Wei Zijue raised his sword horizontally to block, but still couldn’t withstand Shen Qiyuan’s force. His body fell uncontrollably backward off his horse. The armor he wore was already heavy, and falling from horseback would inevitably cause injury. Even the deputy generals behind him cried out urgently: “Marshal!”

Shen Qiyuan withdrew his hand, glancing at Ruyi several times from the corner of his eye, his lips slightly pursed, feeling somewhat regretful.

This Wei Zijue was most skilled at playing the victim and putting on airs. Would she also think he had gone too far?

Ruyi, sitting in front, suddenly raised her hand. He instinctively closed his eyes, but when he opened them again, he found she was holding his arm, raising her hand to block in front of him, looking at the several aggressive deputy generals opposite and raising an eyebrow: “What are you doing, trying to use numbers to bully the few?”

“He struck our Marshal first!” The deputy generals were indignant.

She smiled without warmth: “The Marshal hasn’t even spoken, what are you so anxious about?”

Saying this, she looked toward Wei Zijue, who had fallen from his horse.

Wei Zijue stood up clutching his chest, some grievance in his eyes: “Sister wasn’t like this before.”

“Is that so?” Ruyi wondered puzzledly, then smiled. “Well, this is how I am now, so you’d better get used to it.”

Arrogant and unreasonable, making Wei Zijue’s heart sink continuously.

He didn’t understand what had happened between these two, but in his eyes, Liu Ruyi was carefree and free—how could she possibly leave no room for others just for one Shen Qiyuan?

Never mind him, even Shen Qiyuan hadn’t reacted.

She no longer liked Wei Zijue? This person had shared over a hundred years of connection with her, and now he had just achieved merit, young and spirited with heroic bearing—shouldn’t he be more favored by her?

No.

After Ruyi finished speaking, she didn’t look at Wei Zijue again, simply grabbing the reins to ride into the city with him: “The food at home must be getting cold, let’s hurry.”

The several deputy generals dared to be angry but not speak out. Wei Zijue looked at her retreating figure, silent for a long time, finally sighing and obediently mounting his horse to follow into the city.

Originally planning to stay in Huizhou for three days, but as soon as the second day arrived, Ruyi and Shen Qiyuan together saw them out of the city.

Wei Zijue didn’t know whether to laugh or cry: “Is there such a need to rush?”

“There is.” Ruyi nodded seriously. “Although the current Crown Prince isn’t petty-minded, if you dawdle on the road, you’ll inevitably be suspected by court officials. Better to hurry back and hand over the military tally.”

Looking at her with complex eyes, Wei Zijue said in a low voice: “Sister is rejecting me.”

“What rejection or not?” She smiled. “Let’s call our debts and favors even.”

She had owed this person much before, but in this lifetime, his wish was fulfilled, so she no longer needed to meddle in anything. After his hundred years were up, she would help him reincarnate as a human again to continue living the life he wanted.

“How heartless.” Wei Zijue lowered his eyes, his eyelashes trembling.

Ruyi waved her hand, saw him off for a while, then bid farewell, riding slowly back alongside Shen Qiyuan.

“What are you thinking about?” She glanced at the person beside her.

Shen Qiyuan lightly struck his palm: “I understand now. You’re afraid he’ll waste this lifetime on you again, so you’re acting this way?”

Ruyi found this baffling: “No, when he chose to be reborn as human, he selected a fate that wouldn’t involve romantic love in this life. What’s there to waste or not waste?”

“Then why are you suddenly treating him this way?” He was full of confusion.

Her beautiful eyes curved up amusingly as Ruyi asked: “Can’t it be because of you?”

Because of him? Shen Qiyuan instinctively shook his head.

Even when she liked him most, she had never cut off contact with anyone because of his concerns. In her previous words, love was never a constraint—everyone had the freedom to associate with others.

Probably because of those words, all these years he had been convincing himself not to care too much about how many people she liked. Even if they were together, she would inevitably whistle at handsome young men, and such—it was her nature.

But now, she seemed to have changed.

Shen Qiyuan was somewhat dazed, and after the daze, his throat tightened: “Before, were you lying to me?”

Ruyi blinked, reaching up to touch her nose tip, trying to play dumb: “How long ago?”

“When we were still cultivating together.” He raised his head slightly, his jaw tense. “You said human nature never contained loyalty, that it was forcibly imposed by rules later, so we didn’t need to follow them.”

Mentioning this topic, Ruyi snorted lightly: “You should think about what situation I was in when I said that.”

It was after Zhuzui competed with her in a match. He didn’t come to see her, but instead went to check on Zhuzui’s injuries, which angered her enough to find several handsome junior brothers to apply medicine for her. Already angry in her heart, when he came back and dared to look displeased, Ruyi naturally had to retort with those words. Anyway, this person was clueless about emotions at the time and would only think it made sense.

But she hadn’t expected this person to remember it for so many years, even now, when they were together, he still suppressed some emotions, causing him to constantly worry about gains and losses.

This could also be considered her fault.

Sighing lightly, Ruyi hooked his finger: “Human nature indeed doesn’t contain loyalty, but it’s not forcibly imposed by rules either—it’s born from intense love. Fear of hurting the other person leads to loyalty, wanting the other person to feel secure in showing their love also leads to loyalty.”

Shen Qiyuan understood, lowering his eyes somewhat obscurely, his fingertips gently caressing the back of her hand.

As if wanting to believe her, yet still somewhat hesitant.

Ruyi wasn’t in a hurry. His lack of confidence wasn’t formed in a day, so naturally it couldn’t disappear into nothing with just a few words.

The days were still long.

In early spring of the following year, Shen Qiyuan got ten days of rest, and Ruyi had finally resolved a pile of demon clan affairs. The two agreed to travel together, but felt that traveling together formally would be boring.

So Ruyi said: “I’ll think of a place in my heart, and you think of a place in your heart too. We’ll set off in different directions and see how long it takes to find each other, how about it?”

Shen Qiyuan was somewhat hesitant. Although they had a thousand years of understanding, they had spent two thousand years apart. He knew nothing of what she had experienced during those years, so naturally couldn’t guess where she wanted to go.

However, seeing her enthusiastic appearance, he finally agreed.

As spring winds rose, two figures disappeared into the world, one heading south and one north.

Shen Qiyuan had no heart for scenery at all. He first waited near the Ten Thousand Demons Cave for a day, didn’t wait for her, but instead saw a group of migrating demons.

After the Great Xia and the Great Qian ceased hostilities, incense offerings among the Great Xia’s people began to slowly increase. Demons with even a little demonic power were all arranged to work in various temples. Compared to the previous constant fear of being killed by Taoist priests, they were more willing to go to the Great Xia to fulfill some people’s wishes.

A demon with a keen smell discovered him, but made no warning gesture. Instead, it sniffed the scent on his body, then smiled ambiguously.

Shen Qiyuan couldn’t keep his composure, turned his face away, and continued to the next place.