His Majesty raised his eyes and said in a low voice, “…What else could I do?”
Though it was a warm room where it was like spring all year round, a bone-piercing chill suddenly spread through the air.
His Majesty leaned back in the deep armchair, looking down at Mo Xi from his throne. He drew his fox-fur cloak tighter around himself and said slowly, “What happened in the past has already passed. There is no meaning in keeping those things around.”
“Lord Xihe, may I ask you—those jade slips you risked your life to restore, can they add even a single brick to the nation’s foundation? Can they allow the people to live and work in peace? Can they bring about the collapse of the Liao Kingdom, or bring peace to the Nine Provinces and pacify the world?”
His Majesty paused before saying, “None of them.”
“Keeping those jade slips would only create unnecessary misunderstandings and trouble. It would only cause… Look, it has caused the situation we have today, with you and me, sovereign and subject, standing against each other.”
“You still remember the stone stele standing outside the main hall of the Imperial Historical Office, don’t you? It bears the words, ‘Yesterday is already dead.’ Those four words are actually not wrong. Some past events, some secrets, ought to be buried beneath the passage of time. Once they are dug up, they will bring a hundred harms and not a single benefit to the current situation.”
After a moment of silence, His Majesty said flatly, “I never expected you to be so unable to let this go.”
Mo Xi’s eyes were flooded with scarlet blood. It felt as though boiling magma were flowing through his chest, with all the blood in his body rushing toward his head.
His fingers clenched into fists, and his voice was hoarse with fury. “It isn’t that I can’t let it go. It’s that, Your Majesty… you have let it go far too easily.”
“Eight years ago, on that stormy night, you practically promised Gu Mang everything he wanted on the Golden Platform. You said every beautiful thing there was to say. You said you had never treated them as ants or beasts. You said you would give him a world where everyone received the justice they deserved. You said that sooner or later, you would personally place a heroic silk sash upon him—are all those words you spoke, all those promises you made, nothing more than the political tactics of a ruler? Were they all lies?!”
“Lord Xihe.”
His Majesty’s gaze suddenly turned cold. The bridge of his nose wrinkled slightly, his expression resembling that of a tiger or wolf about to pounce and kill.
“—You are being far too insolent!”
“What am I being insolent about?! I only want right to be right and wrong to be wrong! I only want to see him receive the respect he deserves instead of continuing to be framed! Eight years… He has kept this secret bottled up inside for eight years. Even when he was suffering the most, he never betrayed you. He never told anyone even the slightest bit of the truth! Now he is completely exhausted. He can no longer serve you. Is it really so difficult to give him the clean name he deserves?! You deceived him until he had nowhere left to turn, then simply cast him aside. Your Majesty, he was your pawn yesterday—who is your pawn today?! Me?!!”
With a deafening crash, the fruits and pastries on the table were sent scattering across the floor. The bean cakes were smashed into mush, the grapes burst open, and their juices flowed everywhere.
His Majesty abruptly rose to his feet, a layer of surging color rising across his face.
“Mo Xi! I remind you—do not forget the oath you once swore!”
He, too, had been pushed to the absolute limit before those words escaped him. The instant he said them, he almost immediately regretted it.
Sure enough, the light in Mo Xi’s eyes flickered. He raised a hand to his forehead, lifted his head, and murmured almost with a mocking laugh, “…The oath of heavenly tribulation…”
His Majesty: “…”
“Ten years were taken from my lifespan, and I established a blood oath. From that day onward, if cultivators of slave status do not raise arms in rebellion, then neither will I. I shall swear to remain loyal to Your Majesty, loyal to Chonghua, until death.”
The scene from all those years ago, when he had been powerless to do otherwise and repeatedly knocked his head against the ground while making that blood oath, remained vividly etched in his memory.
Mo Xi’s throat moved. With his damp eyes closed, he whispered, “…What a colossal joke.”
He was silent for a moment, his arm shielding his eyelashes as he struggled to suppress his emotions. But it was futile. The hatred gnashing within him was etched with startling clarity across his gaunt face.
After a while, he abruptly lowered his arm. When his dark eyes opened again, a cold gleam flashed sharply within them!
His Majesty’s heart instantly sank. He immediately raised his hand to block the attack, but he had not expected that even with Mo Xi’s spiritual core already shattered to this degree, such terrifying force would still remain when he was enraged.
With a thunderous “bang,” the Ransui Snake Whip tore through the air and violently shattered the barrier His Majesty had created. The whip, exploding with scarlet light, lashed through the air before transforming into a razor-sharp sword capable of cutting hair from a passing blade, its edge pressed against His Majesty’s throat.
His Majesty’s expression changed drastically. “Lord Xihe, if you attack me, you will be reduced to ashes and die without even a complete corpse!”
“The reminder isn’t necessary.”
Mo Xi advanced with the sword in hand, his teeth clenched as he spoke with chilling menace.
“Your Majesty, you already knew the truth back then. You had already made up your mind that you would not touch Gu Mang’s remaining forces—yet you still had to come to me and seek peace of mind one more time.”
“Lord Xihe…”
“Using the same bargaining chip twice. Once, you used it to bind him to life-and-death struggles with you. Once, you used it to bind me so that I could never rebel. Kill two birds with one stone. Your Majesty truly is Your Majesty. What masterful political maneuvering!”
“…”
His Majesty turned his head away. “At that time, I simply could not explain it to you. …Think back yourself. Did I not keep avoiding you? But you knelt before my palace for three days and three nights…”
He suddenly turned his face back. The sword’s gleam reflected upon his features, making his expression look almost ferocious.
“Three days and three nights! What else could I say? Tell you to get lost and go home? Refuse to see you even if you died?! Put yourself in my place, Lord Xihe! Several thousand pairs of eyes throughout the entire court are watching me! If I told you the truth, do you really think you would have no idea what you would do? Could you stand by and watch that beloved senior brother of yours suffer in the Liao Kingdom for all those years, enduring all that humiliation?! You simply couldn’t do it!”
By the time His Majesty said this, his eyes were bloodshot with anger and unwillingness. He stared at Mo Xi and said with a trembling voice, “Everything you did—wasn’t it also forcing me? Do you think I wanted to do those things?!! Do you think I can truly have a clear conscience and sleep peacefully at night?!!”
Mo Xi angrily said, “If Your Majesty has a guilty conscience, then why can you still commit such a cruel act today?”
“But what choice did I have?”
His Majesty gasped for breath, his eyes completely red as he glared at him. He pointed behind himself at his seat and said to Mo Xi, “Why don’t you sit here and take a look? How many things are beyond my control? You are not sitting in this position. You cannot see all the demons and monsters lurking around you!”
“…”
“Do you think I don’t want to clear his name? Do you think I don’t want to see my God of War put on his armor again and return to the battlefield? Do you think I don’t want to take his hand and tell all of Chonghua, tell all of them, that their faith has never been destroyed, that their Marshal Gu is still their Marshal Gu, that his loyal heart has never changed? Do you think I don’t want to?!”
His Majesty bit off the final word, his voice choking slightly.
“I’ll tell you the truth…”
“Day and night, I dream of seeing such a day…”
His Majesty abruptly turned his head away, suppressing the agitation that a ruler of a nation should not display. His emotions gradually settled, and at last, he stopped referring to himself as “I.”
“But I cannot do it.”
“The roots of Chonghua’s old aristocratic clans have yet to be shaken. Although the circumstances of cultivators of slave status have improved, they are still far from good. The Liao Kingdom continues to threaten our borders at every moment. As for their black magic curses, Chonghua still changes color at the mere mention of them and knows very little about them—how can you expect me to restore Marshal Gu’s good name?”
“…”
“Am I supposed to announce to the entire world at this moment that Gu Mang was actually a spy I sent into the Liao Kingdom?”
“Or am I supposed to show Gu Mang mercy without explanation at this time?”
His Majesty gave a bitter, sorrowful, almost absurd laugh.
“Lord Xihe, wake up. There is far too much blood on Gu Mang’s hands. The latter path is already absolutely impossible. And as for the consequences of taking the former path, calm yourself and think about it. You can figure it out.”
“Yes, his stigma would be cleared. But then what?”
“The Liao Kingdom would learn that Gu Mang once stole their arcane secrets and passed them on to Chonghua, and would therefore tighten their defenses even further. The old aristocratic clans would figure out the deal I made with Marshal Gu back then, and the hearts of the people would become unsettled. Internal troubles and external threats would become entangled all at once. All the suffering Gu Qing endured during those five years in hiding, all the humiliation he endured for three years… everything he suffered, everything he sacrificed, everything he worked for—all of it would be wasted!”
His Majesty paused for a moment before turning his shimmering gaze toward Mo Xi.
“That is not what he wants.”
“…”
“Lord Xihe, you are the person he cherishes most. You know what he would choose.”
The light of the sword Mo Xi held trembled, and his heart was struck hard.
How could he not know?
All those years, Gu Mang had spoken countless times of the dream he carried, whispering it into Mo Xi’s ear. At first, he had spoken so cautiously, as though afraid his naïve ideals would be mocked by his companions.
Later, he spoke with such absolute conviction, because by then Gu Mang had already made up his mind and would never turn back.
How could Mo Xi not know his choice?
From the moment he saw Gu Mang kneel on the Golden Platform, he had already understood what path Gu Mang’s heart was set upon…
But—
When he thought of the blood-covered man at the Bureau of Arcane Arts just now, thought of that man collapsing into his arms, tears rolling down his face in great drops as he begged them not to take away his memories, how could Mo Xi possibly accept it…
A thousand thoughts tangled around his heart, burning his insides. He felt as though he had been split cleanly in two.
Half of him ached for what Gu Mang had suffered and screamed that he should stop caring. What homeland, nation, loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness? What fairness for all, what peace and prosperity? His senior brother was simply too foolish. This world had given him nothing, yet he had still offered up all his passion, his lifelong reputation, and his flesh and blood.
Mo Xi, when his will collapsed, he begged you like that. He was afraid of pain. How could you bear not to save him?
Yet the other half of him murmured, No… From childhood, Gu Mang had longed for everyone to be treated fairly. His senior brother had walked this road for so many years in order to see that day arrive, scraping himself bloody and accumulating wounds across his entire body.
If he were conscious, if he were the stubborn person he had always been, he would certainly make you persist…
Mo Xi, how can you betray him?
The two halves of his mind fought against each other, tormenting one another.
His spiritual core had already been on the verge of collapse before this. Although the elders at Shennong Platform had barely managed to stabilize it, it remained far too weak.
Now, with his emotions and blood surging violently, the spiritual core that was already hanging by a thread suddenly began to twist in waves of excruciating pain, causing him to choke and cough up blood!
Seeing his condition, His Majesty’s perpetually tense expression loosened slightly.
“Lord Xihe…”
Mo Xi reversed his grip and planted the long sword formed from Ransui against the ground. Its blade, sharp enough to cut through metal as though it were mud, sank straight into the golden bricks.
He gasped for breath and wiped the blood from the corner of his lips, yet his lips remained bright red with blood.
In a hoarse voice, he asked, “…Even if… you cannot clear his name at this time, then let me ask you—”
He squeezed his eyes shut. The veins on his neck bulged as he clenched his fists, forcing each word through his teeth.
“What, then, was the Black Demon Trial for?!”
His Majesty: “…”
The question fell like a stone into the sea, receiving no response.
Mo Xi raised his pupils and stared at His Majesty’s face, which had suddenly gone deathly pale, his gaze filled with both hatred and grief.
His bloodstained lips slowly moved, and the words that spilled from them carried the metallic sweetness of blood.
“After he returned to the city, you were the ruler of a nation. Even if, because of one reason or another, you were unable to protect him… couldn’t you at least have made him suffer a little less?”
Mo Xi’s voice sounded like a cracked clay ocarina, and the rims of his eyes were unbearably red.
“The Black Demon Trial—that was the pain of having your bones gouged out and your sinews torn apart! Your Majesty! What was it for? To put on a show? To give those who knew nothing a blood-for-blood explanation? Or did you want to obtain even more secrets about the black magic curse?!”
His Majesty’s face turned ashen. He seemed to want to speak but could not. In the end, he bit his lip and turned his head away.
Only after a long while did he say, “Lord Xihe, there are many things you do not understand—”
“There are indeed many things I don’t understand. I don’t know what you have truly been thinking all these years. I don’t know which of your words were true and which were false. I was kept in the dark for eight whole years precisely because I knew nothing!
“But Your Majesty, do you really think you know the whole truth?”
A faint flicker of emotion moved through His Majesty’s eyes. He slowly said, “…What do you mean?”
Mo Xi’s emotions were too violently shaken, and another wave of intense bloodiness rose into his throat.
He closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly upward, not answering immediately.
At that moment, the two small golden beasts on the brazier in Vermilion Bird Palace, which had been enchanted with spells, awakened.
They absorbed the smoke and charcoal fumes rising from the brazier into their bellies, then gave a burp and, as they had done for ten years without fail, began shouting at the tops of their voices.
“May His Majesty enjoy boundless fortune!”
“May His Majesty’s might extend throughout the realm!”
Mo Xi silently listened to the two little golden beasts competing to flatter and praise their master.
Slowly, he almost mockingly, yet with infinite sorrow, began to laugh.
His Majesty’s expression grew even more tense.
“As for Gu Qing’s matter, what is there that I do not know?”
Mo Xi did not answer him directly. Instead, he said, “Your Majesty. The brazier and incense burner Murong Lian gave you was meant to put your heart at ease, to demonstrate his submission. Countless people kneel before you and sing your praises for the sake of official rank and status, family fortune and their very lives…
“If you wanted to find someone in Chonghua whose heart is as firm as a rock and whose loyalty to Chonghua would never waver, there are actually very, very few.
“And Gu Mang is one of them.”
“…”
“Because of all your difficulties and circumstances, you did not fulfill your promise. But he is different from you. A gentleman’s word is his bond. Everything he promised you, he did.”
As Mo Xi spoke, he gave a soft laugh, but there was endless sorrow and desolation within that smile.
“Your Majesty, do you know that when we were on Bat Island, Gu Mang had actually recovered most of his memories?”
His Majesty’s gaze flickered. He froze for a moment, and then his expression changed drastically.
“…He already…?”
Mo Xi almost cruelly watched the color drain from his face, each word cutting directly into the heart of this ruler.
“Except for the five years he spent in the Liao Kingdom, he remembered almost everything. Naturally, he also remembered the promises you made to him. He remembered what kind of person he himself was. He remembered Lu Zhanxing’s death, remembered the defeat at Phoenix Cry Mountain, remembered every single thing you said on the Golden Platform…
“He remembered all of it.”
His Majesty’s face was completely drained of color. Shaking his head, he slowly backed away.
He looked dazed, as though he had not yet digested the meaning of those words, and yet as though he already understood everything. His entire body trembled almost imperceptibly.
“…How is that possible…”
He abruptly retreated, looking at Mo Xi in disbelief.
But his eyes were hollow, as though something that had always supported his cruelty had suddenly collapsed.
Shattered into pieces all across the floor.
A crack appeared in the usually cold and thinly indifferent face of His Majesty. Then increasingly obvious emotions began to surge through that invisible fissure.
His Majesty shook his head and said, his voice gradually rising and becoming somewhat uncontrolled, “How could he possibly have remembered? …If he truly remembered everything, then… then wouldn’t that mean…”
Mo Xi held back his tears and said, “He knew the truth. He also knew that you had already abandoned him. And yet he still protected your secret.”
“…”
“For eight years, he received none of what you had once promised him. All he saw was his own reputation in tatters and his entire body covered in wounds—but he still protected your secret.
“He never came to question you. He never told anyone of his grievances. When Zhou He cut open his flesh according to your orders and subjected him to the Black Demon Trial…
“He was conscious…”
Mo Xi suppressed the tremor in his voice, but his vision was already blurred with tears.
“Your Majesty, do you understand now? …When he went with Zhou He, he already knew that he had been wrongfully accused!”
His Majesty collapsed back into the armchair. It seemed his cold illness was about to flare up again, and his lips had turned terribly pale and blue.
“He knew… He already knew all of it… Then he… back then…”
By the end, he could no longer form a complete sentence.
His Majesty raised his pale, emaciated fingers and buried his face in his hands, murmuring hoarsely, “Gu Qing… Gu Qing…”
Knowing full well that he had been abandoned, yet walking into that hell without saying a single word…
What kind of feelings must he have had?
His Majesty closed his eyes in anguish, his voice choking until, in the end, it became a sorrowful sob.
The impact of this truth was simply too great for him.
For a very, very long time, His Majesty could not recover himself. He kept murmuring to himself, his palms already damp with tears, the skin around his eyes completely wet.
He lowered his head. His neck seemed as though an invisible claw had snapped it, and his shoulders had slumped almost unbearably.
In all the years Mo Xi had known him, he had never once seen His Majesty like this.
His Majesty sank deep into the soft seat of his throne.
After another long passage of time, he stared blankly at the brazier burning fiercely before him, at the firewood crackling within it.
His eyes were empty.
He said despondently, “Mo Xi.”
“…”
“Do you think I am cold-blooded, that I used Gu Qing to the absolute limit and then abandoned him without a second thought, with no regard for our old ties or the promises I made?”
After saying this, His Majesty raised his head. His eyes and the tip of his nose were still red.
He closed his eyes for a moment. Amid the silence, he finally made up his mind.
He rose to his feet and said, “Whatever I say now, you will no longer believe. Enough… The historical jade slip from back then—there is actually still one volume left. I have kept it with me all this time.”
Mo Xi suddenly stiffened.
His Majesty said, utterly exhausted, “…Since things have come to this, there is nothing more for me to hide. Come with me.”