“Your Highness!” Jiao Yan flipped down from the wall, vigilantly swept his gaze around the surroundings in a circle. The empty alley had nothing but a few broken baskets and piles of rubble. He turned his head to look at Liang Ye, “Your Highness?”

Liang Ye was still gripping the soft sword in his hand, his face frighteningly pale. After a long while, he said, “Jiao Yan, just now there was a person… who vanished into thin air right in front of me.”

Jiao Yan looked at him with a horrified expression, then punched his shoulder with a fist, “How is that possible? It’s not like performing magic tricks. You must be too tired lately and saw wrong.”

As soon as the words fell, Qi Ming and Baili Cheng’an, along with the chattering Shen Yueli, came running over. Shen Yueli still had an angry expression on her face, “This princess must properly teach that stinking girl a lesson today. Qi Ming, don’t pull me!”

“What happened?” Baili Cheng’an saw that both Liang Ye and Jiao Yan’s expressions were off.

“Nothing.” Liang Ye pressed his brow, put the sword back at his waist, stretched lazily, and looked at them playfully, “Ning Xuan was driven away?”

“Of course! She’s just a small county princess yet dares to compete with me for a man!” Shen Yueli hugged Baili Cheng’an’s arm in one motion, “Cheng’an only has me in his heart!”

“Please conduct yourself with dignity, Princess.” Baili Cheng’an pulled his arm out from her embrace. Shen Yueli wanted to stick to him again, but was blocked by Qi Ming beside them.

“Shen Yueli, didn’t you want to go to the suburban temple fair?” Qi Ming turned his head to look at Liang Ye, “Your Highness.”

Liang Ye understood, exchanged a glance with Jiao Yan. The two put their arms around each other’s shoulders, raised their fists and bumped them together, saying in unison, “Let’s go, to the temple fair!”

Several fast horses ran out of the capital city in a showy manner.

“If you really have doubts, go back and ask your master.” Jiao Yan rode his horse alongside Liang Ye.

“Spare me——” Liang Ye wailed, raised his hand and made a cutting gesture across his neck. “I couldn’t even react in time. If it really was some evil thing that I failed to subdue, he could slap me into the imperial mausoleum with one whisk.”

Jiao Yan burst into hearty laughter.

“Don’t believe in strange and supernatural things.” Baili Cheng’an said without turning his head back. “Your Highness, sleep less late at night.”

“Do you think I want to stay up late? My father pulls me up in the middle of the night to catch fireflies for my mother!” Liang Ye held up three fingers with a bitter face, “Three days straight without letting me get a full night’s sleep!”

“No wonder your master scolds you every day.” Shen Yueli said gloatingly, “Serves you right.”

Liang Ye raised his whip and lashed at her horse. Shen Yueli screamed and leaned toward Baili Cheng’an. Qi Ming came over to intervene again, “Princess, be careful!”

This made Shen Yueli so angry that she rolled her eyes.

The group went to the suburban temple fair noisily. Liang Ye covered his aching neck with his hand, turned to look behind him, but only saw lush green mountains and forests.

Thinking again of that person’s incoherent words from before, he couldn’t help but frown.

The suburban temple fair had been carried down from Liang Ye’s grandfather’s time. It was said that back then Liang Cong and Cui Yuxian had met at the temple fair. Later, every time this season came, many young men and women would flock there, and quite a few people encountered their romantic destiny.

Liang Ye naturally didn’t believe in this, but he liked the excitement. 

As soon as Baili Cheng’an entered the temple fair, he was recognized. Countless young ladies and gentlemen gathered around him. The young ladies felt their romantic destiny had arrived, while the scholarly students enthusiastically pursued their idol wanting him to compose poems. Qi Ming helped block them on the side, while Shen Yueli was stuck in the crowd stamping her feet in anger.

Liang Ye enjoyed the excitement and didn’t mind the chaos. He pulled Jiao Yan to fly up to the high tower to watch the excitement, and would cheer loudly from time to time, making Shen Yueli so angry she wanted to shoot him with arrows.

“Jiao Yan, come with me to drink——Jiao Yan?” Liang Ye turned his head to stare at him, “What are you looking at?”

Jiao Yan’s face flushed red as he stared at a girl running out from the crowd, stammering, “She, she almost got tripped by someone.”

“Who?” Liang Ye’s gaze fell on that thin, small girl, and he clicked his tongue with little interest, “So weak, she’ll probably get trampled.”

“Right, right.” Jiao Yan nervously gripped the railing. Before Liang Ye could say anything more, he leaped down from the high tower and headed straight for that girl.

“……” Liang Ye slapped the railing, his tone sorrowful. “Abandoning friendship for beauty!”

They were all worldly people.

He ran up to the top of the tower to drink wine in boredom. The moonlight on his body felt comfortable. The tower top was quiet while below was noisy, and the interweaving made him feel particularly at peace.

So peaceful that he fell asleep.

The moment consciousness returned, Liang Ye sat up abruptly, instinctively reaching for the soft sword at his waist, but unexpectedly touched nothing.

“This sword is good, but it depends on who uses it.” Light laughter came from the darkness, “Your Highness the Crown Prince, a fool like you with no sense of caution is simply wasting it.”

Around him was dense blackness. Liang Ye reached out to touch the ground – it was rough, uneven brick and stone. He said in a low voice, “What is this place?”

A strange and peculiar fragrance hit him. Cold fingers touched Liang Ye’s brow and eyes, then were immediately slapped away, “Presumptuous!”

“Haha, so fierce.” The other party seemed to be very close to him, but Liang Ye couldn’t detect the other’s breathing, couldn’t even hear any footsteps or the friction of clothing.

The voice came to his ear again, like something floating in mid-air, “But I like it.”

Before the words finished, Liang Ye swept his leg in a sweeping kick. The other party reacted extremely quickly, grabbing his ankle and slamming it down hard. Liang Ye used the momentum to twist his waist violently, landed on both hands to break free from the other’s restraint, and half-knelt on the ground, vigilantly scanning the surroundings.

Still complete darkness, unable to see anything, which made him somewhat irritated.

The other party smiled and waved his hand in front of his hollow eyes, “It’s useless, little Highness, you can’t see.”

Liang Ye suddenly stood up, striking with his palm straight toward the source of the voice, but hit nothing.

Then thin, soft rope-like things from all directions wrapped around his hands and feet. That shouldn’t be rope – it was covered with slightly rough, cold fluff-like things that passed through each of his finger gaps, tightly winding to his fingertips. Those fuzzy things were more like something alive, crawling over his skin in fine, secret movements, making his back break out in cold sweat.

More like some kind of plant… roots?

Liang Ye’s whole body stiffened, unable to move, letting those root systems spread and wind around him. His originally neat robes were tangled in the crevices. That strange fragrance became increasingly intense. The root tendrils stained with bloody smell leisurely touched his neck, seemed to hesitate for a moment, then mercilessly penetrated the thin skin and flesh, seeping out fresh, clean blood.

Liang Ye instinctively cried out in pain. Those root systems suddenly stopped still in his flesh and blood.

The other party sighed quietly, “How disappointing.”

Liang Ye was pressed down by those root systems at the back of his neck, his head hanging low, clearly feeling warm blood flowing down his neck and seeping into his front garment, “Who exactly are you?”

Cold fingers gripped his chin, rubbing and toying with it twice. That tone sounded like sighing, “When I was your age, the people I killed could fill an entire mass grave. I had to drink White Jade Soup every day, in such pain I wanted to die, struggling to stay alive every day——but look at you, with a father who loves you and a mother who dotes on you, not worrying about anything, so stupid you don’t even have any sense of caution.”

Liang Ye finally gathered his internal energy, violently shaking off those annoying root systems crawling all over his body. Just as he was about to turn around, he was submerged again by those surging root systems. The thin, soft tendrils even tried to drill into his mouth. Liang Ye was immediately alarmed and bit down on his teeth. Those little fuzzy things rubbed against his lips in dissatisfaction, swaying as they crawled to his ear.

Liang Ye reached out to pull them away, but the other party easily grabbed his wrist, put an arm around his waist, covered his heart with a palm, and murmured, “Liang Ye, you’ve had too comfortable a life, which isn’t good for me.”

Before Liang Ye could figure out what “isn’t good for me” meant, he heard this person laugh softly, “It makes me jealous to the point of madness.”

Cold lips and tongue covered the neck flesh pierced by the root systems, licking away the still-warm blood that hadn’t yet overflowed, using the tip of the nose to affectionately nuzzle his earlobe, “I suffered so much and still couldn’t accomplish anything. What makes you think you can? The human emperor becoming an immortal….heh, don’t even think about it.”

“I will accompany you.”

With the other party’s light laugh, sharp pain suddenly came from the back of his neck. Liang Ye roared in shock and sat up straight abruptly.

“Your Highness? Your Highness!? Are you alright?” Jiao Yan gripped his shoulders and shook him vigorously. 

The pain at the back of his neck seemed to still be there. Liang Ye looked at Jiao Yan with a pale face, raised his hand to cover the back of his neck, but didn’t feel any wound. However, the sticky coldness when the other party licked his skin lingered like a shadow, and the malicious, twisted voice haunted him like a ghost, causing a flash of killing intent in his eyes.

“How did you fall asleep up here while drinking?” Jiao Yan waved his hand in front of his eyes, “Your Highness? Liang Ye!”

Liang Ye suddenly came back to his senses. Below the tower was still the bustling crowd. He frowned. “How long were you gone?”

“Not long, about a quarter hour?” Jiao Yan scratched his head embarrassedly, “Look, Cheng’an and the others still haven’t squeezed out of the crowd.”

Could it have been a nightmare?

Liang Ye irritably wiped his neck and wrists, his expression gloomy. “I’m going back to the palace first.”

“Hey——why are you going back so early!” Jiao Yan called after him.

“To bathe and change clothes!” Liang Ye was thoroughly disgusted by those soft, squishy root tendrils and the strange man who got close to him in the dream. If he really had been contaminated by something unclean in the dream, he would make sure this thing was completely destroyed.

****

In the bath, steam rose from the water. His outer robe and undergarments were thrown over the screen.

Liang Ye looked up with an ugly expression. The Liang Ye in the bronze mirror looked unclear through the mist. He tilted his neck, but vaguely saw a blooming begonia flower entwined on the back of his neck. The deep red petals clung tightly to his cheek, the root system seemed alive and wanted to pierce his skin and flesh, while sinister black energy spread thread by thread through the vast righteous purple energy.

Liang Ye blinked hard. When he looked at the bronze mirror again, he in the mirror had returned to normal, with nothing on his neck.

He lowered his head to look at his chest, where there was clearly a blue-black handprint. He unconsciously placed his own palm over it, but that handprint was a full size larger than his own palm.

Liang Ye’s expression turned cold.

It wasn’t a dream.

It was some ghostly thing that had come looking for him.