"You're a little too nice to him."

It was clearly his mother who broke off the engagement, yet he still had to come to Hehuan Palace to show off to her.

For his own selfish reasons, he poisoned the disciples of the Tianjian Sect at her wedding banquet.

Every single one of them was done without any consideration for her.

However, even so, she still wanted to protect him.

Xie Changji looked at her, waiting for a reason. Hua Xiangwan looked at the crackling fire with a gentle expression: "He has liked to follow me since he was a child."

Xie Changji's eyes calmed down when he heard this. Hua Xiangwan's tone was filled with memories: "When he was young, Hehuan Palace was the most powerful sect in the Western Territory. He and his sisters Qin Yunyi and Qin Yunshang were sent to study. At that time, he was still a little fat boy, lazy and greedy. The training in Hehuan Palace was hard, and he always hid and cried. I felt sorry for him, and sometimes I would sneak some buns for him in the middle of the night as a snack."

"It's a pity that he has average talent. Among the three young masters, he is the least noticeable. Everyone always secretly says that he is not good enough. As time goes by, his temper gets worse and worse, but he always restrains himself in front of me. Later, when I was 18 years old and left the Western Territory, he came to see me off before I left. He suddenly asked me that his mother had begun to consider marriage and wanted him to ask me if he could marry me. I didn't have this idea at the time, so I naturally refused. He also told me that his mother said that with my status and position, there was no one suitable in the Western Territory except him."

"And then?"

Xie Changji saw her stop, and Hua Xiangwan smiled: "How could I be convinced by such a reason at that time? With my talent and the position of Hehuan Palace, who do I want, do I need to look at the identity? I don't need marriage, so I rejected him and went to Yunlai. But what I didn't expect was that one day, Hehuan Palace would be overturned, and I would be left with nothing. At this time, I fell in a pool of blood, and the only one who came was him."

Hearing this, Xie Changji was speechless. He looked at her quietly, feeling something stuck in his throat.

He had heard this story many times in the past, but every time he heard it, he felt pain.

It hurt more than any injury he had suffered and any disaster he had experienced in the past two hundred years.

"Later, when I woke up, Mingluan Palace asked to downgrade Hehuan Palace to one of the nine sects," Hua Xiangwan said calmly as she walked over. "For every sect in the Western Territory, the amount of resources they can get will be greatly reduced with each downgrade. Hehuan Palace was already severely damaged, and if it was downgraded to one of the nine sects at that time, it would be even more difficult to recover. The Demon Lord disagreed, but everyone wanted to force him, except Shaoqing, who went against the crowd in the hall and said that he wanted to marry me, and that Qingle Palace and Hehuan Palace would form an alliance to ensure that Hehuan Palace would recover its strength to match the three palaces within a hundred years. Because of this, he was almost deprived of his position as the young master by Qingle Palace, but fortunately his mother finally let him go."

"In the past two hundred years, although he was a little willful at times, he took care of me most of the time. He was not around when we broke off the engagement. He went to find Ling Yingzi, who could repair the golden elixir, for me. But something happened to the Demon Lord at that time, and his mother took the opportunity to break off the engagement. I originally insisted on waiting for him to give it a try, but later, Qin Yunyi came to me and said that I was a burden to him."

As Hua Xiangwan was speaking, Wen Shaoqing in her arms stiffened, but she seemed not to notice and continued talking.

"I have been a burden to him for two hundred years and I don't want to burden him any more. So I went to the Heavenly Sword Sect to ask for marriage, but I didn't expect to bring you back."

Hua Xiangwan raised her eyes and looked at Xie Changji, with a bit of apology on her face, "He came back to see me getting married and lost his mind for a while. It's inevitable. Don't take it personally. Now that we're married, I will treat you wholeheartedly. It's just that..."

Hua Xiangwan pursed her lips and whispered, "After all, he is the most special person in my life. I hope you will allow me to keep him in my heart."

There was a slight "pop" sound of charcoal exploding, and Xie Changji calmly looked at the somewhat unfamiliar woman in front of him.

Hua Xiangwan seemed to know that he would not agree, so she lowered her head slightly, sighed, gently pulled Wen Shaoqing's hand away, put him aside, and covered him with a quilt.

She turned to look at Xie Changji who had been standing next to her and said, "You go to sleep first."

Xie Changji looked over the two of them and said calmly, "You are not feeling well, you sleep on the bed, and I will watch over him."

Seeing Xie Changji's persistence, Hua Xiangwan turned around to look at Wen Shaoqing. Seeing that Wen Shaoqing seemed to be still asleep, she stood up and said politely, "Sorry to trouble you."

As she spoke, she walked to the bed, lay down with her back to the two of them, covered herself with the quilt, took out a handkerchief, and with an expressionless face, wiped the hand that Wen Shaoqing had held inside and out.

Xie Changji looked at Wen Shaoqing lying on the ground. After a moment, he lowered his eyes and sat down beside Wen Shaoqing.

He looked at the fire indifferently. The flames danced in his eyes, rising and falling, clearly extinguishing.

Wen Shaoqing turned his back to Xie Changji and Hua Xiangwan and clenched his fists silently.

The three of them slept all night with their own thoughts. Wen Shaoqing was seriously injured. When he woke up the next day, he saw that Hua Xiangwan and Xie Changji were already dressed.

Xie Changji was packing up his things. Hua Xiangwan sat by the fire and placed a handkerchief in the fire, watching the handkerchief shrink in the flames.

Wen Shaoqing looked at Hua Xiangwan's actions in confusion and sat up: "Ah Wan, what are you doing?"

"Oh," Hua Xiangwan raised her head and smiled, "The handkerchief was dirty, so I burned it."

As she spoke, her expression became quite gentle and concerned: "How are your injuries?"

"Much better."

Wen Shaoqing nodded. Hua Xiangwan hesitated for a moment, thought for a moment, and said, "You...are here to look for the Blood Order?"

In fact, there is no need to ask more questions. They are both participants in the Demon Lord's Trial. The two of them appear here together, and they must be for the same goal.

Wen Shaoqing fell silent. Hua Xiangwan thought for a moment and said, "You are doing this for Qin Yunyi, right?"

Qin Yunyi and he were both people who had undergone the Demon Lord's trial. Their engagement must have been a decision they had already made internally. He came here, naturally, for Qin Yunyi.

Hearing this, Wen Shaoqing said hurriedly: "No, Ah Wan, I am doing this for..."

As soon as he said this, he immediately realized that Xie Changji was beside him. His voice froze and he did not continue.

Xie Changji packed up his things, turned to look at Hua Xiangwan, and said calmly, "Let's go."

Hua Xiangwan nodded without saying anything more, and stood up, feeling a little regretful: "Shaoqing, since you and I have different positions, we can't go on the same journey."

As he spoke, Hua Xiangwan walked towards Xie Changji. Wen Shaoqing's face turned pale and he said anxiously, "Ah Wan, I'll go with you!"

Hua Xiangwan paused, his face full of doubt: "I have already crossed the line by saving you, if I continue to pester you..."

As she spoke, she glanced at Xie Changji.

This look made Wen Shaoqing grit his teeth.

Why was she looking at Xie Changji?

Once you get married, does that mean you have crossed the line even in the same profession?

But thinking about how he had lost his composure last night, he controlled his emotions and negotiated calmly: "I have a dragon-hunting plan. Shennv Mountain is the largest mountain range in Qingle. You have no direction, and it will be fruitless to continue looking. Besides," Wen Shaoqing looked at Hua Xiangwan, with a hint of pleading in his tone, "Ah Wan, I can't live without you."

Wu Li rebelled and he was injured. Now there are unknown trial-takers lurking in Shennv Mountain. If he leaves them, he cannot guarantee his own safety.

Hearing this, Hua Xiangwan thought for a moment, nodded, and finally said: "Okay, then you come with us."

Wen Shaoqing was delighted when he heard this. Hua Xiangwan glanced outside and said, "Do you know how to get there now?"

Wen Shaoqing said nothing, but calculated the time, then said, "Wait another quarter of an hour, and I can use the dragon-hunting disk to confirm the direction."

"Why wait a quarter of an hour?"

Hua Xiangwan was curious, and Wen Shaoqing smiled and said, "Ah Wan, you don't know that the Dragon Hunting Plate can only be used once a day at the junction of morning and evening. Each time, it will display a direction based on your current location."

Hua Xiangwan understood, nodded, and simply sat back, thinking and asking: "So you came to Yunsheng Town by hunting for dragons?"

"Time is urgent, and there is no time to rely on the dragon plate to guide the way every day," Wen Shaoqing shook his head, "Lin Lu is from Qingle Palace after all, and we know her life experience very well, so we came directly to Yunsheng Town."

Wen Shaoqing was a little embarrassed when he talked about this. After a moment's hesitation, he apologized: "Ah Wan, I'm sorry... I didn't intend to do anything to you when I arranged for her to enter Hehuan Palace. I just... I just wanted to know all the news about you..."

"You don't need to explain any more," Hua Xiangwan glanced at Xie Changji who was sitting next to her, and said evasively, "It's all in the past."

The words "it's all in the past" made Wen Shaoqing nervous. Xie Changji saw the two of them talking about old times and said calmly, "After coming to Yunsheng Town, did you go to the Lin family?"

When Hua Xiangwan heard this, she immediately turned to look at Wen Shaoqing with a questioning look in her eyes.

Wen Shaoqing felt a little relieved when he saw Hua Xiangwan's gaze move back to him. He felt that Hua Xiangwan's eyes were all on him, and he couldn't help but want her to stay a little longer. He nodded and said, "Yes, I led Ming Huo, Wu Li and others to the Lin family. The Lin family's annihilation case alarmed Dao Zong, who immediately went there to perform a ritual and then sealed the mansion, waiting for the murderer to return. But the murderer never showed up again. When I went there, the Lin family still maintained the same appearance as it had been for 20 years. I checked the mansion and there was nothing strange. The only thing was -"

"What is it?"

Hua Xiangwan asked, Wen Shaoqing hesitated for a moment, he looked at Hua Xiangwan's clear and trusting eyes, and took out a painting from his Qiankun bag.

"Ah Wan," Wen Shaoqing smiled and waved, "Come over and take a look."

Hua Xiangwan didn't think much about it. She stood up and sat next to Wen Shaoqing, watching Wen Shaoqing open the scroll.

Wen Shaoqing had seen this painting many times before. He was not very interested in it. Instead, he glanced at Xie Changji who was sitting opposite him.

Xie Changji had a calm expression, and it was hard to tell whether he was happy or angry. He noticed Wen Shaoqing's gaze, and looked over, and saw that the two were very close to each other. Wen Shaoqing smiled, and finally moved his gaze to the painting, and explained in detail with Hua Xiangwan: "This painting is a portrait of the former head of the Lin family and his wife when they got married."

Hua Xiangwan said nothing.

There are two people in this painting. The man has a handsome face and a gentle smile. He is holding a woman in his arms. The woman is wearing a wedding dress and she is hugging his neck. Her legs are covered by the dress and hang down to the ground like a fish tail. She looks much taller than an ordinary woman.

In the picture, the two people reveal a love that goes beyond that of an ordinary couple, but strangely, the woman in the painting has no face.

“There is more than one painting.”

Wen Shaoqing looked at Hua Xiangwan's serious expression and continued, "None of the paintings in his house had this lady's face. I asked the official who investigated the case, and he told me that among the more than 20 corpses, there was one whose heart was not removed. That was this lady. Moreover, when this lady was found, she was lying quietly on the bed. When the soldiers rushed in and opened the door, she turned into ashes and disappeared."

"Gray?" Hua Xiangwan turned her head. "What do the Dao Sect people say?"

"The Dao Sect's people arrived too late," Wen Shaoqing shook his head, "and they didn't find anything. But I suspect that the so-called 'corpse of the lady' they saw back then was not this lady, but a paper man from the Wugu Sect, or a puppet from the Puppet Sect."

Hua Xiangwan agreed with this opinion. She thought: "The face of the person in the painting is not left. Maybe it's because the lady still uses this face and she doesn't want people to see it."

"She's still alive."

Xie Changji summarized, Hua Xiangwan nodded, thinking about all the information Wen Shaoqing had just given.

Wen Shaoqing calculated the time and saw that it was almost time, so he put away the painting and took out the dragon-hunting plate from his Qiankun bag.

The dragon-hunting compass is a dragon-shaped compass. When Hua Xiangwan saw the compass, she showed curiosity and couldn't help but look up at Wen Shaoqing: "Shaoqing, can I touch it?"

"Of course you can." Wen Shaoqing saw Hua Xiangwan was interested in the dragon-hunting plate and took the initiative to pass it to her, "Be careful, don't hurt yourself."

The dragon plate was carved very delicately, with many sharp edges. Hua Xiangwan looked at it with fascination, slowly brushing over every inch of detail on it.

She caressed it so attentively that she didn't even notice the reverse scale on the dragon's body. The sharp reverse scale scratched her fingertips, and blood flowed out instantly, dripping onto the dragon-hunting plate.

Hua Xiangwan paused, and Wen Shaoqing quickly held her fingers and asked, "Why are you so careless?"

"I'm sorry," Hua Xiangwan apologized quickly, "I didn't notice..."

"It's time."

After Xie Changji's reminder, Wen Shaoqing finally realized that the most important thing now was to ask for directions. If he missed this time, he would have to wait another day.

He let go of Hua Xiangwan's hand, and without even having time to wipe the blood off the compass, he hurriedly took out a drop of blood wrapped in spiritual power from his Qiankun bag and dripped it into the dragon-hunting disk. Then he muttered something and closed his eyes.

Xie Changji walked to Hua Xiangwan, held her hand, and poured spiritual power into her body. Hua Xiangwan activated her spiritual power to heal her wounds and turned to look at Wen Shaoqing who was casting a spell beside her.

Xie Changji said nothing. He lowered his head and ran his hand over the place where Wen Shaoqing had just held her hand, carefully, as if he was wiping off something dirty.

After waiting for a while, the dragon hunting disk lit up, and a blue light appeared on the compass, forming a light needle pointing in a direction.

This is the direction to go up the mountain. Wen Shaoqing made a judgment and confirmed: "It should be the top of the mountain."

"Okay," Hua Xiangwan nodded, "Let's go."

Having said that, Hua Xiangwan took the lead and walked out.

Xie Changji and Wen Shaoqing stood in the cave, their hearts connected and they turned to look at each other.

Wen Shaoqing smiled and said, "Thank you for coming all the way here. I wonder when you plan to return?"

"I married her." Xie Changji said calmly, "As long as she needs Xie Changji, I will be there."

"Then the day when Xie Daojun leaves the Western Territory may not be far away."

Wen Shaoqing walked to Xie Changji's side and lowered his voice: "Don't think that you can last long by taking advantage of others' misfortune. The most important person in her heart right now is me."

Xie Changji raised his eyes indifferently when he heard this.

Hua Xiangwan stood at the entrance of the cave. Seeing that the two people did not come out, she raised her voice and asked, "Aren't you leaving yet?"

"I'm coming," Wen Shaoqing laughed, "Ah Wan, wait for me."

Wen Shaoqing ran after Hua Xiangwan. Xie Changji turned around and silently glanced at the burnt handkerchief in the fire.

The three of them determined the direction and headed up the mountain.

Just like yesterday, Xie Changji pulled Hua Xiangwan and stood in front of her, while Wen Shaoqing was holding his zither beside him. Unlike Xie Changji, a swordsman who spent years in the ice and snow to cultivate his body, he was not trembling because of his spiritual power, but he was not feeling well either.

He wanted to call out twice, but when he turned around to look at Xie Changji, he saw that he had a calm expression and seemed unaffected by anything. He gritted his teeth and straightened up again, not wanting to lose to him at all.

The three of them walked for most of the day and it was almost dusk when Hua Xiangwan faintly heard singing coming from behind.

This time she was alert, stopped in her tracks, and turned her head to look around: "Listen."

"Singing."

Wen Shaoqing also looked up. This time the singing was a little different. Wen Shaoqing listened carefully for a moment, and the ground around him suddenly shook.

Xie Changji held Hua Xiangwan's hand, turned his head and looked around, then calmly took out a sword from his Qiankun bag.

This sword was taken out of Hua Xiangwan's Qiankun bag last night, so he put it away. It came in handy now.

"Beast."

The ground was shaking more and more. Wen Shaoqing turned around instantly and said excitedly: "Tonight its sound is used to ward off beasts!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he heard a wolf howl, and then a giant wolf swooped over. Xie Changji raised his hand and chopped off the giant wolf next to him with a sword. Hua Xiangwan raised his hand and threw Xiaobai out. Xiaobai instantly grew bigger and bit the neck of a wolf next to him and threw it away!

"Walk!"

Wen Shaoqing pulled out the sword from the zither and chopped a wolf in half, then turned around and shouted, "Too many, we can't kill them all, let's go!"

Hua Xiangwan responded, and Xie Changji and Xiaobai protected her on both sides as they rushed up the mountain.

Wen Shaoqing followed closely behind her. Hua Xiangwan turned around and glanced at him. He immediately said, "Don't worry about me. Run!"

The three men and the tiger rushed upwards with their heads down. Wild beasts swarmed around them like a tide, as if all the beasts in the entire Goddess Mountains had been summoned over.

Hua Xiangwan was protected very strictly by Xie Changji and Xiaobai, and she didn't even have a chance to make a move. Xie Changji had a calm expression as he dragged her all the way up and kept killing until late at night. A high cliff appeared in front of the three of them, and there was a faint pressure above the cliff, which was very similar to the ladder used by major sects to test their disciples. In places like this, usually the higher you go, the greater the pressure.

But the three of them had no other way out. Xie Changji killed the beasts that were chasing them and ordered Hua Xiangwan: "You go first."

Hua Xiangwan didn't hesitate, put away Xiaobai, turned around and went to climb the mountain with Wen Shaoqing at night.

Xie Changji saw them climb some distance, then turned around and followed them.

He was much more agile than the two magic practitioners and quickly caught up with Hua Xiangwan, but he did not move forward. Instead, he followed behind Hua Xiangwan, ready to kill any beasts that caught up with him.

However, the higher the three of them went, the more they felt an invisible pressure coming down on them. The beast below seemed to have noticed it as well, and stopped chasing them after a short distance.

When they reached the middle of the climb, Hua Xiangwan began to feel tired, Wen Shaoqing's face turned pale, and Xie Changji also felt a little uncomfortable.

In places like this, the higher the level of cultivation, the greater the pressure one can withstand, and this is true for everyone.

The three of them seemed to be dragging a thousand miles, moving up bit by bit with great difficulty.

Xie Changji and Wen Shaoqing were fine, as they had their spiritual powers working, so at least they weren't too cold.

But Hua Xiangwan had no spiritual power, and soon her body was covered in ice.

But she didn't say anything, just breathing heavily. Xie Changji turned to look at her, then raised his head to look at the distance above. When Hua Xiangwan climbed past the middle section, he stretched out a hand and covered the back of her hand.

Hua Xiangwan held onto the cliff with both hands. If Xie Changji used force, it would be very dangerous for one rock to bear the weight of two people, so he just held onto the back of her hand. But in this way, he could only hold onto the cliff with one hand.

The warm spiritual power flowed through her, instantly melting the ice and snow on her body. Hua Xiangwan Mumu noticed the changes in her body, turned around, and found that Xie Changji had dug all five fingers into the cliff wall.

As her body warmed up, the pressure seemed to have lessened a lot. It must be that Xie Changji helped her share some of the pressure.

But in this case, as a punishment, Xie Changji would often need to bear double the pressure, and he might understand before he could climb to the top of the cliff.

"Let go."

Hua Xiangwan gasped, but Xie Changji only reminded her: "Go up."

The two of them were in a stalemate for a moment. Xie Changji raised his eyes and repeated again: "Climb up."

She couldn't be more stubborn than him, that's just the way it was.

Hua Xiangwan gritted her teeth and could only speed up, trying to go as fast as possible.

The three of them climbed for half the night, and by the end, every inch they moved was extremely difficult.

Hua Xiangwan was fine, but Xie Changji was obviously exhausted and his face looked a little pale.

When they reached the end, Hua Xiangwan panted and said, "I'll go up first."

Xie Changji nodded, knowing that he was just a burden at this point, so he let go of his hand. Hua Xiangwan took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, flipped upwards, and leaped onto the platform on top of the cliff.

However, at this moment, a giant eagle suddenly came over with a gust of wind and pecked the cliff hard!

The cliff shattered instantly, and Xie Changji and Wen Shaoqing lost their support and fell down at the same time.

The surrounding snow-capped mountains shook as if a dragon was walking on the ground, and rolling white snow poured down from above.

They both reached out to Hua Xiangwan at the same time, and Wen Shaoqing exclaimed in surprise: "Ah Wan!"

Hua Xiangwan rushed forward and grabbed Wen Shaoqing's hand without hesitation.

Xie Changji's eyes widened instantly, and he forgot everything for a moment, and fell straight down.

He saw the snow mountain collapsing and heavy snow covering the sky. Hua Xiangwan seemed to want to rush forward, but Wen Shaoqing grabbed her.

"He is in the Tribulation Crossing Stage, why are you panicking?"

Wen Shaoqing shouted excitedly, dragging Hua Xiangwan towards the cave behind: "There's an avalanche, hurry up!"

The two disappeared from sight.

Xie Changji stared blankly.

The wind was howling around him and he lost all his strength. In an instant, he felt like he was the same Wanwan from a hundred years ago.

The beasts beneath him were like the evil demons of the past, they watched the god fall with greed.

He was unable to move at all, and the scenes in front of his eyes kept switching. The person on the platform who turned around and left looked like himself back then.

It hurts so much...

The moment he hit the ground hard, heavy snow came crashing down, submerging everything. He was buried in darkness, aware of it clearly.

It turns out that no matter what the reason, no matter how many excuses there are.

It hurts so much to be abandoned.

His Wanwan must have suffered much more pain than him when he was young.