Chapter 49 admits, "I've fallen for Hua Xun."

Perhaps she was already prepared, Hua Xun was not surprised. She simply lowered her eyes, softly replied "Yes," and then turned and walked out of the temple.

The Immortal Venerable Changhao, whom she had met before, stood in the center of the three Immortal Venerables, looking at her: "Miss Hua Xun sacrificed herself to save the Divine Lord for our Immortal Clan. The Immortal Clan will remember this forever. We have already set up a residence in Baiyujing. You may move there."

Hua Xun forced a smile: "Thank you, Immortal Venerable Changhao. I'll go back and pack up first."

“Of course,” Chang Hao replied.

Hua Xun nodded slightly to him and quietly walked towards the back hall.

She said she was packing her things, but after looking around, Hua Xun realized there wasn't much to pack.

She simply tidied up the small kitchen that the deity had given her, and neatly folded the celestial silk and placed it on the jade couch; that was all.

Hua Xun folded the clothes that she had carelessly tossed on the bed and put them into her purse before turning around.

Liu Huo was standing at the doorway at some point, his bright eyes fixed on her without blinking. After a while, he let out a soft "Hee."

Strangely enough, Hua Xun understood the meaning of that cry.

She let out a long breath, laughed, walked up to Liu Huo, and said in a seemingly relaxed tone, "I'm leaving now, Liu Huo. Finally, no one will be competing with you for territory anymore."

Liu Huo blinked, its long, fiery red tail drooped, and it chirped softly twice.

“It was only because of some business that the Divine Lord took me in,” Hua Xun stroked the feathers on its neck. “Now that the matter is settled, I should leave.”

Liu Huo continued to stare intently at her.

Hua Xun remembered something and took out the remaining peach blossom cakes and pear blossom pastries from her purse: "These are all the pastries I have. You may not be able to go down to the mortal world to buy them in the future, so eat them sparingly."

"But if you really finish eating, you can come to me and I'll buy you more."

Liu Huo's eyes lit up at the sight of the pastries, but quickly dimmed again, and he gulped out a sound from his throat.

Hua Xun was quiet for a moment, then straightened up: "Alright, goodbyes are over."

She wanted to walk around the blazing fire, but then she remembered that she hadn't taken the hairpin that had tied her hair up. She turned back to the table, held the hairpin in her hand, and inadvertently caught a glimpse of the white porcelain statue next to her.

Hua Xun paused, gazing at the statue's compassionate expression as it looked down upon all living beings, for a long time.

She recalled the solitary figure of the God Lord standing on the White Mist Cliff, gazing outwards, and also the beautiful scene of the God Lord and God Lord Luohe standing facing each other.

Hua Xun curled her lips into a smile. Even now, she still hoped that the God could not be so lonely.

At that moment, Hua Xun made her last wish before leaving:

May the divine ruler sing in harmony, walk alone with a lamp, and for ten thousand years thereafter, there be no more emptiness.

Hua Xun did not take the statue with her. Alone, she turned and walked away silently, never looking back this time.

The fiery creature perched by the window, listlessly watching the girl's figure until it could no longer see her. Only then did it flap its wings and fly out of the window, into the temple ahead, and raise its head behind the celestial curtain, letting out a few soft cries.

Behind the celestial curtain, the divine lord sat there calmly, his gentle voice, like a flowing spring, now tinged with a slight hoarseness: "She's gone?"

Liu Huo nodded.

A long silence.

"Hmm." A single word, seemingly emanating from the nose and as clear as a heavenly sound, sounded like a sigh, and then there was no further response.

Seeing this, Liu Huo lowered its eyes in disappointment, but soon started chattering again, unaware that several pieces of pastry had fallen from its paws.

The deity gazed at the opening and closing of the fire's sharp beak, a smile playing on his lips, remaining motionless like a jade statue that had long since turned to stone.

It's so quiet.

God thought.

*

The Demon Palace.

After reporting on the demon soldiers' recent cultivation, Shang Qu stood aside and remained silent.

Baili Sheng sat expressionlessly in the main seat, his hand resting on one of the armrests, tapping it lightly without saying a word.

Shang Qu glanced up with a worried expression and couldn't help but sigh softly.

One hundred thousand demon soldiers have already assembled; it seems another cataclysmic war is about to break out.

But when he thought about how the immortal sects and the demon traitors had joined forces to besiege the Venerable Lord back then, he felt it was somewhat justified.

After an unknown amount of time, Baili Sheng finally raised his hand.

Shang Qu bowed respectfully and then turned to leave.

In an instant, only Baili Sheng remained alone in the pitch-black palace. He still sat high on his throne, his fingers still lightly tapping the side of the chair.

As night fell, he looked up at the dark night sky outside the palace, then got up and walked towards the back of the palace.

Without casting any spells or riding the wind, he simply walked quietly until he reached the front of the Brahma Sound Hall.

As in the past few days, he lay fully clothed on the soft couch in the palace where people could rest, letting the demonic energy gradually surge and fill the palace, devouring the few remaining wisps of faint fragrance.

He then closed his eyes and fell into a brief sleep.

But tonight I just can't fall asleep.

The past few days have clearly been fine.

Baili Sheng opened his eyes, and the demonic energy surged even more fiercely, scouring every corner of the hall.

But in the end, demonic energy entered his body, and everything returned to death.

There was nothing but desolation and silence here.

Enraged, Baili Sheng sat up, staring intently at the swaying purple gauze curtains on the bed. Her hands clenched tightly, and after a moment, she opened them, a dense mass of demonic energy surging from her palms, which she then forcefully slammed onto the bed.

The gauze curtains instantly turned into fragments and fell to the ground, and the obsidian bed and its bedding turned to dust.

Only a half-broken, lacquered feather floated out from the chaos, looking strangely familiar.

Baili Sheng was slightly taken aback, his thoughts still frozen, but his hand had already caught the feather in his hand.

He recognized the feather.

When Hua Xun left Dahe Village, she gave him the biggest and most beautiful feather. She said that as long as he had this feather, she could find him no matter where he was.

Later, he personally threw that feather into the sea of ​​fire.

The raging flames instantly engulfed the feathers, leaving no trace.

Baili Sheng's fingertips trembled, and he suddenly clenched the feather into his palm, and the enraged demonic energy slowly subsided.

"Your Majesty," the demon guard appeared cautiously outside the palace gates at some point, "a shop owner came to the palace and said that you personally ordered clothes from him, and they have been altered today and specially delivered to you."

Baili Sheng didn't even raise his head: "Speaking nonsense, get out..."

Before he could finish speaking, he suddenly remembered something, paused for a few moments, and said, "...Let him in."

The demon guard accepted the order and left. Before long, he led a familiar figure toward them.

It was indeed the same employer who served Hua Xun when she tried on her wedding dress that day.

After bowing and kowtowing, the host took out a mustard seed bag, waved his sleeve, and the gorgeous wedding dress and hair ornament floated quietly in mid-air.

The fiery red wedding dress was vibrant and eye-catching, its hem swaying and shimmering in the eerie light of the demonic realm, like a dancing flame.

"My Lord Demon Lord, I have finished repairing the wedding dress as the young lady instructed," the landlord said respectfully.

Baili Sheng's eyes seemed to be burned by that fiery red, and he stared in a daze, as if the image of Hua Xun wearing a wedding dress was reappearing before his eyes.

In an instant, he felt an inexplicable impulse surge within him.

His body was tense until the soft feather in his palm touched his stiff palm. He looked down and stared at the tiny half-feather.

In the next instant, Baili Sheng's figure vanished from the spot.

As if searching for something, Baili Sheng, who had been away from Dahe Village for a long time, returned here for the first time.

Dahe Village has long since become a deserted village, with no one left. Only a few charred roof beams proclaim the demise of the village.

Baili Sheng saw the bridge in front of the small courtyard, with river water still flowing under it.

He remembered that villagers often bullied Hua Xun because of her identity, throwing stones at her.

She didn't show it on her face, but she would always complain to him in a low voice when the door was closed that the villagers were blind to his greatness.

But when he told her she could retaliate, she thought for a moment and shook her head seriously: "I can't stoop to their level."

Baili Sheng walked into the small courtyard that had long been burned down.

The courtyard is no longer the vibrant place where flowers and plants sway in the wind; instead, it is overgrown with weeds, desolate, and shows no signs of being inhabited.

But there were clearly people living here before.

Hua Xun would select medicinal herbs and dry them at the entrance of the woodshed, and read storybooks inside. When he got annoyed by a particular story, he would complain to him about it.

But at that time he only loathed her vulgarity and lowliness, and rarely remembered what she complained about.

In my memory, she is only a vivid image, but she is silent.

wrong.

Neither is correct.

Baili Sheng walked all over Dahe Village, over and over again, for an entire night, but still couldn't figure out what was wrong.

This sense of bewilderment made him feel as if a fire was burning in his chest, searing his internal organs.

His pace quickened as he searched and moved faster and faster.

Until he went to the only pharmacy in Wufang Town.

He vaguely remembered that Hua Xun had mentioned that she would bring the medicinal herbs she collected to this place.

But stepping into the pharmacy and smelling the common, mundane medicines, the emptiness in my chest did not lessen in the slightest.

Everything was so unfamiliar.

It wasn't until someone behind him hesitantly asked, "Are you... Miss Hua's husband?"

After he finished speaking, Baili Sheng froze in place.

In that instant, all around fell silent.

The confusion in my chest seemed to clear up like the sun after the clouds had parted, and the emptiness was gradually shrinking.

"Is it you?" The pharmacy owner's voice rang out in surprise. "With your good looks, I'm sure I'm not mistaken."

“I have seen you before. Once, when Miss Huaxun went into the mountains to collect herbs, she fell and injured her leg. She did not come to my place to deliver the ginseng. Coincidentally, a distinguished guest was in a hurry to get it, so I went to Dahe Village to get it myself. At that time, you were in the house helping Miss Huaxun select herbs.”

"It's such a pity that after Miss Hua Xun left, I've never found such large and inexpensive ginseng again..."

Baili Sheng turned his head with difficulty to look at the mortal whose appearance he could no longer remember, and asked in a hoarse voice, "What did you just say?"

"What?" The landlord looked completely bewildered. "Could I really be mistaken? Aren't you Miss Hua Xun's husband?"

Husband.

Baili Sheng repeated these two words in his heart, walked steadily towards the door, and before he could even step out, he transformed into a streak of red light and flew away into the distance.

It was a day later when they returned to the Demon Palace.

Inside the familiar Brahma Hall, subtle movements and breathing sounds could be heard.

Baili Sheng's previously stiff eyes suddenly moved, and he strode into the hall. However, when he saw the figure in the hall, the light in his eyes dimmed into darkness.

Qingjiao had returned at some point and was sitting in the hall, gently sipping steaming white porridge, spoonful by spoonful.

Hearing the noise, she looked up, holding a bowl of congee in her hand. As if nothing had happened, she smiled and said, "I heard from your subordinates that you have been staying here for the past few days, so I'm waiting for you here."

"I've made some porridge, would you like some...?"

“Qingjiao,” Baili Sheng’s tone was calm for the first time, “the past is the past, you don’t need to make it up to me anymore.”

Qingjiao's face paled, and she stood still for a long time before smiling as usual: "I don't understand what you're talking about." She pursed her lips, then relaxed them. "Why don't you drink the porridge first?"

Baili Sheng gazed at the bowl of gently swaying porridge, his eyes flickering slightly.

The word "husband" once again entered his mind, causing him to momentarily lose his composure, and a smile unconsciously crept onto his lips:

"You were right back then."

"I've fallen in love with Hua Xun."

The white porridge in Qingjiao's hand fell to the ground with a crisp sound, and the jade porcelain shattered.

Baili Sheng continued, "I liked it back in those ten years."