Three days later
Out in the beautiful, tranquil countryside, two horses sped by in a blur, kicking up a cloud of dust before vanishing from sight.
The two riders were going so fast that the carriage driver only caught the thunder of hooves—and then the sight of two horse butts. Before he could get a better look, the horses had already disappeared at the far end of the road, leaving nothing but dust behind. Just dust.
"What are they, rushing to reincarnate?" the carriage driver grumbled, waving away the dust in front of his face and continuing on his way.
After a while—
The two horses pulled up in a vast, endless field. Ethan Chu swung off his horse and headed straight for the stone forest, with General Nee hurrying after him.
"This is the place?" Ethan Chu frowned, looking suspiciously at the sea of stone pillars.
"Yes, Your Majesty, this is it. I saw Young Master Hua disappear right here with my own eyes," General Nee replied, tiptoeing behind him, still spooked by the whole Butterfly Rogue vanishing act last time.
Hearing this, Ethan Chu walked toward the center of the stone forest, reaching out to touch one of the strange rocks. To his surprise, it felt icy cold—totally weird, considering it was summer and the sun was blazing. Why were the stones freezing?
"Your Majesty, this place is freaky! Look, it's just endless fields, but suddenly there are all these stones popping up. I swear, it gives me the creeps!" General Nee babbled, glancing around nervously. "And these rocks—they look so weird. Like... graves?!"
"Your Majesty—" Suddenly, General Nee yanked Ethan Chu to the side. "Could this be a mass grave?"
Ethan shot him an annoyed look. "General Nee, you've fought in a hundred battles—are you really scared of a place like this?"
"Your Majesty, I've killed enemies barehanded, crawled out of piles of corpses—I'm not afraid of any mass grave! It's just... this place seriously gives me the creeps. These giant stones are just standing here for no reason, and I saw Young Master Hua vanish right before my eyes. Look—there's no entrance anywhere!" (Okay, this is obviously the work of a stone demon!) Nee only dared to mutter that last part to himself, but his furrowed brow made it pretty obvious to Ethan what he was thinking.
"General Nee, maybe I should have Grand Master Zhang give you a crash course. How many times do I have to say it? There are no demons in this world. And if there were, you'd be one!" Ethan rolled his eyes at him. Seriously, how does this guy win battles? It's a miracle!
"Your Majesty... I was wrong." General Nee hung his head and quickly apologized.
"Enough," Ethan replied without even looking up, already busy surveying the stone forest.
"What are you looking for, Your Majesty?" General Nee asked, sticking close and staying alert. Protecting the emperor was his lifelong mission—so anytime they left Chu Kingdom, he was always on high guard.
By now, Ethan had already stepped into the middle of a huge crack between two stones, and General Nee hurried after him.
"What are you doing?" Ethan snapped, glaring as Nee squeezed in beside him.
"Protecting Your Majesty, of course!" Nee declared, bracing his hands against the stone crack. To anyone watching, it looked like he was expecting the rocks to slam shut at any moment!
Ethan could only shake his head helplessly. When they got back, Grand Master Zhang was definitely going to have to give Nee some remedial lessons.
Hissssss— Suddenly, a little snake slithered out of the crack, making a hissing sound.
"Ah! Your Majesty, watch out—a snake!" General Nee shrieked, whipping out his sword to flick it away. But his movement was so wild that he accidentally shoved Ethan Chu to the side.
"Ah! Your Majesty—" Realizing he'd bumped into Ethan, Nee dropped his sword and tried to rush over to catch him. But Ethan had already sidestepped out of the way. Poor Nee, so rattled by the accidental contact, totally forgot to brace himself and crashed straight to the ground. "Oof—" As he fell, pure reflex made him reach for the stone to steady himself.
He missed the grab and still hit the ground, but thanks to that accidental touch—BOOM! The giant stone instantly split in half, leaving them standing beside one half.
Nee scrambled to his feet and pointed at the massive hole. "Your Majesty, Your Majesty—this is it! This is the entrance!"
Ethan studied the opening for a moment, closed his eyes to feel the air, and made up his mind to go in.
"Your Majesty, what are you doing?" Nee cried, grabbing Ethan's arm as he saw him heading down.
"Going down to take a look."
"No way! You don't know what's in there—it's way too dangerous!"
"Dangerous? If it's not dangerous, why would I bother going?" Ethan had just closed his eyes to sniff the air, trying to sense if there was airflow from inside. Sure enough, he was right—there was definitely something down there, or else cool air wouldn't be leaking out.
"Your Majesty, you can't! You're the ruler of a whole country, you can't risk yourself like this! If you really want to check it out, let me go first!" General Nee pleaded.
"Not scared anymore?"
"Protecting Your Majesty is my duty—no matter what!" At the crucial moment, General Nee finally showed his true general's spirit.
Ethan smiled in satisfaction. "No need, I'll go down myself."
"Your Majesty—"
"Shut up!"
"Then I'm coming too!" Nee insisted, staring at Ethan with stubborn determination.
"No need. You should head back." Ethan waved him off and started down, but Nee immediately followed.
Ethan glanced back at Nee, who suddenly looked deadly serious—face set, eyes firm. Clearly, there was no way he was backing down!
"Your Majesty, my mission is to ensure your safety!" Nee declared, meeting Ethan's gaze with a solemn vow.
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Ethan sighed. "Fine. But no causing trouble!"
"Understood!" Nee finally broke into a smile, then dashed over to the horses and gave their rumps a slap. "Go on, get back!" Instantly, the two thousand-mile horses galloped off toward Chu Kingdom. These were Chu's elite horses—they always knew the way home, no matter how far.
As soon as they stepped into the entrance, the stone forest outside automatically closed up, and everything returned to normal.
Soon, they followed the strange tunnel and emerged on the other side.
"Whoa—Your Majesty, is this... another country?" Nee exclaimed, eyes wide in disbelief. He could hardly believe there was a whole world hidden beneath the stone forest!
"A hidden paradise! There's always something beyond what you know." Ethan marveled at the strange new country. He didn't know exactly where they were yet, but it was clear this place was special—the entrance alone proved it. Plus, outside it was blazing hot, but here the temperature was just right: perfectly comfortable.
"Your Majesty, are we going down there?" Nee asked, curiosity piqued by all the round, mysterious objects scattered everywhere. What were those things?
"From now on, call me Young Master Chu, and I'll call you Little Nee. I'm just a nobleman, you're just my attendant—got it?" In this unfamiliar place, Ethan knew he had to be extra careful.
"Uh... Little Nee understands," Nee stammered, nearly slipping up before wiping the sweat from his brow.
"Good. Let's find an inn and ask around before we do anything else." With that, Young Master Chu took the lead, and Little Nee hurried after him.
***** Scene Break *****
"Would you like more wine, sir?" The cheerful waiter hurried over to ask.
"When exactly is that person coming back?" Butterfly Rogue snapped, glaring at the waiter. He'd spent days searching every inn in the Endless Indulgence Kingdom, asking about Wind, but most people hadn't seen him.
This was the tiniest, most inconspicuous inn yet—he'd almost skipped it. But since he was already here, he figured he might as well have a drink and ask around. To his surprise, when he described Wind, the waiter said that man was staying right here.
He lives here? That news was like a lifeline to Butterfly Rogue. Just as he was about to go meet the man, the waiter added that Wind had been staying for days but always left at dawn and returned after dark.
Now, with the sun just a yard above the valley, Wind should be back soon, right?!
"Just wait a bit longer, sir—the sun's about to set, so he should be home soon," the waiter said warmly.
Butterfly Rogue waved him off. "Just bring me some good food—and a jug of wine."
"Right away!" the waiter replied, beaming.
An hour later—
Wind, dressed in black, walked in expressionless. As soon as he entered, Butterfly Rogue—seated in the back—spotted him.
"Sir, someone's been waiting for you all day," the waiter whispered to Wind, pointing toward the back of the room.
Wind immediately tensed. Who would be waiting for him? He turned to look.