Chapter 5: Leaving on His Own
The Mental Power Users maintained by the Imperial Family had always been responsible for clearing Yuan Qiyang's Mental Contamination, so he never had much need for a Mental Power User himself.
Unless he could find a High-Tier Mental Power User close to his own age.
But among the Empire's current High-Tier Mental Power Users, every single one of them belonged to his grandfather's generation.
As a result, he had never seriously considered finding a Mental Power User to be with.
As for Nan Yu, he had heard his name long ago.
Outside, people often referred to him as the number one Mid-Tier Mental Power User.
Although there was undoubtedly some exaggeration in those rumors, it was said that the Mental Contamination of the three High-Tier Ability Users of the Nan family—the father and his two sons—was all handled by Nan Yu alone.
That fact alone was enough to demonstrate his capabilities.
So even if the rumors were somewhat inflated, everyone knew deep down that Nan Yu's abilities were exceptional.
To be honest, if Nan Yu hadn't already been engaged to Bai Zhouyun, the threshold of the Nan family's residence would probably have been worn flat by suitors.
Yuan Qiyang frowned slightly.
He opened his mouth, instinctively wanting to ask Zhang Yun about Nan Yu, but after thinking it over, he gave up.
No matter how remarkable Nan Yu was, it had little to do with him.
Nan Yu, of course, had no idea that Zhang Yun hadn't come alone this time and was actually accompanying someone with such extraordinary status and influence.
At the moment, as he walked, he focused entirely on recalling the route he had taken through Black Night Forest in his previous life.
Or at least the general direction.
He couldn't remember the exact path anymore, but he still retained a rough impression.
Bai Zhouyun had only visited Black Night Forest a handful of times himself.
He simply followed behind Nan Yu, acting as his protector.
Standing at a fork in the road, Nan Yu paused to think.
In the end, he chose the left path.
At first, he couldn't remember which direction he had taken back then.
But the memory soon resurfaced.
At this very fork in his previous life, he had wanted to go right.
After walking for a long time, he had discovered it was a dead end, and only then remembered he should have gone left.
When he returned from the right path back then, he hadn't found any useful medicinal herbs at all.
The detour had wasted a considerable amount of time.
As a result, when he finally returned and headed left, he encountered an Ability Beast just before reaching the location where the Nianshen Grass grew.
To be honest, if Bai Zhouyun hadn't pulled him away at that moment, he really would have been in danger.
But this time would be different.
Still...
When Bai Zhouyun pulled him back then, he had used too much force, causing Nan Yu to fall to the ground.
As his hand landed on a patch of grass beside him, he had been surprised to discover that one particular blade of grass seemed somewhat unusual.
After examining it carefully, he realized it was actually Nianshen Grass.
Every Nianshen Grass discovered so far looked different from every other one.
If several of them were placed together, no one would even think they belonged to the same species.
Nianshen Grass resembled ordinary weeds.
There would only be subtle differences here and there.
In fact, the only reliable way to identify one was through direct contact by a Mental Power User.
There were countless weeds in the world.
If someone truly attempted to touch every single blade of grass one by one, even if every Mental Power User in the Empire participated, it still wouldn't be enough.
Nan Yu's luck truly had been extraordinary.
Of course...
He gritted his teeth.
Nan Yu couldn't deny that Bai Zhouyun had contributed to that stroke of fortune.
Hmph.
When Bai Zhouyun ran into trouble in the future, he'd let him off once.
If Bai Zhouyun shamelessly continued trying to entangle and frame him after that, then he shouldn't blame Nan Yu for being ruthless.
Suddenly, Bai Zhouyun spoke.
“There's someone ahead.”
Nan Yu blinked.
“Hm?”
Someone?
Why would there be someone here?
When he came here in his previous life—
Right.
The timing was different.
Last time, he had arrived several hours later than he had this time.
So naturally, this encounter had never happened before.
But it didn't really matter—
“It's actually Zhouyun and classmate Nan Yu. You're both here too? What a coincidence.”
The people who appeared before them were unexpectedly Yun Feiyu and his older brother Yun Feiqiao.
Incidentally, Yun Feiqiao was also a Mid-Tier Ability User.
Because Bai Zhouyun had a good relationship with Yun Feiyu, and because both he and Yun Feiqiao were Mid-Tier Ability Users, they shared many common interests.
As a result, their relationship had gradually become quite close.
He called him "classmate Nan Yu."
Yet he called Bai Zhouyun simply "Zhouyun."
It seemed that the relationship between Yun Feiyu and Bai Zhouyun was already much closer than Nan Yu had imagined.
When Bai Zhouyun saw Yun Feiyu happily running toward him, his mood visibly improved.
After all, his encounter with Zhang Yun earlier had left him quite irritated.
“You're here too? That really is a coincidence. Although this is only the outer region of Black Night Forest, some Low-Tier Ability Beasts still appear occasionally. Why don't we travel together? It'll be safer that way.”
Naturally, neither Yun Feiyu nor Yun Feiqiao had any objections.
Yun Feiyu in particular looked delighted.
Without the slightest concern for the fact that Nan Yu was Bai Zhouyun's fiancé, he skipped directly to Bai Zhouyun's side.
“That's great! With Zhouyun here, everything will definitely be fine.”
Nan Yu remained silent throughout, watching them decide everything among themselves.
Before long, Bai Zhouyun and Yun Feiyu were chatting and laughing together.
Nan Yu suddenly felt like a complete fool.
Scenes like this had happened countless times in his previous life.
Yet every time, he had either turned a blind eye or failed to notice anything suspicious.
That was precisely why he had ended up with such a miserable fate.
For some reason, the more he thought about it now, the angrier he became.
If those three wanted to chat and laugh together, they could stay here and do it all day.
His purpose in coming to Black Night Forest this time was to obtain the Nianshen Grass that rightfully belonged to him.
As long as he secured the Nianshen Grass, combined with the experience from his previous life, he would definitely be able to free himself from Bai Zhouyun much sooner.
If not for the fact that the Bai family stood on equal footing with the Nan family—and that the Bai family had an enormous backer behind them—someone like Bai Zhouyun would never have been worthy of him in the first place.
Without that backing, Bai Zhouyun might have been assassinated long ago.
And the powerful figure supporting the Bai family was none other than the current Emperor of the Empire.
When Old Master Bai was young, he had served in the military fighting Ability Beasts.
During one battle, he had happened to save the Emperor's life.
That single incident left the Emperor owing him an enormous debt of gratitude.
Of course, that didn't mean the Emperor would blindly protect the Bai family no matter what.
But as long as the Bai family didn't actively cause trouble, if someone tried to harass them without reason—or worse, assassinate one of their younger generation—the Emperor would certainly not stand by and ignore it.
Because of that Emperor, Nan Yu had to proceed carefully.
At the very least, he absolutely could not be the first side to tear apart the relationship.
Standing to the side, he coldly watched the three of them laughing together.
He paid them no further attention.
After all, if even Yun Feiyu and Yun Feiqiao could safely enter this area, it was obviously not very dangerous.
Taking advantage of the moment before any of them noticed, he quietly turned around and headed toward his destination.
And astonishingly, the three of them failed to realize that Nan Yu had disappeared.
Several minutes passed before anyone noticed.
In fact, it was Yun Feiyu who brought it up first.
As for when he had actually realized Nan Yu was gone, nobody knew.
“Oh no! Where did classmate Nan Yu go?!”