Today was supposed to be a full moon night. But it started raining out of nowhere.

The water in the river slowly rose above the safety level, releasing Zhu Furong from the rocks and carrying his sleeping body about 70 meters away into the land.

Laying on the muddy ground, half submerged in the tide, Zhu Furong is dreaming of his past life.

...

In the small courtyard of a one room house, is a small garden filled with different flowers. At the center of the garden is a single plant of crimson hibiscus.

At one corner of the enclosed courtyard, is a plum blossom tree under which a teenage boy in plain white hanfu and a teenage girl in light pink hanfu are sitting together.

The boy is playing a zither while the girl is listening carefully with her cheeks resting on her hands. Her eyes seem to be focused on the boy's face.

A melodious tune rang all over the courtyard with lyrics full of love and appreciation.

From the day we met, my life has changed,

I am not lonely anymore.

Your beautiful smile, which brightened my world,

I can't help but adore.

I was weak, I was frail,

Had no ambitions, sought no grail.

You gave me courage, you became my strength.

For you, I can go to any lengths.

I will fight, will never give up,

Just like the star in the sky,

I will stand above.

The process will be arduous, but I don't fear.

Walking besides me, you are here.

The red string of fate, will never break nor be undone,

For our hearts have joined together to beat as one.

Giving my everything to you will never be enough,

You embrace me like a fragile flower, preserving with your love.

After finishing his song, the boy gazed at the girl with eyes full of love while the girl averted his gaze with shyness.

The 'flower' in the last line of the song stands for a particular type of flower, the hibiscus, which in turn stands for 'Furong', the boy himself.

While the 'preserving love' in the last line stands for 'Weici', the girl sitting beside the boy.

It was a song written by Ye Furong for the love of his life, Jiu Weici.

...

Dreaming about that time, the unconscious Zhu Furong's face bloomed with a warm smile.

Crack!

Thunder rolled through the sky while flashing light on Zhu Furong's body.

Within these mere seconds of lighting in the darkness of the night, it could be noticed that Zhu Furong is laying outside of a cemetery while some black smoke is oozing out of the ground under Zhu Furong and entering his body.

As time passed, Zhu Furong's expression kept changing for the worse.

At a certain time, the sleeping Zhu Xingzuo woke up cursing. "What is it this time? This daddy wants some sleep for god sake."

Zhu Xingzuo sounded horrified. "Shit! It's Yin Qi and one which is impure. I can feel a tremendous amount of malice in it. It's coming from under the ground."

"Hey Big Brother, quickly get out of this place. Hey are you listening? Wake up! It is not the time to be sleeping. Hey!" Zhu Xingzuo tried his best to wake Zhu Furong up but it doesn't seem like Zhu Furong can hear him.

Zhu Xingzuo did a quick scan of Zhu Furong's body.

He spoke with worry, "The Yin Qi has seeped quite deep into his body. The malicious intent in the Qi has also affected his soul. This is bad. If I don't do something about this, he will lose his sanity and may become a vegetable."

Saying this, Zhu Xingzuo instantly covered Zhu Furong's whole body in a thin layer of Chaos Qi and at the same time tried his best to expel all the Yin Qi that had invaded Zhu Furong's body.

"I didn't even get a single day of rest before I have to get back to work again. With this I have used a lot of Chaos Qi. God knows how long it will take to recover. Sigh! Sometimes I doubt if all this is really worth it. But alas! What will happen of this stupid kid without the almighty me?" He raised complaints and praised himself at the same time.

Thanks to Zhu Xingzuo, no more Yin Qi can invade Zhu Furong's body. But the amount which had invaded before has already affected Zhu Furong.

His dreams have turned from sweet dreams to nightmares.

...

"Mother, can you help me with my studies?" A five year old Ye Furong walked excitedly to a lady in her twenties who was sitting with her two sons.

"Can't you see I am teaching your elder brothers? Go ask the maids. Tell them I sent you." The lady shooed Ye Furong away.

Poor Ye Furong, hung his head and walked towards the door. At the same time a six years old kid walked past Ye Furong.

"First Mother, please help me with this. My mother is busy and sent me to you." The six years old kid requested.

"What is it? Show me." The lady took the notebook with a smile.

Standing at the door, Ye Furong saw this with wet eyes while biting his lower lip.

He didn't say anything and left silently.

...

A drop of tear escaped from the unconscious Zhu Furong's eyes which instantly dissolved with the rainwater.

...

"Young Master? Ptui! You are more like a Young Bastard! Hahahaha..." A 10 years old boy kicked an 8 year old Ye Furong while mocking him.

The boy is in a group with other children of the same age. They are all making fun of Ye Furong.

"You are just a son of a dead slave, what right do you have to be called a Young Master?" Another boy mocked.

"My mother was not a slave, she-she..." Ye Furong wants to refute but doesn't know what to say.

"She what? She was a slave, wasn't she? If not, why don't you tell us what she was?" A boy taunted.

"She-she..." Ye Furong bit his lips and averted his eyes.

Though he wants to confute their views, he himself doesn't know much about his own mother. Whenever he asked his other mothers, they all told him to ask his father. But in the Ye Clan, it is not allowed for the children to see the patriarch. If they want to meet him they have to prove themselves first to the clan.

The children kept making fun of Ye Furong and taunting him which ended up in a one sided beating.

Ye Bai and Ye Chenfeng passed by the scene which made the bullies stop, but when they saw that the two Young Masters just ignored them, they got back to action.

At the end of the day, Ye Furong returned back to his one room house, with bruises all over his body.

"Again?" A fat, middle aged maid confronted Ye Furong.

"How many times I have told you, if you can't fight then just run away. At least don't dirty your clothes, it is me who has to wash them." She snorted.

"Sorry." Ye Furong meekly apologized.

"Just Sorry? To remind you, there are no other maids in the clan willing to serve you. And here I am taking care of you who comes home every day covered in dirt and bruises." The fat maid jeered.

"I will increase your salary this month." Ye Furong replied.

The made instantly cheered up, "Hehe, now we are talking Young Master. Please leave your clothes in the basket, I will wash them for you. I will also add some meat in today's dinner, please look forward to it, hehe."

...

Out in the rain, Zhu Furong's face turned sour.

...

"What are you talking about Sir Assistant, this mandragora is worth 200 contribution points and you are only giving me 50 contribution points for it? It is not fair. I will complain to the Elders." An 11 years old Ye Furong protested against the assistant working at the Mission Hall of the Ye Clan.

"If you are not satisfied you can take it back. The contribution points offered for Silver Mandragora has been adjusted last week. Also the mandragora, Young Master submitted, is quite thin and has some broken root hairs. It's already good that I am offering you 50 contribution points for it." The assistant snorted.

Helpless, Ye Furong exchanged the herb for 50 contribution points. He is in a situation where he needs whatever contribution points he can get.

As he was leaving the hall, another Young Master of the Ye Clan entered with a similar Silver Mandragora and exchanged it for 250 contribution points.

Ye Furong complained about the partiality but the assistant blamed Ye Furong for being an idiot.

Ye Furong complained to the Elder of the Clan, but was blamed again.

...

This time the unconscious Zhu Furong is grinding his teeth in anger.

A myriad of changes occurred in Zhu Furong's expression as time passed by.

When he remembered the first time some people of the clan attacked him in a forest on orders of one of his brothers, his facial expression changed to that of disbelief.

When he remembered the time he got attacked again on orders of one of his brothers, his facial expression changed to anger.

When he remembered of the time, when one of the girls in the clan tried to frame him for sexual harassment, his facial expression turned to that of disgust.

He remembered the time when he met Jiu Weici for the first time and again a smile appeared on his face, but the smile soon turned into sadness as he remembered the time he was punished to mine Spirit Crystals.

At last he remembered the last scene inside the Spirit Crystals mine where Ye Bai introduced Jiu Weici as his wife.

The whole body of the unconscious Zhu Furong shook in extreme anger but this wasn't the end.

...

A tiny figure of a beautiful woman appeared in front of Zhu Furong. "What are you getting angry about? If you didn't like it, you should have killed Ye Bai on the spot and ran away with me." Jiu Weici sneered.

Jiu Weici pointed at him, "You are a coward! You chose death."

"The red string of fate, will never break nor be undone, for our hearts have joined together to beat as one." Jiu Weici cried, "It was broken. It was undone."

"Why didn't you take me with you? If we had died together we would have stayed together forever." She shouted, "Why? Why did you leave me alone? Why?" She cried, "Why make me suffer alone? Why?"

...

The rain has stopped by now and the sky is clearing. On the horizon, a mild red light could be noticed. The dawn is about to break.

Laying on the ground, Zhu Furong is weeping silently.

All this time Zhu Xingzuo is trying his best to console his brother even though his voice can't reach him.

Zhu Furong is still dreaming.

...

Jue Weici mocked, "Hehehe, you forgot about me didn't you? You have found yourself a new woman. What was her name again? Aha, Ming Lan, the Little Princess of Ming Dynasty."

She pointed at Zhu Furong, "Zhu Furong you betrayer."

"No no..." Zhu Furong denied.

In the real world, the unconscious Zhu Furong has started mumbling as well.

"What no? You think I don't know? You womanizer." Jiu Weici jeered.

"No no..." Zhu Furong kept denying.

"Still not accepting your mistakes?" Jiu Weici started crying, "How can you be so ungrateful? Didn't you promise to spend the rest of our life together? Why did you leave me."

Jiu Weici gritted her teeth, "Since you are cheating on me, I will cheat on you as well. You go, live happily with Ming Lan, I will go with Ye Bai."

"No no..." Zhu Furong shook his head in the real world.

"No? Then why don't you come and take me away? What is taking you so long? Are you sure you haven't forgotten about me? As I thought, you don't care about me anymore. After all, I am not as beautiful as that Little Princess." Jiu Weici looked disappointed.

"Ah, no no, y-you are beautiful, Little Weici, you are the most beautiful woman in the world." Zhu Furong stuttered.

"Really? Then why don't you come to me? Why are you taking so long?" Jiu Weici complained.

"I will come, I will come soon, just wait for me Little Weici, I will come for sure." Zhu Furong affirmed.

Jiu Weici frowned, "Then what about that Little Princess?"

"I will leave her, I don't want to get married to her. In the first place, I was forced into it. I swear." Zhu Furong grumbled.

"So you are not only a betrayer but a heartbreaker as well. What a scoundrel." Jiu Weici snorted.

"Ah, er…" Zhu Furong is lost for words.

"Tell me the truth, why did you agree to the engagement if you don't like her? Don't tell me…" She looked at herself and then looked at Zhu Furong with a weird face.

"Ah, no no, I am not a lolicon. I did agree to the engagement, partly because she resembles you but that's because she resembles you. It's about you in the end, no-not h-her." Zhu Furong answered, flustered.

Well it cannot be helped if a little Ming Lan resembles an adult Jiu Weici who is also short and cute. Zhu Furong can't be blamed—I guess.

Suddenly Ye Bai popped out of nowhere and held Jiu Weici by the waist.

"You will come? Then what? Can you take her away? You? Who couldn't even save himself from death? Hahaha... Nice joke." Ye Bai sneered.

"Ye Bai, you-you, I will kill you!" Zhu Furong yelled. But in the real world he is only murmuring.

"Haha, then why don't you try? Come come." Ye Bai raised his hand and called.

A fight ensued in the dream world between Ye Bai and Zhu Furong. Zhu Furong was beaten to pulp without landing a single hit on Ye Bai.

Zhu Furong laid on the floor while Ye Bai pressed his chest with one foot with a mocking smile on his face. "You are still weak as ever. Why do you even try? Didn't I tell you before to always behave like a dog in front of me? Then I may show mercy to you and let you call me Elder Brother."

Ye Bai frowned, "You were doing quite well. Even in your last moment you acted like a dog and knelt in front of me begging me to look after your woman—Then why are you trying to bite me now?"

Ptui! He spat on Zhu Furong's face, "Bad dog."

"I will kill you." Zhu Furong mumbled pressed under Ye Bai's feet. Same happened in the real world.

"What?" Ye Bai pushed his ear.

"I will kill you." Zhu Furong mumbled again.

Ye Bai sneered, "What are you saying? Did the cat get your tongue? My dog~"

"Hehe, don't worry, I will take care of Weici and if you don't mind I can take care of that Little Princess as well." Ye Bai made a lecherous smile.

"Ye Bai! I will fucking kill you..." Zhu Furong roared. Both in the dream and the real world.

...

In the real world, Zhu Furong shot up straight, roaring at the peak of his throat.

Lumps of mud flew all around from Zhu Furong's body.

Zhu Furong stood still like a statue with his eyes still closed.

"Ah you woke up at last. You really worried me quite a lot. How are you right now?" Zhu Xingzuo asked, somewhat tired.

Zhu Furong stayed silent.

"Hey, I am talking to you, don't just ignore me. Do you know how much I sacrificed for you?" Zhu Xingzuo complained.

Suddenly Zhu Furong's body started leaking black smoke. It's not very dense and can only be seen if you look closely.

"Shit!" That's the only word that escaped Zhu Xingzuo's mouth before Zhu Furong opened his eyes.

Standing straight, Zhu Furong glared at the jungle in front of him. His sclera has turned completely black with his iris shining deep red. He has been demonized.

Roaaar!!

With a loud roar, Zhu Furong shot straight into the jungle.

After that, thousands of birds flew away chirping while roars and howls of beasts could be heard turning into cries of pain and terror.

After an hour Zhu Furong, covered in dripping blood, came out of the jungle and shot into the jungle opposite to it. Then the same ensued.

About 10 kilometers away from here is the Western Fort of the Ming Dynasty and the Eastern fort of the Wen Dynasty which is at war with the Ming Dynasty.

This cemetery here is called the Hanshu Peace Cemetery. Here both the soldiers of Ming Dynasty and Han Dynasty are buried. Those soldiers whose identity could not be verified due to the cruelty of the battlefield.

About 100 meters away from the cemetery is flowing the Hanshu River and on both sides of the cemetery is a large jungle with up to rank 3 Spiritual Beasts. And hundreds of them.

Today, both the jungles were swept clean by Zhu Furong and after cleaning the second jungle, he fell unconscious again inside the jungle.