Chapter 154 Memory Fragments

Su Nanxing and the Seventh Prince entered the inner chamber's bedroom, where the two little ones were quietly hugging Tao Ming's arms, waiting for her to wake up.

"Ruanruan, has Mama moved at all?" Su Nanxing looked at Tao Ming's flushed face, already knowing the answer in his heart.

Though Ruanruan was sweating from the heat, she still clutched Tao Ming's arm tightly. "Mama has just been sleeping the whole time."

Su Nanxing gently felt Tao Ming's forehead and sensed that her fever had subsided slightly. Checking the time, he said, "Cousin, take the two of them to play outside for a little while. I need to feed Mingming her medicine."

Ruanruan protested, "I don't want to go out! I just want to stay with Mama."

The Seventh Prince didn't budge either. "Do you have to hide from people just to feed someone medicine?"

With no other choice, Su Nanxing picked Tao Ming up into his arms right in front of them. He gently kissed her teeth apart before feeding her the medicine.

Watching Su Nanxing's actions, Ruanruan lunged forward, crying out, "I want to kiss Mama too!"

Su Nanxing hurriedly stopped her. "Mama is sick and cannot be kissed, or she will pass the sickness to you."

"Then why are you kissing her? Aren't you afraid of catching it?" Ruanruan puffed out her little cheeks.

Su Nanxing patiently coaxed her, "I am an adult, so my resistance is stronger than yours."

"I want to grow up fast so I can become strong too."

Su Nanxing laid Tao Ming back down flat. "Ruanruan, Nuonuo, Daddy has to go out for a bit, and I'm giving you a task."

"What task?"

"You stay here with Mama and talk to her a lot. That way, she will wake up sooner."

"Really?"

"Really."

......

Su Nanxing brought the Seventh Prince to an inn outside the city, and the two walked in silence all the way into the underground secret chamber.

At this moment, only Shi Xin was in the chamber. Upon seeing the Seventh Prince, she looked startled for a fleeting second before regaining her composure.

Su Nanxing opened a stone door, revealing a completely empty room inside.

The Seventh Prince released Qiao Qingyao and asked, "Do you have aphrodisiacs?"

Su Nanxing pulled out a medicine bottle. "I purposely took this yesterday."

Qiao Qingyao had been terrified the previous night and locked away for most of the day. Now, finding herself in an unfamiliar room, she instinctively shrank into a corner and hugged herself.

Hearing Su Nanxing's voice, she raised her head and asked with a trembling voice, "Cousin, what are you going to do?"

"Whatever you did to Mingming yesterday, I am going to do to you."

Remembering the pool of blood beneath Tao Ming, Qiao Qingyao lunged forward, trying to grab Su Nanxing's legs. "Cousin, I was only muddle-headed for a moment! Please spare me!"

Su Nanxing took a light step aside, and Qiao Qingyao grabbed at empty air.

"What's the use of wasting so much nonsense on her?" The Seventh Prince snatched the medicine bottle from Su Nanxing's hand, stepped forward, and pinched Qiao Qingyao's chin, forcing the entire bottle of medicine down her throat.

The medicine took effect rapidly. Qiao Qingyao felt an escalating heat surging through her body, panting as she clawed at her own clothes.

Su Nanxing turned and walked out the door, and the Seventh Prince followed him out.

After closing the door securely, the two looked through the transom window at Qiao Qingyao, who was rolling and writhing on the floor. The Seventh Prince let out a cold snort. "As if she can withstand that."

Su Nanxing stared at Qiao Qingyao, but a completely different scene flashed across his mind: an alluring, naked stranger kneeling before him while he ruthlessly pinched her chin and forced an aphrodisiac down her throat.

When did that happen?

Why couldn't he remember a single thing about it?

What on earth was going on?

Noticing Su Nanxing's silence, the Seventh Prince let out a cold laugh. "Could it be that seeing her like this has stirred up inappropriate thoughts?"

Su Nanxing snapped back to reality and shook his head. "In this world, only Mingming can ever stir my heart."

......

Returning to the main hall, the two sat facing each other.

Su Nanxing said in a deep voice, "I want to know the truth."

The Seventh Prince hesitated for a moment before replying, "Tao Ming is my own younger sister. In her past life, she was called Ruomeng, and I was called Ruoqing."

"A past life?"

"A past life."

Recalling the two fragments that had just flashed through his mind, Su Nanxing murmured, "Reincarnation actually exists."

"In your past life, your name was still Su Nanxing." The Seventh Prince found it impossible to reconcile the man before him with the one in his memories. The man in his memories had been utterly cold toward Ruomeng, yet the man before him was deeply devoted to Tao Ming.

"Are you saying that Mingming knew me in our past lives?" Shock washed over Su Nanxing, mingled with a sliver of relief—it turned out he and Tao Ming had intersected even in the past.

The Seventh Prince closed his eyes, as if once again witnessing Ruomeng's appearance right before her death. "I'd rather she never knew you."

"What on earth happened?"

The Seventh Prince sank into his memories. "We called the place where we lived the Realm of Eternal Darkness. There were no sun, moon, or stars in the Realm of Eternal Darkness, only endless darkness."

"Legend has it that the Realm of Eternal Darkness was created by the Great Emperor of the Southern Heavens by gathering countless shattered and destroyed worlds together. At first, the Realm of Eternal Darkness was dead silent, devoid of any life."

"As time passed, unique lifeforms bred within the Realm of Eternal Darkness."

"In the beginning, these lifeforms possessed only instinct, devouring whatever they could consume."

"Until one day, a crack opened in a corner of the sky of the Realm of Eternal Darkness, and many humans fell through the gap."

"Having devoured humans, the lifeforms of the Realm of Eternal Darkness gained sentience and learned that there were countless different worlds beyond their realm. In those worlds, there were suns, moons, and stars, flowers, plants, trees, and all kinds of edible things."

"Unwilling to remain forever in a realm that never saw the light of day, they plotted to escape. Taking advantage of every time humans fell from the sky, they carefully observed that crack."

"Finally, one day, the crack in the sky lowered, resting obliquely near a mountain peak. A lifeform from the Realm of Eternal Darkness climbed the mountain peak and left the realm along the crack."

"From then on, the human world acquired a new kind of terror. Humans called them 'demons'."

Su Nanxing was profoundly shocked. The so-called demons had originated in such a manner!

"Mingming and I were born in the Realm of Eternal Darkness; our parents are long forgotten. The two of us hid deep in the mountains, catching lower-level demons to stave off hunger. Mingming was exceptionally gifted, far surpassing me in strength, and most of the time, she was the one protecting me."

"One day, Mingming excitedly dragged me into a cave, pointing to a mud-drawn door on the stone wall and saying, 'Brother, we can go to where humans live from here.'"

"Later on, Mingming met a man. That man did not know Mingming was a demon. Their romance heated up rapidly, and he soon married Mingming and brought her home. They were very affectionate for a time after the marriage, until that man discovered Mingming's true identity as a demon."

"The last time she saw me, Mingming said, 'Brother, you must live well.' I knew something was terribly wrong, but I couldn't follow her across."

"I walked out of the mountains and, devouring countless of my own kind along the way, my strength skyrocketed. Crossing that door, I entered the human world."

"I still remember that day: Mingming stood on a mountain peak with her back to a cliff, and fell backward."

A deep realization struck Su Nanxing. "That man was me?"

"Yes."

After a long, heavy silence, Su Nanxing made a solemn vow: "In this lifetime, I will never fail Mingming."

"I hope so."

Eager to know all the past events, Su Nanxing asked, "How can I remember the past like you do?"

A rich red light surged in the palm of the Seventh Prince's hands. "Do you truly wish to remember?"

"Yes."

"I don't know how many lifetimes you have lived through before. If you have reincarnated too many times, the sheer volume of memories will cause you agonizing pain."

"I can bear it."

The Seventh Prince pointed a finger at Su Nanxing. "As you wish."

The red light burrowed into Su Nanxing's body through his seven orifices. Soon, Su Nanxing was clutching his head, rolling about on the floor in agony.

Watching Su Nanxing struggle in agony on the floor, a fierce sense of vindictive satisfaction welled up within the Seventh Prince.