“Would the main deity of the Immortal City be infected by the miasma?” I asked Xie Zhuo. “Can we trust him?”

“We cannot trust him,” Xie Zhuo replied firmly, without breaking his stride. “When the Immortal City was first established, to prevent himself from being affected by the miasma, the main deity of North Que Mountain sacrificed his life, abandoning his physical form. He refined his soul power into a strand of spiritual consciousness, similar to the miasma but fundamentally different, willing to take an alternative path to resist the evil forces.”

Refined himself…

I looked down at the black-armored soldier, my heart trembling.

“So to prevent the miasma from corrupting him, he simply abandoned his physical body… He became like the miasma, able to control other people’s bodies?”

“He seeks those with clear minds to help resist the miasma in the Immortal City, until they too are consumed and turned into demons.”

“Then he finds someone else…”

I suddenly recalled the massive gate I had seen outside the Immortal City, with the inscription: “Exterminate all evil spirits, never rest until death.”

I thought it was just an oath, but I never imagined that the deity of the mountain had sacrificed everything to fulfill this pledge.

“Then why can’t we trust—”

Before I could finish my question, I already understood.

The main deity of North Que Mountain had transformed himself into a mass of energy. He would no longer be affected by the miasma, but no one knew whose consciousness his energy would enter, with whom he would fight side by side.

It could be an evil spirit impersonating him, or perhaps…

The body he was currently sharing might already be on the verge of collapse…

So what Xie Zhuo meant was—”It might be the main deity of the Immortal City.”

In this city, there was no trust.

“But why is he helping us?”

“There’s no time to investigate.”

As Xie Zhuo finished speaking, he leaped forward, landing on an open space ahead.

Just as he touched the ground, a man with a crazed expression suddenly rushed out from the side. Filled with murderous intent, he charged directly at me, shouting!

Xie Zhuo raised his sword to block, and after a crisp “ding” of clashing weapons, a silver spear came whistling through the air!

Before I could react, the spear pierced straight through the man’s chest, but…

Unlike before, no miasma dispersed from the man’s body.

He didn’t dissolve into black smoke. Instead, warm blood splashed from his body, spraying onto my face and Xie Zhuo’s face, then slid down our necks into our clothes.

True evil spirits, when slain, would disperse as miasma.

Cultivators mistakenly killed in the city would spill warm blood…

My eyes widened as I watched the man fall to the ground.

He had come to kill me, believing I was an evil spirit.

A large hole gaped in the man’s chest, continuously pouring blood. He convulsed on the ground, then his eyes lost their light, and all movement ceased.

After tonight, perhaps he too… would be hung by evil spirits on the outer wall, becoming their mockery of cultivators…

Xie Zhuo had told me about the situation in the Immortal City, and I had seen the corpses on the great wall and the white bones at its foot.

But when a real cultivator was mistakenly killed while trying to eliminate what he believed was an evil spirit, my heart filled with indescribable complexity.

If he were in Kunlun, he might have been Meng Meng, or Wu Cheng, or one of my soldiers, or someone who brushed shoulders with me on the street…

I gritted my teeth, tightly covering the miasma that surged through my broken skin.

Xie Zhuo said nothing, continuing to carry me forward.

Ahead, the inner wall of the Immortal City grew closer. I turned to look back at the black-armored soldier, who had stopped his horse before the man whose chest he had pierced with his silver spear.

He reined in his horse.

Looking down at the man on the ground, the horse and rider stood silently in the gray-shrouded city, as if in mourning. But after just a moment, he gripped his spear tightly, pulled the reins, and rode toward us again.

I couldn’t imagine, if he truly was the main deity of the Immortal City, if he believed in the creed “Exterminate all evil spirits, never rest until death,” what his state of mind must be after mistakenly killing his “comrade.”

This wasn’t the first time, was it? For him, perhaps, it wouldn’t be the last either.

In the Immortal City, as long as evil spirits remained indistinguishable, confrontation, mistaken killings, and suspicion would never cease.

This Immortal City was a city of death.

It inspired despair…

As these thoughts crossed my mind, in just an instant, I saw black miasma rising again from my neck.

I knew that the skin on my neck, just like on my arm, must have been broken by the surging miasma inside my body.

“Don’t let your emotions be provoked,” Xie Zhuo continued, pressing forward, controlling his own emotions. I could feel it. “Fu Jiuxia, it’s not your time to die yet.”

I wanted to raise my hand to cover my neck, but I felt completely powerless. I had no strength, and even the pain in my body had almost disappeared.

I could no longer hold onto Xie Zhuo’s neck, and my body slid down uncontrollably.

Xie Zhuo reached behind with one hand to support me, leaned his body forward, and pulled the rope at his waist with his free hand, binding me more tightly to him, allowing me to be “carried” on his back.

But this position restricted his movement, significantly slowing his advance. At this moment, if we were attacked by more evil spirits, Xie Zhuo would find it difficult to defend with me in this state.

The pursuers behind us hadn’t stopped, and ahead, there were still enemies blocking our path.

Obstructed from both front and back, with no way forward or backward.

My increasingly blurry eyes could still see the inner city wall ahead. The gate was still intact and firmly closed. Though so close, the remaining distance seemed impossibly far for Xie Zhuo and me.

“Xie Zhuo,” I used the last of my strength to whisper in his ear, “you still have spiritual power… put me down and go by yourself. Don’t pull that ‘I won’t leave without you’ act, it’s not worth it.”

“I told you. It’s not your time to die yet.”

He still refused to put me down.

Behind us, the overwhelming miasma drew closer, and ahead, we could already see people blocking our path.

Xie Zhuo suddenly stopped, looking back.

The black-armored soldier on horseback had just helped us kill several of the fastest-approaching evil spirits. Black energy swirled around him. Seeming to sense Xie Zhuo’s gaze, he looked over from his horse.

Inside the black armor, beneath the helmet, there seemed to be only darkness. I couldn’t see his face, but Xie Zhuo appeared to have made eye contact with him.

Xie Zhuo suddenly turned and moved toward the black-armored soldier.

The soldier seemed to understand his intention. He swept his spear horizontally, forcing back the evil spirits clinging to him, and galloped quickly toward us.

I understood Xie Zhuo’s plan and gritted my teeth: “What if…”

“It’s a gamble…”

With me in this state, Xie Zhuo would never be able to break through, but if we could borrow the black-armored soldier’s horse, we might still reach the city gate.

Before entering the city, Xie Zhuo had repeatedly warned me not to trust anyone inside. But now, for my sake, he said… take a gamble…

If this black-armored soldier was an evil spirit, if he had been planning for this moment… Xie Zhuo and I, caught in this situation with enemies before and behind, would have no chance of survival.

I lay limply on Xie Zhuo’s back, allowing him to bear all my weight.

In truth, he could have avoided this risk. He could have gone on without me.

Reason told me I should urge Xie Zhuo to weigh his options, to convince him to leave. Having even a slim chance of survival was better than both of us dying.

But as he resolutely carried me toward an unknown choice, for some reason, I felt an inexplicable sense of peace, as if his actions were telling me that no matter what hell lay ahead, he would face it with me.

Strangely, amid the screaming evil spirits and rising black mist, as I clung to Xie Zhuo, I seemed to hear a quiet, gentle voice repeatedly whispering in my ear—

*May I pledge to my beloved, to walk hand in hand, from dawn to dusk, never parting until our hair turns white.*

I thought for a long time, remembering five hundred years ago, in the light of red candles, when Xie Zhuo and I sat facing each other, holding each other’s hands, softly uttering this vow.

But so much time had passed since then, so long that without today, I might have forgotten this vow entirely…

All my strength was just enough to curl my fingertips, clutching his clothes from behind.

Before Xie Zhuo, the black horse was already rushing toward us with the wind. I watched the black-armored soldier with his silver spear, as if watching my judgment.

Yet my heart remained calm.