"Where am I?" Opening his groggy eyes, Ye Shikai saw a room full of fresh flowers. He remembered that he seemed to have been struck by an arrow in the back before losing consciousness. Could it be that he was dead? As he moved his body, a severe pain immediately surged from his chest. Looking down, he saw his chest wrapped in pristine white bandages.
Fortunately, he still felt pain. It seemed he wasn’t dead.
Ye Shikai scanned the room, which appeared to be inside a giant green flower bud filled with plants and flowers, resembling a chamber from a fairy tale.
"This looks like an elven bedroom," Ye Shikai muttered to himself as he adapted to the pain in his chest and back, slowly climbing out of the bed. "Some Elf Queen, shooting me straight through the heart with an arrow."
"Are you bad-mouthing me behind my back?" At that moment, the door of the room slowly opened, and a woman wearing a light green chiffon dress walked in, with a slender waist and elegant posture, her figure surpassing any model Ye Shikai had ever seen, and her fair skin delicate enough to be broken with a gentle puff, clearly not that of a human.
"Why is it you?" Ye Shikai recognized the face—it was the Elf Queen. No wonder, she really wasn’t human, which is why her skin looked so good. Cough, no, that’s not right, what’s she doing here? Ye Shikai abruptly snapped out of his fantasy. This Elf Queen had nearly killed him before, she couldn’t be here to silence him, could she...
Ye Shikai took a quick step back, staring at her warily. No, if she was here to silence him, why would she save him?
"Why so tense?" The Elf Queen smiled lightly, walked directly to the table, sat down, and started sipping tea, looking completely unfazed. Ye Shikai couldn’t figure it out—what was this queen’s game? He licked his lips, noticing her drinking, his mouth felt parched with thirst.
"You have been unconscious for over a day. Aren’t you thirsty?" The Elf Queen seemed to possess the Mind Reading Technique, voicing Ye Shikai’s thoughts, and then she took out another tea cup and filled it with fragrant tea.
"A gentleman does not partake of food given grudgingly. I have my own water," Ye Shikai responded coldly. He tried to activate his Storage Ring using his Inner Strength, but was surprised to discover the ring was gone from his fingers. What was going on?
"Are you looking for this?" The Elf Queen’s hand opened, and there lay the Storage Ring in the center of her palm.
"That’s mine, give it back," Ye Shikai said, a touch of urgency in his voice as he reached out to take it back.
"Wait a moment," said the Elf Queen with a faint smile, her hand clenching as she tucked the Storage Ring away, flashing a cunning smile at Ye Shikai.
"Your Highness, I want to reiterate once more that my companions and I came here just to find the awakening fruit. Besides that, we had no other intentions. We apologize for the previous offense. Please return my belongings quickly," Ye Shikai took a deep breath to calm his "agitated and annoyed" heart. It was clear that the Elf Queen was toying with him.
Ye Shikai felt helpless. The queen’s cultivation was deeper than his, and this was her territory—he couldn’t just take it by force. And wasn’t this queen very solemn and authoritative before? How come she was in the mood to tease him now?
"Is that so? Well, you’ve been staying in my place for a day, and I’ve also treated your wounds. Shouldn’t there be some kind of repayment?" The Elf Queen said with a smile, playfully fiddling with the Storage Ring in her hand.
"Come on, it’s your fault I’m injured in the first place," Ye Shikai couldn’t help but retort. Wasn’t this acting unreasonable, to hit back ? Getting injured usually meant compensation for medical expenses.
"You two fought in our elf kingdom. Am I not allowed to defend myself?"
"You, you...argh, it’s pointless to argue. Just give me back my stuff," Ye Shikai didn’t want to entangle with the Elf Queen. Truth told him one thing—whether human or elf, females were all so troublesome.
"Stop! How dare you confront Her Highness. It seems you’re courting death," at this moment, an elf girl named Liruo rushed in, her Longsword directly pointed at Ye Shikai’s neck.
"You," Ye Shikai was about to make a move, then suddenly remembered the Storage Ring was still in that damned queen’s hands.
"Liruo, stop and step back."
"Yes, Your Highness, the Queen." Liruo glared fiercely at Ye Shikai, as if to say, if you mess around again, you’re dead.
"Alright, Your Highness, please give me back my stuff." Ye Shikai was almost begging; what was this all about? A mighty queen that turned out to be an unscrupulous woman.
"By the way, where is my companion?" Suddenly, Ye Shikai’s expression changed. He had been entangled with this queen so much that he almost forgot the real issue. Was Ji Qian alright? Right, she saw him injured; shouldn’t she have come rushing over? Why was it only him left now? These elves wouldn’t have harmed Ji Qian, would they?
"It looks like you care a lot about her."
"Nonsense, I..." Ye Shikai halted mid-sentence, growing impatient. "It’s no use explaining to you. Just give me my things back quickly, I need to leave."
"I’m sorry, that’s not possible." The Elf Queen flatly refused. "Your companion has injured my people and is now imprisoned. But rest assured, her life isn’t in danger, nor is she injured."
"You, release her and I’ll leave right now, okay?" Ye Shikai sighed; now, great, they were both captured, and the captor was an unreasonable woman.
"No, she has violated our elvish laws and naturally must be punished."
"You, if you don’t release her, I’ll go rescue her myself." Ye Shikai turned to leave, no longer wanting to spend another moment with this elven woman.
"Stop, Hades." Suddenly, a chilling sweet voice called out, and Ye Shikai abruptly stopped in his tracks, turning his head, the speaker was the Elf Queen.
"How do you know my name?" Ye Shikai asked in amazement, his eyes flashing with surprise as he searched his mind. He had indeed never met this queen before; how could she know the name Hades?
"I know not only that you are called Hades but also that you are the Main God of the human world, the Netherworld King." The Elf Queen rose slowly and walked behind Ye Shikai, speaking indifferently.
"How could you know all this?" Ye Shikai shook his head, asking curiously.
"So, you’re admitting it then."
"No, what’s there to admit? I’m asking you how you know about the Netherworld King." Ye Shikai now felt that this queen was not only meddlesome but also quite eccentric.
"We met two thousand years ago; I just didn’t expect that you would still be alive."
"What, two thousand years ago, I was alive? What is all this about?" Ye Shikai grew increasingly confused. He couldn’t figure out what this elf was talking about.
"Your Huaxia name should be Ye Shikai, right?"
"How do you know that?" Ye Shikai was even more astonished, his mind in a whirl.
"It really is you, long time no see."