Will it be the ceremony tomorrow?

This was completely unexpected.

After awakening from my dark submersion, I would directly arrive on the day before the “ceremony”?

I was completely unprepared, but this matter didn’t require any preparation from me.

This had already happened to Xie Zhuo before I met him. In my current soul form, all I could do was observe.

I accompanied Xie Zhuo back to his tent and watched him as he meditated silently. I wondered what he had experienced over these years to cultivate such serenity, to face his potential death tomorrow with such calm acceptance.

I stayed with him until nightfall. As “tomorrow” drew ever closer, I suddenly heard footsteps outside the tent, coming from the desolate and silent Snow Wolf tribe settlement.

Curious about who would be moving around so close to tomorrow’s arrival, I floated outside.

I saw shadowy figures walking away from the direction of Xie Ling’s tent. Finding this strange, I followed them.

Getting closer, I saw that it was Xie Ling and Zhu Lian heading into the distance.

Over these years, Zhu Lian seemed healthier than before. Though still frail, he had grown taller. He was pulling Xie Ling forward.

Xie Ling, however, appeared withered and haggard.

Didn’t Xie Zhuo say that Xie Ling still wanted to kill both Xie Zhuo and the Evil God during tomorrow’s vessel-claiming ceremony?

Why did she now look as if she was trying to escape?

“Zhu Lian, I can’t walk any further. Go find medicine for me.” Xie Ling leaned against an ice-covered tree trunk and stopped. In the moonlight, she looked at Zhu Lian with gentle eyes, her fingers carefully writing characters on his palm. I floated over and followed each stroke, barely making out what she was writing.

“Go find medicine and bring it back.”

Zhu Lian looked anxious. He glanced toward the distance, then back at Xie Ling, his fingers also writing on her palm: “The medicine-gathering place is far. Going there and back will take until tomorrow. Your body…”

“I can hold on.”

“Tomorrow is the Evil God’s ceremony. Leaving you alone here, I fear something unexpected might happen. Mother, you should come with me. After gathering the medicine and taking it, we can return together.”

Hearing this, Xie Ling seemed to find it amusing: “You’re mistaken. The ceremony is the day after tomorrow.”

Zhu Lian froze…

I was also stunned for a moment.

“But…”

“I’m very tired. You go, let me rest. Don’t delay until the day after tomorrow. During the ceremony, who knows what might happen.”

Zhu Lian was silent for a moment, but finally nodded.

He released Xie Ling’s hand and turned to leave. Xie Ling appeared ready to let go, but at the last moment, she grabbed Zhu Lian’s fingertips.

Confused, Zhu Lian turned back to look at her.

Xie Ling gazed at him, her eyes filled with indescribable complexity. In the end, it all transformed into a smile at the corner of her lips. With a hoarse voice, she said: “Don’t rush too much, be careful.”

Perhaps it had been too long since Zhu Lian had heard Xie Ling’s voice. He paused momentarily, then nodded.

Xie Ling finally let go of his hand and watched as Zhu Lian’s figure disappeared into the ice and snow forest.

After a long while, when Zhu Lian was completely out of sight, Xie Ling finally lowered the hand that had been supporting her against the tree trunk.

She stood straight, and the paleness and haggardness on her face receded somewhat, as if half of her previous weakness had been an act.

I understood now. She wanted Zhu Lian to miss tomorrow’s ceremony.

She had… let Zhu Lian go…

Only now did I realize why, when Lao Qin took me to see Zhu Lian, he said, “Xie Zhuo forcibly drew the Evil God’s soul into his body,” and added, “That day, I happened to be away.”

Zhu Lian’s departure had been orchestrated.

He thought the ceremony was the day after tomorrow, so when he returned tomorrow and saw Xie Zhuo with the Evil God inside him, he would believe Xie Zhuo had forcibly drawn in the Evil God’s soul!

It was Xie Ling… who had her selfish intentions…

Xie Ling walked with steady steps back to the Snow Wolf tribe settlement.

Her expression was resolute, without any hesitation or tenderness. She had prepared herself to sacrifice her own life and to kill Xie Zhuo. The only one she had softened her heart for was the child she had with her beloved.

She had given all her maternal feelings to Zhu Lian.

I understood the reasons behind this, but it made me feel even more sorry for Xie Zhuo. In his mother’s choices, he had never been chosen.

With a heavy heart, I returned to Xie Zhuo’s tent. The moment I floated in, I saw Xie Zhuo and was startled.

Because Xie Zhuo’s eyes were open.

He was looking down at the ground, his tail behind him, and the ears on his ears completely still.

I couldn’t predict how powerful Xie Zhuo’s spiritual energy had become by now, but as the vessel the Evil God was about to possess, I imagined that at such close distance, his senses could at least detect Zhu Lian’s departure.

He must have guessed what Xie Ling had done.

He remained silent, closing his eyes again, like a statue that had perfected the art of emotional detachment. No longer disturbed by what he couldn’t have.

Tomorrow finally arrived.

With the first ray of morning light came a concentration of evil spirit aura so intense I couldn’t ignore it.

In this place, the purest in the world, the evil spirit aura had still condensed into a rope, probing into Xie Zhuo’s tent from outside.

The evil spirit aura stopped in front of Xie Zhuo. The scattered aura at the outer edges was quickly torn apart by the purity in the air, but the rope remained unmoved.

Only a continuous, massive supply of evil spirit aura could maintain this form in such an environment.

I believed that over these years, besides Xie Zhuo, the Evil God himself had also grown considerably stronger.

Xie Zhuo opened his eyes from his meditation and calmly glanced at the black rope at his feet.

As soon as he put his foot down, the black rope immediately slithered up his leg like a vine, until it had completely enveloped him!

Then, the rope yanked Xie Zhuo away, rushing outside.

Startled, I quickly followed.

Following the rope, I floated swiftly like lightning to the ice lake.

This was where the Snow Wolf tribe chieftain had first summoned the Evil God, and now the Evil God had brought Xie Zhuo back to this place.

He wanted to obtain his physical vessel here, to demonstrate his return to the mortal world.

No member of the Snow Wolf tribe was present for this ceremony. He seemingly needed no preparation or witnesses. Perhaps he believed that once he possessed a body, the entire world would bear witness.

I saw the Evil God again.

This time, perhaps the closest I’d ever been to his true form.

Formless and shapeless, the Snow Wolf tribe chieftain’s body he had relied on had completely decayed and disappeared.

Now, all that remained was a skull manipulated by a black evil spirit aura. The only thing visible, etched into the marrow, was a black depression in the middle of the skull, from which all the evil spirit aura emanated.

The evil spirit aura formed a flame-like shape around the skull, enveloping it. At the outer edges of these flames, the connected rope of condensed evil spirit aura entangled Xie Zhuo’s body, suspending him in the air.

The outer evil spirit aura was constantly being torn apart by the pure power above the ice lake.

Xie Zhuo looked at the Evil God before him, expressionless.

The ice lake was silent, the Evil God made no sound, and Xie Zhuo uttered no words.

In this extreme stillness, the black evil spirit aura began to surge, as if the black flames were burning more fiercely.

The rope binding Xie Zhuo grew more branches. All the branches stretched toward the sky, but then sharply fell back, converging into a stream of black energy that pierced directly into Xie Zhuo’s brow like a needle.

Xie Zhuo seemed to be in instant pain. His face turned deathly pale, but he still clenched his teeth without making a sound.

The evil spirit aura was injected into Xie Zhuo’s brow from the needle’s tip. Black meridians began to appear under his skin, spreading from his forehead to his cheeks, then to his neck… finally extending throughout his entire body.

As the meridians all over Xie Zhuo’s body turned black, the evil spirit aura attached to the white skull grew less and less. They all flowed through the rope, continuously pouring into Xie Zhuo’s body.

Looking at Xie Zhuo, even in my soul form, I felt a heart-piercing pain.

I wanted to help him, but I only felt my powerlessness.

Finally, the last strand of evil spirit aura entered Xie Zhuo’s body through the needle in his brow, and all the ropes on his body disappeared into his skin.

He floated in the air, eyes closed.

I didn’t know what was happening inside that body now. I only saw that the moment the evil spirit aura disappeared, a flash of silver light shot out from the ice and snow forest nearby. The arrow struck Xie Zhuo’s chest with perfect accuracy!

I almost cried out, but in the next moment, silver light came from all directions, covering the sky. Countless arrows carrying the Snow Wolf tribe’s spiritual power passed through Xie Zhuo’s body.

Every arrow fiercely penetrated his body.

And he, like a target, offered no resistance, no evasion.

He was pierced by countless arrows, and even after the arrow rain stopped, he still floated in the air, not having shed a single drop of blood.

At this moment, people from the Snow Wolf tribe gradually emerged from the ice and snow forest.

Led by Xie Ling, they all held bows and arrows. It seemed they had planned this long ago, determined to kill Xie Zhuo the moment the Evil God entered his body. They wanted both Xie Zhuo and the Evil God to die at this moment…

But…

I knew the outcome…

*Boom, boom*—two sounds like heartbeats echoed across the ice lake.

Xie Zhuo’s body, almost turned into a pincushion, began to move at this time.

He slowly raised his head, and the sound of his spine realigning made one’s teeth ache. His slowly opening eyes were filled with blackness, and on his brow, a black mark was gradually taking shape.

Everyone looked at him, their eyes uniformly showing despair.

“Xie Zhuo” didn’t move, but all the arrows that had penetrated him slowly withdrew.

After the arrows exited, the wounds on his body were filled with an evil spirit aura, quickly healing.

Those arrows fell from the air onto the ice lake’s surface like scrap metal, clattering down.

“Like ants trying to shake a tree.”

Four words came from his mouth, and in the next moment, just as he was about to raise his hand, he froze.

In the sunlight, countless threads of spiritual energy had gathered on Xie Zhuo’s body, binding him. These threads had been hidden beneath the black energy before, so no one had seen them.

Now, with the Evil God’s movements restrained by these threads, everyone, including myself, could see clearly.

This was…

Xie Zhuo’s doing?

Had he created these bindings when the evil spirit aura dragged him here, to ensure he could be killed by the Snow Wolf tribe after the Evil God took over his body?

He… wanted to help them.

“Kill him while the Evil God is still adapting to the body,” Xie Ling coldly commanded.

Everyone raised their killing intent again, but this time, they all abandoned their bows and arrows, drawing their swords instead. They swarmed toward Xie Zhuo all at once.

The Evil God, surrounded by everyone, remained calm and unhurried, merely looking down at the threads on his body. As his figure was engulfed by the crowd, the sound of swords piercing flesh came through.

After their attack, the Evil God finally fell from the air to the ground. Xie Zhuo’s body had been cut into an indistinguishable mess.

Everyone was stained with Xie Zhuo’s blood, but…

The blood was black.

Everyone surrounded the seemingly broken body on the ground, not daring to look away.

When the evil spirit aura began to seep out of that body again, someone finally lost all hope and couldn’t even hold their sword anymore.

The Evil God couldn’t be killed—they realized this.

Someone turned to run but, at that very moment, had their neck snapped by a ball of black energy.

“Xie Zhuo’s” body stood up amidst everyone.

The black dot on his brow emitted an eerie light. The threads on his body had been cut during the earlier attack. His body had healed, but those spiritual energy threads had not reformed.

The Evil God finally controlled the body and raised his hand: “This vessel, your Snow Wolf tribe, has nurtured well.” He lifted his fingertips, and those splashed with the black blood began to show strange expressions.

The black blood had seeped into their skin.

The meridians all over their bodies also began to turn black, and some people’s eyes had already turned completely black.

On the ice lake, the wails of the Snow Wolf tribe were unceasing.

Including Xie Ling, she too had been splashed with blood. Watching the black meridians crawl up her arm from her wrist, Xie Ling didn’t say a word, directly cutting off her arm.

But it was too late. A meridian from her shoulder spread upward, climbing to her temple, gradually invading her eyes.

She looked at “Xie Zhuo” with hateful gritted teeth.

The Evil God, however, was smiling: “You will forever serve me.” The Evil God raised his hand, about to wave slowly and issue his command, but as he raised his hand, his wrist stopped in mid-air.

The evil spirit aura around seemed to temporarily halt its assault on each Snow Wolf tribe member.

The Evil God raised his hand to clutch his chest.

“You still want to resist?”

Before he finished speaking, his expression suddenly changed, and his entire body seemed to lose strength, collapsing directly to his knees.

It was Xie Zhuo, still inside his body, not giving up.

Just like when I was in the City of Immortality, infected by an evil spirit’s aura, what he told me most was: don’t be afraid, don’t give up.

He had always acted this way himself.

Only…

Looking at Xie Zhuo now, seeing his pale face, trembling lips, and cold sweat pouring down his temples like rain.

I had fought the Evil God in my dreams; I knew how painful it was. I also knew that Xie Zhuo’s current torment was a hundred times worse than mine.

But he still overcame fear, didn’t give up, until…

His eyes were clear…