’ll kill you! What does it matter to me if your woman died? Even though it was my power, I didn’t kill her! You were stupid enough to scheme against others and accidentally burned her to death, and then you blame me! And you dunk me in the water! Are you sick? Has water gotten into your brain? You bastard, I’m the one who’s hurting, not you, you stupid idiot!”

Sima Jiao slapped the flame back with one palm, his tone irritated: “Shut up!”

The flame that could produce a child’s voice shrank back after being slapped, apparently having used up all its courage and finally regaining its senses. It retreated and continued to cry pitifully.

Then it seemed to finally notice Shi Yan and loudly uttered a profanity before saying, “You found this woman again!”

Shi Yan thought: Shocking! Here’s a flame that can curse! And its tone sounds strangely like mine when I curse.

Sima Jiao said to her, “Before, I let you water it, and you taught it to speak improperly. Now it curses even more offensively.”

Shi Yan thought: Really, stop talking like I corrupted your family’s parrot! It wasn’t me!

Shi Yan felt truly wronged.

She felt as wronged as snow falling in June. Sima Jiao gave a cold laugh, but thinking again, he didn’t hold it against her.

After showing her the continuously crying flame, he led her around the high tower twice. The two stood on the highest cloud gallery overlooking Winter City.

“This tower used to be on Three Saints Mountain. After I destroyed Three Saints Mountain, I moved the tower here.”

Shi Yan felt he seemed to want to discuss life with her. Seeing him looking at her as if expecting a response, she carefully chose her words and said, “It seems you like this tower?”

Sima Jiao said, “I despise this tower. It imprisoned me for five hundred years.”

Shi Yan thought I couldn’t respond to that—you’ve ended the conversation. At the same time, she mentally exclaimed, Imprisoned for five hundred years! Isn’t this like the Great Sage Sun?

Sima Jiao continued, “Being imprisoned in the same place for so long, I naturally hated those who imprisoned me. From the beginning, I was determined that once I could leave, I would kill them all. So…”

Shi Yan decided to play along, so she made a sound of acknowledgment and prompted, “So what?”

Sima Jiao’s tone shifted: “So would you despise me the same way?”

Shi Yan said, “What kind of talk is this? I don’t understand. Why don’t you explain it to everyone?”

Sima Jiao: “…”

Shi Yan pretended she hadn’t said her previous words and answered, “I think it’s fine. You haven’t imprisoned me.”

Sima Jiao said, “I brought you here by force. Don’t you consider this imprisonment?”

Shi Yan suddenly pointed to the white forests in the distance. “I’m curious about that area. Could we go see it in a few days?”

Sima Jiao casually replied, “If you want to go, we can go this afternoon.”

Shi Yan nodded and said “Oh,” thinking, So this is your version of imprisonment.

She cleared her throat and said, “If I were unwilling to stay here, then it would be imprisonment. If I’m willing, then it’s not imprisonment.”

Sima Jiao looked as pleased as if he’d been stroked the right way, laughing softly. “I know you’re more willing to believe in me deep down.”

Shi Yan thought that if she said she was willing to stay here partly because she was suspicious of her identity and wanted to figure things out, but mostly because the treatment here was good, Sima Jiao might push her off this highest level in a fit of anger.

So she could only display a fake smile and say, “You’re right.”