In this chapter, we learn more about the past lives of the three main characters . First, we're introduced to the third person narrator, who is named "ning'er" . He's a young man who has just returned from a trip to the "black devil forest" , where he was forced to marry a woman he doesn't love. He fled to the forest to escape his family's cruelty, and now he's in love with a man who rescued him from the forest. The narrator tells us that he was once haunted by "never-ending nightmares," where he dreamed that his family forced him to marry the woman he loves, and that he ran away to the black forest in anger. He also dreamed of being a lonely soul wandering through the forest in pain and suffering. One day, a man pulled him out of the darkness, and he chose to dedicate his life to the man to repay him for his kindness. . We learn that the woman , named "ziyun," was once in the forest, too, and has disappeared ever since. We're also told that the narrator's life is full of "flash backs" from his previous life, which makes us wonder what's going on here. Unsure, the narrator asks ziyun why she's there, and she says that she came here to recover a piece of the past life. The two of them decide to search for the temporal demon book, which is supposed to tell them where they can find the desert palace . They also decide to