Xie Zhuo and I were exposed under the blade of the spear.

The black-armored soldier on his tall steed looked like a statue of an indistinguishable divinity or demon in the faint light of the mist.

I still couldn’t see his face within the armor, only that he raised his spear high.

My eyes widened, and the scene before me seemed to slow and stretch, but in reality, there was just a swift “whoosh” as the silver spear passed by Xie Zhuo and me, plunging into the ground. He dismounted, but from the opposite side.

He didn’t kill us.

He gave his horse to Xie Zhuo and me.

Xie Zhuo’s gamble had paid off.

With me on his back, Xie Zhuo skillfully mounted the horse.

“Take the spear…”

At last, I heard the black-armored soldier’s voice, deep and resonant like the sound of war drums.

So when he threw the silver spear beside us, he wanted us to take it?

I turned to look at him, but he had already turned his back on us, facing the many evil spirits pursuing us.

If we took his spear, what would he use?

Just as this thought crossed my mind, Xie Zhuo, now on horseback, reached down and pulled the silver spear from the ground. Then, he threw his sword directly at the black-armored soldier.

Without even turning his head, the black-armored soldier caught the sword Xie Zhuo had thrown, guided by the sound of its flight through the air. Without any unnecessary words, he raised the sword and immediately engaged the pursuing evil spirits in battle.

Xie Zhuo didn’t hesitate either. He held me close, gripped the silver spear, and urged the horse forward, charging toward the city gate ahead.

Their brief encounter—the gift of a mount, the exchange of weapons—showed such tacit understanding that I felt they must have fought side by side more than once in the past…

But there was no time for questions, nor did I have the strength to ask. I bounced on the horse’s back, being carried forward, always forward.

Ahead, “people” kept rushing out to block our way. I couldn’t simply call them evil spirits because… I couldn’t tell the difference.

Xie Zhuo, mounted on the horse, wielded the silver spear, striking down anyone who approached, without mercy or hesitation.

My blurred vision could barely distinguish whether it was black mist or fresh blood that splattered from the “people” killed before us.

Regardless, with the great black horse, our speed had indeed increased significantly.

The inner city wall grew closer, the gate more distinct. Compared to the damaged outer wall, the inner wall appeared too new, and the gate showed no signs of decay. It still stood as imposingly as a mountain, its enormous shadow giving me a heavy sense of oppression.

The closer we got to the inner gate, the more frenzied the pursuing evil spirits became, with howls and screams filling the air.

Just as my ears had grown accustomed to the surrounding slaughter and screams, suddenly, Xie Zhuo urged the horse to leap, seemingly jumping over a small bridge, and all the chaos around my ears disappeared.

Below us, there was only the uneasy breathing of the otherwise calm black horse.

I struggled to turn my head back and saw that we had crossed a small wooden bridge over a long-dried river. This was supposed to be a barrier, but its desiccation had rendered it useless.

The moat… inside the city?

I found it strange, but even stranger was…

“Xie Zhuo…” I watched as all the agitated evil spirits bizarrely stopped on the other side of the small river.

They stared with wide eyes and open mouths, making no sound, but it was precisely this silence that made the moment even more terrifying. “What are they afraid of?”

They had pursued us all this way—surely they couldn’t be afraid of Xie Zhuo and me?

Why didn’t they dare approach the inner city wall?

Xie Zhuo didn’t answer me, but instead pulled me down from the horse.

He held me tightly in one arm, pressing me close to his chest, while with his other hand, he inserted the silver spear into the worn saddle of the horse.

He patted the horse’s neck: “Returning what belongs to its owner.”

With a neigh, the black horse turned and galloped back, its hooves trampling anyone who approached it, until gradually its silhouette disappeared into the mist of the Immortal City.

Xie Zhuo’s gaze was cold as he looked at the bizarre evil spirits who had stopped in the city, then turned forward with me.

“It has taken us far enough; once out of the city, it cannot return.” Xie Zhuo walked toward the tightly closed massive gate of the inner city wall, answering my earlier question—

“They fear what is confined within the inner city wall.”

I didn’t understand…

Then I saw Xie Zhuo raise his hand, spiritual energy surging in his palm. For the first time since arriving in the Immortal City, he was using his spiritual power.

Under the activation of the spiritual energy in his palm, I saw the stone that Xie Zhuo had been keeping close to his body float out from his clothes.

The stone emanated a deep blue light, like flowing moonlight.

The tightly closed city gate’s crevices suddenly glowed with the same light, followed by a “click.”

The gate trembled and, with a thunderous rumble, opened slightly, creating a narrow gap.

Through the gap came the sound of the wind outside, with snow carried by the gale drifting into the city.

The evil spirits behind us, upon feeling the cold wind from outside, scattered like startled birds and beasts. Behind Xie Zhuo and me, there were no more pursuers.

Xie Zhuo withdrew the spiritual energy from his palm, and the stone around his neck fell back.

He stepped forward.

The gate was so large that even a small gap was sufficient for Xie Zhuo and me to pass through.

The gate was heavy, and as we walked through the crack, daylight was briefly blocked, darkness like a curtain of water washing over us.

As we exited the gate, there was another thunderous rumble behind us as the massive gate closed tightly.

Before us stretched what seemed like never-ending snow and wind.

In the blizzard, there came an unsettling “crunch” that set my teeth on edge.

Looking ahead, I felt a chill run down my spine.

Before us, a completely black “person,” frantically emitting black mist, was devouring another “person.” It had already bitten through skin and flesh, teeth grinding against bone.

And such people… were not just one.

In the blizzard, countless people were tearing at each other, devouring one another. While eating someone, they might themselves have several others feeding on their bones and flesh from behind.

The “crunch, crunch” sound made me feel as if we had entered an endless hell.

“They are…”

“Zombies…”

Xie Zhuo answered me.

These two words, I had only seen in books at Kunlun, referring to evil creatures said to have disappeared after the Evil God vanished, never to appear in the world again. They were completely consumed by the evil miasma and could no longer be called human.

Was this what the Immortal City contained?…

The zombies seemed to sense a different aura.

They stopped their activities one by one, slowly turning their heads. Their eyes rolled wildly in their sockets, and some even had eyes growing all over their faces. They all stared at Xie Zhuo and me.

They ground their teeth, the sound making my skin crawl. One zombie took a step forward, followed by countless others, advancing toward us.

We had left the Immortal City, only to face an innumerable army of evil spirits.

“Xie Zhuo…” I gasped with my last breath, smiling bitterly, “Did you bring me here to live, or to die?”

Xie Zhuo didn’t answer, gathering spiritual energy around his body.

I knew that the crucial moment he had spoken of, when he would need to use his spiritual power, had finally arrived.

The zombies moved faster and faster, some crawling on the ground, others lunging at us from the air!

Fresh flesh must have been a rare sight for them. In an instant, countless evil spirits descended upon us like dark clouds, covering the sky.

In this environment, my body was even less able to control the surging miasma within. My skin began to break continuously, black evil mist billowing out like ribbons dancing in the air, as if welcoming the onrushing zombie army.

The zombies reached us in a flash, murder in their intent from the ground and sky.

At that moment, light burst from around Xie Zhuo, forming a faint blue barrier in a circle, enveloping us within.

I looked up at him and heard a quiet utterance of the word “Still.”

The light rippled outward like a morning bell. Instantly, the zombies screamed incessantly, and in the blink of an eye, all the zombies turned into black smoke and dispersed.

I was momentarily stunned.

Ah…

That’s it?

Weren’t the legendary zombies supposed to be harder to kill?

Or was Xie Zhuo’s power just that terrifying?

I looked up at Xie Zhuo: “Your spiritual power…”

“Enough…”

He said just one word, then carried me as we soared on the wind.

As if having precisely calculated the route, he went straight ahead without any detours.

The snow and wind passed around us, the evil miasma left by my body forming winding ribbons in the air. Below, the zombies looked up at us, forming a long pursuit team behind us.

But on Xie Zhuo’s wind-riding path, they were left far behind and soon disappeared.

The surrounding blizzard gradually stopped, and a forest appeared ahead. As we approached the forest, not only the zombies on the ground but even the evil miasma in the air disappeared. At the edge of the forest, the atmosphere changed dramatically, becoming more sacred than even Xi Wang Mu’s palace.

Though I lived in Kunlun, I had never felt such pure energy.

The forest was serene, with tree trunks like ice and leaves like snow, forming a pure white forest…

This forest…

I had seen it in my dreams—the homeland of the Snow Wolf clan, where the clan leader had recalled the Evil God’s soul and forced Xie Zhuo’s mother to give birth to him.

The Evil God had intended him as a vessel… for himself…

His clansmen saw him as the evil fruit of the Evil God.

His mother viewed him as a child of impurity…

I looked at Xie Zhuo, whose expression remained resolute, as if the surrounding environment evoked no memories of the past. He showed no discomfort, only determination to reach his goal.

Passing through the forest, we arrived at what seemed to be an eternally frozen lake.

Xie Zhuo finally stopped, placing me on the ice.

This place… I had seen it in my dreams not long ago, where the Snow Wolf clan leader had recalled the Evil God’s soul, which was like black sand.

Xie Zhuo had brought me here…

I suspected that not a single patch of my skin remained intact; in this sacred forest, only my body continued to emit evil miasma.

Yet these emanations were torn apart as soon as they rose into the air.

Now that we had stopped, I felt the decay of my body so clearly. The evil miasma had consumed my internal organs. I was taking in less air than I was expelling.

I thought, perhaps, it was a little too late.

Even with extraordinary abilities, Xie Zhuo probably couldn’t save someone in my condition.

As death approached, I opened my mouth, trembling, and hoarsely told Xie Zhuo: “On my tombstone, you must write ‘deceased wife’… Fu Jiuxia…”

Deceased wife, not former wife.

In the end, this was the only thing I wanted to emphasize.

Saying we should separate was my mistake; I also regretted cutting the red thread.

Xie Zhuo knelt beside me, and since putting me down, his fingers had been drawing something around me.

Hearing my words, his hand paused, and he looked at me with a gaze that held resignation and amusement, seemingly hiding some pain. He looked at me.

Then he stood up.

My eyes no longer had the strength to stay open. Before closing them, I vaguely saw him take out an axe.

The axe was old and cracked, but I still recognized it as the Pangu Fu.

Was Xie Zhuo… going to split time and space again?

I didn’t get to see what followed, as my eyes finally closed completely.

The world plunged into deathly darkness.