My Taoist buddy has practiced surrogacy

Chapter 1433 Paving the Way
After returning to the banquet, Zhou Xing unfolded the silk handkerchief and discovered that the words "Save Xiao Qi" were written in reverse on the back. Just then, the system suddenly popped up a message: [Rescue Mission: Prevent the poisoning incident in three days].

Zhou Xing bought an abandoned pavilion in the West Garden to house Ling Xue. Every day, Ling Xue would sit by the window, watching Zhou Xing's departing figure in his official robes, and then draw a crooked scholar's hat on the window frame.

Zhou Xing was ostensibly a seventh-rank Hanlin scholar, but in reality, he frequently went to the Hanlin Academy late at night to steal confidential documents. Each time he returned, he would bring back bloodstained memorials. Ling Xue would always burn this evidence in the charcoal brazier, and would laugh as she said to him, "Today's ashes look like willow catkins."

On the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ling Xue prepared apricot cheese pastries. The two drank together under the moon, and Ling Xue, drunk, fell asleep with her head on Zhou Xing's python-patterned robe. Zhou Xing inadvertently noticed a birthmark on the back of her neck, exactly the same as the birthmark of the veiled woman who saved him in the fire twenty years ago.

The system suddenly malfunctioned, displaying the message: "[Ling Xue's survival rate is below 30%]". Zhou Xing was startled and rushed into Ling Xue's study, finding a table covered with maps of the northern frontier's defenses. At that moment, arrows from the guards pierced the paper window, and Ling Xue instinctively pushed Zhou Xing away. Her wide sleeves, like wings, protected him, and medicinal powder flying from them blinded everyone.

Ling Xue knelt on the broken porcelain, mending Zhou Xing's official robes. She said softly, "That night you said, 'It's hard for a poor family to produce a noble son,' so I forged the salt merchant's household registration overnight." Only then did Zhou Xing understand that her late-night outings were to pave the way for him.

On a stormy night, the Eastern Depot's commander arrived at the West Garden with poisoned wine. Ling Xue snatched the wine cup and drank it all in one gulp. As blood welled up in her throat, she smiled and took off the jade hairpin Zhou Xing had given her: "This design of a bird carrying a plum blossom should be paired with arsenic."

Zhou Xing, carrying Ling Xue's body, rammed his fist against the Dengwen Drum. Blood dripped from his forehead onto the steps, accusing the Grand Secretary of embezzling 200,000 taels of military funds. A hidden compartment in Ling Xue's dressing case popped up a map of the northern frontier, densely marked with twenty-three private mines.

The system's final mission activated: [Use the poison-making technique Ling Xue taught you to exchange for a chance at rebirth]. Zhou Xing hesitated for a moment in front of the alchemy furnace, then finally scattered Ling Xue's ashes into the gunpowder. In the instant of the explosion, he vaguely saw her standing in the flames, beckoning with her finger.

On the day the new emperor ascended the throne, someone saw a gold-threaded urn containing ashes placed in Grand Secretary Zhou's sedan chair. Whenever it snowed, the sedan bearers would hear their master lightly tapping the urn and singing, "So many flowers bloom in vibrant colors."

Three years later, news of victory and marriage arrived from the northern frontier. Zhou Xing found Ling Xue's dagger with a withered snow lotus stuck in it in the military tent. The system suddenly recovered, displaying [Parallel world survival rate 78%].

On their wedding night, the moment the bride lifted her veil, Zhou Xing saw the familiar beauty mark under Ling Xue's eye. However, the bride smiled and offered him the nuptial wine: "Does my lord know that this rare poison from the Western Regions requires a love thread as a catalyst?"

When Zhou Xing severed her anklets, he discovered a reversed "Zhou" character etched on her ankle. A red warning popped up: [Memory overwrite complete, self-destruct program about to be initiated]. Amidst the fireworks, Ling Xue suddenly rubbed her forehead, a headache throbbing: "Have we... met before?"

The day Zhou Xing became regent, a female physician who liked to dress in men's clothing appeared in his palace. One day at court, the young emperor pointed to the dragon throne and asked, "Father, who is that brother who is reviewing memorials with you?"

Ling Xue reopened her charcoal pencil in the Imperial Garden, drawing blueprints for an improved musket. Zhou Xing wrapped his arms around her from behind, the pencil tip drawing concentric circles. The system ultimately transformed into golden threads that seeped into her fingertips: "[Bond Value 100%, Unlocked Immortal Mode]"

Historical records state that in the second year of the Chengping era, Imperial Tutor Zhou Yuan and Imperial Concubine Ling were buried together in the imperial mausoleum. The inner walls of their coffins were engraved with illustrations of medicinal herbs and annotations on memorials, and the central epitaph contained only one sentence: "Here lie two people who dared not speak of their love." Their love, in the long river of history, was like a flower that quietly bloomed and then hid, enduring through trials and tribulations, yet ultimately achieving eternity.

Ling Xue, an orphan, was taken in by the Sword Sect leader and became a disciple. Zhou Xing, as the Sword Sect's chief disciple, was ordered to teach her swordsmanship. During the teaching process, he keenly noticed that Ling Xue deliberately held the sword with her left hand, while the lingering cinnabar birthmark on her right wrist was faintly visible against the snow.

That day, the plum blossoms in front of the mountain gate were in full bloom. A petal drifted down, and Ling Xue instinctively caught it with a hidden weapon technique. Zhou Xing was startled and pretended to accidentally knock over an inkstone, staining her sleeve with ink. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he saw the twin lotus flower pattern embroidered on the inner layer of Ling Xue's sleeve—the unique totem of the Holy Maiden of the Demonic Sect.

At night, Zhou Xing sneaked into the Sutra Repository and stumbled upon Ling Xue searching for the "Heavenly Dipper Sword Formation Diagram" in the forbidden area. He hung upside down from the beam and watched silently. Under the moonlight, the girl tore off the clumsy bandages used for disguise, revealing her undamaged right hand, which was using blood to trace the flaws in the formation on the paper.

New tea was delivered from Medicine King Valley, and Ling Xue brewed it as a gift in front of everyone. The moment the boiling water was poured into the purple clay teapot, Zhou Xing suddenly threw out bamboo chopsticks, shattering the teacup. The flying porcelain shards grazed her ear, revealing a silver leaf hairpin hidden in her hair bun—a perfect match for the broken hair ornament that had been left behind when the young master of the Demonic Sect was ambushed three years ago.

While gathering herbs in the back mountain, Ling Xue "lost her footing" and slipped off a cliff. Zhou Xing leaped forward and grabbed her hand, only to find pine resin already prepared in her palm. In the instant of their fall, he swung her against a protrusion on the cliff face, using the momentum to plunge into the deep pool himself. Blood rippled across the water's surface, and the half-piece of the Demonic Sect token hidden in his sleeve bobbed with the waves.

Ling Xue sneaked into Zhou Xing's residence late at night, intending to see if he had discovered her identity. However, she found a handkerchief embroidered with twin lotus blossoms beside his pillow, with the character "Zhou" crookedly embroidered on it. Suddenly, the system alerted, displaying: [Target's favorability has inexplicably increased by 10%, possibly triggering a hidden event].

During the sect trial, Ling Xue deliberately displayed the Demonic Sect's ultimate technique, "Blood Shadow Step." Zhou Xing used the tip of his sword to remove her veil in front of everyone, but at the last moment, he deflected the attack by three inches, the sword energy only severing the red silk binding her hair. Hidden among the scattered strands of hair was half a crescent-shaped birthmark.

On the night of the demonic cult's surprise attack, Ling Xue activated the flaw in the mountain-protecting array as planned. However, Zhou Xing used his own body to plug the crack in the array. His bloodied fingers wrote "Run!" on her clothes, the heat of his palm burning her skin through the fabric. Just then, the system popped up a red warning: [Abnormal fluctuations in target memory detected].

Deep within the dungeon of the Sutra Repository, Zhou Xing unlocked Ling Xue's shackles and placed the true "Heavenly Dipper Sword Formation Diagram" into her hands. In the flickering candlelight, the veins on his neck, eroded by demonic energy, bulged: "It wasn't me who saved you at Cangwu Mountain three years ago, it was another foolish disciple." Ling Xue activated the blood sacrifice formation at the altar. When Zhou Xing broke through the formation, he saw her wielding a short blade, aiming for the sect leader's back. Without hesitation, he threw his natal sword to shatter her attack, but at the last moment, he realized the blade had subtly shifted; that strike would only knock the sect leader unconscious, not kill him.

As the demonic cult members surrounded and attacked, Zhou Xing suddenly activated his demonic power, and black mist of the same origin as Ling Xue rose around him. He broke the execution elder's sword with his bare hands, and in the elder's horrified gaze, he revealed golden eyes identical to those of the Demon Lord: "The interest on the life-exchange contract from back then should be repaid with the entire demonic cult."

The system finally decrypted: [The twin souls have awakened; Zhou Xing is actually the reincarnation of the Demon Lord's half-soul]. Ling Xue tore open the seal on her chest and fed his natal demon core between his teeth: "So that's what you meant every time you said 'I'll go for you'."

On the day the righteous alliance breached the Demonic Sect's headquarters, Zhou Xing leaped into the Ten Thousand Demon Cave carrying the unconscious Ling Xue. As he fell, he unfurled his blood-stained cloak, revealing the complete twin lotus pattern on the back—the very Demonic Sect's sacred banner that had been torn apart a century ago.

Ling Xue awoke by the lava river and found Zhou Xing with half a broken sword stuck in his chest. He smiled and handed her the other half: "Now I can openly teach you left-handed swordsmanship." The system panel behind her flashed: [Symbiotic Contract Bound, Remaining Lifespan: Infinite].

At the enthronement ceremony of the new Demon Lord, Ling Xue imprinted the demonic mark on her forehead onto Zhou Xing's palm. When the righteous cultivators attacked the mountain, thousands of black crows flew by carrying plum branches in their beaks, and the stone tablet at the mountain gate was inscribed with the sword intent written by the two of them: "From now on, there will be no difference between immortals and demons, and the world will be at peace."

Three hundred years later, the storyteller in the teahouse struck his gavel: "It is said that the two ancestors who overthrew the paths of immortals and demons argued every day on the top of the snow mountain." Suddenly, two bluebirds flew in from outside the window and pecked away the plum blossom hairpin from the storyteller's hair.

A fragment of a scroll unearthed at the site of a certain sect records a mysterious martial art called the "Twin Technique." The faded ending faintly reveals: "Brother Zhou has stolen my plum wine again. I'll draw a circle and curse him so he'll never catch up to me in this lifetime."

The system log remains forever stuck at "[Day 9999: Host emotional data overflowed, all task objectives automatically formatted]". Only the silhouettes of them embracing on the mountaintop are reflected in the sea of ​​clouds, much like their first encounter under the plum blossom tree at the Sword Sect that year.

Zhou Xing stood at the exit of the high-speed rail station, gazing at the familiar yet unfamiliar streets of his hometown, his heart filled with mixed emotions. He dragged his worn-out old suitcase and slowly walked out of the station. The cold wind of December cut like a knife across his cheeks, but he felt that the chill was far less intense than the complex emotions in his heart.

His phone suddenly vibrated; it was a message from Ling Xue: "I made mutton soup tonight, waiting for you." Looking at those few short words, Zhou Xing's hand unconsciously tightened around the handle of his suitcase. He should have gone straight home, but at this moment he felt rooted to the spot. After hesitating for a long time, he finally turned and headed towards a hotel near the station.

In the hotel room, Zhou Xing sat on the edge of the bed, carefully taking a divorce agreement from his bag. He folded the agreement neatly, wrapped it in a plastic bag, and let it lie quietly in the drawer. Looking at the agreement, his thoughts drifted back three years. At that time, he had just learned that he had a daughter out of wedlock, and his heart was filled with fear and unease. In that cramped rented room, he trembled as he wrote this divorce agreement, each word feeling like a stone hitting his heart.

Late at night, Zhou Xing sneaked back to the old house. The door was ajar; Ling Xue was probably still waiting for him. He tiptoed inside. On the eight-immortal table in the living room was a set of bowls and chopsticks, and the mutton soup was still steaming. But Ling Xue was asleep on the table. A few strands of white hair had appeared at her temples, mingling with the moonlight filtering through the window, stinging Zhou Xing's eyes.

Zhou Xing took off his cashmere coat and gently draped it over Ling Xue. Just then, his phone rang. It was a voice message from his lover, Lin Wan: "Honey, Duo Duo has a fever. When are you coming back?" Zhou Xing panicked and accidentally knocked over a porcelain spoon. The sound of the spoon hitting the ground was particularly jarring in the quiet night, waking Ling Xue.

Zhou Xing lied, saying there was an urgent matter at the company and he had to rush back that night. Ling Xue didn't say much, but silently stuffed the insulated lunchbox into his hand. Zhou Xing didn't dare to look her in the eye and hurriedly left the house.

In the pediatric emergency room of the town hospital, Lin Wan's eyes were red from crying. Seeing Zhou Xing arrive, she immediately rushed over, crying, "You damned Zhou Xing, you're finally here! Duo Duo has a fever of 40 degrees Celsius! If anything happens to her, I'll never forgive you!" Zhou Xing looked at his daughter Duo Duo, whose face was flushed, on the hospital bed, filled with remorse. He knelt down and gently touched Duo Duo's forehead, his heart aching.

At three in the morning, Zhou Xing received a call from his mother. On the other end of the line, his mother said anxiously, "Ling Xue is such a fool! She slipped and fell in the kitchen while preparing hangover soup for you, and she's in the hospital now!" Upon hearing this, Zhou Xing's heart tightened. He didn't even care about Duo Duo, who still had a fever, and ran to the hospital.

In the hospital corridor, Zhou Xing bumped into Ling Xue's colleague. The colleague looked at him, hesitant to speak, "Zhou Xing, you've been away for so many years... Ling Xue stares at her wedding photo during her lunch break every day, she's suffering so much!" Zhou Xing lowered his head, not daring to look his colleague in the eye, a deep sense of self-reproach welling up inside him.

In the hospital room, Ling Xue lay quietly on the bed, her right leg in a cast. When she saw Zhou Xing enter, a flicker of surprise crossed her eyes, but it quickly faded into calm. An awkward silence hung between them until a nurse came in to change her dressing, breaking the silence.

While tidying up his things in his study, Zhou Xing stumbled upon an iron box. Curious, he opened it and found some letters he and Ling Xue had exchanged during their university years. He picked one up at random; the paper was yellowed, and every word was brimming with youthful love. In one letter, Ling Xue wrote, "You said you'd take me to Erhai Lake once you made some money. I embroidered a pair of mandarin duck pillowcases, but they're now at the bottom of my trunk." Looking at this letter, Zhou Xing felt a pang of pain in his heart, as if he were seeing Ling Xue, full of anticipation, from back then.

Just then, Zhou Xing's mother came in, carrying a wooden box. She handed the box to him, saying, "This is what your father asked me to give you before he passed away." Zhou Xing opened the box with a puzzled look. Inside was a jade bracelet and a bankbook. His mother sighed and said, "Your father said on his deathbed, 'Don't let Ling Xue suffer,' and she hasn't even had a new coat in all these years." Hearing his mother's words, the wooden box in Zhou Xing's hands felt as if it weighed a ton.

Just as Zhou Xing was lost in memories and guilt, Lin Wan burst into the old house carrying Duo Duo. Duo Duo cried for "Daddy," while Ling Xue silently turned and went to the kitchen. A moment later, she brought out a bowl of brown sugar glutinous rice cakes. Watching this scene, Zhou Xing was momentarily reminded of that rainy night ten years ago when Ling Xue had her miscarriage. Back then, she had also sat quietly by the bed, her eyes empty and filled with despair.

One afternoon, sunlight streamed through the window into the courtyard. Ling Xue sat opposite Zhou Xing and calmly said, "Zhou Xing, let's talk." Zhou Xing's heart tightened, and he nodded. Ling Xue took out a divorce agreement from a drawer and said coldly, "I've checked the assets. The school district house in the suburbs is mine, and you give me another 500,000 yuan." Zhou Xing thought she would make a scene, but he didn't expect her to be so calm. He didn't know that Ling Xue had packed her bags three days ago, sealing all her memories into two cardboard boxes.