The next morning, the sun shone through the window.

     Chu Wanning opened his eyes. The bedding was warm. The temperature of one person could warm two people’s bodies. He looked quietly at Mo Ran’s face. To him, this was the most handsome person in the world, the best person.

     He didn’t move. He was thinking, what kind of porridge should he cook today?

     Yesterday’s porridge had been finished. Mo Ran ate four bowls like he was starving, and there wasn’t a single bit left.

     He kissed Mo Ran’s cheek and asked, “I’ll make some more for you, okay?”

     The man was sleeping soundly, his pitch-black eyelashes hanging down as gently as two cattail rolls, as if he would open his eyes in the next moment. He would pull him over with a smile and say, “I’m hungry. Wanning, go and make a bowl of porridge for This Venerable One.”

     It also seemed that he would affectionately and sweetly tell him, “Whatever Shizun does is good. I will like it.”

     The corpse was already cold, and the cheek was cold when he kissed it. There was no warmth at all.

     Chu Wanning did not cry.

     He got up and covered Mo Ran with the quilt. Then he went to the courtyard to collect firewood and start a fire. He cooked carefully and properly.

     The water boiled, and the steam rose as the rice porridge churned and bubbled. He removed the foam with a slotted spoon and added some salt, then covered it with a wooden lid to cook.

     A person who had already been reborn once could not be saved again by the Rebirth Technique.

     Chu Wanning stood beside the stove blankly. There was a moment of clarity in his mind. This moment of clarity almost took his life. He hurriedly suppressed the trembling of his fingertips and raised his head to open the lid—

     When the porridge was cooked, there must always be someone to eat it.

     He now had Mo Ran’s fragmented memories. When Mo Ran was a child, he was very poor and didn’t have enough to eat. Just getting a hot pancake was something that could make him happy for an entire day.

     Mo Ran wouldn’t waste it, so he would always wake up.

     When the porridge was ready, he went to the courtyard to clear the snow. Afterwards, he broke off a new branch of wintersweet and brought it back. He cut off the branch and soaked it in a small clay vase to keep.

     The fragrance of plum blossoms spread for ten miles. With this, as Mo Ran walked along the road, he would still be able to smell the mortal world.

     No, his mind was blurred again.

     What walking on the road? What mortal world? …Mo Ran was clearly still lying there, exactly the same as yesterday, the day before, and a few days ago, except that his face was thinner and paler.

     He would still wake up.

     For two lifetimes, whether it was resentment or hatred, love or pity, ever since they met, Mo Ran had never taken the initiative to leave him. So gradually, Mo Ran soaked into his life. He became the wind, the time, the spring flowing through his fingers, and the light that covered his long hair.

     He was his day and night, his morning and evening, his whole life.

     Chu Wanning still walked in this mortal world. In this world, snow would fall, cicadas would sing, autumn lotuses would still die, and the summer flowers would still grow. Everything was the same as before, so how could Mo Ran leave?

     He was willing to guard him and accompany him, day after day, waiting for him to wake up. Just as Mo Ran had made a pact with Chu Wanning’s corpse, in this life, yin and yang were reversed, and Chu Wanning did the same thing as Taxian-Jun.

     “You will only leave on the day I leave.”

     Once, standing in the Red Lotus Pavilion, Mo Ran, dressed in a black robe, said this to the sleeping Chu Wanning.

     “Stay with me.”

     Now, in the deep Nanping Valley, Chu Wanning, dressed in a white robe, overlapped with the emperor of the past.

     He stretched out his hand and touched Mo Ran’s bloodless face. “...Stay with me.”

     The golden light rose, and his spiritual power flowed into the corpse. From then on, even if the blue sky fell in the yellow spring, as long as Chu Wanning was still alive in the world, Mo Weiyu’s corpse would not rot. Only when Chu Wanning passed away many years later would the flow of spiritual energy stop, and they would both die together.

     They would turn to ashes, scattered into fine powder and crushed into dust.

     He would leave with him.

     —

     The charcoal fire in Tianyin Pavilion’s Sacred Hall burned fiercely, casting flickering shadows on the walls. Mu Yanli stood alone in the center of the hall with her hands clasped behind her back and her eyes closed.

     Suddenly, the hall door opened, and a person walked in.

     Mu Yanli didn’t look back and said calmly, “You’re here?”

     “I’m here.” That person removed the hood of his cloak, revealing a devastatingly beautiful face. It was Shi Mei. “Mu-jiejie, aren’t you going to the back hall to take a look?”

     “There’s nothing to see,” Mu Yanli said. “It’s just a matter of you cutting open people’s chests and brains. The smell of blood is too strong. I can’t stand it.”

     “What can I do? This has always been the way of the medical sect.” Shi Mei smiled. “Even if it’s Guyue’ye’s Jiang Xi, he wouldn’t be able to fill the room with fragrance if he didn't once cut open a dead man.”

     Mu Yanli frowned and didn’t intend to talk to him about dissecting corpses, so she asked, “Speaking of which, you’ve been using this technique for a few days. When will Emperor Taxian-Jun be completely reborn?”

     “His rebirth can’t be considered Rebirth. He only has a piece of conscious soul in his body. At most, he’s a living-dead person.”

     Mu Yanli turned her beautiful eyes away and said, “We want a living-dead person. The more obedient, the better. …What about those spiritual core fragments? Are they still useful?”

     “It’s more or less the same. Although it’s not complete, the power is still terrifying.” Shi Mei said. “Mo Ran is indeed worthy of being called the cultivator of the highest endowment. He’s enough to clear the path for us.”

     Mu Yanli sighed. “I hope there won’t be any accidents this time.”

     “It’s hard to say whether there will be any accidents,” Shi Mei said. “I am currently casting the spell to restore the spiritual core inside Taxian-Jun’s body. It will take at least ten days. In these ten days, I hope Mu-jiejie can help me with two things.”

     “Tell me.”

     “First, after Taxian-Jun is fully restored, we will do that major thing. At that time, no matter how foolish these cultivators are, they will know that Mo Ran was telling the truth. I’m afraid they’ll join forces to stop us.” Shi Mei paused. “Although the shrimp soldiers and crab generals aren’t a problem, it will still cause a headache if there are too many people.”

     “So?”

     “Although the upper cultivation world has strong combat power, it lacks experience. Sisheng Peak is the key. I hope Mu-jiejie can release some news and start a conflict between Sisheng Peak and the various sects, so this sect can be destroyed ahead of time.”

     Mu Yanli said, “Chu Wanning rescued the prisoner, and Mo Weiyu escaped. Both of them were originally from Sisheng Peak, so it won’t be difficult to make a case about it. Moreover, Sisheng Peak has already been under criticism, and many people want them to disband their sect. This is easy to do. What about the second thing?”

     “Second.” Shi Mei sighed, as if he were regretful. “Kill someone for me.”

     “Who?”

     “Myself.”

     Mu Yanli suddenly turned around and glared at him. The light of the flames illuminated Shi Mei’s gentle face. “Yourself from this life?”

     “Yes.”

     “Are you crazy? Are you serious? No matter what, he’s still…”

     She paused and didn’t say any more. She saw Shi Mei lift his soft and thick eyelashes, revealing a pair of black eyes underneath, brimming with killing intent.

     “No matter what he says, he’s still me?” Shi Mei smiled. “That’s true. But he is also a traitor.”

     “...”

     “If he hadn’t let Chu Wanning go, would anyone have come to rescue the prisoner?”

     “...”

     “If he hadn’t disturbed Taxian-Jun’s spiritual consciousness later, could Chu Wanning have taken away that half-dead Mo Ran?” At this moment, Shi Mei’s eyes flashed with a trace of coldness. “It’s a good thing he learned some techniques behind my back. He’s blind, but can still cover his tracks and escape quickly, so I didn’t skin him alive.”

     Mu Yanli couldn’t help but say, “I know what he did wasn’t right, but he’s still a member of our clan.”

     “He is me. These two mortal worlds are destined to overlap in the end, and one of me is enough.” Shi Mei walked up the stairs and stood beside Mu Yanli. “Just like you—in the previous life, you had already died of illness, but it’s the same Mu-jiejie helping me now.”

     “But you don’t have to kill him. Our clan has suffered enough.” Mu Yanli stared at Shi Mei anxiously. “A-Nan, we swore that as long as they were members of our clan, we would help and support each other, not kill each other.”

     Shi Mei turned his eyes away. He didn’t say anything and just looked at the dancing flames. After a while, he said, “I thought so when I was on Mount Jiao. I was suspicious of everyone but him. That’s why I gave him the opportunity to take advantage. In the end, he’s different from me.”

     “...”

     “I am still Hua Binan and Shi Mingjing,” Shi Mei said indifferently. Finally, he closed his eyes and sighed. “But what about him? He only remembers that he is Shi Mingjing and has long forgotten who Hua Binan is.”

     The flames crackled, and orange sparks splashed out.

     Mu Yanli finally shook her head. “I can’t do the second thing you asked. He has already lost a pair of eyes for us. Now that we can’t accept him anymore, Chu Wanning and the others won’t accept him either. He can’t go anywhere and can’t do anything. Are you in such a hurry to kill him just because he betrayed you? Just because he chose a different path from you in the end?”

     Shi Mei was silent for a long time, then smiled. “You’ve always been decisive in killing. Why are you suddenly so soft-hearted now?”

     Mu Yanli suddenly raised her head, her eyes flashing with pain. “Because he’s also my little brother. He’s also you.”

     Her face finally became less cold. Because of her worldly emotions, she no longer looked like a statue of ice.

     “A-Nan, whether it’s the previous life or this life, no matter what you’ve become, I can’t do anything to you. I can’t do it.”

     The flames in the pit rose faintly, dancing like tangled red silk.

     Shi Mei sighed. “...Forget it. This is a private matter—if you don’t want to, it’s up to you. But the first thing is a matter of success or failure. Please make sure Mu-jiejie does it properly.”

     Mu Yanli closed her eyes. At this moment, the evening bell rang solemnly from the top turret of the pavilion. Tianyin Pavilion’s old bell had been around for thousands of years, since its establishment, but its tone was still rich and majestic. In the lingering sound of the bell, Mu Yanli spoke slowly.

     “I understand… Don’t worry.”

     The second night after the conversation at Tianyin Pavilion, a series of murders suddenly occurred in the upper cultivation world’s Bitan Manor. Before this matter could be thoroughly investigated, similar cases occurred one after another in the sects of Huohuang Pavilion, Wubei Temple, and Guyue’ye.

     Soon, a single horrific event became a pattern, and people quickly discovered the key to the problem—

     The Zhenlong Chess Formation.

     Zhenlong chess pieces everywhere.

     No town, village, or sect was spared.

     There were more and more mindless chess pieces, killing and setting fire everywhere. The various sects in the cultivation world were unable to take care of themselves and could no longer spare the energy to care about the lives of the common people.

     Day by day, blood dyed the rivers red, and city after city was deserted. This calamity was even more terrifying than any other previous Heavenly Rift.

     This was because no one was even sure about who the mastermind was and didn’t know how to end this sudden massacre. However, most cultivators believed that this disaster was planned by Chu Wanning and Mo Ran, whose whereabouts were still unknown. But there were also people who were skeptical. Such a group of refugees currently gathered in a dilapidated temple. They discussed: “It would be believable to say Mo Ran is behind this, but why would Chu Wanning help him?”

     “Who knows, maybe for a share of the rewards?”

     Another person said, “I think it’s not as simple as just sharing the rewards. You all saw what happened that day on Tianyin Pavilion’s punishment platform. If they were just ordinary master and disciple, would they be so emotional? In my opinion, the relationship between Chu Wanning and Mo Ran is not normal at all.”

     “Ah… you mean?”

     “Homosexuality between men, master and disciple with illicit sexual relations together.”

     He spoke, not sparing any obscenities.

     These people sitting around him all showed extreme astonishment and disgust, muttering, “It can’t be? He’s Beidou Immortal…”

     “Then don’t forget the time Chu Wanning died by mistake while repairing the Heavenly Rift, and his disciple, Mo Ran, risked his life to go to the underworld and save him. Although the relationship between master and disciple is deep, this is a matter of life and death. If it were you, would you be able to do it?”

     The other side fell silent.

     A bean pod cracked in the firepit with a crisp sound.

     “And that time on Mount Jiao, did you hear? Before Shi Mingjing was taken away, he said something.”

     “What?”

     “I don’t remember the details. The situation was critical at the time, and many people didn’t think about it carefully. When thinking about it carefully later on, I felt that there was some ambiguity between the lines.”

     Someone frowned and said, “But I heard that Shi Mingjing is Hua Binan. Can his words be trusted?”

     “Nonsense!”

     Everyone was startled by the angry shout. They turned around and saw a man glaring at them with wide eyes. “How can you believe such words?! It was clearly Mo Ran throwing dirt on Shi Mingjing!”

     “Li-xiong, why are you so agitated…?”

     The man said, “Why shouldn’t I be agitated? It was Shi Mingjing who saved my life!”

     “Ah…”

     “I was on Mount Jiao at the time. Hua Binan had poisoned us with a type of poison called the heart-drilling bug. If it weren’t for Shi Mingjing’s eye healing technique, I would have died on the spot! If Shi Mingjing is Hua Binan, why would he help us remove the poison?”

     The burly man grew more and more agitated as he spoke, and in the end, his eyes were wet.

     “In order to save us, our benefactor, Shi Mingjing’s, eyes were injured by Hua Binan. It is still unknown whether he is alive or dead, yet he was slandered by Mo Ran. I… I feel sorry for him.”

     As he spoke, he began to wail. The other people in the ruined temple didn’t know what to do for a moment, and all looked at each other.

     On one side were Shi Mingjing and Tianyin Pavilion. On the other side were Mo Weiyu and Chu Wanning. Both sides were suspicious, but there were obviously more doubts about the latter, making them more worthy of suspicion.

     A female cultivator in the middle of the crowd looked at the flickering fire pit and suddenly whispered, “Actually… that day on Mount Jiao, when we fought against Xu Shuanglin, I was also there. I saw what Shi Mingjing did and what Mo Ran did. Neither of them appeared to be bad people.”

     “But one of them must be lying, right?”

     The female cultivator shook her head. “Who is lying is a matter of great importance. I dare not make a rash judgment, but I want to tell you something I saw with my own eyes.”

     Seeing everyone turning their eyes towards her, she felt a little embarrassed. She coughed lightly and said, “Everyone was injured at the time. Mo Ran and Chu-zong… Chu Wanning weren’t in good condition either, so they were sitting by the side to rest. I inadvertently saw Mo Ran secretly reach out his hand… to touch Chu Wanning’s face.”