Jie Tian's expression was conflicted, but he still tightened his grip on the Devouring Scepter.
Step by step, he walked toward his mother.
Jie Tian Ran, however, kept his eyes fixed on Jie Tian the entire time—his gaze unfathomable, impossible to read.
As if sensing something, Jie Tian Nian somehow found the strength to turn her head and look at her son, Jie Tian.
Her eyes were hollow and lifeless, utterly unlike the woman she had once been. From inside out, she was devoid of all vitality—a living corpse in every sense.
Seeing his mother's eyes, Jie Tian froze, his lips trembling involuntarily.
"What's the matter? Can't bring yourself to do it?" Jie Tian Ran asked.
Jie Tian said nothing, but his breathing grew labored. He tried desperately to calm himself, yet he couldn't control the changes happening in his body.
Especially the changes in his emotions.
His eyes, seemingly beyond his own control, flooded with anguish, panic, fear, and a tangle of other feelings.
The Devouring Scepter in his hand, gripped and re-gripped over and over.
His wavering gaze, his ragged breathing—all of it spoke to his hesitation.
In the end, he gritted his teeth and looked at Jie Tian Ran: "Grandfather, my mother is still your own flesh and blood. I want to know what crime she committed that you insist she must die to atone for it?"
Jie Tian Ran replied, "Helping Chu Feng escape—that is the crime of betraying the Clan. And giving the resources that were meant for your cultivation to Chu Feng—that is feeding an outsider at the expense of your own. Is that not enough?"
"But—"
Jie Tian wanted to say more.
But Jie Tian Ran cut him off: "The Devouring Bloodline requires only profit, not emotion. Anyone who stands against your interests must be eliminated."
"Throughout history, those who achieved great things were never burdened by emotion. More often than not, it is one's closest kin that becomes the greatest stumbling block on the road to success."
"Especially when that kin has betrayed you. If you cannot even do this, how can you expect this old man to believe that you will live up to his expectations?"
"Tian'er, do not let your grandfather down."
As these words left his lips, Jie Tian Ran's gaze grew ever more inscrutable—as though he, too, was weighing some kind of decision.
Jie Tian caught that look, and in his own flickering eyes, he swept away every emotion one by one until only resolve remained.
Slowly, he raised the Devouring Scepter.
"Hmm?"
But suddenly, Jie Tian Ran's expression shifted.
"Vermin—how dare you still show your face here?"
Then, his face broke into a look of mingled anger and delight as he turned toward Jie Tian.
"Tian'er, your chance to surpass the King's Bloodline has arrived."
With that, Jie Tian Ran swept his wide sleeve, and the two of them vanished together.
Only Daoist Zhaixing, Jie Shanxian, and Jie Tian Nian remained lying on the ground—all three having lost the ability to move.
...
Meanwhile, deep within the forbidden grounds of the Seven Realms Holy Temple.
This place was saturated with powerful barrier energy—sealing barriers that would render even an ordinary Heavenly Dragon Spirit World Master unable to take a single step.
Yet at this moment, two figures descended swiftly atop a wisp of cloud.
They were Long Zhuoyan and Chu Feng.
At this moment, Chu Feng's expression was grave, his tension written plainly on his face.
He was panicking.
According to the intelligence, his mother was imprisoned here.
But he feared—feared that she wasn't here at all.
And feared that she was here, yet had met a terrible end.
At last, a figure came into view before Chu Feng's eyes.
Below, countless chains extended from every direction, binding a graceful silhouette.
The woman was stunningly beautiful, possessing otherworldly features and an ethereal, celestial aura—but her face was deathly pale, and she had lost all consciousness.
This was unmistakably Chu Feng's mother, Jie Ranqing.
Seeing his mother at such close range, Chu Feng's emotions nearly spiraled out of control.
But Long Zhuoyan said, "It's a trap."
"A trap? Then... can you still save my mother, Sister?" Chu Feng asked.
Long Zhuoyan's strength was unfathomable.
When Old Cat had brought Chu Feng here before, he had been unable to breach the grand formation of the Seven Realms Holy Temple and had simply turned and fled.
But Long Zhuoyan had passed through the Seven Realms Holy Temple as though it were undefended territory, not only infiltrating it with ease but bringing him to its most tightly secured forbidden depths.
In his eyes, Long Zhuoyan had the power to rescue his mother.
"They are all traps—including your mother."