Xie Zhuo was unwilling to hit me, and his scolding couldn’t drive me away.

We sat facing each other by candlelight all evening. After careful consideration, I said, “This won’t work.”

Xie Zhuo looked at me, and I said seriously, “We must completely ‘take over’ our past selves to ruin our marriage bond.”

Xie Zhuo sat with his arms crossed, looking at me. As a defense general of Kunlun, I began to analyze the situation with him using military methods:

“Look, today, my past self suddenly found her way here, and you suddenly appeared to disrupt the relationship between our past selves. This approach is direct, but not forceful enough.

The relationship wasn’t damaged thoroughly. As soon as my past self and your past self meet, this plot will collapse on its own.

And we might even expose ourselves. Fortunately, that version of me today was simple-minded—knocking her unconscious to sleep it off worked this time, but it won’t always be so easy.”

“Hmm…”

“So, going forward, we need to establish a series of guidelines. For instance…”

I crushed a bamboo cup on the table and picked out four bamboo pieces, two large and two small.

I picked up the two larger pieces and held one over the candlelight, heating it until the surface turned black. Placing it down, I said, “These two large pieces—the blackened one is you, and the unburned, green one is your past self.”

Xie Zhuo: “…”

I placed the two pieces on the table: “To make it easier for us to distinguish when we refer to them later, I’ll call your past self Xie Xuanqing, and you Xie Zhuo.”

Then I picked out the two smaller pieces and similarly blackened one: “This black piece is me, and the other is my past self. Likewise, for ease of distinction, you’ll call me Fu Jiuxia, and my past self Xiaxia.”

Xie Zhuo’s lips moved slightly.

I stared at him: “Can’t say it?”

“Continue,” he avoided answering directly.

On the table, the two black pieces and the two green pieces were placed on the left and right sides: “If we follow this arrangement, with both past selves always together, our ‘sever the marriage bond’ operation could easily be detected. But…”

I raised my hand, exchanged the positions of the two large bamboo pieces, creating a pattern of one black paired with one green. Pointing at the bamboo pieces, I said:

“If we do it this way—I go destroy your past self’s fondness for me, while you destroy my past self’s fondness for you—we directly eliminate the chance for our past selves to interact. This reduces the risk of our cover being blown while secretly killing our marriage bond in its cradle.”

Xie Zhuo raised an eyebrow.

I interpreted this expression as admiration for my strategic thinking.

I continued: “We’ll use this bamboo house as our base of operations here. Every night, we’ll return to share information about the day and plan for the next day, until we confirm the success of our ‘sever the marriage bond’ operation. How does that sound?”

“In this matter, you are indeed…” he looked at me with a detached gaze, “both brave and resourceful.”

I gratefully accepted his praise: “I believe that following my method, within five days, our past selves will loathe each other.”

He seemed to let out a cold snort, then turned his head away: “Fine…”

“But we can’t predict everything with absolute certainty… we should have a contingency plan.” I pinched my chin, pondering for a moment. “What if my past self is so hopelessly in love with you that this marriage bond simply cannot be broken, no matter what? Xie Zhuo, what would you do then?”

Xie Zhuo raised an eyebrow: “There is no ‘what if.'”

I emphasized: “But what if there is? If one path doesn’t work, shouldn’t there be a second path to choose?”

He crossed his arms and stared at me.

I understood…

He had no second path. He intended to follow this single path to the end. He said he would sever the marriage bond, so he would.

I hadn’t expected Xie Zhuo to be so persistent. It seemed… I wasn’t the only one who had been unhappy these past five hundred years.

I pursed my lips: “Fine, but there’s still one loophole. We need to determine what the success criteria are for breaking up this marriage bond. To be honest, whether this marriage bond is broken or not doesn’t matter much to me anymore.

But you’re insistent, so I’ll cooperate. My goal is to quickly return to five hundred years later with the Pangu Fu. I can’t keep supporting you indefinitely here. So you need to give me a measure of success.”

He snorted coldly through his nose again: “Criteria?”

“Yes, suppose we’re successful in our sabotage, and we see that our past selves don’t marry. But how will you ensure that, after we leave, our past selves won’t marry anyway?

What if fate brings us together again in a new thread of marriage? Would you come back to break it up again? I don’t want to accompany you in an endless cycle here, with no end in sight.”

Xie Zhuo was silent for a moment, staring into my eyes, and then said in a steady tone: “In ten days, we’ll see the result.”

Ten days later?

I counted on my fingers: “Yesterday was May 18th, today is May 19th, ten days later is May 29th…”

May 29th…

I paused…

Five hundred years is an extraordinarily long time, long enough for two dynastic changes in the human realm, for mountains and rivers to subtly alter their appearance. Reasonably, over such a vast period, my memories should naturally have faded to mere shadows.

But May 29th, five hundred years ago, is a day I will never forget in this lifetime, because it was on that day that I transcended my tribulation and ascended to become an immortal.

Kunlun has only twenty-four immortals, and the day each immortal successfully ascends is a small celebration in Kunlun every year. Celebrated annually, it’s difficult to forget even if I wanted to. After all, others look forward to their holidays because of me!

And my marriage to Xie Zhuo came very close afterward, decided on the second day after my ascension. At that time, I was the one who proposed to him…

These two dates, I would not forget even after thousands or tens of thousands of years.

I remember that around May 25th, Xie Xuanqing’s injury had mostly healed. He could get up and move around, and even use some spells. My past self was overjoyed. Coincidentally, during those days, Kunlun had opened a small market, and many minor immortals went to join in the festivities.

I thought that Xie Xuanqing, having stayed in the mountains for so long, must have been bored, so I took him to the market, wanting him to enjoy the liveliness.

Unexpectedly, as we wandered through the market, with the atmosphere and environment setting the perfect mood, and given my impatient nature back then, unable to keep secrets or hold back words…

I confessed my feelings to Xie Xuanqing.

I don’t remember exactly what Xie Xuanqing said in response, but it certainly wasn’t anything positive. The gist of it was neither rejection nor acceptance.

At that time, it was my first time falling in love, my first confession, yet I received such an inconclusive answer. I was somewhat disappointed and hurt, so I hastily left before the market gathering was over.

That night, my body began to feel strange. After midnight, tribulation clouds started to gather above my immortal residence. Before dawn, the thunderous tribulation lightning came crashing down.

On the 29th, the tribulation lightning struck all day long.

To transcend the tribulation, I used all my strength.

But during that period, because I had been taking care of Xie Xuanqing, I had barely practiced my cultivation properly. Due to neglecting my training, I was struck by lightning until my soul nearly faded.

Finally, I lost consciousness.

Before fainting, I thought I might not survive this tribulation. My only regret was that, at the market gathering the night before, I hadn’t gone all the way with Xie Xuanqing.

That way, even if he didn’t care for me that much, at least I would have gained some tangible benefit…

But unexpectedly, the next day, I miraculously regained consciousness. Not only was I unharmed and alive, but I had successfully transcended the tribulation.

Although my immortal residence had been reduced to flat ground, and even that flat ground had been scorched black, my body somehow remained completely unharmed.

Having survived the tribulation, I wasn’t particularly happy about attaining the status of an immortal. Instead, I had an epiphany: whether human or immortal, one must live in the present. Whatever you want to do, you should do it immediately, without delay—what if the next moment brings death…

So, after ascending to become an immortal, the first thing I did was immediately find Xie Xuanqing and propose marriage to him.

And this time, he didn’t refuse me.

That’s how we became immortal companions for these five hundred years.

After running through the timeline of those years in my mind, I stared at Xie Zhuo and asked, puzzled: “Haven’t you got the date wrong? I proposed to you on May 30th. To see whether the marriage bond is severed or not, we’d have to wait until the 30th to see the result.”

“No mistake,” he remained very firm, but finally added, “As long as I don’t feed you my blood, the marriage bond is considered severed.”

I was stunned. When I finally reacted, I couldn’t help but ask a series of confused questions:

“What blood? Whose blood? Why feed it?”

What was this blood-feeding event? I had never known about it, not even the slightest impression.

But Xie Zhuo didn’t want to explain: “This time, you’ll find out.”

I would find out this time? Was it something the past Xie Zhuo had concealed from me? But why conceal it, and for five hundred years?

My heart was filled with curiosity and questions, but when Xie Zhuo didn’t want to say something, he wouldn’t speak even if you broke his spine.

I knew I couldn’t get any answers, and I thought, anyway, we still had to wait until the evening of the 30th to see the result, so there was no point in wasting words.

“Alright, let’s discuss what we’ll do tomorrow.” I pushed the small green bamboo piece toward Xie Zhuo, then held the large green piece in my hand. “Tomorrow, early in the morning, we’ll each set out. You intercept Xiaxia, who’s going to the cave to find Xie Xuanqing. You take her away—where you go, what you do, it’s all up to you. How much you can destroy Xiaxia’s love for Xie Xuanqing depends on your ability. As for me…”

I tossed the large bamboo piece in my hand.

“I’ll go to the cave to find Xie Xuanqing. Before the third quarter of the You hour, we return to report the situation.”

Looking at the large bamboo piece in my hand, for some reason, I felt a tinge of excitement. I smiled with confidence.

“I have a feeling that perhaps we can return tomorrow.”

Xie Zhuo maintained his expressionless face: “Let’s hope, as you say.”