From their first meeting at the Guanlan Palace banquet until now, Wei Ming had never seen Chi Lian so discomposed.

The Grand Preceptor was calm and elegant, unperturbed by favor or disgrace. He appeared like ice and jade, but in truth, he was as unyielding as metal, with a composure far beyond that of an ordinary person. Even when Wei Ming occasionally teased him until he bristled and stomped his feet, he was easily coaxed back to good humor. To put it bluntly, it was just another form of pouting.

However, Wei Ming had no idea what he looked like when he truly revealed his anger and fear.

The furious sword light carved a bloody path with devastating force. The soaring flames reflected in his clear eyes, and for a moment, he looked more like a demon god than Bai Hua himself.

Dark clouds obscured the moon, and the night was dim. In such a dark environment, neither could actually see the other's expression, yet for an instant, Wei Ming's gaze met his from afar, separated by the billowing smoke and dust.

'So this is how much I weigh in your heart?'

He murmured to himself, knowing he shouldn't, yet he couldn't help but feel happy at the other's reaction.

The Tree Spirit opened its giant maw and swallowed him whole.

Wei Ming, his hands and feet bound, fell into a vast, boundless darkness. The golden-red sword light that had illuminated the long night of the mortal world finally dimmed.

At this moment, no one could see his expression. It was neither fear nor regret, but more like a final surrender, as if he had finally set down a long-carried burden. Yet it was by no means the look of someone calmly accepting death.

'It's come to this. I suppose I can't hide it any longer.'

He sighed softly. A faint silver light spread from the palm of his hand, which was behind his back. The brushstrokes, graceful and fluid, sketched out rows of intricate patterns and runes. In an instant, a palm-sized formation was completed, centered on Wei Ming and extending outwards around him.

Suddenly, the muffled sound of a sharp object piercing vines came from outside. Immediately following, a sudden change occurred. A green light flashed above the dark clouds as a feathered arrow, carrying the force of a thunderbolt, shot through the air from a distance. Like lightning tearing through the sky, it thudded into the Tree Spirit's massive body, directly knocking the section of vine that had swallowed Wei Ming to the ground!

Upon contact with the demon, the green light on the arrow turned into spiritual fire, which began to burn rapidly, with no regard for whether Wei Ming was dead or alive. In the blink of an eye, it had burned a large hole through the vine.

Wei Ming frantically used the small formation to block it for a moment. The spiritual light immediately dissipated, and he took the opportunity to scramble out of the hole. Though he looked disheveled, he was uninjured. He was about to breathe a sigh of relief, but before he could even open his mouth, his waist was seized, and he was scooped up from the ground. The hand gripping his shoulder squeezed so hard it was painful.

"His Highness!"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Wei Ming quickly patted Chi Lian's arm, comforting the person who looked even more panicked than he was. "Don't panic, nothing happened, I'm not hurt. Really, look."

"I..."

At this moment, all etiquette between ruler and subject was forgotten. Chi Lian gripped Wei Ming's hand tightly, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat. Fortunately, Wei Ming was relatively calm and could even comfort him in return. He took a deep breath, barely managed to calm himself, and every word sounded as if it were chiseled from ice: "Thank goodness Your Highness is all right, otherwise I..."

"Alright, alright, it's over, don't be scared." Wei Ming didn't dare to hear the rest of his sentence and quickly tried to soothe him. "What just happened? Who started the fire?"

Chi Lian, however, did not answer immediately. Instead, he pursed his lips slightly, a clear gesture of avoidance. Wei Ming, puzzled, reached for his hand, wanting to get a better look, but Chi Lian turned around and shielded him behind his back.

Wei Ming: "Hm?"

As they spoke, the sound of rushing air was heard again. A volley of arrows, as swift as falling meteors, incinerated the Tree Spirit's wildly flailing vines completely. A slender figure descended lightly from the air, landing weightlessly on the upturned eaves of the roof. A clear shout came from above: "Bai Hua, will you not surrender to justice!"

It was the voice of a young man. Wei Ming looked up and saw someone dressed in dark blue fitted attire, with long hair tied up high, holding a longbow with a black body and silver patterns. He had no quiver on his back; instead, like Chi Lian, he materialized the arrows out of thin air. One look was enough to tell he was either an immortal or a god—most likely not of the mortal world.

Bai Hua's arm had been severed, and the vines he used to replace it had also been heavily damaged one by one by the divine arrows. At this moment, he was kneeling on the ground, barely breathing, with dark purple blood spilling from his mouth. The black qi churning around him grew even denser as he grit his teeth and said viciously, "Immortal Lord Gui Heng, I'm impressed by your patience, chasing me all the way from the White Jade Capital to the Mortal Realm. But the one who should be killed right now isn't me... it's that traitor to the Celestial Realm!"

"Traitor?"

Gui Heng drew his bowstring, the arrowhead pointed diagonally at him. The killing intent was almost palpable, yet his tone was quite nonchalant, as if he hadn't understood the accusation at all. "Stop your baseless shouting. I don't know any traitor to the Celestial Realm."

"If you're talking about that piece of trash who got covered in blood from a fight and is dragging along a mortal burden, then yes, I saw him." He sneered contemptuously. "What's the difference between fighting that trash and getting a 'gua sha' scraping? Dealing with you is more interesting, isn't it?"

Bai Hua: "..."

Chi Lian: "..."

Although Wei Ming was called a "burden," he was surprisingly not very angry, perhaps because Chi Lian's expression was so spectacular that it made him completely ignore the offensive part, focused only on seeing how the Grand Preceptor would respond.

Chi Lian said coldly, "I have nothing to say to an idiot who only knows how to wave a feather duster and stomp around in the heavens."

Gui Heng immediately turned his arrowhead towards Chi Lian. "A monkey who only knows how to brandish a fire poker has the nerve to talk about me?"

Chi Lian looked around with a deadpan expression. "So noisy. Why is a wild pheasant squawking in the middle of the night?"

Gui Heng flew into a rage and roared, "Cut the crap! Come fight me one-on-one if you have the guts! This grandpa will definitely kill you, you damn monkey, today!!"

"Gentlemen, gentlemen!" Wei Ming really couldn't listen anymore.

'To so casually talk about fire pokers and feather dusters, what kind of deities are you two supposed to be?' he thought, peeking out from behind Chi Lian. "A great enemy is before us. Let's put personal grudges aside for now. Saving the Mortal Realm is what's important. Could you two please attend to business first?"

Chi Lian raised a hand to push him back behind him. When Gui Heng saw this, he immediately let out a loud, mocking laugh. "Tsk tsk, look at you protecting your calf. After I'm done catching Bai Hua, I'll find a doctor for you. You'd better get that paranoia of yours treated soon."

"No need." Chi Lian retorted coolly. "Save the money to buy medicine for yourself. Perhaps with a doctor's miraculous touch, your mad dog disease can be cured."

Wei Ming: "...Forget it. Let the Mortal Realm be destroyed."

No matter how slow Bai Hua was, after these few exchanges, he could see that Gui Heng had no intention of dealing with Chi Lian. He couldn't help but let out a cold sneer, mocking, "So this is the so-called 'strict law and discipline' of Jiangxiao Palace. It turns out to be openly sheltering a former colleague, not even daring to take a step forward against the greatest traitor of the Heavenly Court. Yet towards powerless servants like us, you hunt us down to the last, all while claiming to be carrying out justice on behalf of the heavens. How laughable!"

"Oh, so you were colleagues," Wei Ming sighed from the bottom of his heart. "What a truly moving display of friendship."

Chi Lian: "..."

Gui Heng was about to die from the unjust accusation. "Hold it right there! What do you mean, a powerless servant? Your audacity is great enough to pierce the heavens, you know? Stealing Immortal Venerable Qingyang's Tantian Pagoda, escaping to the Mortal Realm amidst the chaos, and even finding the time to become a demon—both Bitai Palace and Jiangxiao Palace failed to catch you. Do you think it was because we didn't want to?!"

At first, Chi Lian couldn't be bothered to seriously argue with him, but after hearing this sentence, his face was already covered in frost. He came to a cold conclusion: "Useless trash."

Gui Heng immediately retorted, "What's it to you? You didn't lift a finger. Stay on the sidelines."

Chi Lian let out a cold snort through his nose and said sarcastically, "I wasn't aware that Jiangxiao Palace and Bitai Palace had become so friendly. What rank of a god is Immortal Venerable Qingyang, that he dares to order Jiangxiao Palace to catch a thief for him?"

"And what rank of a person are you to have the face to criticize others?" Gui Heng said angrily. "Chi Lian, let me ask you, who is the reason Jiangxiao Palace is in such a difficult situation? Who played the hero to his heart's content, caused a huge disaster, then patted his ass and ran off without a trace, leaving a huge mess for me to clean up?"

"You had your fun leaving without a care in the world, but have you ever thought about how we're supposed to maintain our footing in the White Jade Capital after that? If you don't know anything, then shut your mouth. Stop making irresponsible remarks from the sidelines!"

The war of words had somehow turned into a display of genuine emotion. Anyone could hear the grievance hidden beneath his brimming anger. Chi Lian immediately fell silent. And in that instant, Wei Ming once again saw on his face the same melancholy expression that had appeared during their visit to Chunling Temple that day.

A thick fog rose once again, separating them into two different worlds.

"Let's get back to business." Chi Lian didn't know what to say to Gui Heng. No explanation or comfort was appropriate between the two of them. He could only stiffly bring up the matter at hand, deceiving himself by covering up the irreparable rift. "What is the Tantian Pagoda? A spirit weapon? Is it on him?"

Gui Heng wiped his face, leaped down from the roof, and walked towards him with his longbow lowered. "I don't know what it does specifically either. According to Bitai Palace, it's supposed to be a very important spiritual treasure, and it's not even finished. If it gets out of control, it will be difficult to handle, which is why they told me to retrieve it as soon as possible. And to bring this Immortal Attendant back with it for punishment."

Bai Hua struggled to his feet, using a few vines to maintain his tottering stance, and said hoarsely, "Ha! Such high-sounding words. In reality, you're just taking me back to vent your anger and silence me, aren't you? The number one hypocrite of the White Jade Capital, Immortal Venerable Qingyang, how could he allow anyone to ruin his flawless reputation? Serves you all right for being blind..."

His expression was crazed, and his words were delirious. Both Chi Lian and Gui Heng dismissed it as nonsense and paid him no mind, but Wei Ming suddenly spoke up and asked, "Why do you think he wants to kill you to silence you?"

The sky was too dark. Gui Heng hadn't gotten a clear look at his face at first, only sensing from his aura that he was a mortal. It wasn't until Wei Ming spoke that he turned his head at the sound and took a closer look—

That one glance nearly scared him to death.

"Ch-Ch-Chi Lian... you're insane!" Gui Heng stared at Wei Ming in horror, as if he had seen a ghost. His face twitched and his lips trembled, as if someone had dropped a massive hammer from the sky, smashing his sanity into the ground, where it shattered into countless fragments that swirled helplessly in the wind. "Y-y-y-you have such audacity..."

Chi Lian, inexplicably interrupted by him, didn't even lift his eyelids. "When did you pick up the stutter?"

Gui Heng was about to go mad. He could no longer control his volume, and his roar was earth-shattering. "And here I thought you had your reasons! How dare you defile the Emperor's remains, letting them be a vessel for a mere mortal? There has to be a limit to your depravity!"

Chi Lian snapped his head around. "What?"

They had known each other for a long time, so some of their conversations naturally omitted the context. To someone who didn't know the inside story, it would sound like they were speaking in riddles. This headless and tailless accusation came out of nowhere, but Wei Ming, miraculously, understood it.

He clearly felt a 'thump' in his heart, as if he had suddenly missed a step on a staircase, or as if he had accidentally kicked a small pebble only to fall straight into a bottomless abyss.

All the illogical suspicions and trust, the ambiguous avoidance and intimacy, the jumbled and intertwined legends and dreams... The identity of "Emperor Cangze," which had been weighing on his mind, was finally revealed with this one question.