While hurrying to Xie Xuanqing’s location, I put the yin-yang fish back on my ear. I still needed to monitor Xiaxia’s situation at all times.

If she woke up, I would still have a chance to switch places with her. After all, the most fatal flaw in my impersonation of Xiaxia was that I had Xie Zhuo’s blood in me.

Xie Zhuo’s cultivation level was so much higher than mine, this was something I could never hide, no matter how hard I tried.

Last time, Xie Xuanqing said he noticed something unusual about me the first time he saw me.

But at that time, Xie Xuanqing already knew Xiaxia, so he didn’t do anything to me.

This time, however, I had returned to before our meeting. As a strange woman carrying his blood, going to find him, this would certainly arouse his suspicion.

At our first meeting, it would be best not to give Xie Xuanqing a bad impression of me, but this was unavoidable. I could only hope that Xie Xuanqing was severely injured, with unclear consciousness, too blind to recognize the truth.

I just needed to get through today; in the future ten-plus days while Xie Xuanqing was unconscious, I would have plenty of time to devise strategies with Xiaxia.

This was a reckless move, but with the urgent situation and limited time, there weren’t many other options left for me. Rather than waiting passively for defeat, it was better to take a gamble. Who knows, small rice might turn into a big goose!

Watching the timing, I rushed along the way without hearing Xiaxia’s voice in my mind. At the last moment, I was finally forced to take this step.

Arriving at the place where Xie Xuanqing should be, according to my memory, I faced a small slope that blocked my view. In my memory, beyond this slope, I would see him sitting against two bamboo stalks leaning against each other.

I had come looking for bamboo shoots. Upon seeing him, my first instinct was to run, but Xie Xuanqing had grabbed me. Then there would be a sudden silver light attack.

But Xie Xuanqing would pull me, bringing me into his arms while also allowing me to narrowly avoid the silver light.

Back then, it was because he saved me that I didn’t report this demon to Xi Wang Mu and the immortals, choosing instead to care for him privately.

Counting it up, our first meeting today would only take the blink of an eye, and he was severely injured now, so he wouldn’t have time to see me.

Although this first meeting was important, what mattered more for our relationship was when he woke up after being unconscious for over ten days and saw that I had been caring for him.

After all, so many stories in the mortal realm have been written about this: if a girl saves a boy, but when the boy wakes up, he sees another girl, then the boy will end up with that other girl.

Staying by his side until he wakes up, letting him know of my kindness! That was the most important thing!

Today was just going through the motions of our first meeting.

I had to be confident that Xie Xuanqing wouldn’t discover anything suspicious!

Taking a deep breath to calm my emotions, I then stepped onto the snowy slope.

Just like the scene in my memory, Xie Xuanqing in black clothes was at the bottom of the slope, sitting against two twin bamboo stalks. He was wounded, with blood on his injuries, and the white snow had been stained red with his blood.

The scene was perfect! Matching! It was Xie Xuanqing!

I needed to hurry down; otherwise, when the silver light attack came later, I would miss my cue!

I ran down quickly from the slope, came to Xie Xuanqing’s side, and thoughtfully positioned myself where it would be convenient for him to grab my hand. Then I waited for Xie Xuanqing to look up at me, or for the silver light to shoot toward us.

But I stood there for a while…

Time flowed, light and shadows moved, and the wind in the Snow Bamboo Forest blew until I felt cold.

No silver light came, nor did Xie Xuanqing grab me…

But I did witness Xie Xuanqing opening his eyes.

His pair of pitch-black, deep eyes gazed at me like an abyss.

I looked at him, and he looked at me.

The scene was quiet and a bit awkward.

I couldn’t help but slightly turn my head, glancing at the sun, wondering if I had come too early.

That shouldn’t be the case! It was today! The hour should be now! Then I turned my head slightly backward. If the silver light was from someone pursuing Xie Xuanqing, I almost wanted to urge them to act quickly.

If they didn’t act soon, this scene would differ from my memory!

But no one made a move.

There was only Xie Xuanqing, leaning against the bamboo, looking up at me. I looked back at him; he had blood at the corner of his mouth, not moving, not speaking.

Suddenly, a possibility occurred to me.

“You…”

Could it be Xie Zhuo?

This question arose in my mind, but I didn’t dare to ask. If he weren’t Xie Zhuo, if he were truly Xie Xuanqing, wouldn’t my question cause trouble?

How could someone I just met possibly know his name? If I asked, I would only make myself suspicious! Wouldn’t that plant a landmine for Xiaxia and Xie Xuanqing’s future relationship?

I bit my lip, not daring to ruin my prospects, and could only frantically reason in my mind whether he was or wasn’t…

After hesitating for a long time, I decided to take the safest approach and inquire indirectly.

I crouched down to make my line of sight level with his, reducing my threatening presence. I tried to soften my voice and asked him: “How did you get so badly injured?”

The black pupils rippled slightly.

He stared at me, those pitch-black eyes reflecting only my face.

“Are you in pain?” I continued to ask.

I thought, if he were Xie Xuanqing, my questions would be completely normal. They might even build his favorable impression of me.

Although… I didn’t know if he had noticed the scent of his blood on me after staring at me for so long. But there was his blood all over the place here, so I could find a way to explain it later…

If he were Xie Zhuo, then there would be even less of a problem.

Xie Zhuo knew he had taken Xiaxia away, so he could certainly deduce that the person here was me. Hearing me speak to him this way, he would be unable to resist mocking me.

Once he spoke, I would know who he was.

But he didn’t speak.

Neither Xie Zhuo nor Xie Xuanqing liked to talk.

I accepted this fact…

I pondered in my heart if there was any other way to discover his true identity without exposing myself. Before I could think of a strategy, he moved.

He raised his hand, seeming a bit strained from sitting in the snow for too long. With just one movement, he exhaled a breath that swirled into white mist in the cold air. He finally grabbed my hand.

I was stunned for a moment, then came back to my senses.

Was it now? Was it time? Should the silver light appear?

While I was still waiting, the person in front of me, whether Xie Zhuo or Xie Xuanqing, pulled me forward.

I fell into his arms, smelling the scent of fresh blood and snow.

But I didn’t hear the sound of the silver light brushing past my ear.

My face was pulled into his embrace, and I couldn’t see anything else. I only heard his breathing above my head and the heartbeat in his chest. Then I felt… his other hand circling my back, embracing me.

Somewhat trembling, somewhat tight.

His embrace was damp and cold.

I didn’t dare make a sound, didn’t dare ask. I remained silent for a long time. Only after his hand holding me gradually loosened did I look up at him. Sure enough, he had fainted.

Huh?

Suddenly, it aligned with my memory. But I looked around and didn’t see any trace of a silver light attack. Why did he pull me into his arms? Could it be that he just wanted to hug me?

But… whether it was Xie Zhuo or Xie Xuanqing, they wouldn’t simply want to hug me, would they?

I couldn’t understand it.

But I was more inclined to believe that he was Xie Xuanqing.

Because, judging by Xie Zhuo’s purpose, he came to prevent Xiaxia and Xie Xuanqing from meeting. If the person in front of me were Xie Zhuo, then he would certainly know that his goal had been achieved.

Xiaxia and Xie Xuanqing hadn’t met, so there would be no talk of blood-feeding later. The only thing left for him to do would be to take me back five hundred years.

If I returned with him five hundred years later, our history would be rewritten by him. Once back in five hundred years, there would be no blood oath in my body, and he could achieve his ultimate goal—to kill me.

But as long as we were in the past five hundred years, everything still had variables. I could still find an opportunity for Xiaxia to meet Xie Xuanqing, for them to develop feelings, for Xie Xuanqing to feed her blood.

According to this reasoning, if the person in front of me were Xie Zhuo, he should be eager to take me back five hundred years later to claim his victory.

And the person who had looked at me, hugged me, but didn’t take me away, must certainly be Xie Xuanqing.

I examined the unconscious Xie Xuanqing once more, then confirmed his injuries were all real.

If it were Xie Zhuo putting on an act to deceive me, he wouldn’t need to be so thorough. How could someone who knew the past still be injured like this?

Therefore, summing it all up, this person must be Xie Xuanqing!

No longer hesitating, I hoisted him up and, following my memory, carried him to the cave that I had become familiar with again.

“Xie Xuanqing,” I said to him, “before you wake up, I’ll make sure Xiaxia comes to see you.”

I placed him in the familiar position in the cave and helped arrange his clothes: “This marriage bond, I said it wouldn’t be broken, and it definitely won’t be broken.”

Suddenly, my hand stopped at his collar.

I seemed to glimpse… something…

A strange feeling suddenly arose in my heart. Following his collar, I opened his neckline. On this chest, as solid as Xie Xuanqing’s, there was a scar that Xie Xuanqing’s body would not have.

I recognized the scar on his chest—it was a sword wound from four hundred years ago, when Xie Zhuo, to save my life, was attacked by an evil spirit outside of Kunlun.

At this moment, the glaringly obvious scar on his chest reminded me that all my seemingly reasonable deductions had been wrong.

This person in front of me had truly suffered such severe injuries, and truly had not rushed to take me back to five hundred years later.

He had arranged for Wu Cheng to take Xiaxia away, somehow removed the Xie Xuanqing who should have been here, and who knows what kind of tragic events had occurred to leave him covered in injuries as he came to the Snow Bamboo Forest, to the place of our… first meeting.

Then he had waited for me, and just now he had truly…

Embraced me…

But why… would he…

I stood up, somewhat incredulous, somewhat unable to understand.

I took a step back, but this Xie Zhuo, who should have been unconscious, suddenly grabbed my hand.

I was a bit startled: “What-what-what… what are you doing?”

My rationality was instantly pulled back by this startling move. Was it happening? Was it happening now? Was Xie Zhuo going to pull me back five hundred years later to claim his victory?

He took a breath, somewhat weakly resting his head against the stone wall.

“Fu Jiuxia,” he said, “Let me ask once more…”

“What?”

“I’m badly injured, ask me, if it hurts…” he held my hand, his gaze falling on my startled face, “You haven’t asked in a very long time.”