Liking her would bring heartbreak.

These words from the illusion were spoken once again from Shao Yi’s mouth, more than twenty thousand years later.

Fucang looked at him quietly for a while. No matter how one looked at it, Shao Yi was just an ordinary young shenjun. Even if his aptitude was exceptionally outstanding, even if he was born into the Qingyang Clan, the way of heaven and earth could not be reversed. Limited by his age, his methods and cultivation level couldn’t possibly be all that extensive.

Yet he seemed to have precisely that many schemes and tricks.

Zhongshan Dijun’s romantic troubles had been the laughingstock of the divine realm in earlier years. Because of the dragon princess, Fucang had paid particular attention to it. If she had been traumatized in her youth, it would have been around the time she was abducted to the Tongshan Clan. How old was Shao Yi then? Twenty thousand years old? How did a twenty-thousand-year-old prodigy shenjun of the Qingyang Clan know she would suffer such enormous trauma and thus provide phoenix heart feathers?

Or perhaps, had all of this been planned long ago? Shao Yi used phoenix heart feathers to control the dragon princess and coerce Xiaolong Jun and Zhongshan Dijun, which was why those two had suddenly disappeared. Now she too had fallen into his hands—was the Qingyang Clan seeking to avenge old grudges, to exterminate the Zhuyin Clan at this critical juncture when chaos reigned above and below?

Such a meticulous and thorough plan must have the Qingyang Clan’s dijun pushing things from behind. This clan had always lived in deep seclusion, conducting themselves in a low-key manner, extremely mysterious. Qiongsang City had seen almost no outside guests for countless years—could they have been arranging these plots all along inside?

“I’m in a hurry to get back.” Shao Yi’s tone was gentle. “Junior Brother Fucang, how about we part ways here?”

Get back? Rush back to Qiongsang City above the ninth heaven? The golden dragon at Fucang’s side suddenly shot into the clouds. He said coldly: “No need for empty words. Capturing without injuring—I’m not incapable of doing that.”

The sword sheath swept up, cutting through with a sharp wind, attacking toward Shao Yi’s chin. With both hands holding Xuan Yi, he could only retreat two steps. Suddenly hearing a clear wind sound behind him, he rose on the wind and narrowly avoided it, only to see that golden dragon had grown several sizes larger than usual. Its giant maw opened, head and tail swaying, coiling in the air before swimming back toward him—it was actually planning to swallow him whole.

This was a golden dragon transformed from the Chun Jun sword—being swallowed by it would make escape extremely difficult.

Shao Yi’s robes fluttered as he narrowly avoided the golden dragon again. Suddenly Fucang hurled out the sword sheath, which instantly transformed into a small golden dragon. Swift as a meteor, it coiled around his leg and yanked downward. The whistling clear wind blew his long hair upward as the giant golden dragon opened its mouth from below to swallow him.

Shao Yi’s long sleeves swayed as he rushed urgently into the sea of clouds. At this moment, he could no longer hold Xuan Yi with both hands and could only circle her waist with one hand. His fingertips flicked, and the feathered long blade, carrying ghostly blue firelight, suddenly slashed toward the golden dragon. The firelight was fast, but the two golden lights were even faster. The golden dragon transformed from the sword sheath coiled around his leg once more, throwing his body high up. The huge golden dragon pursued closely behind. Its tail swayed, and the golden-brilliant giant maw was suddenly right before his eyes.

This fierce? Shao Yi barely managed to fly and dodge. From the corner of his eye, he suddenly glimpsed a snow-colored figure riding the wind toward him. Then his shoulder shook, and the arm holding Xuan Yi actually lost some strength, involuntarily about to release her. His sleeve lifted like a wing, gently supporting her body, evading the hand Fucang extended. She fell back into his embrace like a feather.

He had just breathed a sigh of relief when he suddenly felt wind stirring again at his back. Just as Shao Yi was about to dodge once more, his body suddenly tightened—the golden dragon transformed from the sword sheath bound him round and round like a rope. The sea of clouds suddenly shattered. The golden dragon shot before his eyes in a flash. He urgently chanted an incantation, and a barrier fell before him. Under the impact of the golden dragon, the barrier emitted a crisp shattering sound, but it still hadn’t broken for the moment.

Shao Yi quickly erected a new barrier, looking at Fucang and sighing: “Junior Brother Fucang, if you capture me, do you intend to send me to the Ministry of Justice?”

The golden dragon gracefully swam around the barrier. Fucang said coolly: “Once the decree to slay demons across all heavens is issued, there are no longer distinctions of status or race. Imprisoning colleagues without authorization and disregarding the righteousness of heaven and earth—that’s the severe punishment of thunderbolt strikes above the thirty-three heavens. The Qingyang Clan is rather too bold.”

Shao Yi said faintly: “The way of heaven is merciless. All the gods now vigorously campaign against the demon clan only to maintain the order of heaven and earth. But if this matter were to leak out, I’m afraid the little loach’s life would be lost even faster. You surely wouldn’t be happy to see her perish, would you?”

…What connection was there between these two matters? This arrogant and outrageous Qingyang Clan member.

Fucang flipped his wrist, and the golden dragon transformed into myriad tides of water, attacking the barrier from all directions.

Suddenly a shout containing suppressed anger rang out from the distance: “Fucang!”

Fucang didn’t turn back. The tide-like golden light also didn’t hesitate in the slightest. Just as it was about to shred the barrier to pieces, suddenly an incomparably huge golden dragon shot forward like lightning, wrapping Shao Yi’s barrier and protecting it tightly. Those tides of golden light struck against the golden dragon, producing a terrible booming sound. The sea of clouds was blown into complete disarray by the hurricane.

Fucang paused for a moment, then finally turned and bowed in salute: “…Father.”

Qing Di, who had rushed over hastily, had a stern expression. Seeing that he still hadn’t withdrawn his Chun Jun sword energy, his brow furrowed even deeper: “Attempting to kill a colleague! What are you doing?!”

Originally, because the dajuns in the lower realm recently seemed less active than before and had begun hiding their traces, he had thought to go to the Dingmao Division to check on Fucang’s condition. He should have awakened after sleeping for over ten days, and his sword path must surely have gained enlightenment—he naturally needed to give him some guidance. Who would have expected that when he arrived at the Dingmao Division, Fucang wasn’t there. He had followed the traces of pure energy all along to track him, never imagining he would witness him attempting to kill a colleague.

With Qing Di’s keen vision, he had long since seen that the goddess the Qingyang Clan member held in his arms was precisely the Zhuyin Clan princess who was entangled with Fucang. His heart was even more displeased. Though he had always refrained from interfering in Fucang’s private affairs, he absolutely could not watch his own child go down a crooked path for the sake of a goddess.

“Withdraw your sword.” Qing Di’s face darkened in an extremely rare display.

Fucang remained silent for a long while, then turned his back again, saying in a low voice: “I’m sorry. I cannot do that.”

The tide-like golden light surrounded and entangled Qing Di’s golden dragon along with the barrier. He waved his long sleeve, and with a tremendous sound, that barrier was forcibly crushed. The dragon formed from the sword sheath circled through it like a meteor—yet Shao Yi had already vanished.

His expression changed abruptly. Two layers of encirclement—the Huaxu Clan’s sword energy transformed into dragon and sword energy transformed into tide—how had Shao Yi escaped?

The golden dragon transformed into a peach wood sword and flew back into Qing Di’s palm. There was also a trace of surprise on his face—even he hadn’t noticed when that young Qingyang Clan member had escaped. From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed Fucang returning Chun Jun to its sheath. Qing Di frowned: “Fucang, you’ve never been an impulsive person. What happened this time?”

Fucang closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Shao Yi’s words flashed through his mind: You wouldn’t want to see her perish, would you?

He had an intuition in his heart, something that could only be understood but not expressed in words—this matter indeed was better left unspoken.

Opening his eyes again, the turbid air overflowing from the mortal realm filled the edges of the sky’s clouds, like black fire burning across the heavens, and like his heart at this moment—violent and unable to be calm.

Qiongsang City, ethereal and illusory above the ninth heaven.

He summoned the nine-headed lion, bowed respectfully to Qing Di, and without a word was about to leave.

The reins were seized. Qing Di frowned tightly, saying with displeasure: “To be entangled with that Zhuyin Clan princess to this degree—I fear you won’t meet a good end in the future. When you inherit the position of Qing Di in the future, throughout the four wilds and eight wastelands, above heaven and below earth, how could there be a lack of better goddesses? One thought’s excessive obsession dishonors the name of Huaxu Clan.”

Fucang said in a low voice: “When Mother failed to successfully endure the hundred lifetimes of reincarnation tribulation and her divine soul shattered and dispersed, Father created the sword energy transformed into nether radiance to gather her soul and body, protecting them in the peach wood sword. This was naturally also for the sake of that one thought’s obsession.”

Qing Di looked at him with furrowed brows and sighed deeply: “When your mother was on the verge of perishing, I had no choice but to do that. But for what purpose? Fucang, the Zhuyin Clan princess has tormented you until your very nature has changed. This clan has always been evil and reckless in their behavior—they are not suitable matches. If she has no feelings for you, how is this different from forcible imprisonment?”

“She is in my heart just as Mother was in Father’s heart.” Fucang slowly but resolutely pulled out the reins.

Pursuit and protection—this was the way of the Huaxu Clan.

For some reason, Fucang suddenly recalled a long time ago, when he was dealing with Wujiang Xianzi together with the dragon princess in the lower realm. He had given her the Chun Jun sword and casually spoken some nonsense, but thinking back on it now, those words had become a prophecy.

Unwavering until death, with Chun Jun as witness.