Zhou He watched as Mo Xi left with Gu Mang, and his expression grew increasingly ugly.
“Elder, what do you think… what should we do now?”
“What else can we do? Go report to His Majesty immediately! Tell him that Mo Xi disregarded the laws of the kingdom, trespassed into a restricted area, disobeyed His Majesty’s decree, and engaged in a private brawl within the inner court!”
Jiang Yexue frowned. “Elder Zhou, the situation is complicated, and His Majesty is currently in poor health. Please think this through carefully.”
Zhou He flew into a rage. “Jiang, are you standing there talking because it doesn’t hurt you?!”
Jiang Yexue: “…”
“Today, a man from the Military Affairs Office dared to barge into my Bureau of Magical Arts and take someone away by force. If I swallow this humiliation, where am I supposed to put my dignity from now on?! I know you’re his brother, but you’d better understand one thing: your brother has violated the law! What, are you planning to cover up his crimes?!”
With that, he whipped his sleeve angrily and barked at his subordinates, “What are you all standing around for? Hurry up and report this to His Majesty!”
“Yes!”
Half an hour later, at Xihe Manor.
The damage the Black Demon Trial had inflicted on Gu Mang was far too severe. The moment he left the Bureau of Magical Arts, he fell into a coma, and he still had not regained consciousness.
During that prolonged unconsciousness, Gu Mang had an extremely deep dream.
In the dream, both he and Mo Xi were only in their early twenties. They were walking together along the long embankment on the outskirts of Chonghua City. It was dusk. The setting sun had shed half its heavy makeup, and crimson rouge and dazzling golden powder had spread thickly across the horizon, floating into miles of glowing clouds.
Gu Mang broke off a stalk of foxtail grass and swung it casually as he walked.
“I really never would have guessed that after His Majesty selected his troops and generals, he’d ultimately choose you to attack Fan City.” He paused before asking, “It’s your first time commanding an army, right? Are you nervous?”
Mo Xi lowered his eyes. He did not say whether he was nervous or not, only, “I’ll win.”
Gu Mang smiled. “That’s right. Remember this: for a commander, the most important thing is that you must never break down. No matter what happens, as long as you don’t fall apart, everyone else can see hope in you. If even the commander of an army lacks courage, then that army is nothing but a scattered mess. No matter how fiercely the soldiers charge into battle, it won’t do any good. You are the soul of the army. The moment you put on that commander’s insignia, you become responsible for the life of every one of your brothers.”
Mo Xi nodded. He raised his hand against the golden sunset and looked at Gu Mang’s face.
“I will.”
After a pause, he added,
“Wait for me to come back.”
Gu Mang laughed. “Why are you suddenly being so serious? Is there something important?”
The young man was extremely earnest, yet awkward, and for some reason still insisted on pretending to be calm.
“His Majesty said that if I win this battle, he’ll allow me to leave the Mo family and establish my own household.”
“…And?”
Mo Xi bit his lip. For a moment, he did not dare look at him. He turned his head away first and gazed at the rippling surface of the river. The fragmented golden light was reflected in his eyes and caught upon his lashes.
Whether it was because of the crimson glow of the sunset or some other reason, Mo Xi’s face actually looked a little flushed, especially the tips of his ears, which were lightly stained with red.
“I can have a residence of my own now.”
Gu Mang: “…”
He had been just as slow to understand at the time. Both of them were experiencing love for the first time, and in truth, neither was any more experienced than the other.
Gu Mang looked at Mo Xi in confusion, genuinely unable to understand what Mo Xi was trying to express. After hesitating for a while, he said, “That’s great… then… congratulations?”
And almost at the exact same moment, Mo Xi quietly asked,
“Would you be willing to live with me?”
Gu Mang: “…”
Mo Xi: “…”
The two stared at each other. Mo Xi’s handsome, refined face grew even redder. He coughed lightly, seemingly trying to salvage his dignity—or perhaps simply unwilling to pressure Gu Mang too much. His long lashes fluttered downward as he said, “I-I mean, if you don’t want to, that’s fine. I can wait. No, that’s not what I mean either. I mean, I’ve already looked at the blueprints, and I…”
The more he spoke, the more unbearably embarrassed he became. The harder he tried to cover things up, the more thoroughly those tender, youthful feelings were laid bare.
Even someone as composed as Mo Xi eventually pushed Gu Mang away and walked to the edge of the embankment, raising a hand to his forehead. He murmured almost despairingly,
“…Sorry. I was just asking casually…”
Gu Mang remembered how this young man had awkwardly yet stubbornly tried to show his feelings for him. Suddenly, he understood.
His little junior brother hadn’t even gone to war yet. He hadn’t even set out for the battlefield, yet he firmly believed he would win. He had even secretly gone to look at the blueprints for his future residence…
Thinking about it now, Gu Mang’s heart ached.
He knew that Mo Xi had always treated him sincerely.
He simply did not dare to have him.
But perhaps because Mo Xi would soon be heading to the front lines, or perhaps because Gu Mang had always harbored some selfish feelings of his own, he had not rejected Mo Xi’s proposal that day.
And that made the young man incredibly happy.
That night, neither he nor Mo Xi returned to their respective residences. Instead, they spent the entire night tangled together at an inn outside the city.
By the end, Gu Mang had been exhausted to the point where he had no strength left at all. His face was buried in the disheveled bedding, and tears brought on by overwhelming pleasure clung to the corners of his long, slender eyes.
He trembled and shuddered.
As his consciousness grew hazy, he heard Mo Xi quietly say to him, “There’s something I want to give you.”
Gu Mang did not have the strength to ask what it was. Mo Xi took the hand that was clutching the bedsheet, his broad palm covering Gu Mang’s fingers one by one.
Gu Mang felt a faint sting on the back of his hand. Immediately afterward, a red magical formation lit up across the palms and backs of their joined hands. Following their tightly clasped hands, it slowly drifted upward until it reached the side of their necks.
Still dazed from the lingering aftereffects of their intimacy, Gu Mang weakly asked, “What is it?”
“A very small sword formation.”
Mo Xi released his hand. His callused fingertip lifted and gently brushed along the side of Gu Mang’s neck.
“I know there are always people who bully you. They’re afraid of causing trouble, so they don’t dare use magic. They only dare take advantage of you physically.”
His lashes lowered as he turned his head and kissed the side of Gu Mang’s neck.
“I left behind a drop of my blood and formed it into this formation. I haven’t given it a fixed shape yet, so you can condense it into whatever you want—a character, a flower… anything. When I’m not around, it will protect you. Of course, if you don’t want it… you can seal it away.”
Gu Mang quietly listened as Mo Xi kissed him gently.
His heart was filled with conflicting emotions. Part of him wanted to laugh happily, while another part wanted to cry in sorrow—because he actually would not be moving into Mo Xi’s residence.
That was a residence, not a home.
A home was where two people could openly and legitimately be together, without hiding themselves away, without making love like secret lovers, without burying their relationship as though it were some wrongdoing.
Mo Xi might be able to give him a place to live, but he could not give him a true home in the real sense of the word.
They were not people who could walk the same path. They never had been.
Gu Mang knew that in the end, he would reject Mo Xi. But looking at the young man’s earnest, pleading expression, he could not bring himself to say anything at that moment.
His body had already been softened by his little junior brother, and his heart had long since melted completely. Driven almost entirely by guilt, he turned his face, raised his hand, and gently stroked Mo Xi’s cheek.
“Did you only leave a sword formation for me?”
“…Hm?”
His dark eyes smiled tenderly.
“What if someone bullies you?”
Mo Xi: “…”
Naturally, no one would dare take advantage of Young Master Mo physically.
Yet it was as though two people who were destined never to reach the end together insisted on leaving something behind in the other—a secret that only the two of them would ever know.
Gu Mang bit his own finger, then turned over and touched the side of Mo Xi’s neck with his fingertip, seriously transforming it into a red lotus.
Then he took Mo Xi’s hand and pressed it against the mark, smiling.
“I’ll leave a drop of my blood too. You can turn it into a protective sword formation for me. Consider it as me accompanying you, too. All right?”
A brilliant light suddenly appeared in Mo Xi’s eyes.
The sight of it made Gu Mang feel unbearably reluctant to hurt him.
Mo Xi said, “…All right.”
As he spoke, he wrapped his arms around Gu Mang from behind, his warm chest pressed against Gu Mang’s curved back. One hand stroked his hair while he kissed his neck and the trembling tips of his ears.
“Wait for me to come back.”
“Wait for me to come back. Everything will get better.”
“Believe me…”
Believe me.
The scene before him and Mo Xi’s voice gradually began to fade into the distance, just like all the memories the Hunting Falcon had pierced through—fragmenting and collapsing into pieces.
Wait for me.
Everything will get better.
Deep within his consciousness, Gu Mang struggled and curled up on his knees, endlessly apologizing to that utterly devoted Mo Xi.
I’m sorry. I wish I could keep waiting for you, too.
I wish everything would get better, too.
I have always believed you.
But… Mo Xi, some things have to be done by someone, and some sacrifices have to be made by someone.
When fate comes looking for you, if you don’t want to be a coward, then you are destined to face it.
We each have our own path to walk.
That future, that home—you already painted the picture of it for me. In your eyes, I have already lived through a lifetime that was so beautiful and carefree.
That is enough.
So, when you return in triumph, bathed in glory, and you don’t see me… don’t be sad…
I love you.
Every time I have ever said that I love you in this life, I meant it.
…
Mo Xi…
Even while unconscious, tears continued to roll from the corners of Gu Mang’s eyes and seep into his hair at the temples.
——
A group of sorcerers were busy around Gu Mang’s bedside. The Grand Elder in charge said in a deep voice, “Open three more Blood-Coagulation Formations. Place Soul-Stabilizing Needles at the three acupoints—Shenting, Fengchi, and Renzing.”
But when he finished speaking, the junior disciple assisting them did not move.
His white brows rose angrily.
“What are you spacing out for? Hurry up!”
The junior disciple hurriedly answered, “Oh… oh.”
His flustered gaze moved away from Gu Mang’s face.
Yet he could not help thinking to himself—The Black Demon Trial must really have been painful.
Otherwise, why would Gu Mang still be crying even while unconscious…?
His master urged him, “The needles at all three points. Keep your hands steady.”
“Yes!”
The medical cultivators gathered beside the bed in the sleeping quarters of Xihe Manor.
The pale ink-colored gauze curtains embroidered with repeating patterns hung low. Incense meant to calm the spirit and soothe the mind burned inside a golden Suanni censer, yet it could not suppress the tense atmosphere in the room.
The physicians from Shennong Terrace hurried in and out. Basin after basin of blood-stained water used to clean Gu Mang’s wounds was carried away and replaced. Decoctions that had finished boiling and medicinal poultices that had been prepared were likewise brought in one after another.
No one dared speak.
Fine beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of every cultivator and servant.
There were two patients in the room.
One was Gu Mang, lying on the bed.
The other was Mo Xi, sitting beside the table.
No one knew what Mo Xi had actually gone through, why he had suddenly been injured so badly, or why, despite being wounded to this extent, he seemed completely unconcerned about himself and cared only about the unconscious man on the bed…
That traitor.
The medical cultivators urgently summoned from Shennong Terrace were all deeply puzzled.
One of the medicine cultivators cautiously approached.
“Lord Xihe, the finest healing salve has arrived. Your injuries…”
“Give it to him.”
The young cultivator: “…”
“Give all the finest medicines to him.”
Mo Xi’s eyes were bloodshot, and his gaze never left the bed for even a moment.
“I’m fine.”
The only medicine cultivator responsible for treating Mo Xi had a pale, yellowish face and wanted desperately to speak.
Big brother! You are absolutely not fine!
Your spiritual core is practically about to crack apart. How could you possibly be fine?
But seeing the stubborn expression on Mo Xi’s face, no one dared say anything else. They could only continue silently rushing back and forth inside and outside the room.
Just as everyone was frantically busy, a young household servant suddenly ran in nervously.
“M-Master!”
“What is it?”
“H-His Majesty sent Duke Zhao here to deliver an imperial decree. He… he says that you need to go outside immediately to receive the decree.”
Mo Xi did not answer.
He did not move either.
One hand remained braced against the dark, gleaming sandalwood table while a medicine cultivator treated his wounds.
After a while, four faint words fell from his pale lips.
“Let him wait.”
Everyone in the room was stunned.
A young cultivator carrying a bowl of medicine almost dropped it. He stared at Mo Xi in horror.
Everyone had the same thought:
Could Lord Xihe have gone mad?
The young servant stammered, “B-But… but how can we…”
Mo Xi repeated without even blinking.
This time, there were only two words.
“Let him wait.”
“…”
The servant had no choice but to stumble back outside.
Mo Xi continued staring at the figure on the bed, enveloped in the glow of magical formations.
An elder medicine cultivator with a long silver beard had said earlier that Gu Mang’s body had been altered by the Liao Kingdom in an extremely strange way.
A tremendous amount of yin energy flowed through him, making him seem almost like a body cursed by millions upon millions of people.
Chonghua had always been unfamiliar with people possessing such constitutions. Combined with the severity of Gu Mang’s injuries, even though these medicine cultivators had exhausted every means at their disposal, they could only barely stabilize Gu Mang’s life.
They could not, however, undo the further damage inflicted upon his mind.
The elder medicine cultivator wiped the sweat from his face.
“How is his spiritual consciousness?”
The cultivator who had been continuously using magic to stabilize Gu Mang’s skull looked deathly pale. Clearly, he had already exhausted an enormous amount of energy.
But he still shook his head.
“…We’re almost unable to hold it together. He was already missing two souls, and now he’s even more…”
“Cough, cough, cough!”
By the end, he was so exhausted that he actually coughed up blood.
Mo Xi’s ears rang.
His entire body felt as though he had fallen into an icy abyss.
“What does that mean?”
“…”
The medicine cultivators looked at one another.
All of them lowered their eyes uneasily, and none dared answer first.
“What will happen to him?”
At a time like this, only the elder could speak.
The elder medicine cultivator’s expression was extremely grim, but he could only force himself to say it.
“I’m afraid he may… forget everything… He may not be able to speak… And if the collapse is severe enough, it could even damage his eyes…”
Mo Xi abruptly stood.
His entire body was trembling, and his already pale lips had become utterly colorless.
The medicine cultivator who had been stabilizing his meridians was suddenly blasted backward by the violent surge of spiritual power Mo Xi released and cried out,
“Lord Xihe, you can’t move recklessly anymore! You—”
Before he could finish, a faint, ethereal female voice interrupted with a soft sigh.
“Brother Mo, you obtained my spiritual core, and this is how you’re going to abuse yourself?”
Everyone turned around together and immediately lowered their heads in salute.
“Princess Mengze!”
“Greetings, Princess Mengze!”