Divorce by Agreement C01

Chapter 1

#This Dish Will Be Spicy!

Xie Zhuo and I had a massive fight atop Mount Buzhou. After knocking the mountain even more askew, Queen Mother of the West finally agreed to let me divorce him.

“I swear to god, I! Just! Can’t! Take it anymore!”

When my best friend Mengmeng asked me why things had gotten so bad between Xie Zhuo and me, I finally snapped and blurted out—

“I wanted to put chili in that damn dish, and I damn well will!”

Mengmeng stared at me in utter confusion, her brows furrowed and lips parted slightly, as if she’d just lost all brain function.

“…Huh?” She managed to squeeze out just one word. “That’s it?”

“That’s it!?” My fury erupted. “What do you mean, that’s it?! For five hundred years, as long as I was under Xie Zhuo’s roof, the man wouldn’t eat spicy food—so I never had one single bite of it! He didn’t drink, so I never even got a taste of wine!

Day in and day out, the food in that house was so bland I might as well have been eating shit! Five hundred years! I’ve held back for five centuries! I just wanted to eat something spicy right in front of him. Is that too much to ask!?”

Mengmeng looked at me with a face full of secondhand embarrassment. “You’re already a celestial being… why are you still so attached to food and drink? Besides, if you really wanted it that bad, couldn’t you have just eaten it in secret…”

I gave her a flat look. “Did you forget who Xie Zhuo—Xie Xuanqing—is?”

Mengmeng fell silent.

Strictly speaking, this man named Xie Zhuo, courtesy name Xuanqing, wasn’t human. He wasn’t even a proper immortal. He was a yao—a demon.

A great demon said to come from the northern wilds, beyond the seas.

Even after five hundred years of marriage, I still hadn’t figured out what his true form was. But what I did know was that when I was about to marry him, every single immortal in the Kunlun had made their disapproval very visible.

Everyone who saw me asked the same thing—

“Do you even know what he is?”

I didn’t. No one in Kunlun did. But everyone did know he was dangerous. His demonic power and mystery were enough to make even the Queen Mother of the West wary.

But now I knew.

“He’s a prison warden! A nightmare! A master of puppets!”

“And I’m his prisoner! His puppet!” I fumed. “All these years, even if I snuck a sip of wine while he was away, he’d smell it the moment he stepped back through the door three days later!

That nose of his is keener than a hellhound’s! Every time he caught me, I’d get a lecture. I’m a proper high immortal—do I not deserve any dignity?”

Mengmeng didn’t dare make a sound, just stared at me wide-eyed.

“And it’s not just food and drink. So long as he’s in the house, what I wear, where I go, who I meet—he has to approve everything! I tolerated it for one or two centuries after we got married, but it’s been five hundred years! What, am I supposed to live like this for the next few thousand!?”

Mengmeng nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, that’s not okay…”

“And worst of all, when I was out on inspection at the military camp, he’d just randomly show up to spy on me. Just last month, I was sparring with a new recruit—just a few moves!

He saw it and nearly knocked the guy’s teeth out! Said it was ‘helping me train’ or whatever… Now the old generals mock me and the new soldiers avoid me. How am I supposed to do my job?”

The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. “He’s a total control freak! I have to divorce him! No matter what!”

Just as the words left my mouth, Mengmeng, munching on fruit, suddenly stared at something behind me. Her mouth was half-open, and she let the plum in her hand fall to the ground.

I turned to follow her gaze.

There stood Xie Zhuo—the very subject of our conversation—right behind me. Clad in his usual all-black garb, he looked at me with those sharp, chilling eyes, stabbing straight through me like blades.

“Fu Jiuxia,” he called me, full name and all.

I held my ground, returning his coldness with a mountain-crushing wave of my own.

“Hm?”

“To the Hall of the Matchmaker,” he said slowly. “Divorce…”

Don’t mind if I do!

We walked to the Hall of the Matchmaker together, not saying another word. The Matchmaker himself had hidden away, leaving behind only a terrified little servant who looked like a quail.

The child held up a tray. On it sat a green pair of scissors.

“T-These green scissors… they sever fate. Once cut, the bond can never be restored. Might you… want to reconsider, your honors?”

I stepped up to him and reached for the scissors.

The moment I picked them up, the red string of fate connecting our wrists shimmered into view.

I turned to look at Xie Zhuo. He was looking at me too, his dark eyes calm and still, but maybe just a little dimmer than usual. In the depths of his eyes, the reflection of me seemed to waver slightly.

The towering trees of longing rustled in the wind. The red string between our wrists swayed with the breeze.

Five hundred years ago, right here, we had pierced our palms, locked our fingers, and pressed our bloodied palms together to form the marriage bond. The string of fate wound around our wrists, a vow to be together forever, never to part…

And now…

I looked up at Xie Zhuo, lips moving as I finally said:

“I will put chili in that dish.”

“Then you’re not allowed to eat it,” he replied instantly.

I pressed my lips together, tamping down the familiar surge of rage.

“You don’t get to control me anymore.”

Snip. With one clean cut, I used the green scissors to sever the red string between us.

The wind blew. The red thread that had bound us for five centuries faded into nothing.

Xie Zhuo finally lowered his gaze and looked at my wrist.

His face was as cold and sharp as ever, but his lashes—like feathers, like fans—cast a triangle of shadow beneath his eyes in the sunlight, making his pale face look even more washed-out, and his expression even more lonely and desolate.

Of course he’d be a little upset.

For five centuries, all I ever heard from him were cold orders—don’t do this, don’t do that. He obsessed over the rules and routines he created for our life. And now I’d just cut through it all in one stroke. No doubt I’d shattered his carefully-laid plans and earned his displeasure.

But just like I told him: he can’t control me anymore. And I can’t control him either.

From now on, we go our separate ways and find our own joy. His feelings have nothing to do with me anymore, and I don’t have to suffer under his tyranny again.

I put the scissors back on the tray, flicked my sleeves, and walked away without sparing him another glance.

Someone else would take care of sorting out our estate. Whether or not Xie Zhuo left Kunlun was no longer my concern. But I was absolutely determined to move out of the place we used to live. Until I got my new home set up, I stayed at Mengmeng’s immortal residence.

That night, I wanted to sleep with Mengmeng, but she looked nervous. “No, no, no—you forgot? Back when we went traveling and shared a tent, Xie Zhuo found out and gave me a whole lecture. Said I had to prepare a separate tent just for you… I’m scared…”

You see this? You see what kind of trauma Xie Zhuo left on my friends? She’s a grown woman! Was that really necessary!?

“I’m already divorced from him. What are you afraid of?” I stood tall. “We’re sleeping together. End of story.”

“Oh… right.” She scratched her head and lay down beside me. Then she looked at me curiously. “Jiuxia, now that you’ve divorced him… don’t you think it’ll feel weird?”

I curled my lips. “Too free to be comfortable?”

Mengmeng yawned. “Five hundred years ago, all of Kunlun’s immortals opposed you two. You were ready to die, to defy the whole world, just to be with him… I thought, surely this must be what people mean by fate. But who would’ve thought… that even the bonds of fate in this world can change…”

With those words, Mengmeng fell asleep.

I lay there in bed, eyes wide open, my mind blank—except for her last sentence, which kept circling in my head.

The bonds of fate in this world… can change.

No grand betrayals, no deep-seated hatred. Just a small, invisible flaw that went unnoticed when we first met, left to ferment over time, until it became an irreconcilable conflict.

Time kills me, kills him, kills everything in this world.

Why should love be any different?

It took me a long time to fall asleep that night. I didn’t want to think about the reasons, but I hadn’t been asleep for long when a violent tremor woke me.

Demonic energy. Not good.

I jolted awake…

Mengmeng rubbed her eyes next to me. “What’s going on?”

She was a little flower-growing immortal, obviously not someone I could let go out. I reassured her, “Go back to sleep. I’ll go check it out.”

As soon as I said it, the words felt oddly familiar. Thinking back, I realized—those were the same words Xie Zhuo used to say to me.

No time to dwell on it. I pushed open the door. At the towering peak of Kunlun, a black rift had appeared, tearing at the moon and stars, as if trying to devour the entire sky.

What the hell was that? Just as I was reeling in shock, immortals flew past overhead, riding the wind. From somewhere nearby, a panicked shout reached my ears:

“Xie Xuanqing has touched the Pangu Axe! Stop him!”

I froze on the spot.

The Pangu Axe held the power to split heaven and earth. It had been sealed at the peak of Kunlun, warding off all demons and evil for thousands of years and safeguarding Kunlun’s peace.

Had Xie Zhuo lost his mind? What was a demon like him doing messing with the Pangu Axe!? Wasn’t he afraid its power would make him bleed from every orifice and die?

Panic surged in my chest. I whipped my sleeve and rode the wind, speeding past the other immortals toward the peak of Kunlun.

Dozens of li from the summit, I saw a crowd of immortals blocked by a barrier.

Various magical tools and spells were being hurled at the barrier, but it was like striking cotton—everything was absorbed without a trace.

It was Xie Zhuo’s barrier. I’d seen it before. The more others attacked it, the stronger it became.

“Stop it!” I shouted. The immortals turned to see me. After a brief moment of shock, they all turned on me, unleashing a torrent of anger and accusations.

“Has Xie Xuanqing lost his mind!?”

“Why did you ever divorce him!?”

“We never should’ve let you two marry in the first place!”

And so on and so forth…

The shouting was deafening. My head rang.

I didn’t have time to explain. Recalling the past carefully, I managed to remember part of how to break through the barrier.

I tried using the method Xie Zhuo had taught me. The moment my hand touched the barrier, it opened up a gap on its own.

I was stunned. Xie Zhuo… was he letting me in?

One impatient immortal tried to slip in after me, but the barrier slammed shut as soon as he got halfway through, trapping him inside—neither in nor out.

I reached out again, and just as expected, another opening appeared.

I didn’t hesitate and plunged in headfirst. As soon as I entered, the barrier sealed behind me.

I looked up. The peak of Kunlun was shrouded in pitch darkness.

“Xie Zhuo!” I called out. A flash of light flickered through the darkness. I chased after it, pushed through a veil of black mist—chaos and disorder all around—until I slammed into an invisible wall.

A breeze passed over the wall. Behind it, Xie Zhuo sat on the ground in black robes. In his hands, as casually as if he were playing with a toy, he held the treasure of Kunlun—the Pangu Axe…

As far as I knew, on the whole Kunlun Ruins, the only one capable of lifting the Pangu Axe was the Queen Mother of the West…

Cold sweat broke out all over me.

Xie Zhuo was powerful, but I never imagined he was this powerful…

My mind flashed to all those times over the years when I’d fought him out of frustration, thinking we were evenly matched brawlers. Turns out…

I’d been overstepping, presumptuous, offensive…

Only now did it dawn on me—how often I had danced on the edge of death, completely unaware.

“What are you doing?” I forced down my fear and shouted. “Put the Pangu Axe down! Whatever’s between us, we can handle it ourselves. There’s no need to involve that!”

That thing—just one swing, and it could split the entire Kunlun Ruins in two!

“Fu Jiuxia,” he said, playing with the axe. “You no longer have the right to control me.” As he looked up at me, his eyes were like the black hole in the sky—silent, consuming everything.

He swung the axe.

I cried out. In the night sky, it was as if the gates of heaven had opened. Stones from the peak of Kunlun were sucked upward one by one.

Our robes and hair billowed wildly in the wind.

“Xie Zhuo! What exactly are you trying to do!?”

“I’m going to atone for my sins,” he said coldly, rising to his feet. “Once I return, I’ll be able to kill you.”

I was stunned. What the hell kind of thing was that to say!?

Suddenly, it hit me—had this whole marriage of five hundred years been a lie? Who was this Xie Zhuo? I didn’t recognize him at all!

The black rift in the sky grew stronger, swallowing everything. Xie Zhuo’s body floated toward the abyss, the Pangu Axe still in his hand.

The safety of Kunlun was at stake. I couldn’t let our personal grievances cost us the Pangu Axe.

I steeled myself and flew into the sky.

Xie Zhuo looked at me, eyes narrowing slightly. With a flick of his fingers, a fierce wind lashed out, carrying countless stones with it. I could tell—he wasn’t trying to kill me, just stop me. But I—

“Whether you kill me or not, we’ll deal with that later. Put the Pangu Axe down first!” I shouted, charging through the storm of flying rocks.

Xie Zhuo’s brows furrowed. He hadn’t expected me to throw caution to the wind like this.

Before he could raise his hand again, I had already lunged forward, reaching for the axe.

At that moment, a chill swept across my back. From the black rift above, tendrils of dark mist slithered out and wrapped around me.

Xie Zhuo’s brows creased. “Let go…”

“Put the Pangu Axe back!”

“Let go!” he growled.

Before the words left his lips, my vision went black. The wind around me vanished. My head was swallowed by darkness. Silence enveloped everything like death.

Xie Zhuo was gone. Kunlun’s peak was gone.

“Xie—” I barely spoke when a searing pain erupted from within me, like countless hands ripping me apart, dragging me downward into an endless abyss.

As if I were being pulled from the peak of Kunlun… straight into the Eighteenth Level of Hell…