Wei Ming gazed doubtfully at the distant sky, feeling that there was something peculiar about this rain. However, this thought spun around in his mind a few times and, for some reason, became increasingly blurry, as if an invisible hand had forcibly erased everything that defied reason. The raindrops falling on his body no longer struck with a painful sting; instead, they were warm and cozy, ready to accompany him into a dreamless, sound sleep at any moment.

What was he trying to do again?

His fingers unintentionally brushed past the lotus jade pendant hanging at his waist. A small cluster of golden-red light burst open with a bang, and a sharp, piercing pain, as if seared by a brand, shot through his fingertip. Yet it was this very pain that jolted him awake from his stupor, firmly nailing his nearly scattered soul back into his body.

The formless restraints coiling around him were broken by the stream of light. Wei Ming shuddered, now completely awake.

He came to his senses just in time to see Chi Lian and Chou Xinwei fighting. Neither of them noticed that he had woken up. Out of caution, Wei Ming did not move, choosing instead to continue playing dead and observe. Who would have thought that the situation would then take a sharp turn and spiral out of control—first, Chi Lian admitted his true identity, then Chou Xinwei exposed the rain-summoning miracle that the Empress and Marquis Cheng'en had prepared for the Crown Prince. Finally, the Ran Dragon brought up an old score from twenty years ago, revealing how the Empress had repaid kindness with malice, ultimately ending with the couple turning against each other and her taking her own life.

Only the Crown Prince was still obliviously reciting the prayer text for rain.

Two blood-streaked eyeballs fell to the ground and transformed into liquid beads shimmering with blue spiritual light. Chou Xinwei reached out to catch them, stared down at them for a moment, then with a wave of his hand, turned them into a spiritual stream that he infused into the Ran Dragon's body. The pale, grayish-green phantom indeed became more solid than before, but it was still just a ghostly apparition. He sighed, a little regretful, "As expected, it's still not enough."

Logically, the dust should have settled by now, but the two opposing parties on the stage, including Wei Ming, showed no signs of relaxing. The atmosphere, on the contrary, was even more tense than before.

Chi Lian pressed one hand on his sword, half-reminding and half-warning, "The Empress is dead, and all grievances and passions are settled. Don't forget what you said earlier."

Chou Xinwei raised an eyebrow. "Immortal Lord, why act as if you're facing a great enemy? I won't do anything to the emperor." Then his tone shifted. "But I am quite curious, why are you willing to stoop to staying in Zixiao Academy, to be ordered around by these mortals, and even to go to the trouble of protecting them? Is it because you feel the mortal realm can serve as your sanctuary, or... is there someone here you care about?"

"Mind your own business," Chi Lian said coldly. "Stop prying into my affairs."

Chou Xinwei was struck dumb, then chuckled in amusement, "...You really are quite direct."

Chi Lian retorted, "We should have never met before. Where did you learn of these old matters?"

Chou Xinwei, however, did not answer him directly. He stroked his chin in thought for a moment, then said suddenly, "Immortal Lord Chi Lian, have you noticed that you and the Empress are, in some ways, actually very similar."

"In what way," Chi Lian asked sarcastically, "being ungrateful, or being a poor judge of character?"

Chou Xinwei shook his head and said seriously, "I meant to say that the way you clever people think is very similar, especially when you want to hide something."

Chi Lian's expression finally changed slightly.

"I've been thinking since just now, the Empress is such a shrewd woman. She had already been abandoned by her own father once. Even if she deeply loved a man, would she really bet her entire fortune on him? Not to mention, that man is the Emperor, who is even more unreliable than other men."

"She sought me out for the sake of the Crown Prince. Yet after going to such great lengths to pave the way for him, at the moment of her death, she only stared at the Emperor, saying that the Inner Core was used entirely on him. She didn't even spare a glance for her own son. Don't you find her reaction very strange?"

"It's because as long as we focus all our attention on the Emperor, we won't be distracted enough to notice the Crown Prince, and thus we won't discover the secret that the Inner Core was split in two, with the other half residing in the Crown Prince."

His gaze was as sharp as ice. At this moment, he finally dropped his gentle and calm mask, revealing the venomous fangs hidden beneath. "Back then, when Emperor Cangze fell, you were condemned by all. In a rage, you stormed the Heavenly Court and were exiled from the White Jade Capital, disappearing without a trace. For a hundred years, there was no news of you, yet you suddenly appear here now—Immortal Lord Chi Lian, what is it that you are trying to hide?"

Chi Lian did not respond.

Listening from the side, Wei Ming's heart suddenly skipped a beat. His fingers couldn't help but curl slightly, instinctively feeling that he was on the verge of touching that person's most deeply hidden secret.

The next moment, a hurricane of sword qi erupted outwards, slicing through the barrier he had set up as easily as a knife through tofu. The sword wind mercilessly swept away all the furnishings and people on the Sweet Dew Terrace, but a point of cold light at its center, carrying a clear and direct killing intent, precisely locked onto Chou Xinwei.

The Crystal Ice Mace and the golden-red stream of light collided violently, letting out a world-shaking boom. The two of them, long hair flying, moved like lightning. In a flash, they exchanged over a hundred moves, fighting from the ground up to the sky. A heaven full of ice shards and a flurry of dazzling sword light illuminated each other, making it impossible to tell who had the upper hand for a time.

Chou Xinwei had long heard of Chi Lian's reputation, but he never expected him to be so troublesome to deal with in person. His sword was as sharp and fierce as fire. His sword style was grand and sweeping, relentlessly pressing forward, yet its turns and transitions were meticulous and methodical. To be caught within it was like being engulfed by an all-consuming conflagration, so airtight that any struggle or defense was futile, with only the fate of being burned to ashes remaining.

"Truly worthy of being Emperor Cangze's most capable general." Chou Xinwei actually praised him sincerely, even as he unsheathed his dagger to reveal the truth. "A pity that your cultivation was depleted by more than half during your previous confrontation with the Heavenly Court. I'm guessing you vanished for the last hundred years because you were too severely injured to continue and went into hiding to recuperate, am I right?"

Chi Lian brought his sword down in a vertical slash, his body and sword almost becoming one. For an instant, his autumn-water-like starry eyes were reflected on the blade, his face as cold as ice and snow, completely unshaken. "If thinking so will make you feel better before you die, I don't mind admitting it."

Chou Xinwei was struck in the chest. Although he blocked in time, the impact still sent him flying back several steps. He turned his head and coughed, then laughed fiercely, "Stop bluffing. If you were at your peak, I might not be your match, but as for who lives and who dies today, that remains to be seen—"

He had just finished speaking when a layer of white light suddenly lit up around him. Chi Lian's gaze narrowed, and he looked down warily. However, a ghostly shadow had already closed in on him. Before he even had time to raise a hand to block, he was sent flying by a heavy blow from an ice mace!

He looked down below him, and in that instant, his heart sank.

Countless silver-white points of light floated up from the bodies of the commoners who were prostrated in worship. Below the Sweet Dew Terrace, an invisible yet vast spiritual power surged secretly, weaving itself into a giant net that snared these scattered points of light and continuously channeled them to Chou Xinwei at the center of the sky. The light around him grew ever more brilliant, and his spiritual power increased with it. If before he was barely fighting Chi Lian to a standstill, he now held a position of complete dominance.

Chi Lian withstood a few blows head-on and realized he truly couldn't take it. His wrist was shaken until it was almost numb. He had no choice but to change his tactics, switching from offense to defense, playing for time against Chou Xinwei while looking for an opening to counterattack.

"Surrender. You have no chance of winning."

Chou Xinwei's ice mace pressed against Chi Lian's sword edge, producing a series of alarming clangs. Chi Lian felt as if a weight of ten thousand jun was pressing down on him. He gritted his teeth and said, "What trick did you pull down there?"

Chou Xinwei looked down from above with a smug and mocking smile, as if Chi Lian's wretched state was something to be admired. "I heard that Emperor Cangze's attainment in the art of formations was extremely high. You followed him for so many years, yet you didn't learn a single thing."

"I didn't touch the Crown Prince precisely for this moment." Malice filled his eyes as he spoke softly, "If not for borrowing his prestige to set up a formation on the Sweet Dew Terrace and making so many people pray willingly, it would have cost me a great deal of effort."

Under the immense pressure, Chi Lian's wrist slowly sank an inch, reaching a point where even struggling to hold on was difficult. "I see. You used illusions to deceive the Crown Prince and the commoners, posing as a true god to seize the power of mortal will for your own... What audacity. Aren't you afraid of being struck by lightning?"

Chou Xinwei looked as if he had heard a hilarious joke. He pressed closer, inch by inch, and sneered, "The Heavenly Dao is remote, ghosts and gods are obscure. The Heavenly Race merely occupies the high positions of the Nine Heavens, yet they dare to call themselves high gods and shamelessly act as the voice of the Heavenly Dao. How utterly shameless!" The light around him flared, and gripping the ice mace with both hands, he unleashed his power. "Today, I will let you witness with your own eyes who the true god between heaven and earth is!"

Like a great hammer falling from the sky and smashing into his chest, Chi Lian's vision went black. He spat out a mouthful of blood, having finally reached the end of his strength. Unable to support himself any longer, he fell like a flimsy sheet of paper, blown from the clouds by a gale.

The spiritual energy surging like a river between heaven and earth, the countless prayer wishes floating on the wind like fireflies, all suddenly and subtly stagnated in that moment.

Chi Lian, falling with his eyes closed, didn't notice, but an expression of astonishment appeared on Chou Xinwei's flawless face. He looked down suspiciously, his deep green eyes reflecting a silver point of light the size of an apricot pit. Then, a soft "puff" sounded by his ear.

Another moment passed before he belatedly realized that the silver light, as swift as a bullet, had shot right through his throat, and the pale blue liquid spraying before his eyes was, in fact, his blood.

The power of will that had been continuously flowing into him was now draining away at a frantic speed along with his blood. The formation that was meant to nourish a deity had, as if reversed by an invisible hand, become a snare of heaven and earth that devoured the formation master's flesh and blood.

Who was it?

Chi Lian didn't have such skill or time. But besides him and Emperor Qiansheng's group, who else here could have broken free from the barrier he set, and even begun to turn the situation around just moments after he had revealed the truth? If there truly was such a powerful figure, why hadn't he noticed them before, and how much did they know about him?

An unprecedented terror seized Chou Xinwei's divine sense. He clutched the hole in his throat, determined to find the hidden predator even as he bled, his eyes scouring the crowd of people strewn about the ground. But because his spiritual power was draining too quickly, and with the backlash from the formation, the binding spell on everyone was about to fail. Chou Xinwei weighed his options and finally gave up the search. He transformed into a puff of gray mist and vanished from above the Sweet Dew Terrace.

While still in mid-air, Chi Lian was caught by a large tuft of soft, resilient branches that had sprung from nowhere, preventing him from crashing to the ground. But he had been badly injured by Chou Xinwei's full-force blow and had completely lost consciousness for a time, so he didn't see Chou Xinwei's escape. By the time he was fully awake, he had already been carried down from the tree by Wei Ming and was leaning against the other's shoulder. With his eyes half-closed, he heard Wei Ming instructing Ye Jintan on the cleanup: "Don't worry about the Emperor and Marquis Cheng'en, they won't die. First, use an illusion to hide the Empress's body. People are about to wake up, hurry!"

"His Highness...?"

"How are you?" Wei Ming was a little worried. "Can you stand?"

He noticed the traces of blood still on Chi Lian's lips and took out a handkerchief to wipe them away. Only after pressing it to them did he belatedly realize, 'Would this be too intimate?' But his hand was already out, and pulling it back now would only be more awkward, right?

Wei Ming steeled himself, prepared for Chi Lian to shy away, but to his surprise, the other person showed no sign of surprise at all. He was completely unguarded against Wei Ming's approach, even tilting his head up slightly to cooperate.

It was as if... as if he were already accustomed to care and attention from a certain person.

"I'm fine, not dying." Chi Lian stood up from the ground, using Wei Ming's hand for support. "Where's Chou Xinwei?"

But... was that person him?

"He escaped." Wei Ming suppressed the fleeting doubt in his heart and said concisely, "He seemed to get injured right after he injured you. Maybe he was struck by lightning, leaving this mess behind."

Chi Lian glanced at him. Though his expression was still cold, a faint, unnoticeable hint of a smile appeared in his eyes. He went along with his words with an "Mm," and said gently, "No matter. Your Highness, rest assured. I'll clean this up."