It was a dream.

     When Taxian-Jun opened his eyes, he found himself standing in a vast wilderness. The clouds were a deep scarlet, so low that they were within reach. There were lush reeds growing all around, with floating catkins. There were the sounds of voices echoing within the reeds, some laughing, some crying, very soft, like the touch of a gauze curtain brushing across fingertips, like the touch of water.

     He walked forward, startling the dark blue fireflies in the depths of the reeds, and saw a magnificent, tranquil river, more impressive than any great river he’d ever seen before but flowing extremely slowly.

     A few small boats were floating on the surface of the river in the distance, and a ferryman’s song could be heard from afar: “I have fallen into the abyss of thunder, and my limbs have rotted into mud. My skull has fallen into the vast universe, my eyes have withered, and my hair has been ground into dust. Red ants are eating my heart, and the vultures are pecking at my stomach… Only the soul can return… Only the soul can return…”

     Only the soul can return; yesterday is like flowing water.

     He seemed to have been here before, but when?

     Taxian-Jun looked around, and everything in front of him was so familiar, but when he thought about it carefully, his mind was blank.

     “Hey, you.”

     Someone suddenly spoke behind him.

     He turned back suddenly but saw nothing but fireflies.

     The voice was very hazy and surreal. “Go forward. I’ll be right in front of you.”

     Although he was annoyed at being told what to do, he couldn’t resist his curiosity and walked with a sullen face into the depths of the reeds where the fireflies were dancing.

     Soon, he saw a dilapidated mill and a small, overgrown courtyard with broken wood and shattered tiles all over the ground. In the very center of the courtyard, a man was sitting on a dark graphite slab with his back to him, looking at the sky.

     “Who are you?”

     When the man heard his voice, he didn’t turn around immediately but sighed. “Perhaps I’m the one who is about to go.”

     “Go? Go where?” Without waiting for the man to answer, he asked again in a slightly anxious tone, “Where is this place?”

     “The other side of the soul.” The man said, “Do you see the river? Take the bamboo raft and follow the waves to go to the underworld.”

     “...”

     “It will take seven or eight years to be reincarnated. When you enter the gate, a guard whose intestines are spilling out will measure your merits and demerits in life. Those who have sinned deeply will be directly escorted to the eighteenth level of hell.” Speaking of these matters after death, the man’s tone remained gentle and soft, as if he were reliving some past events.

     “The first level is called Nanke Town, and inside, there is a poor scholar who sells paintings. But he probably isn’t poor now. I’ve burned a lot of paper money for him later. There is also an old man selling wontons, and if you go further in, you will come across a place built by the fourth king of the ghost realm. Oh, there’s also Tailwind Hall…”

     “What nonsense.” Taxian-Jun interrupted him impatiently. “What the hell are you trying to say?”

     The man was silent for a while, then suddenly asked, “Taxian-Jun, are you afraid of death?”

     Taxian-Jun sneered, “What’s there to be afraid of?”

     “I used to think so too,” the man said. “So I chose to commit suicide by taking poison. I used to think I had nothing else to ask for in the world, and I was not afraid of death.”

     After a pause, the man lowered his head.

     “But I don’t want to go now. He is still in the world, and I can’t let him go.”

     After saying this, the man leapt lightly from the graphite and walked from the dark shadows until he was under the clear moonlight. The wind blew from the other side of the soul river, and for a moment, the floating catkins were misty, and the fireflies gathered and dispersed.

     Taxian-Jun’s expression changed slightly. “...It’s you?”

     Mo Ran walked toward him, his heart empty, like a black hole leaking air. His eyebrows were soft, and the bride of his nose was high, his face upright and heroic. He was almost the same as when Taxian-Jun first met him at Mount Jiao, only now he seemed much calmer, no longer as confused and afraid as he’d been at that time.

     “How did you…?”

     “As you can see, I am not alive.”

     “...”

     “But for some reason, I don’t seem to be the same as the others. The seventh day has passed, but the Black and White Impermanence have not come to take me to the underworld. I’ve been wandering around here.”

     Taxian-Jun narrowed his eyes slightly.

     “You don’t have to be nervous. My spiritual core is in your body, so naturally, I can’t survive.” Mo Ran turned his gaze to the vast soul river and said softly, “But I don’t want to leave either… I want to go back.”

     Hearing him say this, Taxian-Jun was startled at first before he raised his hand to touch his chest. After a few moments of silence, his face suddenly twisted into a slightly ferocious smile. “Your spiritual core is with This Venerable One? In other words… Hua Binan has succeeded? He did it, and This Venerable One will soon be able to come and go freely. Then—”

     Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Mo Ran.

     Mo Ran turned his head and looked at him calmly. “Do you know who Hua Binan is?”

     “...”

     He walked towards Taxian-Jun, and as he got closer, he raised his finger, which was emitting a white light, and gently tapped between Taxian-Jun’s brows.

     “Actually, it’s useless to tell you. He’s tampered with you, and he’ll get rid of any things that aren’t advantageous for his manipulation of you. However, since you still have a wisp of your conscious soul, you should at least remember something… Don’t be so mindless and easily manipulated.”

     He didn’t know why, but the moment Mo Ran touched him, Taxian-Jun suddenly felt an excruciating pain in his skull. It was as if scattered fragments were passing in front of his eyes at a rapid speed.

     “What did you do?!”

     Mo Ran didn’t answer but just held his face in his hands and looked at him very quietly, even somewhat sadly. “It would be great if you could know the truth of everything.”

     “You…”

     “This way, even if I leave, I can go with some peace of mind.”

     Taxian-Jun gritted his teeth and said, “What truth?! What nonsense! Let This Venerable One go!” As he spoke, he tried to break free from Mo Ran’s grip, but all of his strength seemed to leave him, and with the spell, he seemed to pass through the translucent body of the man in front of him.

     Mo Ran closed his eyes and sighed softly. “You know what? I really want you to see what I’ve experienced since my rebirth. I really want you to see all of my memories.”

     “Perhaps it’s because I’m too stubborn that my soul hasn’t been taken away and I can see you here.”

     As he spoke, he leaned forward and put his forehead against Taxian-Jun’s.

     “Turn back,” he murmured softly. “Forgive yourself.”

     Hearing these words, which were too similar to what Chu Wanning said before his death in his previous life, Taxian-Jun was shocked. But before he could vent his anger, a bloody scene flashed before his eyes.

     He once again saw the Heavenly Rift to the ghost realm.

     In the great calamity that changed his life, everyone looked after themselves, crying and wailing.

     Taxian-Jun hovered like a paper kite, wandering mid-air, with people below him crying and screaming and blood and broken limbs under his feet. He looked around. Where was Shi Mei? Where was Shi Mei?

     He couldn’t find him, he couldn’t find him. His heart was burning with fury—suddenly, he stopped.

     Amidst the smoke, a familiar figure moved. When Taxian-Jun flew over, he was surprised to see that it was his teenage self, unconscious and dying.

     What was going on?

     As if to answer him, Taxian-Jun saw the scene change. Someone was carrying his broken body on their back and crawling with great difficulty through the mountain of corpses and sea of blood.

     Who was it?

     Those bloody hands… whose were they?

     Who was the person who couldn’t even crawl anymore but still held him tightly and refused to let go?

     Taxian-Jun flew low over the ground and circled around the two men. He stared at the man covered in blood, whose face was difficult to recognize—in the end, when he saw the man more clearly, he felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

     “Chu Wanning?”

     How is this possible…? How is this possible?!

     Someone then seemed to be angrily howling in his ears. Although the voice was far away, that person’s anger was like a bayonet that struck straight into his heart. He shouted, “The stairs are stained with a trail of blood; that’s the road he took to bring you home!”

     “The Discernment Barrier is twinned! Whatever damage you took, he suffered the same!”

     “How can you say he didn’t save you…? How can you say he didn’t save you…?”

     He felt cold all over.

     Taxian-Jun’s eyes suddenly snapped open. His eyes were red as he stared at Mo Weiyu in front of him and said through clenched teeth, “What are you showing This Venerable One?! This is… ridiculous!”

     He was filled with rage, but when the other’s eyes met his, he suddenly froze.

     Mo Ran stared at him, but his dark and calm eyes were actually wet. “I’ve tried my best to hand all of my memories over to you.”

     “Who wants to see what happened between you and him?! Who wants to know what happened since you were reborn?! You lived a cowardly life and betrayed Shi Mei… You are completely different from This Venerable One!” He was furious. “Who asked you to act on your own? Get lost!”

     The rage that frightened countless people didn’t cause a single ripple in Mo Ran’s eyes.

     Mo Ran looked at him, his eyes full of pity. He stood in front of Taxian-Jun, and a golden flame suddenly ignited on the corner of his robe. His ethereal body melted away little by little, turning into tiny fireflies.

     “Actually, you don’t need to tell me. I should leave too.”

     “I used the power of my own soul to give you all of my memories. This is against the will of the heavens, and I don’t know what will happen to me in the end.” At this point, Mo Ran paused and smiled. “Maybe I will not be tolerated by the Six Paths of Reincarnation, or maybe I will be directly condemned to the infernal hells.”

     “...”

     “I’ve thought of the best possible outcome.” Mo Ran said, “Maybe my soul can follow my spiritual core and merge together into your body.”

     Taxian-Jun didn’t care about what he said before, but when he heard this, his eyebrows suddenly knitted together. “Don’t even think about it!”

     Mo Ran looked at him with a false smile. “Are you afraid?”

     “What does This Venerable One have to be afraid of?” Taxian-Jun was greatly offended and narrowed his eyes. “But this body belongs to This Venerable One. You won’t be allowed to take it.”

     Mo Ran sighed. “You just don’t want to accept some truths.”

     “...”

     “You don’t want to accept the truth that I’ve already admitted to you but you’ve turned a blind eye to.”

     “You shut up!”

     Mo Ran looked at him calmly as his figure disappeared faster and faster—his waist, abdomen, chest… Before disappearing, he raised his hand and tried to touch the hair on the side of Taxian-Jun’s head. But it was as if Taxian-Jun was touched by something highly poisonous, and he took a step back in disgust.

     Seeing him like this, Mo Ran just smiled, and the golden light in his body suddenly rushed towards Taxian-Jun’s chest, like moths to the flame. Taxian-Jun felt a familiar power come back to life in his body. The power was so fierce and fiery that it was like a molten stream flowing beneath a rock.

     This power was very familiar to him, yet extremely distasteful.

     “Don’t even think about merging your soul with This Venerable One…”

     “No one wants to leave, so I’m going to give it one last try.”

     Taxian-Jun was furious. “Get the hell away from This Venerable One!”

     But Mo Ran just stared at him. “I’m sorry. In the end, I still have to fight with you for this body.”

     “...”

     “If only your true nature could be restored.”

     “Be Mo Weiyu.” The golden flames quickly burned to his fingertips before engulfing the young, handsome face. “Don’t be Taxian-Jun.”

     The words fell.

     He turned to ashes…

     At that time, the secret room of Tianyin Pavilion was instantly illuminated by a dazzling golden light as bright as day. It was so bright that Shi Mei was unable to open his eyes for a moment. He suddenly raised his robe sleeves to cover his face, and after a long time, the intense light suddenly faded away.

     Shi Mei had never encountered such a situation before. He suddenly waved his sleeve and looked into the ice coffin with a pale face—

     He was suddenly met with a pair of dark, purple-tinted eyes.

     Taxian-Jun slowly sat up in the coffin, his face as white as ice and his lips not yet regaining their color. He looked as if he had been carved from cold jade and formed from a deep spring. Even his black robe embroidered with gold threads was soaked with a hint of cold mist, and the light shining on him seemed to be frozen.

     Taxian-Jun raised his hand, his slender, pale fingertips resting on the edge of the coffin. Then he turned his eyes, and his gaze fell on Shi Mei.

     “...”

     Even though he knew he was his master, Shi Mei still involuntarily took half a step back under such a cold gaze.

     “You…” His adam’s apple moved, and Shi Mei forced himself to stay calm. “You’re finally awake.”

     Taxian-Jun didn’t answer. His face was extremely sinister and even more unpredictable than before.

     He was gasping for breath, his back soaked with a cold sweat. Mo-zongshi’s last smile was still looming before his eyes. He closed his eyes and tried to discern whether there were any unnecessary three souls or six spirits in his body, but the answer was obviously not something that could be obtained by feeling.

     Shi Mei stood beside him, and seeing that he looked strange, he quickly reached out his hand and placed it on his forehead, reciting a spell to calm the restlessness in Taxian-Jun’s heart.

     “How is it?” After reciting the spirit-suppressing spell, Shi Mei stared at his face and asked.

     Taxian-Jun didn't answer immediately. After a long time, he raised his hand and moved his five fingers. His evenly trimmed nails were like frozen ice, without a trace of blood.

     He stood up in the coffin.

     “I seemed to have had a very long dream…” Taxian-Jun opened his mouth and spoke his first sentence in a hoarse voice.

     Shi Mei’s eyes were very wary. “It’s all fake.”

     The emperor’s black robes were like clouds, and the golden threads were like water. He stepped out of the coffin with a somewhat gloomy expression. “I think so too.”

     He stared at Shi Mei, and Shi Mei stared back at him. After a while, Shi Mei whispered tentatively, “Do you still remember who you are?”

     It was silent for a moment.

     The cold and handsome man seemed to laugh, his thin lips opening and closing. “Why, don’t you remember? Emperor Taxian-Jun, Mo Ran, Mo Weiyu.”

     He paused for a moment, lowered his curtain of eyelashes, and saluted languidly towards Shi Mei, who was tense to the extreme. “I am willing to serve my master.”

     Shi Mei’s eyes seemed to flash with a hint of ecstasy, but he still didn’t dare to relax. He took out a crystal from his qiankun pouch. It shone with a green luster and had a strange appearance. It was the strongest crystal used to test a cultivator’s spiritual energy.

     His adam’s apple bobbed up and down in anticipation as he walked over and handed the crystal to Taxian-Jun.

     “Can you light it up?”

     “...” Taxian-Jun’s gaze moved, and he glanced at the stone coldly before saying, “How could it be difficult?” Before he finished speaking, he clenched his fists tightly, and the meridians on his hands bulged.

     In an instant, the most powerful spiritual current in the world was poured into it, and not only did the crystal instantly glow brightly, but tiny cracks also appeared on its surface.

     Shi Mei held his breath, staring at the stone without moving for a moment.

     Suddenly, there was a crisp “pa,” and the green stone actually shattered between Taxian-Jun’s pale, narrow fingers and was reduced to ashes by the fierce spiritual power.

     It turned to ashes!!

     “What is this?” Taxian-Jun casually pinched the powder between his fingers and sneered coldly, “It’s not worth playing with.”

     Shi Mei suddenly relaxed. He took a few steps back and sat down on a stone bench beside him, almost as if out of breath.

     This… was the strongest battle power in the world… Was it now finally back in his possession?

     Shi Mei couldn’t hold back, and he trembled violently. The dim light in the stone chamber reflected his peerless face. Whether he felt ecstasy or relief, the light wavered, not shining so clearly, almost eerie.

     After a long time, Shi Mei buried his face in his hands and murmured in a low voice, “Mother, do you see it? I did it.”

     He suddenly seemed to go a little crazy and stood up suddenly, facing the empty walls, where there was no one besides him and Taxian-Jun, and shouted, “Did you see it? It’s almost there! Did you see it?”

     No one answered him, and he burst into laughter in this empty secret room. Tears began to flow from his eyes as he laughed—drops of golden tears.

     It was exactly the same as the fallen Butterfly-Boned Beauty, Song Qiutong.