For that one moment, Ruyi felt like she was dreaming. Only in dreams would Shen Qiyuan rush toward her so recklessly. Ten thousand demons flowed like a river beneath their feet, lightning flashed and thunder rumbled at the horizon’s edge, yet he still held her tightly, his chest solid and warm.

The corners of her eyes felt somewhat sore, as if grievances accumulated for far too long were about to burst like a dam.

What had he been doing all this time? If he knew that, given another chance, his choice would still be her, then what had he been doing all this time?

Who in this world couldn’t live without whom? She didn’t have to be with him either. It was just that since he had taken steps toward her, how could he suddenly stop moving forward after she had responded with joy? It made her look so foolish. She had been carefree for three thousand years—there was no reason to keep capsizing repeatedly in this one gutter of his. Did she have no dignity?

Anger flaring up, she pinched him hard.

“Hiss.” Shen Qiyuan drew in a sharp breath.

Ruyi suddenly broke into a smile: “If it hurts, then it’s not a dream.”

But if it wasn’t a dream… her expression grew serious again. Holding his neck, she looked down at the surging demon horde below, then looked up at the heavenly punishment about to break through the clouds.

No path to heaven above, no door to earth below. Having finally glimpsed half his heart, were they destined to die together here?

“That’s not right,” she said, looking at Shen Qiyuan. “What about your divine consciousness?”

He had already recovered all memories related to the Blue God. Logically, his divine consciousness should have shielded the gods and Buddhas as before. How could there still be heavenly punishment?

Shen Qiyuan’s gaze was very focused, as if forming hand seals, though he spared time to answer her: “Don’t worry. I definitely won’t let you be harmed in the slightest.”

If she were some naive young girl, she might still be charmed by his composed and unruffled bearing. But she knew the power of this heavenly punishment. Even if they survived the heavenly punishment, the demon horde below could tear them to pieces and devour them alive. What kind of divine powers would be needed to escape unscathed?

Ruyi frowned and gripped his clothing tightly.

Shen Qiyuan was strangled into a cough by her grip, his eyelids drooping helplessly: “Earlier, you asked me whether I trusted you or trusted my deities. Now I want to ask you too—do you trust me, or do you trust heaven and earth?”

What nonsense. Ruyi pursed her lips. Heaven and earth were the foundation of all things. No matter how much her heart favored him, she couldn’t possibly believe he could surpass heaven and earth.

But looking at his very serious expression, she was compelled to answer: “I trust you.”

The person before her suddenly smiled, his dark eyes like spring water rippling with emerald waves, even the teardrop mole beneath his eye seeming to soften like gentle clouds and moon among mountains.

This sudden boundless beauty left Ruyi dazed for a moment. When she came to her senses, he had finished forming the hand seal, and a misty net had fallen around them, growing with the wind as it stretched far toward the startling thunder at the horizon’s edge.

“Rare that you choose me,” his voice was like jade chimes shaking in the wind, joyful and relieved. “Then I cannot disappoint you.”

As his words fell, the gauze-like net stopped precisely one li ahead, forming a semicircular screen enclosing about a hundred zhang. When demons rushed toward it, the seemingly fragile net firmly blocked them, remaining completely unmoved no matter how they crashed against it.

The demons behind didn’t understand the situation and continued charging forward one after another, piling up. By the time the two of them flew over, the great net was packed densely full.

“Be careful,” Ruyi tugged at Shen Qiyuan.

The demons had piled up along the net, stacking higher and higher until they were level with where they stood.

Shen Qiyuan stopped moving and brought her down to rest on a nearby towering tree. His right arm held her while his left hand closed, causing the net to wrap around and trap most of the demons inside.

However, among so many demons, not all were the lowest-grade little demons. Some great demons who knew better saw that the situation was bad and immediately let out sharp shrieks. Then all the demons attacked the gauze net together. After one or two strikes, the gauze net hadn’t broken yet, but it didn’t look like it could hold much longer.

At this moment, heavenly punishment descended. Shen Qiyuan raised a boundless, vast dome overhead, leaving only the gap where the net was located.

CRACK—

Thunder shook heaven and earth. Before Ruyi could feel afraid, someone covered her ears.

She looked up in astonishment.

In the electric light, Shen Qiyuan gazed down at her tenderly, his mouth opening and closing, saying something she couldn’t hear. But his palms were warm, quickly calming her down.

He was deliberately drawing heavenly punishment to destroy the demons?

The dome overhead was as solid as a new heaven, countless times better than what she and Song Zhenshan had managed to create with all their effort. Forget lightning—not even a drop of rain leaked through.

What kind of cultivation level did this person have? It was far beyond what a mere Blue God should possess.

The previous heavenly punishment seemed to have given him enough experience. Now, watching that heavenly light, he was completely confident. After counting five thunderbolts falling, he sealed up that gap as well.

Ruyi wanted to look back, but was blocked by his outstretched hand.

“Today, if it’s not them dying, then it’s you dying,” he looked down at her seriously. “If they save you, you would repay their kindness. If they kill you, you need not show mercy either.”

She slowly listened to the end, her eyebrows moving slightly: “Are you comforting me?”

Shen Qiyuan didn’t deny it.

She was now a demon, and those who died were all her kind. Even though he hadn’t done anything wrong, he was afraid she would be unhappy seeing it.

Ruyi wasn’t unhappy. She was just thinking that today’s events were too significant and definitely couldn’t be hidden from the Demon King. If the Demon King insisted on acting against Shen Qiyuan, what should be done?

Her joyful mood hadn’t lasted long before they had to face a reality—even if their hearts were aligned, their identities and positions remained irreconcilable.

“Tch.” Ruyi scratched at her temples. “How troublesome.”

Shen Qiyuan only needed one glance to know what she was worried about. After pondering briefly, he said: “I have an idea.”

Her eyes moved as she looked back at him. After studying him for a moment, she couldn’t help but tease: “The upright guest of Qidou Mountain, the Imperial Clan Affairs Official of Great Qian—you’re going to resort to trickery too?”

He stood with hands clasped behind his back, composed and confident: “All things in the world aren’t truly black and white. As long as one’s heart isn’t bad, what’s wrong with occasional cunning?”

Ruyi clapped her hands and laughed.

People indeed all change. She would, and so would he. But Shen Qiyuan’s changes more or less bore her handiwork, like a piece of silver-snow paper so precious it required burning incense and making offerings, onto which she had pressed two dirty palm prints.

A bad person like her loved doing this kind of asking-for-trouble thing most.

However, this dirtied silver-snow paper hadn’t completely fallen. Instead, it had painted a picture of all human conditions over the stains, carrying his thoughts as he went to do what he believed was right.

Though both had their fates’ trajectories influenced by each other, she wasn’t his vassal, nor was he hers.

They still walked side by side.

The earth-shaking heavenly punishment fell, yet Great Qian remained completely unaffected. Not only did the Demon King notice something was wrong, but the immortals in the Ninth Heaven also began discussing among themselves.

“We said long ago that person far exceeded the Blue God position. He was willing to condescend to lower status, but the consequence is that he now single-handedly covers the sky in the mortal realm.”

“No matter how much he covers the sky, it’s only in the mortal world. As long as the incense offerings don’t cease, we don’t need to manage what he does too strictly.”

“Hey, Divine Lord Puhua, what do you think?”