Four hours later.

　　The Ten-Direction Ship finally left the Heavens beyond Heaven and headed in the direction of the country of Chong Zhen.

　　“Hey!” Lonemoon nudged the lump of mud who was curled up on the chair, munching on fruits. “What happened to you this time? You didn’t seem like you at all – you forgave Chen Ge and his disciple so easily.” Was she usually so magnanimous toward people who agitated her?

　　“Why shouldn’t I forgive them?” Shen Ying looked at him suspiciously. “What did he do wrong?”

　　“Does that need saying…” He looked at her as if her Alzheimer’s was acting up again.

　　“What did he do?”

　　“He…” Lonemoon suddenly stopped himself mid-sentence to think. It seemed like Chen Ge really did not do anything wrong. Instead, he was beaten up by both Lonemoon and Yi Qing for no reason. “Hui Ling… That little brat… I thought you couldn’t stand her?”

　　“Who says I can’t stand her?”

　　“You must be kidding me!” Lonemoon scanned her from head to toe. Why did this saint-like character of hers only appearing now? “Did you forget what she said to you back at the main hall? She was obviously mistaken about your identity and jealous that you were the only emperor who was a female – that was why she tried to challenge you. She even tried to intimidate you in the name of being a disciple of the Celestial Emperor.”

　　“I haven’t forgotten that!” Shen Ying still looked lazy. She picked up a cup of green tea and sipped it.

　　“And during the competition, she cheated in front of everyone. if she had not depended on the person inside the necklace,

　　“Oh… and?”

　　“And then?!” Lonemoon’s eyes widened. “There are already two matters and you’re not in the least bit angry!”

　　“I am.”

　　“Then you…” Lonemoon was really confused now.

　　Shen Ying raised her head to look at him, and then looked around at the other disciples. Suddenly, she set down the fruit that she was munching on and sighed deeply. How troublesome!

　　“Father Niu, exactly what kind of person am I in your eyes?” She lowered her voice and sounded extremely serious.

　　“Huh?” Lonemoon paused, wondering why Shen Ying was asking him this.

　　“That little Green Tea girl did offend me, but I’ve already paid her back for it. She did cheat, but she was already exposed and she already apologised to Salted Fish. She also tried to make amends. She has been punished enough., is that not right?”

　　“But…”

　　“What do you want me to do? Smash her head?”

　　“…”

　　“Apart from these two matters, she has not done anything to harm anyone else right? If someone must be put to death just because she cheated in a competition and said some mean things to someone else, would that not be too scary?” Shen Ying was extremely stern. “I don’t like her, and I think she’s annoying and hypocritical, but I can’t kill her just because I don’t like her, right?”

　　“…”

　　“In your eyes, am I such a… murderer who does not care for what the victim thinks? Someone who cannot accept an opposing view?”

　　“…”

　　“Everyone has the right to find other people annoying, but they cannot use their own morals to judge others,” Shen Ying continued. “Take Salted Fish for example – I know that you hated him from the beginning because of the novel. But in actual fact, did he do anything wrong? As a Celestial Emperor, he tried his best to protect the various emperors under him. As a master, he tried his best to protect his student but also did his best to correct the situation the moment he realised something was wrong. He even personally punished his disciple. As someone we used to know, he invited us to join the Mystic Spirits and Immortals Meeting just to scare the various emperors into putting down their hatred. Should we choose to blind ourselves to all of these facts just because he’s the male lead in the novel? Should we insist that he has ulterior motives to everything he does?

　　“…”

　　“Father Niu… Since when did I become such a narrow-minded and ignorant wastrel?”

　　Everyone in the ship was dead silent.

　　Lonemoon was extremely confused. It was only then that he started to truly reflect on everything that happened in the Heavens beyond Heaven in the past few days. Putting aside the prejudice he held against Chen Ge, it seemed like… he really did not do anything harmful toward them. Instead, from the beginning, he seemed to be on Invincible Sect’s side. He ignored the request of the various emperors and even let the Invincible Sect take part in the great competition.

　　Although Shen Ying was there and the sect did not really care for his gestures, it was a fact that Chen Ge did not know this. He did not even know about the Immortal Execution Array. All along, he thought that Yi Qing and Lonemoon were the ones who broke the array. So he really… did all he could to help Invincible Sect. Although they did not need his help, could he really ignore all his efforts just because it did not benefit them in the least?

　　Of course, there was the fact that after Hui Ling offended Shen Ying, Chen Ge only punished her for one day and let her off the hook the next day. But no matter what, the most that Lonemoon could say was Hui Ling being rude to them. In modern times, this did not even count as an offence. As one of the disciples who was to compete as well – it did not seem all that unreasonable to lock her up for just one day.

　　Why was he treating the both of them so harshly?

　　In his heart, he knew that the novel was the reason for the way he felt. Before this, he was afraid that things would develop as they did in the novel. It took him plenty of effort to accept that the novel was very different from reality, yet now he could not escape his view of the characters in the novel.

　　Just because Chen Ge was the male lead and Hui Ling being the new female lead, Lonemoon developed a prejudice against the both of them. He was sure that they would bring only harm to the people around them. This was the lasting impression that they made on Lonemoon. He did not even like Xuan Tong that much in the beginning. He only gradually accepted her after Hui Ling appeared.

　　Now, he was trapped in this impression of them and unable to see reality clearly. He even… he even thought of making the two of them disappear off the face of the earth forever.

　　Lonemoon’s heart jumped and he stopped himself just before he fell off the ship. Suddenly, everything was clear. It felt like a fog that was there for a long time had finally cleared. He faintly felt something that had been buried inside for a long time threatening to explode.

　　“Shen Ying…”

　　“Huh?” Shen Ying paused. “You’re not going to ask us to turn around so we can kill them, are you?”

　　“No, it’s merely a suggestion.”

　　“What?”

　　Suddenly, Lonemoon broke into a grin. “The next time you want to have a serious conversation with me… Can we not do it in the sky?”

　　“Huh?”

　　Shen Ying had not even asked before a great burst of immortal Qi shot through Lonemoon’s body. His entire body seemed to be glowing and the white light was blinding. Below his feet, the top-grade immortal artifact, the Ten-Direction Ship, suddenly cracked with a loud sound.

　　Holy shit!

　　Shen Ying lost her balance and almost fell over.

　　“Master!” Fortunately, Yi Qing reacted very quickly and caught her, placing her atop his flying sword. They flew outside of the reach of the immortal Qi.

　　“What’s happening?”

　　“He’s having an epiphany.”

　　Damn! Father Niu’s ability to have epiphanies mid-conversation was still going strong!

　　“Where’s the rest?”

　　“I think.. they’re also having epiphanies.”

　　“…”

　　Shen Ying felt like she just activated a buff for the entire sect.

　　“Wait…” Shen Ying’s expression changed. She subconsciously tried to go back to where Lonemoon was. “Father Niu! You haven’t given me my allowance!”

　　“…”