There suddenly seemed to be the fragrance of welcome spring flowers in the wind. Chu Yuan stared at her in a daze, as if returning to that fleeting glimpse by the riverbank in the mortal realm tens of thousands of years ago.

But before he could think further, the young girl lowered her head, bowed to him, and as instructed, stood at the very front.

His throat tightened. Chu Yuan wanted to hold her back, but his soul was too weak, and his fingers passed through her sleeve, unable to grasp her.

At the front, Li Ye was extremely agitated. Yan Cha slowly approached, her hand curled into a ball inside her sleeve.

She could have asked one more question: why did he want her to stand at the front when it was so dangerous? Was it because he disliked her?

But with too many emotions in her heart, she couldn’t ask.

After cultivating for so many years, Yan Cha’s only wish was to ascend to the Ninth Heaven to see him once, to see what the handsome and elegant man her mother spoke of looked like. However, she never expected to encounter such a situation right at their first meeting.

The burning sensation from the divine fire grew increasingly intense. Yan Cha steeled herself as she stood firmly at the front, eyes closed, not daring to look directly at Li Ye.

The immortal ahead of her had already turned to ashes. Li Ye raised his hand and viciously grabbed her by the neck.

…

…

Yan Cha’s breath caught, her entire body tensing.

However, after waiting for a long time, the pain of having her soul torn away didn’t come.

Confused, she cautiously opened her eyes to a slit and saw Li Ye staring at her intently, a hint of haze passing through his crimson pupils.

He suddenly seemed somewhat dejected, his lips pursed as he released her, setting her back on the ground.

Yan Cha was dumbfounded, blinking in bewilderment. The group of immortals behind her seized the opportunity to scatter and flee.

Zhu Yan, standing at the back, frowned deeply. He raised his hand to cast several barriers, attempting to block them. But being merely a Zhengjun, he was no match for the many High Gods among these immortals who easily broke through his barriers and disappeared into the distance.

Annoyed, he turned and called out, “High God?”

Li Ye ignored him, eyes fixed on Yan Cha. After a long pause, he asked in a hoarse voice, “Have you found your little junior sister?”

His tone caused an inexplicable pain in one’s heart. Yan Cha clutched her chest, still trembling: “N-no, haven’t seen her.”

“Mm.” Li Ye nodded, lowering his eyes. “I haven’t seen her either.”

“She does wander off…”

The trailing sigh was swallowed by the foul wind around them. Yan Cha listened with heat rising in her eyes, instinctively moving closer to Chu Yuan’s physical body, grasping his wrist.

Li Ye glanced at her action but said nothing, only turning around as if preparing to leave.

But then, Meng Wan returned with his sword.

While so many immortals knew to flee, Senior Brother Meng seemed to have gone mad, charging at Li Ye with bloodshot eyes.

He could never defeat Li Ye, but he appeared not to value his life.

Li Ye turned to look at him, his eyes growing three degrees colder. With a flick of his finger, the blue sword in Meng Wan’s hand shattered into two pieces.

Meng Wan’s expression remained unchanged. Even with a broken sword, he thrust fiercely toward Li Ye. However, the difference in their spiritual power was too vast. Before he could get close, Li Ye swept him aside.

“Get lost,” Li Ye said coldly. “Don’t think I won’t kill you.”

Jaw clenched tight, Meng Wan spat, “Kill me if you want. Who cares if you spare my life? Stop pretending to care about us for your junior sister’s sake. She died because of you!”

A sensation like a stone roller crushing his chest passed over Li Ye. He pressed his lips together, saying nothing.

Meng Wan tossed aside the broken sword, glaring at him hatefully: “A High God like you with no humanity deserves to be alone for life. Why did you have to involve her? If you had let her go earlier, if you had let her leave with me, she would still be alive and well!”

These words were nothing but hindsight criticism. He shouldn’t care.

But hearing them, Li Ye still felt pain throughout his body.

A High God’s fate is not meant to be known by outsiders, yet look—even a minor immortal like Meng Wan could see that his fate was to be eternally alone, without family or friends. Finally, a small creature who would protect him had appeared by his side, and now she too was gone.

He was so fixated on revenge because he truly wanted to have a Hui Ji, someone who would still think of him at the moment of death.

But in the end, it seemed he still had nothing.

The areas scorched by divine fire suddenly grew cold, and frost began to form on the charred earth and tree branches, quickly spreading into sheets of ice.

Zhu Yan was startled by this sudden change. Looking closer, fear grew in his heart.

What kind of Dao had Li Ye cultivated? His control over spiritual power was astonishingly formidable. One moment, there had been divine fire everywhere; the next, the scene was filled with ice crystals.

Even more terrifying was that he didn’t seem to be deliberately controlling it—it was as if the surroundings changed with his mood.

Instinctively stepping back, Zhu Yan wanted to move further away, but by the time he realized it was too late, ice had frozen his feet in place. The spreading ice, like climbing vines, crept up his legs.

“High God?” he called out anxiously.

Li Ye seemed not to hear, lost in his world. Ice crystals also began to cover Yan Cha and Meng Wan beside him.

This is bad, Zhu Yan thought with furrowed brows.

He seemed to have lost control.

Meng Wan remained calm, still looking at him with hatred. Yan Cha caressed and held Chu Yuan’s body tightly, allowing the ice crystals to freeze up to her waist.

Li Ye kept his eyes lowered, his face revealing neither joy nor sorrow. Even his fire-red robe began to form ice crystals.

“Li Ye!” someone called out.

The voice was familiar yet distant, as if coming from a dream.

Li Ye listened indifferently, not opening his eyes, thinking that it might be good to let the whole world sleep with him. At least in dreams, someone cared about him.

“Li Ye!”

The voice drew closer, filled with panic.

Li Ye froze, and his nearly stopped heart suddenly gave a violent beat.

“Ow, what is this thing!” she cried out pitifully, her voice halting a rod’s distance from him, tinged with tears. “High God, save me!”

His eyelashes trembled, and Li Ye raised his eyes in disbelief.

Er’er was frozen in place, a rod away from him, trying hard to pull her legs free. Seeing that he had finally opened his eyes, she quickly stretched out her hands toward him: “Come quickly and pull me out! I can’t move!”

Clear black and white eyes, a small face scrunched up, familiar immortal aura.

Something in his chest suddenly came alive, beating extremely fast, bringing his entire bloodstream back to life, so hot that his palms swelled.

Li Ye’s throat bobbed as he took a step forward, walking toward her.

As he approached, before he could even act, she pounced on him with an “oh!” and hugged his waist, her legs kicking straight: “Who made these ice crystals? It’s so unreasonable—I was riding on a cloud and got frozen right out of the sky! Hey, are you all right? Why is there so much blood?”

She looked up, wiped some blood from his neck, wrinkled her nose and sniffed, then her expression suddenly relaxed: “Oh, it’s not yours. That’s fine then.”

The ice crystals that had frozen solid across the ground suddenly began to melt away.