I rushed frantically toward the cave in the Snow Bamboo Forest.
Before I even arrived, I spotted Xie Xuanqing standing at the entrance of the cave in the distance.
He hadn’t left!
He was holding that flute made of snow bamboo in his hand. He had come back for the flute…
I couldn’t quite describe what I was feeling at that moment, nor did I have time to sort it out. I only saw Xie Xuanqing with a serious expression on his face, about to fly toward the tribulation clouds. I hurriedly called out to him loudly: “Xie Xuanqing!”
The wind-riding spell around Xie Xuanqing dissipated. He turned his head to look at me, then immediately frowned.
I ran over, breathless, and heard him ask me: “Why are you here?”
“I…” I tried to think of an excuse in my mind. “Even though I chased you away earlier, I… I still…”
“You know that’s not what I’m asking about.”
I froze: “What are you asking about, then?”
“Those are your tribulation clouds.” He pointed to the clouds on the horizon where lightning was already striking down.
I denied it immediately: “No, they’re not mine.”
But after I denied it, I noticed Xie Xuanqing’s gaze becoming suspicious. I tried to maintain my composure and forced an explanation, “I’m right here now, how could those tribulation clouds possibly be mine?”
Before I could finish explaining, Xie Xuanqing’s wind-riding spell activated again around his body.
I immediately reached out and grabbed his wrist: “Wait!”
He wouldn’t wait…
He turned his hand and seized mine, pulling me up as he prepared to fly into the sky!
My heart raced with panic. Xie Zhuo was over there, and Xiaxia was there too. If Xie Xuanqing pulled me along, forget about whether blood would be fed or not—two people would die right away!
What would be the point then?!
I immediately summoned my energy and cast a thousand-pound weight spell on my feet, firmly anchoring Xie Xuanqing in place: “We can’t go there!”
Xie Xuanqing said nothing, but was determined to leave.
He pulled my hand with greater force, and I could feel my thousand-pound weight spell about to fail. In this critical moment, I shouted without hesitation: “The ‘me’ by the tribulation clouds will be fine! Someone has gone to help! I will survive the tribulation!”
The force pulling me weakened, and at the same time, the heaviness I had been feeling when facing Xie Xuanqing also lightened.
I let out a long sigh, thinking that since things had progressed to this point, there was no need to hide it from him anymore.
I looked up at Xie Xuanqing: “I’ll tell you the truth. I’m not the present me. I am Fu Jiuxia from five hundred years in the future. I know what my fate will become, so you don’t need to worry.”
The wind-riding spell was still swirling beneath Xie Xuanqing’s feet. He looked down at me from above, and after hearing my words, the spell finally disappeared completely. He stood on the ground, silently staring at me.
I somewhat avoided his gaze.
“I’m sorry. It was I who had been deliberately troubling you all this time.”
“I knew that already.”
His answer was completely unexpected.
I stared blankly at Xie Xuanqing. His expression no longer showed the urgency from before, returning to his usual calm indifference: “You have my blood in you, but I never gave it to you. So, I had already guessed that you are not the current Fu Jiuxia.”
My mouth hung open, not knowing what to say.
Thinking back carefully, the first time I met Xie Xuanqing here, he did ask me, “What have you eaten?” but I hadn’t paid much attention to that question at the time.
I suppose he began to have suspicions then, and gradually realized that I was different from the current Xiaxia.
“Before, I didn’t know why you had come back, but today at Cuihu Terrace, I found out…” He lowered his eyes, looking somewhat lonely and desolate. “Your strange antics before… were all to force me to leave.”
My lips moved slightly. Looking at Xie Xuanqing’s face now, I felt that I had wronged him, but I didn’t know how to approach an apology.
At that moment, I suddenly understood why Xie Zhuo would hesitate for so long before saying something.
Because sometimes, when you have too much to say, your throat gets blocked.
I remained silent, but he made a self-mocking remark: “It seems that in the future, I treated you very poorly.”
I covered my face and sighed: “Yes, we got married, and then divorced.”
Xie Xuanqing fell silent. He showed no expression, but I saw his pupils tremble slightly.
Unlike the violent reaction Xie Zhuo had on the day of our divorce, it was still genuine enough for me to feel that he was somewhat emotional and saddened.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “Even though you now vow to like me and stay with me forever, in the end, we couldn’t persist to a happy ending.”
Hearing this, he gently closed his eyes, his eyelids hiding the emotions in his eyes.
“Why did I… treat you poorly?”
“You kept everything from me.”
He fell silent, as if realizing that this was indeed something he would do.
I calmly and peacefully told Xie Xuanqing, “But this time coming back, I’ve also come to understand. The root of your hiding everything from me ultimately stemmed from your need to conceal your identity as a Snow Wolf demon. You didn’t want me to know about this identity, so one concealment required countless others to cover it up.”
Those words I never said to Xie Zhuo, I finally told him now: “When we first met, it didn’t matter, because I always thought, I’ll know later, I’ll understand later. But once we were married, it was different. Five hundred years, and I still knew nothing about you. Xie Xuanqing, I had already exhausted all my courage.”
“So… you’ve come back to change the past, to avoid forging this blood oath?”