After Yan Chaosheng left, Liu Shuang said, “Lord Ji Mo, perhaps we shouldn’t go?”

She felt very uneasy.

When Yan Chaosheng mentioned the Valley of Eight Sufferings, Liu Shuang was shocked, suddenly understanding what Shao You had once described as a near-death experience in her previous life. As the Young Lord of Kun Lun, he possessed nearly ten thousand years of cultivation, born with an ancient immortal bloodline, destined to be a Realm Lord, equivalent to a king. Why did his immortal power later dissipate, his seven souls scatter, forcing him to search for souls in the mortal realm?

It turned out he had once ventured into the Valley of Eight Sufferings, paying an enormous price. His seven souls had drifted from the City of Unforgetting to the mortal realm, which was why Liu Shuang had encountered him there.

The seven souls include: Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Fear, Love, Hate, and Desire.

Before meeting Liu Shuang, Shao You had already gathered six souls, lacking only the last one. Liu Shuang had curiously asked him, “Which soul have you not yet found?”

Grandfather Tree had said quietly, “Why do you ask? Isn’t that soul with you?”

Liu Shuang was utterly shocked, trying to recall when she might have accidentally swallowed one of Shao You’s souls without knowing.

Shao You’s face had reddened slightly as he coughed lightly and told Liu Shuang, “He’s teasing you. Don’t take it seriously.”

But even until her own wedding day, when Shao You left, Liu Shuang never managed to learn from him which soul he was missing. Nor did he explain what danger he had encountered that caused his seven souls to scatter, forcing him to search for them alone.

Now she realized that only the Valley of Eight Sufferings could have overpowered Shao You and caused him such misfortune.

Liu Shuang regretted her actions deeply. Had she known earlier that the ancient site of the Valley of Eight Sufferings was in the Ghost King’s Tomb, she would never have brought Shao You here.

She quickly grabbed Shao You’s wide sleeve. “Listen to me, I was lying before. Your mother’s soul isn’t here. I only said that because I wanted to borrow the Shennong Cauldron. Lord Ji Mo, scold me, punish me, but please don’t go any further.”

Shao You looked down at her.

She looked ready to spread her arms to block his path.

Shao You said, “I know that Immortal Liu of Chi Shui wasn’t lying.”

“I was lying! I was deceiving you from the beginning, just to trick you into opening the Shennong Cauldron for me.” Liu Shuang pulled off her face veil. “Look, I resorted to this strategy only because I wanted to quickly remove the appearance-changing pearl.”

Shao You gazed at her, his lips curving slightly.

His mother’s soul lamp remained unextinguished. For this remnant soul, over ten thousand years, he had searched almost everywhere in the Eight Wildernesses, even visiting the Heavenly Palace of the Feng clan and coming to the Ghost Realm several times.

The only place he hadn’t visited was the City of Unforgetting, the burial ground for the Ghost Kings’ souls.

When Liu Shuang brought him to this place, he knew she hadn’t lied to him. She attempted to stop him from going forward; that was the lie.

Seeing her anxious, helpless, and so remorseful that she had torn off her face veil, Shao You paused, took out a jade pendant from his pocket, and handed it to her.

“Take this, return to Kun Lun, and when you see Immortal Wo Jiang, ask him to help you open the Shennong Cauldron.” Noticing she didn’t take it, Shao You frowned slightly and said, “What’s wrong? If you have other concerns, rest assured, this is my spiritual jade. You needn’t worry that Immortal Wo Jiang won’t believe you.”

Liu Shuang asked, “What about you? Are you still going to the Valley of Eight Sufferings alone?”

Shao You had thought Liu Shuang was only concerned that if he didn’t return, she would no longer be able to open the Shennong Cauldron. Unexpectedly, even after achieving her goal, she still cared about his fate. His long eyelashes lowered, concealing his eyes, and he said gently, “I still have strength for this exploration.”

“If you must go, I’ll go with you!” Seeing that her persuasion was ineffective, Liu Shuang could only sigh. There was no way she would let Shao You enter alone and prematurely scatter his seven souls.

“Enough, stop being foolish. Go back,” Shao You said. Born as a leader of Kun Lun, when cold and serious, his bloodline and dignity manifested perfectly. When truly angered, even his master, Wo Jiang, dared not provoke him and could only sheepishly obey.

He intended to force her to leave, but unexpectedly, she showed no fear and boldly pushed his jade pendant back to him.

“Keep your jade pendant. I want you to return alive and well, to fulfill your promise to help me open the Shennong Cauldron.”

The jade, unexpectedly pushed back into his hand, seemed to still carry her warmth. Shao You’s fingers curled slightly as he looked down coldly, “I am the Young Lord of Kun Lun. If you don’t go back now, forget about borrowing the Shennong Cauldron.”

Liu Shuang replied, “And I am the Young Lord of Kung Sang. If I want to go here, you have no right to stop me.”

Shao You raised his hand.

Liu Shuang immediately crouched down, covering her head. “Don’t resort to violence without discussion. Even if you forcibly send me away, I’ll come back. Don’t forget, I still have the Transmission Mirror.”

Shao You could no longer maintain your cold expression. He sighed softly in his heart. Having lived nearly ten thousand years, he had never imagined that, on the verge of becoming a Realm Lord, he would be so completely at the mercy of a little immortal.

Seeing that Shao You indeed no longer attempted to use force, Liu Shuang crouched on the ground, looking up at him with a smile.

She tried to reason with him: “I’m not being foolish. They say an ancient, powerful deity once entered the Valley of Eight Sufferings, yet even he didn’t come out. This shows the valley has nothing to do with the cultivation level. All things are interconnected in creation and destruction—having high cultivation doesn’t guarantee passage through the Valley of Eight Sufferings, nor does low cultivation mean there’s no chance. If you truly go alone and can’t return to Kun Lun, what then? Look at this—this soul lamp can at least preserve your soul, and I can bring you home.”

Liu Shuang quickly took out a soul lamp from her cosmos bag and showed it to him. The golden soul lamp glowed warm and bright, reflecting in her eyes like fallen stars.

Shao You pressed his lips together in silence, his heart troubled.

Everyone in the Eight Wildernesses knew of the Valley of Eight Sufferings. Some elders would deliberately use it to frighten young immortals in their families. But what it was actually like inside, no one knew.

Because no one had ever come out.

Shao You didn’t want to implicate others in your matter, but having searched for thousands of years, with his obsession right before him, he couldn’t help but explore.

After pondering for a while, he said, “Let’s go.”

The young woman hurriedly followed him with the soul lamp. After just a few steps, Shao You flipped his palm, and the person behind him fell softly.

Shao You caught Liu Shuang and carried her to an open space. He drew blood to create a formation, establishing a barrier that would keep ghosts from approaching her.

Shao You looked down at her. She lay within the formation, still holding the golden soul lamp in her arms.

Shao You placed his spiritual jade beside her, stepped outside the barrier, and walked toward the Ghost King’s Tomb.

When Liu Shuang woke up, rubbing her head, she gnashed her teeth in anger.

People truly change. The Shao You from seven hundred years ago was so domineering, completely unlike his later gentleness.

She had been completely unguarded with Shao You, never expecting that he wouldn’t even consult with her.

She beat against the barrier, extremely worried. If Shao You truly went to the Ghost King’s Tomb and his seven souls were scattered, there would be no one to gather them for him.

The barrier’s effect hadn’t worn off, and Liu Shuang couldn’t break through. Anxious to rescue Shao You, she went through every barrier-breaking method she could think of. Her immortal power crashed against Shao You’s barrier, dissipating silently without any effect.

Something fell from her embrace. Liu Shuang was delighted—how could she have forgotten the Transmission Mirror!

A moment later, Liu Shuang moved from inside the barrier to outside, just one step apart. This time, it only cost her a little immortal power.

She quickly picked up the soul lamp and headed toward the Ghost King’s Tomb.

The closer she got to the Ghost King’s Tomb, the fewer small ghosts there were in the air. At the edge of the tomb, it was so clean that not a single small ghost remained.

Yet such places were the most dangerous. Only when the most terrifying things were present would there be no living creatures for dozens of miles.

Liu Shuang’s footsteps halted, unsure whether to proceed.

Shao You had entered the Ghost King’s Tomb ahead of her. If she rushed in recklessly, not only would she fail to find Shao You, but she might also perish here.

The golden soul lamp emitted a gentle light. After thinking for a moment, instead of entering the Ghost King’s Tomb, she extended the lamp forward and placed the spiritual jade inside it.

Fortunately, Shao You had left her something carrying his aura.

Liu Shuang closed her eyes, interlaced her ten fingers, and controlled the soul lamp to drift inward through the air.

This wasn’t a bad idea. If she arrived too late and Shao You, like in her previous life, had lost his cultivation and scattered his seven souls, the soul lamp would sense the jade’s owner and automatically absorb Shao You’s scattered souls. When Shao You escaped the Valley of Eight Sufferings, she could directly return the seven souls to him.

If the soul lamp couldn’t find any souls, it would prove that Shao You wasn’t in danger yet, which was better than both of them rushing in blindly.

The soul lamp, controlled by Liu Shuang, floated leisurely through the Ghost King’s Tomb.

Just as it sensed something, it suddenly fell from the air and shattered. Liu Shuang turned sharply and saw Shao You half-kneeling not far away, dressed in cyan robes. He was covered in blood, his immortal sword broken. Seeing her, his pupils contracted. “Don’t come over! Leave quickly!”

As soon as he spoke, it seemed an invisible hand behind him entangled his body, dragging him into the Ghost King’s Tomb.

Shao You stabbed his broken sword into the ground, not making a sound.

Liu Shuang drew out a white silk ribbon with her immortal power, wrapping it around his waist, trying to pull him out of the Ghost King’s Tomb.

The white ribbon created by the immortal power dissolved instantly. Shao You shouted, “Go!”

Seeing he was about to be swallowed, Liu Shuang flew forward and grabbed his hand. “Shao You!”

Shao You looked up at her, his pained expression slowly transforming into a smile. Liu Shuang realized something was wrong and was about to let go, but in the next moment, her body felt as if it was falling into an endless abyss.

The ground split open with a rumble. Before Liu Shuang could even make a sound, she had already fallen into the Valley of Eight Sufferings.

When Liu Shuang regained consciousness, rain was dripping steadily from the sky. The wind blew the gauze curtains as she sat up in bed and discovered she had become smaller.

She had turned into a little girl, wearing a light blue gauze dress, with soft, chubby fingers.

Before she could figure out what was happening, someone outside said, “Is the Young Lord still sleeping?”

Liu Shuang quickly lay back down.

“Indeed, she is,” another voice said. “She’s fine, causing trouble and harming the Lady like that, while she sleeps soundly in her chamber. It’s only because the Realm Lord ordered it kept secret; otherwise, the entire Eight Wildernesses would know by now that our Young Lord of Kung Sang has a problem—she’s a fool.”

The immortal maid giggled. “You shouldn’t say that. After all, the Young Lord is missing a soul; it’s normal for her to be a bit confused.”

“She recklessly ran out to play and ended up being captured by a great demon. Lady Purple sacrificed her primordial core to save her. I think even when this little fool grows up, she’ll be a heartless, useless waste. Nothing like the young lords of the Feng and Ji Mo clans.”

“Don’t talk like that. She is, after all, the Realm Lord’s daughter.”

“She just had the luck of being born into the right family, and now we have to serve a foolish immortal.”

Hearing their words, Liu Shuang felt a dull pain in her heart.

A small voice said, that’s not how it was. Someone had told her that on Long White Cliff, there was a most beautiful divine flower that could cure Lady Purple’s hidden ailment after giving birth to her daughter.

She moved her tiny body, flying up again and again, falling halfway each time, and becoming bruised all over. Finally, she managed to see that jade-colored flower, only to be captured.

That great demon narrowed his eyes and smiled, “She indeed didn’t lie, keeping her promise to lure you here.”

Then he struck a demon force into her heart, and Liu Shuang fainted from the pain. When she woke up, she witnessed a heart-wrenching scene: Lady Purple had shattered her primordial core to save her. Liu Shuang lay in Lady Purple’s arms, feeling so distressed she didn’t know what to do, yet unable to shed a single tear.

With her incomplete soul, she couldn’t even cry or laugh normally, making her seem particularly unfeeling and cold.

Blood surged up her throat. When Liu Shuang opened her eyes again, she heard the immortal maids whispering that she had been playing carelessly, disregarding her mother’s life and death, a heartless little fool.

Liu Shuang felt pain all over her small body. She lay stiffly in bed, wanting to call them for help, but opened her mouth and said nothing.

An intangible depression and sadness invaded her.

She got out of bed, her body instinctively walking toward Lady Purple’s door in her memory.

Unexpectedly, she heard Lady Purple and Chi Shui Chong arguing.

Lady Purple said, “She is my daughter. No matter what, I won’t abandon her. You all say she’s foolish, but once her soul returns, she’ll be fine.”

“I’m not asking you to abandon her,” Chi Shui Chong frowned. “In this world, there’s no one whose soul cannot be found. We’ve tried every method, yet we cannot find Liu Shuang’s missing soul. Liu Shuang is too mischievous and unfit for great responsibility.”

Chi Shui Chong said coldly, “Kung Sang needs a qualified Young Lord.”

Lady Purple laughed coldly. “Who do you think is qualified? Is it Bai Zhuixu, whom you’ve taken in and are training? Or Bai Yuxiao? Or perhaps Mi Chu of the Lou clan? In your heart, is everyone better than her?”

“You know that’s not what I meant!”

Liu Shuang listened blankly, pressing her hand against her heart, which felt overwhelmingly depressed.

These were all memories from the original owner. She was using the original owner’s heart, experiencing the original owner’s past, receiving these long-delayed memories.