Chapter Seventy-Eight: Immortals and Demons Have Never Coexisted

“Grandpa Ginseng Spirit, what’s wrong with you?”
Seeing his face contorted in terror, as if he’d seen a ghost, just upon hearing Zilian’s name, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of injustice for Zilian. Zilian had never done anything to him, yet this old ginseng spirit was so frightened at the mere mention of his name.

“N-nothing at all.” The old ginseng spirit waved his hand. “You are from the Demon Clan. Why would you go to the Immortal Realm and take Immortal Lord Zilian as your master?”

“Why, you ask?”

His question made me feel a bit embarrassed. I lowered my head and twisted my fingers for a while before I replied, “Over a thousand years ago, he once saved my life. This time, I escaped from the Demon Realm and went to Lingyun Mountain to become his disciple, all to repay his kindness.”

Ah, but to be honest, what I truly wished to say was: my intention to repay him was just a pretext. The real reason for fleeing the Demon Realm and seeking him as my master was that I wanted to become his wife. But how could I possibly say such things to someone I’d just met?

“To repay a kindness?” The old ginseng spirit shook his head, worry clouding his face. “Little one, I think you’d best not repay Immortal Lord Zilian’s kindness. The immortals live in these six realms by the principle of saving others. He saved you simply out of compassion—it was nothing more than a gesture of goodwill for him. Perhaps, after all this time, he has long since forgotten you.”

A gesture of goodwill? I murmured the words.

Over a thousand years ago, in Zilian’s eyes, I was nothing but a fish. Because he was compassionate, he saved me when he saw I was pitiably close to death. If he had known then that I was actually a demon, would he have ignored me and simply walked away?

Thinking this, my heart grew even more uneasy. I stuffed the ginseng root into the small cloth pouch at my waist and cried out loudly, “No, he… he won’t forget me. He’ll surely remember me.”

He’ll surely remember me. Zilian will never forget me. He won’t abandon me.

The old ginseng spirit looked at me with helplessness. “Even if he does remember you, so what? Can you be certain that if you stood before him now and told him you’re not a mortal, but a demon fish who escaped from the Demon Realm, Immortal Lord Zilian would still keep you by his side?”

“He will. He will!”
Panic seized me, and I stepped back several paces.

He will; Zilian will still care for me. Even if he learns I am from the Demon Clan, he won’t turn away from me. He’ll treat me as he did before.

“…You are a demon; he is an immortal. You hid your identity, pretended to be mortal, and sneaked into the Immortal Realm to take him as your master. To him, that is deception. One day, he will discover that you are from the Demon Realm. When that day comes, do you think he will still treat you as his disciple, still let you stay by his side?”

“He will, he will, he will!”
I shouted, then turned and ran into the woods, unwilling to hear another word from the old ginseng spirit.

“Hey, hey, little one, listen to what I have to say!”
The old ginseng spirit was relentless, calling out desperately after me.

“I won’t listen, I won’t listen!”
I clamped my hands over my ears, squeezed my eyes shut, and dashed into the woods, yet I could not block out the eerie, muffled voice drifting from behind.

“You are a demon, he is an immortal. Demons and immortals cannot coexist. Someday, when he learns you are from the Demon Realm, little one, you will be in danger. One day, you will die by his hand.”

“No, no, Zilian won’t despise me for being from the Demon Realm, he won’t abandon me, and he will never harm me, not even a little. You’re lying. I don’t believe you, I don’t believe you.”

For the first time, I hated myself so bitterly—hated that I was not a mortal, not an immortal maiden, but a daughter of the Demon Realm, forever at odds with the Immortal Realm.