There was a bottomless chasm in front of the Path of Martyrdom, the result of Chu Wanning’s previous use of the Corpse-Splitting Technique. At this moment, the rain poured down into the chasm like a cascading waterfall.

     Above the chasm, a man in black and gold robes stood with his back to them, holding a saber in one hand and flying into the air.

     Hearing the commotion, the man’s fingertips moved slightly, and he slowly turned his head.

     It was Mo Ran!

     The wind seemed to carry whispers of the past, and Chu Wanning’s heart felt like a stone that had been cut in half by an axe as he stared in disbelief at the person in front of him. What was going on?!

     Rumble—

     White light illuminated Emperor Taxian-Jun’s blood-stained face. That face was so incredibly terrifying that Shi Mei couldn’t help but take a step back.

     But Chu Wanning involuntarily took two steps forward.

     Bloodstains.

     His face was covered in bloodstains, and any exposed skin was crisscrossed with mottled blood and flesh. He looked like a mutilated corpse that had been met with dismemberment, which failed because the blade wasn't sharp enough. There were gashes all over his body, and only between his brows did he retain the handsome appearance of the past.

     “......”

     Chu Wanning’s lips were pale as he stood in the pouring rain, looking at the living-dead person who had suffered ten thousand cuts from ten thousand blades.

     That living-dead person looked at him too—a pair of clearly contradicting pupils filled with blood and tears.

     Taxian-Jun’s spiritual consciousness was blurred as his memories fought memories and soul fought soul. Perhaps it was because it hurt too much, but he couldn’t help but use his free hand that wasn’t occupied by the blade to hold the side of his face.

     Dark red blood and rainwater trickled between the cracks of his fingers.

     His thick eyelashes trembled with Taxian-Jun’s rage and Mo-zongshi’s bewilderment. “...Why did you do this to me?”

     Chu Wanning: “...”

     “Why do you want to kill me?” The man was dismayed, with Chu Wanning’s reflection in his eyes. Slowly, his expression became helpless and agreeable, and he murmured, “Shizun, did I do something wrong again?”

     “No…”

     “Did I make you unhappy again?”

     Hearing his voice, Chu Wanning’s mind was a mess. He wondered, Is it Taxian-Jun in the pouring rain? No… no, it’s Mo Ran.

     Whether it was Emperor Taxian-Jun or Mo-zongshi, they were both Mo Ran.

     Mo Ran was covered in blood and staggered towards him. Under the scattered bloodstains was a corpse-white face; there was no focus in his open eyes, only a vast expanse of sorrow.

     “What have I done to disappoint you again? For you to do this to me?”

     The rain seeped into Chu Wanning’s bones. He watched Mo Ran walk towards him, step by step—Mo Ran crying, blood dripping from his eyes.

     “Don’t strike me with the whip anymore… I can hurt too… no matter how stupid, how dull… If you hit me… I’ll be in pain too… Shizun…”

     Chu Wanning was close to breaking, and he was unsteady on his feet as his trembling went from subtle to severe.

     He fell to his knees, curled up into a ball in the rainstorm. His stomach felt like it had been torn apart and crushed to pieces by sharp claws. He looked more like a dead person than Mo Ran in front of him at this moment.

     “I’m sorry…” Chu Wanning mourned hoarsely, “I’m sorry…”

     Your scars are as long as my pain.

     Your all-encompassing hatred and resentment ultimately consumed my entire being.

     He kneeled in front of Mo Ran, shivering as his body contorted and curled up. It took almost all the remaining courage of his life to raise his head, but when he caught a glimpse of the body he himself had inflicted with a thousand cuts, he finally sobbed, “It is I who failed you…”

     He didn’t know what had gone wrong, but perhaps it was because a living-dead person with a soul still inside couldn’t be considered a real corpse, so the Corpse-Splitting Technique didn’t take full effect.

     Mo Ran did not die but quickly fell into insanity. The memories of his life, whether of suffering or madness, vast and indistinct or miserable, came flooding back one after another.

     He was Mo Weiyu, Mo-zongshi, Taxian-Jun, and Xiao Ran-er.

     Countless fragmented pieces gathered together to form the tattered man in front of him.

     “Mo Ran…”

     Hearing his voice, Mo Ran’s pupils flickered slightly. He stopped in his tracks, and the rain pooled at his feet and turned red, blood covering the floor.

     After a pause, the man with split consciousness suddenly became irritable, as if invaded by a different consciousness. He began pacing back and forth, his sinister expression appearing all the more hideous and terrifying on his twisted face.

     “Chu Wanning! You hate This Venerable One so much that you won’t hesitate to take This Venerable One’s life at all costs, right? This Venerable One hates you very much too and wants to chop your body into pieces and eat your intestines, wants to kill you for a thousand lifetimes! You have no right to resent me; you’re the one who killed me—!”

     His sleeves fluttered, and his eyes were wide with fury.

     He was so angry that he seemed to be about to jump up and grab Chu Wanning’s throat to crush him to pieces.

     But this was like a bow snapping before it had been fully drawn, like a sword already being warped before it was unsheathed.

     With an explosive sound, a blue light struck Taxian-Jun’s chest. Taxian-Jun’s eyes dimmed before he suddenly fell silent. After a few pauses, he slowly straightened up and stood alone frigidly by the Path of Martyrdom.

     Chu Wanning looked back and saw Shi Mei staggering beside a boulder, still in the same position of having thrown the talisman. His peach blossom eyes were fierce and flashed with an agitated glint.

     “It’s about time to stop reminiscing about the past.” Shi Mei gritted his teeth and formed a seal with two fingers. He stared at the bloodied Emperor Taxian-Jun and said, “You know what is most important. Since you’re not dead yet, go quickly and collect the last thirty chess pieces for me!”

     “Be quick.” He said, catching his breath, “It can’t be delayed any longer.”

     Under the light of the talisman, Taxian-Jun’s originally utterly chaotic face, with good and evil converging, gradually became as calm as still water.

     Taxian-Jun nodded briefly to Shi Mei, and the flame-like light of the saber lit up in his hand. He answered almost numbly, “Yes. Master.”

     After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and cast a protective spell to shield Shi Mei before his black robe swept up like an eagle, ready to fly towards the front hall. However, as he rose in the air, a figure stepped in front of him.

     Chu Wanning stopped him.

     His entire body was drenched, and his heart had long been crushed and trampled so completely that he now longed to turn into dust and be wholly destroyed in the rainstorm.

     But he still had to stop it.

     “If more people could live comfortably, that would be great…”

     These were the words Mo Ran had said to him when his mind was clear, and so no matter how painful it was, no matter how weary he was, he would also hold on until his final moment.

     Chu Wanning said hoarsely, “Huaisha, be summoned.”

     Taxian-Jun looked at the familiar light appearing in his palm, his brows furrowing slightly.

     Huaisha.

     Heavy rain.

     The collapse of the world in an endless sea of blood.

     Many years ago, they once experienced a similar day. On that day, both of them offered all of their blood and poured out all of their life’s force to each other as they fought until the entire world changed color and the former radiance faded away.

     No one anticipated that the battle between master and disciple in the previous life, after the passing flood of time, would once again befall the mortal world.

     In one’s life, perhaps their destiny was inevitable, just as Nangong Si was destined to die in his prime, Ye Wangxi was destined to become a gentleman, and Sisheng Peak was destined to face an inescapable downfall. Taxian-Jun and Chu Wanning were destined to wield opposing swords.

     Whether it was hatred or love.

     Neither of them could escape.

     “Bu’gui. Be summoned.”

     A deep, low voice slowly sounded, and a ghostly bluish-green light shone into Taxian-Jun’s eyes. He was now under Shi Mei’s full control and had not even the slightest ripple of emotion in his eyes, like a mirror from hell, reflecting Chu Wanning’s lonely figure in the rain.

     Sword energy broke through the clouds, cutting against the harsh rain!

     In the strong wind, two figures, one black and one white, interweaved in an effort to destroy each other, their spiritual currents colliding rapidly.

     They very quickly adapted to the turbulent conditions, and in an instant, sand was blown from the ground as gales raged. Water splashed in all directions around the two of them like fleeting foam on a vast snowy sea, and dust and smoke rose from the battle. Neither of them were careless and fought each other with all their might from the back mountain to Heaven-Piercing Tower.

     The battle was so fierce that it shook the earth. People at both the peak and foot of the mountain were alarmed and looked up.

     “It’s Chu Wanning?”

     “W-why is he fighting Mo Ran? Aren’t they on the same side?”

     The raindrops were like thousands of horses trotting wildly. At the summit of Sisheng Peak, the golden light in Chu Wanning’s hand was as dazzling as the sun and shot straight towards Taxian-Jun’s chest!

     However, before the light could strike, they heard a loud explosion. A brilliant flame of spiritual energy burst from Taxian-Jun’s palm with the force of a volcanic torrent of splashing lava, swallowing up the golden energy all at once!

     Boom!

     In an instant, broken tiles and bricks flew everywhere, and the surrounding trees were uprooted.

      At this moment, Jiang Xi was leading the group to fight against the chess pieces in front of the mountain gate. He reacted very quickly and shouted sternly, “Be careful!” After this, he suddenly opened a barrier to protect the people around him. Flying stones and rocks, along with towering trees, smashed into his barrier.

     Jiang Xi could barely hold on and instantly coughed out a mouthful of blood. He fell onto one knee, with blood covering his lips.

     “Open a barrier quickly! I can’t stop it a second time!”

     It was only then that many cultivators noticed and hurriedly put up barriers. They looked up in the direction of the Heaven-Piercing Tower and were all somewhat dumbfounded at this moment. What kind of strength did Mo Weiyu and Chu Wanning have…?

     In front of the tower, the battle between master and disciple became even more fierce. Chu Wanning gritted his teeth and responded to every move Taxian-Jun made. In this world, apart from him, there was probably no other person who could withstand so many attacks from the emperor.

     Only Chu Wanning could do it.

     The man in front of him—the tip of the blade, the evading movements of his feet—all of it was the same as before; all of it had been taught by Chu Wanning personally.

     It was at this very Sisheng Peak, even here in front of Heaven-Piercing Tower, that he adjusted Mo Ran’s movements and stances, repeatedly instructing him on mantras and mental cultivation techniques. From an ignorant boy to this moment of clashing weapons.

     This was the second decisive battle between Chu Wanning, Beidou Immortal, and his disciple, Emperor Taxian-Jun, Mo Weiyu.

     In the previous battle, Chu Wanning had come with a sword in his hand, still with hope in his heart. He thought he could save his misguided disciple, and so he gave it his all.

     But in this battle, Chu Wanning knew there was no turning back. Regardless of victory or defeat, the person he most wanted to redeem would never return.

     Taxian-Jun shouted in a low voice, “Anyone who stands in my way will die.”

     The scene of a young Mo Ran practicing sword techniques seemed to flash before his eyes. The youth had sweat on his forehead as he stepped on bamboo and flew into the air under the rising morning light. After performing three sword flower moves, he landed lightly on the ground.

     He turned around and smiled at Chu Wanning, his dimples deep. “Shizun, do you think I’ve learned well?”

     Flames burst from his palms, and he slashed towards his chest and ribs.

     Chu Wanning ducked out of the way as Taxian-Jun’s bloodied palm grazed against his lapel.

     When Mo Ran had sparred with him in the Red Lotus Pavilion, he had clearly used this same move. At that time, the young man’s palms were still slim and even, without any scars.

     The young man’s face was very gentle as he looked at him from the side, then smiled and held his hand, saying, “No more fighting. If you continue to fight, there will be no end to it.”

     The saber howled and the sword cried.

     Chu Wanning suddenly remembered Yuliang Village. Mo Ran had eagerly dragged him to watch the play by the lake, with cymbals ringing and loud drums and stringed instruments sounding.

     The performer’s loud singing reached his ears: “The lord’s will is exhausted—”

     On the stage, a face was painted with colorful oil paint, and Mo Ran was watching intently from below. Chu Wanning raised his head, and Mo Ran immediately pulled himself from the eternal sorrow and lifted his eyes from the long-cherished wish of his childhood.

     He smiled and asked him, “Do you like it?”

     His eyes were very dark and warm.

      Chu Wanning used to think that those plays were long and superfluous, with single words being broken into three to sing. He didn’t understand what was so good about them, but now he wanted very much to go back to the plays on the stage at Yuliang Village.

     Pine oil blowing a raging fire, a martial artist gathering his strength and blowing towards the river, the vibrant and thriving atmosphere of the cultivation world—that scene, if only it continued loudly and exorbitantly for a lifetime, how good things would be.

     “Clang!”

     Suddenly, with a lapse of concentration, Huaisha was struck down by Bu’gui!

     It was the same as back then. When the holy weapon sword fell behind, he immediately withdrew it and summoned Tianwen as a temporary shield. But this time, Taxian-Jun’s strength was still a level stronger, and before Chu Wanning had time to retreat, the sheathless black blade was already pointed at his chest.

     Taxian-Jun narrowed his eyes.

     His eyes were dim, and he couldn’t tell who he was pointing his blade at; he only knew that his opponent’s spirit was depleted, just like those who desperately fled Mount Liang in the dead of night, as if ever-haunted by the mournful sound of a bamboo flute, enveloped by the all-consuming sorrow of the Chu melodies.

     All that was left was desperate resistance despite being backed into a corner.

     “Hinderance.”

     Thin lips parted, and the blade slashed down!!

     At this critical moment of life and death, a black and gold folding fan flew in from the side, attacking Taxian-Jun head-on! The fan struck with such force that Taxian-Jun immediately retreated and blocked it with the blade, but was still forced to take a step back by the black and gold fan.

     Immediately afterwards, three light formations interweaving with red and blue descended from the sky with the might of thunder, trapping Taxian-Jun inside!

     “Who?!" Taxian-Jun was unable to move for a moment and gritted his teeth, bellowing angrily, “Come out!”

     In a sudden turn of events, three blurred shadows stood atop the lofty Heaven-Piercing Tower. They jumped down in the torrential rain and landed steadily before the long steps. It was at this moment that their faces could finally be seen clearly. The three of them—

     An embellished fox fur headband and frivolous eyes.

     Blonde hair tied up in a bun and an ice-cold gaze.

     The man standing in front was about thirty or forty years old, wearing silver-blue light armor, with a pair of sharp eyes and a calm demeanor. A blade scar ran diagonally across the left side of his forehead, and there was not a single trace of flamboyance on his face, only tranquility and a kind of heavy burden very similar to that of Xue Zhengyong.

     The man raised his hand and caught the black and gold folding fan that had come spinning back to him, then lifted his pair of no longer youthful eyes.

     It was the Mei brothers of the previous life… and…

     A loud clap of thunder split the sky.

     Chu Wanning looked at the man.

     The other mortal world’s Xue Meng!!!