Divorce by Agreement C07

Chapter 7

#Operation Severing Ties

Xie Zhuo wasn’t willing to hit me, but no amount of scolding could make me leave either.

The two of us sat across from each other by candlelight for an entire night. After much thought, I said, “This won’t do.”

Xie Zhuo looked at me. I said seriously, “We must completely take over our past selves from five hundred years ago if we want to ruin our relationship.”

Arms folded, Xie Zhuo stared at me. As the Defense General of Kunlun, I began analyzing the situation with military logic:

“Look, today, the me from the past suddenly showed up here, and you suddenly appeared to sabotage our past relationship. It’s a direct approach, but not strong enough.

The damage to the relationship isn’t thorough. As long as past me and past you meet, the entire scheme falls apart on its own.

And we might get exposed. Luckily, the me today was a bit dumb—knocked out and fooled with a nap—but it won’t always be that easy.”

“Mm…”

“So from now on, we need a whole series of strategies. For example…”

I crushed a bamboo cup on the table and picked out four pieces—two large, two small.

I held up the two large ones and scorched one over the candle flame until it turned black. Putting it down, I said, “These two big pieces: the charred one is you, the green one is the past you.”

Xie Zhuo: “…”

I laid the bamboo pieces on the table. “For convenience, let’s call your past self ‘Xie Xuanqing,’ and your current self ‘Xie Zhuo.’”

Then I picked out the two smaller pieces and scorched one as well. “The black one is me, the other one is the past me. Likewise, for clarity, you can call me ‘Fu Jiuxia,’ and my past self ‘Xiaxia.’”

Xie Zhuo’s lips twitched.

I stared at him. “Can’t bring yourself to say it?”

“Keep going,” he avoided answering directly.

On the table, the black and green pieces were placed on opposite sides. “If we keep both our past selves together, our ‘Operation Sever Ties’ is easy to see through. But…”

I swapped the positions of the large bamboo pieces, creating a black-and-green mix. Pointing to the pieces, I said:

“If we do this—you destroy your past feelings for me, and I destroy mine for you—then we cut off the chance of our past selves getting close. That way, we reduce the risk of exposure and quietly strangle this relationship in the cradle.”

Xie Zhuo raised an eyebrow.

I took that as admiration for my brilliance.

I continued, “We’ll use this bamboo hut as our base of operations. Every night, we regroup here, share what we learned that day, and plan for the next—until we confirm the mission is a success. How’s that sound?”

“In this matter, you’re quite…” he gave me a cool glance, “brave and resourceful.”

I accepted his praise with satisfaction. “I believe with my strategy, within five days, the you and me from five hundred years ago will be utterly sick of each other.”

He seemed to scoff and turned away. “Fine…”

“But you can’t always predict everything… We need a backup plan,” I said, stroking my chin in thought. “What if the me from back then was so hopelessly in love with you that the bond just can’t be broken? What would you do, Xie Zhuo?”

He raised an eyebrow. “There is no ‘what if.’”

I insisted, “But what if, seriously? If one path fails, we need another.”

He folded his arms and stared at me.

I got it…

There was no second path. He intended to see this one through, no matter what. Since he said the bond must be broken, then it must be.

I hadn’t expected Xie Zhuo to be so obsessed. Looks like… over these past five hundred years, I wasn’t the only one having a rough time.

I pouted. “Alright, fine. But there’s still one more loophole. We need to determine what counts as a successful ‘severing’ of this tie. Honestly, whether it gets cut or not doesn’t really matter to me anymore.

But since you insist, I’ll cooperate. My goal is to return to five hundred years later with the Pangu Axe as soon as possible. I can’t keep wasting time here with you. So you need to give me a success metric.”

He gave another cold snort through his nose. “A metric?”

“Yeah. Right now we’re seeing some chaos, and our past selves haven’t married yet, sure. But once we leave, how do we know they won’t get together anyway?

What if fate just ties them back up again? Are you gonna come back and do this all over again? I’m not getting stuck in some infinite time loop with you.”

Xie Zhuo was quiet for a moment. Then, staring into my eyes, he said in a calm tone, “In ten days, we’ll have our answer.”

Ten days?

I started counting on my fingers. “Yesterday was May 18th, today’s May 19th… Ten days later is May 29th…”

May 29th…

I froze.

Five hundred years is a very, very long time—long enough for dynasties to change twice, and for mountains and rivers to shift slightly. By all logic, my memories should’ve faded to fragments.

But May 29th, five hundred years ago, is a day I will never forget. Because that was the day I transcended tribulation and ascended as an Immortal.

There are only twenty-four Immortals in Kunlun. Each one’s ascension day is marked every year with a small celebration. It’s celebrated annually, and even if I wanted to forget, I couldn’t. I mean, others get the day off because of me!

And my engagement to Xie Zhuo was confirmed the very next day after my ascension. I was the one who proposed to him…

Even if it were a thousand or ten thousand years ago, I would still remember those two dates.

I remember that on May 25th, Xie Xuanqing’s injuries had more or less healed. He could walk and even use some basic spells. I was thrilled. Around that time, Kunlun had opened a new little marketplace, and lots of young immortals were joining in the fun.

I figured Xie Xuanqing had been cooped up in the mountains for too long, so I took him out to enjoy the liveliness.

But as we walked around the market, with the atmosphere just right, and me being naturally impulsive and terrible at hiding things, I couldn’t hold back—

And I confessed my feelings to Xie Xuanqing.

I don’t quite remember what he said in return, but it wasn’t anything good. Probably something vague—not a rejection, but definitely not acceptance either.

It was the first time I liked someone, the first time I confessed, and I got such an ambiguous response. I was disappointed, maybe a little heartbroken, and left early before the market event ended.

That very night, my body started to feel off. After midnight, tribulation clouds began to gather above my immortal abode. Before dawn, the thunder came crashing down.

On the 29th, the tribulation thunder roared the entire day.

I gave everything I had to survive it.

But back then, I’d been so busy taking care of Xie Xuanqing, I barely cultivated. I’d fallen behind in my training, so the thunder nearly shattered my soul.

In the end, I passed out.

Before I fainted, I thought I might not survive this tribulation. The only regret I had in my heart was that, at the market last night, I didn’t just take decisive action with Xie Xuanqing.

That way, even if he didn’t like me that much, at least I would have gotten something practical out of it…

But unexpectedly, the next day, I miraculously woke up. Not only was I unharmed and alive, but I also successfully passed the tribulation.

Although my immortal mansion was reduced to rubble, and even the ground was scorched black, my body didn’t suffer a single injury.

Surviving the tribulation, I wasn’t particularly happy about gaining the title of an immortal. Instead, I realized that whether one is human or immortal, one must live in the present. If there’s something you want to do, you must do it immediately, without delay. What if you die in the next moment…

So, after ascending to immortality, the first thing I did was find Xie Xuanqing and propose to him.

This time, he didn’t reject me.

And so, we became immortal companions for these five hundred years.

Revisiting the timeline in my mind, I looked at Xie Zuo and asked, confused, “Did you make a mistake? I proposed to you on the 30th of May. Whether the marriage fate was broken or not, we need to wait until the 30th to see the result.”

“Correct.” He was still very firm, but he added, “As long as I didn’t feed you blood, the fate is considered severed.”

I froze, and after a moment of confusion, I couldn’t help but ask three consecutive questions in a daze:

“What blood? Whose blood? Why did you feed me?”

Feeding blood? What kind of event was that? I had no recollection of it, not even the slightest impression.

But Xie Zuo didn’t want to explain: “This time, you’ll find out.”

This time, I’ll find out? Was this something the past Xie Zuo kept from me? But why would he hide it from me for five hundred years?

My heart was filled with curiosity and questions, but Xie Zuo wouldn’t speak about things he didn’t want to. Even if I broke his spine, he wouldn’t say a word.

I knew I wouldn’t get an answer, so I thought, since we would have to wait until the evening of the 30th to see the result, I wouldn’t waste any more breath on it.

“Alright, then let’s discuss what to do tomorrow.” I pushed the small green bamboo piece in front of Xie Zuo, holding the large green bamboo piece in my hand.

“Tomorrow morning, we’ll set off separately. You stop the ‘Xia Xia’ who’s going to find Xie Xuanqing in the cave. Take her wherever you like, do whatever you want. It’s up to you how much you can destroy Xia Xia’s feelings for Xie Xuanqing. As for me…”

I tapped the large bamboo piece.

“I’ll go to the cave to find Xie Xuanqing. Before the third watch, I’ll return to report the situation.”

I looked at the large bamboo piece in my hand. For some reason, there was a hint of excitement. I smiled confidently.

“I have a feeling that maybe, just maybe, we’ll be able to go back tomorrow.”

Xie Zuo still had a blank expression on his face: “I hope so, as you say.”

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