The Gong family's ancestral grave.
Gong Yi arrived with two jars of wine and some pastries.
From afar, he saw his mother, Liu Fanghua, sitting quietly beside his father's tombstone, her head resting on it as she slept.
Perhaps she was dreaming of that man.
A faint smile appeared on her haggard face.
This smile was like a sharp knife stabbing into Gong Jian's heart.
It made him feel almost suffocated.
He didn't understand why his mother was so obsessed with that man.
Even though he was dead.
She had followed him to the cemetery.
Perhaps this was love.
But this kind of love was too humble.
Perhaps she heard footsteps.
Liu Fanghua slowly opened her eyes.
Perhaps Gong Jian's appearance had disturbed her sweet dream.
A hint of displeasure flashed in her eyes: "Why are you here? Didn't I tell you I wouldn't go back to Yan Country with you?"
Gong Jian casually placed the offerings and wine in front of the tombstone: "I don't plan to go back to Yan Country anymore."
"You don't need to stay here either."
"When you're old, I'll bury you here."
A trace of loneliness flickered in Liu Fanghua's eyes: "Your second uncle probably won't agree."
The reason she stayed here.
Was to spend more time with the man she deeply loved.
Because she knew.
After she died, she wouldn't be worthy of being buried in the Gong family's ancestral grave.
Gong Jian: "Everyone in the Gong family, except for me, is dead."
He added, "I killed them."
"I am now the patriarch of the Gong family."
Gong Jian had expected his mother to be overjoyed upon hearing this.
But instead, he received a resounding slap.
And his mother's angry gaze: "You unfilial, inhumane, rebellious scoundrel!"
"Have you forgotten what I told you?"
"How can I face your father after death if you are like this?"
Tears streamed down her face as she roared hysterically.
"If I had known today, I wouldn't have given birth to you."
Gong Jian quietly looked at the name on the tombstone, his eyes devoid of emotion: "I remember."
"I remember your advice to me."
"You said..."
"You said..."
He took a deep breath and whispered, "You said our status was low and humble."
"To survive in the Gong family, we had to please everyone."
"Because they decided our life and death."
"Yes."
"I don't deny your words."
"And because of your advice, I endured humiliation in the Gong family for so many years."
"I endured beatings and scoldings, and the insults of a group of servants without a word."
"Because I didn't want my actions to implicate you."
"But."
"I cannot agree with your words."
"There are so many people in this world, anyone can look down on us."
"But we ourselves cannot look down on ourselves."
"We are not inferior or humble than others!"
"Go, get out!" Liu Fanghua roared, "I don't have a son like you. From now on, don't come to see me again, or I will die before your eyes."
In her opinion.
As long as she severed the mother-son bond.
She could face that man with a clear conscience after death.
"Why?"
"Why are you so devoted to a man who hurt you?" Gong Jian's eyes blazed with anger, and for the first time, he raised his voice at his mother.
He thought.
His mother would be proud that he had become the patriarch of the Gong family.
But he never expected to be met with indifference.
Or even the severing of their mother-son relationship.
Liu Fanghua began to cry heartbreakingly: "Because he was my man, he gave you life."
Gong Jian trembled with anger.
Could this damned love really turn a person into this state?
At this moment.
The disappointment he felt towards his mother crushed his heart.
He looked up at the sky, trying to hold back his tears.
Then he let out a sigh: "Since you want to stay here with him, so be it."
With that, he turned decisively and walked away into the distance.
"Patriarch Gong, please stay."
Without any warning.
A cold voice sounded behind Gong Jian.
Gong Jian suddenly turned around.
A woman wearing a black-waisted long dress, adorned with a jade hairpin, elegant and peerless, appeared behind his mother.
However.
She held a long sword in her hand.
And the sword was held at his mother's neck.
Liu Fanghua had never seen such a situation and trembled with fear.
"Who are you?"
"Quickly put down the sword in your hand."
"Otherwise, I will kill you even if I die!"
Gong Jian roared with anger.
"I am from Shendan Valley." Mu Wanting smiled enigmatically: "You'd best not make a move against me, your strength is not enough to face a Second-Grade Immortal Emperor."
"Moreover, I am a very timid person."
"If you attack, what if the sword in my hand accidentally shakes and injures your mother?"
"What do you want?" Gong Jian quickly said, "Put down the sword in your hand first, and I will do whatever you want, even if it means giving you my life."
Mu Wanting smiled: "I want to see Chen Nan."
"I don't know the Chen Nan you're talking about." Gong Jian knew that Chen Nan was a forbidden existence in Gan Country.
After all, his rise had offended Dan Chenzi, the Alchemist Grandmaster of Gan Country.
If it were just this.
The most crucial thing was.
The Emperor of Gan was a sycophant of the Empress.
If the Emperor of Gan knew Chen Nan was in Gan Country.
He would definitely do everything he could to capture him and present him to the Empress as a show of loyalty.
So.
He absolutely could not betray Chen Nan.
"I'm not satisfied with this answer!" Mu Wanting shook her head with great disappointment.
Then she slowly pulled her sword.
The sharp blade instantly sliced through Liu Fanghua's neck.
Blood gushed out.
Liu Fanghua let out a terrified scream.
"Good, good, I'll do it, I'll do it." Gong Jian completely panicked.
The situation had reached this point.
He had no retreat.
His mind was filled only with his mother's safety.
"If you had done this earlier, your mother wouldn't have been injured." Mu Wanting's eyes flashed with disdain, and then she said, "Tell Chen Nan, we are waiting for him at Shendan Valley."
"If he doesn't come before sunset tonight..."
"Then prepare to collect your mother's corpse." With that, she grabbed Liu Fanghua and disappeared before Gong Jian's eyes.
Gong Jian's face turned ashen.
He returned to the capital at the fastest speed and found Chen Nan.
Chen Nan: "Brother Jian, what happened? Why do you look so terrible?"
*Thump!*
Gong Jian knelt down on both knees, tears streaming down his face: "Brother, please save my mother!"
He then explained how Shendan Valley had kidnapped his mother to coerce Chen Nan into showing himself.
Chen Nan erupted with a powerful ferocity, gritting his teeth: "Brother Jian, this is all my fault. Shendan Valley wants to kill me, that's why they abducted Aunt."
"No matter what, I will save Aunt!"
"Let's go, we'll go to Shendan Valley to rescue her!"