Chapter 36

#Am I… supposed to kill him?

Xie Zhuo didn’t answer my question. It seemed that our earlier conversation had already drained the last of his strength.

Under the moonlight in the cave, I saw the side of his face tilt up as he leaned back against the stone wall, eyes closed, silent and still.

He looked so sure that I wouldn’t be able to break the barrier…

Unwilling to give up, I kept my hand on the barrier in front of me, trying to find a weakness in it.

Suddenly, a burst of static noise came through the yin-yang fish I was wearing in my ear. I tilted my head to listen. Before long, I heard Xia Xia’s deliberately hushed voice in my mind!

“Is it working? Am I connected? Can I still be saved?”

“Xia Xia!?” I exclaimed in delight, then quickly shut my mouth and glanced back at Xie Zhuo inside the cave.

He was still in that same deathly state—motionless. Probably putting all his confidence in Old Qin’s barrier.

I crouched beside the barrier at the cave entrance, wanting to check on Xia Xia’s situation first. But before I could even ask, she let out a long sigh of relief: “Thank heavens… I finally reached you. You’ve been completely silent for days. I thought you’d been dragged off five hundred years into the future and killed…”

“He doesn’t have that kind of ability yet. I just got disarmed, that’s all. What about you? Where’s Xie Xuanqing?”

Xia Xia must have tapped her ear again, because the visual came through to my mind. Through her perspective, I saw the barrier around the ice cave—one she had smeared with soot to darken it.

It was almost funny. Same timeline, different versions of me, and yet we’d both ended up in nearly identical situations—

Squatting next to a barrier in a cave, secretly trying to make contact… and inside the cave, the same man lay unconscious.

Xia Xia turned and looked at her side’s Xie Xuanqing.

His posture was eerily similar to the way Xie Zhuo was lying on my side.

“He’s fallen into a deep sleep,” Xia Xia said. “Don’t worry. I checked—he can’t hear me when he’s unconscious. He must be really badly hurt.” As she spoke, her gaze never left Xie Xuanqing’s body. “I’m telling you, things got dicey when I couldn’t reach you.”

“What happened?” I asked, getting a little nervous. “Did Xie Xuanqing wake up? Did he think you were an intruder?”

“He did wake up. In fact, he woke up before I even arrived.”

“What!? Then he…”

“The first person he saw after getting hurt wasn’t me—it was that fox demoness! He thinks she saved him! Your Xie Zhuo’s plan actually worked!”

With every word Xia Xia said, my heart crept higher up into my throat. By the time she got to the end, it was stuck there, choking off my breath.

I thought: It’s over…

Xie Zhuo succeeded. I’m doomed. The first person Xie Xuanqing saw was the fox demoness. The person he cares about has changed. Xia Xia won’t get to drink his blood. The blood vow won’t happen…

“But!” Xia Xia suddenly changed tone.

I held my breath.

“He doesn’t seem all that resistant to me…”

“Huh?” I blinked. “What do you mean, ‘not that resistant’?”

Did Xie Xuanqing not care about the fox demoness?

“Mm, he woke up the day after we lost contact. When he saw me, he was definitely on guard. I didn’t know how to explain anything, so I just told him I came to save him. Then he said the one who saved him wasn’t me—it was a fox demoness.”

So it was true. The one he cared about had changed.

“And then?” I asked anxiously. “Did he seem really concerned about her?”

“Not really.”

Not really? Why not?

By story logic, Xie Xuanqing should have been deeply moved by the one who saved him while he was gravely injured. That person should become his light, his salvation. Why didn’t it happen?

Could it be that my fated entanglement with Xie Xuanqing didn’t begin with that timeless first glance?

“He just asked once where the fox demoness was, and who I was. Of course, I couldn’t tell the truth, so I made something up on the spot. I said that while he was unconscious, the fox demoness tried to hurt him, but I caught her and drove her away. Then I said I set up a barrier outside the ice cave to protect us.”

I frowned as I listened. “That’s a risky story. What was his reaction?”

“He didn’t say much. Still cautious around me. But once I used soul force to treat the wound on his waist, his attitude softened a bit.”

“You just… touched his wound directly?” I asked. “Did he allow it?”

“He couldn’t move anyway.”

Fair point…

“I really did help a little with his injury, and then he asked me why I saved him.”

That question—Xie Xuanqing had asked me that too, in my memory. But my version of events was quite different from Xia Xia’s.

He had been unconscious for half a month before he woke up. By then, although he’d only seen me once before in the bamboo forest, I’d taken care of him for many days. I was already somewhat familiar to him.

So when he asked me why I saved him, I answered easily:

“What, should I have just let you freeze to death out there in the snow?” And then I gave a more convincing reason: “Back in the snowy bamboo forest, you saved me. This is me repaying that favor. I won’t report you. I’ll take care of you until you’re healed, and once you’re better, you can quietly leave Kunlun. I won’t tell a soul.”

He saved me, so I repay the favor—makes sense.

But now, this Xie Xuanqing hadn’t saved Xia Xia at all. He hadn’t even seen her first upon waking up.

“What did you tell him?” I asked cautiously.

“I made up something again. I said he was good-looking, and I was thirsting for his body. I couldn’t bear to let him be harmed by a fox demoness.”

“Uh…” I was silent for a moment, rubbing my temples.

Though… back then… when I saved Xie Xuanqing… I mean, I can’t say it had nothing to do with that… But! I was still a decent person, at least…

“What else was I supposed to say?” Xia Xia retorted. “And don’t you go quiet on me—I know you. I know you must’ve had a bit of the same thought when you saved him back then.”

I sighed and admitted it.

After all… Xie Zhuo is hard to resist.

To endure him for five hundred years—I really did go above and beyond.

I brought the conversation back to the point: “So did he believe you?”

“I don’t know if he believed it or not, but he went quiet for a long while. So maybe he did. And anyway… isn’t my task to form a romantic bond with him? What better way to start a romance than this?”

Fair enough…

“After that day, he’s been drifting in and out of consciousness. When he’s awake, it’s brief, and then he slips into a coma again—can’t wake him no matter what I try. But when he’s awake, I talk to him a little, and I’ve started to notice…”

Xia Xia’s gaze seemed glued to Xie Xuanqing. “He’s actually kind of… nice.”

At that, I went silent, pressing my lips together.

In my mind’s eye, I saw her gaze travel across Xie Xuanqing’s face, then carefully linger on the wounds all over his body.

“He seems a little gentle… Last night, when he was in a deep sleep, I noticed his breathing was a bit rapid and the wounds on his body seemed to have reopened. I used soul power to cover his wounds again, and he happened to wake up. When he saw me healing him, he stopped me. Turns out, he had already figured out that I used Heart Vein Blood on the barrier. He told me not to exhaust myself too much.”

I watched the scene in Xia Xia’s mind in silence, listening to her speak.

“Did you notice… when you look closely, his eyes are like a little animal’s, so clear.”

“And he’s so badly injured, yet he never made a sound of pain. It’s like he’s used to it. What has he been through before? Do you know?”

“Also, I remember seeing it before—five hundred years later, he had so many wounds left behind by evil spirits. But you didn’t know. Could it be he fought all alone, with nothing but sheer bravery, in places no one else knew of…”

“Xia Xia.” I cut her off. “Did you fall for Xie Xuanqing?”

“Huh?” She looked startled. “Me? It’s only been a few days—how is that possible!”

I didn’t respond…

She quickly added, “I was just playing along.” As if realizing she’d spoken too fast, she paused.

This time, her gaze finally moved away from Xie Xuanqing. She looked to the side, her eyes lowered slightly. “I already know how it ends. I won’t make the same mistake again.”

“You…” I thought for a moment, then said, “Just focus on completing the mission. Don’t worry about me. I’m looking for a way to leave here. If anything happens, just contact me.”

“Alright…”

Xia Xia replied, and then the connection through the Yin-Yang Fish cut off.

I looked at my wrist.

The red string that had been tied there for five hundred years had snapped.

I knew the ending. Xia Xia would definitely make the same mistake again.

Falling for Xie Xuanqing was something I could not avoid.

But it’s fine. If I love him, I can bear it. If I don’t, I can bear that too. I’m not like Xie Zhuo—who could only see the beauty and not the brokenness.

I stood up, ready to continue studying the barrier in front of me.

Just then, a streak of black mist, like a ribbon, swept past the outside of the barrier.

This time, I clearly saw the trace of that black mist. I frowned slightly. I knew what it was—evil spirit energy.

There was evil spirit energy inside the Kunlun barrier!?

Did a powerful evil spirit make its way into Kunlun? Where are the immortals of Kunlun? Why is there no movement at all?

Just as I was reeling in shock, there was a sudden “bang,” and a pale hand swiped past my ear, slamming against the transparent barrier behind me.

I turned around in astonishment.

Xie Zhuo was standing in front of me, panting heavily. His head was lowered, his hair covering his face so I couldn’t see it. But I could clearly see the black aura seeping from the wounds on his body.

Evil spirit energy… was raging within him.

Was it connected to the aura outside?

“Xie Zhuo.” I called his name, trying to keep my tone calm, nearly indifferent. “You’ve carried these wounds for three or four hundred years. Don’t tell me you’re letting the evil energy take over today.”

I was too close to him. I could feel his labored breathing. I also heard the sound of his clenched jaw the moment my words landed. The hand pressed against the barrier beside my ear curled tightly into a fist.

“Stay away from me,” he said.

That line sounded foreign to me.

Back then, whenever he was around, he’d always say, “Stand behind me,” “I’ll stay with you,” “Don’t leave my side.”

This was the first time he had ever said something like this.

Maybe… back when he should’ve said it, he had already chosen to stay far away from me on his own.

Now, five hundred years in the past, many of the questions I had about his sudden disappearances were finally being answered.

I calmly moved away from Xie Zhuo. After serving in the Kunlun Defense Forces for hundreds of years, I knew very well—people infected with evil spirit energy like him couldn’t handle emotional upheaval. The calmer I was, the better his chances of regaining control.

Just as I was about to step out of his oppressive range, there was a sharp “snap,” and his other hand braced itself beside my other ear.

Before the transparent barrier, his hands were planted on either side of me, trapping me in place.

“Xie Zhuo.” I said, “Let me go.”

That made him lift his head slightly.

Even though I had mentally prepared myself, I still instinctively leaned back a little when I saw his eyes.

They were completely black—an unmistakable sign of possession by evil spirits.

At this stage, an ordinary person would already be fully controlled, beyond salvation. According to Kunlun’s rules, anyone under such control must be killed on sight.

My fist tightened at my side.

Xie Zhuo’s hand slowly moved toward my throat.

My throat felt parched. I swallowed unconsciously.

Outside, the moonlight passed through the transparent barrier, casting our shadows on the cave floor. The two of us stood together—like one person.

In that brief moment, countless thoughts flashed through my mind. Was Xie Zhuo truly completely possessed? Was he really beyond saving? Did I… have to kill him?

Did I… have to kill him?

His black-tinged palm reached my neck. I didn’t dodge. At the very moment he could have snapped it, I didn’t resist. I simply tilted my head back and looked at him quietly.

I looked at the black mist swirling around him. I looked into those dark eyes, which seemed devoid of all humanity.

But he didn’t crush my neck. Instead, those dangerous fingers gently slid through my hair, pressing against the back of my neck. He pushed me forward.

Amid the spreading evil aura and looming murderous intent—

He pulled me into his arms.

His embrace was cold, yet his heartbeat was so clear.

Back at Kunlun, the masters once taught: whether immortal or demon, once consumed by evil energy, a person would lose all sense of self and act only on their most primal desires.

From the day of our divorce, Xie Zhuo had said over and over again that he wanted to kill me…

Yet tonight, he held me.

Five hundred years of marriage—and even hugs between us had been few and far between.

“Stay away from me,” I heard him whisper by my ear. “Don’t come any closer.”

I wasn’t sure if he was telling me that… or himself.

His other hand slid around my waist, pressing me firmly against him.

Cold—and burning.

I closed my eyes, and did nothing.