The battle with the two Great Lords Shangmao and Hushen ended three months later in the lower realm. Midway through, Great Lord Gongyou had also come to cause trouble. Fortunately, those Dijun and Great Emperors responsible for exterminating the Great Lords had rushed over one after another. In the end, they exterminated two Great Lords and severely wounded Great Lord Gongyou, bringing to a close the continuous three-month killing field.

Crown Prince Chang Qin hurriedly took count of the Dingmao Division war generals. Fortunately, casualties were not heavy. What made him feel most unexpected was that the little Dragon Lord of the Zhuyin Clan was actually not present. Had he perished? Could the Zhuyin Clan perish so easily? Fled from battle? Unlikely—Qing Yan was different from that little sister of his who caused trouble all day long.

He was just puzzled when he suddenly saw a mass of fiery red figure urgently descend before him. It was precisely Qing Yan’s little sister. She was already born pale, and at this moment she looked even more like a mass of moonlight kneaded together, as if she would scatter at any moment. The moment she landed, without any courtesy, she opened her mouth and asked: “Is Qing Yan here or not?”

He was just about to ask her! Crown Prince Chang Qin shook his head: “What are you two siblings up to? Where did the little Dragon Lord go?”

Before the words were finished, this mass of fiery red figure flew away with a “whoosh,” leaving him stunned for quite a while.

Xuan Yi urgently flew back to the Southern Heavenly Gate, racing all the way toward Mount Zhong. After breaking into the mountain gate, she faced an inexplicably bewildered Qi Nan’s repeated questions. She said nothing, looked around in a circle, then suddenly left again, flying toward the residence of Xuanming Dijun in the northern heavens.

She couldn’t find Qing Yan anywhere. Through heaven and earth, he had completely disappeared.

Perhaps Father’s disappearance was also not because of his seeking flowers and asking willows. Were the demon clan the ones who struck? It didn’t seem like it.

This style of specifically leaving her behind alone… was it the Qingyang Clan? How did they do it? Why wasn’t she the one captured?

She recalled that day of fierce battle with the two Great Lords, Shao Yi’s sudden greeting. Was he hinting to her?

She had always thought that Shao Yi’s two phoenix heart feathers were used to threaten the Zhuyin Clan with her life. Could it actually be the opposite? Now he was threatening her with Qing Yan and Father’s lives? What use did he have for these two heart feathers exactly?

Xuan Yi had always felt she was very smart, very capable. There was nothing under heaven that could stump her. Any difficulty or predicament she could easily resolve. But she now discovered that she had no way at all to deal with the current situation, and was completely at a loss. Her father and older brother, the Zhuyin Clan that ten thousand methods could not harm and gods and demons feared, had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

When she returned to the lower realm, that shattered mountain range that had once been a battlefield had already been reconstructed anew by great supernatural powers. The black water that had pervaded the mountain forests had also disappeared. Xuan Yi landed among the trees, feeling an overwhelming bewilderment.

In this heaven and earth, it was as if suddenly only she remained. Fucang remained in deep slumber without waking, while Qing Yan and Father’s whereabouts were unknown.

Should she wait for Fucang… As soon as this thought arose, she quickly suppressed it.

Father and Qing Yan could not wait. If she suffered a crushing defeat, she would probably lose her life. If he witnessed her perish with his own eyes, Senior Brother Fucang would probably be in great pain—no, not probably, he would definitely be in such pain that he would also want to perish along with her. She was just this arrogant.

She didn’t want to hurt him now, not at all.

In her throat was a fluffy mass of something that she couldn’t swallow down or spit out. The golden seal on her right wrist had been activated countless times and still had not received any response.

Xuan Yi slowly turned around, rose on the wind, and swiftly flew in one direction.

—

Perhaps because the assembled war generals had consecutively exterminated several Great Lords, the demon clan in the lower realm had recently become much more obedient. The Clear Light Array where command talismans once fell incessantly had also had several days of brief peace. But today, the war general palace of Yibingyin Division seemed not very peaceful. A fiery red figure descended before the palace. Without waiting for any announcement, she directly broke in, causing the guards to call out one after another.

After seeing clearly who the intruder was, even the commanding general who had hurried over stopped caring.

It was that princess of the Zhuyin Clan again. She was originally a war general of Yiyihai Division, but after descending to the lower realm, she didn’t follow orders and ran around everywhere. Yet she was also extremely formidable—she had helped greatly in the two exterminations of Great Lords, to the point that even Baize Dijun didn’t bother with her. Naturally, he was even less inclined to care. If she wanted to break in, let her break in.

Xuan Yi walked step by step slowly through the palace. Her five senses suddenly became sharp to the extreme. The aura and breath of every war general’s courtyard were instantly grasped by her. The scent of wood and fire of the Qingyang Clan was in the southeast corner.

It was as if some unpleasant images flashed through her mind—those things she had forgotten.

Red-hot needles piercing through skin and flesh one by one, Mother’s wails, her own low and suppressed sounds of weeping.

She tightly furrowed her brow, deliberately ignoring them, passing through corridors shrouded in vine shadows, stopping before that courtyard rich with the aura of wood and fire. The flowers, grass, and trees of the mortal realm all loved the aura of the Nine Heavens phoenix. The vegetation here was countless times more lush than elsewhere. Verdant vines climbed all over the walls. Clumps of mortal realm flowers bloomed in full in the courtyard.

Xuan Yi silently stared at a camellia beneath the window. After a moment passed, the door suddenly opened. Shao Yi wore a thin silver-white long robe, as if he had just finished bathing. His long hair still dripped with water. In his arms he held a goddess with an alluring figure, bidding her farewell with a smile.

Lifting his eyes to see her, his long and intensely black phoenix eyes narrowed slightly. In a soft voice, he said: “Little loach? Come to quarrel with me again?”

That alluring goddess, seeing it was the princess of the Zhuyin Clan, immediately ran far away frantically, not looking back once.

Xuan Yi slowly walked closer to him, raised her head to stare at that fiery red jewel on his forehead, and said in a low voice: “Where did you make Qing Yan and my father disappear to?”

Seeing that her face was covered with disheveled hair, Shao Yi used his fingers to gently brush it aside for her, saying lightly: “Why come ask me? Do you think I could accomplish such things?”

Xuan Yi said slowly: “No need to play dumb with nonsense. Apart from the Qingyang Clan, I can’t think of who else would be this bold. Since you spoke up that night, weren’t you waiting for me to come find you?”

Shao Yi lost his voice in laughter. Grabbing her hand, he pulled her into the room: “Come in to talk then. Little loach, if it was done by the Qingyang Clan, what will you do? Have you come to beg me? Or have you come to perish together with me?”

When he said “perish together,” he actually laughed once.

Xuan Yi was pressed by him to sit on the edge of the bed. The bedding on the bed was in disarray. Even the pillow had fallen to the floor. The overflowing aura and scent from that goddess’s body still lingered above.

Her brow furrowed even tighter. Those unpleasant images in her mind grew more and more numerous.

Mother’s blood and tears when she perished, those arms that held her tightly, telling her she must live on.

She deeply detested this feeling—only she was left behind. All those important things she cared about in her heart were all taken away, forcing her to keep company with loneliness day and night.

She would rather be the one who was taken away.

“What are you thinking about?” Shao Yi crouched before her, curiously widening his eyes to look at her. “Did you specially come find me to space out?”

That fluffy mass in her throat began to overflow again. Xuan Yi couldn’t help but open her mouth to gasp for breath. Shao Yi’s eyes narrowed again: “…”

“No need to threaten me with Qing Yan and my father. I’ve come. Let them go.” Her gaze fell on his face, quietly interrupting his words.

Shao Yi was both stunned and amused, looking her up and down: “This little loach actually has such courage? It truly makes me look at you with new eyes.”

He had thought she was cold-blooded and cold-hearted, that in heaven and earth only she herself was most important.

Xuan Yi’s expression was calm. She said indifferently: “I indeed have no means to deal with you now, yet you’ve grasped my vital weakness. It seems that relying on a mere two phoenix heart feathers to live until now, I should be quite formidable. No matter how difficult the thing you want me to do is, I will do my utmost. Let them go.”

Shao Yi contemplated for a moment, then raised his eyes to gaze at her: “Why?”

Xuan Yi said in a low voice: “Because I don’t want to be the one left behind.”

Shao Yi said lightly: “But being left behind means there’s hope. As long as one is alive, there’s hope. Any kind of change can happen.”

Xuan Yi said: “The one left behind suffers the most, because they remember everything clearly, bearing various debts. I don’t want to suffer, and I don’t want to bear debts. I would rather let others suffer.”

She had already been left behind twice. She didn’t want a third time. Never wanted it again.

Shao Yi’s eyes shifted slightly, quietly looking at her. It was still an expression she had never seen before. She no longer had the mental energy to study what kind of profound thoughts were hidden within. She only calmly and openly met his gaze.

Her gasping breaths gradually became heavier. Shao Yi suddenly blinked his eyes. His hands gently cradled her head. His voice became tender: “This pitiful little loach—your heart wound has actually split open like this again.”