It Turns Out She Was Just a Safe

Zi Yao froze.

A True Immortal?

The legendary True Immortal who had broken the shackles of the world, achieved eternal life, and transcended the Three Realms and the Five Elements?

"A... True Immortal?" Zi Yao muttered to herself.

Above the Mahayana stage was the True Immortal stage, and only True Immortals could ascend.

And if one cultivated to become a True Immortal but chose not to ascend, they could remain in the mortal world.

That was an Earthly True Immortal!

Also known as a Mortal Realm Great Emperor!

This was true invincibility, the true ruler of all living beings!

Zi Yao had originally thought that by reaching the Mahayana stage, she had shortened the distance between herself and Ye Xuan.

But now she despairingly realized.

This distance hadn't shortened at all; instead, it had become an insurmountable chasm!

She was merely an ant on the ground, just a slightly stronger one.

While Ye Xuan had already become a divine dragon in the heavens.

"How could this be..."

The light in Zi Yao's eyes dimmed, but immediately after, an even more crazed, obsessive emotion surged up.

"It doesn't matter! It doesn't matter!"

Zi Yao gripped Ye Xuan's sleeve tightly, her nails almost trying to pierce his immortal garments:

"No matter who you are! You are still my husband!"

"The stronger you are, the better! You are a True Immortal, so you can protect me forever!"

"Husband, take me with you! I just want to be by your side, even if I have to be a maidservant, I'm willing!"

Ye Xuan gently pushed her hands away.

"Zi Yao."

"I didn't come here this time to catch up, nor did I come to take you away."

"Then what for?" An ominous premonition rose in Zi Yao's heart.

Ye Xuan gazed into the endless void, his eyes flashing with a light Zi Yao had never seen before: it was a yearning for the Great Dao, and a farewell to the past.

"I am here to say goodbye."

"This realm can no longer contain me."

"I will shatter the void and ascend to the Spirit Realm. After that, I will continue cultivating, aiming straight for the Immortal Realm."

"I am going to fulfill my master's unfulfilled dying wish, to slay the high and mighty Immortal Kings."

"Ascend?"

Zi Yao shrieked and suddenly hugged his thigh:

"You're leaving? You're going to the Spirit Realm?"

"Take me with you!! A True Immortal can bring people along when ascending! When a man achieves the Dao, even his poultry and dogs rise to Heaven! Take me with you!!"

"I don't want to stay in this wretched place alone! I will die without you!"

Ye Xuan looked down at her, a cold sneer curling the corner of his lips:

"Take you to the Spirit Realm, so you can continue to cuckold me?"

Zi Yao's entire body stiffened, her face instantly turning deathly pale.

The old score.

The old score again.

This was a stain she could never wash away in her entire life.

"No... I won't..."

Zi Yao shook her head desperately, tears flying everywhere as she defended herself almost hysterically:

"Husband! I've changed! I really have changed!"

"Ever since the Heavenly Demon Sect was destroyed, I have kept myself pure as jade for these five hundred years! I swear to the heavens, I haven't even touched a man's hand!"

"I only have you now! My body and soul belong to you!"

"Please, believe me just this once! Take me with you!"

Watching her weeping bitterly, Ye Xuan was not moved in the slightest.

On the contrary, he asked a question that made Zi Yao feel as if she had plunged into an icy abyss.

"Zi Yao."

"Have you never thought about it..."

"With your aptitude, with your impure foundation."

"Why is it that over these past five hundred years, you've had divine assistance, turning danger into safety, and smoothly breaking through to the Mahayana stage all the way?"

Zi Yao was stunned.

That was right.

For these five hundred years, her luck had indeed been outrageously good.

No matter how dangerous the secret realms she went to were, she could always narrowly escape death; no matter how heavily injured she was, she could always find miraculous medicine.

Even several situations where death was certain had been inexplicably resolved.

She had always thought it was her own great fortune, that the heavens were compensating her.

Looking at it now...

Zi Yao abruptly raised her head and looked at Ye Xuan, a burst of ecstatic light erupting in her eyes:

"It was you?"

"Husband! It was you helping me in secret all along, wasn't it?"

"It was you protecting me with great divine abilities, right?"

Zi Yao trembled with excitement and threw herself at Ye Xuan once more:

"I knew it! I knew you couldn't bear to let me die!"

"You say you don't want me, but you still love me in your heart, don't you?"

"Let's start over! Husband! I know I was wrong! This time I will definitely be obedient!"

She felt that she had won.

This man still loved her.

Otherwise, why would a dignified True Immortal go to such great lengths to protect an ex-wife?

Ye Xuan looked at Zi Yao, who was caught up in her own self-delusion, his expression terrifyingly calm.

His next words completely shattered all of Zi Yao's fantasies.

"You are wrong."

"I protected you, but not out of love."

"And certainly not to start over with you."

Ye Xuan reached out and pointed at the betrothal bracelet on her wrist.

"It was because of this."

"The betrothal bracelet?"

Zi Yao blankly raised her wrist.

Ye Xuan nodded, his eyes turning exceptionally gentle. That kind of gentleness was something Zi Yao had never seen before, but it was not directed at her.

"I am about to ascend."

"But I cannot take this bracelet with me."

"This bracelet must wait for the appearance of its true owner."

Zi Yao's mind went completely blank.

True owner?

What did that mean? Wasn't this bracelet given to me?

Ye Xuan clasped his hands behind his back and looked up at the starry sky, a happy and expectant smile appearing on his face:

"My master once divined my fate for me."

"In the future, there will be a woman waiting for me."

"She is pure and flawless, her talent is peerless, and she will be completely devoted to me, never harboring a second thought."

"She is my, Ye Xuan's, destined Dao companion, the person I will spend the rest of my life with."

Ye Xuan lowered his head and looked at the already stupefied Zi Yao, his tone becoming incomparably cruel:

"This betrothal bracelet is a Daluo Immortal Artifact, a meeting gift left by my master for his disciple's wife."

"You..."

"Are not worthy of it."

"You are too dirty."

"However, the journey to the Immortal Realm is long and extremely perilous. If I carry it with me while ascending, I fear it might be lost."

"Therefore, I needed a custodian."

Ye Xuan stared into Zi Yao's eyes, enunciating every word clearly:

"The reason I let you live until now, the reason I let you reach the Mahayana stage,"

"Is because only with a Mahayana stage cultivation base, coupled with the protection of this bracelet, can you live safely in this lower realm for tens of thousands of years."

"What I want you to do,"

"Is to keep this bracelet safe for me."

"Until one day, when I return from the Immortal Realm, or when I am reincarnated."

"You must personally, and perfectly intact, hand it over into the hands of its true owner."

"Do you understand?"

These words were like death by a thousand cuts.

Slice by slice, they carved up Zi Yao's pride, hope, and love into pieces.

She was not a lover.

She was not a Dao companion.

She couldn't even be considered a backup.

She was merely a safe!

Her five hundred years of effort, her future tens of thousands of years of life, the sole meaning of her existence, was to guard a dowry for another woman—the pure woman that Ye Xuan truly loved!

"Ahhhhhh!"

Zi Yao went mad.

Completely mad.

"I won't give it back!"

"I won't give it back!"

Zi Yao desperately covered the bracelet on her wrist, her eyes bloodshot, roaring like a vengeful ghost:

"On what grounds?"

"This bracelet has been on my wrist for a thousand years! It is mine!"

"Who is that woman? What right does she have to take my things?"

"She is pure? She is flawless?"

"Then what am I? I am your lawfully wedded wife!"

"Ye Xuan! You are so cruel!"

"You used me? You kept me alive just to guard this treasure for your new lover?"

"I won't do it! Even if I have to destroy it! Even if I have to die! I will never give it to that bitch!"

The Mahayana realm spiritual energy inside Zi Yao's body ran wildly out of control. She raised her hand, wanting to smash the bracelet.

However.

Ye Xuan just looked at her quietly, a trace of pity in his eyes.

"You cannot destroy it."

"Nor can you die."

"Since the betrothal bracelet has acknowledged its master, under the laws of a Zenith Heaven Golden Immortal, it will forcefully lock your life soul."

"Want to die?"

"Without my permission, you cannot even commit suicide."

Sure enough.

Zi Yao found the spiritual energy in her body instantly suppressed.

That bracelet emitted a soft light, not only protecting her but also nourishing her body, forcefully calming her down.

What was originally a divine artifact meant to protect her.

At this moment, had become the most vicious prison in the world.

She could neither truly live nor die.

"Ye Xuan... I hate you... I hate you!"

Zi Yao slumped to the ground, howling in despair.

Ye Xuan took one last look at her.

No reluctance, no anger.

The mission was completed.

The bracelet had someone to keep it safe.

"Live well, Zi Yao."

"For the sake of the woman who is truly worthy of it, live well."

"Farewell."

After saying that.

Ye Xuan took a step forward, his figure turning into a sky full of light rain, directly shattering the void and disappearing into the vast expanse of the cosmos.

Leaving Zi Yao all alone.

Floating in the cold, dead void.

In her hand, she held the Primordial Golden Dipper that Ye Xuan had thrown to her like trash, and on her wrist, she wore the betrothal bracelet that could never be taken off and never be destroyed.

"Ahhhhh!"

Zi Yao's screams echoed in the void, so shrill and mournful that it made one's blood run cold.

"Ye Xuan! You will come back!"

"You said you would come back to get the bracelet!"

"Fine! I will wait for you!"

"I will cultivate like crazy!"

"What pure and flawless woman... I will kill her!"

"I will peel off her skin right in front of your eyes! I will chop her flesh to pieces!"

"This bracelet is mine! I am your only Dao Companion!"

"No one can take it away! Don't even think about taking it away!"

In the void.

A mad woman, hugging her knees, crying one moment and laughing the next.

Her eyes flickered with a chilling resentment and paranoia.

She had gone completely mad.

But she also knew one thing with absolute clarity:

She had to survive.

Survive until the day Ye Xuan returned.

And then... even if she had to destroy this entire world, she would imprison him by her side, making it so he could never leave her again, making it so he could never go find that pure woman!

"Hehehe... Husband... You are mine..."

"We have a long time ahead of us..."