On the day I established contact with Xiaxia, I racked my brain trying to recall all the details of my reunion with Xie Zhuo years ago.

I told her which bamboo grove to go to tomorrow with her bamboo basket to look for shoots. I also told her that she would encounter a blood-covered Xie Xuanqing, and that later, a silver light would attack them. Xie Xuanqing would protect her at that moment, and I instructed Xiaxia to cooperate well with Xie Xuanqing’s performance, to nestle in his arms, and after he fainted, to carry him to a nearby cave.

In my memory, Xie Xuanqing would remain unconscious for about ten days afterward, which would give me and Xiaxia time to formulate our next plan.

Tomorrow, we just need to follow the events as they have happened in the past.

But I also had to consider one variable—Xie Zhuo.

To prevent Xiaxia and Xie Xuanqing from meeting, who knew what tricks he might use.

Without the yin-yang fish, he would be unable to establish contact with his past self. Logically, he should come looking for Xiaxia, but I chatted with Xiaxia until late into the night and still didn’t see Xie Zhuo appear…

He likely had other plans.

Out of caution toward Xie Zhuo, I had Xiaxia keep the yin-yang fish activated all night.

But time passed peacefully until the next day.

Xie Zhuo didn’t do anything to Xiaxia.

The quieter things were, the more uneasy I felt. I became even more careful, constantly monitoring the situation on Xiaxia’s side through my mind.

Early in the morning, I urged Xiaxia to leave without telling anyone.

I had her hide in the Snow Bamboo Forest about two li away from where Xie Xuanqing would appear. Once the “auspicious time” arrived, I would have her go to where Xie Xuanqing would be.

In the vast Snow Bamboo Forest, Xiaxia was hiding in one secluded spot, I was lurking in another secluded area, and Xie Zhuo was probably somewhere waiting to cause trouble.

While waiting, Xiaxia quietly said to me through the yin-yang fish: “Honestly, I don’t think I necessarily need Xie Xuanqing to feed me blood to pass my tribulation. If I practice well, can’t I just overcome the tribulation with my abilities?”

I couldn’t help scolding her again: “Is your brain not working properly? Don’t you understand yet that the key issue now isn’t whether you can successfully pass the tribulation, but whether you’ve drunk Xie Xuanqing’s blood?

If you don’t drink his blood, you won’t establish a blood oath with him. Without the blood oath, when he takes the Pangu Fu, splits open time-space, and brings me back five hundred years later, the blood oath between him and me will disappear too. By then, he’ll raise his knife and slaughter me. In other words, you can truly see the end of your life—dying at the hands of Xie Zhuo five hundred years later!”

“What if I don’t establish a blood oath with him, but train harder in the next five hundred years? Maybe I could defeat him then?”

“Who in Kunlun can split time-space with the Pangu Fu?”

“Xi Wang Mu can.”

“How old is Xi Wang Mu?”

“Several thousand years old!”

“And you think you can do it in just five hundred years?”

Xiaxia fell silent.

I checked the time: “It’s about time, hurry up and go. Remember, act natural. Xie Xuanqing is actually very perceptive, don’t make him suspicious.”

“I know, I know. How did I become so nagging…”

Just as she finished speaking, there was a “thud” in my mind, and then Xiaxia’s vision suddenly went black, followed by a “puff” sound, as if Xiaxia’s body had fallen onto the snow.

I was startled: “Xiaxia?!”

There was no sound from the other side.

That dog Xie Zhuo! That old thief! His wicked heart was indeed persistent! What was bound to come had finally arrived!

I pulled up my sleeve and expertly placed the dagger on my wrist, just about to cut it to lure Xie Zhuo over, when I heard voices coming from the darkness on the other side:

“Is it really okay for you to knock her unconscious like this?” The voice was crisp and clear—it was the voice of Meng Meng from five hundred years ago!

“It’s for her good.”

A deep male voice came through—a voice that was somewhat distant for me, but still familiar to my ears!

It was my once most reliable deputy general, “Wu Cheng,” this hardheaded fool. Why did he knock me unconscious at such a crucial moment?!

“You received a secret report saying Jiu Xia was practicing evil demon techniques in the Snow Bamboo Forest, but you found no evidence and didn’t even confront her before knocking her out…”

“Didn’t you see? In such cold weather, she was standing alone in this forest muttering to herself for half the day, talking about blood oaths and Xi Wang Mu being thousands of years old—it all sounds like she’s gone mad!”

Wu Cheng seemed to have discovered a big secret. “She was even muttering to herself that she was being nagged. If that’s not madness, could it be insanity?”

Me: “…”

I couldn’t explain.

My voice couldn’t be transmitted into Wu Cheng and Meng Meng’s heads through the yin-yang fish.

I could only helplessly listen to the rustling sounds coming from my mind. I imagined that the iron-headed Wu Cheng had hoisted me up; the position of the sound changed and became somewhat muffled, but I could still hear clearly: “Let’s take her back to the duty immortal first.”

Meng Meng asked: “What if Jiu Xia hasn’t gone mad…”

“Wouldn’t that be better?”

“Then won’t she beat you when she wakes up!”

“Hahaha! My boss isn’t that petty! I’m doing this for her good! Let’s go back and let the immortal check her. If she’s gone mad, we’ll treat her; if not, I’ll let the boss punish me a couple of times, no big deal.”

I was so angry that I yanked the yin-yang fish off my ear and threw it into the snow. I wanted to stomp on it a few times, but I held back, only cursing in my heart.

Damn you, Xie Zhuo! You are calculating!

His move, timing, and choice of person could be described as per-fect-ly planned!

He secretly informed Wu Cheng that I was going mad. Wu Cheng was upright in character but somewhat simple-minded, straightforward, and honest. He would come looking for me.

And as my deputy general, the Kunlun commander’s token he carried would easily allow him to know Xiaxia’s location. I had Xiaxia hide in the sparsely populated Snow Bamboo Forest. The forest was vast and looked mostly the same everywhere—Xie Zhuo certainly couldn’t find her even if he turned the place upside down, but Wu Cheng could!

With Wu Cheng taking Xiaxia away, how the hell was Xie Xuanqing supposed to meet her today?!

And due to the “king not meeting king” rule, I couldn’t personally go to reclaim Xiaxia. Since it wasn’t Xie Zhuo who took Xiaxia away, my “threatening with death” to make Xie Zhuo appear would be useless too…

After pondering from all angles, I cursed again.

That dog!

I bit my finger and paced back and forth in the snow, making it creak loudly under my feet.

Suddenly, a flash of inspiration entered my mind.

Xiaxia had been taken away, but wasn’t there still a Xiaxia here?

Wasn’t I Xiaxia?!

I was just five hundred years older!

I hadn’t even grown two more wrinkles! And I hadn’t gained much weight in those five hundred years either!

In times of emergency, who couldn’t pretend to be younger and return to their youth?

I immediately dug another hole, melted the snow, and, through the water surface, I arranged my hair in the style I wore five hundred years ago. I patted some snow water on my face to make my cheeks look rosy, then cast a spell to change back into the clothes I wore back then.

I looked toward the place where I remembered Xie Zhuo would appear. I took a deep breath and marched forth valiantly, as if stepping onto a battlefield that belonged only to me.