Jing Shan Yan's Sin

"Old Master, could you tell me in detail what the Constellations Project is?"

On Dry Cage Snow Mountain, one old man and one young man sat on the ground.

The snowy night was cold.

Yet the lantern in Old Master Gu's hand sent the swirling icy flecks flying several meters away. The two sat upon a patch of clean snow, with only the faint whimpering of the wind remaining around them.

"Do you really want to know?"

Gu Qilin set down the lantern, his gaze slightly unfocused.

As for the name Jing Shan Yan.

Not many people in Snow Forbidden City still remembered it now.

But twenty years ago.

During the years when Gu Changzhi attained the throne of the Fighting God and Nagano rose to the pinnacle of the Five Continents, that name... had once been a brilliant star atop Nagano's mountain ranges. Back then, the Third Institute had only just been established.

Zhou Jiren, Gu Qilin, and Jing Shan Yan became the Third Institute's "highest leaders."

The three of them respectively controlled the Adjudication Court, Command Center, and Prison Institute.

But twenty years later, their circumstances had all become different.

Amid the Adjudication Court's fierce internal strife, Zhou Jiren's temperament led him to leave Nagano, avoiding an escalation of the conflict. While carrying out missions across the Eastern Continent, he carefully nurtured his disciples, staying far from disputes—and far from the power that a Grand Arbiter ought to possess.

Gu Qilin, meanwhile, remained in Nagano, supporting the Old Faction of the Gu family with its last breath. He appeared to still hold a lofty position, but in truth, enemies surrounded him on all sides. Every step was difficult, as though he were walking on thin ice.

Twenty years later.

Though the two of them had not fared particularly