Fucang held his breath and kept still, hiding in the shadow of a rock, only exposing a pair of eyes as he vigilantly surveyed his surroundings.

They were currently in a deep valley. Borrowing the cover of night and the complex terrain, they hid in the deepest part, not daring to move at all. That catfish demon was unexpectedly powerful. Even with a heavenly treasure sword like Chun Jun, he could only wound her outer skin. If he truly continued fighting her, sooner or later they would lose their lives.

They could only temporarily hide here and adapt to circumstances as they arose.

The summer nights of the seventh month in the mortal realm should have been stifling and humid, yet Fucang felt the surroundings growing increasingly cold. Looking down, he saw that at some unknown time, a thin layer of frost had already formed on the ground.

He turned his head and saw Xuan Yi sitting in the shadows with her knees hugged to her chest, neither moving nor speaking—quite abnormal behavior.

He recalled that earlier the catfish demon had wrapped her leg with the flexible whip. Those two flexible whips had strange and peculiar forms and were incredibly resilient. Nine times out of ten, they were transformed from the catfish’s long whiskers. This dragon princess was still young in years, so she had probably inadvertently been injured.

“How are you?” Fucang immediately bent down and swiftly looked her over from head to toe.

Xuan Yi shrank back, her voice cold: “Not dead yet. Sorry to disappoint you.”

Fucang mercilessly pulled away her hands that were hugging her knees and said flatly: “Mortals speak of death. The divine race only speaks of perishing. Didn’t you read Master’s册booklet?”

Her right calf was bright red all over—she was indeed injured. No wonder her divine power was leaking outward, uncontrolled, spreading frost across the valley floor.

“The Huaxu Clan is truly diligent and hardworking. I admire that, truly admire it.” Xuan Yi mocked casually, pressing back down the hem of her skirt that he had lifted. “Don’t touch me.”

If not for him, would she have gotten caught up in this trouble?

Fucang slowly untied his sash and removed his outer robe, covering her from head to toe: “Your divine power is leaking. Put this on properly. This garment can contain divine power, so that fish demon won’t detect it.”

Xuan Yi didn’t resist, her entire body hiding inside his outer robe. But then he suddenly reached up to pull off her silk white shawl. She immediately grabbed hold of it, glaring at him coldly: “What are you doing?”

“What do you think?” He effortlessly tore the poor shawl in half, then immediately grabbed hold of her wildly kicking leg and swiftly wound the shawl around her injured right leg several times. Divine blood had a rich fragrance. If he didn’t wrap the wound, they probably couldn’t hide it from the fish demon’s nose.

Taking advantage of him finishing wrapping the wound, Xuan Yi forcefully moved her body away. She had no mood to banter with him anymore. She hated him to death—brutish barbarian! Nose in the air! Every time she encountered him, nothing good happened!

But unexpectedly, he suddenly lifted her up again as if picking up a bag. She struggled with all her might: “Don’t touch me!”

The violent movements caused the wound on her right leg to start bleeding again. Fucang frowned tightly and grabbed her ankle with one hand, using the remaining shawl to bind her two legs together strip by strip.

Fearing the fish demon would detect them, Xuan Yi dared not curse aloud nor struggle violently. She could only reach out to pull his hair and randomly slap him without rhyme or reason.

The consequence of doing this was that both her wrists were also bound together.

“The Huaxu Clan is elegant and values propriety—truly lives up to its reputation!” Xuan Yi’s voice trembled with anger.

Fucang wrapped the loose outer robe on her body tightly once more, bundling her up like a meat worm that could only wriggle weakly, and only then did he let out a breath: “The Zhuyin Clan is brave and skilled in battle—also quite formidable indeed.”

“Just you wait!” Having lived for nine thousand seven hundred years, when had she ever kicked against such an iron plate? This Fucang was simply born specifically to oppose her—he wouldn’t yield to soft or hard tactics and had endless tricks.

Fucang tied her, bundled like a meat worm, tightly to his waist sash. Holding the Chun Jun sword in one hand and cradling her in the other, he rose and carefully looked around before walking step by step toward the depths of the valley floor, saying as he went: “Starting now, say one more word and I’ll leave you here.”

The usually haughty princess of the Zhuyin Clan finally held her breath and remained silent and still.

She wanted to trample this Fucang to death, grind him into fragments—that would be good. But she couldn’t do it. The wound on her leg hurt so much, her stomach was hungry too, her hands and feet were bound and she couldn’t move, and outside there was an incredibly powerful fish demon hunting them. Today was truly the worst luck ever, all because this bastard had to drag her into this.

Fucang walked along the soft mud path for a while when he suddenly felt the surrounding silence was extremely strange. He couldn’t hear any insect chirping or night owls at all. For the lower realm, this situation was quite abnormal. He narrowed his eyes slightly and looked up, carefully examining the high mountain cliffs on all four sides. He wasn’t familiar with the mountain terrain of the mortal realm. This place had steep mountain cliffs and forests of stone walls. The valley floor that never saw sunlight year-round had dense yin energy—it was a good place for breeding demonic creatures.

Thinking of this, his footsteps stopped. He no longer walked toward the deepest part but found an open space formed by several huge rocks and slowly sat down leaning against the mountain rock, turning to hold Xuan Yi before him and placing her on his legs.

This little princess of the Zhuyin Clan looked at him expressionlessly and indeed obediently didn’t say a single word.

Fucang rather appreciated her ability to assess the situation. She could always make things go bad right up to the step before they became irreconcilable—that was also a skill.

He took out the thick booklet that Master had issued from his bosom and silently began reading.

In this situation, he still pretended to be composed and read books—his brain must be broken… Xuan Yi viciously dismembered him in her mind.

In the deep valley’s late night, it was extremely quiet. Who knows how much time passed when Fucang felt this little princess’s head nodding from drowsiness. She truly had backbone. Even sitting on his legs, she still kept her back straight, looking as if she would rather die than yield.

He spoke, saying only one word: “Sleep.”

He had thought this little princess would speak sarcastically again, but unexpectedly she suddenly let out a soft sigh, her voice becoming gentle: “I’m hungry.”

Fucang’s gaze remained on the booklet, his long eyelashes leaving two rows of shadows on his cheeks as he said flatly: “Endure it.”

Xuan Yi rested her head on his shoulder, quietly moving a bit closer, her forehead almost touching his chin: “I’m not that kind of barbarian. I’m only a bit over nine thousand years old, and I’m injured. You want me to endure?”

He didn’t speak, as if he hadn’t heard, focusing intently on reading. After a moment, he suddenly felt a coolness on his ear. This audacious dragon princess had actually opened her mouth and gently bit his ear with her teeth. He couldn’t help but shudder, momentarily frozen in place.

“Senior Brother Fucang, if you don’t release me soon, I’ll bite your ear off.” Her voice was soft and gentle, yet it concealed killing intent.

His thick eyelashes lifted twice: “Oh? Try it then?”

Before Xuan Yi had time to speak, she felt his hand suddenly grasp her chin. His five fingers happened to pinch right at the pain points, hurting her enough to cry out “Ah!” The next moment, she was lifted by her collar right before his face.

Fucang stared at her with a calm, unruffled expression for a very, very long time—so long that Xuan Yi felt her hair stand on end—before he suddenly spoke: “Still want to run away by yourself, hmm?”

Xuan Yi remained silent.

The sensation left by the bitten ear was extremely strange. Fucang quietly looked at her jade-porcelain-like translucent face in the moonlight, her full, beautiful lips.

For some reason, the more he disliked her, the more he wanted to provoke her. The more he provoked her to the point of fury, the more comfortable he felt. Facing her was simply a kind of bad habit—disgusting yet addictive, self-torturing yet pleasurable.

Every time he stayed with her for long, he had an unprecedented strange impulse. All the malice hidden in his deepest depths would come pouring out in full force. He himself couldn’t say clearly whether it was because of disgust that he wanted to distance himself from her, or whether he looked forward to that strange pleasure when being together with her.

He wanted to crush this hateful princess into fragments, wanted to provoke her until she called to heaven without response and to earth without acknowledgment, and he also wanted… also wanted…

His complexion suddenly changed. He raised his hand to cover Xuan Yi’s mouth, and then heard that giant catfish demon’s cold, hateful voice ring out from some unknown location: “Little princess of the Zhuyin Clan, where are you hiding? You’d better hide carefully, don’t let me find you. Otherwise, I’ll eat you bit by bit, starting from your feet, making you slowly watch your own body turn into white bones!”