Strongest War Emperor

Inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, Shen Lang sat cross-legged, cultivating to heal his injuries.

The Eternal Tree stood quietly to his left, releasing a verdant aura that enveloped his entire body.

Little Crystal stared at him with wide eyes, her expression full of worry.

Nalan Ziyun paced back and forth in front of him like an ant on a hot pan.

Over two hours later, Shen Lang finally exhaled a turbid breath and opened his eyes.

"How are you? Are you alright? How could Dingdang be so ruthless?"

Nalan Ziyun’s eyes were filled with concern, a layer of mist welling within them.

"COUGH COUGH..." Shen Lang coughed heavily a few times before speaking. "The injuries are a bit severe, but I’ve suppressed them for now. Don’t worry."

"The Eternal Tree’s energy absorption is terrifying, but the Power of Life it converts is incredibly potent. Its healing effects even surpass many Top Grade Elixir Pills."

"It’s fine... As long as you’re fine." Nalan Ziyun turned her head to glance at the light screen not far away.

On the screen, Xue Dangdang and the others still hadn’t given up. They were still searching the vicinity for Shen Lang’s aura.

"What do we do now? It looks like she has no intention of letting you go..." Nalan Ziyun’s brow furrowed. "Should I go out and try to explain things to her?"

Slowly shaking his head, Shen Lang said, "What good would it do for you to go out? She doesn’t even recognize me. How would she recognize you?"

After a pause, Shen Lang added, "Hiding here was a last resort. Now, we can only wait. Wait for her to leave, or wait for the experts from the Imperial Dragon Sect to arrive."

Nalan Ziyun knelt down and gently wiped the blood from the corner of Shen Lang’s mouth. "Even if she leaves, it will be hard for us to escape. With her King Martial Realm cultivation, her Divine Thought covers a hundred-li radius. The moment you step out, she’ll detect you..."

Shen Lang waved his hand. "As long as she doesn’t wait right here, it’ll be fine. Once she’s gone, you can go out and carry the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron away while I heal inside."

"Good idea! Why didn’t I think of that?" Nalan Ziyun exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

Just as a happy expression appeared on her face, she saw Shen Lang’s speechless gaze and couldn’t help but pout. "But Dingdang’s temper is unpredictable. Back in Celestial Phoenix City, when you were bullied by people from the Celestial God Academy, she waited outside the academy for seven days and seven nights for you."

"Even though she has amnesia now, from her actions and style, I can see her personality hasn’t changed. What if she waits here for seven days and seven nights too..."

Shen Lang gave a wry smile. "That’s exactly what I’m worried about... That’s why I previously pushed my momentum to its absolute limit, unleashed a slash into the air, condensed my Sword Intent into a physical form, and kept the blade’s light lingering in the sky for a while."

"This place is about a hundred and fifty li from the fissure. Even if the people from the Imperial Dragon Sect can’t sense it, the Elder Ape at King Martial Realm Second Heaven definitely can. Besides, he’s quite familiar with my Sword Intent. When he discovers this anomaly, he’ll surely come to help."

"This is just my luck, she’s camping my corpse..."

Nalan Ziyun frowned and nodded. "You’re not dead, so what corpse is there to camp... I guess this is our only option. I hope your calculations are correct. Little Crystal, your big brother is hurt. Let’s go play over to the side, okay?"

Little Crystal nodded, then walked over to Shen Lang.

She wrapped her arms around Shen Lang’s neck, gave him a light kiss on the forehead, and gently stroked his hair. "Don’t be scared, big brother. It’ll be okay."

Shen Lang looked at the little girl, as pure and clear as crystal. Enduring the intense pain inside him, he pulled her into his arms and gently patted her back.

"Good girl, Little Crystal. Your big brother will be fine."

Over three hours later, Xue Dangdang and her group still hadn’t found a trace of Shen Lang.

She hovered quietly in the air, the mountain wind making her long hair and red dress dance and flutter.

...

’My name is Xue Dangdang.

Someone told me this is an incomparably noble name, one that once shook the heavens and the earth, and roamed the Six Realms.

I don’t know what this name means, but I vaguely remember that my life was once brilliant.

But this memory is very blurry, so blurry it’s like looking through the ocean—I can only see some shadows.

I don’t know what happened long ago. There are even many things I’m afraid I might remember.

I woke up in the Celestial Defying Demon Realm.

When I woke up, my head ached terribly.

It was as if I’d had a very long dream, a chaotic and complex one, where I traveled through countless times and spaces.

I could dream of fragments from hundreds of thousands, even millions of years ago, but after waking, I could never grasp them again.

I seem to come from a distant place, from another world...

It feels like I’ve experienced many things, yet it also feels like I have no past.

If people have past and present lives, I think what I saw must have been my past lives.

Because the time span was just too long, so long that it frightened me...

My memory is like shattered glass—fragmented and scattered, with not a single complete piece.

They said I was attacked by an enemy, that my Sea of Consciousness was damaged and needed time to recover.

The people of the Demon God Hall told me I am their Saintess, holding the power over the life and death of this world.

Their master is my father.

And my father has gone to a distant place and has not yet returned.

The people from the Demon God Hall are searching all over the world for Elemental Power Fragments. When the forty-nine fragments are gathered, that is when Father will return.

I am waiting, waiting for him to return.

To help me find my memories...

After leaving the Celestial Defying Demon Realm, I met some people. They all called out my name, but I couldn’t remember knowing them at all.

Candle Dragon and the others told me that the people of this world are insidious and treacherous, not to be trusted.

Aside from those in the Demon God Hall who are loyal to my father, anyone else who approaches me does so with ill intent.

I really dislike Candle Dragon, but I believe his words.

Because everyone in the Demon God Hall says so.

Besides, that’s what Father said too.

A wisp of Father’s Divine Thought guarded my bedside. The moment I awoke, I could feel it fluctuating wildly with joy.

I could feel Father’s love for me, a love completely without falsehood.

So, when he said he was my father, I believed him...

But I began to fear talking to anyone, to doubt everyone except my father.

Until... I met that person in black, carrying a single saber...

There isn’t a single trace of him in my memories.

But his eyes told me that I must know him.

I really want to understand just what kind of relationship we have...

What kind of relationship would make him, in that instant, choose to take my palm strike, choose to suffer the backlash from his power and Sword Intent, just to retract his strength and knock his long saber aside?

Why did I feel a pain that seemed to come from my very soul when that palm strike landed on him?

I even feel that if that palm had struck me instead, it might have been a little more bearable.

The moment he turned around, I saw his eyes...

Those eyes, as deep as the sea... they gave me a very strange feeling. It was as if, in my dreams, there were always a pair of eyes just like them, searching for me, crossing the Cosmic Primordial Chaos, through time and space...

Even with my memories gone, I still can’t forget them.

...

It had been over three hours, and she and the five from the White Bone Hall still hadn’t found any trace of Shen Lang’s aura.

Shen Lang had vanished into thin air, without a single trace.

Even with her powerful King Martial Realm Divine Thought, which swept over the ground inch by inch, not missing even a speck of dust, she still found nothing unusual.

At this moment, someone from the White Bone Hall flew up and said respectfully, "Young Miss, we still can’t find any sign of that brat. What should we do now? I suspect the scoundrel used some kind of powerful Talisman to hide his presence and has long since left the area."

Xue Dangdang remained silent, her gaze slowly sweeping over the mountain forest below.

The King Martial Realm was powerful, but many Talismans or powerful Magical Treasures could still block the Divine Thought detection of a King Martial Realm expert.

In truth, the moment she saw Shen Lang’s face, the killing intent in her heart had already vanished completely.

Even she couldn’t say for sure why she had searched here so persistently for over three hours, refusing to give up.

’Perhaps it was curiosity. Or maybe... I just wanted to exchange a few more words with him...’

"Let’s go."

Xue Dangdang said this with a blank expression. With a flick of her sleeve, she and the five experts from the White Bone Hall vanished into thin air.

Inside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, Shen Lang sat beside the Eternal Tree, his eyes closed as he healed.

Across from him, Nalan Ziyun was holding Little Crystal and telling her a story.

Seeing Xue Dangdang and the others disappear outside the Heaven-Sealing Cauldron, Nalan Ziyun gave the closed-eyed Shen Lang a complicated look.

’To be beaten like this by the person you love so deeply...’

’Even if she has lost her memories, this feeling must be incredibly painful.’

And yet, at a time like this, she wanted to offer a few words of comfort but couldn’t bring herself to say them.

"Ahem!" Nalan Ziyun cleared her throat and let out a long sigh. "They’re finally gone... She really scares me. Even with amnesia, her temper hasn’t changed one bit."

"Back in Celestial Phoenix City, when you were injured by those people from the Celestial God Academy, she waited outside the academy for a full seven days. She only stopped after she’d crippled every single one of those guys. Holy crap, you don’t think she’s hiding outside, planning to wait another seven days and seven nights, do you? It’s like she won’t rest until you’re dead!"

Little Crystal’s big eyes blinked. She looked at Nalan Ziyun, then at Shen Lang, and said timidly, "A big bad guy changed that big sister’s memories."

Nalan Ziyun smacked her lips. "A b-big bad guy? Little Crystal, how do you know that?"

"I... I dreamed about it at night," Little Crystal said weakly.

"..." Nalan Ziyun was speechless.

At that moment, Shen Lang, who had been meditating to regulate his breathing, opened his eyes.

The Life Energy he had accumulated in his body for over a year was truly extraordinary. Combined with the Power of Life released by the nearby Eternal Tree, he had finally managed to suppress his injuries after three hours.

If it had been any other Martial Artist of the same cultivation level with such severe injuries, even with Top Grade Elixir Pills, it would have been nearly impossible to recover to this extent without three to five years.

How could an ordinary person possibly withstand a palm strike from Xue Dangdang, a King Martial Realm expert?

Just surviving it was already a miracle.

"Little Crystal, tell your big brother, do you know who that big bad guy is? What else did you dream about?" Shen Lang asked.

Because he had seen Little Crystal unleash peerless energy in the Celestial Secret Mirror to break the fissure’s seal, and also knew she was from the Witch Race, Shen Lang had complete faith in her words.