All right then, she wouldn’t talk about that.

Xuan Yi looked at him with clear eyes. After stopping for another moment, she actually sighed and lowered her head again, saying softly, “Then… the Four Wilds and Eight Desolations are very vast, mm… and there are also many goddesses…”

What did she want to say now? Fucang gazed at her pale face, her slightly upturned lips, her willful and reckless manner, her heart colder and harder than iron. She always tormented him, trampled him from head to toe, yet now wanted to say “there are many goddesses.”

He pressed the back of her head, pushing her face back into his embrace, his tone cold: “Leaving last words? It’s not time yet.”

His life had long been trampled by her into something bizarre and monstrous. In all of heaven and earth, where would there be a second Dragon Princess to give him supreme joy and sweetness, to give him complete suffering and despair? Those many goddesses—not a single one was what he wanted. So having them was the same as having none.

He wouldn’t let her say this either? Then what could she say? The time they spent together was always like a dream or illusion—extraordinarily brief. It was not enough, far too insufficient. She had jumped into this abyss and hadn’t yet tasted enough sweetness before experiencing all the sour, bitter, and spicy in their entirety.

Her wish was actually very simple—she only wanted to be with him. Yet somehow it was always so difficult, as if it could never be realized for all eternity.

Xuan Yi lowered her head and smiled: “How did you find me?”

She had originally wanted to find a quiet place with clear mountains and beautiful waters to hide for a while, so they wouldn’t see her covered in turbid qi. Seeing it would certainly make them feel terrible. But he had found her so quickly. She had been flying in dragon form—had he tied an invisible rope to her?

Fucang didn’t answer this question. The answer was definitely not something she would want to hear.

He was able to find the Dragon Princess because Chun Jun had tasted the blood of her fallen celestial deity state. Back in those days, it was precisely through this that it had been able to pursue Gonggong Dajun from heaven to earth, biting down and not letting go. After lying dormant for countless years, it now finally had a new target again.

At this moment, it was humming unwillingly in a low voice, as if not understanding why he wouldn’t allow it to exterminate this demon from a fallen celestial deity before him. Fucang gripped the sharp sword body with force. Divine blood wound around the cyan-blue sword body in threads and strands. The humming finally subsided, leaving only trembling waves.

Touching her hair, his voice was very soft: “You’re severely injured. Don’t speak anymore. Sleep.”

How could she bear to sleep?

Xuan Yi slowly looked around. Half the tranquil forest seemed exceptionally vibrant with life. Every tree’s branches and leaves were like deep green waterfalls, plunging straight to the ground.

Fucang was releasing Huaxu Clan’s gold-wood divine power. It must be to counter the yin-cold power caused by her wounds, preventing this yin-cold aura filled with turbid qi from being discovered by the battle generals.

Come to think of it, a long time ago they seemed to have had a similar experience. Back then she had been injured in the right leg by a catfish demon. He had also held her like this, hiding here and there. Only back then they were evading demons—now they were evading battle generals.

Roughly speaking, she truly was a heavy burden to him. Getting tangled up with her, he had never enjoyed a few days of peace. It was also possible that Mother’s annihilation had left too great an impact on her—she just refused to peacefully stay with him in harmonious tranquility, lest things go well only to turn bad. But actually, thinking about it now, if they had been together one day earlier, at least he could have been happy one more day.

Fucang’s hand still gently caressed her hair, like petting a cat: “Sleep.”

Xuan Yi clutched his collar tightly. Actually, she was truly exhausted. Since discovering something was wrong with her body, she hadn’t really slept much at all. After being severely injured, she had fled everywhere, then later fought desperately with Shao Yi. She didn’t even know she could endure so much.

“If battle generals come…” she mumbled vaguely, “wake me up.”

There would be no sounds. He would disperse all the sounds that disturbed her.

Fucang removed his outer robe, wrapped her body in it, and held her gently in his arms, quietly gazing at those luminously glowing leaves fallen on the ground.

After seeing that Darkness of Zhuyin barely different from the Sea of Bitter Regret, he finally understood what Shao Yi’s earlier words that had puzzled him endlessly truly meant.

Not being able to speak of the matter wasn’t to cover for Shao Yi. Sure enough, once spoken of, the Dragon Princess would certainly be annihilated—not from death by turbid qi contamination, nor from Shao Yi’s various schemes. Under the諸天 Demon Extermination Decree, she would instantly be surrounded by countless battle generals and immediately face complete extermination.

The Fall of a Celestial Deity was the most taboo matter in the divine realm.

Shao Yi had predicted early on that roughly such a situation would occur, yet he had still let her enter the Sea of Bitter Regret.

Fucang gripped Chun Jun tightly. All hatred arose from weakness. He hated no one—only himself. It was because he wasn’t strong enough that he hadn’t been able to let the Dragon Princess emerge unscathed, that Chun Jun had uncontrollably and severely injured her. None of this should have happened in the first place.

As if sensing his emotions, the trembling Chun Jun finally quieted down fearfully.

Fucang’s wrist turned. A wooden sword appeared in his palm. He gently tossed it out. It suddenly transformed into a golden dragon, circling and spinning around the two of them.

The second Sword Qi Transforming into Dragon—he had also practiced it countless times, only suddenly awakening to success at this moment.

All his glory and struggles were for her sake, yet it still wasn’t enough—far from enough. If only one night could pass and decades of ten thousand years would go by, that would be wonderful. He didn’t care about the length or brevity of a lifetime, as long as he could protect her in the palm of his hand.

The golden dragon flew over obediently. Unlike Chun Jun’s innate spiritual nature, it unhesitatingly opened its giant maw and gently swallowed Xuan Yi in, then transformed back into a wooden sword and fell into his palm.

Sleep well. No one would come to disturb her anymore.

*

The soft patter of footsteps awakened Gu Ting from his light sleep. He opened his eyes to see Yan Xia’s familiar figure again. She was carefully pouring tea from a fine-spouted teapot into a cup, then holding a book while drinking tea and reading with absorption. It was extremely rare for her to relax like this—she hadn’t noticed at all that he had awakened.

Gu Ting quietly watched her back, feeling a surge of warmth in his heart. For a moment he recalled that back in the day, because of Xuan Yi’s matter, he had been angry and thought of matching Yan Xia with Fucang. Thinking of it now, it actually seemed laughable.

He was about to speak when he suddenly heard the door being gently knocked twice. Yan Xia rushed to open the door like a little oriole, immediately laughing, “Senior Apprentice-Brother Tai Yao!”

“How is Gu Ting?”

As Tai Yao asked, he walked around the screen. Seeing that Gu Ting was awake, he came forward to carefully examine the hole in his back. After all, he was a civil official—he could never stand bloody wounds. Seeing that the turbid qi on it had diminished considerably, he quickly looked away and said with relief, “How dangerous that you could actually endure. I have to look at you with new eyes.”

This made Gu Ting smile. Seeing Yan Xia standing there grinning foolishly, he gently instructed, “Why are you standing there stupidly? Won’t you pour tea for Senior Apprentice-Brother Tai Yao?”

Yan Xia hurriedly poured two cups of tea with a beaming smile, handing one to him and one to Tai Yao. Then she obediently shrank back to her spot to read, not disturbing their conversation.

Seeing their situation, Tai Yao’s smile deepened even more. With a teasing tone, he began, “In my opinion, this time the two elders Hua Huang and Chi Di need not worry about anything anymore.”

Gu Ting hadn’t yet reacted when Yan Xia behind them had already knocked over her teacup. She hurriedly bent down to pick it up, her ears already as crimson as rosy clouds. With her reacting like this, Gu Ting also felt somewhat embarrassed and said in a low voice, “Senior Apprentice-Brother Tai Yao, speak carefully.”

Seeing that their faces were each thinner-skinned than the other, Tai Yao stopped teasing and only asked, “How have the other junior apprentice-brothers been lately? Last time I heard that the Zhuyin Clan family of three had disappeared, but who knew later it changed to them being severely injured. I don’t know what happened. Your battle generals’ side should have more current information, right?”

Gu Ting shook his head: “That little demon’s family has been causing quite enough chaos. There hasn’t been any new information from Yuhua Hall…”

Before he finished speaking, the door was suddenly flung open forcefully. A Mingxing Hall disciple who had once been close to him rushed in, his face horrified, shouting loudly, “Something terrible has happened! They say Xuan Yi has fallen and become a demon! Senior Sister Zhi Xi was imprisoned in the Heavenly Prison for harboring her! The commanding generals of all the battle divisions are discussing how to exterminate her! They might even use those Houyi arrows retrieved last time!”

What?! Yan Xia and Tai Yao were so shocked they nearly jumped up. Gu Ting also nearly jumped up, immediately breaking into a cold sweat from the pain.