Wandering Gods of Day and Night

In the interrogation room, Zhou Xuan spoke to himself: "What kind of misfortune would make your Miss choose to save Mingjiang Prefecture?"

"Generally speaking, for a cultivator at your Miss's level, the greatest misfortunes are nothing more than two possibilities: First, her incense fire would be abolished. Second, she would die herself."

Zhou Xuan walked straight up to "Guangyin," squatted down, locked eyes with him, and said, "Mingjiang Prefecture was destroyed by a flood, and your Miss's incense fire was abolished? There's no logic in this. The incense fire resides in your Miss's Secret Realm—what does it have to do with Mingjiang Prefecture?"

"So, pushing speculation with speculation, it can only mean one thing: If Mingjiang Prefecture is destroyed, your Miss will die."

Zhou Xuan pointed at his own eyes, then at Guangyin's eyes, saying, "Hey, you toad, tell me why your Miss's destiny is bound to the fate of Mingjiang Prefecture."

"..."

Guangyin didn't dare to say anything now. He had just mocked the True God, ridiculed the two Bone Elders of the eight incenses in front of him, venting his frustration over being defamed as an "Evil God." Yet here Zhou Xuan almost deduced the entire truth.

Too frightened to say more and risk making mistakes, he simply fell silent.

"Hmm, your silence proves my deduction is correct. Sure enough, your Miss's fate is bound to Mingjiang Prefecture."

"Why the binding of fates? Besides her death, I've thought of another possibility—Ancestor Dragon destroyed? Did she contaminate Mingjiang Prefecture's Ancestor Dragon? Could it be that if Mingjiang Prefecture is destroyed, the Ancestor Dragon would perish as well?"

At this point, Zhou Xuan turned to ask the Painter: "If Mingjiang Prefecture were no more, would the Ancestor Dragon also be destroyed?"

"It shouldn't be," the Painter said. "The Ancestor Dragon, like the Ancestor Tree, thrives on the vitality of people. If the vitality fades, it doesn't die—it transforms into a Yin Dragon."

If the Ancestor Tree lost vitality, it would retreat into the Forbidden Land. The Ancestor Dragon was similar.

They did not have a concept of death.

"Then it has nothing to do with the Ancestor Dragon. There's only one possibility left: If Mingjiang is destroyed, your Miss will die." Zhou Xuan dragged a chair over, sat down, looked up at the ceiling, and mused aloud: "If Mingjiang Prefecture were to be destroyed right now, what kind of event could occur that would lead to your Miss's death as well?"

"What sort of binding relationship could exist between her and Mingjiang Prefecture in its present state?"

As Zhou Xuan sat with one leg crossed over the other, he continued to ponder intently.

Guangyin, seeing Zhou Xuan in this state of contemplation, felt a fear that came from deep in his bones. He even wanted to talk to Zhou Xuan about the "Miss" right away.

As the two began to converse, Guangyin believed there was a way to lay a cognitive trap for Zhou Xuan, leading him down the wrong path.

But if Zhou Xuan's thoughts were to continue spiraling outward, Guangyin feared the man might truthfully press forward and uncover everything through sheer deduction.

"Zhou Xuan, our Miss only saved Mingjiang Prefecture because of her unique origins..."

"Damn it, I hate being interrupted when I'm contemplating. Old Hua, seal his mouth for me."

At Zhou Xuan's shout, the Painter ignited the Dao Yan fire. He blew on the flame, and it vanished without a trace, while Guangyin's whole body looked as if it had been infused with molten iron—his skin turned crimson, and even his breath carried the searing heat of a dozen flames.

The horrifying burning sensation left "Guangyin" completely speechless.

Silence returned to the stone house.

"You wanted to resist until the end, but when you saw that my reasoning was bearing fruit, you decided to tell me some things. If you had any good intentions, I'd write my name Zhou backward."

Zhou Xuan could easily see through the little twists and turns in "Guangyin's" mind.

He rested his cheek on his hand and meticulously considered how the "Miss" might be bound to "Mingjiang Prefecture."

"Logically, the destruction of Mingjiang Prefecture shouldn't cause the so-called Miss to die. She's able to use mist from the sky to cut off Peng Hou's Divine Power, which indicates her incense fire level is above Peng Hou's."

If Mingjiang Prefecture were destroyed, Peng Hou wouldn't die, nor would the Gods under the Heavenly Dome. Otherwise, they wouldn't have initiated the action to destroy Mingjiang Prefecture.

If even Peng Hou can't die, how could that Miss die?"

Zhou Xuan's voice grew quieter as he continued to deduce, sinking deeper into thought.

Unable to figure out the crucial point of the "binding," he shifted his focus to the peculiarities of Jing Country.

"The space in Jing Country is folded, and its timeline is parallel. The past Time-Space World, the present Time-Space World, and the future Time-Space World coexist."

For this reason, Lord Jian's "Arrow of Order" simultaneously fires three arrows: one from the past, one from the present, and one from the future.

Remembering this,

the incense fire Taoist's prophecy echoed in Zhou Xuan's mind: "The past cannot be pursued; see it as fate. The future can still be changed; see it as impermanence."

According to the rules of Jing Country's Time-Space World, past events cannot be forcibly altered, but the future timeline can be changed.

Significant events in the present can alter the future.

"Right now, in the present Mingjiang Prefecture, the Miss behind the Evil God, now... now..."

Zhou Xuan muttered the word "now" under his breath, repeating it over and over until things seemed to become clearer before his eyes. He clapped his hands together with force, stood up abruptly, and said to the Painter, "Old Hua, let Guangyin speak."

At Zhou Xuan's signal, the Painter pressed downward with all his might, extinguishing the Dao Yan fire within Guangyin.

"Zhou Xuan, Zhou Xuan... our Miss is actually... actually..."