"My son, come to Mother’s side. Come home with Mother..."
The Deceitful Mother shook the Rattle, its skull-headed strikers swinging out to strike the drumheads.
BR-RUM... BR-RUM... BR-RUM... BR-RUM...
Sunshine Boy’s body moved forward against his will. The others tried desperately to hold him back, but it was no use.
An idea struck Sunshine Boy, and he shouted, "Get Hao Yunsheng over to me!"
The glutton strode forward, grabbed Hao Yunsheng by the wrist, and hauled him over like a butcher dragging a dead pig.
Sunshine Boy reached out and grabbed a fistful of Hao Yunsheng’s hair.
He came to a sudden halt.
"Damn you, Hao Yunsheng! Damn you, Hao Yunsheng! Damn you, Hao Yunsheng!"
As the Deceitful Mother repeated the curse three times, the unconscious Hao Yunsheng coughed up a mouthful of blood. His eyes flickered open for a dazed instant before he passed out cold once more.
The Deceitful Mother’s chest and stomach heaved. With a retch, she spewed a thick, grayish-yellow mist that covered the ground. It corroded the floor with a SIZZLING sound, releasing an indescribably foul odor.
RIP...
The sound of tearing cloth rang out.
The clothing over the Deceitful Mother’s swollen abdomen split open. The tear revealed a Brocade Square Pillow embroidered with red peonies, wrapped in colorful cotton fabric like a swaddled infant.
Sunshine Boy pointed at the pillow and shouted, "Captain, I need your aid!"
The Captain hesitated for a moment, then gave everyone a profound look. He snatched the last Thunder Talisman from the Book Listener’s hand and gripped his Divine Pattern Flying Sword. True Essence surged through him, and a powerful wind swirled around his body, making his robes billow.
"The Night Guard are on duty! Those who don’t stand down are the enemy!"
The Captain charged. The Deceitful Mother’s arms inside the black curtain boundary were suddenly a hundred times more agile than before, and five of them swatted at him.
The Captain slid low across the ground, evading the five arms. He thrust his sword into the Deceitful Mother’s flank and, channeling his True Essence, unleashed all the Thunder Talismans.
A shower of thunderous Yellow Talismans rained down on the Deceitful Mother.
Lightning flashed from all directions, filling their vision with a blinding storm of thunderbolts.
The countless thunderbolts suddenly coalesced into a pillar of pure lightning, triggering the sea of thunder in the sky.
BOOM!
A ten-foot-thick bolt of Celestial Thunder descended, detonating along with the pillar of lightning in a deafening explosion.
The walls of the house were blasted away. The Night Guards threw up their arms to shield their faces as a powerful shockwave forced them to stumble backward. Flying debris pelted them, drawing pained grunts.
When the roar subsided, Sunshine Boy lowered his arms. Through the smoke and dust, he saw the Deceitful Mother’s single remaining arm swinging the Rattle, bringing it down on the Captain’s head.
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
SPLAT!
Again and again.
As the Deceitful Mother struck him, she said through sobs, "My son, come home with Mother. Mother will never leave you again..."
Her five other severed arms, no longer able to form giant hands, lay limp in the rubble, slowly wriggling in Sunshine Boy’s direction.
Wriggling in despair.
Sunshine Boy was shaken. His eyes locked onto the Brocade Square Pillow on the Deceitful Mother’s abdomen. He formed a sword-finger with his right hand and pointed it at her.
"Slay!"
Within his Life Mansion, the Destiny Star Mountain shook. The black, gold-patterned Great Cutting Sword flew out. Behind it, one after another, Qi Fortune Fish flicked their tails and dove into the Sword Body.
Soon, only a single fish remained in the Life Pool. All the other Qi Fortune Fish had merged into the Great Cutting Sword.
The Night Guards couldn’t see a thing, but Sunshine Boy could clearly "see" it all. Azure qi erupted from behind him as the Great Cutting Sword shot straight up. It then aimed for the Deceitful Mother’s abdomen and streaked downward, as swift as a falling star.
"No..."
The Deceitful Mother shrieked, swinging all her arms and the Rattle to block the Great Cutting Sword.
The Great Cutting Sword silently phased through the Rattle and the Deceitful Mother’s arms, striking the Brocade Square Pillow.
In that instant, Sunshine Boy’s vision blurred. The Brocade Square Pillow had transformed into a baby girl in a small red top. She waved her chubby little arms and smiled sweetly, her eyes warm and bright.
The baby girl had not a single trace of Deceitful Qi. On instinct, Sunshine Boy stopped his attack.
The Great Cutting Sword hovered in the air above the baby girl.
The baby girl gave Sunshine Boy a slight nod, as if in thanks. Then she grabbed the Great Cutting Sword and swung it through the air above her abdomen.
A grayish-yellow line appeared out of nowhere, connected to the baby girl’s abdomen.
The Great Cutting Sword flashed past, and the grayish-yellow line snapped.
The skin all over the Deceitful Mother’s body rapidly cracked and disintegrated. Grayish-yellow smoke shot toward the sky like flames, and a terrifying aura swept out for miles, threatening to burst through the celestial sea of thunder and the suspended sun.
"Mama..." the little baby girl suddenly cried out.
The Deceitful Mother froze. Her terrifying aura vanished, and the grayish-yellow smoke receded.
The Deceitful Mother lowered her head. Her six arms intertwined to form a cradle, and she held the baby girl in her embrace, rocking her gently.
A soft, gentle humming sound arose.
Sunshine Boy felt as if he were seeing a vision: a bright moon in the sky, a wooden house in a small village, the gentle flicker of a lamp, the chirping of insects and the calls of birds.
CRACK...
One by one, the Pea Babies embedded in the black Phoenix Crown shattered, turning into grayish-yellow mist and dissipating.
Two streaks of blood trickled down the white cloth that covered the Deceitful Mother’s face.
The humming became a soft murmur...
The few who remained could only see the Deceitful Mother suddenly hugging the Brocade Square Pillow and rocking it gently. Her body, like dry sand in the wind, began to crack and crumble, turning to dust.
Only a ball of grayish-yellow mist remained, hanging motionless in the air.
The Book Listener instinctively looked down at his own abdomen.
The Blood Lotus was rapidly disappearing.
Nanny Xiang and Wang Laoshu, who had been hacking away at the Locust Branches, exchanged a glance. They hurried across the threshold and, just like the good-news herald from before, vanished the moment they stepped out.
Before they disappeared, they both glanced back at Sunshine Boy.
Sunshine Boy turned his focus inward, practicing Mind Guarding Life Mansion.
The Iron Armor Talisman Man and the Long Qi Fortune Bridge exploded in unison, and Ye Han’s Life Mansion closed.
High in the void, a flickering, seated figure about an inch tall emanated a sickly, pale light.
The Light Chain connecting this pale light to his Life Mansion was as thin as a hair.
Sunshine Boy was about to sever the Light Chain with his Great Cutting Sword when he suddenly looked toward his Bait Destiny Stars.
On his Destiny Star Mountain, besides the Golden Toad with Treasure and the Microscale Submerged Grass, only two Bait Destiny Stars remained.
Within these two Bait Destiny Stars, a grayish-yellow mist churned.
’A Deceit’s life is still a life!’
Sunshine Boy gripped his Destiny Fishing Rod, baited the hook, and used up his last Qi Fortune Fish to cast his line toward that ball of sickly pale light.
The hook landed squarely within the pale light.
The Great Cutting Sword flew up and severed the Light Chain.
Sunshine Boy gave the fishing rod a flick. The ball of sickly pale light landed on his Destiny Star Mountain as if it were a new Destiny Star. It churned and twisted, finally solidifying into a new star with a grayish-yellow surface.
’That should have dispelled the Deceit,’ Sunshine Boy thought, letting out a long sigh of relief.
Sunshine Boy gazed at the Deceitful Mother’s Destiny Star on his Destiny Star Mountain and tried a quick Inference, but he got no results. He had no choice but to withdraw from his Life Mansion.
Within the ruins of the Dark House, the Deceitful Mother was now just a grayish-yellow silhouette. It flowed and rippled like water, yet the wind could not disperse it.
The Brocade Square Pillow in her embrace was slowly turning black, its layers turning to ash and drifting away.
When the Brocade Square Pillow had completely disintegrated, the grayish-yellow silhouette suddenly raised its head and looked toward Sunshine Boy.
Sunshine Boy felt his consciousness being suddenly pulled before the Deceitful Mother.
It was as if they were standing face to face.
The black Phoenix Crown that had crumbled, the bright red Wedding Robe, the thousands of embedded, black-eyed infants, the white cloth obscuring her face, the curtain of black hair—it was all right there before his eyes.
Through the gaps in the white cloth and black hair, he could faintly see a black light shifting within, as if thousands of gleaming black eyeballs were spinning frantically.
It was a nightmarish reunion.
A chill ran down Sunshine Boy’s spine, and he froze. ’It hasn’t been completely dispelled?’
The Deceitful Mother’s soft, gentle voice sounded once more.
"I am about to pass on. Are you willing to call me ’Mother’?"
Sunshine Boy’s heart skipped a beat. ’Calling her "Mother" sounds so noble, but it’s completely different from how one would address their actual mother.’
’She knew everything.’
The jewels on the Phoenix Crown swayed gently, and the thousands of infants stared directly at him.
The infants all reached out with their tiny hands, which stretched longer and longer as if to drag Sunshine Boy into their world.
Sunshine Boy’s scalp went numb. He had the distinct feeling that if he didn’t call her "Mother," the infants would drag him into the world of Deceit, leaving him with no way out.
After a moment of thought, he considered the possibilities and realized there was only one path to survival.
The scene of the play replayed in Sunshine Boy’s mind, along with the image of the baby girl severing the grayish-yellow thread. He let out a soft sigh.
"Mother."
"Good! Good! Good!" The Deceitful Mother in the black Phoenix Crown retreated, her sobbing voice slowly fading into the distance.
The grayish-yellow mist scattered and vanished.
The sea of thunder and the suspended sun slowly faded from view.
A sliver of a moon hung in the sky.
All around him were crumbling ruins, overgrown with weeds, looking like a village that had been abandoned for decades.
Li Qingxian sat amidst the weeds.