Chang Yao gripped his lapels, her eyes darting toward the wound on Song Jixue's shoulder. As she drew closer, she caught a familiar scent—the unique aura of the proud Phoenix clan. Beneath the fabric shredded by feather-blades, the flesh was mangled and seeping with poison.
He fought with Fu Jin?
Chang Yao reached up to wrap her arms around Song Jixue’s neck, whispering soothingly, "It's all right, it's all right. Don't worry."
This had unknowingly become a habit of hers. Song Jixue’s desire to protect her was far too intense; it had been this way from the start. If anyone harmed her, it would awaken the beast trapped deep in Lord Yunshan’s heart. Once that cage was opened, even Chang Yao felt a sense of trepidation. Thus, whenever trouble arose, her first priority was always to calm him down.
"Where are you hurt?" Song Jixue asked, gripping her hands, a fierce aura lingering between his brows.
"Just minor injuries. But you’ve been hit by the Phoenix clan’s feather poison..." Before Chang Yao could finish, Song Jixue said tonelessly, "It doesn't matter."
Chang Yao asked, "How did this happen?"
"A chance encounter while entering the Demon Realm," Song Jixue replied briefly.
Chang Yao paused.
He actually chased me into the Demon Realm?
Glancing again at Song Jixue’s wound, Chang Yao tilted her head, masking a faint trace of displeasure in the depths of her eyes.
Song Jixue pulled a medicinal vial from his spiritual pouch to apply to her grazed and bleeding wounds, yet he hadn't tended to his own injuries at all.
In truth, he did it on purpose.
Given his strength, a battle with Fu Jin shouldn't have left him in such a state. It was only because Lord Yunshan possessed a near-masochistic desire to see Chang Yao show concern for him.
This ailment had persisted for a long time.
It had taken root years ago, the moment he realized Chang Yao’s eyes did not hold his reflection. It had quietly grown into a towering tree; every gale and rainstorm that battered it was merely a plea for her to turn back and look at him.
Song Jixue was obsessed with finding his own figure in Chang Yao’s eyes. Only then could he tell himself that she truly loved him.
"Aren't you going to ask me anything?" Chang Yao asked.
After finishing with the medicine on the back of her hand, Song Jixue exhaled softly and asked, "Does it hurt?"
Chang Yao’s eyes betrayed her helplessness. "It hurts."
Song Jixue looked up at her, and she said, "My heart hurts seeing you injured."
The corner of Lord Yunshan’s mouth curved for a fleeting second.
Chang Yao took the medicine bottle from his hand. As they sat and stood by the large rock, she helped him slide his garment off one shoulder, revealing the wounded back. She skillfully applied the medicine, her warm fingertips carrying a cool touch as she meticulously dabbed the split skin.
"You really should ask something, otherwise it will be hard to explain to the others once we return to Kunlun," Chang Yao said, focused on the task. "First I’m suspected of being a mole, then I’m taken by demons at night—I can already imagine what they’ll say about this."
Song Jixue let out a silent laugh.
His A-Yao was truly despicable.
She wanted him to ask, yet she would never volunteer information. She had calculated that he would surely believe her and wouldn't bother asking about trivialities.
"We aren't going back to Kunlun. I received word on the way—Senior Brother has woken up. We're going straight to the West Sea." Song Jixue lowered his head, resting his forehead against hers. "I won't let this happen a second time."
The greatest sword in the world, who had been unconscious for half a month, had finally awakened?
Chang Yao freed her other hand to touch his face. The intimate caress caused the violence in Song Jixue’s heart to gradually subside.
Song Jixue asked, "Why did you go with the demons?"
He asked cleverly. Chang Yao understood that the fact the Lingxi Sword Array hadn't triggered while she left Kunlun would inevitably draw his attention. She had already prepared her response.
Chang Yao feigned a slight annoyance as she replied, "That Painted Skin Demon took on your appearance; I was almost fooled. By the time I realized, I had been hit by some sort of incantation and fainted. I woke up in this wilderness, but since only minor demons were guarding me, I took the risk to fight my way out."
She didn't mention being taken to the Demon Realm. People only knew she had been seized by demons; there was no proof she had been taken beyond the veil.
Had Song Jixue not visited West Canal Road, he might have truly believed her.
Regardless, he wouldn't doubt anything she said.
Song Jixue tidied her hair, tucking a stray lock behind her ear. "Were you frightened?"
"I've noticed that ever since I lost my spiritual meridians, you’ve looked down on me more and more," Chang Yao said in a light tone. "Do you think I’d be scared by something like this?"
Song Jixue asked again, "A-Yao, do you really not regret losing your spiritual meridians to save me back then?"
"Why bring this up all of a sudden?" Chang Yao frowned, replying without a second thought as she always did. "I’ve said it many times: I don't regret it at all."
Song Jixue watched her quietly, listening to her mumble: "Are you suspecting again that I only agreed to marry you because of the spiritual meridians? They’re gone, they’re gone. But you couldn't be allowed to die there. If you died, I’d be devastated. I won't die without spiritual meridians; I can live just fine. Besides, I'm not like you—I don't have to cultivate. Back then, I only practiced with you because you were handsome and I had wicked intentions—"
A tender, lingering kiss ended her rambling.
Yet Chang Yao was thinking: How should I kill him? Song Jixue was full of openings in front of her; every single one was enough for him to die a hundred times over.
It was simply too easy to succeed—so easy it felt profoundly boring.
When they parted, Song Jixue’s cool fingertip brushed the corner of her lips. Before a word could be uttered, he fainted against her shoulder. Chang Yao moved quickly to catch him, frowning as she looked at his sleeping face.
The wound was still emitting a dark demonic aura.
The Phoenix clan’s feather poison was extremely potent; it could delude the mind and cause one to die within an illusion. Given Song Jixue’s cultivation level, Chang Yao wasn't worried about that happening.
She helped him lie down on the rock, his head resting in her lap. She waited patiently for him to wake. After a while, Song Jixue’s jade slip lit up, and she casually answered the transmission: "Jixue, did you find Chang Yao?"
It was the Lord of Dayin Mountain.
Chang Yao replied, "He fainted from feather poison."
The Lord of Dayin Mountain said urgently, "Is it serious? Where are you? I'll bring Sangyi over right now."
She could easily wipe away the poison on Song Jixue, but she couldn't do so. Thinking that if Xia Sangyi came, he would at least suffer less, Chang Yao was about to answer when she saw Song Jixue frown and wake up.
He had played his part too well and underestimated the poison.
"It's the Lord of Dayin Mountain." Chang Yao handed him the jade slip, leaning down to ask in a low voice, "Are you feeling better?"
Song Jixue remained in her lap, taking the slip and saying hoarsely, "I’m fine. No need to come."
With that, he cut the connection and closed his eyes.
Chang Yao asked him, "You really don't want Xia Sangyi to take a look?"
Song Jixue countered, "You don't want to take care of me?"
"What nonsense are you talking? If I don't take care of you, who will?" Chang Yao’s voice was full of helplessness as she spoke her gentle lies.
Song Jixue turned over to bury his face against her, his arms tightly encircling her waist. The supreme of the mortal world only became this vulnerable in front of her.
Chang Yao gave her tenderness generously, letting him take what he needed.
After a moment of peace, a succession of messenger birds flew from the void to land beside them. Not a single one brought good news.
"Famine has struck three thousand miles of the West Sea; calamitous beasts are gathering."
"A Goudiao has been encountered in the north and south; over a hundred people have been eaten."
"A Fei has been sighted on three routes. Waters have dried up, and vegetation has died. A great plague is feared."
These were demon beasts that had emerged from the Earth Ghost Gate in the West Sea. Minor demons would have been fine; they were numerous, but they could be cleared. Unfortunately, several of the released beasts were known to be great calamities—either man-eaters or harbingers of large-scale disaster.
The Fei was particularly troublesome. Under the rules of Wujiu Mountain, it was ranked as a beast requiring over six hundred years of seclusion; it was a great calamity capable of destroying a nation.
Chang Yao remembered a Fei had entered the world from Wujiu Mountain not long ago. Now that the Earth Ghost Gate had released another, there were two Fei in the human world—doubling the disaster.
"It has spread from the West Sea to the Central Provinces; the range has expanded significantly." Chang Yao looked down at Song Jixue. "The speed is very fast. In another ten days or so, the disaster brought by the demon beasts will reach Kunlun."
"It won't reach us." Song Jixue sat up to read the messages with her. "The Central Provinces are guarded by the two great sects, Shengjian and Fengtian. Fengtian Sect’s Wuxiang Qiankun Sword Array can hold for at least a month. Shangyuan City is protected by Kunlun’s Four-Star Map, so there's no need to worry in the short term."
Chang Yao: "Short term?"
"If the Earth Ghost Gate cannot be sealed, it's hard to say what will happen if it opens a second time." Song Jixue glanced at the wound Chang Yao had treated and leisurely began to dress. "There are ten days until its second opening. It would be bad if a few more beasts on the same level as the Fei come out."
Chang Yao thought to herself that the more times the Earth Ghost Gate opened, the harder the emerging beasts would be to deal with. For the human world to know peace, it had to be resealed as soon as possible.
Song Jixue should have been at the West Sea by now. He wouldn't have returned to Kunlun so early if Yan Zibian hadn't been in danger, prompting him to divert his path to save his disciple.
"There's one more." Chang Yao lightly raised her hand. The messenger bird landing on her knuckles came from Song Jixue’s senior brother, Yu Ye.
"F***! You left me in the West Sea and ran off alone? That woman Miao Yingying has been hanging around my bedside for over ten days—how can you stand it?! Your senior brother almost died of fright the moment I opened my eyes and saw her face!"
Chang Yao: "..."
Song Jixue said without changing his expression, "It seems he has recovered well."
"Miao Yingying... Yu Ye is at the Qianhe Palace in the West Sea?" Chang Yao tilted her head to look at him.
Song Jixue replied, "He is at the Qianhe Palace, and I was at the Xuantian Sect, so I didn't know the person watching him was Miao Yingying."
He hadn't set foot inside the Qianhe Palace gates.
The fact that the Saintess of Qianhe Palace was infatuated with Lord Yunshan was known to everyone in the cultivation world.
But Chang Yao never paid her any mind.
Firstly, the woman hadn't caused any trouble—she just looked at Lord Yunshan with mournful eyes. Secondly, there were simply too many people who liked Lord Yunshan; as the person he cherished most, there was no need to care about them.
Moreover, Chang Yao simply didn't care.
If one were to compare romantic debts, hers were no fewer than his.
Hearing his answer, Chang Yao nodded thoughtfully. Song Jixue observed her every move. Seeing not a single ripple of emotion, he sighed, "Qingqing, it’s fine to be jealous once in a while."
Chang Yao paused.
She hadn't heard Song Jixue call her that in a long time. Hearing it again made her heart race for a split second.
That was a name belonging to a human.
She had to remind herself of her identity at all times.
Chang Yao composed her emotions and looked back at Song Jixue, asking with a smile, "You haven't done anything with other women, so why should I be jealous?"
"Anything at all would be fine; I just want to see you care about me." Song Jixue reached out to put his arm around her shoulder, turning her so they were face to face. He lowered his head slightly to gaze into those clear eyes, searching for his reflection, but he only found the humble and fragile appearance he once loathed.
When did it become like this?
His wife was becoming more and more gentle, kind, and obedient, yet Song Jixue felt Chang Yao was moving further and further away. Chang Yao had fixed herself within certain roles, hiding many things away, which only increased Song Jixue’s unease.
It wasn't that Song Jixue was unaware of Chang Yao’s dark side; it was a similarity they shared, and it was why he had started teaching her the Heart-Cleansing Incantation.
He had thought the grand wedding three years ago meant things had settled, but now he knew it was wishful thinking.
If Chang Yao were the one actively distancing herself and emptying out all her love, what could he do?
Song Jixue didn't dare think about the possibility that Chang Yao had never loved him.
"Do I not care about you?" Chang Yao asked with some confusion, reaching out to touch Song Jixue’s forehead. "If you really were intimate with another woman, it wouldn't be as simple as just being jealous."
She feigned anger, wrapping one arm around his neck in a spoiled manner. Watching her, Song Jixue suddenly gave a small laugh.
When does his A-Yao plan to kill him?
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