The atmosphere in the quiet room was one of agitation.

During the long wait, Li Jian Bu Jing sat in his place, irritably fiddling with the phone in his hand, several times unable to resist the urge to call and rush things.

But in the end, he held back.

He struggled to control his gloomy expression, trying to remain calm, yet sweat continued to seep from his forehead.

Anxiously uneasy.

He restrained the impulse to get angry, forcing himself to wait.

Until the sound of low footsteps came from outside the door. A young samurai pushed the door open and entered. Li Jian Jiu Jing knelt respectfully on the tatami, bowing his head to greet Li Jian Bu Jing:

"I'm sorry for keeping you waiting, Uncle."

"Jing Jiang, you Jiu Jing were doing what..."

Li Jian Bu Jing instinctively wanted to get angry, but finally he took a deep breath and asked anxiously: "What on earth is going on? That person is completely different from what you said!

What on earth, what on earth is happening? Now someone is already asking me to sell the shares and position of Guanshan Group! This wasn't what was promised at the beginning!"

"It's just a bunch of opportunists trying to kick someone when they're down, Uncle. These people are like dust falling from the beams to you, nothing to worry about. Just remain calm and wait for the storm to pass."

"But what about that brat, Zhenxi!"

Bu Jing asked angrily, "I personally ordered people to threaten her. Can this matter be left unresolved? No, I must find a place to lay low. America, the Russian Federation will do, right? Jing Jiang, you certainly have connections, don't you! Hurry, make arrangements, I can help you there..."

"It's not that bad yet, 'Uncle.'

Jiu Jing raised his voice, interrupting him.

His lowered eyes finally lifted.

A sharp gleam shot from his slender eyes, like a sharp blade, making Li Jian Bu Jing's expression stiffen.

"Rest assured, Uncle, you are harmless."

He still spoke respectfully: "They won't do anything to you, nor will Zhenxi. To put it frankly, someone like you is really of no value.

If anything happens, you can just surrender, resign from your current position, and take the money you've pocketed over the years to retire in some small place. No one would see you as a threat."

"..."

In the silence, Li Jian Bu Jing's expression twitched. His hands resting on his knees pinched wrinkles into the tailored suit.

His face turned ashen.

"Jing Jiang! I am your biological father!" he shouted angrily, "Don't you understand any gratitude!"

"I am called Li Jian Jiu Jing, Uncle. My father is Li Jian Bu Luan—since eight years ago when you relinquished me for power."

Li Jian Jiu Jing remained calm, his tone unchanging, simply speaking straightforwardly: "Since you've already obtained power, please don't cling to the things you sold away.

By now, why speak of gratitude, such a laughable concept? Wasn't it you who made me serve my adoptive father as my real father?"

"..."

Li Jian Bu Jing gritted his teeth, the veins bulging from his forehead. Yet while staring at his biological son, he found he had no strength left to be angry.

Almost pleadingly, he asked softly:

"...Why, why so heartless, Jing Jiang?"

"Well, it's been a long disturbance. I'll take my leave now, Uncle."

Jiu Jing slowly stood, bowing to take his leave.

Just before departing, he turned back for one last look, telling him: "Rest assured, as long as you stay here obediently, you will be fine. Consider it the last mercy from a former son."

The paper door slid shut.

The sound of those low footsteps slowly faded away.

The quiet room that returned to dead silence found Li Jian Bu Jing slumped where he sat, unable to muster the strength to stand.

His face was ashen as if devoid of life.

Until the sound of footsteps echoed once again outside the door.

He froze for a moment, then, excitedly sprang up, opened the door, and rushed out: "I knew you'd come back, Jing Jiang, you couldn't let go of your own flesh and blood..."

Outside the door, the female attendant whose wrist he grasped froze in place, staring at him blankly.

"Mr. Bu Jing... Lord Jiu Jing asked me to clean the corridor... I'm sorry, I'll leave right now, sorry for the disturbance..."

Looked upon by those increasingly vicious eyes, she couldn't help but panic, awkwardly fleeing.

In the silence, Li Jian Bu Jing was left alone, his expression gradually twisted.

"One after another, one after another, all like this... One day, one day you will all pay the price!"

He roared, shouting into the empty corridor: "Do you think, do you think your disgraceful acts can escape others' eyes!"

No one responded.

Only after some time did he finally calm down.

He made a decision.

To escape.

He must escape from this house.

After losing power, this place has become a Dragon Pool Tiger Den. Even his own biological son would discard him like worn-out shoes.

He never expected his so-called family to be merciful.

Having made up his mind, he hurriedly left.

He called his driver.

Ten minutes later, a car departed silently through the back door, disappearing into the night.

"Not to Kyoto, we're going to Triple-fold."

Li Jian Bu Jing, having regained his calm, instructed the driver, then opened his phone and dialed a number.

Luckily, he had cultivated quite a few subordinates elsewhere; otherwise, who knows how tragic this downfall might have been.

The Li Jian family was no longer a place he could stay, nor did he want to remain in Yingzhou.

Go to Triple-fold, then transfer through the Border, change your appearance, and after some time, let a body double dress like you and go to the Russian Federation, while he goes directly from Deep See Harbor to America.

In America, he still holds a foundation that is enough for him to rise again from Higashiyama...

After repeatedly calculating every step of the plan and confirming there would be no slightest flaw, he drifted into a shallow sleep. But soon, he was startled awake.

The car suddenly slowed down.

He suddenly opened his eyes: "What happened?"

"Sir, there seems to be a car accident ahead...the road's blocked."

The driver blankly stuck his head out of the window, gazing at the roadblock not far away, unaware of what had happened.

In the next instant, his head tilted abruptly from its original position, hanging by just a bit of skin and flesh on his neck, blood gushing forth.

Clueless to the end.

Li Jian Bu Jing screamed out loud.

Outside the car window, in the deep night, burning flames emerged.

Enveloped entirely in heavy armor, a fearsome samurai stained crimson with blood appeared outside the car window. The stern mask armor slightly lowered, the indifferent eyes gazing down on the twisted face of Bu Jing.

The tachi in his hand slowly lifted, then fell.

The iron twisted in a wail.

The bulletproof level car was easily torn apart, split into two.

The burning samurai stepped forward, moving step by step towards the limp Bu Jing. Behind the mask armor, those pupils flared with ghostly fire, overflowing with hatred and ferocity.

"This is impossible... This is wrong..."

Bu Jing screamed in terror: "Why is it you!!! Clearly it should be..."

The sword blade fell.

Slash!

This was the last scene Li Jian Bu Jing saw.

.

.

Huai Shi felt as if he was dreaming.

Returned to the familiar darkness.

Silent deep sleep.

Only the ripples of Source Substance echoed in the soul, intertwining with the rapidly growing Sky's Command, triggering some mechanism hidden beneath the water's surface.

Causing his consciousness and memories to collide continuously, the disordered thoughts overlapping, incomplete images flashing without any sign.

It seemed like an invisible large hand was slowly selecting in his consciousness, skillfully triggering one fragment after another, letting Huai Shi's consciousness operate and evolve on its own.

In the end, just like a computing system in a black box deriving the final conclusion.

An inexplicable voice from the depths of the soul rang in his ears.

It was the pure experience and epiphany formed by Huai Shi's consciousness, Huai Shi's thoughts. Such inexplicable feelings pulled the floating words in his consciousness, finally forming a question from long ago.

"——Before Xihe rises, how does Ruohua shine?"

Xihe, the goddess among the former Dongxia deities, her chariot was the solemn sun wheel, overseeing the mortal realm as she rose in the east and descended in the west each day.

But now— the sun hasn't risen yet, how could there be light in this world?

At that moment, light appeared before Huai Shi's eyes.

He once again saw that vast sea shimmering with light, the source that gathered all consciousness, souls, and wisdom in the world, that endless Sea of Silver.

That ray of unknown light guided him, gazing downward, eyes penetrating the deep ocean surface, illuminating the incomplete form of The White Queen.

That grand and enormous silhouette silently slumbered in the deepest part of the sea.

Just like an extinguished sun...

.

.

The sun seemed to have extinguished.

A moon rose from the sky.

Like a giant dumpling, round and plump, just like in childhood. The faint light shone on the stone, the stone was white, the water was black.

The wild grass and flowers in the courtyard emitted the fragrance of herbs and plants.

The glow of fireflies was in the grass.

In the faraway night, a breeze came, Zhenxi sat on the rocking chair, looking around blankly, and soon realized this was her own dreamland.

"Lucid dream? The internet said there's such a thing, right?"

She scratched her head in confusion, looking around the somewhat old wooden house behind her, indeed, this was the most profound place in memory. Childhood, when her grandmother and father hadn't yet passed away, the small courtyard and house that sheltered them.

Though it occasionally leaked when it rained, the sound falling into the copper basin was crisp.

Just like a symphony.

Symphony was a word learned later, but she never went to listen to one. Must be amazing, right? Miss Huaizhi seemed to know quite well...

Thinking like this, she saw the figure sitting under the wooden porch in the moonlight.

Alone, looking up at the moonlight in the sky.

The moonlight also thinned, falling into her eyes, making her pupils shine with light.

Zhenxi was astonished for a long time, then suddenly nodded.

Is there Miss Huaizhi in the dream too?

That's nice...

Suddenly felt happy.