Chapter 78

#Let’s perish together!

All these years, my spirit hadn’t been idle either.

As Xie Zhuo grew stronger, so did I.

I had long since learned to use my spiritual form to momentarily draw on the surrounding soul energy and unleash a force strong enough to cause harm.

If comparing purely in terms of spiritual strength, my past self was no match for who I am now.

But the tricky thing now is…

I can’t enter my body.

This celestial’s body seems to have become the final barrier standing in the way of my success.

Over the past half month, I’ve tried countless ways to force myself into my own body, to confront the spirit within it face to face—but without exception, I failed every time.

Whether “I” was dazing off, asleep, or meditating in cultivation…

Every time, I used all my strength to crash into this body—but I just passed through it, like passing through stone, or a cloud.

And worse—

Each time I tried to pass through my own body, I could clearly feel that my spirit… was weakening…

Just the brief entanglement between my soul and my body was enough to drain the strength I’d accumulated over all these years.

I gradually realized that entering my body and killing the spirit within it—my own spirit—wasn’t going to be easy.

I didn’t dare recklessly try again.

Charging in headlong was clearly impossible—it would only drain my spiritual power further.

So I tried to empathize with my past self again, hoping that would let me enter the body.

But that turned out to be even harder…

Right now, not only can I not empathize with the version of me who was hell-bent on divorcing Xie Zhuo, I even feel like stringing that “me” up and giving her a good beating!

Do you even realize how heartbroken Xie Zhuo is right now?

How can you still sit there so calmly eating fruit?

Why, when chatting with Mengmeng, do you always talk about him behind his back, saying things like:

“He’s a jailer! A nightmare! A puppet master!”

“He’s a control freak! I have to divorce him! I must leave!”

And all of those words, every single one, were heard by Xie Zhuo—who was standing right outside the courtyard.

Until Mengmeng saw him, the fruit in her hand dropped to the ground in fright, and only then did “I” look toward Xie Zhuo.

Xie Zhuo stood at the gate of Mengmeng’s courtyard, face cold as ice, seemingly without a trace of emotion:

“Fu Jiuxia, go to the Moon Elder Hall. Let’s divorce.”

“I” followed Xie Zhuo.

And of course, I went too.

Time had reached the final day.

I was—extremely, wildly, absolutely fucking anxious.

These past fifteen days, I’d failed every single time. Before the red thread is cut…

Can I still succeed?

I don’t know…

My soul was trembling in the air from anxiety.

I followed “them” to the Moon Elder Hall.

Like a headless fly, I panicked, circling through the air, my whole spirit buzzing with tension—but completely useless…

A trembling little Moon Elder attendant brought out a tray, on which lay a pair of green scissors that had practically become the stuff of my nightmares!

The attendant said, “Th-these green scissors cut the bond of fate. Once it’s cut… it can never be rejoined. Immortals, do you… want to reconsider?”

“I” stepped forward, raised a hand, and picked up the green scissors!

The red thread tying our wrists together slowly revealed itself.

And I—my spirit floating in the air—was almost scared apart by this action.

Fu Jiuxia! Put that down right now!

Drop those scissors!

Once again I charged toward my own body with all my might, but it was no use.

Because the current me and the past me had completely different mindsets—there was no empathy, no synchronicity.

“I” held the scissors, looked at Xie Zhuo, and said: “I’m adding spice to that dish whether you like it or not.”

Xie Zhuo’s gaze fell on “me”: “If you do, then you can’t eat it.” This answer had, over the past five hundred years, become the most natural response from him.

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

“I” replied, just like in the memory. “I” curled my fingers and brought the green scissors down toward the red thread.

No…

At the critical moment, my spirit gathered soul power around me—just like it had five hundred years ago, when “we” first met.

A streak of silver light lashed toward the scissors in “my” hand.

But!

I never expected—

In that instant the silver light appeared, in the blink of an eye, a burst of black mist surged forth and devoured the light completely.

The black mist clashed with my silver light, merging into a swirling wind in the air.

It blew between Xie Zhuo and “me.”

Snap.

The sound was painfully clear.

“I” had cut the red thread between our wrists.

I froze where I was.

I blankly watched the red thread vanish, and then looked dumbly at Xie Zhuo.

And then—my gaze locked on him.

It’s over…

That was the only thought in my heart.

And the reason I had that thought wasn’t because I wanted to see his expression—it was because I saw the black aura emerging from behind him—

A sinister aura…

Xie Zhuo had developed a sinister aura.

It grew subtly; he hadn’t noticed. Or perhaps, the Xie Zhuo of now couldn’t notice.

And “I”—“I” didn’t notice either.

This sinister aura wasn’t like the visible kind from outside Kunlun.

If not for the fact that I was in spirit form, I wouldn’t have noticed it at all.

The little Moon Elder attendant definitely couldn’t see it.

“I” cut the red thread, then turned and walked away, leaving Xie Zhuo standing alone.

That subtle, drifting sinister aura around Xie Zhuo floated in the air, twisting into strange shapes.

Like a nightmare from a dream, or like the early form of that evil god’s spirit I once saw.

It even seemed to sense my presence, letting out a chilling, screeching laugh in my direction.

I looked at the oblivious Xie Zhuo, then at that hidden aura that had devoured my attack—an aura of pure corruption—and from the depths of my soul, a cold dread welled up.

I suddenly realized something I had always overlooked—

I was once “me” too.

In my past life, I met Xie Zhuo in that snowy bamboo grove. There had also been a flash of silver light.

If that silver light was our fated encounter, then that means—at that very moment in my past, there must have been a spirit!

A spirit from the future, watching me, anxious, trying to bring about my meeting with Xie Zhuo!

If that’s the case…

Then…

Where is that spirit now?

Why didn’t that spirit appear when I was divorcing Xie Zhuo—why didn’t they stop me in time from cutting the thread?

Or…

Was that spirit just like me now—

Fighting with everything they had in a world where no one could see them, yet utterly unable to change reality in the slightest.

And so, Immortal Fu Jiuxia did end up divorcing Xie Zhuo.

Then that night, Xie Zhuo lost his mind, picked up the Pangu Axe, split open space and time, and brought Immortal Fu Jiuxia…

Back five hundred years into the past.

Once again, caught in this cycle of time.

Transmigration. A second transmigration. To the City of the Undying.

Then, witnessing Xie Zhuo’s death, witnessing the fall of Kunlun, then borrowing the power of the Main God to return to Xie Zhuo’s childhood…

And finally… up to now…

Maybe—I never once truly succeeded in stopping our separation.

Maybe—I never even had the chance to tell Xie Zhuo how to destroy the Evil God.

Or maybe… every time, I’ve failed right at this moment, at the place where the red thread was severed…

So Fu Jiuxia would continue to repeat, to go back and forth, to wander through this stretch of time…

Fear took root in my heart, and I couldn’t help but doubt myself—just like when Kunlun fell—

Do I still have a way? The red thread has already been cut. What else can I do?

What if…

What if nothing I do will change anything?

Helplessness and despair wrapped around me. My soul began to tremble violently.

“You’ve lost…”

At the height of my despair, a strange voice suddenly rang out in front of me.

I looked over and saw the evil aura pouring from Xie Zhuo’s body beginning to shift and transform—those unknown, sinister forces began to take on the appearances of countless people, their voices overlapping, filled with triumphant laughter, speaking directly to my soul in the void:

“A crushing defeat.”

I stared at it, speaking in disbelief, “The Evil God… Impossible…”

My soul quivered. “You were sealed by Xie Zhuo inside Zhulian’s body. You can’t possibly…”

“Why not?” it replied. “In these four hundred years, Xie Zhuo has constantly drawn evil aura from you. Every night, he battles me in his dreams. So why couldn’t I find a place within his body?”

I was stunned, speechless, unable to respond.

“I just haven’t yet managed to turn him into my shell. So close, General Jiuxia. All thanks to your help.”

Hearing this, I froze for a long while, then trembled as I spoke: “You knew about me…”

“Before Ji offered his body in sacrifice, I already knew of you. But back then, I couldn’t confirm who you were. Not until Fu Jiuxia appeared did I finally understand—

The Main Gods had been struggling in futility, hidden from my view.”

So the Evil God had known about me all along…

Yes, back then, in my rush and desperation, I kept leaping from one body to another on Que Mountain, and my soul became tainted with evil aura.

The Evil God, cunning and sharp as he is, must have quickly sensed my existence.

“All these years!” I gritted my teeth in hatred. “You never once stopped me.”

No interference, no exposure, as if… he’d never discovered me at all.

Until now, at the final moment, he intercepted my last strike to stop their separation.

“Why stop you before?” the Evil God’s voice echoed through my soul.

“Xie Zhuo needed a weakness. And hope.” He laughed. “Look at how I planted evil aura in him for so long, and still didn’t drive him mad. But now…”

Following the Evil God’s gaze, I looked at Xie Zhuo.

He still stood beneath the Lovesickness Tree, head lowered, silent and still, eyes dim and lifeless—no light in him at all.

He truly looked like… just as the Evil God hoped—nothing more than a shell.

“Crush his hope, and eventually, he will become my vessel. And you… are now worthless.”

As his voice fell, the evil aura surged forward, lunging at me.

My soul instantly felt a tearing pain beyond words!

He was going to kill me!

In that hazy moment, I finally understood!

Why I had returned with Xie Zhuo to five hundred years ago—it must be because the version of my soul that tried to stop this… was killed by the Evil God!

If I too am killed by the Evil God now…

Then Xie Zhuo will once again bring Fu Jiuxia back five hundred years.

This story… would become an endless, hopeless cycle!

I cannot die here!

But what can I do?

That soul who was killed by the Evil God must’ve already tried everything “she” could think of. And yet—she still died.

So I must! I must do something that none of the other “me”s ever thought of!

But what is something so uniquely me, right here, right now?

Fight the Evil God head-on? Or hide in a rock, a tree? What about… that stone on Xie Zhuo’s neck? I could dive into it! Avoid the Evil God’s attack for now.

But… faced with all these options, I fell into doubt again.

How do I know that the choice I’m making right now isn’t one that one of the other “me”s has already tried?

Crisis and desperation felt like a dark vortex swallowing me whole. There were paths in front of me—or maybe… no paths at all.

I couldn’t choose.

The pain of my soul being torn apart grew more and more intense.

I truly felt like… this might be the end of my consciousness.

Despair overwhelmed me. I couldn’t find any way out.

I might really die here.

But I…

How can I just die here?

In that final moment, a question suddenly rose in my heart.

For thousands of years, I’ve seen all of Xie Zhuo’s loneliness and pain. I’ve accompanied him, and I’ve borne the same loneliness and pain.

I’ve walked so many years, traveled so many roads, just to end it all here—because I couldn’t make a decision?

A, B, C, D—just pick one already!

If I don’t know what’s right anyway, then might as well just go for it!

If I’m going to die—then let’s go out with a bang!

A mad thought flashed through my mind:

I’ll kill Xie Zhuo!

The Evil God wants to kill me and take over Xie Zhuo’s body? He doesn’t get to have it all!

If I have to die here today, I’ll take Xie Zhuo down with me!

We’ll die together. He already looks half-dead after our separation anyway—no need for him to go back through five hundred years of this all over again.

Let’s end it here. Let’s destroy this time loop once and for all!

Let’s all go down together!

I don’t know if any other version of me has thought of this—but right now, I think… maybe this is the one path I’ve never considered before!

Xie Zhuo! Let’s perish together!

To hell with this world!

I used every last ounce of my soul’s strength, and charged straight into Xie Zhuo’s body.

Desperation in despair, struggle within agony—all the resentment forged from countless emotions—I resonated perfectly, in that instant, with the Xie Zhuo before me.

I collided into Xie Zhuo’s body.

—

Author’s Note:

If you’re willing to risk everything, even emperors can be overthrown.

Fu Jiuxia: I’ll just kill Xie Zhuo then!

Xie Zhuo: ?