Zhou Caicai approached the corpse, examining it by the faint light. After confirming it was indeed Chu Xiao, she reached out to check for breath.

Already dead.

Judging by the injuries, she had likely died from arrow penetration.

Zhou Caicai leaned against the well wall and looked up. Even down here, she could feel the oppressive stellar power.

In the imperial capital, only Shu Sheng should possess such pressure, unless other pilgrims had also arrived.

If Shu Sheng was up there, why would he attack Chu Xiao? Had her identity been exposed in the imperial capital?

Zhou Caicai felt somewhat wary about Chu Xiao’s death and found it increasingly difficult to grasp the situation above. After much consideration, she decided to first explore the dark depths.

If fighting had broken out above, going up in her current condition would be suicide.

Zhou Caicai looked back at the last rat in the corner and said, “Please, just one last time.”

The rat stared at her, afraid to move.

This heartless woman—what “one last time”? There was only one rat left!

*

In the deepest part of the Earth Star Death Prison, the blind old man remained silent for a long while after hearing Dong Yeyun’s answer.

The firelight illuminated the space, brighter than usual. The old man’s thin face with its dark, hollow eye sockets—like endless darkness—was now fixed on Dong Yeyun.

Dong Yeyun allowed him to stare, neither hiding nor avoiding. From the corner of his eye, he noticed the rat that had stopped outside the cage, only hoping the old man wouldn’t harm whoever had come to the black well.

“You are his son,” the blind old man said. “He has a son?”

Not only a son but also a daughter, Dong Yeyun couldn’t guarantee what this information might trigger. Since he could not currently save himself, he didn’t mention it.

The blind old man asked: “What is your mother’s name?”

Dong Yeyun answered: [Chang Yu Su.]

Chang Yu was the surname.

She would always explain this to people who asked her name, but few actually knew it, as she generally didn’t readily tell others her name.

“It’s her… so your father didn’t heed my advice and still ended up with this person.”

The blind old man’s words carried a sense of disappointment, as if lamenting wasted potential.

Dong Yeyun didn’t much like what he heard.

My mother and father were a perfect match. Who is anyone else to judge whether they were suitable?

The blind old man sensed Dong Yeyun’s displeasure and continued with exasperation: “So your father didn’t break through, not because his cultivation level wasn’t sufficient, nor because he didn’t want to break through! It was Chang Yu Su’s curse seal, wasn’t it?”

Dong Yeyun: [You just said that the eight meridians at full boundary weren’t much.]

The blind old man’s expression momentarily became dazed. Memories flooded back as his sharp nails scratched the iron pillars, making a grating noise: “Knowing too much is indeed not a good thing, but Chang Yu Su knew without breaking through. No, it’s not that she didn’t break through. Eight meridians at full boundary… the prerequisite for eight meridians at full boundary is awakening all eight meridians. You are her son, yet you’ve only awakened seven meridians.”

Dong Yeyun’s heart skipped a beat upon hearing this. For a moment, he was strangely afraid the old man would suddenly say, “You’re not Chang Yu Su’s son.”

But the blind old man said, “This is the retribution for her being with your father.”

Dong Yeyun frowned, knocking forcefully on the iron pillar: [Don’t think I won’t hit you just because you’re a pilgrim and older than me.]

The blind old man laughed upon hearing this, sighing as he laughed. “You are disappointing, not inheriting any of your parents’ talents.”

Though this was the first time Dong Yeyun had heard such blunt words, it wasn’t the first time he had felt this, so he paid it no mind.

“But it’s not your fault either. If Dong Yeshou wasn’t your father, if Chang Yu Su had returned to where she should have been, you, born there, would have awakened all eight meridians, or even… reached full boundary in all eight!”

The blind old man grew increasingly excited as he spoke: “How is your mother now? Is she also some kind of dean at Bei Dou with Dong Yeshou?”

[She’s dead.]

The blind old man froze.

He asked: “Did Dong Yeshou kill her?”

Dong Yeyun knocked on the iron pillar again, displeased.

“Not him… then who could kill her?” The blind old man paced back and forth in the cage. “How did she die?”

[I don’t know.]

The blind old man found this incredible: “You’re their son, and you don’t know?”

[My father doesn’t talk about it.]

Perhaps Chang Yu Su didn’t need to die. Even if severely injured, Dong Yeshou would have found a way to save her. But Chang Yu Su used her life as a curse, just to prevent him from breaking through.

The blind old man, who had been pacing in the cage, suddenly came to the front, grabbing the iron bars and shaking them: “I know… it was the yin-yang curse technique. She sacrificed her life, using the curse technique to seal your father, right?”

Dong Yeyun looked at him with unwavering eyes.

The yin-yang dual meridians could be separated or combined into one, a rather special existence among the eight meridians. When separated, they each had different effects; when combined, they had two effects: healing and curse techniques.

Both these stellar meridian techniques were difficult to master. Fortunately, becoming a pilgrim only required the yin-yang dual meridians to be separate, rather than counting the combined yin-yang as a ninth meridian.

The yin-yang curse technique, like the circulating qi incantations, was difficult to learn even at low levels. Mastering high-level techniques was even more challenging. Even among pilgrims, few with yin-yang dual meridians specialized in curse techniques.

It was once said that no one on the Tonggu Continent could reach the peak of full boundary in yin-yang curse techniques—not even pilgrims could achieve this.

But these were just legends. Few people knew about them now, and even fewer cultivated yin-yang curse techniques because they were too difficult—techniques that even so-called geniuses couldn’t learn.

So when Chang Yu Su frequently used yin-yang curse techniques, she appeared extraordinarily unique at that time, attracting numerous gazes.

Even Ming Li only dabbled in it occasionally. After all, compared to yin-yang curse techniques, there were many better options.

“She didn’t let Dong Yeshou break through… she did know! We must get out, we must get out…” The blind old man paced back and forth in the cage, his chains clanking. “Go up and call your father, Dong Yeshou, to come!”

As soon as the blind old man’s words fell, the endless darkness within the Earth Star Death Prison instantly dispersed.

Dong Yeyun had been trapped in darkness for too long, his range of movement limited to this small cage. No matter which direction he looked, there was only endless darkness. Occasionally, a small fire would illuminate a bit of space, allowing him to see only the opposite cage and the blind old man.

His world had been split in two.

Darkness and the cage.

This suddenly illuminated space gave him the feeling that daylight had arrived. The darkness rapidly retreated, revealing the vast, open underground landscape.

Apart from the cages where the two men stayed, it resembled the scene above the black well—wasteland, with corners perhaps covered in moss, and sparse weeds visible on the damp, dark ground.

Rats scurried across the open space, hiding various filthy things, along with numerous bone fragments.

The rat standing by the blind old man’s cage was startled by the sudden light and fell to the ground, pretending to be dead.

Dong Yeyun couldn’t help but stand up and look around. Initially, he squinted, somewhat uncomfortable with the light, until he discovered how vast and desolate the underground world was. He couldn’t help but wonder what kind of world he truly existed in.

“The Earth Star Death Prison is a natural confinement array, containing over 3,600 different confinement situations. You never know which one you’ll enter,” the blind old man said. “But I’ve been here for over thirty years, and with my heart vision, I’ve penetrated the Earth Star Death Prison. So what you see now is what I want you to see.”

“This desolate vastness is its most authentic face.”

Dong Yeyun saw the cage door open itself and then vanish.

What he had perceived as his restraining cage disappeared with just a few words from the blind old man.

The blind old man bent down to grab the rat that was playing dead, watching it struggle and squeal in his hand. His hollow eye sockets fixed on Dong Yeyun as he laughed strangely: “That fellow… he threw you to me for five years, deliberately cut off your tongue so you couldn’t speak, and disfigured your face, just to see me so close to the truth yet unable to discover it.”

Dong Yeyun couldn’t help but touch his face, thinking: My face is so disfigured, yet you still find it familiar. It seems you have a deep obsession with my father.

Without further ado, the blind old man grabbed him and started walking forward, muttering: “Go out and send a voice transmission to your father, telling him to come to the imperial capital to see me immediately. I want to hear from his mouth—Chang Yu Su must have told him something. I want him to tell me everything! Otherwise, I’ll kill his son!”

Dong Yeyun was pulled along by the blind old man, whose pace was so fast that he could barely keep up. After all, he had many unhealed injuries from years ago, causing him to walk with a slight limp.

He was certainly willing to leave, but he still had some doubts and confusion. He also didn’t want his father to break through and come or to put himself in danger.

[Will Shu Sheng let you out?]

“He can’t stop me. Even if he disabled my circulating qi meridian… heh, Shu Sheng is extremely rational, ruthless in his actions without regard for cost—a perfect match for that madman,” the blind old man said as they walked. “Shu Sheng confined you here just so I would discover you, to make me voluntarily go out. But that madman cut your tongue and disfigured you, just to see me face the truth day and night without knowing!”

From these words, Dong Yeyun finally realized that the “madman” the blind old man referred to was Emperor Wen Xiu.

He couldn’t help but recall the last words he heard Liang Pingshan murmur when they parted:

My father is cunning and cruel, just like an earth ghost.

*

The blind old man pulled Dong Yeyun toward the well opening with a flash movement.

Zhou Caicai walked a short distance along the well wall. Just as she was surprised that the connection with the last rat had been severed when someone grabbed it, she discovered that the endless darkness had been dispelled.

Before her stretched a vast wasteland, so extensive it couldn’t be taken in at a glance. Startled by this sudden change, her hair stood on end. She pressed her back tightly against the well wall, feeling the fluctuations of stellar power, and saw someone approaching with flash movement.

“Young lady,” a sinister voice sounded in Zhou Caicai’s ear, “you’re the one who possessed the rat, aren’t you? Falling into the well and recovering from a near-death state—you’ve got skills.”

Zhou Caicai looked up in shock to see two people stopping in the light of the black well, the echoes of clanking iron chains still ringing in her ears.

With light illuminating the underground world, everything became clear.

Dong Yeyun was slightly startled to see Zhou Caicai covered in blood. Neither had expected to meet under such circumstances. Her eyes were bright and dazzling, making Dong Yeyun turn his face away somewhat awkwardly.

He saw his reflection in Zhou Caicai’s eyes.

“Dong… Yun?”

Zhou Caicai didn’t blink, but her gaze trembled slightly. The tone in which she uttered these two words was filled with uncertainty.

The disfigured man remained silent, not answering, but slowly turned his head back, looking at her calmly.

Zhou Caicai couldn’t believe the scene before her. She walked toward Dong Yeyun, but her legs gave way, and she fell forward. Dong Yeyun quickly stepped forward and caught her. Only then did he realize that the blood on Zhou Caicai came from her wounds—she seemed seriously injured. His brows furrowed in concern.

“You…” Zhou Caicai’s eyes welled with tears. Her hands were tightly gripping his sleeves, and when she opened her mouth, her voice was already choked with emotion. “Why have you become so ugly?”

Dong Yeyun: “…”

He knew Zhou Caicai wouldn’t say anything nice.

“I’ve come to rescue you with such difficulty, and this is how you treat me? Hurry up and change back!” Zhou Caicai said tearfully. “Who did this? I’ll flay them alive and let them taste what it’s like!”

Dong Yeyun’s awkwardness at seeing his reflection in Zhou Caicai’s eyes was dispersed by her words. He found himself caught between laughter and tears. Unable to speak and comfort her, he wanted to wipe away her tears, but hesitated, not daring to touch her with his dirty hands.

In the end, he could only let Zhou Caicai grip him, crying and cursing, while supporting her to prevent her from collapsing.

His gaze moved past Zhou Caicai to see another blood-covered woman behind her.

Dong Yeyun recognized her, but his heart could no longer generate any emotion.

Zhou Caicai wiped her tears and said, “I didn’t kill her.”

Dong Yeyun looked back at her. Instead of asking about Chu Xiao, he pointed upward toward the black well’s opening, indicating that Zhou Caicai should leave. In her condition, staying in the black well would be fatal.

Zhou Caicai raised her head, looking at him through tear-filled eyes: “Why aren’t you speaking?”