Chapter 120 Part 2

In short, very conflicted feelings that persisted to this day.

From what Luxiangqiu knew, however, Xuan Yang Holy Lord wasn’t idle. Quite the opposite—he unleashed vast Divine Power, commanding demons worldwide to block these two armies.

Terrifying Demon Power leaked from the chaotic, dark Cave Abyss, infiltrating every inch of Great Yong’s land. Countless demons crawled from cracking fissures, madly attacking human cities.

Every state faced massive demon assaults. To protect the people, local armies and cultivators fought back fiercely, preventing Helan Ji’s army from rallying these forces.

Moreover, at every stop, they had to leave thousands to tens of thousands of soldiers behind, ensuring locals had enough strength to fend off demon invasions.

This was all Xuan Yang Holy Lord’s meticulous design—to wear down their strength and delay their progress.

The world fell into chaos, and Luxiangqiu lost track of Helan Ji and the others’ whereabouts. Regardless, she didn’t want Qixue’s wedding disturbed, and it seemed promising—no signs of unrest nearby yet.

Moreover, Dali Mountain had the strongest safeguard outside.

Luxiangqiu looked up at the clear sky. Though she saw nothing, rumor had it Xuan Yang Holy Lord had set up a Barrier enveloping the entire mountain. Without a Transit Token, no one could enter.

The little parrot nodded in satisfaction and prepared to fly down the mountain to a distant town to buy snacks Qixue loved.

She flapped her wings lightly, but halfway there, several small birds flew toward her and gathered around.

They chattered, “Luxiangqiu, there you are! We finally found you!”

“What’s up?”

Luxiangqiu stopped, puzzled. “Did something happen?”

The birds spoke over each other: “A human is looking for you.”

“He wants to see you.”

“It seems related to Qi Xue Niangniang!”

At the word “human,” the down on Luxiangqiu’s neck puffed up slightly. A bad feeling crept over her.

It couldn’t be Helan Ji and them…?

She hurriedly asked, “What does this human look like?”

The birds replied, “A male! Two eyes, one nose, walks on two legs!”

They had said nothing useful—just the most common human traits.

Indeed, it was a bit much to ask them to describe the differences between humans, since in their eyes, all humans looked more or less the same. Only someone with Qixue’s peerless beauty could stand out clearly enough for them to distinguish.

Fortunately, another little bird remembered the human’s distinctive trait. “His temperament was very unique. For some reason, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to be wary of him. We always felt like he was a really good person.”

“That’s why we were willing to help him!”

It had to be Ji Yuheng!

Upon hearing this distinctive feature, Luxiangqiu immediately guessed the man’s identity. Only Ji Yuheng possessed such a unique temperament that could win over small animals so easily.

She puffed up into a feathery ball in an instant. “How did he make it all the way to Dali Mountain?!”

No, she had to report Ji Yuheng’s whereabouts to the Holy Lord right away. She absolutely could not let him disrupt A Xue’s wedding!

Luxiangqiu treated it like a grave threat and prepared to fly back to the mountain to deliver the news. But the little birds wouldn’t let her go. They gently nipped at her wings with their beaks. “Please, Xiangxiang, just come with us this once. He and his companions looked really anxious…”

Luxiangqiu couldn’t shake them off, so she gave up on returning to the mountain.

Fine, she would follow them and see. Once she figured out their exact location, she could call for reinforcements to capture them all at once.

Luxiangqiu trailed the little birds to an empty residence in Qingzhou City.

The surroundings had already been fortified with elaborate formations by the Daoists. Neither demons nor spirits from outside would notice humans living there. Luxiangqiu secretly memorized the address and flew into the house, where she came face-to-face with Ji Yuheng and Helan Ji.

The moment she saw them, Luxiangqiu froze.

She had imagined that they must not be doing well after Qixue left, but she never expected their condition to be this dire.

Both men looked pale, their figures noticeably thinner—no need to dwell on that. What shocked her most was that Helan Ji had lost both hands. His long sleeves hung empty at the ends.

How was that possible? He was a nation’s sovereign. Who could have taken his hands from him?

“You…”

Luxiangqiu’s eyes widened in shock. Her urge to report them vanished in that instant. She vaguely sensed that, to find Qixue, they must have paid a tremendous price. Pity welled up in her, and she felt deep sympathy.

“Long time no see.”

Helan Ji’s tone was calm as he faced Luxiangqiu, but his back was rigid, betraying his true emotions. “I want to know… is Yuan Yuan doing well up on the mountain?”

Luxiangqiu hesitated for a moment before deciding to tell the truth. “He’s doing fine. You must have heard—he’s about to marry the Holy Lord. He’s been busy with wedding preparations lately.”

At her words, Ji Yuheng’s eyes flickered with a mix of melancholy and heartache. Helan Ji merely fell silent for a moment, a hint of relief crossing his face. “As long as Yuan Yuan is doing well, I’m relieved.”

“He actually misses you a lot…”

Luxiangqiu’s heart softened further. She cursed herself inwardly for being so sentimental even as her body betrayed her with the unvarnished truth. “He mentions you often and hopes you’re all doing well. Your Majesty, what happened to your hands? How could you…”

“It’s nothing, not worth mentioning.”

Helan Ji brushed off the topic of his hands. “We invited you here because we have an important request: Could you bring Yuan Yuan here to see us?”

“Absolutely not!”

Luxiangqiu refused without a second thought. Then, realizing how it sounded, she added guiltily, “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t get A Xue down the mountain without the Holy Lord’s permission. He’d be confined to the mountain.”

She paused, then continued. “Besides, I don’t want him to see you. You’re planning to take him away, right? That’s not allowed. You can’t take A Xue with you.”

“A Xue is about to get married. His future husband is a god of the Demon Clan. Marrying Xuan Yang Holy Lord will grant him eternal life, the worship of the entire Demon Clan, and supreme divine power. That’s a thousand—no, a million—times better than marrying you mortals.”

“If you truly care about A Xue, leave now, before the Holy Lord finds you.”

“Even if something happened to you, A Xue loves you so much that he’d hate the Holy Lord forever. But he’s destined to spend eternity with him. Do you want him haunted by resentment his whole life, never truly happy?”

Before Helan Ji or Ji Yuheng could respond, another voice cut into the conversation.

“You dumb chicken, after all this time, haven’t you figured it out? A Xue is miserable right now. He wants to escape—he just doesn’t dare because of us! If you really care about him, you should help him run away!”

Luxiangqiu’s eyes flew wide as she turned toward the flash of fiery red. “You? Weren’t you locked up? How did you escape?!”

The Red Fox shifted into the form of a handsome youth. Sang Chi snorted lightly with disdain. “With their meager skills? They thought they could hold me? I was just pretending to be trapped. Now that the time is right, of course I got out.”

Luxiangqiu stared at Sang Chi in disbelief, but she had no time to ponder his escape. “What do you mean? A Xue wants to escape? Why would he want that?”

“He doesn’t like the Holy Lord at all—he’s even scared of him. Haven’t you noticed?” Sang Chi shot back.

Luxiangqiu hesitated. “I know A Xue doesn’t have romantic feelings for the Holy Lord, but he doesn’t hate him either. He likes him—just not in that way.”

“That’s ancient history.”

Sang Chi scoffed. “You’ve been blinded by promises of immortality and divine authority. You haven’t even noticed A Xue’s fear of the Holy Lord. I’ve seen him hide away at night, crying in secret myself. But you know nothing about it.”

“What?!”

Luxiangqiu paled in horror. “A Xue cried because of the Holy Lord?”

She had been so busy with wedding arrangements that she was completely in the dark!

Helan Ji and Ji Yuheng’s expressions also changed.

For them, their one consolation had been that Qixue was doing well on the mountain. But now it seemed the opposite was true. Qixue was unhappy, terrified, burdened with heavy worries he had no one to confide in. He bore all the pressure alone.

Sang Chi said to Luxiangqiu, “We’ll talk details later. First, come back to the mountain with me. Lure A Xue out—I’ve got a way to help him escape.”

Luxiangqiu’s mind reeled as she followed Sang Chi back to Dali Mountain. Her long-held convictions were crumbling.

Could it be… could A Xue really not want to marry the Holy Lord? But why? It meant immortality and supreme divine power. Didn’t A Xue want that?

Would he rather spend a mortal lifetime with humans than marry a god?

She couldn’t make sense of it. Bewildered, she looked at Sang Chi. “You’re not tricking me, are you?”

“No,” Sang Chi said. “Don’t believe me—ask A Xue yourself. Even if he lies to you, with how well you know him, you’ll see right through it.”

Luxiangqiu wavered badly. “You’re planning to help A Xue elope? But the Holy Lord is omnipotent. No matter where we go, he’ll find him. If we fail, we’ll only harm A Xue. How can you guarantee he won’t track us down?”

“I’ve got my ways,” Sang Chi said. “You just need to lure A Xue out for me.”

“Tell me your plan first,” Luxiangqiu insisted. “I need to know if it’s feasible. You can’t expect me to hand A Xue over blindly.”

“We’ll discuss it when we see A Xue,” Sang Chi replied. “What are you worried about? You think I’d harm him?”

“Fine, suppose your plan works. How do you plan to convince A Xue to leave with you?”

Luxiangqiu fretted, finding Sang Chi utterly unreliable. “You said it yourself—A Xue won’t run because of us. You planning to knock him out and carry him off? If anything happens to him, the Holy Lord will sense it instantly. We won’t even make it past the mountain gates!”

“I’m not knocking him out. I’ve got a way to convince him,” Sang Chi said.

“What way?”

“We’ll see when we get there.”

“Spill a hint already—will it kill you?!” Luxiangqiu finally lost her temper. “Do you know how worried I am? Keeping everything secret like this—if you don’t tell me, I won’t help bring A Xue out!”

Sang Chi’s gaze darkened slightly. “It just might.”

“…What?” Luxiangqiu blinked, not grasping his meaning.

“I mean, I’m about to die.”

Sang Chi’s tone was flat, as if it concerned someone else. “I’ll convince A Xue with my life. Is that enough for you?”