If it was him, what would he do?

     Rebirth.

     He would want that person to be reborn.

     Mo Ran looked at Xu Shuanglin, who was curled up in a ball on the ground, and said softly, “You didn’t expect Nangong Liu would be so vicious as to kill Luo Fenghua directly. In desperation, you simply beat him at his own game. You said the curse on the ring was left by Luo Fenghua, and instigated Nangong Liu to throw Luo Fenghua’s body into the blood pool according to Rufeng Sect’s rules and detain him in the eighteenth level of hell.”

     “Is he crazy?” Xue Meng was stunned. “Since he wants Luo Fenghua to be reborn, he must treasure this person. Then why did he push him into the eighteenth level of hell?”

     “Because once a soul enters hell, it cannot be reborn.” Mo Ran looked at him with pity in his eyes. “This way, Luo Fenghua won’t be reincarnated immediately. You can study the Rebirth technique and let Luo Fenghua come back. Then, you can build an ideal world, a place where you are a god, a place that is fair and just.”

     Xu Shuanglin “...”

     After a few moments of silence, the man whose face was festering suddenly laughed. He stared at Mo Ran’s face. “Mo-zongshi, I didn’t realize until today that you’re actually a madman.”

     He paused, then said in a very soft voice, “Because only a madman can understand me.”

     After he finished speaking, he laughed heartily.

     His laughter was like that of a bald vulture; even though it was already old, it still perched fiercely and stubbornly on the steep cliff and would not show the slightest weakness until death.

     Mo Ran closed his eyes and whispered to him, “Nangong Xu, listen. There are still people in this world who know the Rebirth technique. If you are willing, I will do my best to plead with Master Huaizui of Wubei Temple to return your Shizun’s life.”

     “...”

     He opened his palm and handed the broken spiritual core back to Xu Shuanglin. “But please tell me…”

     It was as if he was trying to grasp the last blade of grass to save his life. He frowned, and where no one could see, there was a trace of helplessness in his eyes.

     “Please tell me who has been helping you behind the scenes.” Mo Ran said, “Who taught you such an evil Rebirth technique? Who taught you the Zhenlong Chess Formation?”

     His memories overlapped with those of his previous life.

     In the billowing smoke of Rufeng Sect, Xu Shuanglin stood in front of Ye Wangxi and died under an indiscriminate sword.

     Since this was the case, the Xu Shuanglin of his previous life must not have had a definite plan before he died.

     But in this life, everything was different. Xu Shuanglin had set up a trap at Jincheng Lake early on. He designed the sudden change at the Peach Blossom Springs and the Heavenly Rift in Butterfly Town. And when the method of human sacrifice didn’t work, he quickly changed his method and began collecting holy weapons everywhere. Then, he finally pulled Luo Fenghua out of the infernal hells.

     Such a method of Rebirth was definitely not something he came up with on his own.

     “You want to know?” Xu Shuanglin’s eyes flashed with malice. “My skills were indeed taught by someone, but I am not willing to tell you.”

     “Would you rather be his chess piece until you die?”

     “Chess piece?” Xu Shuanglin smiled. “You’re thinking too much. He understands me and can understand my feelings. He is the same as me. Mo-zongshi, just give up. I will never tell you who he is. You all went to great lengths to come to Mount Jiao. You were so content to force me into a dead end, but so what?”

     “...”

     “In the end, the world will still be in chaos, with smoke and the flames of war everywhere. He will still raze the upper and lower cultivation worlds to the ground and turn them into scorched earth. After that, the good will be rewarded, and the evil will be repaid. The capable will rise up, and the mediocre will be slaves.” The smile in Xu Shuanglin’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. “It’s truly… the perfect scene.”

     Xue Meng was furious when he heard this. “What do you mean, ‘the good will be rewarded, and the evil will be repaid’?! What slaves?! Whether others are good or evil, capable or mediocre, is it up to you to decide? Those people you made into chess pieces outside… Nangong Changying… and… and…”

     He secretly glanced at Chu Wanning’s face and couldn’t help but lower his voice involuntarily, “And Nangong Si.” Xue Meng looked very indignant and wronged. “Are they willing to be controlled by you? Do they deserve to die?”

     “Sacrifices are always necessary.” Xu Shuanglin glanced at him indifferently. “Xue-gongzi, you are still too young after all.”

     There was a kind of hesitation in his expression, as if he wasn’t very willing to talk to a person with such an intense temperament as Xue Meng. He turned his head back to Mo Ran again.

     “Since I’ve fallen into your hands, you can kill me or cut me up as you please.” He even said casually, “I still have a lingchi fruit in my qiankun pouch. If you still feel resentful, you can feed it to me.”

     As he spoke, he mocked coldly, “In any case, when I was twenty, I had long since been put to death by a thousand cuts by you renowned righteous men, so I might as well do it again.”

     Huang Xiaoyue said, “Who put you to death by a thousand cuts? It’s so shameless to open your mouth to speak such lies!”

     But Mo Ran knew what Xu Shuanglin meant.

     At the age of twenty, he hadn’t been put to death by a thousand cuts on his body, but in his soul.

     Nangong Xu had also once wholeheartedly devoted himself to practicing martial arts. He had a good heart and listened to his Shizun’s advice to be a gentleman for the rest of his life, only using his sword to destroy evil.

     But at the Spiritual Mountain Competition, he was killed by a thousand cuts.

     Mo Ran closed his eyes. Seeing that Xu Shuanglin was in such a miserable state and wouldn’t have much longer to live—perhaps it was because he was too similar to himself in his previous life, but even if there was hatred and resentment between them, at this moment, he couldn’t help but say, “...Luo Fenghua’s spiritual core is still here. Why don’t you use the Rebirth technique? Maybe you can see him again.”

     “Use it again?” Xu Shuanglin laughed. He looked at the spiritual core in his hand with interest, then looked at his flesh that was rapidly festering due to the lack of spiritual power. He said lazily, “I’m going to die. If I die, there will be no justice in the world. What’s the use of him coming back? He is not going to suffer and be bullied by you great sects.”

     As he spoke, his eyes suddenly darkened, and he actually crushed the spiritual core with his own hands. The fragments pierced into his palms, and his hands were covered with blood.

     Mo Ran: “!”

     Xue Meng: “Are you crazy?!”

     Everyone was at a loss. Some were dumbstruck, some had ashen faces, and some had their eyes filled with vigilance as they stared at the man on the ground who was neither human nor ghost.

     Xu Shuanglin paid no attention to anyone. He looked at the last trace of Luo Fenghua in this world and watched it completely turn to ashes. Finally, he began to laugh and cry loudly, his face covered with blood and tears. He laughed madly.

     From now on, no one could ever see anyone, no one could hate anyone; they had all turned to dust, turned to ashes. Excellent, excellent.

     He slowly stood up and walked unsteadily under the watchful gaze of the crowd. He walked to the front of the holy weapon formation. One of the weapons was a konghou.

     He sat down and strummed the strings a few times with his withered and rotting fingers.

     The backlash from the Zhenlong Chess Formation was getting more and more serious; his seven orifices began to bleed, and his fingers began to burn. In the end, his entire body was engulfed by the flames, but he still played in the light of the fire.

     His expression seemed to be somewhat relieved and relaxed, but soon that look of relief and relaxation was no longer visible. His skin and flesh were rapidly shrinking, curling, and shriveling.

     The raging fire reached the heavens.

     Xu Shuanglin’s unhurried voice came from the flames. The voice was calm and unruly, as if no amount of pain could affect him. No matter how close death was, it could not intimidate him.

     “It’s best to be in the prime of life. Light hooves and fast horses see all the flowers in the world.”

     There were many older people in the crowd who suddenly remembered the young man at the Spiritual Mountain Competition with this carefree little tune.

     He was dressed in green, with bright eyes.

     The young man walked out of the dark tunnel, out of the buried memories. He confidently stepped into the arena, carrying a sword that had experienced hundreds of training sessions. His hands were full of calluses from practicing swordsmanship.

     He was so young, so handsome, so lively, and even a little arrogant. He glanced at the sect leaders of the ten great sects and suddenly grinned, his smile honest. The young man in his early twenties stopped, straightened his back, and faced the arena that was filled with sunlight, faced the bright future in his eyes. He cupped his hands and said:

     “Rufeng Sect, Nangong Xu. For today’s first battle, I hope that all seniors will be generous with their guidance.”

     In the end, the young man had failed.

     After a long time, the flames extinguished, and only the five ownerless holy weapons were left on the Soul Summoning Platform, along with a Rebirth Formation that hadn’t completely disappeared and was still circling and twisting in the air.

     Whether it was Luo Fenghua or Xu Shuanglin, they were both gone.

     Xue Zhengyong was somewhat in disbelief. He opened his eyes blankly and muttered, “This… Is it all over?”

     “Amitabha. Karma and reincarnation are all retributions.” Master Xuan Jing of Wubei Temple closed his eyes and clasped his hands. He sighed deeply and said, “This old monk hopes that all the hatred in the world will return to dust.”

     Xue Meng rolled his eyes at him. This bald old donkey didn’t do much along the way, but he was quite good at making backhanded remarks.

     “What should we do next?” He turned to ask his father, “Are we going to go down the mountain just like that? But he still has an accomplice, and we don’t even know who that person is.”

     As they were talking, Jiang Xi suddenly shouted, “Be careful! Everyone, retreat!”

     Everyone suddenly followed his gaze and saw that when the Rebirth Formation had shrunk to the size of a palm, it suddenly expanded again at an alarming speed. It was as though a wound had split open in the sky, and wisps of twisted black qi poured from within.

     Xue Meng said with surprise, “What’s going on? Xu Shuanglin is dead. Shouldn’t this Rebirth Formation disappear along with him?!”

     Jiang Xi pinched his fingers and stared at the formation for a moment. He cursed in a low voice, “No, no! This isn’t a Corpse Soul Array or Rebirth Formation! Both us and Xu Shuanglin were deceived!”

     “What?” Xue Meng was taken aback. “It’s not a Corpse Soul Array or Rebirth? Then what could it be?!”

     Jiang Xi said furiously, “It doesn’t matter what it is. The most important thing is to prevent this formation from fully forming.”

     In addition to him, several other masters also reacted quickly. As fast as lightning, Chu Wanning, the most unwilling to talk nonsense, brought out Tianwen and attacked the center of the formation! Unexpectedly, although he took the lead, someone else followed closely behind him. A dark blue shadow suddenly emerged from the crowd like a cheetah pouncing on its prey. The cold light of a dagger flashed in his sleeve, and he stabbed towards Chu Wanning’s back as if to stop him.

     “Shizun!”

     “Shizun—!”

     Two cries of alarm came from Xue Meng and Shi Mei. But they were too far away, and it was already too late for them to help.

     There was a piercing sound.

     It was the sound of a blade sinking into flesh and blood. Xue Meng closed his eyes abruptly. When he opened them again, his face was pale. He looked in that direction with an ashen face.

     He froze.