The time thereafter was both familiar and strange.
It was a time I had experienced, and also a time I had never experienced at all.
Jing Nanshou’s death cleared Xie Zhuo of false accusations.
Xi Wang Mu only said that Jing Nanshou had gone astray in his cultivation, without mentioning anything about evil spirits.
It was also from that time that Xie Zhuo began to frequently contact Qin Shuyan, and help Kunlun resolve some occasional evil spirit incidents. Sometimes, he would even leave Kunlun.
And precisely because of this, the evil spirits, or rather the evil deity, also became aware of “my” existence.
Qin Shuyan warned Xie Zhuo that the evil spirits still seemed able to receive orders from the evil deity, and that the evil energy throughout the world also showed a subtle tendency to flow toward Kunlun.
Xie Zhuo didn’t say much to Qin Shuyan.
But from that time onward, Xie Zhuo began to frequently remind “me”—
Drink less alcohol…
Because alcohol would dull my mind, allowing them to take advantage.
Eat less spicy food…
Because spicy flavors would mask the taste of certain poisons, and would also cause my emotions to fluctuate. Over time, this would disturb my spiritual heart.
Xie Zhuo also told me to take care of my body, try not to get sick, as weakness and illness would become my vulnerabilities.
Also, avoid crowded places.
Even when training troops in the military camp, I should be careful of my safety. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not leave my side…
And so on, with concerns about everything, big and small.
And “I,” like everyone else, at first thought Xie Zhuo cared for me, and it was sweet.
Later, after one year, two years, three years, ten years, fifty years, year after year, the same, I began to feel controlled, and gradually lost patience with Xie Zhuo.
Moreover, he would disappear from time to time, never explaining the misunderstandings between us…
“My” dissatisfaction with the person before me and this marriage slowly emerged.
A hundred years after our wedding.
Evil spirits gathered outside Kunlun. As the immortal in charge of Kunlun’s defense forces, I guarded at Kunlun’s barrier every day.
Xie Zhuo followed “me” every day, always staying in the camp. The soldiers laughed at “me,” and I was indeed embarrassed.
In the end, “I” was still captured by evil spirits.
Taken to a lair outside Kunlun, I was injected with venom by that spider, wrapped in spider silk, and hung upside down from the ceiling.
Then came Xie Zhuo’s lone invasion of the evil spirits’ lair to rescue me.
I always believed in my heart that it was because he risked his life to save me that time that our marriage continued for another four hundred years.
And in those four hundred years of “death struggle,” we both lived very meticulously. Forget about embracing, even the number of times we held hands could be counted.
But!
Now that I have become a soul form, I discovered that what Xie Zhuo concealed from me was far more than just those matters about the evil spirits!
He…
After rescuing me from the spider evil spirit, almost every night, Xie Zhuo would appear at my bedside.
And then…
Bite my neck.
He was drawing out the evil energy from “my” body.
While “I” was asleep, completely unaware, he would press against the place where “my” pulse beat at the neck, and with slightly cool lips, guide out all the threads of evil energy.
Sometimes after finishing, he would pull up “my” blanket. Sometimes he would stroke “my” hair, and sometimes…
He would even secretly place a light kiss on my forehead…
Then he would sit aside, face reddened, stunned for a long while.
Just looking at “me,” motionless, until “I” turned over, smacked my lips in my sleep, and only then would he leave.
There were no more inappropriate actions, but just these gestures were enough to make me, watching now, blush and my heart race.
Xie Zhuo, you…
Kept things very deeply hidden…
No wonder his movements in the City of the Unmoving Dead were so practiced.
But all these things that Xie Zhuo did, “I” knew nothing about.
“I” didn’t know about his nightly drawing out of evil energy, nor his battles inside and outside Kunlun.
Didn’t know how many scars had been added to his body, and even less did “I” know that because too much evil energy had entered his body, he would battle with the evil deity in his dreams every day and night.
In “my” eyes, Xie Zhuo still disappeared frequently, and after returning, offered not a word of explanation.
Between us, there were no intimate gestures like kisses or embraces. It was even more impossible to hear any sweet words from Xie Zhuo’s mouth.