“Mo Xi, you shouldn’t think this way. What is not worth it to you may be worth it to Murong Chen, and to Murong Mengze,” the god said. “You are a person who is too honest and straightforward, while Gu Mang is a person who is too idealistic. People like you are easily made into saints, but not easily made into rulers.”
Mo Xi closed his eyes and murmured wearily, “Murong Mengze wants to become a ruler…”
“No. What she wants is far more than merely becoming Chonghua’s ruler. It is simply that Heaven did not grant her the fate she wanted, so she came to seize it herself. Since ancient times, there have been few rulers who were completely pure and clean. Her methods are indeed ruthless, but—” He paused. “For a ruler, what matters most is whether they can govern the country capably and with principles. Other things are not so important. These words may sound cruel, and they may also make one feel indignant, but people have a thousand faces, and each has their own strengths. Leaving right and wrong aside, what I can tell you is that if this person were to rule a country, she would be far more suitable than Murong Chen, Murong Lian, Gu Mang, or you.”
“……”
The god paused again for a moment before saying, “All right. Now that you know all of this…” His robes fluttered lightly as he looked at him through the hazy cold mist. “Mo Xi, after you return, do you want to seek revenge against her?”
Three years ago, five years ago, everything in Mo Xi’s heart had been clearly divided into black and white, love and hatred sharply distinguished. It seemed that he believed everything in this mortal world could ultimately receive a fair judgment of right and wrong.
But now, he knew that there were actually many things in this world that did not go as one wished, where good and evil were unclear.
At the same time, however, his Senior Brother Gu had also guided him, telling him that regardless of what others were like, regardless of whether fate was fair, the person one most needed to be worthy of was oneself.
Even amid bitter frost and snow, when all things fell silent, there would still be winter plum blossoms braving the snow, pine and cypress trees facing the wind.
Fame and fortune, suffering, eternal night, and even death could not change one’s heart. Only then could one accomplish one’s own path.
The god waited for a moment. Seeing that Mo Xi did not answer, he did not press him further. Instead, he pointed toward the surface of the lake again—
“If you have not made up your mind, you need not answer me. Whether you seek revenge or not, after you return to Chonghua and meet her, you will make your own decision. Let me tell you about the second crucial matter.”
“…What?”
“Look at Tuntian in the lake water. Its reflection appears within your reflection. Do you not find that strange?”
Mo Xi said, “Tuntian is my divine weapon, so naturally its reflection would appear…”
“Then why has Luran not appeared?”
Mo Xi froze at those words and raised his eyes.
The spirit of the god said calmly, “Have you ever thought about why Tuntian possesses such an ability to move mountains and fill the seas, and why it is even far more violent than ordinary divine weapons?”
“……”
Seeing that Mo Xi did not answer, the god said, “In truth, Tuntian is not an ordinary divine weapon.”
Mo Xi stared in astonishment, his eyes widening. “!”
“You already know that back then, the former ruler of Chonghua wanted to follow the forbidden techniques left behind by Chen Tang and refine an immortal beast capable of fighting against the Blood Demon Beast. Everyone thought he had failed. The Old Lord himself thought so as well. But the truth was not so.”
The god’s robes fluttered gently as he said in a deep, composed voice, “Back then, among those who participated in refining the immortal beast—Murong Lian’s father, Zhou He’s father… Some of them remained loyal to the Old Lord from beginning to end, while others saw that before black magic, even the Old Lord’s ability to restrain himself was gradually being devoured. One of them was your father.”
Mo Xi was suddenly shocked!
“Back then, the Saint Immortal Beast had actually already been successfully refined. But it possessed a spirit, and only revealed its power before someone it acknowledged as its master. Therefore, the others believed that they had failed in refining it. That was not the truth. They simply had not passed the immortal beast’s test, and did not know that it had already successfully formed into a spiritual pearl. And your father, Mo Qingchi… was the only person acknowledged by the immortal beast.”
“That immortal beast only manifested before him and recognized him as its master. Moreover, it once sorrowfully and honestly foretold to its master that he would sacrifice himself in a battle not long afterward, and that his family would also fall into great turmoil—and the only thing capable of protecting his son from being bullied was the strongest possible magical power—which was itself.”
Mo Xi could not help taking a step backward. “What…”
“I know you will be very surprised. But this is the truth. Mo Xi, after learning that he would soon die, your father sealed the immortal beast’s spiritual pearl inside your body, allowing it to recognize you as its master and protect you as you grew up safely. Otherwise, why would you have possessed such extraordinary talent and formidable strength from birth? Your abilities far surpassed those of a heaven-gifted prodigy. They were simply abnormal.”
Mo Xi trembled slightly. He recalled everything from the past, as well as the killing technique capable of leaving millions of corpses behind that he had always kept suppressed. His fingertips grew colder and colder.
“You thought Tuntian was a divine weapon you summoned after awakening your spiritual powers. It was not,” the god said. “It is the soul of the immortal beast that Mo Qingchi left to you. Your formidable spiritual power also originates from it.”
The god stared into Mo Xi’s eyes and said, word by word:
“The Saint Immortal Beast has always been sealed inside your body.”
“!!”
“So the only person in this world who can completely eliminate the Blood Demon Beast… is you.”
There was no trace of color left on Mo Xi’s face.
He stared blankly with his eyes wide open at the god of the Reversing Stone. After the god finished speaking, the surrounding immortal mist became even more hazy and indistinct, soaking his figure until it was almost impossible to see clearly. Even his voice became vast and distant, as though separated by mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas.
“Mo Xi… The Reversing Stone chose you, naturally, not by coincidence. Next, I will undo the seal on Tuntian within your body. You will completely possess the power of the Saint Immortal Beast, enough to rival the power of the Blood Demon Beast.”
“And you will have two choices—you can choose to seek revenge against Murong Mengze after you leave. With the immortal beast’s spirit protecting you, you can kill her, seize the city and become its ruler, then use Tuntian’s barrier to protect Chonghua City. The Blood Demon Beast’s blood water will swallow the entire Nine Provinces, but it will not reach Chonghua City. You can then live in a corner of peace.”
“But you can also choose, after awakening Tuntian, to enter the depths of the sea of blood. There, you will sense the heart of the Blood Demon Beast. As long as you use your spiritual power to cancel it out, you will be able to destroy it. The blood pool will turn into ordinary lake water, and Hua Po’an will also lose his source of power, becoming an ordinary person who can be defeated. The Nine Provinces will be preserved, but…”
The god paused for a moment, his voice ringing like a great bell:
“You will perish together with the Blood Demon Beast, forever escaping the cycle of reincarnation, never to be reborn.”
Mo Xi listened. It was such a cruel thing, yet strangely, he did not feel that it was particularly heavy.
He had just shattered Gu Mang’s soul. He had also gone through such dramatic rises and falls. At this moment, it seemed that nothing could hurt him more than everything he had already lost.
The immortal mist around the god drifted faintly, making it impossible to see his expression. After a long while, he seemed to let out a soft sigh before saying to Mo Xi, “These two paths… no one will force you to take either. I told you before, the gods do not save people. They merely hold up the lamp, while people save themselves. Likewise, the gods will not force you to make a choice. Which path you take, you must choose for yourself…”
After saying this, he disappeared into the cold mist.
Immediately afterward, a powerful repulsive force violently pushed Mo Xi away. The darkness within this space suddenly shattered, breaking apart into countless sparkling and chaotic fragments that drifted and fell before Mo Xi’s eyes.
He saw more than thirty years of his own past flickering within those fragments.
He saw Mo Qingchi standing beneath the osmanthus tree when he was a child, his father’s armored hand reaching toward him, smiling as he said, “Little Fireball, what are you doing here?”
He saw the first time he met Jiang Yexue. The gentle and amiable child stood quietly beside the Que Platform, speaking with his mother. After receiving his mother’s guidance, Jiang Yexue turned around and said to him, “Hello, my name is Yue Yexue. Are you the young master of the Mo residence?”
He saw Murong Lian bullying Gu Mang in countless ways at the Academy. At the time, he did not know that deep within Murong Lian’s heart, besides her jealousy and hatred toward Gu Mang, there still remained a trace of concern born from their blood relationship.
He saw Murong Chuyi walking alone beneath the corridor, aloof and cold, believing that this person truly had no human warmth at all, just as the rumors claimed. Only later did he learn that Murong Chuyi’s heart actually concealed a tenderness and affection as vast as rivers, lakes, and seas.
Then he saw the day he and Gu Mang broke apart.
On the deck during the Battle of Dongting Waters, Gu Mang was dressed entirely in black, holding a bayonet and a hunting eagle, walking toward him through the smoke and sparks.
At that time, Gu Mang wore on his forehead the Chonghua Martyrs’ Headband he had taken from a corpse. Mo Xi had once thought it was Gu Mang’s humiliation of the fallen martyrs, but he did not know that it was Gu Mang’s reluctance to let go of Chonghua.
Back then, Gu Mang’s thin lips had opened and closed as he said coldly and grimly to him, “Whether as a general or as a soldier, as a human being born into this world, one cannot cling too much to old affections.”
But later, he learned that every moment Gu Mang spent in Liao had never caused him to forget the Seventy Thousand Memorial Steles, the Thirty Thousand people, a country, and the city of the Nine Provinces.
He had once resented Gu Mang’s cold-blooded ruthlessness, resented him for refusing to turn back.
In truth, Gu Mang had never betrayed them and gone down another path. He had simply walked alone without hesitation, moving forward to clear the thorns and brambles for those who came after him, opening a bloody path through them.
He had thought that Gu Mang had cut open his heart while Mengze had saved his life, but it turned out…
Mo Xi slowly closed his eyes. Bitterness and sorrow burned through his chest like a wildfire, burning all the way into his heart and reddening the corners of his eyes.
The entire world within the Reversing Stone collapsed. The faces and voices of countless people from the past, their schemes and deceptions, surged toward him like a flood that could destroy the world. He was pushed beyond this heaven and earth by that tremendous force.
The words of the god of the Reversing Stone still echoed in his ears.
Seek revenge and seize the city, or throw himself into the sea of blood.
—“You must choose between these two paths…”
Through his thin, closed eyelids, Mo Xi could feel the daylight gradually brightening. He did not open his eyes, yet he could already hear the cries of women and children within the city, the soldiers encouraging one another, the sounds of weapons clashing, the sound of rushing water…
He understood that he had returned.
He had once again returned to the battlefield six years later.
He even heard someone shouting from far away, “Send the troops from the Left Camp to reinforce Apothecary Jiang!”
“Hua Po’an is completely insane!!”
He knew that Jiang Fuli had already gone to fight Hua Po’an. Although Jiang Fuli stubbornly believed that he was not Chen Tang, he carried all of Chen Tang’s memories and the same thoughts he had held before. Once again, he had walked into the flames of war against Liao.
Gu Mang had said that everyone had something they needed to accomplish.
Those things might appear difficult, cruel, meaningless, and not worth the cost. They might seem as though someone else could take their place, that there was no need to charge into battle themselves, that they could steal a little peace from this life and live quietly in a corner.
Many people would think, Forget it. My life is like that of an ephemeral mayfly. I only want to live freely and happily. No one wants to play the hero.
But there would always be someone who had to step forward, put down those personal grievances and hatreds, and think, Forget it. My life is like that of an ephemeral mayfly, but if I can do something to make this human world, this country, these streets and alleys a little more peaceful, then that is good enough.
Gu Mang, Murong Chuyi, Jiang Fuli, Mo Qingchi…
They had all chosen this narrow path, one that might perhaps be mocked as foolish.
And at this moment, Mo Xi knew that they were all waiting for his return at the end of this path.
He opened his eyes.
The lingering illusion before him disappeared. His eyelashes trembled slightly as he realized that he had returned to the warm chamber where he had been before, and Jiang Fuli was indeed no longer there.
Outside the window, another dawn had arrived. The clouds and rosy light were magnificent like blood.
He raised his eyes and saw the Chonghua soldiers in the distance once again refusing to accept their fate, fighting desperately against Liao’s iron army amid the heavy clouds. The raging waves of sword-riders descended like a meteor shower, surging toward the Liao military camp on the opposite shore.
And the Blood Demon River where Gu Mang had perished had already reached beneath the warm chamber of the royal palace.
He walked out of the chamber and, facing the dazzling glow of the dawn, stood beneath the newborn morning sun.
His slender fingers rested upon the carved railing. Standing against the wind, he gazed at this broken and chaotic land.
Suddenly, he understood what the so-called mandate of Heaven meant.
That fate was not predetermined.
It was simply that fate was destined to give people countless trials—hatred, confusion, misunderstanding…
In the end, very few people could swim across them and reach the shore they had originally hoped for.
He lowered his eyes and gazed at the surging blood flowing past below. Finally, he cast aside the exhausted Reversing Stone and said in a low voice,
“Senior Brother, I will choose the same path as you.”
“Wait for me. I’m coming to you.”