Xie Zhuo actually… kissed me?

I froze on the spot. He was too close for my eyes to focus on him. In my blurred vision, between my lips and teeth, inside and outside my breath, his presence was everywhere.

The movement of his hair, the pressure of his fingertips, the soft touch of his clothes—everything carried a coolness, yet was strangely scorching.

However, after a brief moment of shock and daze, my hand moved.

I struck back with a slap, directly making Xie Zhuo’s head turn to one side. Pulling my hand back, I placed both hands on his chest and pushed him away forcefully, not sparing any strength.

He stepped back twice but didn’t touch his reddened cheek. When he turned his head to look at me, his gaze was dim, as if still brewing a storm.

I returned his gaze with equally uncompromising eyes.

“We’re already divorced, what are you trying to do with this act?”

“You divorced me, but I didn’t divorce you.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“You’ve drunk my blood. As long as the contract isn’t dissolved, you will always be my immortal companion.”

His words contained quite a lot of information. I closed my mouth, which was about to open and berate him, and sorted my thoughts.

Last time, I learned that Xie Zhuo was from the Snow Wolf tribe. The time before that, I learned that five hundred years ago, when I was ascending and facing my tribulation, Xie Zhuo had given me his blood to drink. Now I knew that drinking his blood made me his wife.

From these three pieces of information, I could deduce that when someone from the Snow Wolf tribe gives their blood to someone, that person becomes their mate.

From this, I could infer that our marriage bond wasn’t formed in front of the lovesickness tree at Yue Lao’s temple, but when he fed me his blood after my ascension.

I could also conclude that by cutting the red thread, I had cut off the marriage bond, but his bond with me remained intact.

No wonder Xie Zhuo had said earlier that the sign of successfully severing the marriage bond was preventing Xie Xuanqing from feeding blood to Xiaxia.

When I finally connected all this information, my closed mouth was pushed open by the emotions surging in my chest: “You kept such a small matter from me for so long!”

After blasting the first level, I immediately continued to the second: “Forget that I’ve already cut the red thread—even if I were still your wife, what’s wrong with me visiting Cuihu Terrace?”

Xie Zhuo’s gaze was gloomy. I fueled my rage even more, pressing on with my scolding:

“We’ve been married for five hundred years and never slept together even once. I’m half divorced, so what’s wrong with me kissing someone else’s cheek? And I was the one being kissed! After three years of drought, even the emperor must perform rituals for rain. It’s been five hundred years! Even the Jade Emperor couldn’t stop me…”

“Fu Jiuxia!”

The storm in his eyes had evaporated from anger. He glared at me, grabbing my hand, his eye sockets reddened with rage, his fingertips trembling, but still not hurting me.

Since I wasn’t in pain and he wouldn’t let go, he just stared at me like this, as if wanting to use my paw to cover my mouth.

I was certain he truly wouldn’t hit me, so I became even more fearless: “Don’t shout my name so loudly! I’m not deaf yet! For five hundred years, you wouldn’t openly kiss or hug me, but now that I want to kiss and hug someone else, you’re here trying to make up for it? Too late!”

“Besides, today I went to force Xie Xuanqing to leave. Why did I have to force Xie Xuanqing to leave? Don’t you have any idea? Why did we return five hundred years ago to deal with all this mess? Don’t you know?

Wasn’t I just helping you cut off your half of the marriage bond? Now that things are half done, you’re making this scene!?”

After shouting at him, I took a couple of breaths and calmed down a bit.

Xie Zhuo, having been yelled at, also calmed down somewhat.

He was still holding my wrist, only his lips were tightly pursed, his face ashen.

Looking at him, I wasn’t so angry anymore, but started to feel a cold, mocking impulse: “What? Xie Zhuo, don’t tell me that after coming all this way, you’ve suddenly realized that you love me?”

I stared into his eyes, not missing the slightest change in his expression.

This question, from before our marriage, to our unconsummated wedding night, to today five hundred years later, I had asked him at different time points, in different situations and emotions.

Xie Zhuo, do you like me?

There were moments of hopeful expectation, moments of sad pleading, and moments of hysteria.

But previously, Xie Zhuo’s answer had always been a calm “I don’t know.”

Today…

Xie Zhuo released my wrist.

I lowered my eyes, not bothering to examine Xie Zhuo’s expression anymore. My heart was as calm as a dead pool of water. I rotated my wrist joint: “You should be happy, Xie Zhuo.”

I said, “Xie Xuanqing has already left. After Xiaxia passes her tribulation day, and Xie Xuanqing doesn’t appear, we can go back. Worth celebrating, right? Our marriage is finally going to be completely over.”

Finally… no more struggle.

I turned to go back to the room. I didn’t want to investigate what Xie Zhuo’s loss of control today was all about. Anyway, things had already progressed to this point. Saying anything more would be meaningless.

But I didn’t expect that just as one foot was about to step through the door, a familiar, startling thunder suddenly sounded in the sky.

I turned back in surprise to see tribulation clouds densely covering the skies above Kunlun. That massive, black formation—if not the tribulation clouds for ascending to a higher immortal, what else could it be!?

And as far as I knew, at this time in Kunlun, besides me, Fu Jiuxia—the current Xiaxia—there was no other immortal who had reached the time for tribulation.

“What day is it today?” Looking at these somewhat familiar tribulation clouds, I was so nervous that I forgot I was just arguing with Xie Zhuo and asked directly.

Xie Zhuo also put away all his previous emotions. He frowned, looking at the tribulation clouds in the sky, murmuring in response: “The twenty-fourth of May.”

“The tribulation came early?” I looked at Xie Zhuo in confusion, then suddenly realized, “No wonder my body didn’t hurt when I went to steal money today!”

The reason why ascending to higher immortality is difficult is that the tribulation clouds arrive on the day when the person facing the tribulation is at their weakest.

I thought I had adapted, but it turned out that Xiaxia had already reached her weakest moment. When I went to the mansion, she was weaker than I, so it was she who felt that pain!

“Not good, not good, not good.” I was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan, pacing back and forth, muttering:

“Five hundred years ago, my tribulation was difficult because I spent all my time taking care of you, neglecting my cultivation. At the Kunlun gathering, I confessed to you and was deeply hurt by your ambiguous response.

So I couldn’t withstand the tribulation lightning. Although I somehow got through it afterward, it must have been because you fed me your blood. This time…”

“This time, Xiaxia seems to be hurt more deeply, her body weaker. She definitely won’t pass the tribulation. You won’t go feed her blood, she’s probably done for. If she’s done for, then I’m done for too. But if I go to help personally, it would make things worse. I need to think of a solution, think of a solution…”

While I was anxious enough to scratch the wall, Xie Zhuo had already risen into the air.

Floating in the air, he left a sentence: “I’ll help you. You go find Xie Xuanqing.”

“What do I need to find Xie Xuanqing for?”

“Stop him.”

“He’s already upset with me today, he definitely won’t help Xiaxia.”

Xie Zhuo was very certain: “In matters of life and death, he will go.”

I remained silent for a moment, then gritted my teeth: “Where should I go to find Xie Xuanqing? Give me a direction, guess where you would have gone at that time?”

“I am no longer who I was back then.”

Xie Zhuo directly rose into the air and left. Watching Xie Zhuo’s back, I was so angry I wanted to curse his entire clan, but then I remembered how he had wiped out his clan with his own hands…

I scratched my head, closed my eyes, and headed straight for the cave.

Earlier at Cuihu Terrace, I had just driven Xie Xuanqing away when Xie Zhuo arrived. He hadn’t been gone long.

But with his cultivation technique, if he was determined to leave, he should already be tens of thousands of miles away from Kunlun by now.

But for some reason, my intuition told me he hadn’t left.

With his heart wounded, perhaps he would return to the place where I had saved him…