Shen Qianshan pressed his lips into a straight line, staying quiet. Meanwhile, Jin Ye and Su Ge walked up and knelt in front of him immediately.

“Master, please forgive me,” Su Ge still wanted to say something else, but he ended up apologizing. If he didn’t misread that woman, Gu Qiang would be in danger.

He knew his master was very into Gu Qiang but didn’t protect her well, which was apparently a big mistake. However, Shen Qianshan didn’t move an inch as if he didn’t hear what Su Ge said. Then he walked up to Su Ge and raised his hand in rage, but the slap eventually didn’t fall in Su Ge’s face.

Jin Ye looked up at Shen Qianshan.

“Master, the priority right now is to rescue Infanta Luoping. If we are late, I don’t think any of us can afford the consequence,” Jin Ye said sincerely after moving two steps forward on his knees.

Shen Qianshan seemed to think about the same thing, but the rage was still burning in his chest.

“For everyone on the Xiaoyao Mountain, the meaning of their life is to protect Gu Qiang. Do you understand?” Shen Qianshan put his hand on Su Ge’s shoulder with a meaningful look on his face. The rest of his words was swallowed by a sudden gust of wind.

The trees in front of the main hall wobbled in the wild wind helplessly, and the temperature started to drop. Gu Qiang and Gusu Liang had stayed in the water dungeon for a while and almost couldn’t feel their legs in the cold water.

They had already long passed the beginning of this torture when they suffered from the pain and piercing coldness. Losing sense of their body was the most horrifying stage. Gu Qiang knew it clearly that first, she wouldn’t have any feelings from her legs, and then they would start to swell from being soaked in water for too long. In the end, she would lose both of her legs.

Of course, it would be ideal if she could be rescued before that. But what if not? What could she do with her broken legs?

Most of the time, Gusu Liang was in a daze as if she was sleeping. Gu Qiang didn’t want to disturb her.

Only at this moment she was wondering if she regretted it. If she didn’t come to look for Shen Qianshan, nothing would happen, and she wouldn’t end up like this.

Gusu Liang seemed to be waked up by the howling wind blowing through the window. The clothes they wore were thin, and coldness had conquered every part of their body.

“My lady, are you alright?” Gusu Liang asked, her teeth chattering.

Gu Qiang gave her a bitter smile and said slowly, “Liang, some people found me before and told me I’m talented in martial arts. If I can survive this time, I’m thinking, should I go back to them and learn martial arts from them?”

Gu Qiang’s voice was weak while her whole body was hidden in darkness. Gusu Liang struggled to turn her head to look at her but failed to see the expression on her face.

She sounded like she was smiling. Gusu Liang was impressed that Gu Qiang still could smile in such a situation.

Gusu Liang turned her head and smiled too. Then she said, “My lady, you’ve already missed the best age to start it. However, people only have one life. If you want to do something, just go do it.”

Gusu Liang tried her best to suppress the pain in her body and adjust her breath to make her voice sound calm. She didn’t want Gu Qiang to worry about her, although she knew now Gu Qiang didn’t have too many feelings for her anyway.

She used to be such a lively girl, full of passion, and always knew what she wanted and what she should do. But who would’ve known that she lost her memories at such a critical moment?

Anyone in her position would break down immediately. Luckily, even though Gu Qiang lost her memories, she didn’t lose her backbone.

In the water dungeon, the two girls suffered a lot, both physically and mentally. Although talking could distract them temporarily, the pain came back immediately after they fell into silence again.

“Do you know a person called Sun Linhua?” Gu Qiang’s body became more accustomed to the cold and terrible environment, but she was still uncontrollably shivering.

Gusu Liang froze for a second and then asked her back in confusion, “My lady, how come you still remember that girl? I indeed know her, and she is sort of involved with your past too. But if you don’t even remember my master, you shouldn’t remember that insignificant woman.”

Gu Qiang’s hands were tied behind her back with ropes that became even firmer after being soaked in water. She could feel the ropes were tightly wrapped around her swollen arms, leaving marks on top. However, she couldn’t see it, so she tried not to think about it.

Gu Qiang had many weird skills, and sometimes she said strange things that people couldn’t understand. Gusu Liang should’ve been used to it already, but the girl Gu Qiang mentioned was once a popular person on the Xiaoyao Mountain.

Sun Linhua was born in Jiangnan. But different than those gentle, soft girls from her hometown, she had a natural aura of strength and freedom that only people from the North had. She still looked like a girl from Jiangnan, which was a contrast with her personality.

She always could finish her missions quickly and neatly, which earned her Shen Qianshan’s appreciation.

Shen Qianshan was training a lot of kids at that time, and his favor meant a lot for them, who still didn’t have an understanding of love. These kids around the same age all thought secretly that their master should marry a pretty, competent, devoted woman like Sun Linhua.

They were still inexperienced in relationships at that time. They didn’t know sometimes love just came all of a sudden, like a gust of wind or a heavy rain.

After Shen Qianshan showed his preference for Sun Linhua, almost everyone on the Xiaoyao Mountain thought he would marry her sooner or later. The scariest thing was even Sun Linhua herself believed so.

After her desire to be Shen Qianshan’s wife started to grow, her personality and behavior changed a lot.

Not until Gu Qiang appeared, Sun Linhua knew how her master looked like when he fell in love with someone. Yet, she had never seen him act like this before in front of her.

While recalling the past, Gusu Liang talked slowly and calmly, even with a faint smile on her face, as if it was just a simple story.

Gu Qiang listened to her quietly, thinking about the words she saw in the diary. The person who wrote the words claimed that she was herself from the future, and she hoped Gu Qiang could help her save her baby by killing Sun Linhua.

According to Gusu Liang, Sun Linhua loved Shen Qianshan and was locked in the water dungeon by him. That meant the baby murdered by Sun Linhua was Gu Qiang and Shen Qianshan’s baby.

They even had a baby in the future? Gu Qiang found it very unbelievable. But after a second thought, she noticed everything was reasonably connected.

It seemed that many things were still going in the direction they were meant to go. Maybe this was just fate. No matter how long the detour was, people would show up if they were destined to. No matter what would they go through later, that man, who was with her before, would still stand by her side.

Thinking about this, Gu Qiang turned her head to Gusu Liang, who started to gasp in the darkness. It seemed that she couldn’t endure the pain anymore.

If Gusu Liang didn’t learn martial arts, she would’ve probably fainted long ago.

Gu Qiang forgot it was also impressive that she held on as a weak, noble lady for such a long time.

“Liang, we have to find a way out. We can’t allow Su Shuangning to get what she wants no matter what!” Gu Qiang said while shivering.

Gusu Liang found her trembling voice a bit ridiculous, and then she started to consider a solution. After everything she had been through, being trapped in a water dungeon was not the worst situation. It shouldn’t be hard for her to break free from this place.

She didn’t move because she was with Gu Qiang. Gusu Liang would rather stay here before figuring out Su Shuangning’s true intention since she believed they wouldn’t get to the point of losing their lives.

But she found protecting Gu Qiang became harder and harder. Gu Qiang’s aggression and power had attracted all the selfish people who wanted to use her and caused her more and more trouble. Even though Gusu Liang didn’t want to admit it, she knew she couldn’t protect Gu Qiang by herself now.

Gusu Liang had tried her best because of Shen Qianshan.

However, she had always been an open-minded girl. She couldn’t change things that had already happened, and all she could do right now was protect Gu Qiang from any potential harm.

Gusu Liang didn’t realize her personality would help her a lot when faced with trouble in her life.

“My lady, if you have made up your mind, I can take you outside. But you should be aware that you will compete with Su Shuangning face to face after you get out from here. And, the possibility of your victory is not very high.”

Gusu Liang tried her best to clarify the situation for Gu Qiang. Su Shuangning had a decent family background and had her own father, Shen Qianshan’s uncle, to support her. She could literally do anything she wanted, and even the royal family couldn’t say anything about it. However, Gu Qiang had a complicated relationship with her father. They acted like normal father and daughter on the surface, but each had their own axe to grind. If Gu Qiang wanted to stand against Su Shuangning officially, it would be extremely hard for her.

The pain slowed down Gu Qiang’s thinking speed. It took her a while before she talked again, “If I didn’t lose my memories, I should make the same decision. I’m still the same person, just without the old memories. Luckily, I’ve built a good reputation for myself.”

Gusu Liang couldn’t see the confidence shining in Gu Qiang’s eyes while she was talking.