When Cao Cao led his army to surround Dong Zhuo, Xiu, Sun Shangxiang and Guan Yu almost couldn't hold out. The contract had been revised more than a dozen times.

Although Dong Zhuo threatened several times to kill the students of Dong Han Academy who had been captured and taken to the Demon Realm, they trusted Xia Xiang and withstood the pressure.

Thus, the deal between the two parties became: Cao Cao withdrew his troops, and Dong Zhuo withdrew his troops and released the prisoners.

Xia Xiang and Jiu Wubing split into two groups. Xia Xiang used an anesthetic needle to take down the guards stationed there.

At the same time, Jiu Wu opened the passage from the Demon Realm to the Silver Dimension, and the two of them moved the students of Dong Han Academy directly back to the auditorium where they were preparing for the school's anniversary celebration.

By the time Xia Xiang came out to contact Cao Cao, Cao Cao and Dong Zhuo had already reached an agreement, and the matter was thus concluded, with neither side benefiting.

Just as Xia Xiang was about to ask Jiu Wu to untie the treacherous "Thousand Miles of Connection," Jiu Wu fell directly into Xia Xiang's arms.

"Hey, Jiuwu! What's wrong?" Xia Xiang called out anxiously.

Jiu Wu, barely breathing, propped his heavy eyelids up to look at Xia Xiang, and reached out to touch her face.

"Little Fatty, I'm dying. If we can't be together in this life, how about we be together in the next? Before I die, can you kiss me?"

"Stop acting, I'm still alive." Xia Xiang pushed him aside when she heard him say such a long string of words in his weak voice.

Jiu Wu's head slammed onto the floor with a loud thud and immediately went still.

"Get up!" Xia Xiang called out twice, but Jiu Wu still didn't move. Only when she got closer could she hear him snoring softly.

"How did you get so tired?"

Xia Xiang grabbed Jiu Wu's cheeks with both hands, and felt a burning sensation on her left wrist.

Just then, Jiu Wu raised his hand to pat Xia Xiang's hand, and a flame mark exactly the same as Xia Xiang's appeared on his left wrist, only it was black.

"It wasn't here before!" Xia Xiang grabbed his wrist in a panic and tried to wipe the black mark off, but found that she couldn't remove it no matter what she did. She then immediately contacted Huai An, that scoundrel.

—A deserted, empty lot—

Huai'an pondered for a moment, then explained, "I didn't do it."

Xia Xiang just looked at him suspiciously, clearly not believing him.

“There’s a problem now. These three formations are overlapping and cannot be broken by external force. You’ll have to break them yourselves, but your current strength is… too weak.”

Huai'an felt awkward for a moment, "But there are still two other solutions."

Without waiting for Xia Xiang to believe him, he said it directly.

"First, you must both completely forget each other, leaving no emotional ties whatsoever..."

"Kill me," Xia Xiang said before he could finish.

Huai'an was furious. "You like him that much that you don't even care about your family now?! You don't even care about the Silver Dimension that you saved at such a great cost?"

"Brother, I'm begging you," Xia Xiang said impatiently. "Even if I like him, I never thought of abandoning everything to die with him."

"Isn't it you who drove me to this point?!" Xia Xiang roared.

"I am not as strong as you, so I can only resist you in this way that I despise the most. He was just implicated because of me. If you would be happy if I died, then kill me."

Looking at Xia Xiang's stubborn expression, Huai'an recalled a fleeting memory, and a hint of hurt and pain appeared in his eyes. He turned away so that she wouldn't see it.

"Secondly, you and he should cultivate diligently until you are strong enough to undo the debunking. If you insist on being together, I have no grounds to object to you, but for now you must personally inscribe the demon-slaying array on his body."

What can he do if he disagrees? Things have already escalated to this point.

I told you, you can't have a relationship, but one or two people are acting like they're dying for each other.

"Are you sick?" Xia Xiang didn't react much when she heard the first half of the sentence, but when she heard the second half, she exploded.

"You're finding out for the first time?" Huai'an composed himself, turned around, and looked at her calmly.

"The demon-slaying array will be entirely beneficial to him, forming a protective barrier to isolate him from the harm of the demon realm."

"I don't believe you'd be so kind," Xia Xiang said coldly, looking at him suspiciously.

Huai An chuckled, "I'm not being kind. The demon-slaying array can protect him, but most importantly, if he were to become a demon, his soul would be instantly annihilated, leaving nothing behind."

Xia Xiang retorted as if this was expected, "I overestimated your downstream connections."

"I don't care. Actually, whether or not we need the demon-slaying formation is irrelevant. The key is that he might not last long enough for you to have the strength to break the formation."

With his back to her, Huai'an said, "The damage you suffer will be multiplied on him. When he can't take it anymore, you will die too. That's how it is."

"Go ahead and die if you want. I'll just restart it and solve the problem at its root." Huai'an turned around and glanced down at the unconscious Jiu Wu, his meaning clear.