Activating the jade bead within the puppet, Jiang Wen slowly drifted into a dream, listening to the melodious zither music.
Outside the puppet, the woman sat on the ground watching the fire, slowly entering a trance. Her expression was dazed, her mind empty of thoughts.
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Last night, she dreamed of many past events again: burning flames, screaming crowds, and various familiar yet strange faces.
"Your Highness, Heavenly King, escape quickly! Do not return!" A desperate voice echoed in her dream. The woman watched those familiar faces be engulfed by supreme power, turning to dust and vanishing into thin air.
"...Forget it, it's so cold outside after all. People can die overnight. I don't want someone I just saved to die like that," Jiang Wen explained to himself.
He stood in front of the mechanism, looking at the person below the puppet and calling out, "Come in."
The woman heard Jiang Wen's words and raised her head to look at him.
In the shadow of the cloak, a pair of light golden eyes revealed a hint of a smile.
She stood up, brushed the dust off her body, and easily jumped onto the puppet.
"It's not very spacious, so please bear with it. Although it might be uncomfortable to sleep, it's better than freezing outside. After all, the temperature here can reach as low as minus sixty or seventy degrees Celsius, and my gas stove can't solve the problem."
Listening to Jiang Wen's words, the woman nodded slightly. She looked at Jiang Wen and, after thinking for a moment, said, "I had a dream earlier, and I heard my name in the dream."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Jiang Wen frowned, staring intently at the woman.
"I forgot. Sorry... I've been inexplicably lost in memories these past few days," the woman said softly.
"What's your name then?" Jiang Wen asked.
"I heard them calling me Heavenly King in the dream, perhaps my name is Heavenly King," the woman said calmly.
"Heavenly King? Are you sure they called you Heavenly King?" Jiang Wen was stunned, staring at the woman in disbelief. He knew what that name meant, how could a woman be called that?
"I, I'm not too sure. But I keep hearing that word. Can you tell me, what is a Heavenly King?" The woman looked blankly at Jiang Wen.
The woman wasn't wrong. Since she came back to life, she had been in a dazed state.
As long as she had any thoughts, the feeling of her soul being torn apart would come.
She knew this was normal, after all, she didn't know what to do.
"So, are you feeling better now?" Jiang Wen asked.
"Yes, much better than before," the woman replied. "Thank you, if it weren't for your help, I might have really died here."
"It's just chance encounter, if you really are the Heavenly King, perhaps we might actually know each other," Jiang Wen said with a wry smile. In his memory, only one person would be called Heavenly King.
"..." The woman was silent for a moment after hearing this before slowly opening her mouth. "I also don't know what to do, but I have a premonition. Perhaps if I keep heading east, I can find out some things. Also, this thing might let you know something."
As she spoke, the woman took out a jade pendant from her neck. It was intricately carved with auspicious images of some kind of bird, and the smooth, lustrous material told Jiang Wen at a glance that it was not an ordinary item.
"What is this of yours?" Jiang Wen asked, holding the jade pendant.
"I don't know, perhaps it is," the woman said calmly. She didn't seem to care much about it. But Jiang Wen knew it wasn't that simple when he heard her words.
He held the jade pendant and thought for a moment, then tossed it back to the woman, "Take it back, this thing might be very important to you. Since I can't leave here for the time being, I might as well just follow your idea and go east, perhaps I can find out something."
The woman took the jade pendant and casually hung it back around her neck. Hearing Jiang Wen's words, she could only sigh softly, "How can I repay your kindness?"
"No need to repay my kindness, if you can let me see your true face, it might be better for our current situation."
"Okay." The woman agreed without hesitation.
She lifted the veil that concealed her face, revealing an unfamiliar face.
That face was one that hadn't appeared in Jiang Wen's memory, nor was it the person he had imagined.
"Looks like I was overthinking it," Jiang Wen said softly.
"Sorry, I disappointed you," the woman said after a moment of silence, with an apologetic tone.
"It's nothing, I just thought I should meet her," Jiang Wen said, feeling troubled. Hearing so much information, and thinking that he came here because Xue Changming touched the remains of the Saint King, he always felt that the Saint King should be Jiang Wenji, and the woman in front of him should be Jiang Wenji after losing her memory.
But when he saw her face, Jiang Wen knew that he might have guessed wrong. The Saint King of the Yu Yun Clan might not be Jiang Wenji.
The two were silent, each thinking about their own thoughts.
It wasn't until the storm outside subsided that Jiang Wen's mood slowly relaxed.
He looked at the woman, and the woman also looked at him.
From the woman, Jiang Wen sensed an aura of loneliness. A bit of sympathy arose in his heart, and he asked, "Do you have any other memories?"
"Me? Not really," the woman smiled.
She woke up in a daze, naturally unfamiliar with this place, and didn't know where to go for the time being.
"Since that's the case, let's head east, perhaps you can recall something," Jiang Wen suggested. After obtaining the woman's consent, he began to drive the puppet out of the cave.
In the desolate wilderness.
Looking at one loess plateau after another, the woman asked doubtfully, "Is it all like this here?"
"There's only desert here, and perhaps some danger," Jiang Wen said.
"Danger?" the woman asked in confusion.
Just then, several black shadows emerged from the ruins, attacking the puppet.
"What are those?" the woman asked, looking at the black shadows in confusion.
"Those are the dangers," Jiang Wen said calmly. He was already very familiar with his experiences here.
"Dangers?" The woman surveyed the black shadows.
They were like bronze-forged great snakes, burrowing in the ground.
"It's coming," Jiang Wen said relaxedly.
Suddenly, the ground near the puppet trembled continuously, and then a large snake suddenly burst out, lashing towards the puppet.
Jiang Wen controlled the puppet, dodging the opponent's attack with quick steps.
However, there were several great snakes here, and even the puppet would have difficulty dealing with so many strange things.
"Hold on tight, we're going to leave," The puppet strode forward, quickly dodging the great snakes.
Although it was easy for Jiang Wen to shatter these mechanical snakes, the ensuing trouble was the real problem.
This was also considered his harvest in this world for the past few days.
Once you are entangled by a mechanical great snake, then endless mechanical snakes will surge up.
Avoid if you can, there's no need to entangle with these clumsy fellows.
The puppet ran all the way, quickly heading in the direction on the compass.
