Mo Xi’s heart suddenly raced, his mind buzzing. He reached back to restrain Gu Mang, but before he could touch him, an arm wrapped around the back of his neck.
In the pitch-black darkness, Gu Mang, trembling on the verge of collapse, kissed him while murmuring hoarsely through ragged breaths, “You… hold me…”
Back when Gu Mang fought on the battlefield, everyone said he possessed the ferocity of an alpha wolf—fierce, sharp, fearless, and born to command. He had been the unreachable war god of Chonghua, a general enshrined upon a pedestal. That was why people called him the Beast of the Altar.
But no one knew the wildness he possessed elsewhere.
Only Mo Xi knew what Gu Mang was like in bed.
His muscles were powerful and taut, his waist lean and sharply defined, every brush of their bodies charged with raw tension. Back when they had still been tangled together, Gu Mang had kissed him first countless times, drawing him into warmth until he could no longer pull himself free.
But that had been then.
So much time had passed now.
Betrayal. Life and death. National hatred. Personal resentment.
To suddenly be overpowered and kissed again…
A fire dropped into Mo Xi’s heart, igniting desire. His ears rang, but he forced himself to endure. He grabbed Gu Mang by the hair without another word, fingers burying themselves in his dark locks. The taste of blood spread between their lips.
Grinding his teeth, he said, “…Don’t provoke me.”
A ball of flame suddenly flared in his palm, illuminating the small bedroom.
Everything looked exactly as he remembered.
The tiny windowless slave’s quarters. Furniture scattered in disorder. An overturned little clay jar beside the bed serving as a bedside table, with a chubby little vase holding a few wildflowers.
Gu Mang’s mind had completely fallen apart.
He stared at Mo Xi blankly, longingly, as though he hadn’t understood a single word. After a moment, he leaned in again, trying to kiss those pale lips once more.
Frustration and heat surged through Mo Xi.
“Don’t touch me!”
Whatever cursed drug that ghostly figure had given Gu Mang, it had restored his body astonishingly well. The slightest lapse in vigilance was enough for Mo Xi to lose control of him.
They struggled violently.
Gu Mang stumbled, and both of them crashed onto the bed together.
The little wooden bed groaned dangerously beneath them.
Mo Xi landed heavily on top of him.
Almost simultaneously, Gu Mang let out a hoarse muffled moan.
The intimate contact with another man’s body only made his expression grow more chaotic. His body, inflamed by the aphrodisiac, burned with heat. Moisture shimmered in his blue eyes like fire spreading across a river, threatening to swallow Mo Xi whole.
Looking down at the man pinned beneath him, Mo Xi felt his own blood burn just as fiercely.
He had abstained for so many years.
And he had always desired Gu Mang with a depth bordering on obsession.
Every ounce of restraint was required to stop himself from crossing that final line.
His actions could be controlled.
His body’s reaction could not.
His breathing became deep and rough, heavy with masculine restraint. Even as he ordered Gu Mang in a low voice not to move, his warm breath brushed against Gu Mang’s ear, sending a visible shiver through him.
Gu Mang swallowed.
His damp eyes stared at him for a long moment before he rasped,
“It hurts…”
“…”
“I’m… so hot…”
Mo Xi breathed heavily.
Within those sapphire eyes, he saw his own reflection, enveloped in blurred desire.
“I’m… so hot…”
You aren’t the only one.
But that was something Mo Xi would never say aloud.
His arm firmly pinned Gu Mang down, yet Gu Mang continued struggling and rubbing against him beneath his body.
Again and again.
How could Mo Xi possibly remain unaffected?
Their bodies tangled together.
“Stop moving!” he barked.
But Gu Mang had already felt it.
The hard body pressing against him…
Even through layers of clothing, a single accidental brush awakened something buried deep inside his mind.
His whole body trembled.
A low moan escaped his throat.
That tiny sound was enough to drive the ever-abstinent Lord Xihe nearly mad.
He was painfully aroused.
Painfully swollen.
It was unbearable.
Especially with Gu Mang lying beneath him in disheveled clothing, vacant eyes, chest rising and falling with ragged breaths.
There was misery in his expression.
As though he were accusing Mo Xi of refusing to touch him.
Or perhaps he was simply drowning in unbearable emptiness and pain.
“I’m uncomfortable…”
Mo Xi clenched his teeth.
“Endure it.”
“You… rub against me…”
Gu Mang murmured incoherently,
“One more time…”
Such naked, direct, embarrassingly simple words—
Coming from Gu Mang’s lips—
Sent another blaze roaring through Mo Xi’s chest.
He abruptly shut his eyes, silently cursing himself, unwilling to look at Gu Mang’s face.
But shutting his eyes accomplished nothing.
Gu Mang lifted a trembling hand to stroke his cheek before trying once more to claim his lips.
Mo Xi’s eyes snapped open.
Dark eyes, deep as still water.
Despite the fierce desire already raging inside him, the instant Gu Mang leaned in, he raised a hand and covered Gu Mang’s face.
Furious, he growled,
“I will never… touch you again.”
This time, Gu Mang clearly understood.
His eyes widened slightly.
He looked…
Wronged.
Heartbroken.
The mist within those blue eyes deepened.
Mo Xi could not give him even the slightest response.
If he resonated with Gu Mang’s emotions, the illusion would only become harder to break.
Yet neither could he dispel the aphrodisiac poisoning Gu Mang’s body.
Fine beads of sweat covered Gu Mang’s forehead.
In his confusion, he finally reached the end of his endurance, struggling desperately beneath Mo Xi.
“…It hurts…”
“…”
His pupils contracted violently under the drug’s effects.
Unable to bear it any longer, as though thousands of ants were devouring his heart, he choked out,
“…Don’t…
Don’t do this…”
Mo Xi held him down.
The man in his arms trembled harder and harder until he was nearly convulsing.
“It hurts…
So much…”
By the end, Gu Mang was completely breaking apart.
Like a fish dying on dry land, he gasped desperately for breath.
His face was flushed with unnatural color.
He struggled, sobbing incoherently, consumed by chaos and torment.
“…You…
You might as well…
Kill me…”
Mo Xi’s heart clenched violently.
“Gu Mang…”
“Kill me…
Just make it quick…
Kill me…”
“…”
Mo Xi knew this couldn’t continue.
Grinding his teeth, he restrained Gu Mang with one hand while desperately searching for a solution.
Suddenly—
An idea flashed through his mind.
If…
If he rendered Gu Mang unconscious…
Could he buy some time?
He didn’t know if it would work.
But there was nothing else to try.
Taking a deep breath, he abruptly rose and struck the back of Gu Mang’s neck with the edge of his hand, hitting the pressure point perfectly.
Gu Mang went limp.
Immediately afterward, Mo Xi shouted,
“Ruran! Come!”
The soft whip answered its master’s call.
He ordered his divine weapon to bind Gu Mang securely, preventing him from doing anything unpredictable after regaining consciousness.
Just then—
Footsteps echoed outside the door.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Who?
There were only three people inside this illusion.
Himself.
Gu Mang.
And…
That ghostly rapist.
Murderous fury darkened Mo Xi’s eyes.
He stepped in front of Gu Mang protectively, spiritual plum-blossom darts forming at his fingertips.
If that person dared enter—
He would tear him to pieces.
The footsteps stopped.
The door opened.
Moonlight poured inside.
A figure stood in the doorway holding a dagger.
The silver light illuminated his face.
Long, elegant eyes.
Deep blue irises.
A straight yet gentle nose.
His hair was tied neatly in a braid.
His prison clothes hung slightly open, exposing part of his well-defined chest.
Draped over his shoulders was the black-and-gold cloak Mo Xi had once left him.
His expression was utterly blank.
Mo Xi’s face changed.
“Gu Mang?!”
Then…
Who had been on the bed…?
He spun around.
As though answering his shock—
The figure on the bed suddenly dissolved into black smoke before collapsing into ashes.
Shrill, manic laughter erupted from every direction.
“Hahaha…
Hahahahaha…”
The ghost spoke again.
After laughing to his heart’s content, he sneered,
“Lord Xihe… the one lying on your bed just now…”
“…was nothing more than a phantom born from the dream.”
“…”
“Do you know how it was created?”
He sounded unbearably pleased with himself.
“From the very beginning, I guided your thoughts toward the idea that Gu Mang had been drugged.”
“You thought you hadn’t resonated with the illusion.”
“But the moment you started deducing…
The instant you began thinking…
You unknowingly fed your thoughts into it.”
The ghost grew increasingly arrogant.
“You thought keeping your heart steady was enough?”
“You thought refusing to believe was enough?”
“The dream phantoms made by ordinary Liao sorcerers are nothing compared to mine!”
“Within my illusion, unless you can truly empty your mind…”
“…unless not a single thought arises…”
“…I can exploit even the tiniest suspicion.”
“Hahahahaha!”