After meeting Zhu Lian, I did indeed adjust my state of mind. I resumed my duties as a senior immortal, commanding the defense forces.

Kunlun continued to fare well, peaceful and tranquil, passing smoothly from late spring through an entire summer, then welcoming early autumn.

And then…

The world began to change gradually.

Xi Wang Mu and the various deities had concealed the existence of the City of Immortals, planted spies like Lao Qin throughout the world, and imprisoned those who accidentally discovered the truth of the world in the City of Immortals.

Since my return, this matter has been constantly debated both inside and outside Kunlun, with endless arguments.

At first, the debates were among common folk, but later, even the immortals began to have differences and varying views. Some immortals believed that the deities had done no wrong.

While other immortals thought the deities had inadvertently killed many innocent people, and that their misdeeds were comparable to those of the evil god.

I had never commented on this matter and had ordered the defense forces not to discuss it.

Having seen the misery in the City of Immortals, from my perspective, I could not judge whether the actions of the deities and Xie Zhuo in concealing the truth from the world were right or wrong. I could only have the defense forces maintain the current peace.

But differences don’t disappear because of silence.

The sudden change in Kunlun, or rather in the world, came on an utterly ordinary afternoon.

A vendor in the West Market got into a physical altercation with a customer over a disagreement. The vendor lost control and killed that customer.

After the vendor calmed down from his anger, he fell into terror, and then he…

Went insane…

He injured dozens of people in succession at the West Market. When I received the report, I was puzzled as to how an ordinary vendor could cause such a disturbance in the West Market without being subdued by bystanders, since those who came to Kunlun were not minor demons or local deities.

When I arrived with the defense forces, I understood.

The vendor was surrounded by a crowd. People were looking at him warily, but no one dared to step forward.

Because the vendor’s eyes were now pitch black, his appearance was terrifying. The black aura emanating from his body was something everyone recognized all too well…

Malevolent energy…

The vendor was executed.

I was the one who did it…

Under my sword, he turned into a wisp of black smoke and vanished in the blink of an eye, yet my sword-wielding hand could not sheathe the blade for a long time.

I realized something terrible—

The malevolent energy had returned to the world.

I reported this matter to Xi Wang Mu.

After hearing this, Xi Wang Mu’s expression changed. She had me reactivate the Kunlun barrier. Although there was no Pangu Fu to protect it, the Kunlun barrier could still be temporarily sustained through the connection of countless formations surrounding Kunlun to create a screen that isolated the outside.

She forbade people from outside Kunlun from entering and ordered other senior immortals to strictly examine the soul energy within all their subordinates.

Then she told me something even more terrifying—

“A few days ago, Master Ji of the Northern Wilderness sent a message,” Xi Wang Mu looked at me and said, “He said that new corpses had appeared on the outer wall of the City of Immortals.”

My jaw tightened involuntarily.

I felt a chill in my stomach.

“He initially thought it was done by someone dissatisfied with the deities’ previous actions, but now it seems… the malevolent energy has returned.”

I lowered my eyes, my fist clenched at my side: “The evil god has not completely perished.”

I steadied myself: “Zhu Lian must know something. I’ll go see him.”

Xi Wang Mu nodded: “Take Qin Shuyan with you. Be careful…”

So, once again, I brought Lao Qin to that lava cave. When I left last time, I had thought I would never set foot in this place again in my lifetime.

By the time we reached the cave entrance, I vaguely sensed that something was wrong.

The aura emanating from the entrance of the lava cave was much cleaner than before. This clean feeling… was just like that snowy forest before, as if all impurities had been removed.

Lao Qin and I exchanged a glance, then immediately walked into the cave.

Seeing Zhu Lian again, I was stunned.

He was now completely white, from his hair and eyelashes to every inch of his skin, almost transparently white.

I could see the blood flowing beneath his skin.

How strange that his blood could still be red…

“Zhu Lian.” Lao Qin, with a cold face, stepped forward. Through the cage, he waved his fan, and Zhu Lian’s entire body, curled up on the ground, was pulled apart by an invisible force. Lao Qin looked him over, “What have you done?”

“It’s not what I’ve done.”

Zhu Lian looked withered, his voice feeble, appearing as if he might disappear at any moment. But the corners of his mouth still bore a smile. “You should ask what the evil god has done.”

“No nonsense.” Lao Qin’s face was like ice. The thousand-year-old fox now revealed a fierce expression. “I know you’ve been seeking death, but in my hands, I have ways to make you wish you were dead.”

Hearing this, Zhu Lian seemed to have heard a joke and laughed with a dry cough: “No need to force me. I’ll tell you anyway.”

He looked at me outside the cage, “Sister-in-law, come.”

Lao Qin turned around: “Be careful of tricks.”

I made a protective gesture for myself and stepped forward.

Zhu Lian said: “Xie Zhuo had a stone around his neck, you know that, right?”

I remained silent. Of course, I knew. It was something Xie Zhuo never parted with. Even when he decided to sever our marriage bond, after much painful deliberation, he once decided to use that stone, which triggered many events…

“Thousands of years ago, the ancient forbidden technique my tribe’s chief used to recall the evil god was done by borrowing the power of mountains and rivers, gathering all the impurities and dust of that land in one place, calling back that tiny fragment of the evil god’s soul.

As a result, that land became the cleanest, purest place in the world. So much so that for thousands of years afterward, any malevolent spirit or ghost that set foot on that land would be burned and expelled by that purifying power.”

I looked back at the lava cave and saw that the colors on the cave floor were slowly fading away, just like Zhu Lian’s current physical state…

I gritted my teeth and looked at Zhu Lian: “Are you trying to imitate the Snow Wolf tribe’s chief, sacrificing yourself and this land to bring back the evil god’s soul!?”

Zhu Lian chuckled lightly: “How would I have such an ability? I told you, it’s the evil god.”

He continued: “The stone around Xie Zhuo’s neck was taken from that land. He used the stone’s power to create the snow and wind barrier outside the City of Immortals, and also used its power to seal me here.”

“Later, he absorbed all the malevolent energy in the world into his body. Then, he returned all the impurities to the mountains and rivers. So, the malevolent energy in the world disappeared. That stone also disappeared, and his seal naturally disappeared as well…”

Zhu Lian glanced at the cage beside him. “That’s why they used this piece of scrap metal to imprison me.”

“If this ‘scrap metal’ can contain you, it proves you’re truly worthless.” Lao Qin said coldly, “I’m asking you, where is the current malevolent energy coming from?”

“Don’t be impatient.” Zhu Lian only stared at me, smiling lightly, “Before Xie Zhuo took you traveling through time, neither Xie Zhuo, Xi Wang Mu, nor any of the deities knew about this. So they had no way to solve the problem of malevolent energy in the world. But after Xie Zhuo returned to five hundred years ago, he found a way. Aren’t you curious when he found it?”

I looked at Zhu Lian while my mind raced through the journey Xie Zhuo and I had taken back five hundred years, thinking about what we had been through.

Thinking back, I realized that we had been together the whole time, with the only separation being…

When he cleaved through time a second time, he found Xie Xuanqing before me, then set up his plan, got injured, and immediately came to trick me…

During those few days, Xie Zhuo arranged for Wu Cheng to intercept me, contacted Qin Shuyan, and had Qin Shuyan bring a female fox demon to rescue Xie Xuanqing.

And also…

He was injured…

According to the original timeline, Xie Xuanqing should have pursued Zhu Lian to Kunlun, fought with him, both sustaining injuries, but still managing to seal Zhu Lian here. Then he went to the Snow Bamboo Forest and met me.

But because we returned to the past, we changed it.

So, to achieve his goal of preventing Xiaxia from meeting Xie Xuanqing, Xie Zhuo intervened in the battle between Xie Xuanqing and Zhu Lian.

I don’t know what he did, but he successfully got Xie Xuanqing into an ice pit, successfully sealed Zhu Lian, and then got injured himself before running to the Snow Bamboo Forest to meet me…

The only time Xie Zhuo wasn’t with me was during these few short days.

Was it during that time that he gained some insight?

Zhu Lian, seeing my thoughtful expression, had a smile that grew increasingly sinister. “You’ve figured it out, haven’t you? When it happened.”

I stared at him: “What exactly are you trying to say?”

“Five hundred years ago, during the crucial moment of my battle with Xie Zhuo, a man in black joined the fight. His techniques were identical to Xie Zhuo’s.

If I had continued to struggle with just Xie Zhuo, I would have had no chance to counterattack. But when the man in black arrived, he interrupted Xie Zhuo, giving me a chance to catch my breath. Following the instructions of the evil god’s soul within me, I gathered malevolent energy using the power of the earth, mountains, and rivers, and attacked the man in black. It was the only time I used the evil god’s technique.”

I silently stared at Zhu Lian. The fog in my mind seemed to be slowly lifting layer by layer through his words.

“But my body ultimately couldn’t bear the evil god’s power. Although I seriously injured the man in black, he still took advantage of my exhaustion to seal me here.”

Then the injured man in black, who was Xie Zhuo from five hundred years later, came to the Snow Bamboo Forest and “reunited” with me.

Meanwhile, Xie Xuanqing, under Xie Zhuo’s arrangement, was rescued by that female fox demon. But in the end, guided by fate, Xie Xuanqing still met Xiaxia.

“After I was sealed, I didn’t know who the man in black was…” Zhu Lian’s words brought me back to the present. He grinned, smiling horribly, “But do you think the one inside my body didn’t know?”

The one inside his body…

The evil god knew then that the man in black was Xie Zhuo from five hundred years later?

“He knew long ago! At that time, in this world, there were two Xie Zhuos—one was the ordinary Xie Zhuo, and one was Xie Zhuo from the future. He has been waiting, waiting for today!”

Zhu Lian, almost maniacally, continued: “The evil god knew that after seeing the evil god’s forbidden technique, Xie Zhuo would certainly understand how to make the malevolent energy in the world disappear. So he has been waiting all along. For five hundred years, he has been waiting for Xie Zhuo to return to the past. He knew that once Xie Zhuo went back and returned, he would choose to sacrifice himself to eliminate the malevolent energy in the world!”

Hearing this, both Lao Qin and I trembled.

The evil god had known all along what Xie Zhuo would do. He had anticipated that Xie Zhuo would disappear along with all the malevolent energy in the world. That meant he had been preparing for five hundred years longer than Xie Zhuo…

“During these five hundred years, in this seal, I have wanted to die every moment, not because I lost to Xie Zhuo, but because the evil god has been constantly altering my body.

He used the external malevolent energy to drive Xie Zhuo insane, while torturing me in my soul.

He planned everything so thoroughly. If Xie Zhuo went insane, he would use Xie Zhuo’s body to return to the world. If Xie Zhuo didn’t go insane… and died, then he would use me…”

As Zhu Lian spoke, his complexion became even paler. The blood flowing inside his body began to turn white before our very eyes.

Suddenly, I felt the ground beneath my feet tremble. A rumbling sound came from outside. The Kunlun defense forces token at my waist suddenly shattered.

I knew the temporary barrier around Kunlun… had broken…

“I would become the catalyst for his return to the world… As long as there is even a tiny bit…” Zhu Lian’s voice became dry, as if his vitality was about to be drained, “Malevolent energy will never disappear. It’s in your hearts… Just one hook, and no one can escape the evil god’s calamity…”

Lao Qin withdrew his folding fan, but Zhu Lian in the cage had already turned completely white, along with the ground he stood on and the surrounding cave. All colors were fading away.

This place was gradually becoming as clean as that snowy forest.

“Everyone will become his vessel, and in this world, there will no longer be a Xie Zhuo…”

In the air, Zhu Lian left these last words, and finally, there was no more sound.

I looked at Zhu Lian, who had become like a block of ice sculpture, my heart filled with mixed emotions and indescribable feelings. I let Lao Qin grab my arm: “We can’t stay here!”

Lao Qin pulled me, quickly taking me away from the cave.

We flew on the wind to the outside of the cave, only to see that the Kunlun barrier was breaking from the sky down. Outside the Kunlun barrier, malevolent energy like a vast sandstorm was already coming in full force.

Zhu Lian’s last words echoed in my ears repeatedly, like a curse.

“Everyone will become his vessel…”

“And in this world, there will no longer be a Xie Zhuo…”