Yun Wu raised his hand and pressed hard against his temples. The throbbing in his head only grew worse, as if thousands of needles were stabbing him all at once. He glanced sideways—toward Xue Yunxue, who was sitting very close beside him, her shoulder almost brushing his arm.
The girl's face was pale. Her clear black eyes were filled with unmistakable unease. Too real.
"Yes," Yun Wu finally said, his voice heavy and weary. "She is Hu Shui… but something is wrong with her."
He took a deep breath, then continued in a tone that suggested he had already reached a decision.
"I think something happened to her. She lost her memory—and…" Yun Wu frowned, as if carefully choosing his words, "…she became stupid."
That was the most reasonable conclusion he could come to.
After spending several days with this girl—watching the way she spoke, cooked, cleaned the house, her innocent fears, her confusion about the world—none of it matched the Hu Shui he knew. And so, this was the only explanation left to him.
Xue Yunxue stared at him, eyes wide, barely believing what she had just heard.
Stupid?
After everything that had happened—after all the obvious differences—this man truly chose that conclusion?
Her heart sank. For a brief moment, she genuinely wondered whether Yun Wu's brain could compete with the size of his muscles.
Before she could protest, Xiang Shuai's cold laughter cut through the air.
"Hah," he hissed softly, full of mockery. "Lost her memory?"
He tilted his head slightly, his golden gaze hardening, turning vicious as it fixed on Xue Yunxue.
"That's the most ridiculous excuse I've ever heard," he continued in a low, dangerous voice. "Have you forgotten what she did in the past?"
The tip of his snake tail slowly slid across the floor, producing a scraping sound that sent chills down the spine.
"She deceived us," Xiang Shuai said firmly. "And it's very likely she's doing the same thing now."
His gaze pierced Xue Yunxue without mercy, as if he wanted to tear through the deepest layers of her being.
"Hu Shui never changes," he said coldly. "She just gets better at lying."
I'm not Hu Shui. I'm Xue Yunxue. I—
Xue Yunxue was about to continue—to tell them that she wasn't from this world, about Tao Ling, about the truth hidden behind all this chaos. But before the words could leave her mouth, Moa's voice echoed gently yet firmly in her mind.
"Big Sister Xue, don't say everything. Your origin, Tao Ling, and me must not be known by anyone. If the forces of darkness discover it, they will hunt us down immediately."
Yunxue's heart pounded violently. Her throat went dry.
The words that were almost spoken seemed to get stuck, and she swallowed them back with great difficulty.
She clenched her fingers tightly in her lap, forcing herself to remain calm under the gaze of two men—both dangerous in very different ways.
"I… just woke up one day in a remote place," Xue Yunxue finally said, her voice trembling slightly but clear. "I don't remember anything from before. The only thing I know is my name—Xue Yunxue."
She lifted her face, looking first at Yun Wu, then at Xiang Shuai.
"I don't know who Hu Shui is," she continued softly but firmly. "I don't know about soul bonds, marriage, or about you."
Silence enveloped what remained of the ruined room.
The nearly extinguished fire in the fireplace crackled faintly, as if listening to her confession.
In her heart, Yunxue knew one thing for certain—
She couldn't trust either of these men yet.
"Hmph, you don't even have a reasonable excuse," Xiang Shuai scoffed harshly.
Suddenly, his gaze turned vicious. In an instant—before anyone could react—he grabbed Xue Yunxue by the throat and slammed her against the wall.
"You are the greatest traitor in this kingdom," he said coldly, filled with rage. "A top-class criminal. You worked with the rebels, used yourself as bait to kill us, and then handed your country over."
His grip tightened. At such close range, Xiang Shuai could clearly feel Yun Wu's dog collar encircling the girl's neck.
Yun Wu immediately stepped forward and grabbed Xiang Shuai's arm.
"Don't act rashly. We need to hear her story to the end," he said, restraining his emotions as he tried to calm the rage-filled serpent.
Xue Yunxue gasped for breath. She could barely breathe, tears pooling in her clear black eyes. With the last of her consciousness, she looked at Xiang Shuai—her gaze a mixture of innocence, fear, and desperation.
Xiang Shuai's heart trembled for a brief moment.
Those eyes…
They were different.
Very different from Hu Shui's eyes in the past—empty, vicious, and full of hatred.
At last, he snorted softly and released his grip. Xue Yunxue's body slid down weakly, while Xiang Shuai returned to the sofa with a gloomy expression.
Xue Yunxue coughed lightly, struggling to catch her breath. Yun Wu glanced at her briefly before speaking coldly,
"Sit back down. Calm yourselves, both of you."
The room fell silent again, yet the remaining tension felt even heavier.
"After everything she's done, are you now planning to turn her into a slave to vent your resentment?" Xiang Shuai asked coldly. His sharp gaze deliberately lingered on the dog collar around Xue Yunxue's neck, as if it were irrefutable proof of unforgivable sins.
Yun Wu let out a rough breath, rubbing his throbbing temples.
"It's so I can track her," he answered briefly, his tone flat but weary. Even he wasn't entirely sure of that reason—whether it was to protect the girl, or simply to ease the unease in his own heart.
Xiang Shuai's body shifted once more. His silver snake tail slowly shrank, the scales disappearing until he was seated again with human legs. Yet his clothes remained perfectly intact, as though the laws of the world bent to his existence. Xue Yunxue stared at him with a pale face, her fear still not completely gone.
Those clothes come from his own skin, Moa whispered in her mind. Serpent beings always carry traces of themselves wherever they go.
Xiang Shuai leaned back against the sofa roughly, his eyes never leaving Xue Yunxue. The hatred there was thick, like poison stored for far too long.
"The kingdom buried her body. I heard it myself from my mother, who was present there," he said in a low voice, every word heavy with pressure. "And now she appears again—alive, breathing, pretending to be innocent? You truly believe this is a coincidence?"
Yun Wu fell silent. His gaze shifted to Xue Yunxue—the girl sat stiffly, hands gripping the hem of her clothes, her clear black eyes filled with fear. There wasn't the slightest trace of the cunning aura he associated with Hu Shui… yet the mark of the soul bond was real, and the scent was undeniable.
"I don't know the answer," Yun Wu finally said, his voice softer. Doubt was clearly etched on his face. "And that's exactly why I can't pass judgment immediately."
Xiang Shuai snorted coldly.
"That doubt of yours is what nearly destroyed everything back then."
The room sank once more into suffocating silence—caught between blazing hatred and doubt that slowly gnawed away at conviction.
"What happened here?"
That deep voice echoed among the ruins of the shattered house. A man nearly two meters tall stepped in through what remained of the doorway. His shoulders were broad, his posture steady like an unshakable mountain. The thin T-shirt clinging to his body failed to conceal his dense, athletic muscles, while a calm yet oppressive aura radiated from him—like a great general long accustomed to standing in the heart of the battlefield.
In both hands, he carried several neatly wrapped bundles, utterly out of place amid the surrounding chaos.
Xue Yunxue froze.
She recognized that face instantly. Sharp yet clear eyes, a firm jawline, and a natural authority that was impossible to ignore. The man who had appeared in last night's news—Luo Shixin. One of Hu Shui's feral husbands. The legendary golden eagle whose name was widely known on the battlefield.
Luo Shixin stepped further into the room. His eagle eyes swiftly and precisely swept over the destruction—collapsed walls, cracked floors, residual combat energy that hadn't fully dissipated. His brows furrowed slightly.
Then his gaze stopped.
On the girl sitting pale-faced, her body still tense as if she hadn't fully escaped her fear. Her slender neck bore faint red marks, and the dog collar gleamed coldly under the light.
Luo Shixin looked at her longer than anyone else.
"…Her?" he murmured softly, his voice low yet laden with meaning.
"Is she the girl you mentioned last night, Shuai?" Luo Shixin asked, not taking his green eyes off Xue Yunxue.
That gaze was sharp but not cruel—like an eagle circling high above, observing, judging, and locking onto its prey with cold patience. He scanned every inch of her face, unwilling to miss even the smallest detail.
Those black eyes… were too clear.
Pure and deep, reflecting lingering fear mixed with an innocence that was almost blinding. Her nose was high and slightly upturned, her lips small and plum-shaped, naturally pink. A soft, beautiful face that inexplicably stirred his heart.
So beautiful… Luo Shixin thought unconsciously.
But at that very moment, his senses caught something that made his chest tremble faintly.
That scent.
Faint, yet unmistakable. Like a freshly picked ripe peach—clean, sweet, and warm. A scent he knew all too well. A scent he should never have smelled again.
Old memories he had buried slowly crept back, pressing mercilessly against his mind.
Hu Shui.
Luo Shixin frowned slightly. His gaze remained fixed on Xue Yunxue, now no longer merely assessing, but filled with deep uncertainty—between what he saw with his eyes and what he felt with his instincts.
The girl before him looked fragile, easily broken. But that scent… could not lie.
For a moment, Luo Shixin had thought the woman before him was Yun Wu's new partner—as Xiang Shuai had briefly mentioned last night. That was why he came, bringing several gift packages, intending to offer his congratulations in his own way.
But doubt quickly arose.
His gaze dropped, halting on the cold metal collar around her neck. A slave collar.
Luo Shixin's brows knit slightly. If she truly were Yun Wu's new partner, why was she treated like this? His instincts rejected such a simple explanation.
He turned his gaze toward Xiang Shuai, green eyes clearly asking for an explanation.
"Well," Xiang Shuai said flatly, laced with sarcasm, "as you can feel for yourself… she is Hu Shui."
For a brief moment, shock flashed through Luo Shixin's eyes—so fleeting it was almost imperceptible—before his face returned to calm neutrality. Yet beneath that calm, a massive storm was raging.
Hu Shui… alive?
"But according to this mangy wolf," Xiang Shuai continued, casting Yun Wu a sneer, "she lost her memory, calls herself Xue Yunxue, and somehow managed to come back to life."
Those words hung heavily in the air.
Luo Shixin looked at Xue Yunxue—Hu Shui?—once more, his gaze far deeper now. If this truly was Hu Shui, then far too many things made no sense. And if it wasn't… then what exactly was standing before them now?
Luo Shixin intended to find the answer himself.
He raised his hand, and a dim light shimmered in his palm. From his storage space, he took out a small bottle containing emerald-green liquid. The potion glowed calmly, as if concealing a poisonous truth beneath its serenity.
As the military general leading the Cloud Forces, Luo Shixin was always prepared. His storage space held various weapons, talismans, and potions—not mere equipment, but determinants of life and death on the battlefield.
The moment he saw the green liquid, Xiang Shuai's eyes lit up. The corner of his lips lifted slightly, forming a cold smile.
Ah… he knew exactly what the man was thinking.
A truth potion.
Xiang Shuai's gaze slid toward Xue Yunxue, filled with anticipation and hatred that had yet to fade. That potion would force anyone to speak, stripping lies down to the very root of the soul.
How calm Luo Shixin stood there—his face expressionless, his movements measured, as if he were merely checking the weather before taking flight. Yet it was precisely that calmness that was the most terrifying.
This man was not only a great general in the eyes of his soldiers.
He was also known as the most ruthless general on the battlefield—someone who could smile faintly while deciding another person's fate.