The soft, slender body in his embrace gradually relaxed, curling up boneless against him.

Fucang lowered his head and kissed her forehead. The dragon princess raised her head, her clear and focused gaze fixed on him. She gave this gaze only to him, yet he had trusted too much in her usual cunning and cleverness, as if no one in the world besides herself could ever harm her.

He brushed aside the stray hair on her face with the carefulness of one who had lost and regained something precious, kissing carefully along her cheeks. That area had been stained with blood earlier, but fortunately it wasn’t hers. The blood carried the aura of wood and fire—it was the blood of the Qingyang Clan.

At this moment, he didn’t want to think about what kind of struggle she’d had with Shao Yi, or else he truly would be driven mad by killing intent. It was enough that she was here.

Fucang suddenly held her tighter, cupping her face and kissing from her ear to her lips. Despite having summoned rain and dew to wash her again and again, her body still carried the scent of Qingyang Clan blood. The aura of the Nine Heavens Phoenix was too distinctive—this smell made his hostility surge forth. He gripped her jaw, forcing her teeth to part, and heavily covered her with his own scent.

His dragon princess belonged only to him.

Xuan Yi felt herself trembling again. He was about to crush her in the blanket. After more than twenty thousand years, this formerly cool and aloof divine lord no longer retreated and maintained restraint as he had before. He pressed in on her step by step. If her former entanglement had been like delicate vines, he was a violent, wild hurricane that brooked no resistance whatsoever.

She wanted to struggle, but her toes seemed to sink deep into the bedding, unable to break free no matter what. The blanket covering her body was almost worn away by the friction, and his arms nearly broke her waist in two. He hurriedly swept her long hair aside, his burning lips moving downward along the arc from her neck to her collarbone.

Xuan Yi suddenly dropped her head, her forehead pressing against his chest. His heartbeat thundered like drums, pounding at her ears. She felt the entire sea of poisoned wine piercing through her skin and flesh. Her head was clearly pressing against him in resistance, yet her two arms reached out and hooked around his neck.

Fucang caught her delicate arm and lowered his head to bite down on it carefully. She laughed from the ticklish sensation and hurriedly tried to dodge. The blanket on her body fell away, revealing skin as white as snow and porcelain falling into his palm.

Xuan Yi threw her arms around him and pressed her body tightly against him to hide. “…Don’t look.”

Fucang’s palm pressed against her bare, smooth back as he kissed the long hair atop her head. “I’ve already looked.”

“What about your Huaxu Clan’s etiquette and propriety?”

“I forgot.”

Sensing his hand moving along her ribs to caress toward the front, Xuan Yi was both terribly ticklish and busy trying to dodge. Seeing her so flustered and at a loss, some of the overwhelming rage in Fucang’s heart couldn’t help but fade a little. Instead, he found it rather amusing—she was always bold and reckless in the strangest places, yet when encountering these matters, she was like a mouse.

He unfastened his collar and removed his outer robe to drape over her, carefully tying all the sashes. While pulling her long hair out from inside the garment, rationality returned to his mind bit by bit. Indeed, he shouldn’t indulge at this moment—she had only just awakened, and he had countless questions weighing on his heart.

But the dragon princess probably wouldn’t be willing to speak. She always hid things away without revealing the slightest trace on her face. Sure enough, the next moment she began chattering in his ear to distract him. “Your sword energy transforming into a dragon can actually become that big—so impressive! That Third Prince of Suihu Dajun is the one who injured Senior Brother Gu Ting, right? I helped you set up ice walls, so he couldn’t escape.”

Ice walls—she had erected them twice. The last time was to prevent him from harming Shao Yi.

Fucang’s gaze darkened. Had she been coerced? The blood on her body was Shao Yi’s, and he had also noticed that Shao Yi’s right chest had a penetrating injury. When the dragon princess was unconscious, her hand had been constantly covering the same location.

He had carefully examined her countless times and thoroughly confirmed she hadn’t suffered any injury. Honestly speaking, making a member of the Zhuyin Clan get injured would probably be quite difficult, so what was this about? The discord between the Qingyang Clan and the Zhuyin Clan was already well known—was this a method the Qingyang Clan used against the Zhuyin Clan?

At this point, he was no longer that inexperienced divine lord from before who would get angry just because the dragon princess exchanged a few flirtatious words with Shao Yi. Shao Yi’s mention of a relapsed heart injury concerned him greatly, and he had an even worse feeling in his heart. Back then, when he had returned to the upper realm and rushed urgently to Zhongshan, the pained sympathy in Qi Nan’s expression seemed, in retrospect, far too sorrowful. And for Zhongshan’s barrier to remain erected for more than twenty thousand years was too exaggerated.

What kind of torment had his dragon princess endured because of him during these twenty thousand years?

Two clear gazes fell upon his face. Fucang lowered his head to look at Xuan Yi and smiled faintly. It was enough that she was here—those questions weighing on his heart could be asked another time. His voice became gentle. “Are you hungry?”

As soon as he said these three words, Xuan Yi felt he was treating her like that foolish lion of his family. She immediately shook her head firmly and rested her face against his chest. Rarely, she didn’t want to eat anything right now—she only needed him by her side.

His hand covered her hair, stroking her the way he would pet that fat flower cat from the lower realm. He took down the golden ring that had fallen onto her shoulder and casually placed it in his sleeve. This little thief was stealing her golden ring again—he was addicted to theft. Last time he had even stolen her pearl earring.

Xuan Yi grabbed his sleeve and was about to peek inside when she suddenly felt her head bump against something hard on his chest. Turning to look, she saw a chain hanging around his porcelain-white neck with her pearl earring suspended from it.

Her heart stirred slightly. She couldn’t help but lean forward and gently kiss the earring. Fucang held her tightly, loving these occasional displays of intimacy from her. He would never let her go again. He would cherish her, protect her, and simply hide her away in the Dingmao Division.

The door was suddenly slammed open forcefully. A pale green figure landed before the bed like lightning. Fucang’s hand, which had grasped Chun Jun, slowly withdrew.

It was Xiaolong Jun.

Xuan Yi’s eyes immediately brightened. “Qing Yan! Are you done exterminating the demon clans?”

Qing Yan’s expression was extremely grim. He was already naturally somber in temperament, but now he looked even more terrifying. While exterminating Qin Wu, he had encountered Crown Prince Chang Qin, who told him about the confrontation between Fucang and Shao Yi. He had nearly gone mad and rushed all the way to the First Battalion battle commander’s palace. Upon entering, he saw his little sister wearing Fucang’s outer robe, disheveled and sitting in his embrace.

His brows furrowed tightly as he glanced at Fucang. However, seeing Xuan Yi’s completely unguarded expression, his brows slowly relaxed again. He carefully studied her for a long while, and seeing that her complexion was normal, he finally spoke. “…You’re alright?”

Xuan Yi smiled. “Of course I’m fine.”

Qing Yan breathed a slight sigh of relief, turned around, and clasped his hands in salute to Fucang. “Thank you, Fucang Shenjun, for saving my little sister.”

Fucang placed Xuan Yi on the bed and rose to return the courtesy elegantly. “Xiaolong Jun is too polite. It was my duty.”

…Already calling it his duty.

Qing Yan looked at him thoughtfully for an extra moment. There were rumors in the divine realm about Fucang descending to the lower realm to resolve karmic ties, though they were all said to be mere rumors. But he knew they weren’t. Although Qi Nan refused to tell him anything, he could still guess the general situation. Nine times out of ten, his little sister’s relapsed heart injury was also because of this divine lord from the Huaxu Clan.

Over these years, he had occasionally regretted that he shouldn’t have encouraged Xuan Yi to persistently entangle herself with Fucang back then. He never imagined Fucang could torment his strange-tempered little sister to such a degree. But even less did he expect that after more than twenty thousand years, the two of them were still entangled, and now looking at them, they seemed ten million times better than before.

Qing Yan extended his hand toward Xuan Yi. “Since you’re awake, let’s go. After all, you managed to track your way here. You’re even being clingy while exterminating demon clans in the lower realm.”

Xuan Yi smiled cheerfully and threw herself into his embrace. “Staying on this side?”

Qing Yan nodded to Fucang in farewell and said lightly, “Even if you didn’t want to stay, you’ll have to now.”