Most people would change. Even if they were the same person with the same appearance, due to various situations and encounters, the variables would change. After ten or twenty years, their personalities and mentalities would no longer be the same.

     In fact, when he had planted the curse on Mo Ran, Shi Mei had also been a cold-hearted person with a will as firm as steel.

     In his eyes, other than his own revenge and his own goal, there was no room for anything else.

     But at that time, when he looked at the actions of his other self from another mortal world, he examined himself deeply in his heart. He suddenly wanted to know if Hua Binan had ever felt the slightest bit uncomfortable in his heart, or ever felt cold for a moment.

     In the end, he still followed Hua Binan’s instructions. At this point, he had no way back.

     He clearly knew that personal feelings would ruin his plans, and there was nothing more important than stabilizing Mo Ran and protecting himself.

     In any case, he had been acting for so long and wearing a mask for so many years that he was sick to his bones and grew numb to it. Acting according to the circumstances—acting according to his other self—even Chu Wanning’s death wouldn’t change anything.

     He just stood by Naihe Bridge, holding the Soul-Calling Lantern given by Master Huaizui, and didn’t go anywhere, not able to resolutely tread through water and fire for the person he loved. He couldn’t help but feel envious.

     It would be great if he could be like Xue Meng and Mo Ran and take control of his own life, or even make decisions for his own life.

     But his fate had never been his. He was like a young man in a play, unwilling but silently managing the excerpt in his hands that only he could complete.

     At the beginning, he had seduced Mo Ran.

     Mo Ran smiled at him and said, “Shi Mei, I really like you.”

     Later, he used Xu Shuanglin.

     Xu Shuanglin had languidly tossed oranges in the air as his eyes closed slightly. “I’ve been wandering all my life. I never thought I would meet a friend like you. Many thanks to you for your willingness to teach me the forbidden technique of Rebirth. When that loser, Luo Fenghua, comes back to life, I will definitely make him cook a bowl of tangyuan for you. You don’t know, but his tangyuan is the best. I’m only willing to let you taste it because I think highly of you.”

     In the end, the dagger was revealed.

     It was the same as the worst-case scenario he had discussed with Hua Binan. He had no choice but to sacrifice himself to distract his Shizun and friends, so the space-time gate would open smoothly at that critical moment.

     He was originally a man with chess pieces in his hands.

     But when his own self came from ten years later, he had become his pawn as well.

     The feeling of being controlled wasn’t pleasant. It wasn’t that he didn’t hate it, but the obsession in his heart was too strong and his wish too deep. He didn’t want to give up so easily.

     But…

     He really, really didn’t know that the so-called “small sacrifice” of his other self referred to the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and the collapse of the mortal world.

     It was only after opening the Gate of Time, Space, Life, and Death that he saw the cruel truth.

     This Shi Mingjing was not that Shi Mingjing after all. He hadn’t experienced those ten years, nor had he experienced day after day of indignity.

     At this moment, he really couldn’t understand his previous self from ten years in the future.

     But there was no turning back.

     At this moment, he was nothing more than an abandoned chess piece. Like all the black and white pieces on the chessboard, he had lost his edge and was no longer useful.

     “Shizun.” The light was dim, reflecting on his beautiful face. He was still calm and gentle. “Actually, I’ve been thinking about this for a long time… I was thinking that Mo Ran could start all over again and become a different person. I wonder, if I could turn back, would I also make a different choice because of a single mistake?”

     The room was very quiet, and only his voice could be heard.

     “But now, it’s too late.” Shi Mei said, “I know that Shizun already hates me to the bone and the young master will no longer treat me as a friend again… Regardless of whether I hesitated along the way or not, I still eventually became like him.”

     He placed his hand on Chu Wanning’s hot cheek and quietly passed healing spiritual power to him.

     “I’m sorry I’ve disappointed Shizun,” he said. “The only thing I’m grateful for is that I’m blind and don’t have to see you hate me.”

     After pausing for a moment, Shi Mei smiled, and the entire room was filled with spring.

     “The last thing I saw was you all feeling sad for me. That’s enough.”

     He untied the immortal binding rope on Chu Wanning’s hands, removed the forbidden spell on the bed, and then destroyed the spell on the stone door.

     After doing this, Shi Mei turned around, rubbed his hands, and slowly left the secret room.

     He walked far away and was swallowed up by darkness.

     Meanwhile, at Tianyin Pavilion, Teacher Ma had just returned from private school. He rubbed his sore shoulders and entered the house. As usual, he went to the kitchen to make himself a cup of Eight Treasures Tea.

     He pushed the door open and entered. It was dark.

     Teacher Ma couldn’t help but frown. He rubbed the lamp and shouted, “Madam? It’s so late, why didn’t you even light a candle? You are…”

     With a “sha,” the fire knife and flint shone brightly.

     Teacher Ma was speechless and stood in the middle of the room in horror. He saw that all of the servants in the house had been hung to death, hanging like a string of windchimes on the beams. His wife had been disemboweled, and her bloody intestines flowed all over the floor. Her eyes and mouth were open, and her head was turned in the direction of the door.

     “Ah…” Teacher Ma wanted to scream, but what came out of his mouth was an extremely vague and trembling sound. After a while, his scalp went numb, and urine and feces spilled as he screamed, “Ah!!!”

     “Tsk. What’s the fuss about?” A man came out of the back room, holding a volume of the “Book of Documents” classic in his hand. He scratched his neck with the scroll and yawned. “Haven’t you seen a dead person before?”

     “You… you, you, you!! Mo—Mo…!”

     The man snapped his fingers and explained jadedly, “The Silencing Spell.”

     “What, what spell?”

     “The Silencing Spell—you don’t even know about this?” The man rolled his eyes. “This Venerable One was studying the classics in teacher’s house and knows it’s not good to disturb the neighbors’ rest so late at night. Come on, scream as loud as you want. If anyone can hear you, please don’t hesitate to blame This Venerable One.”

     Teacher Ma’s face was a white as a ghost, and his legs were weak on both sides. He was usually very calm, but when had he ever seen such a bloody scene? He was so frightened that he couldn’t control himself and started sweating all over. After a long time, he said in a trembling voice, “Mo… you devil… devil… You… shouldn’t you be at Tianyin Pavilion’s punishment platform…? You… you…”

     “Tianyin Pavilion’s punishment platform?”

     The man lifted his purple-tinted black eyes and smiled.

     “That’s right. This Venerable One went there to see it. Otherwise, how could this one have heard Ma-xiansheng’s mighty opinion the day before yesterday?”

     As he spoke, he threw the scroll aside, straightened his tall and slim body, and walked slowly towards the teacher.

     The lamp illuminated his exceedingly handsome face. Who else could it be but Taxian-Jun?

     Taxian-Jun smiled brightly, his dimples very deep. He actually bowed to the teacher. “This Venerable One admires scholars most in my life. It’s rude to come here and kill your whole family. Greetings, xiansheng.”

     His unsettling tone of voice combined with the fact that people had died in vain.

     Even if the man surnamed Ma had seventeen or eighteen times more courage, he still wouldn’t have the guts. He fell to the ground with a thud and gasped for breath. “What do you want to do? …What do you want to do?!”

     Taxian-Jun only smiled. He raised his hand, and a blade appeared in his palm.

     He turned his face to the side and glanced at the teacher. “You want to guess?”

     “Don’t kill me!!!” Teacher Ma screamed miserably and continuously retreated backward. “Don’t kill me!!!”

     As he retreated, he bumped into something. He turned his head and faced his wife’s open eyes. He wailed uncontrollably, “No, no, no!!! No, no—don’t… please… don’t… Ahhh!! AHHHHH!!”

     He was answered with a knife stabbing straight down into his thigh and piercing through the ground!

     “AH—!!!”

     Taxian-Jun narrowed his eyes, his smile kind and sweet. “Dare I ask, xiansheng… what is the difference between a musician and a prostitute?”

     “Wh-what?” Teacher Ma was stunned. He was in so much pain that he couldn’t think. He could only cry. “What…?”

     “You said it yourself.” Taxian-Jun said slowly, “Xiansheng said so in front of Tianyin Pavilion—musicians and prostitutes are both people who don’t know self-respect or shame. These days, there are actually people speaking up for prostitutes. I didn’t expect that the upper cultivation world's morals had fallen to such a low level.”

     He imitated the tone of the teacher’s speech, calm and old-fashioned.

     After saying this, he paused for a while, then sneered before casting him a sidelong glance.

     “Are you familiar with memorization, xiansheng?”

     At last, Teacher Ma had a vague sense of awareness in the midst of his shock. He remembered that these were the words he said when criticizing Mo Weiyu’s mother. He hurriedly said, through tears and snot, “No, no, no, I’m confused! This…” He swallowed his saliva, and his face was full of sweat. “A prostitute is a prostitute, and a musician is a musician… No, they’re different, they’re different…”

     “How are they different? This Venerable One thinks what you said is very reasonable.” Taxian-Jun walked over with a smile and raised the blade again. “Speaking of which, This Venerable One’s brain isn’t very good, and This Venerable One is always lacking guidance. Since you have such a clever tongue, why don’t you impart knowledge to This Venerable One?”

     “No… no, no, no! Zongshi, please spare me! Lord cultivator, please spare me!” Teacher Ma’s words were incoherent, and he was sweating profusely. “Please, I beg you for your great kindness and benevolence…”

     Taxian-Jun smiled. “What zongshi? Do you have ears? You should call me 'Your Majesty'.”

     “Your… Your Majesty?” Teacher Ma was stunned, but it didn’t matter. As long as he was alive, he could call him father. Then he said, “Your Majesty! Your Majesty, please spare me! Your Majesty, please have mercy!”

     Taxian-Jun crouched down, pinched his chin, and said with a smile, “Ah, role model of morality, I want to ask you, is it me who is unprincipled or is it xiansheng who is unprincipled?”

     “Me, me, me! It’s me, it’s me! It’s me… It’s…”

     But what was the use of sparing his life?

     Taxian-Jun exerted the force in his palm, and in the midst of his pleas and cries, he crushed his throat with a bright smile.

     After doing this, the black-robed man looked around the room and confirmed with satisfaction that no one was still alive. Then he stood up, wiped the blood off his hands, and walked out of the courtyard.

     Hua Binan was waiting for him outside.

     “Have you finished venting?”

     “More or less.”

     “Can you come back to Tianyin Pavilion with me to prepare?”

     Taxian-Jun glanced at him. “Okay.”

     Hua Binan shook his head. “I really don’t know what to do with you. You even care about such a small grudge. Isn’t it just a few words about your mother? Do you have to—”

     “Then why doesn’t This Venerable One say a few words about your mother?”

     “...”

     Hua Binan’s expression changed slightly. He finally turned his face away and stopped answering.

     “Let’s go. Didn’t you say that you would take out Mo-zongshi’s core and put it back into This Venerable One’s body tomorrow? Then what are you waiting for? This Venerable One can’t wait.”

     As Emperor Taxian-Jun spoke, his robe fluttered, and he strode towards Tianyin Pavilion.

     Golden light shone through the clouds, and the sky soon brightened up.

     With a horrified scream, the bodies of Teacher Ma’s family were discovered by the neighbors who had woken up early. Such a murder case should be able to cause a huge commotion, but unfortunately it did not.

     Because at this very moment, an even more eye-catching punishment was being carried out.

     On the punishment platform of Tianyin Pavilion, lamps burned fiercely, emitting the fragrance of pines and cypresses. Two maids from Tianyin Pavilion, draped in robes of fluttering silk, lit up the lamps on both sides of the punishment platform with soft, jade-like arms.

     Strangely, the guards of Tianyin Pavilion were all extraordinarily good-looking—the men were handsome and the women were gorgeous. It was unknown if this was due to Tianyin Pavilion’s mental cultivation method or because Mu Yanli was very particular about appearance when accepting disciples.

     “Heaven and earth naturally have their own brilliance, and good and evil will eventually be repaid.”

     One after another, the bronze lamps were lit up, and the flames were like bright red silk, drifting and swaying in the air.

     There were people everywhere—on the platform, below the platform, north, west, south, and east.

     The punishment platform was so densely packed with people. Xue Meng sat in Sisheng Peak’s area, trembling and shaking slightly.

     In these past three days, Xue Zhengyong had been begging people everywhere, but it was useless. Those cultivators believed in the fairness of the holy weapon scale and were also afraid of Mo Weiyu, who controlled the Zhenlong Chess Formation.

     “He saved us.”

     The person from Sisheng Peak tirelessly tried to explain to everyone who could be persuaded. “He was the one who shattered his spiritual core to save us that day. If he was plotting something, why would he do this?”

     But there were still too many doubts about Mo Ran, so no sect was willing to stand by their side. Even Guyue’ye and Taxue Palace remained neutral and stayed silent.

     —

     The first forbidden technique, which had been lost for thousands of years, suddenly reappearing, aopposed to the first public trial hall that had stood for thousands of years.

     Only a fool would choose to believe the former.

     Therefore, Xue Zhengyong’s running seemed so stupid, and Sisheng Peak’s arguments seemed so weak and feeble.

     Xue Meng had vaguely thought, Why don’t we break into the prison?

     But he also knew that it was impossible.

     There were guards of Tianyin Pavilion everywhere, as well as sect leaders and disciples of other sects. Below the stands was a sea of people.

     Countless pairs of eyes were watching, and there was no way to escape.

     So, digging out the spiritual core was still ultimately the outcome for Mo Ran.

     “Tianyin Pavilion has issued the public announcement for three days. The punishment for the crimes has been decided.” Mu Yanli looked down at the endless sea of people solemnly and elegantly. She rang the bell in her hand. “Bring the prisoner Mo Ran.”

     Mo Ran was escorted from the repentance platform to the punishment platform. The man with a shattered spiritual core was being watched by dozens of the highest level Tianyin Pavilion disciples.

     They were vultures, and he was going to die soon. Not many people could survive after digging out a spiritual core. The vultures’ eyes flashed with the smell of blood. 

     “Mo Ran has committed despicable crimes and will be punished by having his spiritual core dug out at noon today.” Mu Yanli’s voice was clear and cold. “There are ten crimes. I will read them out for the benefit of the world.”

     The rain had stopped, but the ground was still wet. Mo Ran stood in a puddle of water, the light of the sky and shadows of the clouds lingering beneath his feet. He looked up and found Ye Wangxi among the crowd.

     He stared at her with his dark eyes as if asking her a question. He wanted to ask if she had already followed his instructions and spoke with the people of Sisheng Peak. He wanted to ask if she was clear about what she could not let go of afterwards.

     Ye Wangxi nodded at him, and Mo Ran’s lips curled into a bright and gentle smile, his eyes shining.

     The weather was so nice.

     The rain stopped.

     “First crime: slaughtering people and disregarding human life.”

     Mu Yanli’s voice echoed within Tianyin Pavilion, solemn and dignified.

     “Second crime: setting fire to a building to avenge a personal grievance.”

     Incense burned in front of the Buddha, and the gods and goddesses of the heavens, either angry or kind, fell to sit in the ring, looking down at the masses. All these years, Mo Ran didn’t like to look up at the sky. If there really were gods in the sky, he was afraid that he would be discovered from the hidden sins and evil intentions in his eyes.

     But at this moment, he finally relaxed. He looked up at the sky. The sunlight was like a cleansing, soaking his dark purple eyes into a light brown and making them seem pure.

     Mu Yanli’s voice was so distant. He closed his eyes.

     He did not look at Sisheng Peak, nor did he look at any of the faces of his old friends.

     “Sixth crime: secretly practicing forbidden techniques and violating the great precepts.”

     Suddenly, something occurred to him, and there was some regret and tenderness between his brows.

     Originally, in this life, he wanted to treat Chu Wanning well, but unfortunately, he couldn’t do it. Even his first true relationship and promises to him had ended in a mess.

     It ended in failure.

     He really wasn’t a good man. He was a star of calamity, a god of plague, and a bad joke.

     These two lifetimes.

     He wanted to protect his mother, but failed.

     He wanted to repay kindness, but failed.

     When he was a child, he wanted to be a hero. Later, he wanted to secretly be Sect Leader Xue’s nephew for the rest of his life. Now, at the end of his life, he gave up his heart and became the world’s most cold-blooded and merciless Emperor Taxian-Jun.

     But it was all in vain.

     “Emperor Taxian-Jun, Mo Weiyu, Mo-zongshi…” His eyelashes trembled slightly, and his adam’s apple rolled. In the end, he sighed with a sneer of regret that only he could hear.

     “You really are the most ridiculous person in the world.”

      He sighed and raised his head to gaze towards the sky. The wind ruffled the wisps of hair at his forehead. He squinted his eyes and thought, Where is Chu Wanning now?

     It was probably because he had received too much and used up all his fate that he wouldn’t be able to see the man again in this life.

     Good. He narrowed his eyes and smiled on the punishment platform.

     At least he didn’t have to let Wanning see him in such a sorry state.

     “The time is approaching! Prepare for punishment—!”

     A majestic chorus sounded, and the horn was blown.

     It was as if a nightmare cast its shadow, as if the “prepare for punishment” could be heard from thousands of miles away. Inside the secret room of Mount Jiao, Chu Wanning suddenly opened his eyes and sat up in shock.

     “Mo Ran!”

     The candlelight flickered, and he gasped for breath, his clothes soaked with sweat.

     He trembled slightly. The moment he opened his mouth, he said the name that had been intertwined with him for two lifetimes almost subconsciously. Then, his adam’s apple moved up and down, and his eyes glazed over a little.

     He seemed to have seen a shadow of a blade just now, and he suddenly shuddered violently. His heart was beating like a drum, and he didn’t know why, but he was so frightened.

     “...”

     Sitting on the bed, he fiercely rubbed his face with his palms. His sweat gradually cooled, and he finally came back to his senses.

     Memories kept flashing before his eyes, but they didn’t belong to him. Half of his soul had been in Mo Ran’s body for too long, so when it returned to him, it actually brought with it many memories that belonged to Mo Ran—those memories that were swallowed by the Eight Sufferings Everlasting Hatred Flower and lost.

     Important memories that even Mo Ran himself no longer remembered.

     Chu Wanning had seen it all…