The time thereafter was both familiar and strange.

It was a time I had experienced, and also a time I had never experienced at all.

Jing Nanshou’s death cleared Xie Zhuo of false accusations.

Xi Wang Mu only said that Jing Nanshou had gone astray in his cultivation, without mentioning anything about evil spirits.

It was also from that time that Xie Zhuo began to frequently contact Qin Shuyan, and help Kunlun resolve some occasional evil spirit incidents. Sometimes, he would even leave Kunlun.

And precisely because of this, the evil spirits, or rather the evil deity, also became aware of “my” existence.

Qin Shuyan warned Xie Zhuo that the evil spirits still seemed able to receive orders from the evil deity, and that the evil energy throughout the world also showed a subtle tendency to flow toward Kunlun.

Xie Zhuo didn’t say much to Qin Shuyan.

But from that time onward, Xie Zhuo began to frequently remind “me”—

Drink less alcohol…

Because alcohol would dull my mind, allowing them to take advantage.

Eat less spicy food…

Because spicy flavors would mask the taste of certain poisons, and would also cause my emotions to fluctuate. Over time, this would disturb my spiritual heart.

Xie Zhuo also told me to take care of my body, try not to get sick, as weakness and illness would become my vulnerabilities.

Also, avoid crowded places.

Even when training troops in the military camp, I should be careful of my safety. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not leave my side…

And so on, with concerns about everything, big and small.

And “I,” like everyone else, at first thought Xie Zhuo cared for me, and it was sweet.

Later, after one year, two years, three years, ten years, fifty years, year after year, the same, I began to feel controlled, and gradually lost patience with Xie Zhuo.

Moreover, he would disappear from time to time, never explaining the misunderstandings between us…

“My” dissatisfaction with the person before me and this marriage slowly emerged.

A hundred years after our wedding.

Evil spirits gathered outside Kunlun. As the immortal in charge of Kunlun’s defense forces, I guarded at Kunlun’s barrier every day.

Xie Zhuo followed “me” every day, always staying in the camp. The soldiers laughed at “me,” and I was indeed embarrassed.

In the end, “I” was still captured by evil spirits.

Taken to a lair outside Kunlun, I was injected with venom by that spider, wrapped in spider silk, and hung upside down from the ceiling.

Then came Xie Zhuo’s lone invasion of the evil spirits’ lair to rescue me.

I always believed in my heart that it was because he risked his life to save me that time that our marriage continued for another four hundred years.

And in those four hundred years of “death struggle,” we both lived very meticulously. Forget about embracing, even the number of times we held hands could be counted.

But!

Now that I have become a soul form, I discovered that what Xie Zhuo concealed from me was far more than just those matters about the evil spirits!

He…

After rescuing me from the spider evil spirit, almost every night, Xie Zhuo would appear at my bedside.

And then…

Bite my neck.

He was drawing out the evil energy from “my” body.

While “I” was asleep, completely unaware, he would press against the place where “my” pulse beat at the neck, and with slightly cool lips, guide out all the threads of evil energy.

Sometimes after finishing, he would pull up “my” blanket. Sometimes he would stroke “my” hair, and sometimes…

He would even secretly place a light kiss on my forehead…

Then he would sit aside, face reddened, stunned for a long while.

Just looking at “me,” motionless, until “I” turned over, smacked my lips in my sleep, and only then would he leave.

There were no more inappropriate actions, but just these gestures were enough to make me, watching now, blush and my heart race.

Xie Zhuo, you…

Kept things very deeply hidden…

No wonder his movements in the City of the Unmoving Dead were so practiced.

But all these things that Xie Zhuo did, “I” knew nothing about.

“I” didn’t know about his nightly drawing out of evil energy, nor his battles inside and outside Kunlun.

Didn’t know how many scars had been added to his body, and even less did “I” know that because too much evil energy had entered his body, he would battle with the evil deity in his dreams every day and night.

In “my” eyes, Xie Zhuo still disappeared frequently, and after returning, offered not a word of explanation.

Between us, there were no intimate gestures like kisses or embraces. It was even more impossible to hear any sweet words from Xie Zhuo’s mouth.

“I” became increasingly unable to bear this marriage that was like living as a widow.

In the last hundred years, we began to argue. Or rather, “I” was arguing.

In the last dozen or so years, we have even begun to use physical force. Or rather, “I” was using force; he only took responsibility for deflecting my hands.

And that final time.

Xie Zhuo wouldn’t allow “me” to add spice to that dish.

Anger rose in “my” heart, and I directly started fighting with him. That time, “I” even knocked Mount Buzhou three points off-center.

“I” used heavy force, and Xie Zhuo could see that.

“I” floated in the air, standing opposite Xie Zhuo. Mount Buzhou, three points off-center, was still raising dust. The dust danced before us like fog, just like our tangled marriage.

In “my” eyes, looking at Xie Zhuo, there was no longer any warmth from five hundred years ago. “I,” said:

“If you won’t divorce, then let’s just not live this life anymore.”

Xie Zhuo looked at me, still saying nothing.

Until other immortals who had been alarmed arrived and brought us to Kunlun’s great hall.

Xi Wang Mu looked at us, this pair of “bitter couple,” somewhat helplessly. She rubbed her forehead, her gaze sweeping over me before finally landing on Xie Zhuo.

“What do you think?”

Xie Zhuo glanced at Xi Wang Mu, then turned to look at “me.”

“I” was still angry, unwilling to pay attention to him. With arms folded and head turned, “I” wouldn’t even look at Xie Zhuo.

Xie Zhuo’s eyes lowered slightly, his eyelashes casting triangular shadows over his eyes, covering all his emotions.

But his hand at his side, tightly clenched into a fist, revealed some of his chaotic thoughts.

And “I” at this time, couldn’t see any of this at all.

“I” only felt that he remained silent for quite a while.

Now, watching Xie Zhuo, I saw that during this silence, he was like someone suffocating, with almost no circulation of energy around his body.

It seemed as if, in this suffocation, he had walked an extremely long and struggling path.

He finally spoke: “Alright…”

There was an uproar in the hall.

“I” also turned to glance at Xie Zhuo.

Then “I” didn’t look at him again, turning and walking out of the hall.

The wind that brushed past as we passed each other stirred Xie Zhuo’s temple hair, but he didn’t move at all.

“I” at that time, only knew that Xie Zhuo had finally agreed to divorce me, but I didn’t know that on that day in the hall, all the immortals had already left, and only Xie Zhuo still stood quietly in place.

In the empty great hall, only Xi Wang Mu remained on the main seat.

“Are you going to divorce Jiu Xia?” Xi Wang Mu asked him, “Not just words spoken in anger?”

Xie Zhuo closed his eyes, the dark shadows beneath them making his face look even paler.

“What she said wasn’t spoken in anger either.”

Xi Wang Mu fell silent, then let out a long sigh: “Jiu Xia is not an unreasonable person, but these things must be hidden from her. All these years, she…”

“I know.” Xie Zhuo interrupted Xi Wang Mu, as if unwilling to hear more.

The hall then fell into silence.

“Xie Zhuo, are you alright?” Xi Wang Mu asked softly, concerned.

Xie Zhuo opened his eyes but didn’t answer Xi Wang Mu.

Xi Wang Mu waited quietly for a moment, then asked: “For you to divorce, Kunlun’s marriage bonds are not easily broken, and your blood oath…”

Looking at Xie Zhuo’s expression, Xi Wang Mu didn’t continue, only said, “Never mind, these things should be handled by you, it’s not my place to ask too much.”

Xi Wang Mu rose to leave: “It’s just, about that person’s matter…”

Before Xi Wang Mu could finish, Xie Zhuo suddenly said: “I am fine…”

This irrelevant answer left Xi Wang Mu somewhat bewildered.

But Xie Zhuo continued, as if extremely calm and composed: “Those things should be hidden from her, very clear, the decision she made should be so, five hundred years…”

Looking at Xie Zhuo who was speaking but seemed to have completely lost his language function, Xi Wang Mu’s expression became more sympathetic.

“Xie Zhuo…”

She interrupted his words.

Xie Zhuo finally raised his eyes to look at her.

“You need to stay clearheaded.” Her tone was calm, seemingly deliberately stripped of all emotion, “Your matters can be decided by you and Jiu Xia. But apart from that, you must always remain clearheaded.”

Hearing this, Xie Zhuo fell silent.

He didn’t say anything more and turned to leave the hall.

After that day, Xie Zhuo and “I” never met again.

“I” moved to Meng Meng’s residence.

For immortals to divorce, there were still many procedures to go through in Kunlun. Our names would be completely separated from then on.

Half a month later, “I” would go with Xie Zhuo to the Yue Lao Temple, under the lovesick tree, to cut the red thread.

It was during this half-month.

As a soul form, I finally left Xie Zhuo’s side and stayed by “my” side.

Preparing to begin action.

After waiting so many years, finally, I was finally about to wait for this day.

As long as before “I” cut the red thread, I could, with this soul, crash into my own body, kill the soul inside this body, seize this body, my task would be accomplished.

To avoid putting all the pressure of success or failure on the last moment, I planned to begin my action during this half month when Xie Zhuo and I weren’t meeting.

Now, even if I seized my own body half a month early, it wouldn’t matter much.

After so many years of battles between Xie Zhuo and the evil deity, and fights with various evil spirits, his power had already reached its peak, and half a month wouldn’t make a difference.

Thousands of years of companionship and waiting, finally coming to this final game of success or failure!

During this half month, seizing the body can only succeed, cannot fail!

Because I have no way back.