In ten days, she would probably dissolve until not even her soul remained.

Watching the barrier close before her, Long Xu sneered, contempt evident in her eyes and brows.

She had already given him all her dragon scales. When she fell from the Nine Heavens, he hadn’t even spared her a glance. So why should she now sacrifice her life to guard the formation for him?

Having already crawled through the Ten Thousand Ghosts Cave, how could she still be so foolish?

Shaking her head, she turned around to form hand seals, thinking that in two days, regardless of what chaos might unfold, she was returning to the Netherworld.

The mountainside grew quiet as dawn broke. Outside, there was no more howling wind or lightning. Long Xu quickly composed herself and merged her remaining spiritual power with Xin Wu’s barrier.

At first, it went smoothly. After all, guarding the formation was simple—just defend against outside attacks and gather celestial energy for his cultivation. However, after just a few hours, Long Xu sensed something was wrong.

If Xin Wu were breaking through to a new level, he wouldn’t need so little celestial energy. She had only gathered three parts of the natural essence from around the immortal mountain, thinking it would be depleted in an hour. Yet three hours had passed, and the formation still brimmed with celestial energy.

She thought Xin Wu wasn’t cultivating, but when she looked inside, he was sitting cross-legged on the stone platform, his spiritual power circulating normally without any abnormalities.

…

…

No, if there was something unusual, it was that a High God like him shouldn’t have such a small amount of spiritual power circulating during cultivation.

Unless he hadn’t recovered from severe injuries.

With a slight shift in consciousness, Long Xu sent one of her spirit fragments into the formation.

Xin Wu, with his eyes closed, appeared less aggressive. His pale lips even looked somewhat weak. If she wasn’t certain before, Long Xu could see it now.

No wonder he said he needed ten days. Someone at the High God realm can’t break through to the next level in ten days, but healing some wounds through focused cultivation was certainly possible.

Li Ye was busy with his affairs and couldn’t possibly have fought with Xin Wu recently. So who else could have injured him this badly?

Frowning as she stepped closer, Long Xu reached out and gently touched his brow.

Xin Wu was undergoing “Crossing Tribulation.” When immortals self-heal, their soul and consciousness must relive their three most painful experiences. Thus, even with her touch, he wouldn’t awaken.

Realizing this, Long Xu grew bolder. Her index finger traced his brow ridge with both longing and reluctance.

Suddenly, a bird’s call came from outside the barrier.

Long Xu snapped back to attention and quickly reached out to grab the bird approaching the barrier.

“I’m on your side!” the Tongue Spirit Bird cried out as soon as it landed in her hand.

This creature was Kan Ze’s treasure. What was it doing here? Long Xu frowned, examining it from different angles when she noticed Er’er’s cloth scrap tied to its claw.

“I was originally rushing to Heaven’s Gate to report news when I ran into Immortal Er’er and was forced to deliver a message. Western Sea Princess, please don’t be angry with me,” the Tongue Spirit Bird said pitifully. “Immortal Er’er heard Zhong Su’s message and sent me to ask if you needed any help.”

This was the most spiritually sensitive bird in the Nine Heavens, said to be able to convey a person’s inner voice when perched on their shoulder. Long Xu examined it for a moment, then placed it on her shoulder.

Its small black eyes rolled, and the Tongue Spirit Bird uttered an “Oh.” “Since you came here voluntarily, you don’t need Immortal Er’er to worry about you.”

Could it truly understand? Long Xu raised an eyebrow.

As if its feathers had been plucked, the Tongue Spirit Bird grew slightly angry: “You humanoid immortals have your cultivation methods, and we birds and beasts have ours. We’re all immortals—how can you look down on birds!”

“My apologies.” After untying the cloth from its claw and tucking it into her robe, Long Xu’s eyes flickered as she turned toward the person inside the formation.

“Since you’re already here,” she smiled, “would you help me with something?”

The Tongue Spirit Bird was startled and immediately flapped its wings: “I can barely finish my tasks!”

“Don’t worry, it will only take a moment.” Gently stroking its head, Long Xu brought it into Xin Wu’s barrier and said softly, “After all these years, I just want one answer. He refuses to tell me, so you can do it instead.”

Seeing who was inside the formation, the Tongue Spirit Bird flapped even more frantically: “Spare me! Everyone in the Nine Heavens knows about your unrequited love story. Why must you persist?”

What if translating his thoughts angered her so much that she roasted the bird? It was just a bird and had no desire to get involved in the love affairs of High Gods.

Pressing it firmly, Long Xu smiled with a hint of coldness: “If you want to leave alive, stop flapping your little wings and stand still.”

“Quack.” So upset it squawked like a duck, the Tongue Spirit Bird rolled its eyes. “Forced affection never works. When you fell from the Nine Heavens, High God Xin Wu never showed himself. Why must you insist on hearing…”

“I simply must hear it.” With slightly red-rimmed eyes, Long Xu placed the bird on Xin Wu’s shoulder. “I trust no one’s word but his own.”

As its claws gripped Xin Wu’s shoulder, the Tongue Spirit Bird’s complaints abruptly ceased. Its small head swayed, and its first words were surprisingly: “Pain.”

Long Xu was startled and asked confusedly: “Where does it hurt?”

The Tongue Spirit Bird ignored her and continued on its own: “Big brother, I’m sorry.”

“Pain.”

“She didn’t kill him.”

“It was my fault.”

From these scattered phrases, one could guess what torment he was enduring. For Xin Wu, his greatest pain was still Dui Feng’s death, who was, after all, the person he respected most.

Others might not know, but Long Xu did—Xin Wu, an immortal so extreme to the point of being abnormal, had been pulled back from the brink of demonhood by Dui Feng. For tens of thousands of years, whenever Xin Wu’s mind became unstable, he would kneel before Dui Feng and meditate through it. To other immortals, Dui Feng was useless, but to him, Dui Feng was half his pillar of support.

So when she was to marry Dui Feng, Xin Wu didn’t stop it.

Long Xu was grateful to Dui Feng. If not for his kind persuasion, Xin Wu might never have accepted her.

Lowering her gaze, Long Xu captured the Tongue Spirit Bird as it repeated these few phrases.

Uncomfortably shaking its feathers, the Tongue Spirit Bird complained pitifully: “I can only read thoughts. What he doesn’t think about, I can’t read.”

“Mm.” With a downcast mood, Long Xu held it without saying anything more.

Wanting to leave but unable to, the Tongue Spirit Bird grew somewhat desperate: “Princess, let me tell you something you don’t know—just one thing. After you hear it, will you let me go?”

Long Xu ignored it, remaining silent.

The Tongue Spirit Bird couldn’t hold back any longer and flapped its wings: “On the day you fell from the Nine Heavens, High God Xin Wu voluntarily subjected himself to the punishment of the Dui Clan’s Wound Formation. Whether he originally wanted to save you or not, I don’t know. I only heard of this matter, hoping it might make you feel better.”

The hand holding it loosened, and the Tongue Spirit Bird, as if granted amnesty, fled from the barrier with chaotic cries, flying far away.

Long Xu’s eyelashes trembled, and she smiled with twisted lips: “At least it gives me a self-deceptive way out.”

She turned to look at the man sitting with closed eyes on the stone platform and suddenly felt very tired.