Chapter 65

#That Cur Dog

The ghostly fiends outside didn’t last long under Xie Zhuo’s sword.

Over the past half month, Xie Zhuo seemed to have become even more adept at killing.

In less than the time it took for half a stick of incense to burn, the fiends outside were completely cleared away.

Inside the barrier, the immortals and villagers watched like they had just witnessed an unbelievable performance—completely stunned.

Only the main god Ji waited until he was sure the evil aura had fully dissipated before finally withdrawing the barrier.

He was the first to step outside.

But Xie Zhuo paid no attention to the people there. He looked down, seemingly concerned about something round and plump nestled in his arms. He focused solely on the bundle in his embrace, not showing even the slightest sign that he’d just done something extraordinary.

Main God Ji approached and gave him a slight nod. “I am Ji, the main god of Que Mountain. May I ask for your name?”

Xie Zhuo glanced at him. “Name?”

Main God Ji paused briefly. “Your full name. Or rather, how should I address you?”

“Xie Zhuo.”

Main God Ji didn’t dig deeper into which characters his name used. That wasn’t important to him. What mattered was the next question, the one he truly cared about.

“What brings you here?” He glanced at the still-bloodied sword in Xie Zhuo’s hand. “That cultivation technique of yours… Is it from the Snow Wolf Tribe?”

At the mention of the Snow Wolf Tribe, a flicker of emotion finally crossed Xie Zhuo’s face. He turned solemn and looked directly at Ji. “That has nothing to do with you.”

He turned to leave, still holding the thing in his arms.

I got anxious and limped toward him on my bad leg.

But as a little cripple missing a leg, I was even less agile than a dog missing just one paw. How could I possibly keep up with Xie Zhuo and those long legs of his?

Thankfully, Main God Ji wasn’t planning on letting him leave.

“Xie Zhuo-gongzi,” Ji called, stepping in to stop him.

He addressed him as “gongzi (Young Master),” but with Xie Zhuo’s coarse, plain clothes, he looked no different from the villagers who had just fled for their lives. To my ears, calling him “gongzi” felt rather odd.

Xie Zhuo seemed to think so too, but since Ji had called him that, he paused and stood still.

Maybe it was because so few people had ever spoken to him this way before.

Xie Zhuo looked at Ji. “You have something you want me to do?”

He said it like he’d gotten very used to that kind of request. It seemed that during the half-month I’d been gone, he’d encountered no shortage of people jumping out and begging him for help in Northern Wastes…

Well, of course—this was war-torn Northern Wastes, after all.

“I can’t stay long,” Xie Zhuo said. “I have something to do.”

I watched this, both amused and pained.

He’d even learned to lay down conditions upfront—clearly had suffered from too many people clinging to him for help.

Leaving that snowy forest, he’d finally stepped into the mortal world. Even in this sparsely populated northern wilderness, he had picked up a bit of the common folk’s ways.

I looked at him and thought: this is good.

But thinking how every word he spoke now had to be forced through excruciating pain, my heart ached again. I wished I could just answer every question for him.

I limped more urgently toward him.

“You have something to do?” Ji asked. “May I ask what it is?”

“To kill the Evil God,” Xie Zhuo replied without hesitation, his expression as sharp and unyielding as the day he left that frozen forest.

The moment he said this, Ji fell into stunned silence. The immortals behind him froze as well.

Ji immediately glanced behind him. He didn’t want more people to overhear—just as he’d kept this matter hidden from the refugees he’d taken in at Que Mountain.

Behind him, the villagers were more concerned about recovering their belongings. The evil man earlier had thrown everything into chaos—goods had scattered everywhere. Now that the danger was gone, everyone was focused on picking up what remained. No one was really paying attention to the conversation up front.

Only I, dragging my leg, stood out awkwardly as I made my way toward them.

Ji’s gaze snapped to me in an instant.

Unlike the benevolent aura he’d have millennia from now, he still had a divine form—and there was a cold, imposing air about him.

His look made my spine go cold. I even wondered for a moment—had he already seen through my soul? After all, he was the very one who had separated it from me back then.

I paused, but then thought: Since I plan to tell Xie Zhuo about the Evil God, why not just come clean and reveal my identity? Lay it all out. Tell Ji everything.

Let Xie Zhuo and Ji contact all the other main gods now and face the Evil God together. Wouldn’t that make victory more likely?

After all, we shared the same enemy. I wasn’t here to hurt them.

With that thought, my resolve strengthened, and I kept moving forward.

But Ji turned to a soldier beside him and quietly ordered, “Escort the survivors back to Que Mountain.”

The soldier saluted, then turned to lead the villagers.

Ji, on the other hand, began walking with Xie Zhuo—farther and farther away.

I was furious. A god and a demon teaming up today just to bully a limping girl—is that it?

The distance wasn’t even that great at first, but with each step they took, it felt like I’d never catch up!

Still, I kept limping after them. But a soldier stepped in front of me. “Miss, the god has ordered: civilians are to return to Que Mountain with us.”

“I have something important to tell the main god.”

The soldier blocked me, his face full of suspicion.

From the look in his eyes, I could tell—he was already lumping me in with the fiends.

I really did look suspicious: mysterious, strange, clearly up to something.

Facing the cold expression of the soldier, I opened my mouth but realized I didn’t know how to explain.

After a moment’s thought, I gathered myself, stood straight, and said solemnly, “I’m not a bad person. I truly have something important to tell the main god. It’s about the Evil God—”

Before I could finish, I saw that Ji and Xie Zhuo, up ahead, had just finished speaking. Ji conjured a stone the size of a fist in his palm.

I recognized the glow on that stone—it was the same as the one on the Pangu Axe. It was the unique light of a guardian artifact from the immortal realms.

That was Que Mountain’s guardian artifact.

I’d read about it in the books on Kunlun. It was called the Heart of Que Mountain.

No sooner had Ji taken it out than Xie Zhuo reacted as if in agony. He leapt back several yards instantly.

On his body, beneath the skin, the demon markings of the Snow Wolf Tribe were revealed under the light of the artifact. Faint at first, they lingered a long time before slowly fading away.

Guardian artifacts were naturally harmful to demons!

You old bastard Ji—how dare you use a divine artifact to hurt my man!

I didn’t have a physical body back when I faced the Evil God and couldn’t fight. But now that I did—don’t think I won’t slap you across the face!

“Stop that right now!” I shouted.

The soldier in front of me jumped. I flung my sleeve and, without even gathering my inner energy, used sheer brute force to shove him aside.

Limping, I rushed forward with the biggest strides I could muster. I stopped in front of Xie Zhuo, spread my arms wide, and shielded him behind me.

This was something I had wanted to do so many times since coming here—

To stand in front of him and protect him.

I blocked the light of the Que Mountain Heart, casting my shadow over Xie Zhuo behind me.

I stretched both arms out as wide as they could go, terrified that in this moment, I might not be using every ounce of my strength to shield him.

“You dare touch him, try it!”

I shouted with all the force I could muster, a voice as if to shake mountains and rivers, and then—

Lord Ji calmly put away the Que Mountain Heart.

The motion was swift, smooth, without the slightest hesitation.

I was caught off guard. As the light from the Que Mountain Heart vanished, the person behind me stood up, and suddenly, it was his shadow that enveloped me.

It seemed like…

He wasn’t going to fight at all.

I felt a little awkward now. And following that awkwardness came the quickening of my heartbeat, simply because of how close he was.

So close. Right behind me. Warm, breathing.

I couldn’t help but tremble slightly, as if every hair on my body had been stirred, all leaning in his direction.

It was Xie Zhuo…

I turned my head. At last, once again, I was seeing him from so close. The demonic markings revealed earlier by the Que Mountain Heart had already faded, and his face had returned to calm.

He looked at me, his clear eyes reflecting my shadow.

It was a stranger’s face he saw, and his expression didn’t reveal much. After a brief glance at me, he looked down at what he was holding in his arms.

I followed his gaze—and only then did I realize what he’d been cradling all this time was… a little yellow dog.

No idea where he’d picked it up from.

He was gently stroking the dog’s head, saying, “No fighting. Second Little Wolf, don’t be afraid.”

“Second Little Wolf” seemed to be the name he’d given the puppy in his arms.

The yellow dog gave a soft “awoo” and curled up in his arms, looking very cozy and content.

I stared at the dog. For a moment, I had a feeling I couldn’t quite describe…

Complicated…

Just now, I had stood in front of him with all my strength, trying to protect him—but he didn’t seem to notice.

All he cared about was comforting the dog in his arms.

It felt like… I’d lost to a dog…

But why was I even competing with a dog in the first place…

So complicated…

“The young lady misunderstood.” At this moment, Lord Ji stepped forward from behind me, his tone as calm and composed as ever. “I had no intention of attacking him.” He explained, “I merely wanted to use the Que Mountain artifact to determine the young man’s true identity.”

To see if… he had any trace of demonic aura within him…

It was the artifact’s innate suppression toward demons that had forced Xie Zhuo back…

So the most tense person in the room had been me, just a bystander.

“But tell me, young lady, why were you so eager to protect Young Master Xie Zhuo? Do you two know each other?”

At that, Xie Zhuo gave me a glance—then shook his head.

I steadied myself, stopped looking at the dog in his arms, and turned to face Lord Ji. I opened my mouth and said, “Lord Divine, I actually…”

…am from the future, sent back by the gods…

But I didn’t say it.

I paused. Something in me said this wasn’t the right time to reveal that.

Something strange was going on, something… off.

I turned my head to look at Xie Zhuo.

He seemed to think I was acting odd, and was quietly observing me.

I looked at him for a moment longer, then turned back to Lord Ji.

The Que Mountain Heart had already been put away—no trace of its glow remained.

But I knew it was like the Pangu Axe: a divine artifact guarding the mountain. Artifacts like these carried a natural, overwhelming force that deterred demons. The current Xie Zhuo had been forced back just by the artifact’s light—he couldn’t even get close.

Then how was it that the Xie Zhuo I had married for five hundred years could wield the Pangu Axe with one hand, like it was a toy, and slash open space-time?

And do it again and again…

And keep the Pangu Axe hidden on him all the while…

And act like it was nothing at all…

I pressed my lips together.

And fell silent.

If the current Xie Zhuo, newly emerged from the Frozen Forest, had just passed his growth phase—then the Xie Zhuo I married for five hundred years was one who had cultivated thousands more years beyond that.

In that time, he’d grown strong.

So strong he could, with a demon’s body, wield a divine artifact and tear open time and space…

And because of that strength, he could gather all the evil aura in the world—and return it to the rivers and mountains in a single stroke.

Even so, he had still paid with his life.

But now, this current Xie Zhuo…

Could he do it?

The evil aura hadn’t fully spread yet—but with his current strength, could he succeed?

Would it still cost him his life?

And if it did cost him his life—would it really succeed?

If it did succeed, would that mean his life would end, here in the Northern Wastes?

And if it didn’t succeed—then would the world truly lose Xie Zhuo forever?

It would be easy to say the secret in my heart—but the consequences after saying it would be so, so complicated.

Complicated beyond what I could control or predict.

This involved the Evil God. Xie Zhuo. Everyone…

Could I gamble?

Could I bear the outcome, win or lose?

I looked at Xie Zhuo, my throat dry. The words I had wanted to pour out just moments ago were now stuck in my throat, unspeakable.

Xie Zhuo frowned slightly, seemingly waiting for my answer.

The scene felt oddly familiar.

It reminded me of the many moments in our five hundred years of marriage when we had nothing to say to each other.

I would ask him something, frowning. He would look at me, his eyes full of thoughts—but his lips always tightly sealed.

So this is what it was. The inability to speak had nothing to do with the Evil God’s curse—but rather, it was inner hesitation, indecision, and the fear of giving voice to one’s true feelings.

“Young lady?” Lord Ji pressed again from behind. “You know Young Master Xie Zhuo?”

“I…” I opened my mouth. “I don’t know him.”

I lowered my head. My hand at my side clenched tightly in my sleeve, making sure no one could see.

“I just… just thought, from his actions earlier, that he might be our savior. I didn’t want to see him killed by Lord Divine. I’m… very grateful to him.”

When Xie Zhuo heard the words “grateful,” his eyes widened slightly. A faint glimmer seemed to stir in their depths.

Seeing that, I forced down the chaotic, complicated feelings inside me and smiled faintly. “Thank you… for saving me… us…”

Xie Zhuo lightly brushed the back of “Second Little Wolf” with his fingers, lowered his eyes, and the softness in them warmed.

“No need to thank me,” he said softly, almost cautiously.

As if… he didn’t know how to respond to this gratitude and kindness.

“Gratitude?” Lord Ji walked up to my side. He glanced at me from the side, his eyes like those of a god or Buddha, seemingly able to see through everything. “Is that so?”

His words sent a chill through me. I forced a smile and replied, “Yes. I’m very grateful.”

“But the one who rescued you from the village seems to have been a soldier of Que Mountain.”

I gritted my teeth and forced a laugh. “I’m grateful to them too.”

“Is that so? Then would the young lady also be willing to stand with our Que Mountain soldiers and face danger?” Another gentle and unhurried question.

I swallowed hard. “Lord Divine, my lame leg is acting up again. Perhaps it would be best to bring me back to Que Mountain first?”

“What should I call you, young lady?”

“Fu…” My eyes darted around. I couldn’t reveal my true identity, so I couldn’t give my real name. “Ah Gou…”

The name slipped out of my mouth before I could stop it.

And then I fell silent.

In my heart, regret churned.

I really have been a dog for too long!

The first name I blurted out without thinking… ended up being something like that!

I shot a glance at the “Second Little Wolf” in Xie Zhuo’s arms, secretly fuming—even an actual mutt gets to be called Little Wolf, and I end up as A-Gou (Doggy)?!

“A-Gou-guniang (Young Lady),” Lord God Ji didn’t laugh at me. He still spoke with his usual gentle and solemn tone, “Come with us back to Que Mountain.”

I clenched my teeth and answered, “Alright. Thank you, Lord God.”

Then I turned to Xie Zhuo, “Xie Zhuo… Gongzi, where are you headed?”

I needed to know where he was going, so I could go find him once I shook off Lord God Ji.

“To Que Mountain,” Xie Zhuo replied.

I was stunned for a moment, then my heart suddenly bloomed with joy—this way, we wouldn’t have to part!

But right after the joy, I paused again. “Did Lord God Ji also invite Xie Zhuo-gongzi?”

Xie Zhuo shook his head. “The matter I need to take care of is at Que Mountain.”

Hearing this, my heart sank. I immediately looked toward Lord God Ji—his expression had also turned grave. They must have been discussing this earlier…

The matter Xie Zhuo needed to deal with was at Que Mountain. That meant… he had found traces of Zhu Lian—right at Que Mountain.

The Evil God might already be hiding there…