Zu An looked at the messily scribbled word and fell into deep thought. Betrayal? Who was the traitor, and who did they betray?
There were far too many possibilities with that single word that Zu An couldn’t make sense of the situation with his limited information.
Why did Ox Head and Horse Face leave this single word behind? Did they have no time to leave more information? Did the enemy discover them while they were inscribing this word? Or did some rule or individual prevent them from leaving behind more detailed information?
In any case, the death of the Netherworld’s other deities likely has something to do with this matter.
“Lady Houtu?” Zu An tried calling out, but the Six Paths of Reincarnation continued operating without answering.
Houtu had initially preserved a sliver of her sentience due to her strength after transforming into the Six Paths of Reincarnation, but after many years of operation, her sentience was bound to erode, leaving behind a pure heavenly law.
Zu An spent a long time pondering things by the Reincarnation Platform. Following that, he went under the Oblivion Bridge once more to visit Chu Chuyan. He spent a while chatting with her despite knowing she was unconscious, but it did calm his heart.
The next day, he went to the Dragon Palace. To his surprise, Shang Liuyu was waiting in the vicinity for him.
“Big sister Shang!” Zu An was overjoyed. He'd thought that she would continue avoiding him due to what happened the last time.
Shang Liuyu’s face reddened as she thought of the same matter. She rolled her eyes and said, “Don’t misunderstand, I’m not here for you. My big sister came back yesterday and kept crying nonstop. I asked her what was wrong, but she refused to speak. She was in a good mood when she accompanied you to the Tomb of Ten Thousand Dragons. What happened?”
Zu An was startled. “I’ll talk to her.”
“I’ve relayed the message. The rest is up to you,” Shang Liuyu said before leaving in a hurry.
Zu An shook his head bitterly, knowing that Liuyu hadn’t recovered from her embarrassment. However, the priority at hand was to talk to Shang Hongyu.
Following Shang Liuyu’s tip, he went to an island near the Dragon Palace and found Shang Hongyu at a beach. She was resting against a boulder, staring at the sky in a daze. Golden rays shone on the emerald ocean water, and the reflected light made her graceful figure glow.
Zu An felt as if he was looking at a beautiful portrait. As he walked over, he said sincerely, “You’re beautiful."
“But I have no weight in your heart,” Shang Hongyu lamented.𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦
That sharp response made Zu An sweat profusely. He sat down next to her and grabbed her hand. He was about to speak when Shang Hongyu suddenly interjected, “Do you think I’m jealous of my little sister?”
“Of course not.” Zu An thought he would get angry if he was faced with the same situation too.
Shang Hongyu lowered her head. “I’m not angry at you or my little sister. I’m angry at myself.”
Zu An didn’t know what to say.
Shang Hongyu looked at him with a miserable smile. “It’s not a tantrum. I’m angry at myself for always meeting you later than others. Not only did I meet you later than my little sister in this world, but I also met you later than the Mermaid Queen in that world. It feels as if I’m always one step behind.”
Zu An suddenly laughed as he pulled her into his embrace. “You’re wrong about that. I met Xihe much earlier than Suyin.”
“Really?” Shang Hongyu narrowed her eyes in suspicion.
“Of course. I met Xihe a long time ago in a dungeon...” Zu An told her about his first meeting with Xihe in that dungeon, including how she'd cornered him.
Shang Hongyu was thoroughly entertained by that story. “You’re terrible! Using your Golden Phoenix’s ability on your first meeting, making her fall in love with you.”
Zu An was apologetic about that. “I had no choice. She was going to kill me. That was my only way out.”
“Did you secretly use that ability on us too?” Shang Hongyu eyed him in suspicion.
Black streaks flashed across Zu An’s face. “Of course not! I told you I had no choice then.”
Shang Hongyu breathed a sigh of relief. “I guess you met my past incarnation much earlier than that Gong Suyin. You might have seen Xihe as an enemy because she was after your life the first time you met, so your feelings for her weren’t as pure as compared to Gong Suyin.”
“Yeah, I can’t deny that,” Zu An replied frankly. “Your previous incarnation was formidable. The first time I met her, I was utterly helpless against her. She even prepared an elaborate scheme the second time we met. I would have been sold out by her without knowing!”
Shang Hongyu suddenly remarked, “I think Xihe ended up selling herself out instead.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think a woman would willingly sleep with you if she didn’t like you?”
Zu An fell into deep thought. He had considered that matter too.
Shang Hongyu quickly added, “Do you think she did that under the influence of your Golden Phoenix’s ability?”
Without waiting for his answer, she shook her head and said, “The Golden Phoenix’s ability is formidable, but it could only make her fall in love with you; she still retained her rational judgment. There were ways for her to avoid intimate contact with you while she was disguised as Yumen Beiqing, but she still allowed it. She might have initially allowed it due to the Golden Phoenix’s ability, but over time, you should have been able to tell whether her feelings for you were true or not.”
Zu An nodded. “You’re right. She had many chances to kill me, but she didn’t do it.”
He recalled how the Goddess of Wu Mountain, in the projection she had left behind, said that she, Xihe, and the Mermaid Queen had become close friends. That, in itself, spoke volumes.
“I don’t know how it was for my past incarnation, but at least in this lifetime, I sincerely love you.” Shang Hongyu raised her head to look at her lover with gentle but determined eyes.
Zu An leaned in and kissed her.
The two of them cuddled as they thought about their time together. Their hearts felt closer to each other than ever.
Suddenly, Zu An pushed Shang Hongyu aside and coldly glared in a direction. “Why don’t you show yourself when you’re already here?”
Shang Hongyu was initially confused, but she immediately tensed up when she learned that someone else was here, and she hadn’t noticed the other party’s presence at all.
“Hm? You sensed me? How is that possible?” a voice echoed.
A figure slowly revealed itself not too far away. It was a person wearing a bizarre mask and scholar's robes.