Chapter 44

#You are Xie Zhuo, and you are my…

Within a thick, viscous darkness, the sound of wind gradually reached my ears.

The wind grew louder and louder, as though I were being dragged forward by a violent gale, swaying and drifting ahead.

As I left the darkness, I found myself surrounded by heavy snow, and I had become nothing more than a single snowflake within the storm, swept forward by the raging wind.

I drifted past a forest of ice and snow. Every tree stood like an icy spike, bristling upright, piercing the sky—turning the forest into a hellish prison, terrifying beyond compare.

I passed through countless frozen trees and finally floated over an icy lake.

There, atop what seemed to be ice that hadn’t melted for ten thousand years, a man in black armor knelt within a blood-red formation. His body was hunched over, head bowed, trembling from head to toe.

He was covered in wounds. Blood seeped from those wounds in thin threads, weaving strange red lines around his body—thread after thread flowing into the formation beneath him.

He muttered strange incantations under his breath. The words were eerie—like a cross between Buddhist chants and demonic curses. Though he chanted alone, his voice caused the entire frozen forest to tremble.

> “Summon my Lord God, from the deepest abyss.

Offer up my eternity, willingly serve eternal damnation…”

With each word, the blood swirling around him surged faster.

> “Awaken…”

At the final utterance, the formation beneath him lit up with a sinister crimson glow.

In the next instant, the formation gave off a resonant hum—like a morning bell ringing through the void. The sound came in waves, rhythmic and crashing like the tide, spreading out layer by layer.

From within the formation, a minuscule black speck—barely the size of a grain of sand—rose slowly into the air.

As it ascended, the air grew increasingly turbulent and violent.

The moment it completely left the ground, the surrounding air burst out in a tsunami of force, demolishing everything around it with devastating, unstoppable power.

The snowstorm churned into white steam. All the mist dispersed. And in the center of that blinding whiteness, a single droplet-sized black flame floated mid-air, burning silently.

The man who had summoned it had been stripped of flesh by the earlier blast. Only a skeleton remained, standing in place, its posture still reverent in worship.

The black flame hovered silently for a moment, then began to tremble.

As it shuddered, black gas rose from the formation below, twisting into threads that snaked into the skeleton. Like a sinister ritual, the threads coiled around the bones—rebuilding muscle, organs, and flesh.

It… restored the man.

But now, unlike before, the veins under his skin were no longer red—they were black. His eyes too had turned pitch-dark.

He was possessed.

But not by an ordinary evil spirit.

> “My Lord—Hao Yi.”

The moment this name was spoken, a great bell struck within my ears, shaking my soul.

Hao Yi…

The name of an ancient evil god.

Even back in Kunlun, our teacher only allowed us to read the name from books—never to speak it aloud.

The evil god Hao Yi, born of the Abyss—undying and eternal.

Thousands of years ago, gods from all eight directions joined forces to seal the evil god deep in the abyssal sea. The traces of evil energy lingering in today’s world are merely remnants of his scattered essence.

After that great battle, nearly all the gods fell. Now, including Kunlun’s own principal deity, the Queen Mother of the West, only ten true gods remain.

If Hao Yi were ever to return, there would be no god or Buddha left strong enough to stop him.

And yet, this man had called the black flame—my Lord Hao Yi.

Could it be… the evil god has returned?

I stared at that flame, a cold shock spreading through me. In that moment of fear, it felt as if a hand gripped my heart tightly—I could once again feel my physical body.

Then the pain hit—sharp and overwhelming. My body curled in on itself.

The surrounding snow vanished in an instant, and the scene ahead was swallowed by darkness.

When I looked up, that blood-red flame filled my entire field of vision.

It danced before me.

I stared at it in a daze.

Then, tendrils of black malevolent energy extended from the flame, transforming into threads of cobweb, reaching toward me from all directions, brushing against my skin.

They clung to me, like a puppeteer taking hold of a marionette.

I looked down—threads had already latched onto my chest. I watched in horror as they slithered into my skin like living things. I could feel them twining around my heart.

The pain wracked my internal organs. I wanted to curl up completely, but the threads wrapped around my limbs stretched me wide open.

My heart clenched and throbbed in agony, while my body felt like it was being pulled apart—I truly thought I would be torn in two.

Gritting my teeth through the torment, I clung to a single thought—a single phrase—repeating it in my mind with all the clarity I could muster. I made it my belief, my mantra.

And when I whispered that phrase, the pain truly began to ease, if only slightly.

The flame danced before me.

It slowly took on a humanoid shape, wrapped entirely in darkness—its features indiscernible.

It seemed curious about the words I was muttering with trembling lips. It walked closer, leaning in to listen.

> “In a dream…”

It came closer still.

> “In a dream, there’s nothing to fear.”

My fingers clenched into a fist. I endured the ripping pain and the terror of the unknown. With a burst of will, I tore the black threads from my arm and punched forward.

Xie Zhuo’s voice—“Don’t be afraid”—was the only sound echoing in my ears in that moment.

My fist landed—soft, as if striking cotton.

But the dark figure before me scattered.

The threads that had bound my limbs and gripped my heart also vanished in that instant.

I collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath. That single punch had drained nearly all of my strength.

Just as I struggled to catch my breath, the black mist began to coalesce once more.

I braced myself, annoyed by its endless persistence—until I looked up and saw that the black mist had formed into the shape of a woman.

There was something about her features—something oddly familiar—but I couldn’t place it.

The woman made of evil mist clasped her hands before her, expression proud and cold. She looked down at me from above, scrutinizing me.

> “Second time.”

She spoke, her voice distant and ethereal, neither male nor female—just like… that shapeshifter from before.

Was it him again?

> “Who… are you?”

She didn’t answer. Instead, she murmured to herself, “Very few can break free from this kind of control. You really want to become another Xie Zhuo?”

The mention of his name made my ears twitch. I looked up at her.

She saw my gaze and curved her lips ever so slightly, as if amused. “Every time the evil energy invades him, he has to fight me once more. Looks like… you really don’t know anything.”

He hid it well. I had no idea at all.

And now, my heart hurt—not from any attack, just from pure ache.

Five hundred years… how many times had he endured such torment, such pain, without me ever knowing?

How many times had he woken up, having hidden everything, only to face me like nothing had happened?

And me?

How had I responded to him?

> “Feeling sorry for him now?”

The woman in front of me tilted her head slightly, studying my expression. “You’ve won the second time. I’ll give you a gift.”

As she spoke, she waved her hand. The surrounding darkness faded, and I once again found myself above the frozen lake in the snowy forest.

On the lake stood the same man who had been resurrected by black flames. He was bowing devoutly to the black flames before him, his voice dull and hollow: “In the Snow Wolf Clan, there is a strange woman, compatible with my lord. She can bear a child, serve as a vessel, and help my lord return to the mortal world.”

Snow Wolf Clan…

A chill ran through my heart. I suddenly turned to look at the person beside me.

But in the instant I turned my head, the scene around me abruptly shifted. Before I could see what form the demonic presence had taken beside me, I had already arrived in a new setting.

This was… a tribe.

Men and women of the tribe had been gathered in one place. Some were holding children in their arms. But the children here—each and every one of them—had a tail behind them, large or small, marking their identity—the Snow Wolf Clan.

Standing before this group of Snow Wolf Clansmen was the same man who had been resurrected by the evil god. The darkness in his eyes had disappeared.

If not for the black flame-shaped mark between his brows, he would look no different from an ordinary man.

“Chief?” someone from the clan addressed him. “Why have you gathered us here…”

Before the man could finish, the so-called Chief raised his hand and plucked a woman directly from the crowd.

When I saw the woman’s face—

A jolt of horror shot through me.

Wasn’t this the same face that shapeshifter had just transformed into?

I turned to search for the shapeshifter, but saw no trace of him. I was like a drifting spirit, hovering in the air, watching everything unfold below.

“The evil god has chosen you,” the Snow Wolf Chief said to the woman. “You will bear a child for Him.”

The woman was stunned. Everyone below was also dumbfounded.

A man rushed out from the crowd, holding a child in his arms. “Chief!? The e-evil god? What is that? Ayu has already made a blood oath with me—we already have a child, and—”

Shk!

A streak of black mist cut across the air. Before everyone’s eyes, the man’s head tumbled to the ground.

His body still stood upright, holding the child. The child’s face was splashed with blood, his expression blank. He didn’t seem to understand what had happened—just stared dazedly at the severed neck and the blood gushing out.

Silence. Not a sound.

Then the man’s body collapsed.

The child fell with him. He didn’t cry. He still hadn’t processed what had just occurred.

At that moment, the “Ayu” who had been grabbed by the Chief let out a heart-wrenching scream. She began wailing hysterically.

She struggled frantically, trying to break free from the Chief’s grip and rush to her blood-sworn husband’s side.

But not only did the Chief not let her go, he lightly tapped her belly. The evil aura surged like a tornado, wrapping around the woman—only to instantly funnel into her body.

The black mist vanished. The Chief released his hand, and the woman collapsed weakly to the ground.

“The vessel needed by the evil god shall be born of Ayu. From today onward, the Snow Wolf Clan shall collect evil aura from across the world to serve our Lord.”

Only when the Chief finished speaking did the people below begin to react.

“We can’t worship an evil god!”

“Chief!? Why?”

“We cannot let the evil god return…”

The black mist swept over, drowning out every sound.

Once again, the howl of the wind filled my ears. I stood frozen, staring blankly ahead, unable to come to my senses.

“Do you understand now?” The shapeshifter’s voice rang in my ear at just the right moment. “Xie Zhuo. Nothing more than a manufactured vessel.”

The fierce wind howled, pulling at me. I felt as if I’d become that single snowflake again, drifting…

I floated past the frozen lake, past the snow-laden forest.

Eventually, I landed on the shoulder of a little boy.

He had a big fluffy tail, and two fuzzy ears standing upright atop his head.

“Mom…”

I saw him chasing after the footsteps of the woman ahead. I heard his stuttering, babyish voice calling out, “My… name, which character is it? Zhuo? They… they won’t tell me…”

Ahead of the little boy, Ayu walked with her back to him, not looking back even once.

The boy kept chasing after her, his short arms reaching out, trying to grab the hem of her robe.

Smack! His small hand was harshly swatted away. He fell back onto the ground.

He looked up. The woman before him was indeed Ayu. Her face was aged, her hair already graying. The hatred and disgust in her expression could not be hidden, no matter how much her trembling voice tried.

“Get away from me!”

“Don’t come near me!”

“You are the child of filth!”

“Your name is Xie Zhuo!”

Her voice still echoed in my ears—

—and I woke with a start.

Before me was a thick fog. In the distance stood the city walls of the Undying City. Upon the walls, the Eternal Flame had gone out.

Dawn had come.

I was sitting on the beam of a house. I turned my head slightly and looked to the side. Xie Zhuo’s head was resting against my neck.

I could feel his teeth still lightly biting my throat.

As if sensing I’d awoken, he stirred, trying to lift his head.

Without a word, I raised my hand and pressed it down on his head.

He froze in place, slightly stunned, resting against my shoulder.

I wrapped one arm around him and reached for the hand he had been using to hold my shoulder.

I grasped it tightly.

“It’s okay. You can come closer to me. You’re not just a vessel. You’re not a mistake. You are not a child of filth.”

I said, “Your name is Xie Zhuo. You are my…”

I choked up. I couldn’t finish the sentence.

It was me who had struck Mount Buzhou off course. Me who had cut the red thread. Me who swore an oath and told him—we had separated…