He lowered his head.

     He lowered his head—

     His blood almost flowed in reverse, his mind buzzing.

     He saw… Bu’gui.

     In his hand was actually the blade of a hundred battles, the holy weapon Bu’gui!

     The black blade lied maliciously in the middle of the dark night. The hilt was long and thin, in the tang sword style, and was sheathless.

     On the hilt of the saber, which was inlaid with golden rings, two words were written:

     No return.

     The green fields and vermillion bridges are affairs of the past.

     Another year goes by, but still you do not return.

     Mo Ran looked as if he had been struck by lightning, the light in his eyes as thin as a needle and his face paler than the dead, more hideous than a ghost.

     “No… no… no… don’t!”

     Mo Ran was desperate. He threw Bu’gui to the ground, but the holy weapon was connected to his heart, and automatically returned to his waist.

     “No!” Mo Ran was hysterical. He tried to summon Jiangui; he wanted the red willow vine. He called for it again and again, but Jiangui didn’t come.

     There was no Jiangui, no willow vine.

     Only Bu’gui accompanied him.

     “Do you believe it now?” The shadow figure gathered again. This time, it gathered faster than before. Soon, it had a shape; four limbs, waist, head…

     Mo Ran refused to believe it.

     He refused to believe it.

     He no longer cared about the black smoke. He ran towards the end where he saw light.

     This is an illusion set up by Xu Shuanglin… This is just an illusion…

     Go to where the light is, and it will all be over.

     He sprinted madly in that direction.

     But once again, his arm was held tightly.

     Mo Ran didn’t want to pay any more attention to it. He shook it off and shouted angrily, “Get lost! Get lost! What is real? Do you know what’s real better than me? I know what’s real! He treats me well, it’s real! He didn’t die, it’s real! How could what he and I went through all these years be fake?! Jincheng Lake, Peach Blossom Springs, Ghost Realm, Butterfly Town, we married—”

     The voice gently interrupted him, almost sighing, “A-Ran, it was I who married you. Why don’t you remember?”

     He suddenly turned his head and saw that the black smoke had already condensed into a form with a face as beautiful as a lotus flower, extremely charming. That face was truly a peerless beauty in the mortal world. She gently snuggled up to him, wearing a head full of pearl and jade hairpins. She wore the bright red dress she had worn when she got married.

     “At Dawning Peak, I couldn’t walk anymore. You were the one who carried me up. You told me not to call you ‘Your Majesty,’ and that from then on, I would only call you ‘A-Ran.’ Have you forgotten that?”

     Her smile was as soft as a blade of grass, but her strength was surprisingly strong.

     Mo Ran struggled to break free of her grip. This was definitely not Song Qiutong. His wrist had already bruised from the force as he continued to move forward... The white light was getting closer and closer…

     He seemed to know somehow that this was the way out.

     Go over there… I just need to go over there…

     He heard Song Qiutong say with a smile, “Your Majesty, where are you going? Chu Wanning is dead. You killed him yourself. Do you really want to go over there?”

     “...”

     “Over there is…”

     He didn’t hear her clearly. He broke free from the clutches of the shadows, the malicious spirits that sought his life, and ran wildly, throwing her voice to the back of his mind. The pure light in front of him grew brighter and brighter, bigger and bigger before his eyes. He was like a man who was about to drown at the bottom of the sea. He used all his strength to push his legs and swim towards the water's shattered light.

     Suddenly—

     He leapt into the grand white light, and the darkness disappeared.

     He gasped for breath, his legs weak. He couldn’t catch his breath, like a man who had just emerged from the water, breathing greedily. He couldn’t adjust to the light for a moment. He raised his arm to block his eyes. After a while, he heard the chirping of birds and smelled the faint fragrance of haitangs.

     He slowly opened his eyes.

     …Where was he?

     The first thing he saw was a blooming haitang tree. The branches were covered in bright pink, like a tapestry.

     This was not the ancestral shrine of Rufeng Sect.

     Was this illusion… still not over?

     But his heart was gradually falling apart. He was suddenly not so sure who he really was, what was a dream and what was real.

     He sat up. The haitang flower that had fallen on the tip of his nose fluttered to his lap.

     …Sit up?

     Only then did he realize that he had been lying down, as if he'd just woken from a nightmare. He looked around and realized that he was in front of Heaven-Piercing Tower, at the pinnacle of Sisheng Peak. He was sitting in an open pitch-black coffin.

     In an instant, even Mo Ran’s fingertips seemed to turn cold.

     He was in a daze for a while, then he suddenly got up and stumbled out of the coffin. He saw a stone in front of the coffin, with not a single word on it. Instead, there was a bowl of wontons and several plates of stir-fried food, which were his favorite. He stared at the coffin.

     No…

     No.

     The nightmare was not over.

     He had fallen into a deeper nightmare.

     Or… was he awake now?

     Could it be that what the black shadow said was true?

     Did he really just take poison, lie down in front of Heaven-Piercing Tower, and have a long dream? Everything in the dream was…

     He didn’t dare to continue thinking about it. He climbed to his feet in a frenzy and ran straight towards the Southern mountain of Sisheng Peak.

     However, it was different from what he remembered before he died. He remembered that back then, he had clearly told everyone to leave. But when he was halfway there, a group of palace servants rushed out. The one in the lead was Liu-gong, who had served him for many years.

     Liu-gong held a box in his hand, his wrinkled face filled with joy, “Your Majesty, we have found the immortal pill of rebirth! This is the immortal pill of rebirth!”

     He suddenly stopped in his tracks.

     Everyone knelt down to congratulate him. Liu-gong also knelt down. His withered hands held up the embroidered box, and he shakily handed it over to Mo Ran. He said hoarsely, “Your Majesty’s search for the immortal pill of rebirth has finally moved the gods. This is it…”

     Mo Ran said in a daze, “No… I, didn’t I chase you all down the mountain?”

     The servants’ faces were ashen, and they kowtowed repeatedly. Liu-gong was also extremely frightened, “Why is Your Majesty chasing us away? Where has this old servant failed to serve you? This old servant—”

     “What about the ten great sects?”

     Liu-gong was confused, and raised his head blankly, “What ten great sects? Your Majesty, what’s wrong?”

     Mo Ran knew he couldn’t explain clearly, so he pulled him to Heaven-Piercing Tower. As soon as he came out of the forest, he pointed to the tomb in front of the tower, “Look over there. I was just sleeping there, I—”

     He turned his head, only to find that his coffin and tombstone had disappeared. There were only the two lonely graves of the empress and concubine, with his chicken-scratch inscribed on them crookedly.

     Mo Ran: “...”

     Liu-gong asked worriedly, “Your Majesty, what’s wrong?”

     “I…” Mo Ran stared at the two graves, his mind in a state of confusion. For a moment, he could clearly feel that everything was fake. But in the next moment, he felt that illusion and reality were intertwined. He couldn’t tell where he was, or what year it was.

     Liu-gong sighed and said, “Your Majesty’s worries are too deep. Were you dreaming?”

     “It’s not a dream…” Mo Ran murmured, but then shook his head again, is face pale, “No, of course it’s a dream…” He spoke incoherently for a long time, then suddenly turned his face to stare at Liu-gong, “Where’s the rebirth pill?”

     Liu-gong presented the box.

     He didn’t bother to pick up the box. Instead, he just opened it directly. Inside, there was a pill as white as jade, exuding a gentle luster.

     He trembled as he picked it up. His adam’s apple bobbed, and he walked in the direction of the Red Lotus Pavilion.

     However, Liu-gong suddenly pulled him back. Mo Ran looked back, his nerves stretched to the breaking point; he was about to snap. He asked, “What’s wrong?”

     Liu-gong, who had been amiable a moment ago, suddenly had a gloomy expression. A strange light flashed in his eyes, and he spoke sullenly, “Your Majesty, aren’t you going in the wrong direction?”

     “...What do you mean the wrong direction?”

     “The place where Your Majesty should go is the Soul Summoning Platform,” Liu-gong said slowly. Those servants also surrounded Mo Ran, slowly closing in.

     “Your Majesty, all this time, haven’t you been longing to revive your shige, Shi Mingjing?”

     “I—”

     “Now that the rebirth pill is in your hands, why does Your Majesty abandon the Soul Summoning Platform and instead go to the Red Lotus Pavilion?” Liu-gong said faintly, “For the sake of this method of Rebirth, Your Majesty has killed tens of thousands of people, leveled Rufeng Sect, and left the world in a state of mourning and a river of blood. Could it be that after doing all of this, Your Majesty actually wants to abandon your original intentions and place this pill into the mouth of another?”

     Mo Ran’s heart was in turmoil. He tightly gripped the immortal pill and said, “You don’t understand.”

     “Your Majesty must go to the Soul Summoning Platform, not the Red Lotus Pavilion.” Everyone’s eyes flashed with a terrifying light. They surrounded him and repeated, “Your Majesty must go to the Soul Summoning Platform, not the Red Lotus Pavilion!”

     Mo Ran shielded the immortal pill with all his might. His face was pale as he said, “All of you get out of my way.”

     “Your Majesty must go to the Soul Summoning Platform—”

     “Get out of my way!”

     He drew out Bu’gui and gripped onto its ice-cold hilt. Those people seemed to shudder for a moment. Then, their pupils became as long and narrow as a snake’s, and they each wore a twisted grin.

     “You will suffer retribution—”

     “What do you think can change?”

     “You don’t keep your word.”

     “You’re fickle.”

     “Heh, how can this kind of heartless and unrighteous person be worthy of possessing an immortal pill?”

     “Take it back! Take it back!”

     Mo Ran protected the immortal pill, fiercely cutting open a bloody path to the Southern mountain of Sisheng Peak. Regardless of whether this was a dream or reality, he knew that Chu Wanning was there… Regardless of if he was alive or dead, he had to go there. He had to be by Chu Wanning’s side. Only then could he feel at ease.

     He ran though the barrier of the Red Lotus Pavilion.

     Liu-gong and the others were blocked outside by the barrier.

     He looked back at them, then closed the jade-green bamboo door. He didn’t want to see anyone else. This was the Red Lotus Pavilion. It would only be himself and—

     “Shizun?”

     His eyes widened in surprise as he saw Chu Wanning sitting under a haitang tree. His hair was tied up in a high ponytail, and he wore metal gloves. His expression was focused as he intently adjusted a Holy Night Guardian that was almost completed. The wind began to blow, and some pink petals rustled and fell upon the stairs and table like the first snow, as gentle as ripples.

     Mo Ran’s eyes were red and moist. In an instant, he was choked with sobs.

     “Shizun…”

     Chu Wanning looked up at the sound of his voice. While he was busy, he had been biting on a small file. When he saw Mo Ran, he was slightly surprised. He put down the file and stood up, nodding at him, “Why are you here?”