Time flows like water slipping away. Zhang Wenchang was enveloped in a stagnant, aged air, utterly lacking the vitality of youth. In truth, his face was so aged that no one would ever guess he was a young man.

“Innkeeper, bring a jug of wine and four side dishes.” Ye Fan walked into the simple little tavern.

Zhang Wenchang responded with a hollow murmur, like a straw man with no heart inside him — mechanically retrieving the wine jug, silently bringing out four small dishes, without a single word.

“This useless old man is just like a dead person — can’t squeeze out even one sentence in half a day. You heard what I said to you just now, didn’t you?” The young man looked at him with open revulsion.

“I heard.” Zhang Wenchang’s eyes were dull. He slowly gathered up the dishes and wiped down the table.

He had arrived in this world without warning. He had no cultivation talent, endured endless bullying from fellow disciples, and spent these past years drifting through shadows and dejection, silently bearing it all.

“What are you shouting about?!” Ye Fan slapped the table and cut a sideways glance at the young man.

“What business is it of yours? We’re talking to this old wreck.” The other young man turned to look.

“Get lost. Stop disturbing me while I drink.” Ye Fan swept him with a look of contempt.

“Who do you think you are, acting this arrogant?” The young men all rose to their feet and came forward together, sneering continuously.

“You’d best get out of here, sir.” Zhang Wenchang said to Ye Fan in his slow, wooden way.

“You old fool, stay out of it!” One of the young men stepped forward and shoved Zhang Wenchang, nearly sending him stumbling to the floor.

Zhang Wenchang, his temples as white as frost, braced himself against the table to steady himself, then stood in silence to the side, saying nothing more, consumed in despondency.

The young men came forward together, all of them fixing their eyes on Ye Fan, cold smiles hanging on their faces. One of them pointed at Ye Fan’s face and said: “Who do you think you are — Yao Guang’s holy son? The Golden-Winged Little Peng King?”

“Crack!”

Ye Fan brought the wine bowl in his hand straight down over the young man’s face, trapping his entire face inside it. The young man couldn’t even cry out — he flew backward into the street, arms and legs thrashing, and then went still, breathing his last.

“Get out.” Ye Fan had only these two words. His expression was utterly cold.

The others all froze. Not one of them had expected him to dare do such a thing. After a long moment, one of them managed to speak: “Ji Hui’s great-grand-nephew has been killed…”

“You’ve got some nerve — you actually dare to randomly kill a member of the Ji Family!”

Ye Fan had no desire to get dragged down to their level, but the moment he heard Ji Hui’s name, his expression dropped to freezing. “What if I did?” he said.

“You… just wait!” The group turned and started to walk away.

“You still dare to threaten me?” A cold smile touched the corner of Ye Fan’s mouth. With a ringing clang, he snatched the long sword from one of their hands.

“Splash!”

He swung it down in a single stroke, sending one person’s head flying on the spot. It fell into the street, and the corpse was launched outward at the same time — not a single drop of blood spilled inside the small tavern.

“You—” The remaining young men were horror-stricken.

“I told you to get lost, and still you invited trouble upon yourselves!” A fire was burning in Ye Fan’s chest. Seeing Zhang Wenchang bullied like this, and then recalling that Ji Hui was the one behind it all, he struck without mercy.

Splash… Splash…

He sat unmoved in his seat and swung the sword in a series of strokes. Blood sprayed outward as he cut them down one by one, all of them swept out into the street.

Every passerby who had been near the tavern stood slack-jawed, too frightened to breathe, not even daring to make a sound. Who was this person? He had hacked down members of the Ji Family — what nerve!

“That’s Wang Chong — the young ruler of the Central Plains generation.”

“It’s him. I’ve seen him before.”

People whispered among themselves, their fear deepening.

Ye Fan sat steady as a mountain, his face calm and composed. Before entering the tavern, he had already altered his appearance to match Wang Chong — even replicating his bearing, forceful and ruthless.

Over the past half-month since Wang Chong had entered the Southern Region, he had been fighting everywhere he went, killing freely. A good number of the younger generation had fallen at his hands, and even some of the older generation had been enraged to the point of wanting to come out and cut him down personally.

Ye Fan figured that this young ruler from the Central Plains had accumulated so many enemies by now that he probably couldn’t keep track of them all himself. Adding a few more enemies to his list was something he surely wouldn’t even notice.

“Why has it come to this for you?” Ye Fan sent the words through divine sense transmission. He clearly remembered that before he left, Elder Ma Yun of the Jade Cauldron Grotto Heaven had taken Zhang Wenchang as a disciple — his situation should have changed for the better.

Zhang Wenchang’s heart jolted. He stared blankly at Ye Fan.

“No need to be startled. I’m Ye Fan. You only need to speak in your heart.”

Zhang Wenchang’s lips trembled. He bent down to wipe the tables and chairs, using the motion as cover, terrified that his expression might betray him to onlookers.

“Leave quickly. They’re waiting for you to come back. There are people watching in secret.”

A cold glint touched the corner of Ye Fan’s mouth. He pressed no further, unwilling to implicate Zhang Wenchang. With a thread of divine sense, he smoothed away Zhang Wenchang’s memory of the moments just passed, leaving him without awareness of what had happened.

Ye Fan resolved that once he had harvested the Immortal Divine Medicine, he would help restore Zhang Wenchang’s youth. For now, he did not want to draw too much attention.

Zhang Wenchang’s mind went briefly hazy. Everything from just a moment ago was gone. He had no idea what had occurred.

Three years had passed since they last met, and his circumstances were miserable. He had come here and opened this small tavern just to keep himself alive — and for a person who had arrived from the far shore of the starry sky, it was a strange and sorrowful kind of sadness.

His eyes held no sign of life. He drifted through his days like a walking corpse, lying on the rooftop each night to gaze up at the stars, longing for his wife and the child he had never met, tears often rolling down his cheeks.

“I will help change all of this for you.” Ye Fan said silently to himself.

He left the small tavern, shedding Wang Chong’s appearance as he went. He had no desire to receive challenges on behalf of this young Central Plains king who went around picking fights everywhere — although framing him for a few more grievances was perfectly fine.

Before long, he spotted an elder of the Ji Family’s Dragon Transformation Secret Realm arriving to investigate, only to find nothing and leave empty-handed.

Ye Fan wandered aimlessly down the street, then suddenly his expression sharpened, and he quickened his pace — because he had spotted the little girl again.

She was pitifully begging from a rotund, potbellied man, only to flinch back when the man shouted at her. She retreated meekly, lowering her head to stare at her small shoes with their missing toes, not daring to say another word.

Ye Fan walked over in long strides and stood not far off, quietly watching her, trying to detect some difference. But he was disappointed — even his powerful spiritual sense uncovered nothing unusual.

The little girl had been frightened just a moment ago and no longer dared to beg from passersby. She was wiping away tears with a look of grievance, head lowered as she shuffled forward, nearly bumping into people several times.

She was very frightened, terrified of being scolded again, timid and with her head bowed even lower, looking utterly pitiful.

Ye Fan couldn’t bear to watch anymore. He stepped in front of her, crouched down, and looked at her with gentleness.

“I’m sorry — I didn’t mean to…” The little girl was walking ahead with her head down, still dazed, and nearly bumped into him. Tears glistened in her eyes, and she was clearly scared.

“Don’t you recognize me?” Ye Fan smiled quietly, looking at her.

“You’re… the kind big brother.” The little girl’s eyes went wide. She wiped away her tears and her expression filled with gratitude.

Ye Fan patted her on the head. “Do you have no family?”

The little girl blinked her large eyes, bewildered, and shook her head. “No. Little Nannan can’t remember anything at all.”

“Can’t remember anything?” Ye Fan sensed something was off and couldn’t help asking more.

“Every so often, Little Nannan forgets everything from the past — not even the slightest impression remains. In a few more days, I might not even remember big brother anymore.” The little girl lowered her head, her mood falling noticeably.

“Why does that happen?” Ye Fan was deeply unsettled by this.

“Little Nannan doesn’t know either. I seem to have forgotten so many things. I don’t know where I came from or where I’m going. Everyone else has family, but I have no one. Little Nannan is very lonely, and very sad.” The little girl kept her head down, her eyes brimming with tears.

“Shall I take you somewhere to eat?” Ye Fan said gently.

“Okay.” The little girl gave a well-behaved nod, a hopeful look crossing her face. “Little Nannan is very hungry. I haven’t eaten anything in many days.”

Ye Fan took her for a hearty meal, then examined her carefully. He furrowed his brow — he could detect not the slightest abnormality. Why was this?

This little girl was clearly no ordinary person. But why was he unable to find anything at all? Doubt stirred within him.

“Big brother…”

The little girl reached into her ragged clothes and pulled out a small, crystal-clear stone. Seven colors of light flowed across it — a single glance was enough to tell it was no ordinary thing.

“What is this?” Ye Fan was inwardly astonished.

“Little Nannan doesn’t know either. Every time I forget the past, a little stone like this appears. It can be eaten, and it’s very sweet — it can keep Little Nannan from being hungry for many days.” The little girl lifted it high with both hands and offered it to Ye Fan, as a way of expressing her gratitude.

Ye Fan held it in his palm and examined it closely, but could not make heads or tails of it. Yet this small, translucent stone — barely the size of a knuckle — was certainly no ordinary thing.

“Little Nannan, keep it for yourself.” Ye Fan moved to return it to her.

But the little girl kept stepping backward, shaking her head over and over. “Big brother, please take it. Little Nannan has nothing else to offer you in thanks.”

Ye Fan crouched down and let out a quiet sigh. Such a tiny child, already speaking of repaying others — it truly made one’s heart ache.

The little girl was stubborn about it. She pressed the luminous little stone into his hand and absolutely refused to take it back no matter what he said. Ye Fan had no choice but to accept it. He wanted to examine it carefully and think it over — perhaps it held the key to unraveling the mystery of the little girl’s origins.

Seeing him stand up, as though he was about to leave, the little girl lowered her head to look at her small shoes with their missing toes, one small hand worrying at the torn corner of her ragged clothes. In a voice barely above a whisper, she said: “Big brother…”

“What is it?” Ye Fan asked, smiling.

“Can I… come with you?” The little girl was very nervous. A hopeful look crossed her face as she quietly murmured, head still lowered: “Little Nannan is very well-behaved. I can wash clothes, clean floors — I can learn to do anything.”

“I have some things I need to take care of recently…”

“Oh. Little Nannan understands.” The little girl’s head drooped almost to her chest. She slowly turned to leave.

“I haven’t finished yet. I’m very busy, and I’m afraid I won’t be able to take proper care of you. But if you can wait a while, I’ll take you with me when the time comes.” Ye Fan naturally could not allow this pitiful little girl to go on wandering the streets alone.

“Really?” The little girl looked up at once, her pure, large eyes lighting up with brightness. She looked so happy and overjoyed.

“Come, let me get you settled in the inn, and wait patiently for me to come back.” Ye Fan chose an inn right next to Zhang Wenchang’s small tavern.

“When I’m not here, you can go to that small tavern and play. Talk more with that old man.” Ye Fan smiled as he gave her these instructions.

“Little Nannan understands. I won’t wander off.” The little girl gave an obedient nod.

“Zhang Wenchang longs for the child he has never met. If Little Nannan were to wander into his life, perhaps it might make things a little easier for him.” Ye Fan thought quietly to himself.

Five days later, the Ancient Hua Imperial Dynasty and the Yin-Yang Sect finally made their move and entered the Ancient Forbidden Land. Ye Fan knew: his own moment was coming as well.

As long as they failed, it would be his turn to act. On the nine sacred mountains, there was Immortal Divine Medicine — and there was also the Nine Dragons Pulling the Coffin. His heart stirred with anticipation.

A great many people had gathered at the edge of the Ancient Forbidden Land, all of them waiting anxiously for news. The two great powers had already entered the Life Forbidden Zone.

But barely a quarter of an hour had passed before cries of alarm rang out from the crowd, and all eyes turned skyward.

“The divine garment has flown out!”

“That’s right — it’s the divine garment of the ancient sage!”

A suit of golden battle armor soared outward, blazing with light that shot straight into the heavens. It was shaped like a human figure — a golden sacred sword held in one hand, a golden divine bow on its back — but no one wore it.

The peerless divine garment was spiritually aware and had returned on its own. It had a life of its own. Within the golden battle armor, flecks of ash sifted down.

“Those are flying cinders!”

“My heavens — the people who went inside have already been reduced to ash this quickly? The force of the ages has erased them entirely!”

“The Ancient Forbidden Land is truly terrifying — it grinds away all the world’s most powerful figures!”

At the same time, people were stunned by the garment itself. The peerless divine garment of the ancient sage was extraordinarily powerful — it had not been destroyed inside, but had flown out on its own. The sight left everyone shaken.

“The divine garment has a spirit. It sensed the threat and did not dare to go deeper. Even approaching the sacred mountains — it likely could not protect even itself.”

Ye Fan’s heart settled. It would soon be his turn to act.