What could that huge ripple be? They were clearly poisonous snakes converging into a stream and rushing towards them!

     In an instant, the narrow passageway was in chaos. Everyone was pushing and shoving each other. If one were to step in, they’d be trampled to death. Jiang Xi pushed Nangong Si forward, “You go first. I’ll handle this.”

     As he spoke, he released a sparkling powder from his sleeve. When the snakes inhaled the powder, they froze in place, not daring to move forward.

     Jiang Xi shouted towards the front, “Calm down! Quickly retreat to the middle hall! Don’t push!”

     He suppressed the snake tide and quickly caught up with the main group. When he retreated to the stone door, he found Nangong Si examining the soaring dragon sculpture. He asked Nangong Si, “What’s going on?”

     “The evil dragon is definitely being controlled,” Nangong Si said. “I want to go back and check on the Dragon Soul Pool.”

     He was about to leave when Jiang Xi grabbed him, “What about the snakes behind us? I didn’t bring much dispersing powder with me, so they’ll definitely come back when the effects of the medicine wear off.”

     Ye Wangxi, who was standing at the side, said, “I’ll do it.”

     She had been trained in the Dark City of Rufeng Sect since she was a child, so she was more adept than anyone else at fighting on her own in dark and narrow areas. Although Nangong Si didn’t want her to stay, Ye Wangxi’s expression was resolute, and there really wasn’t a more suitable choice other than her, so in the end, Nangong Si could only pat her on the shoulder.

     “It’s too dark here. I know you don’t like it. Just hold on for a while, I’ll be right back.”

     Jiang Xi and Nangong Si were the last to leave the passageway. As soon as they came out, Huang Xiaoyue rushed forward with a ferocity unbecoming of an old man with white hair, “Nangong Si! You still dare to say you aren’t the one who did this?!”

     Nangong Si, who had endured for a long time, finally reached his limit. He shouted angrily, “If it was me, do you think you could still stand there? Go away, don’t block the way!”

     Huang Xiaoyue was shocked at first, but then pointed, “Look, look! You’ve torn off the mask, right? You’re showing your tail. You’ve been pretending to be a grandson all this time, but now that you’re in your territory, you’re even raising your voice. Do you think that you are still that heaven-defying descendant of Rufeng Sect? How dare you be so arrogant?!”

     “Huang Xiaoyue.”

     Other than Nangong Si, there was another person who had endured to the limit. Jiang Xi really couldn’t tolerate this. He gritted his teeth and said coldly, “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do by being so aggressive.”

     Huang Xiaoyue suddenly withdrew his hand. His expression changed, but he still forced himself to remain calm, “Sect Leader Jiang might not be able to understand this old man’s feelings. I have a grudge against Rufeng Sect for killing my brother. I—”

     “I really can’t understand Huang-daozhang’s feelings.” Jiang Xi rolled his eyes as he looked at him coldly, “I am not the least bit interested in Rufeng Sect’s hidden treasure chamber.”

     His gaze was like two unsheathed blades, and Huang Xiaoyue suddenly took two sharp steps back, staring blankly at Jiang Xi. His lips opened and closed, but he couldn’t say a word.

     Jiang Xi said, “Nangong Si, go and check it out.”

     However, the Dragon Soul Pool was only a small pool, and they could see every inch of it at a glance. After observing carefully several times, he didn’t find anything unusual. Nangong Si shook his head and said, “I’ll go to the front hall and take a look.”

     The front hall was much more complex, not to mention the many Zhenlong chess pieces. Nangong Liu had been left in the hall earlier, and when Nangong Si entered, he was hugging the basket of oranges and sleeping soundly.

     He stood in front of his father for a moment. His eyes were blank and empty, but they couldn’t help but redden involuntarily. He didn’t dare to stand there for too long. He also didn’t try to wake up his father, who had been turned into a chess piece, but instead looked at the other chess pieces one by one, hoping to find some clues.

     Just now, when everyone was in the front hall, he didn’t have the time to take a closer look. He only knew that this place was divided into two parts, “Paradise” and “Purgatory.”

     At this moment, he looked over each puppet and found many familiar faces. He saw his fourth uncle, who had always been on bad terms with Xu Shuanglin, deep in “Purgatory,” and being roasted over a fire. He saw the maids of the Three Lives Courtyard in the “Paradise” area, catching butterflies…

     He even saw his grandfather.

     But Nangong Si didn’t have much time to be sad because he suddenly felt that he was about to see a person, a—

     Then, he heard it.

     In that tide of murmurs, he heard it.

     A trembling voice, as light as the sound of a mosquito.

     “Si-er…”

      Nangong Si felt as if he was struck by lightning. His eyes were already wet with tears before he could turn around.

     He turned, and in the hazy mist, he only saw a blurry sky-blue figure. He ran towards that figure in a panic, shouting hoarsely, “Mother! Mother!!”

     Tears trickled down and fell. He could see clearly.

      In the world of “Paradise” stood a graceful figure. It was Nangong Si’s mother, Rong Yan. Like Nangong Changying, this woman also had extremely strong willpower. In addition, Xu Shuanglin had retained the mentality of the chess pieces in the main hall, so even if Nangong Si was very different from when he was young, she was still able to recognize Nangong Si when he entered her line of sight.

     She trembled, and stretched out a stiff finger towards Nangong Si with great difficulty, “Si… er…”

     The clothes Rong Yan wore were the same ones Nangong Si had seen her wearing when he last saw her. As he knelt in front of her, it was as if he had returned to that time, to that seemingly-ordinary night at Rufeng Sect. The mother had gone to the child’s room to look for him. Outside the window, the moon was full.

     Nangong Si raised his head to look at her. He had many things he wanted to say, but in the end, the only thing that came out was a trembling sentence, “Mother… do not be encouraged by the world’s praise; do not be discouraged by the world’s criticism…”

     Time was reversed.

     His mother, who used to be stern, stood by the window. She frowned and asked, “All the people in the world are not the same. What is the previous sentence?”

     The child stammered, but could not answer.

     Later, her death was so sudden that as he knelt before her dark coffin, he was still unable to recite the last line of the scroll his mother had asked him to recite.

     This sentence, “Do not be encouraged by the world’s praise; do not be discouraged by the world’s criticism.” After more than ten years, the dust had finally settled.

     He knelt in front of her, still in the same posture as when they parted on the moonlit night, their figures overlapping with those of then. Only, at that time, they were filled with resentment, but now, they were filled with heartbreak. After all was said and done, now she had become somebody else’s chess piece.

     Rong Yan stroked Nangong Si’s hair, his cheeks, then finally clutched his blood-stained hand and closed her eyes, trembling.

     “Si-er, Mother’s body is now under someone’s control, like a piece of meat on a chopping block. I can lose consciousness at any time… But Si-er, you have to believe… my words are sincere… They were all in Mother’s mind before I left. Although I have hated your uncle’s actions… I am also grateful to him…”

     “Mother…”

     “If not for him… turning me into a chess piece, how could I be able to see you again… and tell you… tell you…” Rong Yan leaned down stiffly and slowly. She trembled as she reached out her hand and hugged Nangong Si tightly in her embrace.

     “Before Mother left, what she regretted most was…” She choked with sobs, but it wasn’t because she was going to be controlled by Xu Shuanglin again. She hugged her child so tightly, her voice trembling as she said, “What I regret most is that I have never, never hugged you properly like this. I have never held you like this before… Si-er…”

     “Mother also loves you.”

     Nangong Si was already sobbing, “I know… I know it all, Mother. I’ve known it all for a long time.”

     Suddenly, the earth began to shake again. Rong Yan suddenly shivered, then opened her eyes and muttered, “Wang Li’s blood contract is about to be torn apart…”

     “What?”

     “Wang Li’s blood contract is about to be torn! I’m here, I can see it every day!” Rong Yan suddenly tensed up, “Si-er, nothing can happen to you, I have to stop him… I am going to stop Nangong Xu…”

     Nangong Si wiped her tears and pulled her back, “Mother, what did you see here? What blood contract is about to be torn?”

     “Listen.” Rong Yan paused, and her pupils contracted. For a moment, she seemed to be under control again, but she gritted her teeth and used her body to resist the control of the Zhenlong Chess Formation. “Listen, Nangong Xu has collected five holy weapons. These five holy weapons have drunk the blood of ten thousand people. Together, they will be able to sever the bond between the demonic dragon and the Nangong family.”

     “Sever the bond?!”

     “That’s right. The dragon tendons were the first to be severed.”

     Nangong Si was frightened, “So those zombies that suddenly sprang up outside were actually freed because the dragon tendons were severed?”

     “That’s right.” Rong Yan said in a hoarse voice, “The second is the dragon scales.”

     Nangong Si suddenly thought of the poisonous snakes they had encountered just now. They should all have been formed from the dragon scales.

     “Third is the dragon’s tail.”

     Nangong Si turned pale, “Then that vibration just now, was it because the dragon tail was severed?”

     “That’s right. Then, the dragon’s head, and finally, the dragon’s body,” Rong Yan said. “Once Nangong Xu succeeds in using the fifth holy weapon, the entirety of Mount Jiao will lose control… It will never again… never again recognize the Grand Sect Leader as its master…”

     Her expression became pained once more, and for a while, she couldn’t say anything else. Xu Shuanglin seemed to have already sensed her actions, and was trying his best to take over her body.

     Rong Yan wailed softly, her slender pale fingers tightly buried in her hair bun, “No… no…”

     “Mother!”

     “Si, Si-er…”

     The sound of his voice jolted her awake again. She clutched at him like a person dying of thirst finding a sweet spring. She tightly held him, her expression a little frightened and helpless.

     It was a helplessness that he had never seen on her face before.

     Nangong Si’s heart ached as he held her in his arms. When he was still a child, his mother was always cold and serious, and rarely hugged him.

     Now, he could finally protect his mother.

     Although it was nothing more than a reflection, it was still a body that held onto some of the consciousness from when she was alive. Even the soul was no longer there.

     It was enough.

     Rong Yan’s body was hunched over, trembling slightly in Nangong Si’s arms. After a long while, she raised her head again, her face covered in tears of blood that had been shed as a Zhenlong chess piece.

     Nangong Si raised his hand to wipe her face, but no matter how much he wiped, it was still dirty. No matter how much he wiped it, the blood stains could not be wiped away. He closed his eyes in pain.

     Rong Yan said, “I can feel that he… he has already sensed me… I don’t have much time left… Listen, he cut off the blood contract in order to… to renew the contract with Wang Li, and at that time… Ahh!”

     Her consciousness blurred, and she was unable to continue.

     But Nangong Si had already understood what was going on. The last bit of color on his face had disappeared, “At that time, Wang Li will only obey orders from him alone—none of us will be able to escape from Mount Jiao?!”

     “It can’t be…”

     “It can’t be!”

     Both mother and son spoke at the same time.

     Nangong Si lowered his head to look at his mother, “Mother, what should I do?”

     “Nangong Xu’s cultivation is not good enough…” A hint of coldness flashed across Rong Yan’s face, “He… he can’t control the Zhenlong chess pieces at all… so there was a backlash. Because of this, I… can understand some of the inner feelings in his heart… I know what to do—you listen to me.”

     Rong Yan held Nangong Si’s arm. Her gaze swept across every inch of the hall, and finally fell on her husband. Because of the shaking of the earth just now, Nangong Liu was awakened. He was holding his basket of oranges, looking around in a daze, as if he didn’t know what to do.

     She stared at him like a falcon staring at a snake in its cave.

     “Someone needs to die.” Rong Yan’s red lips opened and closed, and she said, “Si-er, kill him.”