“…”
Murong Lian did not reply at once. He first slowly rolled his eyes, then, without even turning his head, looked at the empty ground before him and smiled.
“Then Lord Xihe can wait to fall out with this prince.”
Even the way he referred to himself had changed—he was clearly invoking the authority of royal blood to pressure Mo Xi.
Mo Xi understood this perfectly. His expression turned colder, and the aura around him became enough to make others fear him. The great hall fell silent for a moment. No one spoke.
Then Mo Xi opened his mouth.
“Remember this—Gu Mang carries countless secrets and blood debts. Yet because of your personal selfish desires, something happened to him under your watch.”
Mo Xi paused, his gaze darkening like shattered ice.
“This person, I will not yield to you. If Lord Wangshu still has advice to offer, I’ll be waiting.”
“You—!”
One was a hereditary king, the other commander of the military. As their gazes met, sparks practically flew.
Murong Lian’s skin was pale and almost translucent. Even the act of gritting his teeth looked startlingly vivid against it. He ground his teeth hatefully for a long while, then suddenly burst into laughter.
“Good!”
“…”
“And you still dare say you won’t protect him? You still dare say you hate him?” Poison shimmered in Murong Lian’s eyes as his smile twisted sharply. “Mo Xi, have you even realized? What you said to me today is exactly the same as what Gu Mang said back then, when you were down and out and he stood in front of you to protect you!”
Mo Xi looked down at him calmly, faintly unreadable emotions flickering across his face.
“You could never truly hate Gu Mang. If he’s handed to you today, sooner or later Chonghua will suffer a disaster because of it!”
“…”
Suddenly, Mo Xi laughed too.
His smile was so handsome it bordered on decadent, but his expression remained cold.
“What exactly did Gu Mang ever protect me from? …All I know is that he left a scar on my chest that will never disappear. All I remember is that he once wanted my life.”
“I hate him.”
Mo Xi’s final words were calm. His eyes were like snow after a cold storm.
“You say he once protected me. Sorry, Lord Wangshu—that was long ago. This commander can no longer remember.”
He turned and knelt on one knee before the throne, lowering his lashes slightly.
“Your Majesty, in Chonghua, no one understands Gu Mang’s magic better than I do. In addition, Lord Wangshu failed in his supervision, which led to today’s disaster. I ask Your Majesty to permit me to take him back to my residence and keep him under strict control.”
Murong Lian suddenly turned around and shouted sharply, “Mo Xi, why are you trying so hard to protect him the moment you return?! What exactly are your intentions?!”
Mo Xi ignored him.
The ruler considered for a moment and was just about to speak when suddenly a captain of the Imperial Guard rushed to the doorway. He hurriedly said something to the heralding official. The official’s face instantly changed, and he quickly stepped into the hall.
“Your Majesty—urgent news from the city!”
The ruler nearly kicked over his desk.
“That’s the second emergency tonight. What happened now?”
The official answered, face pale.
“A murder case at Hongyan Tower in the north of the city. Nearly all the courtesans and guests inside are dead. Even… even Lord Yu of Chengtian Terrace…”
“What?!”
All the officials were shocked.
Even the ruler stood up abruptly from the throne, eyes wide.
“Who did it?!”
“We—we don’t know… By the time the Imperial Guard discovered something wrong at Hongyan Tower, the culprit had already fled. A message was left on the wall—”
“What message?!”
Still shaken, the official stammered:
“This humble one is lonely, sincerely seeking wives and concubines.”
“This humble one is lonely, sincerely seeking wives and concubines?”
The ruler repeated it twice, exasperated.
“What nonsense is this? Which lunatic old bachelor wrote something like that and then killed a whole group of people? Does he want to murder people or find women?”
After a pause, he became even more irritated.
“Any other clues?!”
“N-none for now.”
The ruler cursed again.
“Useless!!”
Leaning back on the throne for a moment, lashes trembling, he glanced at Mo Xi and Murong Lian.
A thought suddenly came to him.
“Gu Mang’s matter will be set aside for now.”
Though the Hongyan Tower case had come at an inconvenient time, it was also something he could use. After all, the two men fighting over Gu Mang—one a royal relative, the other a key minister. Rejecting either was troublesome. Now this incident had given him a perfect way out.
“For such a massacre to happen in the royal capital is intolerable. I order both of you to investigate immediately. Whoever captures the culprit first may come to me and claim him.”
Murong Lian said, “Your Majesty intends to use Gu Mang as the prize?”
The ruler glanced at him.
“You two are fighting this hard just for revenge. Why? Is he not valuable enough?”
Murong Lian smiled.
“Valuable enough. But I seek revenge. As for Lord Xihe, who knows what he wants.”
Mo Xi: “…”
“That’s enough, Murong Lian. Lord Xihe has always carried himself like a gentleman. Stop stirring up trouble over personal grudges.”
The ruler impatiently waved him silent, then pointed at Gu Mang sleeping inside the protective formation on Shennong Platform.
“Lord Xihe, I’d also like to see whether you or Murong Lian is more capable. If you have no objections, it’s settled.”
Mo Xi said, “Yes.”
“Then get moving.”
The ruler rotated the bead bracelet in his hand.
“Whoever wins takes him.”
Thus, while still half-conscious, Gu Mang became the prize in a contest between two divine lords.
Murong Lian wanted him to suffer.
As for Mo Xi…
Forget it. Even he didn’t know what he would do if he truly brought Gu Mang back to his residence.
That was not something he needed to think about right now.
Inside Hongyan Tower, Mo Xi stood in the black uniform of the Imperial Guard commander, hands clasped behind his back, silently staring at the bloody cursive writing on the wall.
By the ruler’s order, the healers from Shennong Platform were handling the horribly mutilated corpses throughout the building. Meanwhile, he and Murong Lian were tasked with uncovering the truth and capturing the killer.
“Forty-one courtesans dead. Thirty-seven guests dead. Seven servants inside the building as well.”
A healer reported to Mo Xi.
“In addition, after checking the roster, five courtesans are missing.”
Murong Lian frowned.
“Missing?”
“Yes.”
“The killer slaughtered everyone in the building. Even Lord Yu didn’t survive. Those five women definitely didn’t escape on their own. Most likely the killer took them.” Murong Lian thought aloud. “Why take only those five? Did he really abduct them to make them wives and concubines?”
Meanwhile, Mo Xi approached the bloodstained staircase. Several healers were examining Elder Yu’s corpse.
They bowed upon seeing him.
“Lord Xihe.”
“Mm. What traces of magic are on Elder Yu?”
“It seems similar to the dark demonic arts of the Liao Kingdom, but not completely. Please look here.”
One healer lifted a corner of the shroud.
“Lord Yu’s eyes were gouged out, and his heart was dug out. The flesh around the wounds decayed unusually fast. It doesn’t look like damage from an ordinary weapon. It’s more like…”
Mo Xi frowned and finished the sentence.
“A fierce ghost devouring a human.”
“Yes. It does resemble wounds caused by a fierce ghost.”
Mo Xi’s gaze swept over Elder Yu’s miserable corpse. Black fluid had already begun leaking from the hollow sockets where his eyes had been, and from the cavity in his chest.
But fierce ghosts usually killed in a mindless frenzy.
Writing This humble one is lonely, sincerely seeking wives and concubines on the wall didn’t seem like the work of a fierce ghost.
Thinking, his gaze slowly moved downward and stopped at Elder Yu’s mangled chest.
“Are the other corpses like this too?”
The healer flipped through records and shook his head.
“No. Only seventeen had their eyes and hearts removed.”
“Let me see the list.”
The first was Elder Yu.
Mo Xi didn’t recognize every name that followed, but among the four or five names he did know, all were young masters from noble families.
“Are all those whose hearts were taken cultivators?”
“We can’t confirm yet, but based on current findings, probably.”
A cultivator’s heart housed the spiritual core. The eyes contained the second-richest concentration of spiritual energy.
To fierce ghosts and evil spirits, consuming these would greatly boost cultivation.
Mo Xi lowered his head in thought.
Just then, a member of the Imperial Guard rushed inside. He was running so fast that sweat covered his forehead despite the winter cold.
“Lord Xihe! Lord Wang— Wang— Wang—”
Murong Lian glanced sideways, amused.
“Why are you barking ‘wang wang’? Are you mocking Lord Xihe by calling him a dog?”
The guard swallowed hard.
“Lord Wangshu!”
“…”
Murong Lian’s smile vanished instantly.
“You damn well catch your breath before speaking!”
The guard hurriedly obeyed.
“Yes! There’s new information. After Gu Mang lost control, the howling barrier at Luomei Villa was damaged. Just now the steward counted the people inside and discovered… discovered one person is missing!”
Murong Lian was shocked. He strode forward and grabbed the guard by the collar.
“What happened?! Didn’t you already count three times and report that no one escaped in the chaos? Why are you saying someone’s missing now?!”
Before the guard could answer, a rider arrived through the snowy night.
It was Steward Qin from Luomei Villa.
The moment she dismounted, she threw herself to the ground, trembling.
“Lord Wangshu, this servant deserves death! Deserves death!”
Murong Lian nearly fainted from rage.
“Die later! Explain first. Are you blind or stupid? You counted three times and said no one was missing. Why are you now saying someone disappeared?! Speak!”
“Forgive me, Lord Wangshu—!”
She wailed.
“This servant only paid attention to the male attendants and singing girls in the villa. I checked them carefully several times, and all were indeed accounted for. But… but I forgot…”
“What did you forget?!”
The steward burst into tears.
“I forgot there was a bedridden cook in the servants’ quarters!”
“A cook?”
Murong Lian froze.
Steward Qin cried:
“Yes. Over a month ago, when you punished Gu Mang with confinement and reduced rations, he got so hungry he snuck into the kitchen to steal food. That cook caught him and beat him. The sword formation was triggered, and the cook was slashed all over.”
“…”
“The physician said those wounds required at least two or three months in bed. That’s why I never thought he could do anything. But who would’ve thought he would use Gu Mang breaking the barrier to secretly… secretly…”
“Useless!!”
Murong Lian flew into a fury and kicked her hard in the chest, sending her sprawling into the snowy ground.
“Do you know how disastrous this is?!”
All servants, male attendants, and courtesans in Luomei Villa were prisoners with deep hatred toward Chonghua.
Before entering the villa, their spiritual cores were destroyed. But every kingdom had its own secret arts. It was said the Liao Kingdom once had a dark sorcerer capable of reassembling shattered spiritual cores.
That was why multiple barriers had been layered around Luomei Villa.
But this time, Gu Mang’s rampage had broken them all.
And not only that—a supposedly bedridden cook had suddenly regained mobility, escaped, and the steward had only noticed now.
Worse still, soon after the cook escaped, a massacre involving nearly a hundred deaths erupted in the capital.
If His Majesty investigated responsibility—
Whose failure would this be?
Murong Lian’s.
Thinking of this, a flush spread over Murong Lian’s pale face. His vision nearly blurred.
“Gu Mang… Gu Mang…”
he shouted furiously.
“Again! This is all because of you!!”
He spun around sharply.
“Why are you still standing there?! Go pull that cook’s registration file immediately! I want everything—his origins, age, past history. I want to know every detail, even how many women he’s slept with in this lifetime! Go!”
“Yes! Yes!”
The steward scrambled up and fled on horseback.
Murong Lian flung his sleeve and stormed back into Hongyan Tower, furious and agitated, glaring up at the bloody words on the wall.
One of his attendants cautiously stepped forward.
“My lord…”
Murong Lian snapped, “What?”
“This situation feels wrong.”
Murong Lian was still shaken.
“What’s wrong about it?”
“Gu Mang injured this cook a month ago. Then a month later, Gu Mang lost control, and the cook escaped in the chaos…”
The attendant lowered his voice and carefully glanced at Murong Lian.
“Don’t you think that’s too much of a coincidence?”
Murong Lian fell silent for a moment, narrowing his eyes.
“You think that cook planned this all along? That he intended to use Gu Mang?”
“Or perhaps… Gu Mang wasn’t being used at all.”
The attendant spoke cautiously.
“Given everything that’s happened, my lord should consider the worst possibility. What if Gu Mang and that cook planned this together?”
Murong Lian’s heart tightened.
“That injured cook—which kingdom’s prisoner is he?”
The attendant had been worried precisely because of this.
He lowered his head.
“Liao Kingdom.”
…!!
Another Liao dog?!
Cold sweat broke out across Murong Lian’s back.
Gu Mang… Gu Mang was still inside the royal palace!
Better safe than sorry.
If Gu Mang truly had some hidden plan with that cook, if the two were coordinating to lure the tiger away from the mountain—
Then—
Murong Lian’s expression changed drastically.
After a brief pause, he strode into the snowstorm.
“Bring me my Golden-Winged Snow Horse! I’m returning to the palace immediately to see His Majesty!”