The forest stretched endlessly before Shen as he continued walking beneath the cool early-morning sky. Mist clung to the branches like drifting veils, and the earth beneath his boots was soft from the night dew. Birds called from the trees overhead, but their cries felt distant. Shen's mind was still replaying the clash from the night before.
Not because the boy had been strong.
No — the boy was talented, certainly, more talented than most young cultivators Shen had run into. His foundation was solid, his flame-qi astonishingly pure for someone so young. But that wasn't what lingered in Shen's mind.
What bothered him was that strange flicker of familiarity.
A resonance.
A tug in his blood, subtle but impossible to ignore.
As he walked deeper into the forest, he pressed a hand lightly over his heart. Why did… it feel like that? His Primordial human guardian bloodline was completely awakened now — its senses were incredibly sharp, especially when reacting to others of imperial descent. But feeling another imperial presence was supposed to be warm, comforting, familiar.
This one was different.
It felt like a missing piece of himself.
He shook his head. "Coincidence," he muttered under his breath. "Just an illusion."
But even as he said it, he didn't believe it.
His memories of his childhood — the fragments that had returned so far — were blurred and half-formed. Faces without names. Voices without origins. Feelings without context.
He had regained much of his knowledge as a prince: martial arts, court etiquette, cultivation history, political knowledge, and strange flashes of palace halls and towering jade pillars. But there were still significant gaps.
Especially regarding the people around him.
His family.
The imperial household.
And… his younger brother.
The system matched his uncertainty with its usual blunt tone.
[You are nearing the capital. The closer you get, the more your bloodline will react.]
Shen sighed. "Will that restore the rest of my memories?"
[Yes. Entering the boundaries of the Imperial Domain will fully synchronize your dormant memories. Prepare yourself.]
He nodded slowly. He had expected it — dreaded it, even — but it was inevitable. The memories he gained would not just be neutral information. They would be painful, sharp, even devastating. A childhood that ended in loss. A prince who fell from the world's greatest empire.
But he needed them.
He needed everything if he wanted to return.
If he wanted to know who he really was.
Back at the prince's traveling camp
"Protector," the prince said quietly, but there was intensity beneath his voice, "tell me again."
The old man stiffened. They had already discussed this countless times since the fight.
The prince didn't care.
He needed answers.
"Your Highness," the protector said respectfully, "I truly could not sense anything from him."
"Nothing at all?"
"Nothing. No cultivation. No aura. Not even a breath of qi."
The prince looked down at his hands, still remembering the way his strongest flame technique had been deflected with a single flick. "So he wasn't hiding from you?"
"No," the protector said grimly. "He was hiding from everyone. Even experts far above my realm would not be able to see through that concealment."
"…Then who could he be?"
"That is what worries me," the protector replied softly. "At your age, at your talent… the list of people who can suppress you with a finger is extremely short."
The prince took a long, rattling breath.
Then he said something he hadn't expected himself to say:
"I want to face him again."
The protector's expression stiffened. "Your Highness—"
"I don't care how strong he is! I want— I need— to face him again."
The protector sighed. He didn't understand why, but somewhere deep down… the boy felt a strange longing, a strange pull, something that made him chase that masked young man without understanding why.
The protector bowed. "Then I will help you find him, Your Highness. But be cautious. That person is dangerous."
The prince clenched his fists. "I know. And yet… I refuse to back down."
The road to the capital
By midday, Shen had crossed the last of the deep wilderness and arrived on the ancient paved road that led toward the capital. The air changed immediately. Qi became richer, denser, more orderly. Stone markers along the road were engraved with the seal of the imperial phoenix. Caravans and traveling cultivators were now a common sight.
Shen pulled his hood lower, suppressing every hint of his presence.
The Eternal Veil Art wrapped around him like a second skin. Anyone looking at him would assume he was a simple rogue cultivator in his early teens. Not a genius. Not a threat. Just a passerby.
The perfect disguise.
Ahead, the road rose toward a colossal monument — the first gate of the Imperial Domain, carved from black-gold stone and reaching dozens of meters into the sky. Soldiers in heavy imperial armor guarded it, their cultivation astonishingly high for common soldiers, each around the 4th or 5th realm.
As Shen approached, the golden phoenix emblem carved atop the gate began to glow faintly.
His bloodline throbbed.
The world buzzed.
A ringing sound echoed faintly in his ears — a call, a whisper, an ancient voice speaking in a language he somehow recognized:
Return…
Shen stumbled slightly.
His heart pounded. His breath hitched. Images flashed in his vision:
A palace of jade and starlight.
A woman's gentle smile.
A man with an aura so vast it blotted out the sky.
A smaller boy clinging to his robes, laughing happily.
An imperial coronation robe embroidered with millions of shimmering runes.
An empire kneeling.
A betrayal.
A storm.
A fall.
He gripped his head.
The soldiers noticed and approached cautiously.
"Traveler, are you unwell?"
Shen steadied himself. "…No. Just a momentary dizziness."
The soldier nodded politely and returned to his post, but Shen remained frozen in place.
Because behind the darkness of forgotten memories…
Everything began to unlock.
His vision blurred—
And then clarity struck like lightning.
The dam broke.
The flood came.
And suddenly he remembered. Everything.
His name, his imperial title, his family's faces, his responsibilities, his childhood… every warm moment, every bitter moment, every terrifying moment leading up to his disappearance.
His mother's perfume.
His father's towering presence.
The pressure of being heir.
The joy of playing with his little brother.
The night he vanished.
The enemy that struck.
The promise he made before falling unconscious—
"I will return."
Shen's breath trembled.
But now…
Now he was standing at the gate of his home.
The memories settled like dust after a storm. Painful, heavy, but real.
So that boy…
He was my little brother.
All the hostility, the arrogance, the pride — none of it mattered now. What mattered was the warmth hidden behind those eyes. The flash of recognition both of them felt. The way his younger brother refused to back down even when he couldn't win.
Shen found himself smiling faintly.
"I see… so that's the kind of person you grew into."
For the first time since awakening in this world, Shen felt something warm building in his chest.
He stepped forward.
Into the Imperial Domain.
And his memories — all of them — returned completely.
The Primordial Ascension System chimed.
[Dormant memory synchronization: COMPLETE.]
[Crown Prince Identity fully restored.]
[Bloodline resonance increased by 300%.]
[Warning: Your presence may attract attention from high-realm imperial guardians.]
Shen exhaled deeply.
He had returned.
But he wasn't ready to reveal himself.
Not yet.
He needed strength — true strength — the strength of the elites before facing the imperial palace. Even his father couldn't help him back then. Before facing the father who ruled the continent. Before facing the mysteries of why he vanished.
And especially before facing the enemies who caused it.
But now, for the first time, the path forward was clear.
Shen lifted his gaze.
The capital, still distant on the horizon, shone under the rising sun like a golden crown.
His home.
And he would reclaim it.