Zhi Xi placed Xuan Yi on the tree bed, pacing aimlessly around the room at a loss for what to do.

What if she had fallen and become a demon? A voice in her heart asked quietly. What about her deep hatred of evil? What about her strict impartiality?

Beads of sweat densely covered Zhi Xi’s forehead. She didn’t know what had caused Xuan Yi to become like this. Her wound looked very likely—eight or nine chances out of ten—to have been inflicted by Huaxu Clan’s Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon technique. Had Junior Apprentice-Brother Fucang discovered she had become a demon and thus righteously eliminated a relative? How could he be so ruthless? Yet she herself couldn’t bring herself to do such a thing.

For some reason, the possibility that Xuan Yi might have become a demon—even while filling her with shock and helplessness—also stirred within her a faint guilty sense of relief, as if she had been given a chance to win her back.

How ugly, the voice in her heart rebuked her. But she couldn’t suppress it. The tender compassion entwined around her heart seemed to take on a lofty, condescending quality.

Zhi Xi removed Xuan Yi’s mud-stained battle armor and summoned dew to wash the sweat and blood from her body and face. This pampered princess who had always lived in comfort and couldn’t endure hardship suddenly stirred slightly and opened her eyes again, silently looking at her.

“…I’ve set up a barrier. We shouldn’t be discovered,” Zhi Xi said, not knowing what else to say. After hesitating for a moment, she added, “Rest here for now. Your injury…”

Xuan Yi looked at her silently for a long while. Gradually, the same smile as usual appeared on her pale face as she said softly, “Senior Sister, why don’t you ever dress yourself up?”

Zhi Xi felt somewhat stiff. Coming from her mouth now, those words sounded particularly grating. She replied, “I don’t need to rely on external beauty to seduce divine lords.”

Xuan Yi continued smiling, closing her eyes as she said, “What a pity, when you’re so beautiful.”

Zhi Xi was momentarily at a loss for words. After sitting idly for half a day, she simply stood up and said, “I’m going back to the battle generals’ palace. Sleep well. I’ll come check on you later and bring you food.”

Just as she was about to break through the barrier, she heard Xuan Yi speak again: “Senior Sister, keeping me here will cause you trouble.”

Zhi Xi’s heart was in turmoil. She frowned and said, “Stop talking. Just sleep.”

She hurriedly left the mountain hollow, vigilantly confirming that no one had noticed before riding the wind toward the battle generals’ palace. She didn’t know whether sheltering Xuan Yi was right or wrong, but it seemed she could neither bring herself to report to the commanding general nor bear to watch the severely injured Xuan Yi walk away alone.

In the evening, the colleagues who had been summoned to assist in exterminating Bashe Dajun returned to the palace one after another, enthusiastically discussing various details of the elimination. As Zhi Xi passed through the garden, one battle general was laughing and saying, “The Huaxu Clan’s sword technique is indeed formidable, but their aim is terrible. The Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon actually went after the Zhuyin Clan princess instead. The battle generals of the Dingmao Division later cut Bashe Dajun’s corpse into pieces but couldn’t find the princess. In my opinion, that princess with her peculiar temper probably ran away in anger long ago. Who knows, she might even bring Zhongshan Dijun as reinforcement!”

Another battle general said, “Didn’t Zhongshan Dijun and Xiaolong Jun report serious injuries and take leave? This Zhuyin Clan family—instead of properly exterminating demons, they’re always up to who knows what. I have a friend in the Wuchen Division who says that recently something new seems to have happened at the Sea of Bitter Regret. The Darkness of Zhuyin shrouding the Sea of Bitter Regret has diminished considerably. With the entire Zhuyin Clan family seriously injured at this critical juncture, could they have secretly gone to absorb the Darkness of Zhuyin?”

Immediately another battle general shook his head: “That place is full of turbid qi. Absorbing it would lead to annihilation. Don’t speak such words carelessly. Who can afford to offend the Zhuyin Clan?”

Zhi Xi stood stunned, listening for a long time. Suddenly she recalled Xuan Yi’s appearance, covered in turbid qi. Could her transformation be due to absorbing most of the Darkness of Zhuyin from the Sea of Bitter Regret? Why would she go to the Sea of Bitter Regret for no good reason? Had she truly grown tired of being a celestial deity and wanted to become a demon king?

Come to think of it, she found herself surprisingly able to accept the idea of Xuan Yi wanting to become a demon king. This little princess had always acted with considerable wickedness. Gu Ting had even given her the nickname “Little Demon.” Could that have been prophetic?

Zhi Xi could no longer remain. She hurriedly gathered food, and remembering that Xuan Yi loved pastries, she unconsciously selected several golden chestnut paste cakes to put in the food box before stealthily taking the dark paths to leave the battle generals’ palace and fly toward the mountain hollow.

Who would have known that the crimson figure was no longer in the tree house? The barrier had been broken open. The tree house was engulfed in ice layers as thick and heavy as black crystal, with dense turbid qi. Even the several large trees woven into the tree house had been corrupted into black.

Members of the Zhuyin Clan leaked divine power whenever they were injured. Judging from the thickness of the ice layer, Xuan Yi’s injury was truly extremely severe. Where could she have gone all alone?

Wind carrying turbid qi struck her face. In the distance, bone-piercing cold qi surged faintly. Zhi Xi hurriedly rode the wind in pursuit. If the battle generals discovered this, she would truly be in trouble!

*

In the past, when watching Fucang’s Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon bite those demons, Xuan Yi had never thought it particularly formidable. Not until that dragon bit into her own body did she realize this move was truly incredibly powerful.

By sheer coincidence, it had bitten the very spot where her dragon scales had just fallen off. The Huaxu Clan’s sword qi prevented both the turbid qi and regenerative divine power in her body from healing the wound, which continued bleeding profusely even now.

Her body felt so heavy. Flying on the wind was terribly slow. Xuan Yi suddenly transformed into dragon form, soaring through the dense foliage. Fresh blood and dragon scales fell in clumps. The excruciating pain tormented her until her vision darkened. Finally unable to fly anymore, she plummeted heavily, rolling several times down the steep mountain slope before crashing into a small grove of trees.

Suddenly a cry of alarm rang out in the forest. Auspicious light flickered—a celestial deity was there.

Xuan Yi gritted her teeth and struggled, but no matter what she did, she couldn’t rise. The auspicious light suddenly drew near. It seemed to be a goddess whose voice had changed from shock: “This is…”

Her voice suddenly cut off, and her body softly collapsed to the ground.

Pitch-black snowflakes drifted and fell. Xuan Yi realized she didn’t even have the strength to transform back into human form. Panting, she looked toward another approaching mass of auspicious light. The newcomer wore loose turquoise robes that exposed a large expanse of chest, still bearing several rouge marks. A fiery red jewel swayed on his forehead—it was none other than Shao Yi, the very culprit she wished she could dismember a thousand times over.

He first sighed with helpless laughter: “How did you fall before me again?”

But when he saw clearly the pitch-black giant dragon before him surrounded by turbid qi, with most of its dragon scales already fallen, his expression slowly grew calm, becoming deep and grave.

“Ah,” Shao Yi slowly began, “it’s become the worst possible situation.”

The pitch-black giant dragon opened its mouth in a soundless roar. Great masses of fresh blood slid from her mouth. The severe wounds on her back and abdomen had already frozen the ground into a thick layer of ice.

Shao Yi watched for a while, then slowly walked over. The dragon’s tail immediately lashed toward him, but only struck an afterimage. His hand pressed upon her head, and a layer of golden-cyan radiance burst from his palm, instantly flowing throughout the dragon’s body. The two wounds that had been bleeding endlessly immediately healed somewhat and no longer oozed blood.

The pitch-black giant dragon stirred slightly and transformed back into a slender crimson figure lying prostrate on the ground, her lips as white as snow.

Shao Yi crouched down and used his fingers to wipe away the blood traces at the corners of her lips: “This is a Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon wound. Junior Apprentice-Brother Fucang did this? How ruthless of him.”

Xuan Yi panted for a long while, her gaze cold as she stared at him, saying in a low voice, “…The Heart Feathers inside my father and brother’s bodies—have you retrieved them or not?”

Shao Yi smiled faintly but didn’t answer that question. He only said leisurely, “The current situation is called the Fall of a Celestial Deity, the same as what happened to me in the Sea of Bitter Regret. Whether or not it was done as a good deed to save the world, when a celestial deity falls and becomes a demon, it’s the most taboo thing in the divine realm, the one thing they must exterminate completely. After all, the influence of Gonggong Dajun’s evil deeds in ancient times was too profound. If the battle generals discover you, I’m afraid there will be no way out.”

Gonggong had been a celestial deity who fell and became a demon. To this day when the gods mentioned him, they still trembled with fear. And because the Fall of a Celestial Deity sounded truly too disgraceful, the divine realm refused to acknowledge even now that Gonggong Dajun had once been a celestial deity.

Xuan Yi said grimly, “Since you knew this would happen all along, why not report me in exchange for the Qingyang Clan’s prestige?”

Shao Yi was about to speak when he suddenly seemed to sense something and turned his head. The sound of rushing wind arrived. Zhi Xi landed not far from them, carrying a food box, her face deathly pale.