Chapter 156: Chapter 123: Setting the Rules, the Division Between Inside and Outside

Entering the inner room, he found that Li Ze had fallen off the bed. It seemed he had tried to get up but didn’t have the strength.

"Li Ze, it’s me. Do you still recognize me? Cheng Zongyang."

Holding the oil lamp, Cheng Zongyang and the other man helped Li Ze up and sat him on the edge of the bed.

"Brother... Brother Cheng!" Li Ze struggled to lift his head. His vision was blurry, but he recognized Cheng Zongyang’s voice. Panting, he spoke haltingly, "I... I never... thought... it would... be you who... saved me."

"You don’t need to say all that. Tell me everything after you’ve recovered. Just lie down for now. We have to get you out of the city soon," Cheng Zongyang said quickly.

Li Ze suddenly grew agitated. "My... my mother! Where is she? Take me to see... my... mother! Please... please..."

"Alright!" Cheng Zongyang handed the oil lamp to the other man, then supported Li Ze as they headed to another room.

The woman’s condition was unchanged. The medicine had no effect, which meant her illness had progressed to a point beyond cure.

But she was still holding on, a testament to her strong willpower.

When Li Ze saw his mother’s face in the dim, yellow lamplight, a sudden burst of strength came from nowhere. He broke free from Cheng Zongyang’s grasp and knelt by the bedside, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.

He grasped his mother’s withered hand, his voice hoarse and choked with sobs. "Mother, it’s me. How are you! It’s all my fault... I infected you!"

Perhaps sensing her son’s presence or hearing his voice, the woman, who had been dazed and nearly comatose, twitched her fingers slightly. Her eyelids fluttered.

Cheng Zongyang watched as the woman moved her head slightly, slowly, gradually turning it toward the edge of the bed. But she could not open her eyes, and her lips, as if sealed shut, trembled but failed to part.

Li Ze felt a faint bit of pressure from his mother’s hand and quickly said:

"Mother, it’s me! Wake up, I’m alright! It’s Cheng Zongyang, the one I told you about. The snake soup we had that day was from him. He saved me. He saved you, too. Wake up!!"

In that moment, Li Ze’s earlier weakness was gone, replaced by pure agitation.

Just then, they saw the woman’s head give an almost imperceptible nod. Immediately after, her lips parted slightly. A long breath escaped her, her chest fell still, and her head lolled lifelessly toward the edge of the bed. A faint smile graced her lips.

It seemed that nod was her final reassurance to her son.

"Mother!!"

Li Ze’s mouth gaped open as if he had witnessed the impossible. He let out a heart-wrenching cry!

Cheng Zongyang chopped the back of Li Ze’s neck, knocking him unconscious. In his physical state, such intense emotional distress was dangerous.

However, Cheng Zongyang’s gaze on the mother was complicated.

He had never imagined she had held on this long simply because she couldn’t rest easy about her son. Hearing that her son was well, she had finally let go.

’A woman may be weak, but a mother is strong! The power a mother can unleash for her child is unimaginable.’

Cheng Zongyang had seen it before. He remembered when his original self nearly drowned as a child. After being revived, his father, Cheng Guanghai, had feared a relapse and carried him on his back, running toward the County Town. His mother, Mrs. Zhou of the Cheng Family, had followed them the whole way, barefoot, not even noticing when her feet were cut and bleeding.

Only after learning he was safe did she finally collapse.

Next, Cheng Zongyang took both Li Ze and his mother’s body and hurried back to his residence.

It was only one hour until the city gates opened. He stored Li Ze’s mother’s corpse in his Wilderness World, planning to take it with them.

Burying her in the Inner Mountain Pass area would give Li Ze a place to pay his respects.

Back at his residence, Cheng Zongyang had someone watch over Li Ze. While waiting, he had his own matters to attend to.

He closed the door to the inner room and entered the Wilderness World.

Cheng Zongyang arranged six corpses in three pairs near the entrance, but he brought out a body he had left behind earlier to replace one of the Ninth Grade Martial Artist corpses.

He wanted to run an experiment. If it worked, he would have to be more careful with the corpses of powerful experts in the future.

A moment later, three Soul Crystal Stones were placed in front of their respective heads.

The familiar change, the familiar scene, the familiar process.

However, one of them didn’t react. It was the corpse he had just swapped in.

Frustrated, Cheng Zongyang had no choice but to swap it back.

As three clouds of red mist appeared one after another, three new figures were forged.

The people created in the early stages were for pioneering, so they naturally needed to be stronger.

Ultimately, three new figures appeared. After renaming them, adding Skills, and allocating points, the Attributes of the three brand-new Soul Slaves were set:

——

Name: Li Xingyun

Physique: 20

Power: 30

Endurance: 50

Agility: 20

Skill: Archery (Specialization)

Attribute Talent: Intensive Cultivation (20% increase in grain yield)

——

Name: Xu Yang 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Physique: 30

Power: 50

Endurance: 40

Agility: 30

Skill: Archery (Specialization)

Attribute Talent: Saber Mastery (50% increase in skill with saber-type Weapons)

——

Name: Luo Zheng

Physique: 30

Power: 40

Endurance: 30

Agility: 20

Skill: Archery (Specialization)

Attribute Talent: Animal Affinity (A natural affinity with animals, making them easier to tame)

——

Looking at the three fully formed figures, Cheng Zongyang couldn’t stop smiling. Three more people with familiar names had been added, even if their souls were different.

Through his understanding of the system, Cheng Zongyang also knew their pasts.

One was an old farmer, one a Martial Arts Hall Instructor, and one a breeder.

Their pasts no longer mattered. Now, two were Ninth Grade, and one was Eighth Grade. The latter was Xu Yang.

Next, he put Ma San in charge of them.