Huang Rang kept watch beside this small cave, watching the sky brighten at sunrise and darken at sunset.

Di Yiqiu seemed to have completely lost human habits. He coiled in the cave, and when he woke from sleep, it was the deep quiet of night outside. It slithered out of the cave, transforming into human form in an uninhabited place, walking toward the next Goddess Shrine under construction.

Huang Rang followed behind him, watching him travel alone through empty, pitch-black main streets or back alleys.

His footsteps were very light, hair disheveled and covered in dust, like a homeless beggar.

“Don’t Li Lu care about you at all? And Baowu, Zhu Xiang…” A ball of fire smoldered in Huang Rang’s heart. Her anger made her resent everyone she knew who was still alive. But after all the resentment, only endless bitterness remained.

Seeing Di Yiqiu enter another Goddess Shrine, Huang Rang didn’t walk in.

The Goddess Shrines weren’t large, and the materials used only emphasized sturdiness and solidity, not luxury. Such shrines didn’t cost much but were small and beautiful, practical in every way.

Di Yiqiu had always seemed to do things this way.

Huang Rang had experienced extravagance, but in the end, she had fallen in love with this kind of solidity. Each stone and piece of wood was like his longing—simple and unadorned, yet enduring and eternal.

She stood at the entrance looking in. The newly built shrine still floated with the fragrance of wood. On the altar in the hall, a huge rough stone stood there dumbly. Having no form whatsoever, it showed a somewhat foolish air.

Di Yiqiu came to the altar’s edge. He didn’t even look around, just mechanically took out a chisel from his storage artifact. He continued carving this lifeless stone.

Huang Rang didn’t know how many times he had done this.

Nor did she know how many years he had lived like this.

He lived repeatedly through these empty, lonely years, even his soul sinking into silence.

Huang Rang didn’t follow him. She turned and left the Goddess Shrine. Thus the sound of the chisel carving the stone statue gradually grew distant.

Thick darkness rushed at her. Huang Rang actually feared darkness.

But at this moment, she melted into the darkness, yet could see her surroundings very clearly. Huang Rang didn’t know why she had been resurrected again. Was it related to these Goddess Shrines standing everywhere?

What should she do to materialize again and appear before Di Yiqiu’s eyes?

She had too many unknowns. Even though she came from an immortal sect, she had never heard of such things.

Where should she go now?

Huang Rang felt like she was a gust of wind. When she remained still, this wind blew her, pushing her forward. She passed through houses and rivers without obstruction, until finally the wind pushed her to another place.

It was precisely another Goddess Shrine.

When Huang Rang returned to the brilliantly colorful statue, her whole being seemed to have a body again, no longer drifting uncertainly.

She closed her eyes, concentrating her essence and gathering her qi, sensing the source of her power.

With this sensing, she immediately felt countless streams of power flowing toward her like trickles. Examining the source of these powers closely—it was precisely the Goddess Shrines.

The incense and vow power offered by these mortals had reshaped her life.

Huang Rang had once seen the Demonic Text use resentment as its foundation. She had also cultivated martial arts and knew how to forge the body.

She immediately absorbed the vow power to rebuild her foundation.

Si Tianjian.

The Director hadn’t appeared for a long time, and everyone had grown accustomed to it.

Now Li Lu managed internal affairs and Baowu managed external affairs in the directorate. This enormous organization still operated as usual.

Before, Di Yiqiu would occasionally send back blueprints for magical artifacts using secret techniques, but now he gradually stopped sending news.

They had of course searched for him, but who would search the entire world by prying open every thumb-sized cave?

So naturally it was fruitless.

The Director of Si Tianjian gradually became a figure who lived only in legends.

Huang Rang cultivated diligently—her diligence was beyond question.

The title of “Cultivation Tyrant of the Immortal Sects”—how could that be an empty name?

On this day, while Huang Rang was absorbing vow power, someone suddenly cried out in alarm: “Who are you? Sitting on the statue’s shoulder—what do you intend?!”

Huang Rang opened her eyes. These days, she had long grown accustomed to the noisy sounds in the shrine. But right now, before dawn, no believers had come to offer incense. Who was shouting?

Huang Rang lowered her head and only then saw it was the shrine keeper leading people to clean and sweep. At this moment, the shrine keeper looked up, his gaze burning, meeting her eyes directly.

“You…” Huang Rang was stunned for quite a while and asked, “You… can see me?”

The sky hadn’t brightened yet, the candlelight dim and yellow.

Yet the shrine keeper said angrily, “I’m not blind—how could I not see you, a living person?! You dare desecrate Lady Xi Rang—get down from there right now!”

But Huang Rang didn’t pay attention to his angry rebuke.

He can see me! He can see me!

The cultivation tyrant’s heart filled with joy. With a thought, she vanished without a trace.

In the Goddess Shrine, the shrine keeper hadn’t finished scolding when suddenly a black shadow flashed across the statue—no one was there.

The shrine keeper’s mouth gaped open. The other people were also dumbfounded!

This Goddess Shrine was only this tiny bit big. How could a living person disappear before everyone’s eyes without leaving even a trace?

“The Lady, the Lady has manifested!” Everyone spread the word in excitement.

At this moment, Huang Rang ran like the wind, her heart full of joy.

Dawn hadn’t arrived, yet the long night was nearly over.

She ran across mountains and fields, through cities and villages, even the air she breathed incomparably sweet.

Di Yiqiu… She wanted to throw herself into his embrace, merge into his bloodline—waiting even one more moment was torture.

But this kind of reunion seemed too plain.

Huang Rang stopped. After all, this was a reunion after long separation—it seemed she should put some thought into it.

She restrained the longing in her heart, recalling all those romantic affairs and amorous sentiments one by one. Then she found a waterside, planning to carefully groom and wash. The dress couldn’t be pale gold. But it would be best if there was some connection.

Huang Rang was considering the color of her clothing when suddenly the clothes on her body turned water-green. Huang Rang looked down and only then discovered that her entire dress had already become the same color as the water.

What exactly had she become? Her cultivation level seemed quite formidable!

She felt uneasy—could I have become a deity?

But this ability to change clothes at will was truly too convenient!

She kept changing the dress on her body, finally selecting a black gauze dress. The dress clung tightly to her body on top, outlining her graceful curves. The hem layered fold upon fold, silk threads mixed with scales—like the Milky Way scattered across a black night.

She admired it for a moment, then redid her hair, wearing a black fan-shaped hair ornament.

This outfit wasn’t her usual attire. But once when Di Yiqiu had pushed her wheelchair around the capital, she had tried it on at Liuxian Workshop.

Huang Rang admired herself from left and right, very satisfied.

Thus she came outside the unfinished Goddess Shrine. Clearly she had been strolling leisurely just moments ago, but in a flash, her face was full of panic. She lifted her skirt hem, rushing into the shrine, stumbling as she looked for a place to hide.

It seemed that right outside the shrine, someone was chasing her!

There was nowhere else to hide in the shrine—she could only hide behind the statue.

The statue hadn’t been painted yet. The gray-white goddess had already taken form. Huang Rang raised her head, meeting the eyes of the person bent over carving.

Yes! Look at me, look at me!

At the moment their gazes met, her heart filled with joy. Di Yiqiu, you can finally see me again!

Di Yiqiu indeed saw her.

Huang Rang had chosen the spot with the best lighting. From his angle, he would definitely be able to see her silhouette. A seemingly familiar woman, wearing a dress she had once tried on, stumbling into his world!

What wonderful fate!

Just thinking about it was intoxicating.

Huang Rang looked forward to it eagerly.

The person who had been carving finally stopped.

Di Yiqiu stood up, step by step, coming before Huang Rang. He was covered in dust, his beard unkempt, looking simply like a wild man. Huang Rang showed panic in her eyes and shrank back a bit more.

“I… someone is chasing me outside…” she said in a small voice, each word pitifully vulnerable.

Di Yiqiu bent down. In her mind, Huang Rang had imagined his reaction ten thousand times.

Then she felt her neck tighten!

Di Yiqiu grabbed her by the throat!

By the time Huang Rang reacted, Di Yiqiu had already lifted her up. He grabbed Huang Rang with one hand, while his other hand gathered force and suddenly struck down with a palm.

With a bang, Huang Rang shattered on impact!

Di Yiqiu’s voice was cold as ice: “No one is permitted to steal this face.”

Huang Rang’s entire being turned to smoke and dust, as if suffocating. After a good while, she fled outside the Goddess Shrine. Inside, the sound of carving the statue resumed.

…This person truly had… no sense of romance.

Huang Rang felt both joy and sadness.

Clearly so wretched, yet he refused substitutes. He wouldn’t keep even a little token of memory.

She had great difficulty reassembling her body. Though Di Yiqiu’s strike earlier was heavy, it hadn’t caused her much harm.

Huang Rang even felt that she truly was no longer an ordinary demon or spirit creature now.

She didn’t dare tease Di Yiqiu again, but she faced a new difficulty.

“How do I prove that I am me?”

“Di Yiqiu!” Through the unpainted stone statue, she called this name again.

Just these three characters already made her voice hoarse with emotion, her eyes red.

The sound of striking the chisel behind the stone statue stopped. Huang Rang couldn’t see that person’s expression, nor did she know his reaction.

She could only continue: “I don’t know what happened, but I’ve come back.”

But such a simple sentence was of course insufficient to win trust. Especially from the current Di Yiqiu.

Huang Rang’s heart grew anxious, and footsteps sounded from behind the stone statue. That person was indeed walking toward her again.

The footsteps drew closer and closer. In Huang Rang’s heart, past events flipped through page by page.

How do I prove that I am me?!

Her thoughts raced like lightning. Her experiences were no longer secret by now. What exactly should she say to make him believe?

Di Yiqiu strode before her, his eyes showing cold light, his face expressionless. At this moment, he was more like a wild beast.

…A snake?

Yes, like a snake. Cold and unfeeling.

Huang Rang closed her eyes and said, “You brought me back from Yuhu Xuanzong and bathed me—the scrubbing turned five basins of water black!”

This sentence she spoke both quickly and loudly.

The footsteps before her stopped.

Huang Rang’s breathing grew more and more rapid, her cheeks flushed red, even from her ears to her neck beginning to burn hot.

Never would have imagined—even after becoming a deity, this old lady still has to undergo public execution!

Damn it!