The situation in the Northern Wasteland continued to deteriorate, and Magpie Mountain could no longer accommodate more people.

The Main God Ji finally gave the order—

Seal off Magpie Mountain…

On the day when Magpie Mountain’s gates were completely closed, outside the city gates, those who weren’t permitted to enter the city were all rushing against the gates. There was weeping, wailing, people screaming until their voices were hoarse, and people turning back in despair toward the Northern Wasteland that had already been consumed by evil miasma.

Before the city gates, the misery was indescribable, like a human purgatory.

But Main God Ji did not avoid it. He stood atop the city gate, watching people’s struggle for survival, enduring the abuse and rejection of angry people.

He didn’t say anything.

He seemed to have truly become like a deity in a temple, hearing all the suffering of living beings, yet only half-closing his eyes, compassionate but silent.

And from then on, the atmosphere within Magpie Mountain also began to change.

The marketplace was no longer bustling; no one was selling food or medicine anymore. In the refugee shelters, the refugees both rejoiced in receiving Magpie Mountain’s protection and felt confused about the future.

The soldiers patrolled every day, but morale was always low.

The only thing that remained unchanged seemed to be Xie Zhuo.

There were no children following him to learn techniques, no old people sending him clothes and hats. He still resolutely did what he needed to do—searching for traces of Zhu Lian and evil miasma at street corners and alleyways.

I floated beside him day after day. Now that I couldn’t find citizens of Magpie Mountain on the streets, I would circle around the military camp a couple of times, hoping to find a compatible person, briefly borrowing their body to tell Xie Zhuo a word of appreciation for his hard work and to take care of himself.

This day, Xie Zhuo happened to go near the military camp to investigate, so I floated into the camp, trying to find someone with affinity.

But upon entering the camp, I happened to see that Main God Ji was also in the camp today. He seemed to be discussing matters with several immortals in charge of Magpie Mountain’s military camp, and they entered the main camp.

So I floated to a corner of the military camp, looking for a suitable soldier.

As I searched, I truly found one.

The soldier was thin, seemingly still a young boy who had just joined Magpie Mountain’s military camp not long ago. The collar around his neck was still blue.

He wasn’t patrolling or training outside like other soldiers, but was curled up in a corner, hugging his knees, trembling continuously.

He buried his face in his knees, preventing me from seeing his face, but I could hear him muttering repeatedly:

“I’m so scared… I’m so scared… I don’t want to become like those people outside…”

The young boy was of tender age; it was inevitable to feel frightened in such a harsh environment.

I felt some sympathy for him, so I tried to channel his fearful mood, slowly approaching him.

I had thought that, based merely on his fear and my sympathy, it wouldn’t be enough for my soul to merge with his…

But unexpectedly, when I floated beside him, there seemed to be an attractive force that directly pulled my soul into his body!

This was a situation that had never occurred before.

When my soul merged into his flesh and bones, I suddenly felt a tightness in my heart, and a familiar feeling crept up!

It wasn’t the usual warmth and heaviness, but a cold, damp aura that traveled along this body, along our connected meridians, and in the blink of an eye, stabbed my soul with pain!

This was… evil miasma!

Inside this young boy’s body, there was evil miasma!

I immediately wanted to leave this body, but I found that my soul seemed to be entangled by the meridians in this body!

That evil miasma made the entire body convulse and tremble. The young boy’s original soul also began to scream in alarm after I connected:

“I’m scared! I don’t want to become like that! I’m scared!”

While listening to his screams, I felt that this body stood up completely beyond my control.

In the bloodshot eyes of the young boy, I saw black evil miasma emerging from this body. The aura tore through his skin and emerged from beneath the ruptured skin.

“Ah!”

“Stop screaming!”

Inside the young boy’s body, I shouted at him with my soul consciousness. But he couldn’t control himself at all now.

He raised his hand and touched his face: “I don’t want to, I don’t want to!”

I continued to shout at him: “Calm down first!”

Last time in the Undying City, I had experienced evil miasma entering my body. I remembered that at that time, Xie Zhuo kept telling me to keep my emotions stable.

So I shouted at the soul sharing this body with me: “You must control your emotions!”

“I’m so scared! I can’t control it!” He seemed to react, “Who are you! Why are you in my head? Are you an evil spirit trying to harm me? Ahhh!”

This was the first time I had a conversation with the original soul in a body I’d entered.

I was also somewhat at a loss, but I still forced myself to calmly direct him: “I want to save you! Evil miasma can be eliminated. Don’t lose your rationality. First, take back control of your body!”

“I’m scared! I’m just scared!”

The young boy kept repeating this sentence, making me anxious.

I immediately sank my consciousness, thinking that since I couldn’t escape, I might as well fully merge into this body and help him suppress the evil miasma!

I allowed my soul to be dragged by the evil miasma, merging into every meridian of this body.

After even the fingertips were occupied by this cold sensation, I raised one hand, formed a seal, and wanted to use Kunlun techniques to gather soul power from the surrounding environment to control the evil miasma in this body.

But when I began to gather the surrounding soul power, I felt a sharp pain in my heart.

The young boy’s voice in my brain began to wail again: “It hurts! What are you doing? You evil spirit wants to kill me!”

I ignored him and tried again, and indeed, an even more tearing pain came from my heart.

This body controlled by evil miasma… couldn’t normally gather soul power…

At present, I couldn’t eliminate the evil miasma in this body…

Just as I was in despair, suddenly I saw a flash of white light in front of me. Someone with two fingers as a sword gently touched “my” forehead.

In an instant, it was like a clean breeze passing through, sweeping away all filth.

The young boy’s fear and screams in the body subsided, and I also gained temporary clarity.

I seized this moment, without even looking at who was standing in front of me, and directly used Kunlun techniques to expel the remaining evil miasma that I could still sense in the body.

After completing this action, this body immediately collapsed to the ground, too weak to even stand.

“Kunlun techniques?”

I slightly raised my head, looking against the light, and saw Main God Ji in front of me.

It was indeed him…

Although most of the evil miasma in this body had been expelled by me, there might still be remnants at the junction of the meridians and soul fusion. My soul was stuck to this body and couldn’t freely detach.

I moved my lips, now without even the strength to speak. And even if I could speak, I didn’t know what to say.

Why would a low-level soldier of Magpie Mountain use an immortal technique from Kunlun?

Others might not recognize what I used, but how could Main God Ji not see through it?

“Answer me.”

Two words, accompanied by the divine power of the Main God, shook this already weak body as if it were about to fall apart.

I thought, if I didn’t squeeze out a few words, Main God Ji might truly take me for an evil spirit and cut me down with one stroke…

After all, “I” had just emitted black evil miasma.

I had to use all my strength to support my head, trembling as I stared at Main God Ji, and said: “I… I can still be saved…”

Don’t cut me down now!

Give me a little more time!

Perhaps I could push all the evil miasma out of this body…

Main God Ji’s gaze was cold, and he asked again: “Why do you know Kunlun techniques?”

Each of his words was accompanied by divine power; it felt as if my internal organs were about to be shattered by this divine power.

I looked at him, unable to answer. Just when I thought I was about to be crushed to death by the increasingly oppressive divine power around Main God Ji, another voice suddenly came from the side.

“He says he can still be saved.”

As soon as this voice reached my ears, my eyes immediately turned red. I eagerly looked to one side, fixing my gaze on Xie Zhuo standing behind Main God Ji.

Xie Zhuo tilted his head, looking into my eyes for a while, then turned to Main God Ji and said: “He doesn’t have much evil miasma left.”

“I know, he expelled it using Kunlun techniques,” Main God Ji said. “He shouldn’t know Kunlun techniques.”

Xie Zhuo looked at me as if saying, explain yourself.

I immediately said: “I… I met Kunlun immortals before, they taught me.”

Main God Ji frowned slightly, seemingly not believing my words.

But Xie Zhuo walked in front of me, crouched down, and reached out to check my pulse.

My heart skipped a beat as I looked at Xie Zhuo drawing near, without saying a word.

Xie Zhuo withdrew his fingertips and turned to Main God Ji: “Channeling spiritual energy into his pulse, one can detect some evil miasma, very weak, perhaps it’s truly…”

“Perhaps it is!”

I quickly interrupted Xie Zhuo’s words. I felt that if this precious one continued speaking, Main God Ji might behead me!

“But give me two days, perhaps I can eliminate these auras from my body myself.”

I supported my spirit and said hoarsely: “Strangely, I know Kunlun techniques, but Kunlun is also an immortal realm, Xi Wang Mu is also an orthodox Main God, and Kunlun techniques are not evil arts. I am indeed a soldier of Magpie Mountain. If I can save myself, at least… You won’t mistakenly kill me… can you?”

After this outburst, both men fell silent.

Xie Zhuo seemed to be seriously considering my words, and finally, he nodded as if he found them reasonable.

I swallowed and glanced up at Main God Ji again.

I saw that Main God Ji had withdrawn his killing intent, but was somewhat peculiarly squinting his eyes slightly to scrutinize me.

I didn’t know what this sudden scrutiny was about, so I could only quietly wait for his judgment.

“Since that’s the case,” after a long while, Main God Ji spoke, “I’ll take him back and investigate thoroughly.”

Huh?

Main God Ji taking me back?

I immediately looked at Xie Zhuo: No way, I want to go with you.

But Xie Zhuo seemed to completely misunderstand my gaze and directly nodded in agreement with Main God Ji.

“You take him back and investigate well. These days, I’ll go explore outside Magpie Mountain.”

“Good,” Main God Ji said. “The technique left on your necklace allows you to freely enter and exit my barrier.” Xie Zhuo nodded and turned to leave, only his words lingering in the air: “In two days, I’ll come check his pulse again.”

Huh?

They’ve agreed already?

I could only slump on the ground, gazing longingly as Xie Zhuo walked away. When I turned back, a hand directly pulled me up from the ground.

Main God Ji looked at me.

“The Magpie Mountain Stone Mirror has just been returned to my palace. Go through it again.”

Huh?

Going through the stone mirror is fine, but what do you mean by “again”?