Xuan Yi floated lightly to beneath the tree and looked up at this divine tree that somehow grew in the mortal world.

This was her favorite tree. The leaves were large, the shadows were large, it looked beautiful, and even the sound of wind blowing through the leaves was especially clear and bright. Her Purple Palace was filled with Emperor’s Daughter Mulberries—when she had nothing to do, she could nestle under the trees for an entire day.

She turned around. Not far away, Fucang was gazing at her with a smile. The leaves of the Emperor’s Daughter Mulberry began to make a clear rustling sound. In a trance, it was as if she had returned to the divine realm, with Fucang Shenjun in snow-white robes standing opposite her.

Xuan Yi couldn’t help but reach out her hand toward him. Come here, stay with her.

That slender hand grasped hers. He came over and stood beside her, accompanying her to look at the Emperor’s Daughter Mulberry together. He said in a low voice: “When I saw it, I thought—you would be very suitable standing beneath this tree.”

She smiled gently and hugged his arm with both hands, hanging on it coquettishly: “If it’s beautiful then it’s beautiful. What do you mean ‘very suitable’?”

Fucang patted her head and led her to sit beneath the tree at the cliff’s edge. The mountain wind stirred his dark blue robe hem. Below the mountain, greenery blended together, surrounding half the city. It was the most ordinary mountain scenery, yet he felt extremely fond of it—a joy he had never felt before.

“My illness will be better soon.” He gripped her hand tightly. “When that time comes, I’ll take you to other interesting places to play. This world is very vast. We can keep walking, walk to the ends of the earth, go wherever we want.”

They could see all three thousand landscapes, travel the five lakes and four seas. When tired, they would nestle and rest beneath trees. When no longer tired, they would continue walking. In the prime of youth—viewing flowers and admiring willows, appreciating the moon and discussing romance, watching snow and visiting plum blossoms—those things would certainly be very interesting, very interesting. But actually, being with her, even if just facing endless ice and snow all around, that would also be very interesting.

“I know you don’t actually like being alone.” Fucang swept her long hair behind her ear, his palm pressing against her cheek. “With me accompanying you, two people together won’t be lonely.”

The little female ghost beside him raised her head to stare at him. She was often quiet and distant, but at this moment her gaze was bright and clear, looking at him with concentration.

Fucang planted a kiss on her ice-cold face. The sunlight filtering through the branches and leaves was like golden flakes. For some reason, he suddenly felt a wave of dizziness. He squinted his eyes. It was as if the entire heaven and earth had darkened somewhat, very different from his usual clear vision. The little female ghost nestled beside him suddenly disappeared. His heart filled with alarm and doubt as he called out softly: “Where are you?”

Right here.

Xuan Yi cupped his face with both hands. His previously bright and sharp gaze had become somewhat dim and scattered. The pure qi emanating from his body was becoming less and less. Her heart was secretly alarmed. She immediately震荡her divine power and manifested her divine form before him.

Seeing she was still there, he smiled. In his heart, a thought arose that was half-clear and half-unclear—as if awakening to something, yet forgetting it in an instant.

The coachman and guards waiting not far away suddenly saw a young woman in snow-colored robes appear beside the Seventh Prince. Shocked, they began to shout. Xuan Yi didn’t want to be disturbed by them, so she immediately blew out a breath, causing them to faint on the ground.

“The pure qi is gone!” The panicked voices of the patrol spirit officials came from the darkness. The Chief Spirit Official arrived in a flash, landing beside Fucang. Yet he seemed unable to see or hear anymore, still lowering his head to talk and laugh with her.

The Chief Spirit Official released his divine power to test slightly, and his expression changed dramatically: “Fucang Shenjun’s serious illness this time… is not a cold. This is damage to his heart meridian from the Zhuyin Clan’s yin-cold divine power… to think he could hold on until now.”

Is that so? She had harmed him again. When he was a divine lord, she caused damage to his spiritual nature. When he was a mortal, she harmed his heart meridian. He was always injured time and again at her hands.

“Your Highness, Fucang Shenjun’s previous karmic connections have now been triggered. His spiritual nature is beginning to struggle. The resolution of karmic bonds will happen in these brief moments. Please be cautious, Your Highness!”

Xuan Yi waved her hand, signaling them to withdraw.

She knew it all. All their previous karmic connections between him and her had been triggered. The cause and effect in the upper realm was destined to repeat previous connections—there was no escaping the predetermined process. Now only that final karmic bond remained. Once it ended, he could obtain peace.

Actually, she knew what he wanted. From the moment her name appeared in his sleep talk, she understood. Perhaps she had understood all along, only deliberately avoiding it, so she could stay a little longer with Fucang who knew nothing.

Only these brief moments remained—these illusory bubbles between her and him from these days.

How wonderful it would be if it could last a little longer. Stay with her a little more—it was too short, too short. Don’t banish her and her loneliness so early. She had jumped down with her eyes wide open and her heart steeled. He had said he would teach her to practice calligraphy—her handwriting was indeed quite ugly, though she just didn’t want to admit it. And those three thousand landscapes, those ends of the earth—she was completely clueless about the lower realm. Where were they all? She could absolutely never find them on her own.

Sigh, she had actually become this dependent on him.

Xuan Yi’s arms hooked around his neck like vines as she looked up at him.

The beautiful dream about to dissolve—she would quietly watch it disappear. She could always be this cruel.

This beautiful, clean little female ghost suddenly smiled and pressed her ice-cold cheek against his face, tilting her head to kiss him on the cheek.

Fucang pressed the back of her head, then withdrew slightly, gazing deeply at her. As if by instinct, he said in a low voice: “Let’s always be together, alright? Do you like me?”

I like you.

It wasn’t a lie, nor was it to resolve this karmic bond. But how wonderful it would be if it really were a lie. If it really were a sudden awakening of conscience to resolve his karmic connections for him, that would also be good.

But she liked him. Taking advantage of the wonderful atmosphere, she finally openly admitted it.

She didn’t know when she had started liking him. She had always avoided this aspect like a snake or scorpion, so she never thought about it. Perhaps it was precisely because of this affection she avoided that she always pestered him, treating him as the world’s number one enemy all along, tormenting him with all her might. She only wanted to pester him—she couldn’t look favorably on anyone else. It had to be him.

She wanted to be antagonists with him, to be opponents. If she weren’t made to touch those depths of love, hate, and passion, they could definitely be together for a very long time. When it came to quarreling, only he was most compatible—she angered him into becoming a brute, and he angered her until her whole body trembled. She believed he thought the same way.

Don’t like her. She didn’t know how long they could be together, and didn’t know if her willful fears and clamorous loneliness would hurt him. If he really fell in love with her, in the end she definitely wouldn’t be able to help herself—she would jump down like she had now.

Although she had already cruelly hurt him. In matters of the heart, he was like this—not yielding once, upright and straightforward.

She didn’t like loneliness, but she was very accustomed to loneliness. Loneliness wouldn’t hurt her—love would. But she was very happy to have him accompanying her. Because of his appearance, the colors of the entire world in her eyes were different. Zhongshan with only black and white colors made her weary. Could he take her to more places? If it was him, even this lower realm rolling with turbid qi wasn’t bad—spring flowers and autumn moon, summer sun and winter snow. They had so many rapidly changing seasons they could watch together.

Xuan Yi tilted her head as if thinking about something. After a while, she suddenly smiled and said softly: “…Can you say it again? Say you’ll accompany me.”

Fucang kissed her lips: “Don’t always be alone. I’ll accompany you.”

Good.

She hugged him tightly, pressing against his ear and saying word by word: “I like you. Of course I like you. I like you most of all, Fucang Shixiong.”