Gu Mang sat by the window of the inn.
He had woken up a long time ago. When he saw Mo Xi's enchantment, he knew that Mo Xi had something to do and had gone out temporarily. So he was not anxious at all. He sat there obediently, waiting for him to come back.
Now that he had been tortured too much, his senses and emotions had been dulled beyond recognition. He rarely experienced any clear emotions. Happiness, anger, sorrow, and joy were like diluted water to him, becoming very faint.
But as he looked at the sky slowly turning white, he remembered that after dawn, it would be the day he had promised to meet his "brother." He was about to have an older brother and a home. He could not help but reveal a happy expression. He leaned against the window, looking expectantly at the red clouds filling the sky and the rising sun rising above the horizon.
He thought for a while, got up, and took out the white clothes that Mo Xi had bought for him.
He felt that he was always careless, and such clean clothes were too easy to dirty. So even though he liked it, he did not dare to wear it. But today he was going to see his older brother, so it must be different.
When Mo Que returned, the sky was just about to brighten. Dawn and dusk intersected.
He pushed open the door and saw the person standing by the window. He was tall and handsome, his long hair tied up with a jade buckle, and his snow-white robe reached the ground. For a moment, his heart skipped a beat. He hated that he could not believe that last night at the Muddy Sky Cave was a dream. The person leaning against the window was Murong Chuyi, and Murong Chuyi had come to keep the appointment.
But no.
Slowly, he saw clearly that the person standing there looking at him was Gu Mang, who had changed into new clothes.
Quietly, obediently, and expectantly —
Waiting for him to bring his older brother.
"Mo Xi?" Gu Mang saw that he had come back. At first, he was happy, but then he saw that his clothes were covered in blood. He felt confused. He walked towards him, "What happened to you?"
Mo Xi did not say anything. In fact, he could not say anything else.
Only three people came back from the Celestial Cave. Other than Xiao Lan'er who was sent to the clinic for treatment, he and Yue Chenqing were both speechless. Yue Chenqing had experienced sobbing and wailing, and had been sitting by the blood pool in a daze. He was probably thinking about what he had said and done to Murong Chuyi. He was thinking about how he had listened to Jiang Yexue and pushed his fourth uncle, who had always been alone, into an even colder abyss.
Murong Chuyi did not leave behind any relics. The only thing that could be considered as his relics were the broken bamboo warriors in the cave.
They now obeyed Yue Chenqing's orders because they had lost the person who had carved them.
However, when Mo Xi accidentally touched one of them in the Celestial Cave, it shrunk to the size of a palm and lay quietly on the ground, as if it was fulfilling someone's last wish and was waiting for him to bring it back.
Mo Xi took out the small bamboo warrior and placed it in Gu Mang's palm.
Gu Mang stared blankly, but he was just slow, not stupid. He had always been very understanding, even though sometimes this kind of understanding only brought him more suffering. The room was terrifyingly quiet. After a while, Gu Mang asked softly, "He won't come back, right?"
"…"
"Does he … not like me?"
Mo Xi raised his hand and pulled him into his arms. He suppressed his sadness and said to Gu Mang, "No, he has some things to do and has to leave first. He likes you very much, so he asked me to give you this small bamboo man. When he's done with his business, he'll come back. "
"How long will that take?"
"It might take … a long, long time …"
"…"
Gu Mang was silent. After a while, he asked softly, "Mo Xi, why are you crying?"
Why was he crying?
The change in the Hun Tian Cave happened in just one night, but it seemed to have turned the things that had accumulated for more than ten years upside down.
Jiang Yexue's kindness and gentleness were fake. His love with Qin Mujin was fake. Murong Chuyi's selfishness and heartlessness were fake. Jun Shang's words were also fake.
He seemed to be living in a series of interlocking schemes. He treated people with sincerity and showed them his sincerity, but in exchange, he only received one false face after another.
He used to think that what he did for his country was right. He could clearly distinguish between right and wrong. However, after this shocking change, he found that they were all just chess pieces on the chessboard.
How cruel was the current Jun Shang to be able to plot to let Jiang Yexue bewitch Lu Zhanxing, sacrificing the lives of seventy thousand soldiers, and then make Gu Mang have no choice but to listen to his orders?
Five years as a secret agent.
Bearing the burden of sin and blood, he endured alone.
In order to take back the last piece of Blood Demon's remnant soul, he once again lost the consciousness of being born as a human and missed the opportunity to recognize his brother.
— — After sacrificing so much, they hoped that the war would end and Jiuzhou would be peaceful.
But it turned out that they were just sharpening the sword in Jun Shang's hand.
He only felt infinite fatigue.
Because of the shocking change in the Hun Tian Cave, Mo Xi could no longer stay in Lin 'an with Gu Mang to look for the hermit cultivator. The tragedy of the Yue family spread like wildfire from Lin 'an to the whole Chong Hua.
The whole country was shocked.
Mo Xi and Gu Mang helped Yue Chenqing to clean up and accompanied him back to the capital.
The funeral was like a silent absurd play. The royal family had to protect their face and couldn't expose the ugly deeds of Yue Juntian. But there was no crack in the world. In fact, everyone knew the truth of the matter in their hearts. The mourning and eulogy were particularly ridiculous.
Mo Xi looked at the altar through the fluttering white banners and the densely packed mourners. He looked at the solemn appearance of Jun Shang drinking wine. His nails dug deep into his palms.
What did this person think of his officials, his soldiers, and his people?
The mass mourning of the Yue family didn't last long.
In addition to the fact that Yue Chenqing was no longer in the mood, it was more because the war between Chong Hua and Liao Country had happened frequently. While Jun Shang was still paying his respects, there were already people from the Military Council waiting to report the situation at the border to him.
The wind was filled with the heavy smell of gunpowder.
Jiang Yexue was right. The war between Chong Hua and Liao Country didn't end just because they got the remnant soul of Bloodsucking Scourge. Instead, it became more intense.
Everyone at the funeral was anxious. Even the most optimistic nobles knew that the war between Chong Hua and Liao Country was imminent.
"I heard that the Imperial Preceptor of the Liao Country created a new spell. He used it during the battle at the border. That spell was like a plague. In just two to three days, it could infect all the people in several cities with Devil Qi."
"God, what should we do?"
"Sigh, I don't know. I heard that the Swordplay Platform and the Shennongtai Platform have long been thinking of a way to break it. I just hope that they can think of an idea quickly. Liao Country has been constantly sending troops to the border these days. I'm afraid that there will be a big war soon." The person who spoke had a pale face. "If there is no way to resist the demon energy, who dares to charge and break through the enemy lines? Isn't that suicide?"
"Anyway, I will never go to the front line …"
There was a lot of whispers.
On one side, the Yue Clan was in great pain. On the other side, a few old nobles were quietly discussing how to save their lives in the upcoming war. After all, people's sorrows, joys, and worries were not connected.
Yue Chenqing didn't want to stay in the mausoleum. He didn't accept too many sincere condolences from those people. He returned to the Yue Clan. So many people had died in the Yue Clan. Now, it was terribly empty. He walked slowly under the verandah. Every time he went to a place, he would think of some past events and his heart would ache. He would hunch his body as if he couldn't breathe. He would have to sit on the same spot for a long time before he could continue walking.
He was still so young, but it seemed that all his bones and joints had rusted overnight. Even walking had become difficult and stiff.
He came to the door of Murong Chuyi's crafting room and was in a daze for a long time.
This was one of the most difficult places to enter in Chong Hua. It required a secret technique and a command incantation. However, Yue Chenqing seemed to be enlightened. He also seemed to believe in something. He raised his hand to push the door open. The small mecha puppet guarding the door creaked as it came out from a secret box. It asked him, "Who are you?"
The voice was low and pleasant to the ears. It was the voice left behind by Murong Chuyi when he was still alive.
Yue Chenqing seemed to be hurt by this voice. His chest hurt so much that he couldn't say anything. He didn't know what the secret technique and the command incantation were. He just bent down, buried his face in his palms, and choked with sobs.
"Fourth Uncle."
His sobs turned into howls. The small puppet just looked at him quietly.
Yue Chenqing curled up and knelt outside the crafting room. He cried, "Fourth Uncle, I miss you …"
The incantation was definitely not this. However, the door of the crafting room made a dull sound and opened with a creak. Yue Chenqing looked at it in a daze. He slowly stood up and walked in.
The things inside were a little messy. The owner was a very busy person. Drawings were nailed all over the wall. There were all kinds of mecha and magic weapons drawn on them. Many of them were just Murong Chuyi's ideas when he was alive. He didn't have time to realize them one by one. Yue Chenqing looked at them one by one —
Chong Hua was greedy, angry, and stupid. Although it had a bad reputation, Murong Chuyi locked himself in the crafting room to refine things that benefited people.
Wooden armor for fetching water, magic weapons to ward off evil spirits …
These sketches were still piled up on his desk. Murong Chuyi was cursed so he couldn't get close to anyone. Therefore, all his good intentions for this world were left in these vast and complicated drawings.
He probably thought that his life would be very long. Although loneliness was unbearable, at least he could realize these ideas one by one.
Yue Chenqing flipped through the things on his desk. Some mortise and tenons, a few round nails, and the details of the bamboo warrior's joints. Every time he took something, he would look at it carefully for a while. When he thought about why Murong Chuyi made these things when he was alive, he felt even more pain in his heart. Greedy, angry, and stupid. Greedy, angry, and stupid. He was the most heartless craftsman. Curses were everywhere outside the window, but he was worried about the world inside the window.
The detailed description of each drawing made Yue Chenqing choke with sobs. His eyes were wet. Sometimes, he had to endure the pain in his heart for a long time before he could continue reading. He understood that this wooden armor was to help the elderly and that the magic weapon was to protect the children.
Yue Chenqing even found a stack of Invincible Vajra Talismans that imitated the Yue Clan's craftsmanship.
He held the stack of talismans in his hand. He suddenly understood that when Li Qingqian's Sword Demon caused mischief and when the poor people in Chong Hua were unable to buy the Yue Clan's Protective Talismans, the person who silently sent the talismans to the poor was not Jiang Yexue at all. Instead, it was …
Yue Chenqing held the yellowed talismans. It was as if someone had punched his stomach. He bowed his head and cried bitterly.
It was his Fourth Uncle.
All along, Greedy, Angry, and Stupid had not been him. It was Vigilance, Determination, and Wisdom that had been him.
The gentle person, the magnanimous person, the person who persisted even when he was forced into a desperate situation, the person who always had a clear conscience … was his Fourth Uncle, Murong Chuyi …
"Fourth Uncle … Fourth Uncle …"
Yue Chenqing wept bitterly. He had trapped himself in this small crafting room. The water in the crafting room was still flowing quietly. The ink in the inkstone had not been washed. A writing brush was still placed beside the white rice paper.
It was as if Murong Chuyi had just rushed out because of something.
Dead things were heartless. This room full of mecha drawings did not know that their owner would never come back.
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