Xie Zhuo didn’t answer my question. It seemed that our earlier conversation had already exhausted his last bit of strength.
In the moonlight filtering into the cave, I saw the outline of his profile as he tilted his head back, closed his eyes, and leaned against the stone wall, silent and still.
He seemed certain that I couldn’t break through the barrier…
I refused to give up. I kept my hand against the barrier, trying to find a weakness in its structure.
Suddenly, a burst of chaotic sounds came from the yin-yang fish pendant that now had ears attached. I listened carefully. Soon after, Xiaxia’s deliberately hushed voice transmitted into my mind!
“Am I there? Have I arrived? Can I still be saved?”
“Xiaxia!?” I called out in delighted surprise, then quickly lowered my voice, glancing at Xie Zhuo inside the cave.
He remained in the same lifeless position as before, showing no reaction, perhaps confident in Lao Qin’s barrier.
I crouched by the barrier at the cave entrance, wanting to first check on Xiaxia’s situation, but before I could ask, she let out a long breath on the other end: “Thank heavens… I finally got in touch with you. Why haven’t you sent any news these past days? I thought you’d been taken to 500 years in the future and slaughtered…”
“He doesn’t have that ability. I was just caught off guard and disarmed. How are things on your end? What about Xie Xuanqing?”
Xiaxia seemed to touch her earpiece again, and this time, images were transmitted into my mind. Through Xiaxia’s eyes, I could see the ice cave barrier in front of her, which she had darkened.
It was somewhat amusing—in the same timeline, different versions of myself were in similar predicaments—
Both of us crouching at the edge of a cave barrier, secretly communicating with each other… and inside each cave lay the same man…
Xiaxia turned her head to look at Xie Xuanqing on her side.
Xie Xuanqing’s posture was virtually identical to Xie Zhuo’s on my side.
“He’s passed out,” Xiaxia said. “Don’t worry, I’ve confirmed that he can’t hear me talking when he’s unconscious… He must be seriously injured.” As she spoke, her gaze never left Xie Xuanqing: “Let me tell you, things were quite dangerous when I couldn’t contact you.”
“How so?” I asked nervously. “Did Xie Xuanqing wake up? Did he mistake you for an intruder?”
“He did wake up. He had already awakened before I arrived.”
“What!? Then he…”
“After his severe injury, the first person he saw wasn’t me at all—it was that female fox demon! He believes that the fox demon saved him! Your Xie Zhuo’s scheme worked!”
With each sentence Xiaxia spoke, my anxiety increased, until her final words made my heart leap into my throat, choking my breath.
I thought to myself: It’s over…
Xie Zhuo succeeded, I’m finished. Xie Xuanqing’s first sight was the fox demon, the person he cares about has changed, Xiaxia won’t get blood to drink, the blood oath can’t be established…
“But!” Xiaxia suddenly changed course.
I drew in a sharp breath.
“He doesn’t seem to be very resistant to me…”
“Huh?” This surprised me. “What do you mean, he’s not very resistant to you?”
Doesn’t Xie Xuanqing care about that female fox demon?
“Well, on the second day after we lost contact, Xie Xuanqing woke up. When he saw me, he was indeed wary. I didn’t know how to explain myself, so I could only tell him that I came to save him. Then he said the one who saved him earlier wasn’t me, but a fox demon.”
Indeed, the person he cares about has changed.
“Then what?” I asked anxiously. “Is he very concerned about that female fox demon?”
“Not really.”
Not really? Why not?
According to the usual pattern, Xie Xuanqing, severely wounded and rescued by someone, would surely make that person his salvation and light. Why didn’t that happen?
Could it be that my fated connection with Xie Xuanqing didn’t begin with that eternal first glance?
“He just briefly asked where the fox demon was and who I was. I couldn’t tell the truth, so I made up a story on the spot. I said the fox demon had tried to harm him while he was unconscious, but I happened to come by and drove her away. Then I set up the barrier outside the ice cave to protect both of us.”
I frowned as I listened. “That’s a risky explanation. How did he react?”
“He didn’t react much, but he remained wary of me. It wasn’t until I used my soul power to treat the wound on his waist that his attitude softened a bit.”
“You just went ahead and treated his wound?” I asked. “He allowed it?”
“He couldn’t move anyway.”
That’s true…
“I genuinely healed some of his injuries, and then he asked me why I saved him.”
In my memory, Xie Xuanqing had asked me this question too. However, the scene in my memory differed from what Xiaxia experienced.
I had only seen Xie Xuanqing wake up after he’d been unconscious for half a month. At that time, although he had only seen me once in the bamboo forest, from my perspective, I had been caring for him for many days and had become familiar with him.
So when Xie Xuanqing asked me why I saved him, I answered confidently:
“Would you rather I leave you to freeze to death in the snow?” But at the same time, I gave him a very convincing reason: “You saved me in the snow bamboo forest before, so by not reporting you, I’m repaying that debt. I’ll take care of you until you recover, then you should quietly leave Kunlun. I won’t tell anyone.”
He saved me, I repaid him—logical and reasonable.
But now, this Xie Xuanqing never saved Xiaxia, and the first person he saw upon regaining consciousness wasn’t even her.
“What did you tell him?” I asked cautiously.
“I made up another reason. I said I thought he was handsome, I desired him, and couldn’t bear to see him harmed by the fox demon.”