"Between heaven and earth, all are chess pieces."
"Even His Majesty counted himself as part of the Chess Game..."
"Our Liu Household naturally had to walk ahead of His Majesty."
Liu Feng's words lingered in Su Mo's ears, yet stirred up a wind of blood and a rain of gore that lashed at his heart.
Withered red leaves fluttered over Mount Sumeru and blew onto the Purification Terrace. They swept up Liu Feng's words, carrying their echoes across the mountainside.
Yet amid the withered yellow leaves and autumn wind lay an indescribable sorrow.
Su Mo still kept his head lowered as he lifted a teacup from the tea table and gripped it tightly.
The white hair over his forehead fluttered in the wind, hiding his face. "Then what about your... mother?"
Deep longing flashed in Liu Feng's eyes, along with boundless pain.
"My mother... after she heard about the plan, after she heard that you were the one outside the Chess Game, she volunteered to be that 'guide,' the most crucial person in the entire plan."
"Whether the plan succeeded depended entirely on this guide."
"Neither Father nor I could agree, but she said she'd met you and given you some silver in charity, so there was already some Karma between you."
"She was the most suitable person to be this 'guide'!"
As he spoke, Liu Feng seemed to sink into boundless pain. He lowered his head, struggling to speak.
"Then what about the swaddled baby in your mother's arms?"
Liu Feng closed his eyes. "That was my newborn younger brother..."
Buzz!
In that instant, all of heaven and earth over Mount Sumeru seemed to let out a shrill cry.
An aura awoke within Su Mo, and the suppression of the emptiness of all dharmas seemed to weaken somewhat upon