However, after circling around the Red Lotus Pavilion a few times, Mo Ran calmed down and didn’t do such a crazy thing.

     It was too dangerous.

     This was his first time refining a Zhenlong chess piece, and he had never tried its effects before. If he rashly attacked the number one zongshi of the cultivation world, he would really be thinking his life was too long.

     So, after hesitating for a long time, Mo Ran finally reigned in his impulse and left the Red Lotus Pavilion. After some consideration, he finally decided to use these two black chess pieces on two of his shidi from Sisheng Peak. He needed to experiment many times, so choosing shidi with an unstable foundation was the safest choice for now.

     It was a slightly cool night, the darkness shrouding the mountain peak. Mo Ran moved very quickly, looking at two youths who were having a riverside competition. He was so nervous that even his hands were trembling and his pupils shrunk. The moonlight shone on his pale face, and he pursed his lips, moving his fingertips slightly before stepping out.

     This was the first time he was going to use such a heinous forbidden technique. He was excited and nervous.

     Sha—

     The two disciples were suddenly on their knees. But Mo Ran was like a frightened bird, as if he was a murderer who had just killed a man. He immediately hid himself in the nearby bushes, and felt like his heart was going to jump out of his throat.

     Thump, thump, thump.

     After a long time, he saw the two disciples kneeling stiffly in place, motionless, and only then did his racing heart finally settle down. His inner robe was already soaked in a cold sweat and his scalp was numb.

     He walked out to the riverbank, standing under the moonlight. This time, he was calmer than before, though he still didn’t dare to breathe, cautious as a slithering snake in the night.

     Mo Ran lowered his head and looked at the two shidi.

     The two disciples who had been playing earlier had completely lost all color in their faces. They were as calm as still water, kneeling on the ground, frozen, as Mo Ran stared at them.

     “...”

     Mo Ran moved his fingers again, activating the technique.

     The two shidi kowtowed and stood up, raising their eyes.

     In the two pairs of dark eyes, Mo Ran saw his own reflection. The reflection wasn’t very clear, but for some reason, Mo Ran felt that he saw it clearly. He saw it so clearly that not a single drop of water could escape his eyes.

     He saw a ghost with a pale face and red eyes against the moon.

     Mo Ran heard his own voice, trembling, and hoarsely probing, “Tell me your names.”

     The two voices were chillingly calm, “It’s not up to me.”

     Mo Ran’s heart was beating rapidly, his blood rushing through his body. His adam’s apple bobbed as he continued to whisper, “Where are you?”

     “It’s not up to me.”

     “What day is it?”

     “It’s not up to me.”

     For low-level black pieces successfully controlled by the Zhenlong Chess Formation, there were three things they could no longer control—their name, their location, and the time.

     —It was all up to their master.

     This was exactly the same as what was recorded in the ancient scroll.

     It was strange, but when facing these two chess pieces that he made with his own hands, what he felt most wasn’t ecstasy, but fear.

     What was he afraid of? He didn’t know, but his heart was in turmoil, extreme chaos.

     He knew that he was standing on the edge of a cliff—no, he had already fallen off of it. Below was darkness, an endless abyss, and he could not see the bottom. He couldn’t see the fire and death, or where it ended.

     He felt as if the soul within his body was screaming and crying in pain, but it soon shattered into broken fragments and debris.

     Trembling, he reached out and touched the cheek of one of the chess pieces. He swallowed, but there was no saliva in his mouth. His lips were chapped and his handsome face was twisted. He stared at the shidi, then asked the last question, “What do you want?”

     “I want to be a pawn for the king, even if it costs me my life.”

     “...”

     Mo Ran stopped trembling.

     Everything around him suddenly became very quiet, cold and still like ice. He had made two chess pieces. He had turned two shidi, whose names he didn’t even know, into his puppets. If he wanted them to go east, they couldn’t go west; if he wanted them to kill each other, they wouldn’t be able to resist.

     He was their master.

     Mo Ran’s spiritual energy was domineering and fierce by nature. By the time he had made this first move, he could already control the two living cultivators, although they were only two young, beginner disciples who had just entered the sect.

     After the initial fear, Mo Ran suddenly felt extremely excited. It was as if there was a grand picture slowly unfolding before his eyes; it was filled with all sorts of sensual pleasures, beautiful flowers, sights and colors. Everything in it was in his hands. Everything was his.

     All that he loved, he could hold tightly.

     All that he hated, he could crush to pieces.

     Mo Ran was ecstatic. His heart was still beating fast, even faster than it had been before, but it wasn’t out of fear, but out of excitement.

     The Zhenlong Chess Formation! The three great forbidden techniques! He had been sneaky, and failed tens of thousands of times, but now he finally got it… He finally succeeded… He did an excellent job. The whole world would be in his hands. With these black chess pieces, he could do many things that he couldn’t do in the past. He could make puppets out of anyone from the north of the desert to Jiangnan!

     The scene before him was a myriad of colors, extremely dazzling. It was as if he could do anything he…

     “Mo Ran.”

     Suddenly, a familiar cold voice interrupted him.

     Like a basin of cold water, those vermillion buildings and high platforms seemed to collapse in an instant. He seemed to fall from high up in the clouds to the cold hard ground, back into the oppressive reality.

     Mo Ran slowly turned his head, his scarlet eyes ferocious. Facing the moonlight, he saw the cold man in white standing on the gravel ground.

     “...”

     There had never been a time he didn’t want to see Chu Wanning more than this moment.

     “What are you doing here?”

     Mo Ran’s hand clenched into a fist. He pursed his lips, but didn’t answer right away. Behind him, stood those two Zhenlong chess pieces, imperfectly made. If Chu Wanning walked any closer and looked carefully, he would definitely notice something strange, and then everything would be exposed.

     Given Chu Wanning’s character, he probably would pull all of Mo Ran’s tendons, break his legs, and destroy his spiritual core. Then, he would burn all the forbidden books that he had copied from the forbidden area of Cangshu Pavilion.

     Seeing that he didn’t make a sound, Chu Wanning frowned slightly. His pure-white shoes stepped on the gravel and took a step forward. But, it was really only a matter of taking that one step.

     He stopped and looked at the two strange disciples standing behind Mo Ran.

     He could no longer care about anything else. Mo Ran gently crooked his pinky, using all of his willpower to shout orders in his heart. Finally, the two disciples moved as he wished.

     One disciple laughed and said, “You threw it too close! My throw just now was definitely farther than yours.”

     “Keep bragging! Anyway, you… Ah, Yuheng Elder!”

     They acted as usual, playing around like before. When they saw Chu Wanning, they even froze for a moment before they saluted towards Chu Wanning, who looked at them for a few moments, feeling that something was wrong, but he couldn’t place it.

     “Greetings to Yuheng Elder.”

     The two disciples restrained their smiles and greeted Chu Wanning obediently, before tactfully leaving the area.

     Chu Wanning frowned, his brows knitted, as he watched the two chess pieces approach him from the riverbank before brushing past him and heading towards the forest… He stared at them for a long time before finally turning his head, his gaze once again falling on Mo Ran.

     Mo Ran let out a sigh of relief, but before he could catch his breath again, Chu Wanning suddenly said, “Stop.”

     “...” Mo Ran’s face paled slightly, his nails leaving crescent marks in his palms, but he didn’t say a word. He quietly observed Chu Wanning’s expression, observed his every move.

     Chu Wanning said to the frozen chess pieces, “Come back.”

     Mo Ran had no choice but to order the two chess pieces back. They did as they were told, and slowly walked back from the end of the bamboo forest to stand in front of Chu Wanning.

     The scattered clouds moved, revealing a full moon.

     Under the bright moonlight, Chu Wanning stared at the faces of those two disciples. Then, he suddenly raised his hand and placed his fingertips against the side of one of the disciples’ necks. Mo Ran looked closely at Chu Wanning’s expression. He didn’t move, but his heart was hammering uncontrollably in his chest.

     He knew that Chu Wanning must have sensed something was wrong—that was why he suddenly reached out his hand to check the disciple’s pulse. It must be known that those who were new to the Zhenlong Chess Formation could usually only manipulate corpses, not living people.

     Although these two black chess pieces were made directly from living people, Mo Ran wasn’t sure if he had truly done it perfectly. He wasn’t sure if he had instantly killed them when he put the black chess pieces into their hearts.

     “...”

     After a tense moment, Chu Wanning finally dropped his hand. He then waved his sleeve and said, “You can go.”

     Mo Ran only felt the blade hovering over his neck move away. Chu Wanning didn’t notice. The heavens had seen fit to let him live under Chu Wanning’s nose.

     After the two chess pieces left, Chu Wanning glanced at him and said, “It’s already so late, why are you here?”

     Mo Ran said casually, “Just passing by.” He controlled his tone very well. He didn’t suddenly start being nice to Chu Wanning just because he had a guilty conscience. Perhaps it was this cold and disobedient attitude that made Chu Wanning, who was still suspicious, purse his lips and remain silent for a moment.

     Not wanting to spend a moment more with Chu Wanning, he looked away and stepped forward. But just as he was about to cross shoulder to shoulder with him, Chu Wanning suddenly said something that made him tense in an instant.

     “Someone recently snuck into the forbidden area of Cangshu Pavilion.”

     “...” Mo Ran didn’t turn his head, but his pupils were slightly distorted, a sharp light twisting in his eyes.

     “You should know that all that is stored there are the incomplete remnants of forbidden technique scrolls, which are controlled by the ten great sects.”

     Mo Ran stopped in his tracks and said, “I know.”

     “One of the most important scrolls had obvious traces of being tampered with.”

     “What does that have to do with me?” Mo Ran sneered.

     He was stubbornly holding on. He knew that as soon as Tianwen was unleashed and he was interrogated, all of his sinful actions and vicious demons in his heart would be exposed under Chu Wanning’s eyes.

     His dreams and ambitions would all come to an end.

     Chu Wanning was silent for a moment.

     “Mo Ran, how long are you going to be stubborn?”

     There was a faint trace of indignation in his voice.

     “...” Mo Ran didn’t answer, but he could almost predict what would happen next.

     He anticipated the flash of Tianwen’s golden light.

     He could already see Chu Wanning acting like a righteous man and asking him why he had done such a thing. In Chu Wanning’s eyes, he would always be—

     “Do you know how dangerous it is?”

     Beyond remedy.

     He still finished the thought with those words.

     Then, he turned his head in a daze, seemingly at a loss. Under the moonlight, he looked at Chu Wanning’s face.

     His face was pale, and there was a faint trace of unease under his sword-like brows. His pair of clear eyes looked at Mo Ran, but they couldn’t see through anything. He saw nothing.

     “That forbidden technique is capable of killing people. You stayed up all night, then came to such a desolate place. Do you want to give up your life for nothing?”

     “...”

     Chu Wanning’s voice was low, almost biting, “Did all of the deaths in the Battle of the Heavenly Rift not teach you to cherish your life? Since you already know about the matter of the forbidden scrolls, how can you still be so carefree?!”

     Mo Ran remained silent, his dark eyes staring at the other man. His forehead was covered in a fine layer of sweat, which slowly calmed down at these words as the wind blew.

     His body relaxed bit by bit, and a strange feeling flooded his heart. In the end, Mo Ran smiled, “Shizun…”

     Chu Wanning’s phoenix eyes flickered slightly.

     Ever since Shi Mei’s death, Mo Ran had never smiled at him, and rarely called him Shizun.

     Mo Ran smiled and asked, “Are you worried about me?”

     “...”

     His smile became even brighter. Then, a white knife went in, and a red knife came out, plunging into his chest and coating the blade with beads of blood. Like a demon, he slowly opened his mouth, revealing his white teeth that looked like the poisonous stinger of a scorpion.

     “The Battle of the Heavenly Rift…” Mo Ran chuckled. “It’s great that Shizun can mention the Battle of the Heavenly Rift. It doesn’t matter what I learned from that battle. The important thing is that Shizun learned to care for people.”

     He saw the light in Chu Wanning’s eyes tremble, desperately straining as he tensed. He did his best to dodge, but there was nowhere for him to retreat to.

     The smile on Mo Ran’s face became increasingly exaggerated, wanton and cruel. It invaded Chu Wanning, crushing his throat.

     Mo Ran suddenly felt very satisfied, and he laughed out loud, “Hahaha, good, very good. What a good deal! A nameless disciple for Chu-zongshi’s conscience. Chu-zongshi finally cares about the life and death of the people around him. Shizun, today I finally feel that Shi Mei’s death was a good one!”

     Even someone as calm and aloof as Chu Wanning couldn’t help but tremble slightly under his mad laughter that circled like a vulture.

     “Mo Ran…”

     “Shi Mei’s death was really good! His death was righteous, his death was worth it!”

     “Mo Ran, you…”

     Stop laughing.

     Don’t say it again.

     But he couldn’t speak. Chu Wanning couldn’t say it. He couldn’t beg, couldn't plead, and couldn’t reprimand his disciple who had gone mad, saying, “You’re wrong, it’s not that I didn’t want to save him, it’s that I didn’t have the strength. I also suffered the same injury as him… If I used even one more bit of spiritual energy, I would have also become a corpse in a grave, a person in the afterlife.”

     He couldn’t say it.

     Perhaps he felt that this confession was too weak.

     Or perhaps he felt that in Mo Ran’s heart, even if he died, it wouldn’t be worth mentioning, and couldn't compare to Shi Mingjing, who treated him most tenderly.

     So in the end, Chu Wanning could only suppress the trembling in his voice and say slowly, word by word, “Mo Weiyu, how long are you going to be unreasonable?”

     “...”

     “Go back.”

     His anger melted together with grief, and his throat was full of bitterness.

     “Shi Mingjing didn’t die in exchange for a lunatic like you.”

     “Shizun, you’re wrong.” Mo Ran laughed, “How could Shi Mei’s death be in exchange for me?”

     He was like a snake or a scorpion, like a bee or an ant, gnawing at his heart.

     “He’s dead. And the one who was exchanged was obviously you, Shizun.”

     The bee pierced into his flesh and blood.

     Watching Chu Wanning’s face turn deathly-pale gave him a painful thrill in his heart. He provoked him, as if he didn’t care about his own life. He broke his heart and made Chu Wanning suffer a fate worse than death.

     Excellent.

     They would go to hell together.

     “I also want to go back.” Mo Ran smiled brightly from ear to ear, his deep dimples showing as he brewed poison wine, “I also don’t want to be wandering around in the middle of the night. But right across the room from mine is his room.”

     Mo Ran didn’t say who it was, and only used the word “his.” The intimacy made Chu Wanning feel even more tormented.

     “The light in his room will never be lit again.”

     Chu Wanning closed his eyes.

     Mo Ran smiled. After a long time, his expression gradually relaxed a little, “I want to beg for a bowl of wontons, but I can’t anymore.”

     For a moment, Chu Wanning’s eyelashes fluttered, and his lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

     But Mo Ran didn’t give him the chance to say it, nor the courage to do so, as he sneered, “Shizun, wontons are made best by the people of Shu, with red oil, chili, and peppers—the things you hate the most. Back then, when you wanted to cook another bowl for me, I didn’t accept it. I don’t need to taste the things you make to know that there’s only one phrase to describe it.”

     Chu Wanning didn’t open his eyes, but the space between his brows was slightly creased. It seemed that this way, he thought he would be able to avoid the sharp sword.

     “I haven’t studied much, but fortunately, I just heard Xue Meng say this a few days ago. I feel that it’s very suitable for Shizun’s wontons.”

     What was it?

     A waste of effort?

     Chu Wanning searched his mind in confusion, as if he was trying to find a fitting armor. He thought of the most unpleasant words first to avoid being hurt too badly.

     Worthless?

     Mo Ran still didn’t open his mouth, the words sinking playfully between his teeth.

     Yes, worthless.

     Chu Wanning firmly believed that there were no words more chilling than this.

     He calmed down.

     Until he heard Mo Ran say, “Dong Shi imitates Xi Shi’s frown.” Making a fool of yourself by imitating others.

     He opened his eyes, almost in a daze.

     He never expected the other would be so vicious. Under the sleeves of his robe, his hands were trembling.

     He mixed the noodles, seasoned the ingredients, and kneaded the filling…

     He earnestly read each word of the Shu Food Record. His face was covered in flour, until the wontons he made went from crooked to perfectly round and lovely.

     He had been learning and working hard to understand.

     Just to replace it with those words.

     Dong Shi imitates Xi Shi’s frown.

     Mo Ran looked at him as the riverbank was bathed in silver light. Chu Wanning stood still for a moment, then suddenly turned away and left without a word.

     For some reason, Mo Ran always felt that on that day, he left a little too quickly—his footsteps were a little too fast, no longer as calm and steady as before. It was like he had been defeated, like he was running away.

     He didn’t know why, but there was a faint trace of uncertainty in his heart. He frowned as he looked at Chu Wanning’s back, and just as it was about to disappear, he finally called out, “Wait!”