Compared to the physical pain, what tormented Henry Brooks even more was the shattered consciousness in his mind. It felt as if, with the slightest movement of his body, his very soul would collapse at any moment. It was as though someone had forcibly stuffed another person's memories into his head—faces and scenes of strangers flashed before his eyes, almost to the point of making his brain explode...

Why would there be someone else's memories in his mind?

They were the memories of a young man named Edward York, but these memories were so fragmented that it took Henry Brooks quite a while to piece together that Edward York was one of the most promising disciples of the Yao clan, one of the thirty-six noble houses of the Great Yan Empire, with hopes of reaching the Mingqiao Realm. At fourteen, he had already reached the Biling Realm and was established as the clan's heir, becoming one of the empire's brightest rising stars. But at seventeen, he committed a grave crime, had his cultivation abolished, was expelled from the Yao clan, and ultimately exiled to Hexi, where he sought refuge with his uncle Leonard Brooks, who served as the General of the Left Command of the Wuwei Army.

Leonard Brooks not only held a post in the Wuwei Army's main camp, but was also a third-generation true disciple of the Taiwei Sect.

Because Edward York's cultivation had been destroyed, he was unwilling to serve as a Dao soldier disciple—a sort of reserve force for the Wuwei Army—nor was he qualified to directly enter the Taiwei Sect's inner circle for cultivation. He could only remain in the sect temporarily as an attendant.

Yanzhou, the Great Yan Empire?

One of the thirty-six noble houses?

The Yao clan?

The Wuwei Army, Taiwei Sect?

Dao soldier disciples, inner sect cultivation?

What the hell are all these things?

What on earth are the Biling Realm and Mingqiao Realm, and why does he have this jumbled mess of memories belonging to this young man named Edward York in his head?

What exactly did Grace Sutton do to him?

Henry Brooks lay paralyzed in a pile of dead leaves, his head throbbing as if it would split open, his whole body wracked with the pain of bones being torn apart, unable to move. He had no idea why Grace Sutton had dumped him in this desolate mountain valley. He shouted himself hoarse for a long time, but no one answered. Henry Brooks was filled with terror, and the broken memories of Edward York only made his mind even more muddled...

Edward York, once the pride of the Yao clan, had fallen to the status of a mere "attendant" in the Taiwei Sect. In his despair, he sought solace in pleasure, and, relying on his status as Leonard Brooks's nephew, when he couldn't find better targets, he went around flirting with maidservants and new female disciples from other abodes, quickly earning himself a notorious reputation in the Taiwei Sect.

Fortunately, with Leonard Brooks's protection, Edward York was not expelled from the Taiwei Sect.

This time, Edward York had arranged to go into the mountains to gather herbs with Lily Sutton, the personal maid of his cousin Evelyn Brooks. His mind was wandering, and he tried to flirt with her, but as soon as he showed his intentions, Lily Sutton panicked and nearly fell off a cliff; in trying to save her, he himself actually fell.

Although Edward York had the Qingyun inner armor given to him by his uncle for protection, the cliff he fell from was extremely steep. He crashed hard against the jagged rocks several times, and the Qingyun inner armor quickly broke apart, losing its protective effect...

What kind of chaotic memories are these?

Henry Brooks was frustrated, unable to understand how these memories had ended up in his mind. When he felt a bit of strength return, he gritted his teeth against the pain in his limbs, wanting to see where Grace Sutton and the others were, and why they had left him here instead of taking him to a hospital.

Henry Brooks struggled to lift his head and saw that he was wearing a blue robe, like a Daoist robe, embroidered with pale golden cloud patterns and birds and beasts. After being scraped by branches and rocks, it was already tattered, and underneath it was a dark blue scale-patterned soft armor, which had also been torn open with a long gash.

Henry Brooks was dumbfounded...

Why was he wearing clothes that looked like something out of a historical drama?

What kind of game were Grace Sutton and the others playing?

A mountain vine hung down from the rocky cliff. Henry Brooks tried to sit up and reached out to grab the vine, only to see that his outstretched hand was delicate and youthful, like that of a sixteen- or seventeen-year-old boy. How could this be his hand?

In that instant, Henry Brooks felt as if he had been struck by lightning:

This was definitely not his hand, definitely not his body!

It wasn't that someone else's memories had been stuffed into his mind—he had entered someone else's body!

He raised his hand and saw a tattoo of a blue-scaled, red-headed azure dragon on his left arm, extremely striking and ferocious, as if it had just been branded with hot irons. It looked just like the azure dragon engraved on the black cauldron, now transferred directly onto the left arm of this unfamiliar body.

What the hell was going on? Was this even still Earth?

Was this some kind of sick joke?

Henry Brooks's mind reeled, and he fainted again, not seeing the blue-scaled, red-headed azure dragon tattoo on his arm come alive, struggle free, and finally transform into a dragon-shaped shadow that, before the blue-scaled thunder eagle arrived, disappeared into the void deep within Taiwei Mountain...

Chapter 5: The Mysterious Girl

Henry Brooks woke up again, his head splitting with pain, as if thousands of steel needles were stabbing into his brain. His body also ached with a faint tearing pain, but it was still better than the agony in his mind.

He opened his eyes and saw a plain blue bed canopy above him that seemed familiar, but his mind was so muddled he couldn't recall where this was, nor where the sense of familiarity came from. He opened his mouth and asked, "Where am I?"

A tall figure stood by the window, his thin shoulders exuding a powerful presence like a towering mountain. Henry Brooks knew this was his uncle from Edward York's memories, the General of the Left Command of the Wuwei Army, Leonard Brooks, a formidable cultivator in the late Mingqiao Realm...