The great Mount Jiao was calm again. The blood vines disappeared, and the corpses controlled by the chess pieces sank into the depths of the earth. Nangong Changying’s final order to the dragon spirit was a death sentence that could not be reversed, even by his descendants.

     The moonlight illuminated the wreckage on the ground.

     After Nangong Si shot the last arrow, the Cloud-Piercing Bow in his hand gradually dimmed due to the loss of Nangong Changying’s spiritual power. In the end, it sank once more.

     Blood dripped to the ground, and almost as soon as the boundary was undone, Ye Wangxi rushed over and knelt by his side.

     “Don’t move, don’t move.” Her voice was trembling, “I’ll heal you…”

     “Forget it, I’m alive and well, but if you heal me, I’ll probably have to go see the Grand Sect Leader.” Nangong Si coughed softly and pushed Ye Wangxi away. His black eyes looked towards Jiang Xi, “Sect Leader Jiang, I’ll have to trouble you…”

     Jiang Xi nodded and said, “I’ll do it.”

     He was the Sect Leader of the medicinal sect. If he was willing to lend a helping hand, it was naturally something that others couldn’t do.

     Jiang Xi’s jade-white fingertips rested on Nangong Si’s wrist. Almost as soon as he touched it, his pupils narrowed slightly. Then, without saying a word, he and Nangong Si looked at each other.

     He could clearly feel that Nangong Si’s spiritual core had already shattered. From now on, he was no different from an ordinary person. He could no longer cast spells or use spiritual power.

     It was impossible for Nangong Si himself not to know about this matter, but Ye Wangxi was right by his side. She looked at Jiang Xi, who shook his head imperceptibly.

     “What? Sect Leader Jiang, what’s wrong with A-Si?”

     “...”

     Jiang Xi silently withdrew his hand and took out a light red porcelain bottle from his qiankun pouch. He handed it to Ye Wangxi, “It’s nothing serious. His injuries aren’t critical, so you can rest assured. Take this medicinal powder and apply it to the affected area every day, and it will heal in ten days at most.”

     After Jiang Xi finished speaking, he condensed spiritual energy into his fingertips and tapped several acupoints on Nangong Si’s body. Finally, he covered the sword wound on his palm, and the blood stopped flowing. Having done this, Jiang Xi stood up and said to the crowd, “We can’t stay here for long, I’m afraid something might happen. Let’s go up the mountain.”

     He turned to leave, but the conversation between Ye Wangxi and Nangong Si still reached his ears. He heard Nangong Si whisper to Ye Wangxi, “He said it’s alright. It’ll be fine in a few days, why are you still crying? It’s alright, it’s just some small wounds…”

     Jiang Xi closed his eyes.

     He thought of the words Nangong Si had mouthed to him when he thought his life was hanging by a thread in the boundary. He sighed and led the crowd up the long white jade steps leading to the ancestral hall and Heavenly Palace.

     From the foot of the mountain to the top, they still had to pass through three checkpoints, all of which required the blood of the Nangong family. However, Nangong Si didn’t need to cut his finger to drip his blood at this moment. He was already injured all over, so he could easily dispel the barrier with just a touch.

     All the way up, they didn’t encounter any more obstacles.

     When Nangong Si placed his blood on the dragon’s eye of the white jade dragon carving, the last heavy stone gate sank slowly and solemnly into the ground. The Heavenly Palace at the top of Mount Jiao appeared in front of everyone.

     It was a divine place, with a dense forest outside the palace gate. They stood outside of the forest, and through the colorful flowers, vines, and flowing water, they could see a long staircase leading up to the sky, nine thousand nine hundred and ninety steps high.

     The stairs were so high that the ancestral hall at the top seemed to be lying on top of the clouds. They could only see a faint shadow under the moonlight, emitting a brilliant and translucent light. It was like Guanghan Palace, like Lingxiao Hall, unknown if it was heaven or earth.

    Almost everyone who saw this ancestral hall was shocked by its magnificence and miraculous workmanship before feelings of anger, jealousy, greed, and covetousness… all kinds of different feelings welled up in their hearts.

     Amongst them, the most speechless was Villa Master Ma.

     He slapped his forehead and wailed, “Oh heavens, such a long flight of stairs. We can’t use the imperial sword technique on Mount Jiao. How long will it take to walk on foot? This is another mountain!”

     Huang Xiaoyue laughed and said, “This old man doesn’t have any evil intentions, it’s just a joke. But in my opinion, it’s true that there is no need for Nangong Changying to ascend to the heavens. He was able to create such a Heavenly Palace. What’s the difference between the human world and the heavens?”

    Suddenly, he heard someone say coldly, “Construction of Rufeng Sect’s Heavenly Palace was started by the third generation sect leader, Nangong Yu, and finished two generations later by the fifth generation sect leader, Nangong Xian. This Heavenly Palace has nothing to do with Nangong Changying.”

     Huang Xiaoyue: “...”

     He looked back and was met with Chu Wanning’s chilling face.

     When Mo Ran saw this face, he knew that Chu Wanning had almost reached his limit. As long as he added more fuel to the fire, Mo Ran was afraid that, just like the old story of drawing Tianwen to lash people over affairs of Butterfly Town, the incident would repeat itself.

     Chu Wanning said sternly, “Like Huang-daozhang, I also don’t have any evil intentions, so I advise that before you read the book thoroughly, you should learn to be careful with your words and actions.”

     Huang Xiaoyue had always cared about his face. But now, in front of all his juniors, Chu Wanning had exposed him so mercilessly. For a moment, he was extremely embarrassed. His lips moved again, and he was about to say something to refute when he heard Jiang Xi speak.

     “Huang Xiaoyue, can you truly joke about Nangong-xianjun’s pure reputation?”

     When Jiang Xi spoke, his position and status were self-evident. Huang Xiaoyue’s face instantly turned ashen, but he forced himself to be calm, and laughed dryly, “Sect Leader Jiang, you don’t have to take it seriously. This old man already said that I don’t have any evil intentions…”

     “Am I to condone your malice just because you claim it’s no harm?” Jiang Xi rolled his eyes coldly and cast a sidelong glance at Huang Xiaoyue. He didn’t even want to look him in the eye, “Should I have to tolerate your ignorance because you’re old and feeble?”

     “...”

     Chu Wanning was a zongshi, but in the end, he only had ability, and no real power. But Jiang Xi was different. Now, if Guyue’ye coughed, the cultivation world would tremble. Huang Xiaoyue broke out into a cold sweat and suddenly didn’t dare to say anything more.

     Jiang Xi flicked his sleeves and entered the forest coldly. He walked towards the long staircase at the other end.

     The other sect leaders glanced at Huang Xiaoyue with disdain or sympathy. Of course, there were also those who completely ignored Huang Xiaoyue and only followed Jiang Xi into the forest. The abbot of Wubei Temple even sighed, “Amitabha.” If it wasn’t for the situation, Mo Ran would have laughed out loud.

     They walked into the forest, but before they had even taken a few steps, Nangong Si let out a “Hm?”

     Jiang Xi asked, “What’s wrong?”

     “Clementines…” Nangong Si looked around. There were clementine trees everywhere, blooming with white blossoms. “How can there be clementine trees? All the trees originally planted here were Dragon Lady Spiritual Trees.”

     “Look over there!” A sharp-eyed young cultivator suddenly pointed at the spring in the distance and exclaimed softly, “There’s a man there!”

     The crowd followed where his finger pointed, and sure enough, they saw a man sitting with his back to them next to the spring and under a lush clementine tree. He seemed to be busy with something.

     Xue Zhengyong frowned, “Is it a man or a ghost?”

     Mo Ran said, “I’ll go take a look.”

     His qinggong was excellent. In the blink of an eye, he lightly and silently concealed himself in the nearby woods before carefully circling around to the side.

     He was stunned.

     Because he saw the man’s face clearly.

     It was Nangong Si’s father, the last Sect Leader of Rufeng Sect.

     Nangong Liu.

     What was going on? Wasn’t Nangong Liu forced to eat Lingchi Fruit?! He should’ve been tortured for three hundred and sixty-five days before death. But why did he look so calm and composed now? He was even in a good mood, with his skin and flesh intact, sitting next to the clear spring…

     Washing a basket of clementines?

     The clear spring rippled with waves of light as the bright moon shone down on it, also shining on Nangong Liu’s face.

     He had a dreamlike expression on his face, and hummed a little tune as he washed the clementines one by one, then put them in the basket beside him, “It’s best to be in the prime of life. Light hooves and fast horses see all the flowers in the world.”

     Nangong Liu hummed softly, his sleeves rolled up high. His arms were soaked in the clear water, completely intact, without a trace of the mottled scars that would be expected of someone who had eaten the lingchi fruit.

     Mo Ran’s brows furrowed. He could clearly sense that something was wrong with Nangong Liu. This person had obviously been made into a Zhenlong chess piece. Moreover, unlike the corpses in the tomb, Nangong Liu had obviously retained a large part of his consciousness.

     Just by looking at his behavior, he wasn’t much different from an ordinary living person.

     “How is it?”

     When Xue Zhengyong saw that Mo Ran had returned so quickly, he immediately asked anxiously.

     Mo Ran first looked at Nangong Si, then said in a low voice, “It’s Nangong Liu.”

     There were many people present who had a grudge against Nangong Liu. There were cultivators who pulled out their swords on the spot. “That bastard! I’m going to kill him!”

     Nangong Si’s eyes were dim, and his face ashen. He lowered his head and said nothing.

     Mo Ran said, “There’s something wrong. This Nangong Liu is obviously also controlled by the Zhenlong Chess Formation, but strangely enough, there are no scars on his body from eating the lingchi fruit. I think it’s best not to rashly alarm him.”

     Chu Wanning pondered for a while, then asked, “Can the effects of the lingchi fruit be removed?”

     Guyue’ye was the most suited for this question. Cold Scale Sacred Hand said, “It’s possible, but it’s troublesome. I don’t think Xu Shuanglin would give him lingchi fruit, then go through all the trouble of removing the fruit’s curse. It’s completely meaningless to do so.”

     Jiang Xi said, “Either way, Nangong Liu is here. Xu Shuanglin should be in the ancestral temple. This time, we didn’t make another trip in vain.”

     As he said this, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a shadow in the distance. Jiang Xi turned his head, and the others followed his gaze.

     They saw the former head of Rufeng Sect walking out of the forest with a basket full of clementines on his back. He held a cane in his hand, which tapped on the ground as he walked lightly. When he got closer, they could all see that there was actually a bright smile on his face.

     Nangong Si had already made up his mind not to look, but in the end, he couldn’t resist. He looked up at his father, his eyelashes trembling like cotton in the wind. He couldn’t tell what he was feeling at this moment. Hatred? Heartache? Or something else? He didn’t know.

     He wanted to look away, but the figure was like a fish hook. Once he was hooked, it was impossible to let go.

     At this moment, someone who couldn’t hold back his emotions suddenly shouted, “Nangong Liu! Today, you’ll pay your debt with blood!”

     With a whoosh, the arrow left the bowstring and went straight for the back of Nangong Liu’s head.

     It was too late for the others to stop it, but fortunately, the man’s archery skills weren’t great, so the arrow was slightly off-target. The whistling arrow pierced straight into the basket on Nangong Liu’s back, piercing through several round clementines.

     Immediately, many people cursed in their hearts. This was the disadvantage of having so many people. There would always be a few idiots to stir up the water.

     But at this moment, it was meaningless to care about which idiot shot the arrow. The important thing was that Nangong Liu had already noticed their existence and slowly turned his head.

      Seeing so many people standing in the mountain forest, Nangong Liu was stunned for a moment. Then, he walked towards them, his face still layered with the dreamlike aura.

     He walked closer and closer. Many of the cultivators had already unsheathed their swords a few inches at their waists, and their eyes watched him with great vigilance. Under the pressure of a thousand eyes, Nangong Liu seemed to finally feel some pressure. He stopped somewhat sluggishly, and stood still in the swaying shadows of the trees.

     "Gentlemen…”

     When he opened his mouth, the silence was broken. Suddenly, dozens of people couldn’t resist, and subconsciously took a step forward. A few people even unsheathed their swords completely.

     Nangong Liu suddenly smiled. This smile was very familiar to the leaders standing at the front of the group. This was the same flattering and warm-hearted smile that Nangong Liu used to face everyone.

     The Palace Master of Taxue Palace was shocked, “This…”

     A few of the sect leaders looked at each other. They all felt that this chess piece was too strange, not knowing what his intentions were.

     At this time, they saw Nangong Liu dust off his left and right sleeves before pulling them down. Then, he actually knelt on the ground and kowtowed respectfully in front of the thousands of cultivators.

     “Aiya, greetings from this servant, Nangong Liu. You esteemed guests have come a long way, sorry for not going out to meet you.”

     Following his kowtow, more than half the basket of clementines rolled out and scattered all around him.

     After kowtowing, Nangong Liu knelt on the ground again and put the basket down to pick up the clementines without shame. Under the stunned gazes of the crowd, he tidied the clementines again. Then, he rubbed his hands and said with a smile, “Distinguished guests, are you here to see His Majesty?”

     His Majesty?!

     Mo Ran instantly had goosebumps. After all, he had been addressed this way for nearly ten years. When he heard the words “His Majesty,” he still habitually felt that they were calling him.

     The sect leaders were confused as they looked at each other. Xue Zhengyong even smiled bitterly.

     For a moment, no one said anything.

     Seeing that everyone ignored him, Nangong Liu scratched his head in confusion, and asked carefully, “Distinguished guests, are you here to see His Majesty?”

     Jiang Xi: “...”

     Nangong Liu was slightly discouraged, but repeatedly asked, “Distinguished guests, are you here to see His Majesty?”

     “...”

     “Distinguished guests…”

     Mo Ran asked calmly, “Who is His Majesty?”

     “His Majesty is His Majesty.” Nangong Liu was glad to see that someone finally answered him, and said, “If you want to see His Majesty, you have to go all the way up. But he is very busy, and may not have time to pay attention to you. He has to take care of world affairs.”

     Xue Zhengyong finally couldn’t hold back. Even in such a tense atmosphere, he couldn’t help but laugh, “World affairs? Haha, what world affairs? Managing a mountain of corpses, playing with chess pieces and puppets on strings? Are these world affairs? Hahaha, this Xu Shuanglin, he is too, too funny.”

     Mo Ran, on the other hand, had an uneasy gloom looming between his brows. He asked, “You mean that he is in the Heavenly Palace now. Although he is very busy, we can go see him, right?”

     “Yes, of course you can go see him,” Nangong Liu said. “If he closes the door and refuses to see you, you can just wait in the city. His Majesty will come out when he is finished. I have to go to the top too. The clementines over there have already been eaten, so I need to make up for it quickly. Otherwise, His Majesty will be angry later.”

     After saying this, he left, leaving the others to look at each other.

     “What should we do?”

     “Go up?”

     “Could it be a trap…?”

     But Mo Ran had already taken the lead and swept in front of them. With his fast stride, he quickly left Nangong Liu, who was carrying clementines on his back, behind him. He also left the others behind.

     In the end, he was the first to arrive at the Heavenly Palace, breathing heavily. Standing in front of the main gate of the palace, he raised his head and realized just how vast and majestic this place was. Just the two doors of the palace gate had the power to cover the sky and the sun.

     On the left side of the gate was a soaring dragon swallowing the sun, and on the right side was a phoenix spitting out the moon. The sun and moon intersected, shining brilliantly. The gaps of the dragon’s scales were all filled with melted pure gold. The phoenix’s feathers were inlaid with jewels and gems, lingering above the ground.

     On the beams of the palace hung bronze oil lamps, which wouldn’t go out for thousands of years. Under the light of these tens of thousands of candles, the Heavenly Gate shone even more brilliantly.

     Mo Ran originally expected the gate to be extremely heavy and difficult to open. However, when his fingers touched the door lightly, there was a thunderous creak. The Heavenly Dragon-Phoenix Gate retracted inwards without him needing to use any more strength…

    The moment he saw the main hall of the Heavenly Palace, Mo Ran was stunned.

    This… What kind of strange scene is this?!