The location the ghost-faced man said was not complicated. It was in a cave in a certain mountain a few miles to the south. Xie Lian was also confident that ordinary people could not catch up with him at this speed, so he would definitely be faster than Sanlang's subordinates.

Sure enough, an hour later, he arrived at the place, rushed into the mountain and started to destroy and beat things wildly, making the mandrills and night cats howl like ghosts and wolves. Finally, he found the cave in that mountain.

Although the monster was quite impressive, with three or four hundred minions guarding the gate, to Xie Lian, it was no different from having only three or four minions guarding the gate. He was worried about the enemy's strength at first, so he didn't act rashly. However, he patiently waited near the cave for a while, listening to the minions' idle chatter, and realized that the monster had been having a rough time these past few days.

"...Yes, yes. The mountain master had a hard time escaping from the clutches of a stinky Taoist priest. He was scared half to death and returned with injuries. As soon as he got back, he abandoned his original cave and fled here."

"I see! I was wondering why they suddenly summoned everyone away. It turns out they were afraid that the Taoist priest would come to take revenge!"

"There's no need to be afraid. The Taoist priest was bitten several times by the mountain master. Even if he wakes up now, he must be confused and disoriented."

"How can I not be afraid? After all, the mountain master is a well-known monster that is hundreds of years old. It is said that the Taoist priest suddenly appeared from nowhere and beat him with two palms, making his nose crooked and his eyes slanted. If the Taoist priest had not been injured somewhere on his body and he had taken advantage of it to bite him a few times, I am afraid the mountain master would not be able to come back."

"Oh my god, where did this wild Taoist priest come from who is so powerful!"

After hearing this, Xie Lian felt that it was about time, so he walked out calmly and greeted them gently: “Hello.”

The little demons were startled and jumped up, asking, "Who is it?"

"Where did this pretty boy come from?"

Xie Lian smiled slightly, and without time to explain, he rushed directly into the cave. He grabbed several of them with one hand, and threw them dozens of feet away. Even if he had no magic power, he scared the minions and made them scream: "What's wrong with this pretty boy!!! He looks so gentle! Why is he so rude!!!" @无限好文，全部在Jinjiang文学城

He walked into the cave unimpeded as if he was pulling weeds. Xie Lian had originally prepared himself for a fierce battle with a well-known monster, but after entering, he saw a monster in human form rolling on the ground, holding its stomach and crying out loud.

Xie Lian thought it was just pretending, but when he looked again, it didn’t seem to be pretending. Its belly was bulging, as if it had swallowed something very powerful. So Xie Lian squatted down and asked, “What’s wrong with you?”

The monster was probably in so much pain that he was out of his mind. When he saw Xie Lian, he yelled, “You’ve come just in time! You! I won’t eat anymore! I don’t dare to eat anymore! Never again! I’ll give you back what I swallowed! I can’t digest it, I can’t digest it!”

Xie Lian asked, “You got the wrong person, didn’t you? You didn’t swallow anything from me, so what are you giving me?”

The monster rolled on the ground in pain, not caring to answer him. Xie Lian didn't understand why, so he just drew a talisman and put it away first. Miraculously, when the talisman was applied, the monster turned into a round tumbler, with a bigger belly than other tumblers, which was very funny. Xie Lian was amused and surprised, and looked at the talisman he drew. He didn't know how it turned out like this? Did he draw it wrong?

But this was not a big problem. This battle was extremely easy. When Xie Lian came out of the deep mountains, it was already dawn. He put the tumbler into his sleeve and hurried back to the city.

Xie Lian was in a good mood, as he had finally done something for San Lang. He had already started thinking about how to show the monster he had caught to San Lang. He secretly warned himself that if San Lang showed a surprised look, he should be reserved and not show any joy on his face. After running around all night, his legs and feet were a little tired, so Xie Lian found a stall to sit at and got a bowl of free tea to drink.

As he was drinking, he suddenly heard someone shouting at him from behind: "Thank you!"

Xie Lian immediately put down the tea bowl.

Who is so bold as to call him by his name in the street? You know, even among the royal family, few are so disrespectful. Who wouldn't call him "Your Highness" respectfully and fearfully?

Looking back, the man turned out to be a civilian, carrying a large wooden box. He strode towards them and shouted, "Wait! Wait! Have you forgotten Xie Lian? Take him with you!"

It turned out that they were not calling him, but there was someone with the same name as him. Xie Lian was even more puzzled. Although he didn't care about avoiding names or anything like that, he was still surprised that someone dared to use the same name as him.

He immediately realized that the "Xie Lian" the man was talking about was not a human.

There was a man sitting near Xie Lian. The man holding the box walked over to the man and sat down next to him. He patted the box and said, “I brought Xie Lian here. Remember to send it to the one you worship at home today! Don’t be fooled by this. If you don’t put these two together, you’ll be in big trouble!”

"That's right. Of course I know..."

Xie Lian couldn’t help himself and asked, “Excuse me…”

The two men turned to look at him. Xie Lian said, “Excuse me for being so rude. May I ask, what’s in this box?”

The man said, "Didn't I tell you? It's Xie Lian inside."

Xie Lian was puzzled: "But... isn't Xie Lian the Crown Prince?"

The two men seemed to find it funny and said, "No one said he was not the prince. He is the prince. Look!" As they spoke, they opened the box.

Xie Lian's eyes widened. The wooden box was actually a small shrine, and inside the shrine was a gray statue of a Taoist monk in white clothes wearing a bamboo hat.

He doesn't know him.

“…” Xie Lian was completely confused and asked, “Are you saying that this statue is Prince Xianle, Xie Lian?”

"if not?"

Others also gathered around him, some of them looking at him strangely: "You are such a strange young man, you look like a Taoist priest, how come you don't even know such a simple thing?"

Half of them were looking at this "statue": "Wow! This shabby immortal statue is well carved! It's so depressing."

"Yeah, he looks so depressed. At first glance, he looks like he has bad luck!"

"Okay, okay! The uglier it looks now, the better it will look once that person helps to break it. It will take at most eight days to show the effect."

“…”

Xie Lian was bewildered and said, “A tattered immortal? How did he become a tattered immortal again??”

Everyone said, "Master, you are really weird! Xie Lian is just a rag collector!"

“…”

Xie Lian wasn’t someone who got angry easily, but at this moment he was a little annoyed.

No one would be happy to hear someone mock him for being a rag collector. He stood up and said in a deep voice, "Do you have any dissatisfaction with the Xianle royal family? Even if you do, it is not in accordance with etiquette to insult the prince like this."

Everyone looked at each other and laughed at him, saying, "What are you talking about? Which country's etiquette is this in line with? Xianle Country was destroyed more than 800 years ago!"

…

An hour later, Xie Lian was walking on the street, still somewhat dazed.

It was too terrible. Everything he had just received was too terrible for him.

"How could Xianle Kingdom be destroyed? My father, the emperor, and my mother are clearly still alive and well? And how could it be me who destroyed it? Did I lose the battle? Did I destroy the kingdom? I was demoted twice? Did I become a rag collector?"

He questioned himself again and again, and told himself again and again: Impossible. Impossible. Impossible!

He tried to convince himself: "These are not true at all. There must be someone behind this."

However, everything was slightly wrong. The strange accents, strange clothes, strange buildings, and strange wind signals and love all told him that this was not a nightmare, and this was not an illusion. No demon or monster could create such a huge and realistic illusion.

It really has been eight hundred years.

How come eight hundred years have passed?

How come he became like this after eight hundred years?

Xianle Kingdom was destroyed; his father and mother died; Fengxin and Muqing ascended to heaven. He became a rag collector.

how so?

It can't be like this. It shouldn't be like this!

Xie Lian walked faster and faster, and finally he started running, as if there was an endless darkness behind him, ready to swallow him up. Suddenly, a red shadow flashed, and a tall figure stopped in front of him, saying, "Master, where have you been? It took me a while to find you."

It was San Lang. He was still smiling, and was about to come over to hold his hand. But when Xie Lian saw him, his hair stood on end, and he shouted, "Don't come over here!!!"

He stopped after a shout. Sanlang paused, his expression unchanged, and asked, "What's wrong?"

Xie Lian clenched his fists and asked coldly, “Who the hell are you? What do you want to do?”

Sanlang said, "I thought we had a good discussion yesterday and didn't care about these small issues."

Xie Lian said, “You lied to me.”

After a moment of silence, Sanlang said, "Do you already know?"

Xie Lian said, “I already know. Now it is…” Eight hundred years later.

He wouldn't have noticed something was wrong so late, but this person had been deliberately hiding it from him and had confused him, otherwise, how could he have discovered the truth only after a day?

Sanlang took a step toward him and said, "Your Highness."

Xie Lian took a few steps back and shouted, “Don’t come over here! If you come over here again, I’ll beat you up!”

His voice and body were trembling. Xie Lian was extremely scared.

What he feared was not some demons or ghosts, nor the man in front of him who was both a fairy and an evil, but this whole strange world. In this world, he had no proud glory, no loyal subordinates, no parents who loved him, no country of his own, and no believers who loved him. Nothing, nothing, nothing!

Sanlang still took a step towards him and said, "Don't be afraid, Your Highness."

“…”

Upon hearing this, Xie Lian’s expression changed.

He suddenly remembered, in those fragmented memories, the man who whispered in his ear, "Don't be afraid, Your Highness."

How come he didn't notice?

Their tones and voices are exactly the same!

Xie Lian was so angry that he was shaking. He said, “It’s you…it’s really you…”

Thinking about how this man had tricked him into a loop, and how he was still grateful to him, full of affection, and calling him “brother” all the time, Xie Lian could no longer bear it and his anger rose up. He slapped him with his palm and said, “You liar!”

This palm strike hit Sanlang right on the chest. Xie Lian was about to strike him again, but found that he could not move at all.

It was his own body that stopped him!

Xie Lian didn't understand what was going on, but San Lang grabbed his hand. Xie Lian was shocked, and then he said word by word: "Don't touch me! You liar, you lied to me. I will never believe you again. You..."

Sanlang said in a deep voice: "Your Highness, believe me."

Xie Lian angrily said, “I don’t believe it!!! I!…”

However, just like the stopped attack, the following “I don’t believe” could not be said out loud.

The concern and pain in this man's eyes were real. Anyone who saw a person show such an expression to another person would never doubt his sincerity.

As if to separate Xie Lian from this strange world that frightened him, San Lang finally pulled him into his arms, kissed his hair, and said softly, "Don't be afraid, Your Highness. It's over. Your Highness. You've made it through it."

"..."@Infinite good articles, all in Jinjiang Literature City

After a long while, Xie Lian's body finally softened.

Now, putting aside his shame and annoyance, he thought carefully. In those fragmented fragments in the dream, the man's voice calling him was always extremely gentle, without any coercion.

As for himself… although he did beg for mercy and sob, he could tell that he was not unwilling at all. It was just that he had been unwilling to face it before, so he didn't notice it.

Xie Lian finally understood why he couldn't help but want to trust this man as soon as he saw him. I'm afraid that his relationship with Sanlang eight hundred years later... is not simple.

He completely gave up resisting his body, allowing himself to follow his heart, burying his face in Sanlang's arms, and muffledly said: "We..."

Sanlang said, "Yeah."

After a long silence, Xie Lian murmured, “Why… did I suddenly forget everything that happened in the past eight hundred years?”

Sanlang said, "It's my fault. The day before yesterday, you suddenly received a prayer in the middle of the night, and left in a hurry. I didn't help you recover your magic power, and I didn't have time to tell you that if you are bitten by the monster, it will eat your memory."

Xie Lian said, “Then it’s not your fault at all. It’s my own carelessness.”

Sanlang said: "Your Highness will never be bad."

Xie Lian forced a smile, then said dejectedly, “Then, Sanlang, how could I…let Xianle destroy the country?”

He clearly loved his people so much, and had the ambition to make the music of heaven continue for another thousand years.

Sanlang hugged him tighter and said firmly: "It's not your fault."

Xie Lian murmured, "How could I be such a failure? How could I become like this?"

@Unlimited good articles, all in Jinjiang Literature City

Who doesn’t want to do something earth-shattering and grand, and leave a legacy for generations to come? Even though not one in a million people can actually achieve their wish, Xie Lian never doubted that he was that one in a million.

Maybe that's why Saburo didn't let him find out that it was already eight hundred years later.

Sanlang said: "You didn't fail."

Xie Lian shook his head and said, “But I have no believers anymore.”

Sanlang said, "You have it."

Xie Lian felt sad when he thought about it, and said, “I am the rag-and-bone immortal, a rag-collector. No one believes in me, and no one regards me as a god. Who would respect a rag-collector immortal?”

This is totally different from his dream.

San Lang said, "Didn't I tell you that you have a believer?"

Xie Lian raised his head, and San Lang smiled at him and said, "Your Highness, I told you that you would see Hua Cheng soon. Now, you have seen him."

“…”

Xie Lian raised his head, stared at his face, and asked in confusion, “Sanlang, when did you… get to know me?”

Hua Cheng said: "From a long, long time ago, when you had not yet ascended."

Xie Lian blinked slowly.

Hua Cheng added: "Your Highness, maybe you now feel that you are a failure eight hundred years later. Maybe you will be disappointed and unable to accept it, but please believe me, it is not like that."

His bright left eye stared at Xie Lian, the light in his eyes as gentle as his voice.

He said, "You saved me. I have been watching you.

"There are countless people in this world who are more 'successful' than you, but none of them can save me like you did, and none of them can do what you did -

“You don’t know how much courage you gave me to become who I am today.

"In my heart, you will always be the only god."

Xie Lian said: “And you will always be my most loyal believer.”

As soon as he finished speaking, he realized that he had just said this subconsciously in a trance, as if he had heard such a precious promise somewhere before. Hua Cheng smiled, took his hand, kissed the back of his hand, and said, "Yes."

“…”

After a long while, Xie Lian seemed to have made up his mind. He took out the monster's tumbler from his sleeve and said, "Is this the monster that swallowed my memory?"

Hua Cheng took the monster and said, "It was you, Your Highness, who destroyed his new nest."

Xie Lian nodded and said, “If we want to restore our memories, we have to start with this, right?”

The tumbler opened its mouth in Hua Cheng's hand, and a few firefly-like points of light flew out of its mouth, dancing around Xie Lian. Hua Cheng said, "Catch them, and you can get back His Highness's memory of the past eight hundred years."

Xie Lian listened and reached out his hand towards them. However, when he was about to touch them, he stopped.

To restore the memory of these eight hundred years is like traveling through time again for eight hundred years, to experience everything again, the pain of having the heart pierced by hundreds of swords, the shame of total defeat, the anger of powerlessness.

Although he knew it was only a moment, his fingertips still trembled slightly.

Hua Cheng stood behind him, making him feel as if he was leaning against a solid wall. He heard Hua Cheng's voice coming from behind: "Don't be afraid, Your Highness."

Xie Lian tilted his head slightly, Hua Cheng hugged his waist and said, "Trust me. No matter how long it takes, I will always wait for you. You will meet me again."

Yes. It will happen again.

So, Xie Lian stretched out his hand towards those spots of light.

Starlight merged into his fingertips, and he felt a bright light in front of him, as if something hot was approaching. Before the light arrived, Xie Lian said, "I'm glad to have met you."

After saying this, the dots of light merged into his body and disappeared. Xie Lian slowly fell forward and was caught by Hua Cheng.

After a while, Xie Lian slowly woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, Hua Cheng whispered, "Brother?"

Xie Lian slowly smiled, stretched out his hand, touched Hua Cheng's face, and said: "...I meet you again."

Hua Cheng also smiled and said, "I told you, believe me."

Xie Lian sighed, “Does this mean we’ve been waiting for each other for another eight hundred years?”

Hua Chengdao: "Didn't I tell you that no matter how long it takes, I will always wait for you. But..."

He pulled Xie Lian up. The two stood face to face, Hua Cheng held his hand tightly and said with a smile: "I don't want to be apart from you for even a moment now."

The past cannot be changed.

Eight hundred years ago, the seventeen-year-old Xie Lian, a favored child of heaven, had no idea what was waiting for him in the future. Fate gave him two doors. A glimpse of the Divine Martial Dao, and a thought bridge where he met a demon and an immortal. He opened them all.

After that, he would be alone in the irreversible turmoil, struggling through the long years of suffering, pain, anger, disappointment, hatred, despair, madness, and a dead heart.

Then it revived.

But, that’s all in the past.

·

"Brother, welcome back."

"Um……"

"See, I told you that you would meet me again. I didn't lie to you."

Xie Lian glanced at Hua Cheng and said, “Really?”

Hua Cheng smiled and said, "Of course, when have I ever lied to Your Highness? Brother, I..."

“…”

“…”

Xie Lian reached into Hua Cheng’s arms, took out a piece of paper, and read: “Thank you for taking care of me, Brother Sanlang. I have no way to repay you. I am willing to do my best to help you solve your problems. I will be away for a while. Brother Sanlang, don’t worry. I will be back soon.’”

Hua Cheng raised an eyebrow, and said nothing with his hands behind his back. After Xie Lian finished reading, he imitated him and raised his eyebrows and said, "Brother Sanlang, good brother. You are really good."

Hua Cheng laughed and said, "Isn't it clear to me whether I am good or not?"

Xie Lian’s face turned slightly red, and he said vaguely: “…I don’t know what you are talking about. Anyway, you have been too much these past two days, reflect on yourself.”

Hua Cheng said seriously: "Brother, you can't do this. I have been treating you with courtesy these past two days and have endured a lot of hardship."

Xie Lian said, “How could you treat me with courtesy? You clearly… you clearly…” You clearly had a lot of fun teasing him. Thinking about how he had become a naive, silly, spoiled 17-year-old kid who was tossed around by Hua Cheng over and over again in the past two days, Xie Lian now remembered the whole process clearly. He couldn’t look at himself straight in the face, and couldn’t help but groan and cover his forehead. Hua Cheng said seriously, “Really. Even if my brother scolds me as a despicable, shameless and vulgar bastard, San Lang has no regrets.”

“…”

"If my brother is unhappy, he can scold me again. It's okay, Sanlang."

Xie Lian couldn’t bear to listen any longer.

He covered his forehead and quietly slipped away. Hua Cheng turned his head and saw that he had disappeared. He said, "Brother? Don't run. Okay, it's my fault, brother!"

Don’t call me brother anymore!