Qiaoli was aware what she was doing was irrational. She could kill traceless assassins because society wouldn't look for them. On the other hand, attacking Mao Zhu now was disadvantageous to her.

And yet, she couldn't help herself. Her emotions had been fluctuating since she woke up. The slightest things could trigger her.

Unfortunately, the sole thing she knew how to vent was to kill. That was what she had been doing before so she was falling back to her old routine.

Unbeknownst to her, Mao Zhu had gotten closer to the Emperor. Closer than what she imagined.

Or maybe, she saw it coming but didn't bother to look into it. If she did, she should've gotten a clue about the assassins coming after her.

But what could she do even if she knew?

Hong Chun was just an average girl. She was a little bit clever but lacked Quiet Plum's decisiveness and abilities.

Now that she knew she was Huang Qiaoli, she wouldn't be able to use that name for anything here in Great Han.

Thinking of all that had happened in a span of a few nights and the things she experienced even before that, a string seemed to have been cut inside her mind and she gasped for air. She repeatedly breathed but no oxygen wanted to enter her lungs.

She didn't know what was happening. She didn't even know who she was anymore. Fear gripped her chest. Where did it come from?

Breathe!

Akin to a building on fire, alarms rang inside her mind.

Where could she go? There was only blood behind and before her.

"Ack!" She felt a shock on her kneecaps as she wasn't aware of how she fell to the ground.

There was warm fluid flowing down her cheeks. She recalled the rain was cold and not warm.

"Milady!" Si Hai was alarmed as he attempted to run Huang Qiaoli but sharp blades prevented him from moving.

He could have released his beast form again but he knew Qiaoli's attitude. She didn't want these people to know about his ability. He bit his lip as he watched her clutch her head trying so hard to breathe.

Si Hai was actually scared too. He didn't know what was happening to her. She seemed fine just moments ago.

In fact, Qiaoli overestimated herself. She thought she was alright when she woke up without damage to her body. Qin Yu healed her physical wounds but there was something he couldn't heal.

It was also the reason why the herald decided to seal her memories for fourteen years after bringing her back to this world.

The spiritual stress and trauma of passing dimensions could drive anyone insane. Qiaoli could stand up because her mental capacity was already enhanced with her being an AI previously.

But as the memories started to sink, she wasn't bound to be okay.

Huang Qiaoli realized she was having a panic attack when all she could see was mud and she tasted bile and iron in her mouth.

The group of people stood frozen under the rain as the only lady was on the forest floor, gasping for air. She sometimes punched herself or scratched her skin, causing thin bloody trails.

Si Hai wanted to shout her name very much but none of the two names in his tongue was appropriate at the moment.

Mao Zhu's pupils sank at the sight before him. He didn't know what to do with this person. She seemed to be suffering pain but he instinctively knew that he wouldn't be safe if he got close to her. Even though she was huddled on the ground, the thick intent to kill hung over her body.

It was clear that the lady was powerless but his feet remained rooted from where he was. Moments ago, he felt a fleeting hope that this maiden was Hong Chun, no matter how impossible that was. But now, this nature wasn't Hong Chun at all.

Hong Chun wouldn't be like this afflicted, insane woman. She had always been a sly yet funny, clever yet subtle lady. How could this foreign lady compare to Hong Chun?

Despite the different thoughts of her audience, Huang Qiaoli was forcing herself to read the messages displayed in her eyes.

These messages were triggered after her brain sensed what was happening to her. So her system showed her the common things to do when one suffered a panic episode. She curled her body even more and intertwined her fingers while hugging her knees.

Why were the things that happened in the past affected her so much after becoming a full human? The pain, the torture, the blood. Why was hatred surfacing only now when she had gotten out of that place?

Suddenly, she missed the simplicity of her thought patterns when she was still a robot.

She forced herself to count slowly and evening out her breaths. Soon, her senses started to come back. Qiaoli first felt the cold, then the stinging pain on different parts of her body. But before she could stand back up, she heard a snap from behind her and the frigid world went dark.

---

"Hiss!"

Qin Yu sucked a cold breath as his heart palpitated. He stopped walking and looked in a certain direction, his face unreadable.

He could still feel how weak he had become. It was as though his legs were threading through the water even though he was just walking down the mountain. The effect of the heavenly lightning hadn't worn off.

But the tug in his chest just now wasn't related to that.

She's already in danger!

He lowered his head and wisps of silver hair covered his gentle face.

"Master... is something wrong?" Surong was the first to notice his peculiar behavior.

Qin Yu gave a soft smile. "We should hurry to the Imperial City and give a piece of news to the emperor."

"What happens after that, Qinzhu?" Another member of the new Qin clan chimed in.

The former herald who was now a mortal looked at his family. They were Wu Yun sect members who were most loyal to him. These people chose to follow him instead of staying and serving the goddess. He really didn't know why they thought being around him was better.

After being banished from Wu Yun Peak, they were heading to the Imperial City to deliver an important message.

What comes after that?

"We'll set off to the boundary."

Despite looking frail, Qin Yu's lips curved to a beaming smile, one that Surong never saw on him before. His heaviest burden was finally lifted and he didn't have to die for it.

The joy in his heart was somewhat a blasphemy to the heavens but he reckoned Cai Xie had seen this coming. The goddess couldn't keep him forever.

Surong gave her master another glance. Well, he wasn't her master anymore because he destroyed the contract. She was free to roam the world but he couldn't leave Qin Yu who was at his weakest state. She should at least protect him.

"The realm is changing." She could feel it more than the others.

Unlike the former Wu Yun sect members, she was still a spiritual beast. Her instincts as a beast were intact even if she had to sacrifice her cultivation a bit in order to join them here in the lower mortal realm.

Her human form was still that of a teenage girl with honey skin and translucent black eyes but her senses were far superior to human cultivators.

She turned to Qin Yu with disbelief. "Do you wish to join the mortals' game?"

To her confusion, the man only walked on, not minding the deep winter of the Su mountain ranges surrounding Huo Ai.

After a long stretch of silence and as the wind swept past their frosted cheeks and lashes, he uttered. "I am after all a mortal now."

If Surong's master was unreadable when he was still the honored herald of the goddess, he had become more and more unpredictable since some time ago. When did it start?

That day, she found his master arriving at Wu Yun peak looking like he had just gone home from the greatest battle of his life. His robes were still as pristine as ever but his eyes held a different light of exhaustion.

Surong was terrified seeing that look. Because the multitudes of emotions coming off him were contradicting and it was like at any moment, he would disappear from the face of the earth.

She remembered he only went out for a day. What had he encountered that made him so depressed? To top it off, his cultivation had become chaotic that he needed her help to stabilize it.

That had never happened before. Was there a foe that her master couldn't defeat?

The change seemed to have started then. Sometimes, Qin Yu would be like his usual tranquil self, then he'd seem lost and look off in the distance later.

It was like watching a prisoner waiting for his death sentence. If her hunch was right, he knew this day would come. That he would be stripped off of his right as the Sect Master of Wu Yun Peak.

But what puzzled Surong even more was he accepted it calmly earlier. She didn't dare say it loud but he even looked like he was expecting it.

She really wondered what on earth happened to the most loyal servant of the goddess.