The Yin Prison Cold Chamber was a sealed, lightless dark room. Inside it was not even as large as a cattle shed, yet the walls were a full chi thick. There were three layers of gate restrictions. Whenever there was a major criminal case in Chonghua, when they needed to interrogate unforgivable felons, it was all done here.
“Looking up, there is no deity; looking down, there is no way out. A cold and desolate chamber, at midnight ten thousand ghosts weep.”
On the bone-piercing stone bed of the Cold Chamber, no one knew how many prisoners had once lain there dead. In the heavy, icy brick seams, no one knew how much aged blood paste had seeped in.
“Hurry up and deal with it, stop the bleeding. The Lord has ordered, this person cannot die.”
In the dim prison, the jailers were angrily giving orders. Their subordinate healing cultivators ran back and forth in the cell, busy fetching spirit medicine and magical tools, while junior apprentices hurriedly carried away buckets of blood-stained wash water.
The jailer rubbed his forehead and sighed, “Heavens, did Wangshu Jun really go that hard on him? What is this situation…”
While they were overwhelmed, a voice suddenly called from outside: “Xihe Jun arrives—”
The jailer nearly bit off his own tongue.
Wangshu arrived, Wangshu arrived—Wangshu had just left and now Xihe arrived. Were these two like the sun and moon, taking turns rising and setting, determined not to stop until they killed Gu Mang?
In the first place, a traitor would just be killed and that would be that. In the Cold Chamber, how many interrogated prisoners ever came out alive? But the Lord had specifically ordered that this person must be kept barely alive. So the two noble lords had their fun, and the ones suffering to clean up were all them!
Cursing inwardly, he still put on a warm, smiling face and went forward: “Oh my, Xihe Jun, you’ve come. We’ve been overwhelmed here, apologies for not welcoming you properly, please forgive us and don’t hold it against this humble one…”
He hadn’t even finished speaking when Mo Xi raised his hand to stop him. His eyes didn’t even look at the jailer as he walked straight into the Cold Chamber.
The jailer hurriedly tried to stop him in panic: “Xihe Jun, you can’t go in. He’s covered in injuries from head to toe and not conscious. Even if you’re here to interrogate him—”
“I’m here to see him.”
“But Xihe Jun—”
“I said I’m here to see him.” Mo Xi shouted angrily, “Do you not understand?!”
“……”
“Move aside!”
The jailer no longer dared to block him and quickly stepped aside, following behind him cautiously.
The Cold Chamber inside was freezing cold.
A faint blue flame licked inside a skull-shaped lampstand, the only source of light here. Gu Mang lay on the stone bed, his white prison clothes already soaked red. Blood water dripped drop by drop along the drainage grooves. His face was deathly pale, and his eyes were unfocused and wide open.
Mo Xi walked silently to his side, but he had no reaction at all.
The jailer carefully explained from the side: “Wangshu Jun suspected him of involvement in the Hongyan Tower murder case, so he used Confession Water on him, and also tried Soul-Sifting techniques to extract memories from his mind, but it didn’t work.”
Mo Xi said nothing, only looked at the body on the stone bed. Several healing cultivators were still trying to treat his cursed wounds, but Gu Mang had too many injuries, and they were too deep—it was impossible to fully stop the bleeding for now…
The jailer said bitterly, “Xihe Jun, you see I didn’t lie to you, right? He really is about to die. Even if you want to interrogate him now, he won’t be able to answer a single word. Wangshu Jun already used every method and still left in anger. It seems it was all fruitless. Why not come another day—”
“Get out.”
“……”
“Get out!”
The jailer retreated miserably. He watched as all the healing cultivators were driven out of the Cold Chamber by Mo Xi, then gathered courage to shout at his back: “Xihe Jun, the Lord wants him alive! Please show some mercy!”
Xihe Jun had already shut down all three layers of gates with a backward wave of his hand.
The jailer nearly cried, and told his apprentice, “Go fetch my sealed bottle of Heaven-Scent Life-Extending Dew. I’m afraid when Xihe Jun comes out, only that stuff will be able to save that little traitor’s miserable life…”
Inside the room, there was no one else left. The small, sealed space was like the saying in the folk song: “Looking up, no deity; looking down, no way out.” The thick walls separated it from everything in the mortal world, leaving only Gu Mang and Mo Xi.
Mo Xi walked to the stone bed and lowered his gaze at Gu Mang’s face. After a brief silence, he suddenly reached out and lifted him up.
“Gu Mang.”
His lips parted slightly. His face was calm like still water, but his hand was shaking.
“Wake up for me.”
The only response was those unfocused eyes.
Whether Confession Water or Soul-Sifting techniques, both caused immense damage to the mind. If one obediently confessed, it might still be bearable, but resisting meant feeling like the five organs were burning, the liver and intestines being torn apart. Many hardened prisoners could endure torture, yet were ultimately driven insane by these methods.
Mo Xi also knew that Liao Kingdom often applied a secrecy curse on their soldiers to prevent military intelligence from leaking.
The Liao Kingdom’s secrecy curse clashing with Murong Lian’s Soul-Sifting technique—when the two forces opposed each other, it doubled the suffering.
“……” Mo Xi’s throat moved. This was the first time he had personally seen Gu Mang in this state after interrogation.
Pain.
Truly painful.
Gu Mang had betrayed him, killed him, his hands stained with blood, guilty beyond redemption.
But…
This was also the same person who once stood before the imperial hall, risking everything, even his rank and future, shouting at the Emperor just to demand proper burial for his soldiers.
This was also the same person who once sat by the campfire with him, talking and roasting meat, smiling and teasing his silent self.
This was also the same person who once, on his bed, murmured that he loved him.
That vibrant, powerful body of a war god, seemingly never cold.
That young, brilliant, burning youth, as if destined to blaze for his entire life.
And now, it had become this broken ruin before his eyes…
Mo Xi suddenly realized so clearly that in the two years he had not been in the imperial capital, how many interrogations had there been? In those two years, how many people had tried to force secrets out of Gu Mang’s mouth? How many times had he endured such tortures that were worse than death?
His rationality began to collapse rapidly, while the pain grew deeper and sharper.
“We said we would always be together, no matter how difficult it was, I would endure it.”
“Junior brother…”
Mo Xi closed his eyes tightly. He could no longer endure it. Gritting his teeth, he suddenly pulled Gu Mang into his arms and gathered bright light in his hand, pressing it against Gu Mang’s back, pouring pure and overwhelmingly domineering spiritual energy into that blood-soaked body.
He knew he shouldn’t do this. If discovered, he would have no way to explain why he had personally come here to heal Gu Mang.
He also clearly knew he should hand Gu Mang over to the prison’s healing cultivators. With the Lord’s decree, they would not allow him to suffer any mishap. Murong Lian had not intended to kill him.
But…
But he could not control this impulse. It felt like his heart was about to be torn out. More than ten years of love and hatred, longing and inability to let go, were tormenting him.
As if if he did not hold this body, if he did not personally send spiritual energy into him, he would die in this Cold Chamber himself.
The scars on Gu Mang’s body were mostly from Murong Lian’s divine weapon, slow to heal. While stopping his bleeding and treating his wounds, Mo Xi’s military robes were also almost completely soaked. Later, Gu Mang’s body gradually recovered, twitching unconsciously, his bloodied hands trembling constantly.
After a long while, Gu Mang began to murmur.
“I… don’t know…”
“I… don’t know anything…”
Mo Xi remained silent the entire time, saying nothing, just holding him.
He did not dare to be too intimate, as if too much intimacy would be a grave sin. Yet he also did not want to let go, as if letting go would cause his heart to stop forever.
He closed his eyes and continued slowly pouring endless spiritual energy into Gu Mang’s body.
Aside from Gu Mang’s unconscious murmurs, the Cold Chamber was completely silent. At the very end, in that stillness, Mo Xi suddenly heard him whisper:
“I… want… I want, a, a…”
Mo Xi froze slightly. “What?”
Gu Mang’s voice grew softer and softer, almost like a mosquito’s whisper, trembling and choked.
“A home…”
The final word fell as lightly as drifting feathers, yet it exploded like thunder in Mo Xi’s ears.
Mo Xi abruptly lowered his head to look at Gu Mang’s face. His eyes were tightly closed, long black lashes covering the faint bruises beneath. His lashes were damp. That sentence had been spoken in a dream, through sobbing breaths.
—
Many years ago, in the depths of love and desire, he had kissed Gu Mang’s fingers and earnestly said: “I have already been granted the title of Xihe Jun by the Lord. I no longer need to look at my uncle’s face. No one can control me anymore, no one can stop me anymore.”
“I promised you, I will fulfill everything.”
“Just wait for me.”
“I am serious.”
He had never dared to say the word “serious” to Gu Mang before, never dared to speak of “the future,” because Gu Mang always looked indifferent, never believing it.
But that day, when he became Xihe Jun, when he was no longer the powerless young Mo family son controlled by his uncle, he finally had the courage to promise a future to the one he loved. It was like finally gathering enough savings to buy a precious gift, carefully offering it with hope that the beloved would accept it.
He wanted to give everything from his heart, to swear every oath in the world, just to earn Gu Mang’s recognition.
So that night he said many things in bed. Gu Mang smiled, stroking his hair, letting him move without restraint, as if listening, yet also as if simply finding his junior brother adorable, like a fool. No matter how powerful he became, whether or not he was Xihe Jun, his Gu Mang would always love and tolerate him.
“What do you like? What do you want?”
Gu Mang said nothing. He never asked for anything.
But at the very end, during one of Mo Xi’s releases into his body, Gu Mang, half-lost in consciousness, suddenly had tears in his eyes. Perhaps his mind had already scattered, or perhaps he could no longer endure it.
Gu Mang looked up at the patterned canopy above and murmured:
“…I… I want… a home…”
Mo Xi froze. He thought he would never forget the expression on Gu Mang’s face when he said those words.
Someone who had always smiled carelessly, yet at that moment did not dare look him in the eyes. Someone so confident, yet suddenly left only with fear and hesitation.
As if asking for something too expensive, something forever out of reach.
After speaking, he closed his eyes, tears sliding down the corners of his reddened eyes.
Mo Xi did not know whether those tears were from past pleasure or something else.
Only in that moment did he clearly realize: the undefeated war general Gu Mang was just a man without parents, a former slave who had been beaten and abused for over twenty years, who had never truly had a home, never had even a single real family.
Mo Xi only felt a tightness in his chest, an unbearable pain. He leaned down and kissed Gu Mang’s trembling, moist lips. In the brief breaths between, he stroked Gu Mang’s hair and whispered:
“Alright. I will give it to you.”
I will give it to you.
I will give you a home.
This is the first thing you have ever asked me for. Whether it was a joke or nonsense, I will take it seriously.
I know you have suffered too much before. Many people bullied you, toyed with you… so you never dare accept what others give you, never dare believe their promises. But I won’t lie to you. Wait for me.
Wait for me, I will work hard, bleed on the battlefield, achieve great merit, and exchange all my military achievements for the right to be with you openly. Wait for me.
I will give you a home.
Back then, he had made that youthful and earnest vow in his heart.
It won’t take many years, it won’t be long. I will give you a home, I will always stay with you.
The young Mo Xi gently stroked his Gu Mang gege’s face, pleading with all his heart.
Gu Mang, just wait for me… okay…