The Blood Bat Master said, “that’s what I thought too, so I brought back Yuesong and his student. Guju, when you question Yuesong, you can threaten him with the life of his student, it’ll work.”

The masked man smiled, “don’t worry. My Soul-Collecting Skill was good enough to find out where the Moon Glow Mirror was. And this kid is expendable.”

The Blood-Gone Clan Leader looked at Ye closely and made a sound of surprise, “it’s him?”

The other two were surprised at his reaction. Blood Bat marveled, “do you know this kid?”

The Clan Leader said, “I ran into him when I was hunting Lijun and her daughter, he has some weird skills. I had no idea he was Yuesong’s student. The Moon Glow Mirror is too important for us to be careless. Guju, take him and watch him.”

The masked man bowed, took over Yuesong and Ye from Blood Bat, and turned to leave the palace. The Clan Leader and Blood Bat followed, crossing the yard before heading north.

When the three of them pa.s.sed a large garden, they saw two girls standing inside a pavilion. The girl in green bowed to them while Blood Bat and Guju also stopped to bow to the girl in black. The girl in black acted as if they were invisible, however, and didn’t look at them at all. The Clan Leader snorted, “Lotus, don’t you see your clan members greeting you?”

“They’re your clan members.” The girl in black replied drily. “Not mine.”

The clan leader huffed, “aren’t my clan members yours too?”

The girl in black was silent as she glared at the men coldly. When she saw Ye held under Guju’s arm, however, her eyes showed surprise.

The Clan Leader laughed, “see? He looks familiar, right? He’s that clueless kid from that day. I didn’t kill him then, but he’s here anyway. No one fighting me ever wins, understand?”

“Give him to me!” The girl in black looked emotional. She pointed at Ye while telling the Clan Leader, “give him to me, and I’ll do whatever you want.”

The Clan Leader laughed, “I didn’t think you cared about anyone else in this world other than your mom!

Blood Bat frowned as if in thought, then barked to Guju, “give her the kid!”

The Clan Leader and Guju were stunned until Blood Bat whispered to the Clan Leader, who looked happy, “Great idea!”

“Clan Leader, about this...” Guju hesitated, while Blood Bat said, “Princess Lotus needs a playmate and this kid is the right age. Plus she likes him, so this is the best solution. Like you said, the kid is expendable, we just need Yuesong.”

The Clan Leader nodded, “we certainly can’t mistreat the princess. Give him to the princess!”

Guju agreed and put down Ye. The Clan Leader squinted at the girl in black and took off with the two kids.

After they traveled for a while, Guju looked at the girl in black and asked, “Canyi, what are you plotting here?”

Blood Bat replied, “I just want to help the Clan Leader to control Lotus more.”

Guju was surprised by the answer, before he could ask more questions, the Clan Leader bit out, “we’re doing all this to deal with those two old men! If Lijun wasn’t dead, why would we need to bother?”

Ye dreamt of a lot of things.

The way his parents traveled everywhere with him when he was a child, their brutal death... then he dreamt of Yuesong standing in front of him, covered in blood, and saying kindly, “Ye, take care of yourself.”

This scared him into screaming and getting up from bed.

He realized he was sleeping on a really comfortable bed, and was inside a white and luxurious room. In shock, he jumped off the bed and looked around, yelling, “Yuesong, where are you?”

“You woke up?”

At that moment, a hidden door in the room opened, revealing a girl in green. Ye turned to look at her and asked in confusion, “who are you? Did you save me? Where is the man who came with me?”

“I... I’m Bilin.” The girl answered shyly. “It was Lotus who saved you.”

As they talked, the girl in black also came in via the hidden door. She looked at Ye without expression, surprising Ye into exclaiming, “it’s you? Did you save me? Is your mom okay? Did you get away from that evil person?”

This was the girl Ye saw on Mt. Huang. After almost a year, the girl’s looks didn’t change too much, but her demeanor changed a lot. She seemed more mature and more depressed, not like a kid at all.

The girl in black shook her head, “I’m sorry, I saved you but not your teacher.”

Ye’s heart shook, “what happened to Yuesong?”

The girl in black sat on the bed and replied, “Have you ever heard of the Blood-Gone Cave?” When Ye shook his head, she continued, “It’s an evil cult and all of its members are bad people and monsters. For years, the Blue Cloud Clan has always wanted to get rid of it. You and your teacher happened to fall right into their trap.”

Ye rushed to ask, “how did you save me? Where is Yuesong?”

The room’s door opened with a squeak, revealing the young and handsome Blood Bat. Startled, Ye shoved the girl in black behind him, while reaching for his waist. The girl in green smiled and bowed to the man.

Blood Bat smiled and took out a sheet of spell paper, “looking for this?”

Ye was confused as he looked at the girl in green. Crossing his hands in front of his chest like knives, he demanded, “where is Xin Yuesong?”

Blood Bat laughed, “you have to ask the Clan Leader about that. No worries, he won’t die, and neither will you.” Looking at the girl in black, he said, “Princess Lotus, the Clan Leader asked that this kid be your servant, someone who never leaves your side.”

Ye was stunned, “Princess?”

Blood Bat smiled, the expression giving his beautiful face an enticing allure. He answered slowly, “right, this is the precious princess of our Blood-Gone Cave, and the only daughter of the old Clan Leader.”