Long Yang stood on Dragon Cascade Peak, captured by two enemies: the Soul Shifter Lin Yangming and the sturdy masked man Zhu Yan. They demanded the secret he uncovered months earlier in the West Land Country’s Holy Light Temple, where with Prince Eric he decoded the language of a strange upright ape from Double Moon Star. The ape revealed that three hundred years ago its kind underwent demonic transformation, exterminated the Heavenly Beings on their home star, and now used an abandoned teleportation array to invade Earth, threatening billions of humans. Long Yang rushed back to report to the Emperor but was intercepted. The Soul Shifter used hypnosis and a hallucinogen to force the secret, but Long Yang resisted by thrusting his memories into a deep, dark place in his mind. The Soul Shifter mentioned Eric had been killed. A Sky Howling Falcon hovered above, sent by an unknown third party, but it did not cry out. The captors argued over it. Then the third pursuer arrived: Old Man Tian, a man with a face half aged and half youthful. He killed Zhu Yan with hidden weapons. Old Man Tian did not want the demon language; he believed Long Yang possessed the War God secret from three hundred years ago, a formula that could create a devastating War God. He accused the Long Family of uncovering this ancient power and molding Long Yang into the War God. Long Yang denied this. Zhu Yan, though wounded, grabbed Long Yang and jumped off the thousand-foot cliff. In midair, Zhu Yan threw Long Yang into a cave while he himself fell to his death. Long Yang landed in darkness and lost all memory.Three years later, Long Yang lived in Zifu Mountain City with complete amnesia. He was rescued by a washerwoman named Aunt Mei and lived with her son Lin Yuan, using the surname Lin. He knew his name only from a recurring dream where a beautiful girl wiped the corner of his mouth with a handkerchief and called him Brother Long Yang. He had a small scar under his mustache that sometimes bled. Each dawn, he carried an ironwood pole with two large wooden buckets from his rented home to Dragon’s Roar Valley, filling them with water from Shadowless Pool. He delivered the water to Long Fu, the only servant at the Long Family Mansion in Turtle Shell Alley, for a rare orchid. Long Fu, a hidden expert, paid him two silver yuan each day. Long Yang moved with incredible strength and balance, never spilling a drop. He lived quietly, unaware of the secrets buried in his mind.Zhang Tianxun, a cultivator in his sixties suffering from a severe internal injury, came to Zifu Mountain half a year ago with his granddaughter Wei Wei to find Rain Spirit Grass. He used the Xuanwu Spirit Skill to delay his injury. He opened a wine shop as cover. While in the city, he noticed the water-carrying youth and sensed something unusual. He followed him for days and eventually got Lin Yuan drunk, learning about Long Yang’s amnesia, his rescue, and the poison in his body. Zhang then approached Long Yang on the road, stopping him under the pretense of a drink. He hinted at Long Yang’s amnesia and the missing souls in his heart meridian, shocking Long Yang. Long Yang grew wary. Zhang continued to follow him, even to the Long Mansion entrance. Long Fu warned Long Yang that Zhang was suspicious. Long Yang confronted Lin Yuan, who admitted that he had revealed everything while drunk. Long Yang remained alert, knowing that the secrets of the alien invasion and the War God formula were still lost in his memory, and that the same enemies might still be hunting him. The present held only uncertainty as Zhang Tianxun pressed closer.
