Xiaoxiao saw Wei Jie’s figure and prepared to call out loudly, but when the words reached her lips, she swallowed them back.

She knew her life wouldn’t last much longer. If she got too close to Wei Jie, he might discover her condition.

Actually, after that conversation with the fortune-telling old monk, Xiaoxiao had already made her decision: she would help Wei Jie pass through the final trial and successfully return to immortal status.

And when that time came, she would leave behind a letter simply saying that she missed life two hundred years later, bid him farewell, and use the Zhulong deity statue to return to two hundred years later.

Xiaoxiao had truly decided to go back, because she couldn’t die in front of Wei Jie now. Although Wei Jie would be angry not seeing her for a while, he would still have some hope in his heart. After all, more than two hundred years later, when she was born and grew up, he could see her again.

This was at least the hope of the living, better than watching her die.

And with two hundred years of time as a buffer, it could dilute longing and disperse deep feelings.

Even if by that time Wei Jie finally knew she had died early, he probably wouldn’t find it as hard to accept as he would now…

Thinking this, Xiaoxiao looked with reluctance at the figure on the high city wall, then turned to Lady Fu and said: “Haven’t you always wanted to seek revenge for the dead demon clan? Dong Yuan is the true culprit behind that year’s tragedy! Now his primordial spirit is within this golden statue. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—we must ensure that Dong Yuan’s soul departs for the western heaven here!”

Lady Fu had waited too long for these words! Hearing the saint give such orders, she was so excited her eyes nearly turned red. She loudly commanded the demon army to prepare for battle. The demon clan people, wearing their characteristic military helmets and armor, had already formed orderly ranks, just waiting for the golden statue to arrive so they could tear it to pieces.

But when the statue was still some distance from Demon City, it suddenly stopped. An axe suddenly appeared in its hands—under the sunlight, it gleamed brilliantly, radiating unusual light. One look showed it was a divine artifact from heaven!

This axe was the divine axe Dong Yuan had stolen from the fish pool in his mother’s palace.

When Dong Yuan realized his divine status was weakening, he had already thought of countermeasures.

First, he appeared in dreams to seduce and threaten the Empress Dowager, building a golden statue temple at Fanshan Mountain, then manifesting in golden form here to provoke conflict with the demon clan.

When the time came, he could legitimately split open the Underworld, release demons and monsters to contend with the demon clan, and when these evil demons finally suffered mutual destruction, he could smoothly conclude and reap the benefits.

By then, stories of Dong Yuan’s divine statue showing its power and pacifying the world’s demons would spread widely throughout the mortal realm.

Given humanity’s dullness, his temples would once again have flourishing incense, and the recovery of his divine status would be just around the corner!

Thinking this, Dong Yuan wasn’t anxious to personally attack Demon City. Instead, he waved the divine axe in his hand, preparing to chop toward the earth.

But just as the statue raised its axe high, a figure suddenly flew over, fiercely striking the statue’s arm, causing it to stagger and retreat several steps.

Dong Yuan looked closely—the newcomer was none other than Wei Jie.

At this moment, he had completely demonized, covered in thick scales like a cold war god, wielding the Heaven’s Punishment sword and continuously striking at one of the statue’s arms.

Dong Yuan secretly cursed in dismay. He knew Wei Jie wanted to sever the statue’s arm so it could no longer raise and swing the axe.

So he quickly manipulated the statue to swing the divine axe, striking fiercely at Wei Jie.

Xiaoxiao watched from the side, her heart clenched tight, because the statue’s attack was truly too fast—Wei Jie seemed unable to avoid it.

But Wei Jie’s cultivation seemed to have advanced considerably these past days, and his dodging speed was also faster.

Soon, the man and the statue were entangled in combat.

Xiaoxiao concentrated on watching their fight when she suddenly had an inspiration and asked Lady Fu, “Are there any combustible firewood in the city?”

Lady Fu immediately replied: “When building the city and firing clay bricks, we prepared a lot of firewood and grass!”

Xiaoxiao immediately ordered: “Distribute the firewood around the statue!”

Hearing the saint’s command, those demon warriors immediately acted. Soon, the firewood was distributed everywhere like bundles of autumn-harvested wheat.

At the same time, Xiaoxiao recited fire incantations, catalyzing true fire to ignite this firewood. It was currently autumn, with dried grass covering the earth everywhere. The fire quickly spread, surrounding the statue.

Tang Youshu also silently recited incantations, helping his disciple by intensifying the flames.

The statue was cast from gold. Although pure gold fears no fire, when encountering true fire catalyzed by fire spells, it would reach abnormally high temperatures and melt. So Xiaoxiao wanted to use true fire to assist Wei Jie and make Dong Yuan retreat in the face of difficulty!

Xiaoxiao’s idea was good. When the golden statue’s large golden feet stepped on the red-hot earth, there were immediately signs of melting.

This also made the golden statue’s steps unsteady, no longer so agile.

But just then, lightning suddenly flashed and thunder roared across the sky, instantly bringing down torrential rain that quickly extinguished the fires covering the ground.

Xiaoxiao was greatly alarmed: This rain was too unusual! It was pouring specifically around the golden statue, escorting and protecting Dong Yuan!

She suddenly looked up at the sky and saw that a dark cloud in the heavens was a woman’s face. At this moment, that large face was coldly gazing down at the ground, as if constantly watching over Dong Yuan.

Which true god from heaven was this again?

Xiaoxiao was extremely indignant. Regardless of everything else, she suddenly gestured with her hand in an archery pose while silently reciting incantations, condensing fire. After forming a fire arrow, it sped toward that large face!

This arrow was like a reverse meteor, piercing and scattering the thick cloud layer in one strike.

But soon the clouds gathered again, gloomily looking down at Cui Xiaoxiao, who dared offend a god.

Suddenly, a voice exploded beside Xiaoxiao’s ear: “You are Cui Xiaoxiao? Your audacity is too great. Do you know who I am, yet dare to offend me so?”

This voice was very strange, as if only Xiaoxiao could hear it, while the other people around her showed no reaction.

Xiaoxiao sneered: “Who else would so carefully protect an evil god like Dong Yuan? Could you be his mother, the Heavenly Mother Saint, helping her son come to create havoc?”

The voice beside her ear paused, then said coldly: “Your previous incarnation should be Weifeng. Do you know that without me, a demon like Weifeng couldn’t possibly ascend to immortality? How dare you be so rude to me!”

Now Xiaoxiao was even more certain of her identity: “Bah! I’m not Weifeng! Even if I were, what I owed you should have been repaid clean when I took Dong Yuan’s place in receiving heavenly punishment. As the Heavenly Mother, you indulge your son in bringing disaster to the mortal world and doing despicable things! If you mother and son were honorable and upright, why not send heavenly soldiers and generals down to earth? Instead, you manipulate ghosts and spirits, doing these underhanded things? What bullshit Heavenly Mother—you’re inferior to even village girls in the mortal world, just a foolish woman who spoils her child!”

The Heavenly Mother was surrounded by stars in the Heavenly Court—when had she ever heard such face-to-face, poisonous scolding?

For a moment, that large face was so angry it became slightly distorted.

It turned out the Heavenly Mother Saint had gone into seclusion to hide her activities, then sent her primordial spirit down to the mortal world to find her son, Dong Yuan.

She wasn’t here to assist Dong Yuan, but was afraid he might impulsively cause some tremendous disaster that would be difficult to clean up in the mortal world.

But unexpectedly, as soon as she descended to the mortal world, she saw Dong Yuan’s possessed statue being burned and hopping around in distress.

So Rong Yao quickly brought down torrential rain to extinguish the fire, not expecting to be discovered by this girl, Cui Xiaoxiao, who then spoke sarcastically!

Rong Yao felt annoyed and didn’t deign to argue with a mortal girl. She sent down holy light from heaven, wanting to guide Dong Yuan back to the Heavenly Court.

But at this moment, Dong Yuan was already furious from being beaten by Wei Jie, especially when he saw Xiaoxiao constantly helping Wei Jie—his heart filled with jealousy and hatred.

Now that he had arranged everything carefully, how could he fall short at the final step? Thinking this, he completely ignored the welcoming holy light his mother sent down and instead forcefully shook off Wei Jie and the demon warriors who had surrounded him.

He raised the divine axe in his hand again and chopped toward the earth.

Just then, Xiaoxiao didn’t know if it was her imagination, but she felt that in that brief moment, Wei Jie seemed to look deeply in her direction, then, without hesitation, he resolutely went toward the direction where the divine axe was chopping.

Everyone stared dumbfounded as Wei Jie, like a high monk preparing for nirvana, suddenly sat cross-legged, then calmly closed his eyes, accepting Dong Yuan’s full-strength axe blow…

At that moment, Xiaoxiao’s entire body turned cold. She used all her strength to shout: “Wei Jie! Get away!”

Perhaps her desperation triggered the demon clan saint’s bloodline—she soared into the air again, golden wings sprouting from her back, preparing to help Wei Jie block this fatal axe blow.

Unfortunately, everything was too late. Dong Yuan’s axe struck straight toward Wei Jie’s crown, seemingly splitting Wei Jie in half in an instant.

Xiaoxiao watched the scene before her, screaming hoarsely, flying toward the golden statue. The spiritual power she released instantly formed a shield, immediately sending the golden figure flying.

But when Xiaoxiao quickly rushed over, myriad golden lights suddenly burst from the deep pit carved by the axe. Those golden lights gradually gathered like countless golden swords, piercing straight through the golden statue that had just gotten up.

The golden statue tried to dodge but couldn’t avoid them!

In an instant, blood flowed from the golden statue’s body. The statue seemed unable to believe its bleeding golden form, then fell to its knees with a thud. Dong Yuan’s voice seemed to choke: “How… how is this possible? He’s human! Humans can’t defeat… gods… this is impossible! Mother… save me!”

When saying the last sentence, Dong Yuan’s statue struggled to raise one hand toward the sky, trying to catch the welcoming holy light cast down from above.

But just as the large palm was about to touch it, the golden statue completely collapsed on the ground. With sounds of cracking, the statue shattered into fragments of gold in a pool of blood.

At this time, Rong Yao, watching the battle from heaven, seemed not to have anticipated this sudden change. Just when Dong Yuan seemed on the verge of victory, his primordial spirit was shattered without warning.

She urgently sent down holy light, wanting to bring Dong Yuan back to the Heavenly Court, but unfortunately fell short of success, watching Dong Yuan’s divine destruction right before her eyes!

The so-called mother-child connection—in that instant, Rong Yao sensed Dong Yuan’s primordial spirit dissipating, completely vanishing without a trace!

At that moment, Rong Yao was truly shocked and furious, grief welling up from within. She shouted in the heavens: “Yuan’er!”

Immediately after, the winds and clouds changed, thunder and lightning roared. The Heavenly Mother Saint’s angry voice echoed across the sky: “You audacious mortals who dare to kill gods! Heaven’s way is clear—it will never spare you!”

While speaking, the Heavenly Mother had already waved her hand to summon heavenly punishment.

Unfortunately, even the supreme deity forgot the great taboo when the divine essence leaves the body, never becoming extremely angry or sorrowful.

Although Rong Yao waved her hand, she didn’t summon a single dark cloud. With a painful low roar, the divine seal on her forehead began bleeding—this was a sign of divine status cracking.

The sky suddenly began raining again, but this rain was red. Then that cloud-face seemed unable to bear it and gradually became blurred.

At this time, not far from Demon City, an old monk carrying an eight-trigrams flag was craning his neck to look at the sky, silently reciting: “Immeasurable Celestial Worthy… The Heavenly Mother’s divine status is severely damaged. The heavenly lady must also descend to earth to experience tribulation! Having been an immortal too long, without being human once, how can one know human suffering…”

Saying this, he raised his hand and lightly waved. A bright light flew out, landing precisely in the cloth pouch Xiaoxiao was carrying.

But Xiaoxiao paid no attention to any of this. At this moment, she was like someone gone mad, jumping into the large pit where Wei Jie had been struck by the divine axe. In the blurred, bloody mud, she waved both hands, her fingers digging forcefully.

But just now, when she sprouted wings and led the demon army, she had again consumed what little spiritual blood remained. Now emotionally agitated, she felt her throat turn fishy, and the next moment, blood gushed out.

Perhaps Wei Jie’s soul sensed Xiaoxiao’s pain at this moment—a warm current surged from underground, surrounding Xiaoxiao’s entire body. Her physical pain seemed to ease considerably, but the dull ache in her heart didn’t diminish one bit.

Just then, she heard a familiar voice from the edge of the large pit: “One thought becomes demon, one thought becomes Buddha… He sacrificed his life for righteousness, using his flesh and blood to spare the mortal world a great calamity!”

Xiaoxiao numbly looked up. When she saw the old monk standing at the pit’s edge, she suddenly climbed up with all her strength, rushing straight at him, grabbing his tattered monk’s robe: “Wei Jie isn’t dead, right? Where is he? Tell me! Speak quickly!”

That old monk remained unmoved, only saying gently, “Young lady, you’ve stayed here too long and forgotten who you originally were. It’s just a millet dream—wake up and all will be well. What happens in dreams, how can it be real?”

After saying this, he waved his whisk. The Zhulong deity statue with hollow eyes in Tang Youshu’s basket once again soared into the air, quickly gathering with the two statue eyeballs that floated out from Xiaoxiao’s cloth pouch, once again emitting dazzling light.

Xiaoxiao wanted to say something more, but her body was suddenly lifted upward. The next moment, her vision swirled with silver rivers and starry seas, and she gradually lost consciousness…

She didn’t know how much time passed, but Xiaoxiao felt someone calling loudly beside her ear: “Sect Leader, Sect Leader, Sect Leader, wake up!”

Xiaoxiao sat up abruptly, and the three sect members who had been looking down at her were startled and all sat back.

Second Senior Sister Jiang Nanmu was the first to recover, saying with great joy: “Sect Leader, you’re finally awake! We searched for you for so long, afraid something had happened to you!”

Xiaoxiao looked blankly at the three sect members—they weren’t in the feng shui mirror, but had truly appeared before her eyes.

Could it be… they had also traveled back more than two hundred years?

But Xiaoxiao couldn’t care about such things. She just looked around blankly, calling out: “Wei Jie… where is Wei Jie?”

Ji Wuqi seemed unable to stand it anymore and shouted harshly: “Hey, Cui Xiaoxiao, are you confused from sleep? Why are you calling out that demon’s name for no reason? He’s been dead two hundred years—where would you find him…”

Ji Wuqi didn’t finish his words because Xiaoxiao’s gaze as she slowly turned toward him was too murderous and intimidating, making all the words he hadn’t spoken stick in his throat.

What was happening? They’d only been apart for one day—how had this female fraud’s aura suddenly become so strong? Looking at the junior sister he used to look down on, he didn’t dare speak loudly to her anymore.

“You… what did you say? Wei Jie is already dead… two hundred years… what’s the current era name? And where am I?”

Little Junior Brother A’Yi couldn’t stand seeing their sect leader junior sister acting so strangely: “What’s wrong? Junior Sister, we’re at Qilao Mountain! You fought a great battle with the Palace Master of Liangyi Palace, then there was a flash of spiritual light, and you disappeared. We searched the entire mountain front and back before finding you! How did you forget everything?”

“No, no, I can’t just come back like this. If I came back, what would happen to Wei Jie… The statue, where is that Zhulong deity statue!”

Xiaoxiao quickly got up, searching around in confusion. Soon, she found the fallen statue on a nearby bare hillside.

But this statue seemed to have been split in two from the middle, completely unrepairable, just like when it was split by the divine axe…

No! Xiaoxiao suddenly stood up, looking around in confusion at the bare Qilao Mountain.

Because she had traveled back in time, Qilao Mountain had never been conquered, much less burned to this bare state.

How could it be that she had traveled back, but Qilao Mountain was still barren of grass?

When Xiaoxiao urgently inquired, Jiang Nanmu exchanged a very worried glance with Senior Brother Ji Wuqi and said carefully, “Junior Sister, did you forget? I told you about Qilao Mountain’s history before. This place once fought against the gods and was burned by heavenly fire until no grass grew. It’s been more than two hundred years without a blade of grass!”

How was this possible? At least before she traveled back, Qilao Mountain had always been lush and green! Thinking this, she turned to look at that harsh-voiced senior brother. He hadn’t trimmed his beard and become refined as shown in the yin-yang mirror the second time—he was still the same as before, scruffy and very crude.

“Senior Brother, didn’t Master teach you to be polite? Our Talismonger Sect doesn’t accept rude people!”

Ji Wuqi was now convinced junior sister was suffering from delusions, so he spoke with slightly more restraint: “Are you confused from your fall? When did Master ever say such things? I’ve always been like this—it’s not like you’re meeting me for the first time!”

Xiaoxiao staggered slightly, looking blankly at the bare mountain and the broken stone tablets scattered everywhere.

She had gone two hundred years ago and wandered around for a while—how could it have no effect two hundred years later? Could it be… she had just had a long and magnificent millet dream as that old monk said?

She reached out to feel her pulse—very good, strong pulse, vigorous blood flow, no blood decline symptoms at all.

This… how was this possible? Had she just had a big dream, or was she still dreaming now?

Thinking this, she suddenly raised her hand, producing a ball of fire in her palm. The flame was steady, and with Xiaoxiao’s finger snap, it easily split in two again.

The three sect members were once again dumbfounded. Jiang Nanmu said blankly: “Sect Leader Junior Sister, when did you learn fire control techniques?”

Cui Xiaoxiao had only mastered water techniques—how could she control fire without talismans after just one day?

When Xiaoxiao used fire techniques, her heart settled somewhat. Her spiritual power was deep and thick; her inner core was safely in her dantian—this was not her shallow foundation from before traveling!

And the clothes she was wearing… were the garments Wei Jie had personally bought for her more than two hundred years ago!

Her encounter with Wei Jie was not just a big dream!

But after the statue transported her back, what exactly had happened? Wei Jie… had he died?

Thinking this, Xiaoxiao forced herself to calm down to slowly find clues.

She asked about their master, little fox Yu Ling’er, the demon clan of Demon City, and even the Dong Yuan Divine Lord from heaven.

But the three sect members’ eyes grew wider and wider as they blankly told Cui Xiaoxiao that Yu Ling’er should be their master’s fellow disciple, but reportedly died early—they had never seen her. As for their master, they had personally buried him and patted down the grave. As for Demon City, Dong Yuan, and such, they had glimpsed them in mythology books, but had never heard any special legends about them!

Somehow, only Xiaoxiao’s body had experienced the trials of two hundred years, but all the earth-shaking things she and Wei Jie had done did not affect the present two hundred years later, leaving no trace like a boat passing through water!

Xiaoxiao felt her head aching from thinking. Just then, her beloved dog Ji Xiang came over and licked the back of her hand.

Xiaoxiao slowly crouched down, reaching out to hug the old dog she hadn’t seen in so long. But when her gaze met Ji Xiang’s, she always felt something was wrong.

Why did she feel Ji Xiang seemed to have changed? This mouth… was too big.

But in that instant, scenes of Ji Xiang accompanying her from small to large flashed through her mind. Its mouth had indeed gotten bigger and bigger as it aged—it had always been like this…

But the old dog soon wagged its tail and ran away, probably seeing she was fine and running off to find food.

Xiaoxiao decided to go to the Sword Sect to find Qin Lingxiao. Perhaps finding him would help her understand what had happened.

The Sword Sect wasn’t far—she could fly there on her sword.

When Xiaoxiao lightly jumped onto her sword, the remaining three sect members were once again dumbfounded: “Cui Xiaoxiao… you can even fly on swords now!”

You must know this was a skill their master couldn’t master until his death—how could Cui Xiaoxiao learn it?

When they said they couldn’t keep up with Xiaoxiao, she didn’t look back: “You go back to Lingshan and wait for me. I’ll be back soon!”

After saying this, she flew away on her sword, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

The Sword Sect wasn’t far. Her junior sister had pointed it out to Cui Xiaoxiao on a map before.

When she gracefully landed in front of the Sword Sect’s mountain gate, the Sword Sect disciples were all stunned.

They had just seen this Talismonger Sect leader two days ago.

Although she knew some talisman techniques, they had never seen her capable of sword flight!

Cui Xiaoxiao didn’t waste words and directly asked: “Where is your sect leader Qin Lingxiao?”

Those Sword Sect disciples still had their unchanging bad habits: “You minor unorthodox sect leader, how dare you directly call our sect leader’s name… Ow!”

Cui Xiaoxiao had no patience to listen to their endless chatter now. She simply waved her sleeve, shaking away the Sword Sect disciples blocking the mountain gate, and leaped up in one bound.