Ning Buwei sat on the rooftop, listlessly counting the fragments of the Suzaku knife in his hands, then looked down at Pei Si sitting on the steps.

Apart from their similar appearance, Pei Si and Ning Xingyuan were completely different in every other aspect.

At least he had never seen Ning Xingyuan look so desperate and at his wit’s end. Ning Xingyuan could always handle things well.

However, he also knew that comparing Ning Xingyuan and Pei Si together was really quite unfair. One was an unparalleled genius carefully cultivated by the top family in the cultivation world, while the other was an ordinary person who grew up in a remote mountain village in the mortal realm. There was really no comparison.

But precisely because of this, it was even more shocking.

He counted the Suzaku knife fragments over and over, missing only the last piece.

Although there were three thousand six hundred paths in the world, and each person had their own path to walk and needed to comprehend it themselves, in reality he had no grasp of the Path of Ruthlessness at all.

The Path of Ruthlessness required severing emotions and cutting off thoughts, but he had originally practiced the Path of Ruthlessness in order to see his parents again. From the very beginning, he had taken the wrong path, so that even after cultivating until now, he didn’t know what he was actually cultivating.

This was why his cultivation had stagnated for a full two hundred years.

They say that one must break before rebuilding. The battle at Xingluo Cliff had indeed broken him completely, but although his cultivation was gradually recovering now, his path had yet to be established.

This was also the reason why Chu Jun repeatedly prevented him from advancing his cultivation—cultivation without a path was like duckweed without roots, ultimately unable to last long.

Ning Buwei slowly pieced together the broken knife in his hands, missing only the blade tip.

Since the battle at Xingluo Cliff, or perhaps from much earlier, he had been unable to find his own path.

Probably sensing its master’s unstable mood, the fragmented Suzaku knife trembled lightly and pressed against Ning Buwei’s palm.

“Don’t shake around when you’re missing arms and legs,” Ning Buwei flicked its handle with his finger. “The more you shake, the uglier you look.”

The fragmented Suzaku knife made “ka ka” sounds of protest and simply scattered back into pieces.

Ning Buwei sneered, “You’re a divine weapon that doesn’t even have a blade spirit, so stop being so concerned about face.”

The fragmented Suzaku knife was so angry it played dead.

****

Not knowing what tricks Chu Jun had pulled, the time in the illusion had sped up considerably again, and half a month had passed in the blink of an eye.

Madam Pei Li aged more each day, and Pei Wu became especially gloomy and sullen.

After Pei Si finished feeding Pei Wu his medicine, he sat by the bedside and handed him a book.

“Fourth Brother, I think it’s very unfair,” Pei Wu said with his head lowered. “Why can they bully people by relying on their power?”

Pei Si said, “It’s because we’re incompetent.”

“If I could study properly and become an official, would they not dare to bully us anymore?” Pei Wu asked again.

“Maybe,” Pei Si wasn’t very certain either.

Pei Wu gripped the book in his hands tightly. “Brother, I’m sorry. It’s all my fault for dragging you all down.”

“Actually—” Pei Si hesitated.

“If I had known this would happen, I might as well have stayed home like you and honestly farmed with Father,” Pei Wu shook his head and smiled bitterly. “Brother, look at me. Now all I can do is feel sorry for myself…”

Pei Si patted his shoulder. “Don’t think so much.”

Pei Wu nodded. “Will Father really come back?”

“I’ll find a way,” Pei Si said. “When Father comes back, we’ll live our lives as usual.”

Pei Wu smiled. “Then Brother, you’ll have to support me for life and can’t go back on your word.”

Pei Si nodded firmly. “I won’t go back on my word.”

That night, Pei Si pushed a cart and carried a pickaxe into the mountains. When he came out again, dawn was breaking, and he pushed the cart through the morning mist to the county office.

“I want to see the County Magistrate,” Pei Si’s voice was very firm.

This time the County Magistrate wasn’t busy handling “government affairs.” He sat smiling in the main seat, looking at him.

“Some time ago, an immortal came to my house…”

“…There’s a large jade mine under Jade Spring Village, and only I know where it is… The cart is full of…”

“…Please release my father and severely punish Liu Wanfang…”

“Naturally, you’ll know at a glance.”

The County Magistrate was overjoyed.

Elder Pei was finally released, but he was gaunt and emaciated, looking like a skeleton. When he saw Pei Si, his face rarely showed a smile. He hurriedly ran forward two steps, but his body swayed and he collapsed to the ground.

“Father!” Pei Si tried to help him but was a step too late.

Elder Pei died right there on the ground.

“Pei Si, you can’t blame us for this… Your father had tuberculosis, it’s incurable…”

“These past days we even specially found a doctor to prescribe medicine for him… Sigh, accept our condolences…”

“…Rest assured, this official will definitely severely punish Liu Wanfang and give you justice to comfort your father’s spirit in heaven…”

“Come, come, someone help carry the person onto the cart!”

“You go home and prepare well. In a couple of days the County Magistrate will go to Jade Spring Village. If you dare to deceive the magistrate…”

“What nonsense! Little brother Pei isn’t that kind of person. Come, lend a hand.”

Pei Si loaded Elder Pei’s corpse onto the pushcart he had come with.

When he was almost at the village entrance, it suddenly began to pour rain. He walked forward with one foot deep and one shallow, stepping in the mud. The cart got stuck in the muddy ground and couldn’t be pushed at all. He desperately pushed the cart but to no avail.

The outline of the village was somewhat unclear in the heavy curtain of rain.

“Is anyone there! Come help!” He ran forward desperately in the rain, shouting at the top of his lungs, “Third Uncle! Fifth Uncle! Auntie!”

But all the doors were tightly shut with no one responding.

Pei Si knelt in the muddy ground, wiped the rainwater from his face with his hand, and bent down to dig at the mud under the cart wheels. His fingernails split but he didn’t notice, and the blood mixed with the muddy water was quickly diluted.

Ning Buwei stood in the rain holding an umbrella, watching Pei Si’s collapsed and desperate appearance with an expressionless face, motionless. Rainwater splashed and wet his hem, leaving several mud spots.

Desperate with no one to help.

Unexpectedly, a person rushed out from the rain, wearing an indigo long robe with a jade pendant at his waist that was blindingly white, thoroughly drenched and looking very bedraggled.

Fang Wanchen held a brick in his hand, knelt in the muddy ground to help Pei Si wedge it under the cart wheel, his whole body soaked through by the rainwater. He shouted loudly to Pei Si, “You go push the cart!”

Ning Buwei frowned but didn’t intervene.

Pei Si was obviously stunned for a moment, but unlike Elder Pei who had gone mad when his trajectory was disrupted earlier, he ran to the back of the cart and pushed it forward with all his strength, finally getting out of that muddy patch.

Fang Wanchen wiped his face in the heavy rain, tucked his soaked hem into his belt, ran to the side to help Pei Si steady the cart, and helped him push it toward home.

“You… thank you,” Pei Si shouted in the rain.

Fang Wanchen shook his head. He was originally a scholar and didn’t have much strength, but even this little bit of effort helped Pei Si considerably.

Elder Pei’s corpse was placed in the main hall.

This was like a bolt from the blue for Madam Pei Li and Pei Wu.

“How did your father die! How did a perfectly fine person just die?” Madam Pei Li cried and shouted in collapse. “Didn’t you say you’d bring your father back safely?”

Pei Si knelt in front of the hall, his whole body cold. Madam Pei Li’s voice seemed muffled by layers of cotton, and he had to strain to hear clearly.

“I used… jade… to exchange him back…” His vision kept blurring.

“Where did you get jade?” Madam Pei Li was stunned.

“Ning Xingyuan… told me…” Pei Si’s voice was hoarse. “My father… just came out… fell headfirst to the ground… and died…”

Madam Pei Li cried and shouted in collapse, her shrill voice like dense needles piercing into Pei Si’s ears. “Why didn’t you go earlier! Why didn’t you go earlier!”

Pei Si thought in a daze for a long while, then said confusedly, “Ning Xingyuan… wouldn’t let me tell…”

He had sworn an oath to Ning Xingyuan, and telling would have bad consequences.

But now bad things had already happened. Could things possibly get any worse… He really had no other choice.

“He wouldn’t let you tell so you didn’t tell! You just watched your father go to his death with your eyes wide open!” Madam Pei Li’s eyes were bloodshot as she hit and scolded Pei Si. “You heartless thing! You damned wretch! You caused your father’s death! Your elbow turns outward! Did he raise you for even a day or give you even a mouthful of food! He wouldn’t let you tell so you didn’t tell and watched your father die, you coward!”

Pei Si knelt on the ground and kowtowed to her repeatedly. “I’m sorry… I’m sorry… it’s all my fault…”

If he hadn’t carried Ning Xingyuan back home, the County Magistrate wouldn’t have targeted their family, Pei Wu wouldn’t have had his leg broken, and Elder Pei wouldn’t have been taken to prison… If he had made up his mind earlier to reveal the jade mine, Elder Pei wouldn’t have died…

It was all his fault.

“Fourth Brother! Brother!” Pei Wu had crawled out of the room at some point and hugged him tightly from behind to stop him from kowtowing. He cried and shouted at Madam Pei Li, “It’s not my brother’s fault! It’s all my fault! I shouldn’t have gone to the tavern to look for work. Mother, hit me instead!”

Pei Si gripped his hand and pulled him behind himself, closing his eyes and said, “Mother, Pei Wu’s leg… was broken on the County Magistrate’s orders… They thought that since I brought Ning Xingyuan back, I must have… gotten some benefit…”

Pei Wu looked at him in shock.

Madam Pei Li cried hysterically, “Our family can’t afford to support such a precious immortal’s son like you, get out! Get out of here!”

Pei Si kowtowed to her. “Mother, I have to stay… to take care of you and Xiao Wu…”

“What sin has our family committed!”

The desperate wailing pierced through the heavy curtain of rain. Pale blue lightning tore open the night sky, and the heavy, pervasive water vapor made it hard to breathe.

Fang Wanchen couldn’t bear to watch anymore and hid under the woodshed with red eyes, silently wringing the water from his hem.

Chu Jun had been watching Ning Xiu in the woodshed from beginning to end and never showed himself.

Ning Buwei stood at the courtyard gate holding an umbrella, never stepping through the gate.

He had entered many illusions—some intense and dangerous, some intricate and complex, some ingeniously conceived… This Mass Resentment Illusion Realm was unremarkable compared to them, mediocre and nothing to praise, not even dangerous, purely a waste of time—at least, that’s what he had thought until today. He couldn’t even muster any vigilance.

But now he suddenly realized that the danger level of this illusion realm was not inferior to the Seven Killings Formation.