The bedchamber was a complete mess.
Bibi Dong sat collapsed on the floor, her purple nightdress spread around her like fallen petals. Her eyes were hollow. Her tears had dried, leaving only exhaustion and bewilderment on her face.
"Why did you have to say all that..."
Bibi Dong's voice was hoarse. "You trampled on the last shred of my dignity, tore open my ugliest scar, and made me face the foolish girl I used to be..."
"Was that your goal, Nan Feng?"
"Just to... laugh at me?"
"Laugh at you?"
In the Sea of Consciousness, Nan Feng's voice turned unusually calm, even a little cold. "I don't have the time or the interest."
"Bibi Dong, get one thing straight."
"Right now, we're in this together. We rise and fall as one, bound together in life and death. If you lose your mind, I'm finished too."
"And these so-called scars, this so-called past, are your greatest weaknesses—and the biggest holes in our ship!"
"Qian Xunji is dead, but he's still clinging to you like a ghost, keeping you trapped in the past. And that cowardly, useless Yu Xiaogang has somehow become the only bright moon in your heart? The last glimmer of light you have to fight the darkness?"
"That's ridiculous, and it's dangerous."
Bibi Dong gritted her teeth. "My affairs are none of your business."
"None of my business?"
Nan Feng scoffed. "You think I want to get involved? We both know how terrifying the Rakshasa Secret Realm is. That place is a lunatic factory. It keeps amplifying your obsessions, pushing your sanity to its limits, trying to turn you into a madwoman who knows nothing but killing and destruction."
"I admit, your hatred for Qian Xunji is powerful enough to become an anchor, keeping you yourself as those evil thoughts batter you."
"But!"
Nan Feng suddenly leaned close to Bibi Dong's consciousness, staring straight into her eyes.
"The more you rely on that hatred, the tighter it will bind you!"
"You hate a dead man, you hate your past, and you'll be trapped forever in that dark chamber, never finding your way out!"
"How far can someone go if they can't look ahead and only turn back to chew over their pain?"
"Worse still..."
Nan Feng pointed to the place over Bibi Dong's heart. "The Rakshasa Secret Realm is best at exploiting human weakness. It will magnify your obsessions without limit and twist your perception."
"If you don't think this through, if you don't bury that foolish version of yourself for good—"
"Under the ceaseless erosion of those evil thoughts, your hatred for Qian Xunji will grow more and more deranged, until you become a monster who'll do anything for revenge."
"And at the same time, that ridiculous love you have for Yu Xiaogang will be endlessly glorified and exalted!"
"You'll start hypnotizing yourself. You'll imagine that coward who ran away as a tragic hero, forced to flee, and turn his pitiful talent into peerless wisdom."
"You'll picture him as the world's most perfect, most devoted, most helpless victim. You'll turn that immature little romance into a love story that shook heaven and earth!"
"Even though that man is nothing but a useless lump of mud, a stinking pile of shit!"
"You'll still cradle him like a treasure, and might even destroy everything for his sake!"
"I..."
Bibi Dong's pupils contracted. She instinctively wanted to argue, but realized she felt a little guilty.
Because... Nan Feng was right.
Over the years, as her hatred had deepened, so had her longing for Yu Xiaogang.
Whenever night fell and all was quiet, she would replay the beautiful memories of the past over and over. She would even keep embellishing Yu Xiaogang's image in her mind, making excuses for his cowardice and reasons for his incompetence.
Was that normal?
She used to think it was. She thought it was love.
But now that Nan Feng had put it this way...
"I can't stand this!"
Nan Feng waved a hand in disgust. "I went to all that trouble to crawl out of Death Canyon, that hellhole, and scheme against you and Qian Xunji, helping you seize the position of Pope. What for?"
"To become a god! To control my own destiny! To stand at the peak of this world!"
"In Death Canyon, I was the sole ruler. In the human world, I'll be the supreme Pope."
"Even if I reach the Divine Realm, I'll never grovel before anyone!"
"I want absolute freedom and power that stands above everything!"
"And the state you're in now..."
Nan Feng struck without mercy. "If you don't resolve these knots in your heart, if you don't cut away that rotting flesh, then the hatred you rely on now will become your greatest inner demon, the biggest obstacle on your path to godhood!"
"This is all you'll ever be able to see!"
"Even if you really become the Rakshasa God, all you'll have done is trade up to a slightly bigger dark chamber, where you can keep being a rage-filled mad dog!"
"Do you want to be a dog?"
Bibi Dong stared blankly at Nan Feng, listening to his earth-shaking question.
Did she?
Of course not!
She was Bibi Dong, born proud. Even if she fell into the mud, she would still be the most poisonous poppy, never wagging her tail for anyone!
"Phew..."
After a long while, Bibi Dong let out a deep breath and raised a hand to wipe away the tears still clinging to her cheeks.
"Even if everything you said is right, even if you did it to make me see clearly..."
Bibi Dong gritted her teeth and spoke one word at a time. "That doesn't change the fact that you're a despicable, lowlife, nauseating bastard!"
"You used my scars as weapons against me. You watched me suffer and cry. You must have been pretty pleased with yourself, right?"
"Pleased? Not really."
In the Sea of Consciousness, Nan Feng shrugged, looking unconcerned. "As for being despicable and lowlife... this is only the beginning. In the days to come, you'll see me resort to even more underhanded methods and show an even more nauseating side of myself."
"Just like today."
Nan Feng pointed outside. "I did everything I could to stir things up in the plaza, rousing the greed of those Soul Masters and the bloodlust of those elders. Do you think I did it for Spirit Hall's glory? Or to avenge Qian Xunji?"
"Give me a break."
"I only wanted to get them moving and turn them into weapons in my hands."
"Whether the blade would chip, how many of those men charging toward the Clear Sky Sect would die—that wasn't something I had to consider."
"No matter how loudly they shouted their slogans, they were fighting for their own desires, for riches and glory. If they won, we could reward them. If they lost, that was their own incompetence."
Bibi Dong frowned. Though she agreed that the strong preyed on the weak, Nan Feng's attitude—treating lives as grass and people as nothing but tools—still sent a shiver through her.
"Aren't you afraid it'll all get out of hand?" Bibi Dong said coldly. "You launched a war so hastily, without even a detailed plan for what comes next. What if something unexpected happens..."
"What plan is ever foolproof?" Nan Feng interrupted her.
"What matters most to success?"
"A flawless plan? Thorough preparations with no room for failure? Or having everything ready but waiting for the final push?"
"No!"
"Taking action!"
"I've never liked planning every move before acting, because plans can never keep up with change. By the time you've calculated everything, the day lilies will have wilted!"
"I like to get things moving first."
"Stir up the waters, light the fire, flip the table!"
"You'll never achieve anything if you're always looking over your shoulder, because reward and risk are always proportional. People who refuse to take the slightest risk deserve nothing better than trailing behind others and eating their dust. They'll never achieve great success."
Bibi Dong listened to these outrageous words in silence for a moment, then sneered.
"So you're a gambler through and through."
"For your so-called success, for your so-called gains, you'll shove everyone onto the gaming table—even if it means wagering all of Spirit Hall."
"A gambler?"
Nan Feng was taken aback, then laughed, his smile bright as though she'd given him the highest praise.
"Exactly. You can call me that."
"I really am a gambler."
"But..."
Nan Feng raised one finger and gave it a gentle wag, a glint of cunning and slyness in his eyes.
"There's one thing you got wrong."
"I may like to gamble, but I never wager my own life."
"The chips I use... are other people's lives."
Bibi Dong frowned.
"Take the killing of Qian Xunji, for instance," Nan Feng said quietly. "You wanted to charge straight in and tear him apart, but why did I stop you? Why did I insist you put on that show of motherly affection? Why did I refuse to act until we had Qian Renxue, that protective talisman, in our hands?"
"Because back then, we were the ones sitting at the gaming table! If we lost, we'd be the ones to lose our heads!"
"That kind of gamble needed a one-hundred-percent chance of success and room for error before I'd place a bet."
"But today is different."
Nan Feng spread his hands.
"Today, we're sending those elders and Soul Masters to fight and die attacking the Clear Sky Sect. If they lose, they die. If they win, we profit."
"Why wouldn't I gamble when the stakes are other people's chips and the winnings are ours?"
"Even with only a one-in-ten chance of winning, I'd still go all in!"
"Because if I lose, I lose nothing. If I win, I make a killing!"
"..."