Once the children were out, Yang Ze merely pushed the group of girls forward to take the credit while he merged with the crowd. Though there were some occasional glances towards him, no one asked anything. For the children who have been living cooped up in their houses for over a year, their conversation skills were rather stunted. Every time they talked, they would pause mid-sentence, having difficulty trying to speak. Almost none of them noticed that there was an additional stranger amongst them who was casually walking around.

At the moment, they were focused on the giant deer in front of them. Though they were confused as to why the girls were letting them eat it instead of the usual white powder, they didn't ask or think. As long as they could fill their bellies, it didn't matter where the food came from.

Yang Ze quietly watched as the deer was soon chopped into small pieces and cooked in numerous pots over the fire.

Initially, he thought this was going to be a lively atmosphere with the chattering of kids, their laughter and excitement. But the only thing he saw was their lifeless eyes and dull faces. The liveliness that should have been present in a child was missing from their faces; it was as if their life had been sucked out.

"What a pity." Looking at the scene in front of him, Yang Ze couldn't help but shake his head with a sigh. He thought about getting to know more children, but most of them didn't even reply to his greetings. And the ones who replied went silent after the initial greetings.

Yang Ze walked around for a while, but couldn't find anyone to talk to, so in the end, he merely stood by the side, quietly watching the scene in front of him.

"Here…" It wasn't until almost an hour passed and the food was ready that Mei Ling came near him with a bowl filled to the brim with deer meat and soup.

Yang Ze merely glanced at it before shaking his head. "I am full."

After seeing the scene of the lifeless children in front of him, he didn't feel like eating.

Mei Ling's hands froze mid-air, clearly not expecting Yang Ze to refuse the food. She looked at him awkwardly, just for Yang Ze to pat her head softly and speak in a soft voice.

"You can eat it."

With a smile, he then took one more glance at the scene in front of him before turning around and walking away.

He didn't directly rush to his room but instead chose to walk around for a while. After walking around meaninglessly for a good fifteen minutes, he finally stood at an empty ground on the side of the small mountain. From here, he could see much further in the distance, but even with his night vision, the only thing he saw was an endless number of black trees devoid of any leaves.

Now that he was once again alone and sitting in a daze, his thoughts drifted to his time at the Heavenly Sword Sect. He couldn't help but think about the time he spent with others and, at the same time, think about what would have been the outcome had he gone to look for Cang Yue himself.

At that time, he thought the four of them were companions… friends… He trusted Xiao Ruolan and Lin Yue. After all, the three of them had gone through a life-and-death struggle together. But who would have thought that they would pull out such an elaborate play on him?

He didn't even doubt when Xiao Ruolan told him Cang Yue was in seclusion.

He trusted her when she told him that Cang Yue was going to marry him once she came out of seclusion.

He just trusted her blindly without raising a single question. At that time, he didn't have reason to believe that she was gonna betray him or plan out such a scheme.

Had he not listened to her… had he gone to look for Cang Yue by himself… had he used his system to look at his so-called 'bride', would things have been any different?

Whatever the outcome might have been, the fact was that Cang Yue was gone, and it was his own indecisiveness and naivety that led to her death. And for that, he was never going to forgive himself.

Although he couldn't do much right now, he had decided never to trust anyone and always check others' personal panels with his system.

"What are you doing here?" It was at this time that a young voice woke him from his daze.

"Umm…" Turing around, Yang Ze saw a girl no older than twelve years old standing behind him with a curious expression. Similar to other kids her age in the village, she was wearing coarse clothes stitched together awkwardly with a frail body. Her hair was in a mess, her eyes and cheeks were sunken, making her appear even more pitiful than before.

At the moment, she was watching Yang Ze from top to bottom.

"Who are you?" Looking at the child standing behind him, Yang Ze merely smiled in response before checking out her personal panel, but the moment he did, the smile on his face stiffened, and his breathing almost stopped.

Unlike everyone else he had seen so far, her personal panel had just one single word.

[Incarnation]

Other than that, there was nothing else. No name, no age, no physique, no talent, nothing…

Though Yang Ze's expression froze for an instant, he immediately got back to normal, not daring to show any irregularities.

"That should be my question." The girl simply smiled in response before adding further. "I haven't seen you before in this village."

"Where did you come from?"

For a moment, Yang Ze even forgot to reply. Though the girl looked like just another normal child from the village, his eyes were stuck on her personal panel, where just a single word was present.

"Hey…" Upon seeing that Yang Ze was not responding to her question, the girl puffed her cheeks in anger. Her puffy cheeks and her anger, coupled with her malnourished appearance, looked funny, but Yang Ze didn't dare to laugh. He merely took in a deep breath before replying in a soft voice.

"I don't know much." He spoke while clutching his head. "I… I can't remember."

"I found myself in front of this place yesterday, and that's it."

"Other than that, I can't remember anything. Not even my name."

With every word he spoke, the veins on his forehead pulsed as if he were in a great deal of pain.

The girl quietly looked at him with a tilted head before humming in response.

"Hmmmmm…" Her eyes were stuck on Yang Ze, glancing him from top to bottom as if wanting to see through him, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't see anything amiss. In her eyes, he looked like just an ordinary boy.

"So, what are you doing here at this time of hour?" With a smile, she stepped forward and sat beside Yang Ze.

"Just came here to clear my head. I was thinking that maybe if I sat here and looked in the distance in silence, I might be able to recall something."

"Oh! And did you succeed?"

Yang Ze merely shook his head with a smile before adding a sentence. "What do you think?"

"Hmm…" The girl kept on looking at Yang Ze before resting her face on her palms as she muttered softly.

"I don't know."

"I feel like you are not telling the truth. There is definitely something that you are hiding."

"Why would you say such a thing?" For an instant, Yang Ze's heart thumped as he controlled his breathing. He didn't even know if the thing he was talking to was a human or not. There wasn't even a species mentioned on the personal panel, and he didn't even dare to use his All-seeing eyes.

The last time he used his all-seeing eyes was on Lin Meilin, and at that time, she noticed it instantly.

Yang Ze didn't know who or what the thing sitting beside him was. But if he were to rashly use his all-seeing eyes and she discovered it… Things would turn dire.

Unless he was absolutely sure of his victory and knew the other person's strength, he wasn't willing to take any risks.

"Hmm hmm." The girl didn't reply to his question, but instead moved closer to him, lifted her face, almost burying it in his chest, before taking a few deep sniffs.

And before Yang Ze could react, she pulled back and merely tilted her head in confusion.

"Strange… how strange."

She kept on muttering to herself while her eyes seemed to be in a daze.

"I can smell a familiar scent on you. But what is it?" The more she spoke, the more confused she got.

Yang Ze, on the other hand, was tense. He had readied himself to take action. He didn't know who the opposite party was or what she wanted, but he wanted to be ready. In case she suddenly turned on him, he wanted to fight back. In fact, he was already beginning to consider whether he should make the first move or not.

And just when he was caught in a tense situation, he heard a pair of footsteps behind him.

Turing his head, he saw the figure of Qing Cao walking towards him with a face full of smiles and a satisfied smile. He could see her constantly licking the corner of her lips in aftertaste.

"What are you doing here?" Her voice reached him before her figure.

"Umm… Nothing." Yang Ze shook his head with a smile as he glanced to his side with the corner of his eye, but the moment he did, his breathing almost stopped.

The girl who was sitting beside him just a moment ago has disappeared, leaving no traces behind. It was as if she wasn't ever there.

Yang Ze almost jumped up while his eyes darted around, hoping to see her, but no matter how much he looked, he just couldn't find her figure.

"...." Yang Ze merely narrowed his eyes as he stood there cautiously, afraid that the girl would jump out of nowhere. Thankfully, nothing happened.

"You sure you don't want any food?" Qing Cao asked Yang Ze while licking the corner of her lips.

"Mmm" After shaking his head, Yang Ze hurriedly walked to her before grabbing her by the wrist and pulling her away from there. Afraid that the other girl would suddenly jump out.

"Umm…" Qing Cao wanted to say something after being pulled away by Yang Ze, but before she could even open her mouth, her figure moved at a rapid pace as her surroundings blurred, and before she could even register what was going on, she was back in the village.

"What the…" She could only watch around nervously and in disbelief. Usually, it takes almost fifteen minutes to travel from the village to the mountainside where Yang Ze was. But the two of them crossed such a huge distance in the blink of an eye. For a moment, she couldn't even close her mouth due to the shock.

Yang Ze, on the other hand, after bringing her to the village, rushed directly to the room. Previously, with the strength of the 1st Vein Expansion, he thought he was invincible in this remote place. But now… the little encounter with the mysterious girl had given him a sense of crisis.

He simply sat down on his bed in meditation. It took a moment for him to calm himself as he began to practise his Thousand Year Art.

He wanted to break through to the 2nd Vein Expansion realm as fast as possible.

It wasn't until almost two hours passed that he opened his eyes in frustration. As he had expected, after his veins turned golden, his progress, even with the help of Enlightenment talent, had been abysmal.

"I can't just sit here and watch my realm improve at a snail's pace." Muttering to himself, he took a deep breath.

"If I can't make progress in my cultivation, then I need to find another way."

"A new skill… or a new technique."

Thinking about it, an idea flashed in his mind as he simply stopped breathing before closing his eyes once again, ignoring the figure of five frail girls asleep on the large bed in the other corner of the room.

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