At this moment, Zhou Yi couldn’t get past the mental barrier. Being completely naked made every step unbearably difficult. Even as a grown man, he had never been completely naked like this, not even as a small child.

There were so many people around. Setting aside the slaves who lacked moral shame, the supervisors, the watchtower guards, and the people laughing at the edge of the pit were all deliberately scrutinizing and mocking him, subjecting him to humiliation.

Zhou Yi painfully walked from the hot ground to the sandy riverbank. While the slaves were busy eating, he allowed himself to collapse onto the ground, playing dead.

He had no clothes now, so there was only one solution: steal someone else’s.

Someone would have to be naked and without clothes.

But actively harming others versus being forced to harm others produced entirely different mental states.

Just as earlier, when slaves were tearing at his clothes, Zhou Yi could unhesitatingly break someone’s neck. But to actively steal someone else’s clothes, forcing that person to become like him now—this wasn’t something he could immediately bring himself to do.

At least not for him.

He hesitated, conflicted.

The education he had received and the moral principles he held were restraining him.

Zhou Yi lay on the ground as the supervisors’ laughter grew more distant. Frowning, he looked past the slaves who, having finished eating, were silently resting against the giant tree.

There were Earth Ghosts among them.

If they could die and be reborn, why would they end up like this? If Earth Ghosts could end each other, why would they endure such torture here?

But thinking about the others who weren’t Earth Ghosts, he shuddered. If one could live, nobody would choose death.

Even suffering such humiliation, wasn’t he also thinking about enduring it until the day he could leave?

*

At the edge of the pit, on the viewing platform, Wang Geng finished laughing and grabbed an orange from the fruit platter. He peeled it and tossed the peel to a slave kneeling nearby. The slave bowed in thanks and ate the peel.

“Our little young master must be feeling especially wronged right now. If some kind soul gave him clothes to wear, he would surely be extremely grateful and promise gold and jewels once he gets out,” Wang Geng remarked. “Others should seize this excellent opportunity. Go call the Pig Slave over and ask if he wants the gold and jewels this young master would offer, to make friends with him.”

Shi Dang nodded and withdrew to relay the message and bring Chen Zhou over.

Zhou Yi caught sight of the people coming down into the pit. Following their gaze, he saw that these people had a clear target—Chen Zhou, who was sitting alone in a corner—and took him away.

This fellow was indeed special.

Another cultivator, possibly acquainted with Zhong Anqi… His thoughts suddenly froze, then reconnected as his eyes widened in surprise.

Considering the conversation he had overheard between Zhong Anqi and that mysterious person, could this fellow be Bei Dou’s true senior disciple, Chen Zhou?

*

Chen Zhou was brought to the viewing platform and made to kneel. Wang Geng said to him: “Let me tell you, that man down there who just had his clothes stripped off is the young master of the Zhou Merchant Guild. He’s like you in some ways, but different in others. The Zhou family is a major power in the west, but you? The north is too far away, and only the old, weak, sick, and disabled remain there. Your glorious days are long gone.”

He kept his head lowered and remained silent, letting Wang Geng talk.

“I heard that the young master from the south got married recently. Quite a lively affair, they say. And I also heard the bride looks exactly like a disciple from your Bei Dou. Does that remind you of your junior sister?” Wang Geng looked at him with a mocking smile. “I told you before, you can’t compare to that young master. That young master is your junior sister’s beloved. She would choose him over you.”

“Otherwise, why wouldn’t she come to the entrance to take you away? Why wouldn’t she send a message back to have your sect rescue you? Now you know why, right? She went to Nan Que to become the young master’s wife and doesn’t want you as her senior brother anymore!”

Wang Geng laughed heartily as he spoke, and the others joined in.

The kneeling man still showed no reaction.

He was too quiet, so quiet that Wang Geng found it extremely boring. He threw a segment of orange at him and said, “I thought you could hold out longer, but you’re just like this. Disappointing. Seeing what happened to this young master today, does it remind you of back then? Tell me, do you feel satisfied? Finally, someone is experiencing the same thing you did. Are you happy? Relieved? Thinking ‘Finally, I’m not the only one being bullied?”

Chen Zhou still didn’t speak.

Wang Geng stood up and walked in front of him, crushing the orange segment that had fallen to the ground under his foot, then moved aside and said: “Pick it up. Eat it.”

Chen Zhou obeyed.

Wang Geng watched with satisfaction and waved his hand: “Fine, as long as you’re obedient. The great disciple of Bei Dou’s Yaoguang Hall Master obeys me like a dog. If Dong Yeshou saw this, wouldn’t he kill you with one palm strike for being so disrespectful? Don’t you agree?”

Shi Dang nodded repeatedly: “Yes, yes, if the Yaoguang Hall Master saw this, he would expel him from the sect. Disgraceful!”

“Your junior sister, the Pilgrim, might even come back to life out of anger. Disgraceful.” Wang Geng threw another orange segment on the ground and crushed it.

“Eat it!”

He kept throwing orange segments, and Chen Zhou, head bowed, picked them up one by one and ate them.

Xu Liangzhi, wearing a black cloak, arrived to see this scene and laughed: “Tormenting our Bei Dou senior disciple again?”

Wang Geng, still crushing oranges under his foot, turned his head and laughed as well: “What Bei Dou senior disciple? Isn’t that right, Pig Slave?”

Xu Liangzhi glanced at Chen Zhou while removing his cloak and heard him say as he stuffed orange segments into his mouth: “I am a Pig Slave, not Bei Dou’s senior disciple.”

Perhaps from not having spoken for a long time, his voice was hoarse. He spoke flatly, without inflection, as if he had said it countless times before.

Wang Geng turned to Xu Liangzhi and said: “See? He admits it himself. I tell him how miserable Bei Dou is, and he doesn’t react at all. He’s nothing like he was years ago. People who don’t dare to die, don’t want to die, or can’t die—they all learn to submit.”

Xu Liangzhi removed his cloak, draped it over his arm, and sat down elegantly: “After so many years, I’m tired of it. You’re still not?”

Wang Geng said meaningfully: “If he were a woman, would you be tired of it?”

Xu Liangzhi smiled: “Then perhaps not. But let’s discuss what matters. Send him back down.”

Wang Geng snorted coldly and returned to his seat. The slaves, sensing they were in the way, withdrew on their own.

When most people had left and only the two of them remained on the viewing platform, Xu Liangzhi said, “The Zhou family is already looking for people.”

Wang Geng leaned back in his chair and continued peeling oranges, unconcerned: “Do you think they can find this place?”

“Ye Sheng is handling matters outside. We just need to manage things inside. Even if he can leave eventually, he must become an obedient dog to do so.” Xu Liangzhi looked down at Zhou Yi in the pit. “Ye Sheng’s intention seems to be to deal seriously with the Zhou family. The Zhou family has subtly overshadowed Tai Yi in recent years, which is truly inappropriate.”

His words carried a hint of regret.

Wang Geng couldn’t stand his fake manner and rolled his eyes. Then he heard Xu Liangzhi say, “There’s also significant movement in the north. That deceased Pilgrim, Pig Slave’s junior sister Ming Li, is said to have come back to life.”

“Oh?” Wang Geng didn’t even raise an eyebrow.

Xu Liangzhi raised his eyebrows: “It seems you already knew.”

“So what if she isn’t dead? She’s not the Pilgrim she once was. Now she’s just a Single Meridian Full-Boundary cultivator. Many people are probably waiting to kill her. She can hardly protect herself, so what is there to fear?” Wang Geng ate his orange, then suddenly smiled and said, “I hear she’s also a beauty. If she finds her way here, I’ll have to enjoy myself thoroughly and let Pig Slave watch. He might even have some reaction then.”

“Bei Dou has enough troubles. She may not be able to come here,” Xu Liangzhi found this amusing and subtly looked forward to it. He tapped his fingers on the table and said, “But recently, we’ve had too few goods. Ye Sheng’s demands have suddenly increased. He seems a bit urgent and wants us to intensify our efforts.”

Wang Geng exploded: “Then give me more people! Just demanding goods without providing manpower for the work? Those Earth Ghosts can’t die and have no brains. Those who aren’t Earth Ghosts die after a few days.”

Xu Liangzhi said, “New slaves will arrive tomorrow. Take it easy for now, don’t play too roughly. When so many die at once, wait until we have enough goods before playing again.”

Wang Geng: “I only kill Earth Ghosts, and these beasts can’t die anyway.”

Xu Liangzhi: “Almost all the Earth Ghosts from the west have been sent here, but it’s still not enough. These undying Earth Ghosts are our main workforce. We need to find a way to get more.”

Wang Geng snorted: “Then make them breed more.”

“Pregnant ones don’t have to work. I’m very merciful.”

*

When Chen Zhou returned to the sandy riverbank in the pit, the supervisors had all dispersed, and the slaves had returned to huddle together under the giant tree to rest.

He didn’t stay with the slaves under the giant tree but sat alone by the sandy river, enjoying a moment of peace and resting in this tranquility.

Perhaps because he had heard news related to Bei Dou today, familiar people appeared in his dreams, calling him “senior brother” one after another.

Even in Bei Dou’s daily life, his dreams turned dark and oppressive. He sat under a tree watching his fellow disciples laughing and playing not far away. His master asked him, “Why don’t you go join them?”

He wanted to go.

But he heard someone behind him crying and shouting in despair: “Didn’t you say you could kill me? Why am I not dead? Why won’t you let me die!”

“Chen Zhou… save me, I don’t want to die.”

“Don’t worry about them anymore!”

“Leave? Why leave? I’m just working here. Isn’t working the same everywhere?”

“I was born here. What outside world? Isn’t it all the same? Because you outsiders end up here, too.”

“Your junior sister is at the entrance. Do you want her to come in and take you away, or will you kill these people and go out to see her?”

“Ming Li is dead, Bei Dou is destroyed. Who else can you wait for?”

“Chen Zhou, I’m sorry, we have no choice.”

His master asked him again: “Why don’t you go join them?”

—I want to go!

Chen Zhou woke from his dream, his cold fingers brushing across his brow and eyes. He opened his eyes and stared blankly upward. After a moment, he sat up and glanced ahead, seeing a female slave remove her long garment and place it over Zhou Yi, who was lying on the ground, unwilling to get up.

He watched, his brows gradually furrowing.

*

Wu Fang Nation.

At dawn, Ming Li bid farewell to Xiang An’ge, intending to go west to find her senior brother Chen Zhou. Before leaving, she urged him to be sure to heal her junior sister Qing Ying.

Xiang An’ge yawned, sitting casually on the ground, leaning back with both hands supporting him as he looked up at Ming Li, who was about to leave. “Don’t worry, I will heal her. But it won’t be easy for you to leave.”

He raised his hand, pointing toward the city exit: “Yuan Lu is outside.”

The layered high-rise buildings instantly transformed into flying sand and scattered away. Flowering trees changed into water, becoming a river. As Ming Li looked back, she found herself standing on the endless water surface she had crossed earlier. Before her eyes was a young man who, like her, stood on the water surface, leading a black horse with a bright smile.

Yuan Lu waved to Ming Li and said, “Better late than never. It seems I’ve arrived just in time for your departure.”

The morning sun gradually rose behind them, golden dawn light spilling across the water’s surface. None of the three people standing on the water moved. Only the wooden boat that had been waiting for a long time slowly sailed toward Ming Li.

Ming Li wasn’t very surprised by Yuan Lu’s appearance. With a calm expression, she said: “I’m in a bit of a hurry.”

“No problem, no problem. If you would just stand still and let me kill—” Yuan Lu smiled with narrowed eyes, spreading his hands. “It wouldn’t take any time at all.”