How could this be?!!
The two souls that governed Gu Mang’s memory and spiritual consciousness had clearly been extracted. It was also clear that the Temporal Mirror could only allow a person to return to the past; it could not make any changes to the real world.
How could Gu Mang possibly recover his former memories simply by coming out of the mirror?
Yet before he could think it through, a shrill howl suddenly rang out from within the Bat Tower. A bat beast abruptly flapped its wings and swooped toward Gu Mang! With a spread of its wings, dozens of flaming spiritual arrows shot toward the ground like a sudden storm!
“Be careful!” Jiang Yexue shouted.
He wanted to raise a defense, but the arrows were too fast, and there was ultimately no time to dodge. Just as he was about to be injured by the bat demon, a talisman was suddenly thrown from the side. The talisman immediately expanded into a barrier surging with lightning, and with a boom, it blocked all the flaming arrows outside!
The person who had thrown the talisman was none other than Gu Mang…
Although Gu Mang’s mind was still in complete disarray, Marshal Gu was still Marshal Gu. He abruptly leaped to his feet, his movements fierce and sharp, like a frost blade unsheathed in the night, gleaming with cold light.
A moment later, rustling sounds came from behind them. When they turned around, they saw a tide of demon rats rushing toward them.
Attacked from both front and rear, Jiang Yexue was hard-pressed to fight so many enemies at once. As for Gu Mang, he had no time to sort out his tangled memories or think about anything else—
Others might not be able to fight immediately after suffering such a shock, but Gu Mang was different. Gu Mang was a commander who could remain awake and direct a battle involving ten thousand soldiers without rest for three days and three nights. He possessed an almost innate adaptability to and mastery over warfare.
He made a decisive judgment, cast aside all distracting thoughts, and swept his sharp blue eyes to either side, quickly forming a rough assessment of the situation.
First was the Temporal Mirror. The Temporal Mirror had already sunk back into the blood pool and disappeared.
Then there was Shanguo. That pig demon had been sealed by an extremely complicated talisman and had fallen into slumber, abandoned in a corner.
But apart from that, there was still a golden demon-attracting command token stuck in the ground. It looked as though Shanguo had thrown it out at the very last moment before being subdued. At present, the countless demons were surging out from every corner precisely because of this golden token.
Looking at their casualties, Mo Xi’s condition was extremely poor. Jiang Yexue was not much better either, with several wounds on his body, his lotus-white robes stained mottled with blood. And Murong Chuyi…
Gu Mang’s brows furrowed.
“Where’s Murong Chuyi?! Where is he?”
Jiang Yexue said, “Chuyi… cough, cough. He went to the top of the tower to rescue Chen Qing.”
In other words, they could not count on Murong Chuyi’s combat strength for the time being.
Gu Mang rapidly calculated the strength of both sides in his mind. Seeing the tide of rats drawing closer and closer, he suddenly stood up and shouted toward the rolling mass of beasts, “Fengbo!”
A silver-gold stream of light flickered in his palm before gathering into the shape of a divine martial weapon resembling a suona. The pure-white silk ribbon tied to the end of the divine weapon flowed through the darkness like the Milky Way.
“Come forth!”
Mo Xi’s handsome face was already utterly devoid of color. He watched Gu Mang’s back as Gu Mang’s former divine martial weapon, Fengbo, let out a distant, hazy sound and erupted with dazzling brilliance—!
But a moment later, that blazing summoning light suddenly shattered.
The divine martial weapon Fengbo, which had not yet fully taken shape, transformed into scattered points of residual light that drifted in all directions.
“…” Gu Mang sighed.
This had been a desperate attempt. There were simply too many demon beasts, so a weapon capable of attacking groups would be ideal, and his only group-combat weapon was the divine martial weapon Fengbo. But he was not surprised by the result of the failed summoning.
His spiritual core had long since been shattered. After inheriting the memories within the Temporal Mirror, he could remember the mental cultivation method and incantation for summoning Fengbo, but divine martial weapons were bound by contract to one’s spiritual core and carried by one’s soul. Without a powerful soul and spiritual core, he was destined to be unable to truly summon Fengbo.
The tide of demon rats was drawing closer and closer.
A darkness sank into Gu Mang’s eyes. Finally, he shouted, “Yongye, come forth!”
The sparkling remnants of Fengbo had not yet completely dissipated when a powerful surge of black demonic energy suddenly burst from Gu Mang’s palm, instantly gathering into a sharp, pitch-black stiletto.
It was that demonic martial weapon forged for him by the Liao Kingdom after he defected to them—the demonic weapon that had nearly taken Mo Xi’s life on Dongting Lake…
The stiletto Yongye!
Gu Mang raised his slender fingers. The stiletto spun nimbly several times in his palm. Then, like an arrow released from its bow, he suddenly shot forward. His movements were swift and vicious as he plunged into the tide of demon beasts.
This demonic weapon naturally carried an aura that attracted baleful energy. Once the formation was activated, it was like blood attracting bats, drawing all the demons and monsters toward him.
Very quickly, the swarm of demon rats surrounded him completely. Dense, sinister black energy trapped him within, and his figure was completely swallowed up. The only thing visible was the occasional burst of fire from within the mass of demons surrounding him, spraying forth shattered pieces of demon-beast corpses as black blood splattered through the air.
Unlike Mo Xi, Jiang Yexue only realized at this moment that something was wrong with Gu Mang. His expression changed as well, and he turned back to ask Mo Xi, “Gu Mang… could he have recovered?”
“…” Mo Xi did not answer. His slightly reddened phoenix eyes remained fixed on the center of that mass of black energy.
Seeing Mo Xi’s expression, what else could Jiang Yexue fail to understand?
He was almost dumbfounded.
“Shanguo said earlier that he wanted Gu Mang to have his ‘memories flash back.’ Could this flashback mean repairing them? …Could the Temporal Mirror actually restore his memories despite the loss of his two souls?”
Mo Xi seemed to want to say something, but before he could speak, he suddenly coughed up a mouthful of dark, stagnant blood.
Jiang Yexue cried out in alarm, “Lord Xihe…”
Mo Xi’s battle damage was actually far more severe than Gu Mang’s.
Gu Mang was the one who had directly entered the mirror. Although he had also been affected by it, the Temporal Mirror was, after all, an ancient divine artifact. It was not some excessively evil or demonic object. As long as one entered and exited it normally, the mirror would not inflict overly severe damage.
Mo Xi was different.
He had originally been dragged into the mirror world because he had desperately protected Gu Mang. He could almost be considered an uninvited guest, an invader. Therefore, although he had not done anything within the Temporal Mirror, the consumption of his spiritual power had actually been enormous. By the time he came out, his physical strength had already been weakened to the brink.
But as Mo Xi watched Gu Mang slaughter his way through the demon horde, watched the demonic weapon Yongye swirling with black energy in Gu Mang’s hand, he still endured it. He swallowed the bloody taste in his throat and raised his hand, his voice hoarse.
“Tuntian, come forth.”
The long-handled scepter Tuntian appeared at his summons, its entire body radiating pure white light.
Watching Gu Mang wield the Liao Kingdom’s demonic weapon and slaughter everything in his path, Mo Xi closed his eyes for a moment. Enduring the exhaustion of both body and heart, he raised the scepter and pointed it into the air—
Instantly, winds and waves surged, and the sound of the sea resounded in all directions.
“Whale Swallows, Body-Splitting!”
A beam of silver light surged from the scepter. A gigantic whale spirit, capable of piercing the sun and swallowing the heavens, burst across the sky!
With a roar that seemed to echo from ancient times, a gale swept across the ground, and with overwhelming force, it sent every demon beast attacking within the Bat Tower flying into the air in an instant!
Then the giant whale’s tail violently lashed out. It surged toward the top of the tower with its head raised toward the heavens, carrying all those demons along with it.
At the very top, the giant whale Tuntian violently slammed its tail down—
In an instant, black blood blotted out the sky, pouring down from the top of the tower like torrential rain…
Every single demon beast was torn apart!
Amidst the blood and carnage, Gu Mang turned around in astonishment. His translucent blue eyes widened as he looked back at Mo Xi standing where he was.
“Mo Xi…”
Mo Xi’s hand gripping the scepter was trembling. He had not raised a protective barrier. Those still-hot drops of blood landed on his shoulders, his hair, and his dark brows and eyes.
They streamed down his pale cheeks.
Like tears of blood.
He stood helplessly and utterly exhausted beneath the sudden rain of hot blood, and slowly closed his eyes.
The Mo family’s bloodline was fierce and overbearing, with the divine martial weapon Tuntian being the most terrifying of all. Its power was even difficult to control. The moment its killing technique was unleashed, countless corpses were destined to float in its wake, with no possibility of escape.
Therefore, Mo Xi had never used this technique before.
Even when two armies faced one another, no matter how deadlocked the battle became, Mo Xi had always restrained himself. He would not summon Tuntian. He would not utter those words—
“Whale Swallows, Body-Splitting.”
This technique would not only make everyone who witnessed it believe that he was a monster, more importantly, Mo Xi himself had never wished to utterly exterminate his opponents.
He hated the battlefield.
He had joined the military and ridden into battle to protect, not to conquer, and even less to seek revenge. Whether his opponent was human or demon, good or evil, Mo Xi always believed that where one could spare another, one should spare them, and where possible, one should give the other party a chance to turn back.
So he possessed the power to annihilate thousands of lives with a single strike, but he had always restrained himself from using it.
But now…
To avoid seeing Gu Mang continue slaughtering with the Liao Kingdom’s demonic weapon.
To end all of this as quickly as possible.
While on the verge of collapse, he had actually used this killing technique that he had almost never employed.
Jiang Yexue said softly, “Mo Xi…”
Mo Xi seemed not to hear him. The residual baleful energy of Tuntian radiated from his body, instantly piercing apart the barrier Jiang Yexue tried to erect around him.
He stood stiffly, alone, drenched in blood.
“…” The stiletto in Gu Mang’s hand slowly withdrew, transforming into a mass of black energy before gathering back into his chest.
Then he walked toward Mo Xi.
Mo Xi remained standing where he was, like a broken puppet. His face was pale, his expression shattered, his eyes hollow. He allowed himself to be submerged beneath the torrential rain of blood.
Gu Mang stopped before him and looked up at him, drenched from head to toe.
That man who had always been so proud now looked like an abandoned dog that had been hurt too deeply, lost and at a complete loss as to what to do.
But Gu Mang’s thoughts were also in complete turmoil at this moment.
The memories he had recovered were enough to make him clear-headed, but they also left him immensely uneasy and confused.
In the mirror, his body had been reversed, allowing him to recall what had happened before his betrayal. After leaving the mirror, those memories had not disappeared. Instead, they had connected with everything that had happened after he returned to the city as a prisoner.
To him now, it was as though he had only just left Chonghua carrying Lu Zhanxing’s head on his back, and then opened his eyes to find himself inside a prisoner carriage in his homeland, becoming a traitor being sent back to his own country.
He had almost no recollection of anything that had happened in between—the eight years after his betrayal of his country.
The absence of such crucial information made Gu Mang feel that many things at this moment were extremely strange and impossible to explain. It also left him deeply troubled, and that sense of confusion made him increasingly cautious.
“…” Gu Mang deliberated for a long time before saying to Mo Xi, “Thank you, Lord Xihe, for getting me out of trouble.”
Only then did Mo Xi’s black pupils move upon hearing his voice. His unfocused gaze fell upon Gu Mang.
After a long while, he managed to utter a single word.
“You…”
His throat was bitter, and the word he forced out was bitter as well.
“…You remembered everything?”
Gu Mang was silent for a moment before saying, “Not everything. But… more or less.”
“…”
“At least my mind is clear now. I’m a normal person again.”
“Then… the things that happened inside the mirror… you still…”
“Mm.” Gu Mang said, “I remember them all.”
Mo Xi fell silent.
He closed his lashes, his Adam’s apple rolling. He seemed to want to keep his expression light and calm, but his lips were trembling slightly.
He closed his eyes and said hoarsely, “That’s good.”
His heart was a tangled mess, and his body had been exhausted to its absolute limit. At this moment, Mo Xi was almost as weak and utterly spent in body and soul as he had been when he collapsed in a pool of blood during the battle at Dongting years ago.
He did not know what attitude he should use to face Gu Mang. Therefore, in a hoarse murmur, he repeated,
“That’s good…”
After a pause, he asked, “…Are you going to leave?”
“Hm?”
“You wouldn’t be willing to remain a prisoner in Chonghua. You didn’t leave before because you couldn’t remember. Now that you’ve remembered everything…” Mo Xi said, “Are you planning to leave?”
Gu Mang was silent for a moment.
Then he suddenly raised his hand and tugged open his collar slightly, revealing the black ring fastened around his pale neck.
“…”
“The Slave Lock. You put it on me.”
Gu Mang looked at him.
“I’m your slave now. If you don’t release me, I’ll never be able to leave.”
It was as though Mo Xi had been stabbed by those casually spoken words. His figure swayed slightly.
This was not only because he had just learned many secrets from the illusion that he had never known before, nor because his feelings toward Gu Mang were already extremely complicated.
It was also because of Gu Mang’s expression at this moment—
He had seen so many expressions and states of Gu Mang.
Brilliant, tolerant, pure, bewildered, sorrowful, vacant.
He thought that whether Gu Mang cried or laughed, became angry or annoyed, he would at least be able to endure it somewhat better. At the very least, it would make him feel that Gu Mang was still a living person—someone he could catch, someone he could chase after, someone he could see and touch.
What he feared most was Gu Mang’s ruthlessness.
Gu Mang had only ever shown such a detached, heartless expression during the few times he had seen Mo Xi after betraying his country.
That emotion instantly dragged Mo Xi back into the darkest period of his past—
Gu Mang standing on the deck, holding the stiletto, the blood-stained headband fluttering wildly in the wind, telling him that nothing could ever be turned back.
Mo Xi wanted to speak, but the old scar on his chest suddenly hurt as though it were being drilled through by a knife.
Or perhaps it was not his scar that hurt.
Perhaps it was the organ beneath that scar spasming, cracking apart little by little.
His vision blurred again and again.
Through the haze, he seemed to see a trace of hidden sorrow in Gu Mang’s blue eyes.
He desperately wanted to see clearly whether that sorrow was real, whether it was merely an illusion born from his own obsession.
So he stepped forward…
But his legs felt as though they had been filled with lead, and he suddenly collapsed forward.
The violent twisting pain in his lungs made him choke out a mouthful of blood. Caught completely off guard, Gu Mang instinctively reached out and caught him, just like when they had been young and Mo Xi still called him Senior Brother Gu Mang.
Jiang Yexue anxiously said from the side, “He’s not going to make it. Put him down. I have a Spirit-Nurturing Powder. Give it to him quickly.”
Mo Xi did not care.
His body felt very light, and his soul seemed ready to break free from his body at any moment. Yet in this sensation of impending death, he actually felt relieved.
Perhaps he should have left that year, aboard the ship on Dongting Lake.
If he had left then, he would not have had to endure all those years of torment.
He was not made of steel and iron. After living in the cracks for so long, he had nearly been driven insane.
Whether he hurt Chonghua or hurt Gu Mang, he would feel pain.
Every word he spoke when he stabbed at Gu Mang, he felt pain too.
Every time he told himself that he had to hate Gu Mang, that he could no longer have personal feelings…
Every time he reminded himself of what Gu Mang had done and what he had suffered throughout these years…
Every time he tore his past away, it was like skin and flesh being ripped apart, bloody and raw.
It all hurt!!!
But he still had to live.
Without him, the Northern Frontier Army was destined to scatter and collapse.
He had to use his body, which had already lost ten years of its allotted lifespan, to carry the lingering shadow left behind by an old friend.
Without him, Gu Mang would still have to return to Luomei Villa.
He had to use his estate, which could never again be complete and whole, to shelter the ruins left behind by a hero.
Jiang Yexue’s voice grew increasingly distant.
“Mo Xi… wake up… Mo Xi…”
He was too tired.
He looked at Gu Mang’s deep-blue eyes and wanted to raise his hand to touch them, but he no longer had even enough strength to move his fingertips.
He whispered,
“Your… your eyes… if only they were black…”
If they were black, I could still deceive myself and say that none of this had ever happened, that when we were stationed together at the border, this was merely an absurdly terrible nightmare I had.
I could still deceive myself and say that when I woke from this dream, you would still be that bright-smiling young man filled with hope, and I could still remain by your side, listening to you laugh and talk.
We would still be at the military camp, neither of us holding a particularly high rank, our military pay so pitifully small.
But everyone you loved—your brothers-in-arms, your comrades, your childhood friends—would still be by your side.
I could sincerely hold your hand, looking at your profile with nothing but love in my heart, watching sunlight linger around every inch of your features.
Mo Xi’s eyelids slowly closed.
Gu Mang, if only your eyes were black…
How wonderful that would be…
Back then, the only thing pressing urgently upon us was the worry that Lu Zhanxing might suddenly recklessly lift the tent flap and barge in.
Back then, I could still fill our future with endless fantasies and hope.
How wonderful.
Or perhaps, Mo Xi thought sorrowfully, if he had died during the battle at Dongting Lake, that would have been good too…
Perhaps he had suffered too much devastation.
Even someone as fierce and stubborn as him had, at this moment, given birth to such a wish.
And just before he completely lost consciousness, the last sound Mo Xi heard was the ringing cry of a sword flying through the air.
Then, from afar, came a voice as cold and clear as jade.
—
“I only went to the top of the tower to rescue someone. What on earth are you people doing here, making such a bloody mess?”