Chapter 43

#It Sprouted

The little girl came to a halt in front of Xie Zhuo. Her eyes were wide open, unblinking, giving her an eerie, uncanny appearance.

With her arrival, I began to hear more and more footsteps approaching us, rustling through the mist of Undying City, making it buzz with noise.

“Get up…”

Xie Zhuo’s tone carried the weight of command—just like how he used to say “The ground is cold,” “Don’t eat spicy food,” “Don’t run around so much.”

I used to scoff at such things. But now, even as discomfort racked my body, I stood up quickly and obediently, even took two steps forward on my own to stand behind him.

In no time, strange figures had surrounded us—at the mouth of the alley, atop the walls. Some peeked down from the wall, others lay low at the alley entrance, watching us with one eye.

“Why are they gathering here?” I whispered to Xie Zhuo.

Without looking at me, Xie Zhuo wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me tightly against his side. “They want to transfer the aura of malevolence onto you.”

I froze. That nightmare suddenly flashed through my mind—the one with that ever-changing face who said, “I’ll give you more.” Was that what he meant? To give me more of that evil aura?

Why are they so fixated on turning me into one of them?

I didn’t even have time to think. The little girl in front of us suddenly moved: “Big sister, join us.”

As she spoke, her figure flickered like a ghost and lunged straight at me.

Xie Zhuo didn’t waste a word. He raised his sword and struck—silver light flashed, and the girl let out a piercing, shrill scream that ended in a beast-like howl. Her arm flew off and turned into black smoke in the mist.

That howl was like a shattered wine cup at a banquet—it signaled an all-out attack.

Every evil spirit that had surrounded us launched forward. Xie Zhuo pulled me into his arms, wielding his sword with one hand. He used no spiritual energy at all—I only heard screeches and the sound of tearing flesh around me.

In just a moment, he broke through the alley with me in tow, leaving those spirits behind.

In the midst of danger, Xie Zhuo practically tucked me under his arm and sprinted. After some distance, he flung me onto his back. “Hold tight…”

I clung to his neck, legs locked around his waist, hanging onto his back. I didn’t care how awkward it looked. In the chaos, I turned my head to look back.

Through the jolting motion, I saw at least hundreds of figures chasing us through the mist.

First we were hunted by immortals in Kunlun, and now by malevolent spirits in this place—are we just doomed to be unwanted wherever we go?

But unlike Kunlun, these spirits all had humanoid shapes, no matter how ugly or grotesque. They sprinted after us in long strides. If someone saw this from afar, they might think it was just a street brawl.

“They’re not using any spells either!”

After we passed through the wind-and-snow barrier, Xie Zhuo had said that spiritual energy must be conserved. It seemed this Undying City not only trapped malevolent spirits—it also sealed away spiritual arts. Neither cultivators nor spirits could use spells—everyone was stuck fighting hand-to-hand!

“Put me down,” I told Xie Zhuo while we bounced along. “If it’s just physical combat, I can fight too!”

“No. Our goal is to get away.”

“I can run without using spells too!”

“Your legs are short. You’re not as fast as me.”

I…

I was speechless…

I wanted to argue, but he was right. My legs were shorter!

I never imagined that in a place like the Undying City, my first life-or-death escape would turn into a footrace!

Still reeling from the absurdity, I suddenly heard the sound of something tearing through the air ahead.

“Watch out!”

The moment I spoke, a sharp arrow pierced the mist and came straight at us! Xie Zhuo tilted his head ever so slightly and dodged it perfectly. The arrow whooshed past and struck a malevolent spirit that had just lunged up behind us.

The spirit was pierced through the head and dropped to the ground. It quickly dissolved into black smoke, scattered by the spirits stampeding behind it.

Xie Zhuo didn’t stop running. I looked ahead, and saw a glimmer of light flaring in the mist.

It wasn’t stationary—the light hurtled toward us at an incredible speed. And amid the fog… I heard the sound of hooves!

Getting closer—a large black horse burst through the mist. Its rider carried a longbow on his back and wore dark armor.

He dragged a spear along the ground as he rode, sparks flying where the blade scraped over broken stone. That was the light I’d seen!

Who was this warrior?

Just as the thought crossed my mind, another followed: “Is this one of the malevolent spirits?”

No one answered my question. All I heard was the roar of the black-armored rider as he charged past us on horseback, spear in hand, straight into the crowd of evil spirits behind us!

Xie Zhuo and the rider crossed paths without even acknowledging each other, like neither saw the other. They simply ignored each other.

Xie Zhuo didn’t break stride, charging ahead with me still on his back. The armored man plowed into the spirits behind us and began his slaughter. In no time, the area was filled with black smoke torn from shattered spirits, both under hoof and spear.

But just like Xie Zhuo, most of the spirits didn’t linger to fight. Only a few were held up—the rest bypassed the black-armored warrior and continued their chase.

At the same time, more and more projectiles tore through the air from all directions.

I turned my head and saw, beyond the mist and ruined walls, countless arrows flying toward the pursuing spirits. Every single one of them was aimed at the evil spirits—not us.

“These are…”

“Cultivators trapped in the Undying City,” Xie Zhuo said.

My lips parted, but I didn’t know what to say. My chest was full of emotion.

In this Undying City, the lines between human and malevolent spirit were blurred. Distrust ran rampant. Xie Zhuo once told me some cultivators ended up trapped here simply because they accidentally discovered the city. Many of them were surely filled with hatred, even turned into evil spirits themselves.

But even so… some still hadn’t given up fighting.

Even if they were alone. Even if they risked being killed by mistake. Or perhaps… even if they had killed others by mistake.

Those arrows from all directions, and that black-armored rider dragging his spear—they were still resisting. Still sane. Still refusing to surrender.

My heart stirred.

But after that wave of arrows, the attacks lessened. Yet the sounds of battle across the city grew louder.

“The cultivators who fired those arrows… have they been found by other spirits?” I asked.

“When you attack the evil spirits, you give away your position. And once the fighting begins, there’s no telling who’s who.”

I gritted my teeth. “That black-armored guy just now—should we go back and help him?”

“Hard to tell friend from foe.”

“He helped us.”

“Could’ve been a trick.”

Pretend to help, gain our trust, then strike when we least expect it?

It wasn’t impossible.

If that’s the case, then if the armored man truly is an uncorrupted cultivator not yet infected by the evil aura, perhaps he too would be suspicious. He might think we’re just pretending to be hunted by the evil spirits to gain his sympathy, looking for a chance to assassinate him…

Which was probably why, in that brief instant earlier, when Xie Zhuo brushed past him, neither of them acknowledged each other at all.

Even if their goals were truly aligned, trust could not be afforded at this moment. In this Undying City, the greatest form of trust… was not killing you.

My heart sank further.

And it was right then, in the midst of such a frantic, desperate escape, that a burst of noise suddenly echoed in my mind.

“Hey… hey… you there? Can you hear me?”

It was Xia Xia’s voice. Her voice was transmitted through the Yin-Yang Fish, echoing in my mind, making me feel in that instant as if I were a world away.

“Ugh, still can’t reach you? It’s been almost a month now. Did something really happen to you?”

Xia Xia was muttering on the other side. I released one arm from around Xie Zhuo’s neck and tapped the Yin-Yang Fish on my ear. I wanted to tell Xia Xia that now really wasn’t the time to talk!

But no matter how much I tapped it, Xia Xia didn’t seem to hear me.

I could only catch her words intermittently, as well as flashes of her surroundings—like fragments of memory—playing in my mind.

She was sitting in a room. Judging by the furnishings, it looked like one of the rooms in Cuihu Terrace.

She was propping her head with one hand in front of a mirror. The peace and leisure on her side stood in stark contrast to the chaos and panic of my current flight.

“Did you return to five hundred years later?” Xia Xia murmured to the mirror. “Did Xie Zhuo kill you? Don’t tell me I really end up dying at Xie Xuanqing’s hands five hundred years later?”

She looked a little worried.

I was clinging to Xie Zhuo’s neck, thinking—I might end up dying at the hands of those evil spirits behind us before I ever get the chance to die by Xie Zhuo’s hand…

I wanted to pull the Yin-Yang Fish off my ear, not letting Xia Xia’s leisurely mood on the other side affect me. But just then, a sudden appearance of an evil spirit forced Xie Zhuo to come to an abrupt halt.

“Hold on tight!” he shouted.

I immediately wrapped my arms around him again as he leapt a few times and jumped onto the beam of a rooftop in the Undying City.

He carried me as he fled along the roof beams.

From this higher vantage, I finally saw that the entire city encircling the Undying Flame was engulfed in fire, combat, and strife.

And in my mind, I faintly heard the sounds of flutes and strings drifting from Cuihu Terrace.

“If you were still around,” Xia Xia continued, “I’d definitely ask you this—didn’t you say your relationship started with saving each other in times of peril? That’s weird though. It was clearly that fox spirit girl who saved him. He remembers it too. But it doesn’t seem like Xie Xuanqing fell for her just because she saved him.”

As she spoke, I looked at Xie Zhuo’s profile—his wind-messed hair, the grim coldness in his expression, and the sweat glistening at his neck.

“He seems to really like listening to me talk!” Xia Xia said brightly. “People outside Kunlun say I consort with demons and whatnot, and they’re all hunting me and Xie Xuanqing down. But Old Qin has hidden us well. I don’t know when we’ll be able to leave. Every day is boring, so I just chat with Xie Xuanqing. Honestly, there’s not much to talk about—I just tell him funny or embarrassing stuff from my cultivation days. But he listens so seriously!”

As she rambled, I watched Xie Zhuo dodge an arrow that flew toward us. The Undying City was descending into chaos. Arrows flew from who-knows-where, not just targeting the evil spirits behind us.

One arrow grazed my ear. Xie Zhuo’s body paused briefly as he raised his hand to shield my ear, and the blade of the arrow sliced open the back of his hand.

“He also likes the food I make! There’s a little stove in the secret chamber under Cuihu Terrace that Old Qin set up for me,” Xia Xia counted on her fingers. “I made him steamed pears, date cakes, braised pork knuckle… Such a pity! This is the season for snow bamboo shoots, but I can’t go out to dig any. Otherwise, if I made them spicy, I bet even Xie Xuanqing’s tongue would be blown away!

Ah… I just want to clear up all these misunderstandings quickly. I even promised that once we’re out, I’ll cook delicious food for him every day! When I said that, his eyes lit up, like he was really looking forward to it…”

Ahead, three or four evil spirits blocked our path. Xie Zhuo raised his blade. His eyes were filled with killing intent. Before the evil spirits could even strike, his sword had already taken their heads—swift and precise. Clearly, he was already a seasoned warrior. Probably even more skilled than I am at digging up snow bamboo shoots.

Was this the kind of life he led before coming to Kunlun?

And even after arriving at Kunlun, had he continued living like this?

The secrets he kept silent in our marriage were the reason for our separation—and also the reason why Kunlun was never truly the Undying City for him.

I tightened my grip around his neck.

He didn’t notice. He continued moving forward, searching for a way out.

The evil spirits were all targeting Xie Zhuo. He must be carrying a secret even greater than what lies within the Undying City. His life was far more hidden and dangerous than anyone else’s here. And everyone knew—such a life should have no ties or burdens.

That spider demon who dragged me out of Kunlun once laughed at Xie Zhuo, saying he’d found himself a weakness.

I didn’t understand it then. But now I do. Someone like me, who only ever knew a tiny fraction of Kunlun, should never have been entangled with someone like Xie Zhuo.

And yet, when I failed to ascend and was struck by heavenly tribulation, he used his blood to save me—binding our lives together.

He clearly liked me even back then.

The answer I had been trying to draw from him for five hundred years… he had actually shown me long ago, through his actions.

He just didn’t realize it himself…

At that moment, after cutting down another evil spirit, a sharp arrow suddenly flew from the distance. It pierced through the evil spirit’s body, headed straight for Xie Zhuo’s neck! But his sword was already swinging at a different enemy.

Without thinking, I raised my hand and caught the arrow aimed at his throat.

I breathed a sigh of relief—but in the next instant, the arrow, which should’ve come from a cultivator, turned into a swirl of black smoke, which snaked into my arm.

The black meridians on my skin surged wildly.

I looked up. Perched on a high beam in the distance was a man—he looked like a cultivator, not a trace of evil aura on him. He even smiled at me gently.

The next moment, Xie Zhuo’s sword swept out and cleanly took off his head. The blade spun in the air before returning to Xie Zhuo’s hand—only for him to immediately drive it into the nearby rooftop.

Xie Zhuo caught me as my body, suddenly uncontrollable, began sliding downward. “Fu Jiuxia!”

I looked at him, confused. Why hadn’t I seen so much fear and panic in his eyes before?

“I’m so sleepy…” I tried to keep my eyes open. “Really… such bad timing…”

He clenched his jaw, staring at me. “You can sleep. It’s alright. But remember this—” he emphasized every word, “no matter what you dream of, don’t be afraid.” He said, “Don’t be afraid!”

Even as he spoke, I couldn’t help but feel—he looked even more terrified than I was.

I watched his mouth open and close, and in my ear, through the Yin-Yang Fish, Xia Xia was still chattering away: “I think I’ve… really, inevitably, fallen for him. Maybe… maybe I should take a gamble on this possibility? What if you and I end up with different endings? Maybe I can endure five hundred years without a divorce.”

Xie Zhuo’s voice overlapped with Xia Xia’s, mixing in with the chaos of Undying City—all the sounds ringing and humming in my ears as one muddled din.

But the more chaotic it got, the more strangely calm I felt inside.

A thought seemed to sprout from the tip of my heart that had long turned to stone.

If I make it out of this alive this time, maybe… I’ll talk to him. The red thread may be cut, but the blood vow still stands, doesn’t it?

If he’s willing to admit he likes me—and if he’s willing to change how he communicates with me—then maybe we could…

Try again?

But just as that thought began to form, my world was already plunging into darkness.