Chapter 155: The Abandoned Land

Guided by the tree spirit, Jiang Yan, along with the figures in black and white, walked through a forest emitting a mysterious, dark glow.
They truly had not expected the Underworld to possess a forest.
"Lady Hua's taste seems somewhat different from the past?" the figure in black looked around, a trace of banter in his tone.
"Lady Hua's taste is impeccable, but she would never come to a place like this," the tree spirit lifted its chin proudly. "This is the Forsaken Land, the final resting place for those rebellious flora..."
It thought to itself that Jiang Yan's friend had most likely been thrown right here.
As time passed, they would slowly forget who they were, eventually merging with the forest and turning into those ethereal clusters of black light.
After walking a bit further, the tree spirit spoke again: "This is it. You can look for yourselves."
Jiang Yan looked around and noticed what seemed to be an invisible barrier ahead.
He cautiously reached out his hand, as if touching the edge of another dimension.
"Thanks," Jiang Yan thanked the tree spirit, then stepped right through the mysterious barrier.
The figures in black and white exchanged glances and followed closely behind.
The moment he stepped past the barrier, Jiang Yan felt as though he had entered a separate dimensional space.
It was exceptionally vast and boundless, with countless creatures resembling black coal balls bouncing about within it.
They had only two eyes, making them appear extremely eerie.
"What on earth are these things?" Jiang Yan could not help asking out of curiosity.
The figure in white replied, "These should be black flower souls. Your friend might be among them."
Hearing this, Jiang Yan tentatively called out, "Momo? Momo, it's me, Jiang Yan."

"Momo, where are you?"
"Momo? Can you hop over?"
As he called out, those black coal balls began bouncing toward him one after another, as if responding to his summons.
Some bumped against Jiang Yan's forehead, his arms, his back...
Uh, was he being singled out?
None of them seemed capable of speech; how was he supposed to find Momo this way?
The figure in black reminded him from the side, "Try touching them with your hands. You might be able to see their memories."
Jiang Yan nodded and began chasing after the black coal balls.
They fled, and he pursued, staging a lively chase.
These black coal balls hopped extremely fast, leaving Jiang Yan panting for breath as he tried to catch them.
Along the way, he successfully touched a few.
The memories went like this:
Ah, the sunlight is so abundant today...
Ahhhh, don't pick me! I'm so dark, why do you human beings have such heavy tastes...
Hehe, I can finally go out to play...
Jiang Yan read through these irrelevant memory fragments one by one.
"Momo, where on earth are you? It's me, Jiang Yan. I've come to take you home, alright?"

"Momo, your Lord Dragon is still waiting for you. Won't you show yourself?" Jiang Yan continued to call out to the black flower.
Just as he was about to despair, an exceptionally deep black coal ball quietly came to a halt right beside his feet.
It looked distinctly different from the rest, as if patiently waiting for something.
"Little one, is that you?"
Jiang Yan bent down and scooped up the black coal ball resting at his feet.
The moment he touched it, a flood of memories rushed into Jiang Yan's mind.
Within the fragmented memories, a figure clad in a black robe and wearing a mask emerged.
His voice was weathered and powerful: "Grow here. Wait until the time is ripe, and you shall leave freely."
"Remember, you must protect him..."
Day after day, under the meticulous cultivation of the masked person, the black flower gradually grew.
Every single day, the masked person would infuse it with demonic energy, until one day, after scattering another seed, he never appeared again.
The black flower counted the days one by one—one day, two days, three days...
Wuuwuuwuu, is he not coming today either?
Time flowed away quietly like water. In the lonely years that followed, the black flower almost forgot the companionship of the masked person.