Chapter 244: Familiar Eyes (1)
The question made He Yuting freeze.
Ningyan noticed immediately.
Slowly, he nodded. "Exactly." His voice was calm now.,"Whatever happened, Shi Zekai acted without my orders. But that doesn’t make Zhenting guilty."
He moved toward the door. "I’ll hear the truth directly from Zekai himself."
His expression darkened. "I’ll return to the Hidden Phoenix Clan in the Heavenly Realm."
He took a step forward.
But He Yuting’s voice stopped him. "Your memories are returning, aren’t they?"
Ningyan froze. The room suddenly felt much smaller.
Slowly, he turned back.
He Yuting’s eyes were fixed on him. "They’ve started coming back."
It wasn’t a question.
"You’ve been seeing things. Fragments. Places. Beasts."
Her voice softened. "And they’re beginning to contradict what Xie Zhenting told you."
For the first time since entering the room, Ningyan looked genuinely unsettled.
"I..." His throat tightened.
He stepped closer. "Do you know something?"
His voice dropped lower. "Something everyone else is hiding from me?"
For a brief moment, He Yuting looked as though she wanted to tell him everything.
The expression vanished almost immediately.
She closed her eyes.
When she opened them again, there was only resignation.
"No." The answer sounded painful. "I don’t know enough."
Ningyan stared at her.
"But I do know this." She lifted her head.m"You should go to the Heavenly Realm. Find Shi Zekai. Find answers and return to the place where you first awakened."
Her gaze remained steady. "If your memories continue returning, perhaps you’ll finally learn what truly happened."
Silence stretched between them.
Then she added softly, "I believe that once you remember... you’ll see that we are already where we need to be. We do not need another war. We never did."
Ningyan studied her for a long time trying to decide whether she was lying. Trying to decide whether anyone around him had ever told him the truth.
At last, he exhaled. "Very well."
His eyes turned back to their violet hue with thought. "I’ll go."
He Yuting smiled faintly and bowed.
The silver barrier covering the walls dissolved into countless motes of light before vanishing completely.
Then she left.
The chamber fell silent.
Ningyan remained there for the rest of the day. He permitted no one to enter.
The red-gold flute rested in his grasp as he sat by the window, twirling it lazily between his fingers while snow drifted beyond the palace walls.
His thoughts were anything but calm.
The volcano. The place where he had awakened. The fragments of memories he had gotten a glimpse of earlier.
Everything seemed connected by invisible threads and at the center of it all was a truth no one seemed willing to tell him.
Ningyan frowned.
He Yuting knew something. He was certain of it. Yet she looked less like someone hiding a secret and more like someone incapable of revealing one.
That bothered him. It angered him. Because if there truly were lies buried beneath the foundation of the phoenix clan, then those lies threatened everything he had built.
Internal conflict could destroy all of it.
His fingers tightened around the flute. Then his thoughts drifted to a pair of red-gold fox eyes.... To emerald serpent eyes hidden behind silver spectacles.
Ningyan froze. His eyes widened slightly.
The flute touched his cheek as realization struck him. "The nine-tailed fox."
He sat upright. "Yan Qinghe might know who he is."
Without another moment of hesitation, he rose and crossed the chamber.
A blank scroll was unfurled. Ink touched paper. He quickly penned a letter to Yan Qinghe, explaining that he wished to identify a nine-tailed fox who strongly resembled her and appeared to share some connection with him.
Once the letter was finished, he summoned a servant and ordered it delivered immediately. Only after the servant departed did Ningyan finally leave his chambers.
His presence was suppressed to the absolute limit. To anyone passing by, he appeared no different from an ordinary phoenix noble.
He wandered through the palace halls absentmindedly until he approached a corner and suddenly heard a familiar voice.
"What do you mean the Snow Leopard Clan came here?"
Xie Zhenting. His tone was sharp and furious. "Why am I only learning about this now?"
Ningyan halted immediately.
Around the corner, a guard hurriedly answered. "Your Greatness already resolved the matter alongside General He."
There was a brief silence.
Then Xie Zhenting spoke again. "No. No."
His voice sounded disturbed. "Why wasn’t I informed first? I should have handled it, not them."
Ningyan’s eyes narrowed.
Xie Zhenting continued. "Su Ningyan must have realized the attack wasn’t ordered by him."
A chill passed through Ningyan. "I need to see him immediately."
Footsteps hurried away.
Ningyan remained motionless. His expression darkened.
The attack wasn’t ordered by him.
Why would Xie Zhenting assume he had reached that conclusion?
More importantly, why was he panicking?
Ningyan slowly lowered his gaze. A seed of doubt settled heavily within his chest.
He was the king. Not Xie Zhenting.
So why did it sound as though Xie Zhenting was afraid of losing control of the situation?
The thought lingered as Ningyan changed directions. Rather than returning to his chambers, he headed toward the palace gardens.
Snow blanketed the pathways.
The frozen branches glittered beneath the pale winter light.
As he approached one of the outer courtyards, raised voices caught his attention.
Several guards were gathered there.
Opposite them stood a group of phoenix attendants.
At their center was a phoenix beastman dressed in elegant crimson robes.
His appearance was striking. Long black hair cascaded down his back, and his features were refined enough to attract attention wherever he went.
The attendants behind him appeared frustrated, arguing with the palace guards.
Ningyan approached.
The moment they noticed him, silence fell.
"Your Greatness!" Everyone immediately lowered their heads.
Everyone except the black-haired phoenix.
The beast’s sharp midnight black eyes widened slightly as they landed on Ningyan.
Shock flashed across his face. Pure shock as though he had seen a ghost. Only after several heartbeats did he finally lower his head.
Ningyan found himself strangely intrigued. His violet eyes settled upon the beast. "You... Who are you?"
The black-haired phoenix slowly lifted his head and when their eyes met, Ningyan felt the strangest sense of familiarity.