The golden message hung in the sky. Ye Zichen instinctively looked around to check whether anyone else had woken up. What worried him even more was the possibility that someone outside of fox territory might see it.
He worried despite being well aware that, even if others saw it, they most likely wouldn’t understand its true meaning.
Only Ye Zichen could understand this message; he was keenly aware of that. But he was still worried others would see it.
Before long, the golden message dissolved into beads of golden light and descended.
The light fully dispersed the pitch black of the skies, parted the clouds, and let the sunlight through, bathing the world below in its radiance.
The golden beads continued their descent, landing between the eyes of those asleep. The light then bore its way into their sea of consciousness. Shortly afterward, all of them, from ordinary cultivators to great emperors, began to stir.
When they found themselves sleeping in the dirt, all of them were bewildered.
It was as if they had no idea how or why they’d fallen asleep, as if memories of what preceded their unnatural slumber had disappeared completely.
“Strange. Why was I lying on the ground?” Yang Jian twisted his neck, got to his feet, and frowned. Based on his words and expression, it was clear he didn’t remember the darkness swallowing them up.
“Did the Outsider Gu Li do something to their memories?” Ye Zichen furrowed his brows. If this was supposed to happen after they wake up, Gu Li would have told him, even if his Outsider equivalent didn’t.
Since neither of them had said anything…
Could it have been that golden light?
He recalled the moment the light descended; it bore right into the foreheads of the unconscious. That was where a cultivator’s sea of consciousness was located. Yes, it was entirely possible that the golden light had taken all of their memories of this incident. None were exempt; both petty foot soldiers and top experts were affected.
It seemed that the Outsider Master of the Stars didn’t want them to have these memories, so he had to intervene.
Everyone present was still bewildered. In order to prevent others from suspecting anything, Ye Zichen pretended he didn’t know anything either. He, too, looked around in confusion.
“Yang Jian, what’s going on? Why am I on the ground?” asked the Great Sage.
“You’re asking me, but who am I supposed to ask? I only just got up, too.” Yang Jian rolled his eyes with obvious irritation.
To his side, Emperor Hades Su Yiyun rubbed his head. His expression was a little different from the others. He could sense the gap in his memories, but despite having succeeded Emperor Hades’ power and giving it his best effort, he couldn’t fill it in.
“Ye-zi.” The Great Sage and Yang Jian gathered around him, but Ye Zichen still looked lost. “Huh. It seems Ye’zi doesn’t know either.”
Yang Jian scratched his head and pursed his lips. “It’s really frickin’ strange. Why would so many fall asleep for no apparent reason? Someone definitely did something. Hurry up and check whether any of us are injured, or worse, missing.”
Instantly, Ye Zichen felt several presences spread out. One belonged to the Great Sage, another, to Emperor Hades Su Yiyun. After locating Su Yan and Su Liu’er, they withdrew their divine senses.
Throughout the entire Fox Clan, they were the only two they really carried about.
Ye Zichen, who’d been conscious this whole time, was naturally well aware that no one had been injured and kidnapped, so he didn’t bother spreading out his divine sense.
But it was this very calmness that drew Su Yiyun’s attention.
“Zichen.” After withdrawing his divine sense, Su Yiyun walked over, his gaze carrying a hint of profundity. “It seems you’re not the slightest bit worried about Su Yan and the others. Normally, you’d be in more of a rush to check on them than anyone.”
As expected. Even after a hundred years, of all of Ye Zichen’s friends, Su Yiyun understood him best.
And here he thought he’d hidden it well. To think he’d let a hint like this slip!
“To put so many people to sleep at once, and silently at that, whoever it was must have had an incredibly high cultivation. If he just wanted us dead, he’d have no need to do all this. Same if he wanted to kidnap someone. Besides, with you here, what’s the point of using my divine sense?” Ye Zichen lied and chuckled without any change in expression.
Su Yiyun looked at him for a while, but didn’t ask any further questions.
“Surely you don’t think Ye-zi’s lying to us? I know what he’s like; if anything happened, he’d tell us.” Yang Jian laughed. “Besides, he’s right! To do all this, whoever it was, their cultivation must be terrifyingly high. If they wanted to kill or kidnap someone, there’d be no need to go to such trouble.”
“That’s right. Not even the first generation Emperor Hades could have done this. Whoever did this… must have been a half-step transcendent.” Su Yiyun furrowed his brow. Although he didn’t know it, he’d said the same thing not long ago.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
A sound like swords cutting through the air rushed towards them.
The sky dimmed once more. Ye Zichen’s heart shook. When he looked up, he saw a veritable sea of fox clan members and Sacred Beast Clan experts, so many, they blotted out the sun.
Xuan Ji, the Dragon Emperor, and the other great emperors present led the pack.
“Nothing bad happened, right?” They landed and asked immediately. They’d fallen asleep and only just woken up too. When she regained consciousness, Xuan Ji immediately started worrying about Ye Zichen.
This was a natural response…
So many great emperors had fallen asleep all of a sudden. There was no need to even explain what level of power that represented.
Why would such an expert appear here? The only reason they could think of was Ye Zichen. Only the Emperor Star was worthy of such a figure’s attention.
But just as she prepared to go back up the mountain in search of Ye Zichen, she realized that the barrier entrapping the captives had been broken, so she led the former captives back with them.
When she saw Ye Zichen alive and intact, Xuan Ji sighed in relief.
“No one’s hurt, but we all fell asleep all of a sudden. We only just woke up.” Yang Jian shrugged helplessly.
But before they could continue their conversation, the physicians treating Su Qingyan and Su Wan cried out in surprise. “How strange!”
Xuan Ji had been worried about them this whole time, so she rushed over. The Great Sage and the others soon followed suit, but before they could ask what had happened, the lead physician shook his head. “They’re injuries were so serious that perhaps not even the Hermit Emperor himself could have ensured their full recovery. With my skills, at most I could preserve their lives. So why have their wounds healed all of a sudden?”
When they heard that, the great emperors looked at each other.
It wasn’t just Empress Su Qingyan and Clan Head Su Wan’er. The heads of the Vermillion Bird and White Tiger Clans, as well as the other severely injured experts, had made a full recovery. As for those without heavy injuries, like Su Yan, they were already showing signs of waking up.
“Could it be that the mysterious expert who put us to sleep came here to heal them?”
