Three days passed in the blink of an eye. At the break of dawn on the third day, Shi Mei arrived in front of the secret room.

     Taxian-Jun was already dressed. He wore his black battle armor, outlining his slim waist, and a concealed weapon case that shone with a silver light. His legs were long and slender, and his shoulders were broad and even. He wore dragon-scale leather gloves on his hands and a thousand-machine box strapped to his wrist.

     He raised his eyes, which were very cold. “You’re here.”

     “Get ready. We’re going to Tianyin Pavilion.”

     “No need to prepare. Let’s go.”

     Shi Mei looked at him and asked, “What about Chu Wanning?”

     “I gave him some medicine, and he went to sleep.”

     Shi Mei nodded, but just in case, he and Taxian-Jun went inside the secret room again. After checking his pulse, Shi Mei said, “His spiritual energy should be fully recovered in a few days. We have to be careful.”

     Taxian-Jun wasn’t afraid of Chu Wanning’s combat power. He only asked, “What about his memory?”

     Shi Mei glanced at him. “It’s the same.”

     “...”

     Ignoring the gloomy displeasure on Taxian-Jun’s face, Shi Mei got up and set up a sleeping incense formation in the secret room to ensure that Chu Wanning wouldn't wake up suddenly and ruin his plan. Finally, on the way out, he cast a powerful forbidden spell on the door.

     Taxian-Jun frowned. “What are you doing with this spell? There’s no one else on this mountain. Nangong Liu only has the mind of a little brat, so no one can enter to save him.”

     Shi Mei’s expression remained unchanged as he said flatly, “It’s hard to guard against a thief in the family.”

     “Who?”

     “You don’t know him.” Shi Mei sighed. “He’s the person closest to me. Let’s not talk anymore. Let’s go.”

     The two left.

     In the cold stone room, only Chu Wanning was left. He was still unconscious. The memories of his two lives continued to whirl around him as they were recovered.

     However, even Shi Mei didn’t realize that the reason Chu Wanning had been lingering for so long—why his consciousness and memories hadn’t been fully recovered after such a long time—wasn’t just because of his poor physical condition. There was another very important reason—

     It wasn’t just his own memories he had to recall!

     Perhaps it was because the other half of the earth soul had been in Mo Ran’s body for a long time, entangled with Mo Ran’s soul day after day, but when the earth soul returned, it actually brought back some memories from the depths of Mo Ran’s soul.

     At this very moment, these memories became the last scenes that flooded into his mind. He was dreaming, and what he dreamt of were fragments of the past.

     He first dreamt of a mass grave, where an unkempt child lay wailing on top of a rotting female corpse.

     “Mother… Mother… Someone come… Is anyone there…? Someone come bury me too… Bury me and my mother together…”

     Then he dreamt of the House of Drunken Jade in Xiangtan. Mo Ran’s body had been beaten black and blue, and he was curled up in a dog cage. In Nuan Pavilion, with its beasts and hazy incense, the child was locked in a cage without any food or water and couldn’t even lay down.

     A child around his age grinned and laughed at him. “You want to be a hero? Why don’t you look at yourself? I think you’re a joke! Pah! You will be a joke your whole life!”

     He spat at him.

     Little Mo Ran closed his eyes.

     Chu Wanning’s eyelashes trembled.

     Mo Ran…

     Then he dreamt of the blazing tongues of fire twisting around the building like a ghost, dancing in a terrifying manner.

     There were cries everywhere. Burning beams collapsed, people were screaming, and thick smoke billowed.

     The young boy, Mo Ran, sat in the midst of the flames, with a very cold face and calm eyes. He lowered his head and placed a bloodstained machete on his knee. He held a bunch of grapes in his hand and slowly peeled off the purple skin.

     “It’s all over, Mother.”

     Mo Ran looked very peaceful.

     “But I won’t be able to see you… I’ve killed people, and my hands are covered in blood. Mother, I’ll go to hell after I die, and I’ll never see you again.”

     Mo Ran… Mo Ran…

     Suddenly, there was a light in front of him.

     It was a woman’s gentle face, with the ends of her eyes slightly raised.

     Who is it?

     Chu Wanning felt that the woman’s eyebrows were quite similar to his own. When she purposefully lowered her head to work, it was especially striking.

     She was carefully sewing the rough clothes in her hands.

     “Mother…” A child’s voice called as softly as a mosquito.

     The woman raised her hand when she heard the sound and smiled at him. “Why are you awake?”

     “I had a nightmare… I’m so hungry…”

     The woman put down the clothes and opened her arms. She said with a gentle smile, “Nightmare again? Alright, don’t be afraid, Ran-er. Come to mother’s arms.”

     Ran-er… Mo Ran…

     Chu Wanning closed his eyes, his heart filled with an indescribable bitterness.

     Too bitter.

     Just by seeing this, he felt that these days were shriveled and wrinkled, and every day and night was extremely difficult to endure.

     Mother…

     This was the first time he had seen the appearance of Mo Ran’s mother. He suddenly understood why little Mo Ran would instinctively grab onto his own clothes outside of Wubei Temple, why he would believe in him and beg him. He also suddenly understood why the youth in front of Heaven-Piercing Tower would walk over to him and persistently beg him to accept him as a disciple.

     The youth had smiled and said, “Because you look the most beautiful and gentle.”

     At that time, everyone laughed behind Mo Ran’s back, saying he was blind and mocking him for being a flatterer.

     Actually, it wasn’t.

     It wasn’t…

     He wasn’t blind, nor was he a flatterer—he just couldn’t tell the truth, couldn’t cry, couldn’t pull on Chu Wanning’s hand and say, “Xianjun, when you lower your head, you look like the person who treated me the best in this world. She is no longer here. Can you please pay attention to me? Can you take her place and look at me one more time?”

     I miss her so much.

     Mo Ran couldn’t say anything. He could only endure the great bitterness in his heart and the tears welling up in his eyes, endure Chu Wanning’s indifference and neglect, and chase after him, deceiving everyone as he pretended to laugh freely.

     No one could know his past, and no one could share his pain.

     He could only smile so brightly. Under Heaven-Piercing Tower, that smile was too warm, too hopeful, secretly hiding endless thoughts. Just like this, it burned Chu Wanning.

     Mo Ran opened his eyes.

     He was no longer at Sisheng Peak—he was in an extremely narrow cell. The walls here were gray, and the only light came from a small slot under the black iron gate for delivery of food.

     The top of the cell was engraved with the emblem of a weight, and he knew that he was already in a prison.

     This was the world’s most impartial and fair judgement temple, the first court in the cultivation world that was independent of the ten great sects.

     Tianyin Pavilion.

     He lay inside, his throat burning and his lips chapped.

     The surroundings were very quiet, so quiet that the empty sound of the wind and the murmurs of spirits could be heard. It took him a long time to gather his scattered consciousness…

     He actually felt that this day should have come in his previous life, but fate was still kind to him in the end, allowing him to live another life before his sins were brought to light in this one.

     “Mo Ran, it’s time to eat.”

     He didn’t know how long he’d been lying there. Here, time seemed to blur.

     He heard someone come over and push food to him from the slot. There was a biscuit and a bowl of soup.

     He didn’t get up to receive it, and the attendant of Tianyin Pavilion also didn’t speak to him again. His footsteps clacked, and he walked away quickly.

     How is Chu Wanning?

     How is Sisheng Peak?

     Where did those destroyed chess pieces end up?

     He faintly and wearily thought about these three questions. He thought for a long time before he resigned himself to the fact that no one would tell him any of the answers.

     He was now a prisoner.

     He sat up.

     His chest hurt, and he didn’t have any strength left in his entire body. The once strong spiritual current had disappeared. He leaned against the wall in a daze for a while—

     It turned out that this was the feeling of his spiritual core being shattered.

     He couldn’t summon holy weapons or cast any spells. It was like the Kun that occupied the wind and waves losing its tail, or the Peng that occupied the clouds and mist losing its wings.

     He curled up in the corner, staring ahead blankly with his dark eyes.

     Mo Ran suddenly felt very sad, but it wasn’t because of himself. He thought of Chu Wanning in his previous life and finally understood the helplessness and pain Chu Wanning had felt at the time.

     He really wanted to apologize to Chu Wanning.

     But it was too late.

     He couldn’t turn back anymore.

     He was trapped in the room. The biscuit and bowl of soup went from hot to cold, then from cold to ice-cold. Then he started to eat. After eating this little bit of food, no one came to the cell again.

     He once again became the Mo Ran who was locked up in a dog cage as a child. However, the treatment in this cell was much better than that of the dog cage, and he could actually lie down comfortably.

     He just lay in the darkness, dozing off and waking up. But waking and sleeping weren’t that important. In this room, it was as if he had died.

     Mo Ran thought groggily to himself that maybe he was already dead. Maybe this life was just a good dream he had while lying in the coffin under Heaven-Piercing Tower, his soul still lingering. The thirty-two years of his life flashed before his eyes like a play, full of colors, joy, and sorrow, but in the end it all turned into withered bones in a grave.

     The corners of his mouth curved up slightly into a smile.

     He actually felt that if this were the case, it would be great.

     He was very tired. He had walked and struggled for too long. Whether it was hell or the human world, he didn’t care. He just wanted to rest.

     His heart was very weary. In fact, ever since Chu Wanning died, he had completely crumbled and aged. He had been doing good deeds and making amends for so many years, looking for a medicine that could cure this kind of aging.

     But he couldn’t find it.

     He had fought for so long, begging relentlessly and shamelessly for so long, and now he was tired of fighting and begging. In this life, he had lost his mother, his Shizun, his close friends, his loved ones, his stolen family, and his false heroic name.

     Now, he had even lost his spiritual core, but he was still taken to Tianyin Pavilion and still couldn’t escape the cultivation world’s most severe condemnation.

     He finally gave up. He knew that he would never be forgiven.

     He, Mo Weiyu, was an ugly and deformed broken mountain, whose scars were covered by the vast winter snow.

     But the snow had melted.

     Neither his darkness nor his terror could be hidden.

     He couldn’t be Mo-zongshi. From the moment he was stained with the blood of the first innocent person, he was destined to be Emperor Taxian-Jun for the rest of his life. He burned harps and stewed cranes, gnashed his teeth and drank blood. His face was worse than a beast’s—he deserved death.

     When he died, the world would rejoice.

     He didn’t know how many days he had been trapped in the criminal’s cell when the door opened.

     The disciples of Tianyin Pavilion walked in and tied him up with immortal binding robe without saying a word, then pulled him up from both sides and dragged him outside.

     They led him through a long, dark corridor.

     Mo Ran said his first words in these past few days, his voice hoarse and dull, “How are they?”

     No one paid any attention to him.

     He was led to the end of the corridor. The sky was bright, and Mo Ran was like a dragon that had been curled up in the darkness for too long. He was blind and uneasy, appearing trapped in this blinding glare. He couldn’t get used to the sudden light. He wanted to cover his eyes, but his hands were tied behind his back, so he could only lower his head as a tears seeped out from under his thick black eyelashes.

     His hearing and vision were impaired, and he didn’t know where he was. Only his sense of smell was clear.

     He smelled the wind, a sea of people, and flowers and trees. He was pushed and walked forward reluctantly.

     Slowly, his ears adjusted to the noise.

     He could hear many people talking, and the whispers compiled like a tidal wave. The tide could wash away the dirt, but this tide could also drown people.

     Mo Ran felt like he couldn’t breathe.

     He was very weak.

     Right now, he was as weak as he could be.

     “Kneel down.”

     His captors were pushing him, and he knelt, the sun shining brightly on his haggard face.

     He didn’t expect that it would be such a sunny day outside.

     “It’s that Mo-zongshi…”

     “I never thought that one day I would see him put on public trial at Tianyin Pavilion. Sigh, you really might know someone but not their hearts.”

     Mo Ran’s ears were buzzing, and his eyes were gradually able to see a little bit, but it was still unclear. He could only use the thick shadow of his eyelashes to slightly close his eyes and look at everything in front of him—

     It was the public trial platform of Tianyin Pavilion, from his memory.

     When he was young, he once watched a trial with Xue Zhengyong and Xue Meng.

     But he had gone from a spectator to a person on trial under the eyes of the public.

     The crowd gathered below the platform like a school of fish. They were ordinary people who came to Tianyin Pavilion to watch the interrogation, the rogue cultivators from all over the world. He couldn’t see anyone’s face clearly, nor could he see the expressions on those faces. He only felt that the whispering figures together formed a surging wave that rose and fell.

     Then he looked up again.

     On the platform towering over the four walls, all sorts of guests from various sects were seated.

     The blue one was Bitan Manor, the red one was Huohuang Pavilion, and the yellow one was Wubei Temple… Then his heart suddenly tightened. It was strange that he could still feel pain.

     He saw that familiar silvery blue—the quietest and most crowded sect on the entire platform.

     Sisheng Peak.

     He blinked, ignoring the stinging in his eyes, and tried his best to look in that direction. He couldn’t see where Xue Zhengyong was. He couldn’t see where Xue Meng was, where Tanlang Elder and Xuanji Elder were. He couldn’t find Madam Wang.

     At the end, on the judgement platform, he still couldn’t see the people he cared about most.

     “Mo Ran of Sisheng Peak, illegitimate son of Nangong Yan, City Lord of Rufeng Sect’s Ninth City…” On the high platform, Mu Yanli stated clearly, using the sound amplification technique. Her voice resounded through the air. “...henceforth should be tried severely and must not be wrongfully convicted or judged…”

     Mo Ran didn’t listen to her words.

     Such a sharp voice was simply too ear-piercing for someone who had been isolated for so long.

     Mu Yanli spoke at a moderate pace for about a cup of tea’s time. The words drifting into Mo Ran’s ears were all bits and pieces of phrases such as “a life for a life”, “harboring evil intentions”, and “practicing forbidden techniques.”

     Finally, he heard her say, “It is Tianyin Pavilion's responsibility to eliminate heinous criminals and bring about justice.”

     After Mu Yanli finished speaking, a disciple of Tianyin Pavilion walked over to him. The disciple arrived in front of Mo Ran and cast a dark shadow as black as ink against the sunlight.

     “Open your mouth.”

     “...”

     Seeing no reaction from Mo Ran, the man made a “tsk” sound and roughly pinched his throat before pouring a pot of bitter and salty liquid into his mouth.

     “Cough, cough cough—”

     Mo Ran couldn’t stop coughing. He hadn’t eaten for many days. When his stomach was suddenly met with such a strong liquid, it spasmed and almost caused him to dry-heave.

     That person pinched his throat and didn’t let him move, forcing him to swallow the entire pot of elixir. The ice-cold elixir slid into his stomach like a snake, overturning rivers and seas as if it were going to tear his internal organs apart.

     Mo Ran’s face was ashen. He needed to vomit—he really needed to vomit.

     But he refused to yield, refused to beg for mercy. He didn’t even want tears to fall from the corners of his eyes. He had spent half his life in destitution and lowliness, but this didn’t mean he had no dignity.

     After the elixir was finished, the man let go of him, and he gasped for breath.

     His wings were drooping, and his fatigue was apparent.

     But he still had the ferocity of a lone eagle on the verge of death.

     A member of Tianyin Pavilion explained to the onlookers from all over the world, as usual—

     “This is the Water of Admission.”

     Mo Ran’s lips turned pale, and his eyes dropped.

     The Water of Admission… ha, Water of Admission—how could he not know?

     This kind of elixir definitely must not be drunk by the innocent. Only those who were prisoners of justice at Tianyin Pavilion would be forced to drink this kind of elixir. They would then become dazed and recount all the major crimes and misdeeds they had committed in their lives.

     After the Tianyin Pavilion disciple finished his explanation, he walked over and lightly tapped the side of Mo Ran’s lips, using the sound amplification technique, so everyone could hear his words.

     Mo Ran closed his eyes and frowned. He felt as if there were a knife twisting in his stomach.

     He was enduring it. Because he struggled so hard, his entire body was trembling, and his shackles were clanging. His face was pale, and the whites of his eyes were slowly rolling up as he lay on the punishment platform, writhing and spasming…

     He was still conscious, but that consciousness was sometimes clear and sometimes blurry. He exhausted all of his willpower to fight against the elixir, but he still couldn’t get rid of it—

     “I… I’ve killed people.” In the end, he still closed his eyes in agony and spoke hoarsely.

     His ragged voice wavered across every corner.

     Everyone fell silent and stared at the person on the platform.

     Mu Yanli stood on the high platform and looked down at him with disdain.

     “How many people have you killed?”

     “...Too many. I don’t remember.”

     The faces of the people below changed.

     “How old were you when you first killed?”

     “Fifteen.”

     “Did you kill cultivators or mortals?”

     “Mortals.”

     “Killing for revenge or self-defense?”

     “Both.”

     The two of them went through questions and answers. Many of the onlookers had gathered to watch the show, so they didn’t know what had happened before. When they heard that Mo Ran had killed people for revenge at the age of fifteen and that he couldn’t even remember the exact number, they were all shocked and angry.

     “I can’t believe that the famous Mo-zongshi is actually a murderous devil who kills without blinking an eye!”

     “So terrifying… This man is too sinister.”

     “When I was fifteen, I didn’t even dare to kill a chicken, but he had already started killing people! What a monster…”

     Mu Yanli ignored them and said coldly, “Continue recounting your crimes.”

     “I…” Mo Ran resisted until his muscles and bones ached, but he couldn’t bear it anymore. He said hoarsely, “I… impersonated the nephew of Sisheng Peak’s Sect Leader…”

     “How long?”

     “Eight years…”

     “Continue recounting your crimes.”

     Mo Ran said slowly, “I… practiced… the three forbidden techniques… Zhenlong… Zhenlong… Chess Formation…”

     Many people in the stands were struck speechless at this moment.

     Someone looked towards Sisheng Peak with a sinister expression and said coldly, “Isn’t Xue Zhengyong still trying to exonerate this beast? I said he would definitely tell the truth after giving him a cup of Admission Water. Xue Zhengyong actually wouldn’t let Tianyin Pavilion interrogate Mo Ran according to the law. I think that old man was blinded by lard. He doesn’t even want to avenge the murder of his nephew. Sisheng Peak has a disciple who cultivates forbidden techniques. This sect should be disbanded, right? What’s the point of keeping it? To continue nurturing devils?”

     “I also said he did it! At Sisheng Peak, when he destroyed his own spiritual core and saved us, it was nothing but a ruse. Fortunately, we didn’t let him off at the time!”

     “That’s right. When there’s life, there’s hope. He must have thought this way. He’s so powerful—so what if his spiritual core was destroyed? He might even come up with a crooked way to recover himself. It seems like this was a really close call. If the Tianyin Pavilion Master hadn't insisted, we might have let this vicious thing go by mistake!”

     There was a huge scale on the public trial platform, flowing with golden brilliance. It was an extremely special divine weapon, weighing hundreds of tons, which had been standing here for thousands of years since Tianyin Pavilion’s establishment, inherited from generation to generation.

     It was said that this scale was left behind by the gods. It could judge all crimes and punishments in the world and give the most just verdict.

     Mo Ran didn’t open his mouth to admit his guilt. Mu Yanli ordered her disciples to put the weights condensed of golden spiritual power into the scale. The exquisite weights fell into the scale and rapidly grew in size, pressing down heavily on the weighing scale accordingly and pointing to the corresponding punishment.

     When he recounted his first sin, the scale pointed to “dig out the spiritual core.”

     After he finished speaking about the Zhenlong Chess Formation, the scale pointed to the ultimate punishment—

     “Destroy the soul.”

     In the stands, Xue Meng’s face instantly lost all color.

     He muttered, “Destroy his soul…?”

     From then on, there would be no more Mo Weiyu in the world, no more Mo Ran.

     It didn’t matter if this elder brother of his was real or fake.

     Even if he was reincarnated, he would never see him again.

     His mind went blank, and his hands were numb.

     Xue Zhengyong stood up and said sternly to Mu Yanli, “The punishment of destroying the soul has never been inflicted on anyone since Tianyin Pavilion was established. Pavilion Master Mu, I’m afraid your judgement is unjust.”