The public trial finally ended.

     Even though some voices were speaking out and defending, the result could not be changed.

     The trial following Tianyin Pavilion’s holy weapon scale was an ancient practice in the cultivation world for thousands of years. No one could escape, so naturally Mo Weiyu wasn’t spared.

     After clearing the area, Mo Ran was escorted to the repentance platform outside of Tianyin Pavilion.

     He was bound by magical shackles, enveloped by boundaries, and surrounded by guards. He would kneel here for three days and three nights, receiving the ridicule and curses of passersby until the day he had to have his spiritual core dug out.

     This was the public announcement.

     “Father, Mother, I want to see him.”

     In the guest room of Tianyin Pavilion, Xue Meng couldn’t sit still. He stood up suddenly but was held back by Madam Wang.

     Madam Wang said, “Don’t go.”

     It was rare for her to be firm, but at this moment, she couldn’t deny it.

     “Don’t go to the repentance platform. Don’t go look at him.”

     “Why?! I just… I just…”

     Madam Wang shook her head.

     “Sisheng Peak—we can’t even protect ourselves now. How many people are ordering us to disband today? Both of you, father and son, must stay calm and not take any more risks. If Sisheng Peak gets into trouble, be it Yuheng or Ran-er, even their last escape route will be cut off.”

     Xue Meng was at a loss. “But would anyone really curse him and scold him? I don’t know what’s going on with the Zhenlong Chess Formation or why he can solve it, but…”

     He buried his face in his hands, and his voice was full of tears.

     “But, he really saved us that day… Why do some people who haven’t experienced the disaster that day and didn’t see the situation treat him like this just based on one side of the story?”

     Why?

     Xue Meng didn’t understand. He was too pure.

     But Madam Wang knew, and Xue Zhengyong also understood it.

     Tianyin Pavilion was the most just place in the cultivation world. Once something was decided, especially after being tempered by time and standing tall for thousands of years, very few people would think about why it was just and whether it was wrong or not. With such power, even if there were any objections, they would be easily drowned out.

     Mo Weiyu was a sinner.

     Because he was a sinner, anyone could abuse him and spit on him.

     Because it was the sinner who was cursed and beaten, even if they were spitting and punching, it wasn’t violence, wasn’t the venting of jealousy, and definitely wasn’t obtaining pleasure in watching a tiger fall from grace.

     Instead, it was punishing evil and promoting good.

      Everyone should applaud and cheer. Whoever dared to speak out and plead for mercy would be considered his accomplice and should be dragged onto the platform with his face painted and his hair cut off. They would be devoid of morals, unable to distinguish between right and wrong, then punished together.

     Xue Meng could not go to the repentance platform.

     It would be chaos.

     In the evening, there was a light rain.

     The repentance platform wasn’t covered, and Mo Ran kneeled in the misty rain, the fine drizzle falling on his face. He closed his eyes. The crowd surged, and even the rain couldn’t extinguish the excitement.

     By this time, all the cultivators had already dispersed, and most of those who remained were ordinary people who didn’t understand anything. Since these residents of the upper cultivation world were not cultivators, they were unaware of the various changes that had occurred before. However, they were very curious, holding up oil-paper umbrellas as they sized up the man who was chained up.

     During the day, they were far away from the platform and couldn’t see Mo Ran’s appearance clearly.

     But when the public trial moved to the repentance platform, all of these people could come to take a closer look.

     A girl whispered in surprise, “When I heard what he did this morning, I thought he was an ugly monster with a green face and fierce teeth. I didn’t expect him to be so good-looking.”

     The strong man beside her tidied her cloak considerately and said, “You’re too naïve. There are countless people in this world who are good-looking but have sinister hearts. You must not be fooled by the appearance of such a person.”

     There were also parents who came with their children.

     The father was a scholarly teacher of the upper cultivation world. He was gentle and refined. He picked up his child, so he could clearly see Mo Ran kneeling there.

     “Do you see that? You must be a good person in the future and never behave like this kind of beast.”

     The child was only five or six years old and wasn’t very sensible yet, so he asked, “Dad, what did he do wrong? Why is he kneeling there?”

     “The number of mistakes he made is too many to count.” The teacher said sourly, “According to the conclusion of Tianyin Pavilion’s public trial, he killed people, set fire, practiced forbidden techniques, and deceived others about his identity. This person has no sense of shame or humanity. He is cold-blooded and dark, worse than pigs and dogs. When you grow up, you must not be like him. Do you understand?”

     “I understand.”

     Just as the father breathed a sigh of relief, he heard the child ask him, “But, dad, do you know him?”

     The father was stunned for a moment. “Me? …Of course I don’t know him. Your father is the most righteous gentleman at Qingfeng Academy of the upper cultivation world. I have been upright and honest all my life and have made friends with knowledgeable people and decent gentlemen. How could I know this kind of evil person?”

     He paused for a moment, as if he felt that he needed to add more fuel to the fire. He earnestly instructed the child, “Our family is scholarly, and we have been nurtured with excellent moral influence since childhood. Even saying one word to a man like him would be shameful and dirty. Do you understand?”

     This time, the child did not say he understood, nor did he say he did not.

     He asked in confusion, “But dad, since you don’t know him, how do you know that he… he… hm…” He tried to mimic his father’s words and recalled them with difficulty. “He is worse than pigs and dogs, or cold-blooded and dark. Today is the first day we’ve met him… Doesn’t it take a long, long time to know a person? Like me and Xiao Hua next door…”

     The teacher said, “You don’t understand. This is different. He’s been convicted.”

     The child looked at Mo Ran with big black eyes. After a while, he said, “But this gege looks so pitiful… He doesn’t seem to be a bad person. That Tianyin Pavilion—could it be the trial that was wrong?”

     “You are too young, that’s why you think this way.” The teacher had always been pedantic and dismissed his son’s questioning. “When you grow up, you will understand that Tianyin Pavilion has always been the fairest and most impartial place in the world for thousands of years. The temple left by the gods cannot be wrong.”

     The child stared at Mo Ran with his finger in his mouth. He didn’t seem to understand, but he no longer spoke up for Mo Ran.

     As the night went on, the crowd gradually thinned and dispersed.

     In the middle of the night, the drizzle turned into a heavy rain, and there was no one left.

     The night passed, and at the break of dawn, a peddler who was rushing to the morning market slowly pushed his cart.

     The rain was heavy, and the wind was strong. The peddler was hunched over as he pushed his worn wooden cart. At that moment, Mo Ran was only half conscious. He could hear the sound of the cart’s wheels on the bluestone road and the peddler’s labored and heavy breathing.

     His mind drifted, and he faintly thought that he was still traveling for a few years in the outside world.

     He opened his eyes slightly as they lost focus.

     But almost reflexively, just as he’d done every day and night since he’d lost Chu Wanning, he instinctively wanted to help the weary peddler push the cart under the tree—wanted to do whatever he could.

     But he found that he couldn’t stand up.

     It was a long time before he remembered that those days of atonement were gone forever.

     He was now a convicted criminal of Tianyin Pavilion.

     Suddenly, a strong wind blew. The wind was so strong that the tarp on the peddler’s cart was rolled up. He tried to flatten it but to no avail.

     The tarp was blown up and the goods on the cart were thoroughly drenched by the rain. This poor man, exhausted from running around for a living, anxiously chased the tarp in the rain.

     Mo Ran looked at him.

     He felt very sad because he remembered the past, when his mother had danced on the tips of knives for a copper coin.

     In this world, there were always so many people who had to brave the wind and rain and wander for a mouthful of food while others slept peacefully.

     He really wanted to help him.

     In this quiet, rainy night, he felt so calm that he was able to recall many things from the past. He thought back to the time he once smiled and said those words to his mother.

      “When I am successful, I will build many, many houses, so that everyone will have a place to live, and no one will be hungry or cold anymore.”

     Mo Ran actually didn’t understand why none of the Tianyin Pavilion disciples standing nearby stepped forward to help the peddler.

     It was clearly just a matter of lifting one’s hand.

     But these people stood as straight as pines and cypresses, in the most solemn and dignified manner of Tianyin Pavilion. They did not move. Their bodies were like boulders, and their hearts probably weren’t much different from rocks.

     The peddler ran after the tarp, panting for breath. The tarp was blown, wrinkled, and rolled all the way to the repentance platform and in front of Mo Ran.

     A hand as skinny as an old tree finally caught it.

     Mo Ran breathed a sigh of relief and felt relieved for him.

     But the peddler knew that the contents of his cart had been soaked through. His mood was very poor, but he didn’t know how to vent it. He gripped the tarp, and just as he was feeling distressed, he suddenly realized that Mo Ran was looking at him.

     He turned and glared at him.

     Suddenly, he gritted his teeth and spat fiercely at Mo Ran’s face. “What are you looking at?! Even a lowly person like you wants to laugh at me?! Damn thing! Let’s see how you die!”

     He wasn’t satisfied, but he didn’t dare to get too close. He picked up a few stones and threw them at Mo Ran.

     The young disciples of Tianyin Pavilion were used to this.

     In private, they would often laugh and say, “As long as people can distinguish between good and evil, they will hate those criminals. It won’t even matter if they beat them a couple times.”

     They were very understanding of the common people’s feelings.

     Hence, they didn’t stop them often.

     A few stones hitting his face and body didn’t hurt.

     But Mo Ran was trembling slightly.

     Seeing him trembling and in pain, the peddler seemed to feel that his bad luck and misery today was nothing. His resentment somewhat lifted as he dragged his frail body towards the cart and covered it with the tarp before walking far away.

     The rain was boundless between the sky and the earth. The heavy rain washed away the peddler’s thick phlegm and also washed away the many stains.

     The rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the world was cleaned.

     Dawn came.

     The cultivators of Tianyin Pavilion came out of the city gate one after another. When they passed by Mo Ran, they either ignored him or looked at him with disdain.

     Suddenly, a pair of black boots stopped in front of Mo Ran.

     An umbrella fell, blocking the pattering rain.

     Mo Ran was sleeping and didn’t notice.

     Until he heard people arguing.

     There was a gentle and deep voice, but their tone was very insistent. “Cast a barrier to protect him from the rain.”

     “Without the Pavilion Master’s order, the repentance platform is not to be touched.”

     “It’s just a barrier.”

     “Can’t help.”

     Mo Ran opened his eyes. In a daze, he saw a tall and upright man—no, not a man. It was Ye Wangxi. Ye Wangxi’s attitude was firm. “The day of execution hasn’t arrived yet. You should not treat him like this.”

     “What did we do to him?” Someone frowned. “Miss Ye, you have to take responsibility for your words. Tianyin Pavilion acts according to the rules. It was the heavens who could not bear to see him and wanted it to rain. This is not a punishment we imposed on him.”

     Ye Wangxi’s eyes flashed with anger. “Isn’t this punishment? The whole night! You let him get soaked like this for the whole night?! If I hadn’t seen it today…”

     A group of cultivators from Bitan Manor were passing by below. It was Zhen Congming and his juniors.

     Hearing the commotion, Zhen Congming glanced over and sneered, “Oh, the commander of Rufeng Sect’s Dark City is meddling in other people’s business again?”

     “Holding up an umbrella for the sinner, haha.”

     The surrounding people gathered and whispered to each other. There were even a few female cultivators who rolled their eyes at Ye Wangxi and started whispering.

     Unfortunately, their voices were not low.

     “I heard that back at Rufeng Sect, the black-clad man who stood up for Ye Wangxi was Mo Ran.”

     “What? How come I didn’t know…? It was actually this evil spirit that helped her?”

     “Mo Ran even killed his godmother, who raised him. How could he be so good to Ye Wangxi?”

     There was silence for a moment before someone opened their eyes wide and covered their mouth with a handkerchief as they paled. “Heavens, could the two of them be…”

     What was it?

     They were very clever. No one said it clearly at the moment, but they all had looks of disgust and excitement on their faces. Their irresponsible speculation was too comfortable, like a prolonged climax that spread through the crowd in the falling rain.

     They stared at the two people on the platform.

     A man and a woman.

     Why would a woman be willing to help a hopeless man? Did she sleep with him? She definitely slept with him. She must have loved him to death and entangled with him in bed, so deeply entwined with him.

     So dirty.

     Mo Ran raised his eyes and glanced at Ye Wangxi. He tried to speak, but the first time, he couldn’t make a sound.

     He had to swallow again, then say hoarsely, “Miss Ye…”

     “You’re awake?” Ye Wangxi lowered her head, still as gentle and upright as before.

     “...You should go… Don’t stand here anymore. It’s not good for you.”

     Ye Wangxi didn’t leave. She had brought a pot of warm water with her and leaned over, holding the umbrella under her arms while opening the lid of the pot. The umbrella tilted, and almost all the rainwater fell on her.

     “Drink something…”

     Someone from Tianyin Pavilion immediately came to stop her. “Miss Ye, prisoners are not allowed to have anything.”

     “Then, can prisoners be stoned and beaten by bystanders?”

     Although Ye Wangxi didn’t see what happened last night, there were stones of all sizes scattered around Mo Ran. There were also bruises on his forehead and cheeks.

     She stared at them with a certain ferocity in her eyes that was a bit like Nangong Si’s.

     The shadow of her old friend gradually appeared in her figure.

     “Isn’t Tianyin Pavilion supposed to act impartially? Is this what you call fairness?”

     Those people knew they were in the wrong, so they didn’t say anything more. The leader looked embarrassed and coughed lightly. “Forget about the water. He can’t have anything else.”

     Ye Wangxi fed him some warm water.

     Mo Ran said in a low voice, “Why…”

     “You helped A-Si.” Ye Wangxi didn’t raise her eyes. “You also helped me.”

     “...On Mount Jiao, if the person who died was me, Nangong Si would…”

      Ye Wangxi’s hand paused slightly. She was trembling, but in the end, she still said, “Everyone wants to live. I won’t blame you just because you want to live.”

     “...”

     “Drink.” She said, “Xue Meng can’t come—he was stopped by his parents. I am holding the umbrella here. You’ve risked the world’s condemnation to help me and A-Si. Now, even if no one is on your side, I will still help you.”

     Her expression was impassionate but very determined.

     “I’m here.”

     She was a woman of her word. She stood beside Mo Ran just like this. Tianyin Pavilion refused to open a barrier, so she held the umbrella and tilted it slightly to shield Mo Ran from the rain.

     With her standing there, there were no more people throwing stones, but the commentary became more and more unpleasant.

     An androgynous monster. An impeccably-dressed beast.

     A woman who couldn’t distinguish between good and bad. A heartless murderer.

     If they wanted to condemn someone, they could always find a pretense. Moreover, everyone knew that the man kneeling on the ground would never be able to turn his life around, while the woman standing by his side had long since lost her sect and had no one to rely on.

     No matter how ugly their curses, who would care about them?

     It was at this moment that Mo Ran was shocked to realize how many brave warriors there were in the world who came forward one after another, impassioned, like bamboo shoots springing up after the rain.

     They were so upright, indignant, and resentful of evil.

     He didn’t know where these people had gone in the past.

     Tianyin Pavilion’s interrogation was the rarest thing to come by. It would take at least ten years for anyone to receive this honor.

     The onlookers came and went in waves, retreating and returning like the ebb and flow of the tide. Someone said, “This Mo Ran has done a lot of good things before, but now it seems like he had ulterior motives. He even stayed overnight in our village. Such a murderous demon, just thinking about it makes me afraid.”

     “I heard that his mother is Duan Yihan. Did you know?”

     “Duan Yihan? The unreachable music fairy?” Those who heard it were shocked. “Isn’t that girl very nice? I’ve heard she’s talented, gentle, noble, and kind-hearted…”

     Immediately, someone said sarcastically, “You men are really interesting. Duan Yihan is a prostitute, right? It seems even a prostitute can be praised as a noble these days. I think this world has really changed. There really are no moral standards in your heart.”

     The man who got rebuked was a little unhappy. “Duan Yihan is a musician, not a prostitute. She’s been in the music house for so long and has never accepted a single guest—”

     “You think she didn’t accept because you’re poor. For this kind of woman, as long as you have enough money, there’s no such thing as innocence.”

     At this time, someone spoke up with emotion, “What’s the difference between a musician and a prostitute? They’re both people who don’t know self-respect or shame. These days, there are actually people trying to defend prostitutes. I didn’t expect that the upper cultivation world's morality had fallen to such a low level.”

     The one who spoke up was none other than the teacher who had come with the child yesterday.

     Today, he wasn’t holding his child, but a stack of books. He was followed by a group of boys from the academy. The teacher raised his chin slightly, looking extremely noble.

     Someone recognized him and said politely, “Ma-xiansheng is ending class early today.”

     “What you see on paper is only shallow in understanding.” The teacher said, “I ended class early today to bring students here to learn in person and see the world.”

      After he finished speaking, he shot a glance at the young master who spoke up for Duan Yihan and snorted disdainfully. “But I didn’t expect to hear such shocking words. This has truly broadened this Ma’s eyes. I’m deeply worried for the development of the cultivation world.”

      “Yes, Ma-xiansheng is right. Xiansheng really is a model of morality.”

      “Xiansheng is a role model with good intentions.”

      The man who dared to speak up for Duan Yihan was ashamed and angry, but the surrounding people were all laughing at him. His face turned red as a pig’s liver, but he couldn’t say anything and only flicked his sleeve and left angrily.

      When Mo Ran heard these words, he was furious at first but then felt powerless.

      He could do nothing but listen as his long-dead mother was reviled by the crowd.

      He could only let the woman who told him, “do not seek revenge; repay kindness,” before she died be chewed to pieces by those black mouths. She was called a prostitute, a whore, and a woman who gave birth to a bastard child.

      He couldn’t stop them from speaking.

      Ye Wangxi held back for a long time but finally couldn’t bear it anymore. She took a step forward and wanted to argue with the people in the crowd.

      But Mo Ran called her in a low voice, “Don’t say any more.”

      “...”

      “It’s useless.”

      Ye Wangxi returned to his side. By this time, the rain had gradually stopped, but her umbrella still didn’t close, as if this thin oil-paper umbrella could block anything.

      Mo Ran raised his eyes to look at her, and after a while, he said hoarsely, “Don’t stand here with me. Miss Ye, if you believe me… then return to Tianyin Pavilion. Find Xue Meng, find the people of Sisheng Peak… and tell them…”

      He paused for a moment.

      At this moment, he didn’t even have the strength to speak.

      “Tell them to listen to me… and try to… find Hua Binan as soon as possible… find my Shizun…”

     When he mentioned Chu Wanning, he felt a sharp pain in his heart.

     Where was Chu Wanning?

     Listening to Shi Mei’s tone, he wouldn’t harm him, but where would Shi Mei take him? And what would he be forced to do?

     He couldn’t think too deeply about it.

     “The first forbidden technique has truly been cast. You have to be on guard beforehand.” Mo Ran’s eyelashes fluttered. “...I can’t stop the second attack… but there will definitely be a second one… Please believe me… I have no other intentions. I just want this to stop.”

     It can’t go on like this.

     I don’t want to make the same mistake again and see Chu Wanning summon Huaisha again. 

     I don’t want to see him alone again, dying to repair the crack in the sky.