I stared at Zhu Lian without a word, walking straight toward the cage on the rock.

Lao Qin was somewhat surprised and tried to stop me.

I brushed his hand away and took two steps to reach the front of the cage.

Zhu Lian gazed at me coldly through the black iron bars of the cage. His pupils were much lighter in color than Xie Zhuo’s, truly gray like a wolf’s.

There seemed to be whirlpools in his eyes that could draw out the deepest fears and terrors from one’s heart.

Facing him, I raised my hand…

My fingertips were trembling almost uncontrollably, but I still reached into the cage and grabbed Zhu Lian’s collar.

Under Zhu Lian’s astonished gaze, with a loud “clang!” I pulled him to the front of the cage, making his body crash against the bars with a tremendous noise.

I glared at him, gritting my teeth: “What did you do to him?”

Anger suppressed all other emotions in my body. I yanked his collar and slammed him hard against the cage again.

“Tell me!”

With two loud “clangs,” Zhu Lian was hit rather hard. He coughed, unable to speak.

Lao Qin, behind me, seemed stunned as well.

After a moment, Lao Qin spoke to persuade me: “Uh… why don’t you… Let him catch his breath first?”

My hand gripping Zhu Lian’s collar was shaking with force. After a moment, I controlled my emotions and threw him away forcefully.

Zhu Lian was physically weak. When I threw him, he staggered back two steps until he leaned against the rock behind the bars, finally stabilizing himself.

Having been struck by me, far from being angry, he looked at me with amusement.

“Sister-in-law, during these last hundred years since you married him, I never noticed that you had such deep feelings for him.”

At these words, I fell silent for a moment.

“How would you know about me and Xie Zhuo?”

Zhu Lian smiled: “I have eyes outside.”

He paused, “Or rather, the evil god has eyes outside.”

My expression darkened: “So you also have a connection with that evil god’s soul.”

“Of course.” Zhu Lian spoke frankly, “Thousands of years ago, my tribe’s chief used an ancient forbidden technique to recall the evil god’s soul. Under the evil god’s guidance, my tribe’s chief selected a woman from our tribe whose essence was compatible with the evil god’s aura, and had her give birth to a vessel prepared for the evil god, so that the evil god could return to the mortal world.”

What Zhu Lian said, I had already seen in my dreams. Thinking of those scenes, I remained silent.

“My mother gave birth to a vessel for the evil god. From then on, my tribe collected soul power from across the world to nurture the ‘evil god’s vessel,’ so that one day, he could bear the evil god’s power.”

Using the entire tribe’s power to nurture Xie Zhuo…

Now I finally understood why Xie Zhuo had such strong power, enough to wield the Pangu Fu in his demon form and cleave through space and time…

From childhood, he was raised as a vessel meant to contain the evil god’s power.

“This continued for over a hundred years, but one day…” The smile disappeared from Zhu Lian’s lips, and his expression turned gloomy. “Xie Zhuo forcibly drew the evil god’s soul into his body and, in his frenzy, slaughtered the entire tribe, including… his mother and me.”

My throat tightened as I recalled what Xie Xuanqing had told me before—

“Slaughtering the entire tribe, killing his closest kin, it was all true.”

I remained silent, listening as Zhu Lian continued: “That day, I happened to be away. When I returned, what I saw was Xie Zhuo in a frenzied state amidst mountains of corpses and seas of blood. He had already slaughtered the entire tribe, but he still wanted to kill me!”

Zhu Lian lowered his head and covered his face, as if very frightened, saying pitifully, “I fled for a long time, very far, finally escaping the Northern Wilderness, but he kept pursuing and trying to kill me…”

I interrupted him with a grim face: “Xie Zhuo would not slaughter the entire tribe without reason, nor would he pursue and try to kill you without cause.”

Zhu Lian lowered the hand covering his face, no longer pretending to be pitiful, and looked at me with a sinister smile.

This smile made me feel somewhat chilled. Through him, I seemed to see again that ever-changing, shape-shifting person from my dreams.

“You do understand Xie Zhuo. Indeed, he wasn’t pursuing me, but rather…” Zhu Lian paused, then smiled eerily, “The evil god’s soul in my body.”

My breath caught.

The evil god’s soul was in his body!?

Seeing my fearful expression, Zhu Lian laughed heartily, as if causing me terror was something that gave him great pleasure.

“The evil god’s soul has already disappeared,” Lao Qin came up behind me and patted my shoulder with his fan. “All the malevolent energy in the world has disappeared.”

Yes, the malevolent energy had already… disappeared… along with Xie Zhuo…

I glanced at Lao Qin and steadied myself.

Zhu Lian in the cage seemed to have laughed enough. He looked at me composedly:

“Xie Zhuo killed everyone in the tribe, including his mother. At that time, Xie Zhuo probably wanted to perish together with the evil god’s soul in his body, but I came at just the right moment, and the evil god’s soul escaped into my body.”

Zhu Lian played with his loose hair, speaking as if indifferent, “Then, I fled with the evil god’s soul.”

My fist clenched at my side: “It was you who brought the malevolent energy out from the Northern Wilderness and spread it throughout the world.”

“It was me.” Mentioning this, Zhu Lian smiled somewhat mockingly, “Xie Zhuo, together with the Northern Wilderness deity, established the City of Immortals, vainly attempting to trap me, the evil god’s soul, and the growing malevolent energy in the Northern Wilderness…”

“He succeeded.”

Lao Qin interrupted Zhu Lian’s words, “Xie Zhuo and Master Ji truly succeeded. The inner walls of the City of Immortals trapped the evil spirits, while the outer walls contained the malevolent energy. Even if some malevolent energy leaked into the world, it could only infect and create easily identifiable malevolent spirits.”

Lao Qin looked at me, his expression clear and firm: “Xie Zhuo didn’t just ‘vainly attempt’ as he claims; he truly succeeded.”

Hearing these words, the emotions in my heart were complex and difficult to express.

The City of Immortals was established by Xie Zhuo and Master Ji.

That’s why Xie Zhuo could find the location of the City of Immortals in the blizzard, why he could take me in, and why he could open the gates of the inner city.

Back then, he contained the malevolent spirits, and now he had eliminated all malevolent energy.

He saved me, and he saved the human world, more than once…

Yet only now did I learn one page of the truth.

“He succeeded?” Zhu Lian gave a cold laugh, “Didn’t I still escape with the evil god’s soul?”

“And then Xie Zhuo pursued you throughout the world.” I connected these events: “Until five hundred years ago, you fled to Kunlun, and Xie Zhuo followed. He battled with you, and then sealed you here in Kunlun…”

Listening to my words, Zhu Lian seemed to think of something. He opened his mouth, but then closed it without speaking. He smiled and just nodded: “Yes…”

“He was also severely injured, and then he… met me…”

“Yes…”

Zhu Lian smiled with a playful expression: “The evil god’s soul was in my body, sealed together with me. Although the evil god’s power was weak, it could still know everything that happened to you through the external malevolent energy. Do you know how happy the evil god and I were the day you and Xie Zhuo formed your blood oath?”

I remained silent.

Zhu Lian said: “My body could never contain the evil god’s power. Only in Xie Zhuo’s body could the evil god truly return. Before you came along, Xie Zhuo had no weaknesses. All the members of his tribe had been killed by him. He had no attachments, concerns, or lingering affections for the human world…”

But…

“But then you appeared.”

I appeared…

“And Xie Zhuo had a weakness.”

He had attachments, concerns, and lingering affections.

And also things he couldn’t bear to part with, fears of loss, and the desire to protect.

“To make Xie Zhuo become the vessel for the evil god, we needed to erase his consciousness, destroy his soul, drive him insane, and make him give up resistance. Five hundred years ago, the evil god and I sought countless opportunities to let malevolent energy enter his body, but Xie Zhuo never left any gap for us. However…”

Zhu Lian smiled so warmly and happily, “You did…”

I did…

I was a guard of Kunlun, I had to patrol, stand watch, train…

I loved gatherings, spicy food, and drinking wine…

I had a bad temper, often got angry, and when things were busy, I often had trouble sleeping.

“Kunlun was truly wonderful, giving you your true nature, giving you so many vulnerabilities to exploit.” Zhu Lian’s voice, cold as a snake, coiled around my ears. “Xie Zhuo always tried his best to maintain Kunlun’s goodness. The malevolent energy we couldn’t give to him, we could give to you. For five hundred years, day and night, how much malevolent energy did Xie Zhuo draw from your body to protect you?”

So, at the City of Immortals, when Xie Zhuo bit my neck, he did it so naturally. This was something he had done countless times behind my back.

So, all those annoying “the ground is cold,” “don’t eat spicy food,” “drink less wine” were his unspoken worries and concerns.

So, during those five hundred years, by my side, he learned to fear, to be nervous, to be cautious.

“As malevolent energy accumulated in his body, the evil god would struggle with Xie Zhuo in his dreams every night.” Zhu Lian spoke with some regret, “I always looked forward to the day when the evil god would tell me that Xie Zhuo had given up resistance, that his consciousness had failed, that his soul was unguarded. But he never did. Even now, he died, but never surrendered.”

“If we were to talk about the time we came closest to our goal, perhaps… it was that night when you two separated.”

Hearing this, I felt as if the blood in my entire body was flowing backward.

“He was just one step away from going insane.” Zhu Lian sighed, seeming even more regretful, “I never expected that after he brought you back, he would eliminate all the malevolent energy in the world. How ironic that the vessel the evil god created to defy heaven and return to the world became the only being who could defeat him.”

I silently raised my hand and looked at my wrist.

My wrist was completely bare. The red cord that had been tied there for five hundred years was long gone.

Zhu Lian tilted his head, studying my expression. Gradually, his eyes showed sadness: “You’re so devastated, and Xie Zhuo can’t even see it. What a pity.”

I felt as if my heart had been violently seized. After the pain came indescribable anger.

I raised my head, looked at Zhu Lian, and using my spiritual technique, pulled him over with one move, grabbed his neck, and tightly gripped his throat.

“Good! Kill me!” Far from being afraid, Zhu Lian laughed loudly, “Kill me! Xie Zhuo wouldn’t kill me! Today, let it be you, whom he protected all his life, who kills me! Do it! Act!”

“Jiu Xia…” Lao Qin spoke in a deep voice from the side, “Xie Zhuo didn’t kill him… because he promised the person who gave him life.”

I looked at Lao Qin.

Was he talking about Xie Zhuo’s mother?

That woman from the Snow Wolf tribe.

Who was also Zhu Lian’s mother.

“Even if he slaughtered the entire world, he would not kill Zhu Lian.” Lao Qin sighed, “Xie Zhuo never broke his promises.”

Yes, Xie Zhuo never broke his promises.

Not to me, not to anyone.

I remained silent for a long time, then let go.

Zhu Lian now seemed to have no spiritual power left. He sat on the ground, his hair disheveled, his appearance disheveled. He covered his neck, coughing continuously.

I didn’t look at him again and turned to leave the lava cave.

Outside, the wind of Mount Kunlun blew gently. Walking in the sunlight, I felt that everything around me was so unreal.

The snow on Kunlun had melted, flowers had bloomed, vitality was everywhere, and brightness filled my eyes.

Summer was coming.

I heard footsteps behind me. It was Lao Qin. Looking at the vitality before me, I spoke hoarsely:

“I always thought Kunlun was a utopia, but now I know that Kunlun was never a utopia. It was Xie Zhuo who made it into one…”

“Jiu Xia.” Lao Qin said, “Zhu Lian wanted to make you sad, so he told you these things, but I brought you here because I wanted you to know what Xie Zhuo did to protect you.”

“You can’t take advantage of the fact that he can’t see you anymore and waste the protection he once gave.”

“He didn’t just want to protect your life; he wanted you to always be like the blazing flames of summer, never seeing gloom or feeling cold.”

Lao Qin’s voice was soft, but it entered my heart.

“I understand.” I lowered my head, looking at my empty wrist, “I understand…”

My life was exchanged for Xie Zhuo’s life.

I had to protect myself and this world in his place…