Just as Hua Poan had said, after the Bloodsucking Scourge died, it turned into a pool of blood that expanded bit by bit. It swallowed the plants by the riverbank and soaked the water of the moat. Slowly, the edges of the city walls began to collapse. The bricks and tiles fell into the pool of blood and melted into a bright red sticky liquid.
This kind of erosion was no longer like when two armies confronted each other and the battle was decided in an instant.
It was more like a poisonous snake swimming in the haystack, spitting out its tongue inch by inch, ready to swallow the body of the huge prey in front of it …
During this time, Chong Hua and Liao did not fight. Separated by the surging river of blood, Chong Hua was deathly silent, and Liao Country was gradually celebrating.
It was night.
Mo Xi climbed up the city tower alone and looked out of the city from the vermilion railing of the towering turret. Below the building was the blood pool. Across the vast red river, he could see the bright lights of Liao's camp. The cultivators were sitting around the stove and the bonfire was lit. It looked like victory was in sight.
Li Wei, the housekeeper of Xi He Mansion, stood behind him with his sleeves folded and his head bowed, quietly waiting at the corner of the tower.
Xiao Xiu asked worriedly, "Butler Li, is Lord Xi all right?"
Li Wei was silent for a moment. Even with the tongue of the Golden Lotus, he could not say anything.
Was Mo Xi all right?
He was not sure. No one had the answer to this question.
After Gu Mang's death, the soldiers of Chong Hua thought that Mo Xi would lose his mind. They thought that he would give up on himself. They thought that he would be heartbroken.
But he did not.
The cultivators repeatedly cast spells beside the blood pool formed by the Bloodsucking Scourge. They tried everything but could not catch Gu Mang — not even Gu Mang's body.
In the end, Mo Xi told them to stop looking and go back to rest. The war was not over.
He and Gu Mang both had the same fate. They had seen too many people separated by life and death in the flames of war. Brothers who were drinking with them yesterday might become lifeless corpses the next day.
They didn't even have the time to grieve. They didn't even have the time to swallow this fact. They didn't even have the time to digest a person's death. Everything was in a hurry. Responsibility would force the general to wake up.
Because the war was not over yet.
If the soldiers lost control of their grief, they might pay with their own lives. And if the commander lost control of his grief, how many people would die along with him?
Mo Xi knew that she did not have the right to do so.
All he could do was lean against the railing and stand by the blood pool where his lover had sacrificed herself for a little longer when he looked at the blood pool and the burning army.
Just for a moment.
Xiao Xiu couldn't help but ask in a low voice, "Won't Lord Xi He be sad?"
This time, Li Wei was able to answer quickly. He said, "He's not a stubborn person. How could he not be sad?"
After saying this, Li Wei sighed in his heart. He looked at Mo Xi's lonely figure under the starry sky.
On the night when Gu Mang had just sunk into the blood pool, it was Mo Xi who personally ordered the cultivators to return to the city to rest and reorganize. There was no need to carry out meaningless rescues.
Some people were more or less shocked by Mo Xi's cold-bloodedness and calmness.
Only Li Wei knew what it was like when Mo Xi went back that night in the room where Gu Mang had stayed in Xi He's residence. He had shed all his identity and responsibilities.
Li Wei was originally going to tidy up the room that would no longer have a master. But before he opened the door, he saw Mo Xi's back as he sat in front of a small table. On the table were the letters that Gu Mang had written and left behind. Mo Xi was reading them page by page under the lamp. Usually, Gu Mang wrote down happy things and rarely complained about anything.
Mo Xi was immersed in the beautiful past that Gu Mang had written. His meal was lying at his feet and crying, as if asking him about Gu Mang's whereabouts. It seemed to be asking him why Gu Mang didn't come back tonight …
After a while, Mo Xi lowered his head. Finally, there was a low choked sob coming from the room. He suppressed it, just like how he suppressed the trembling of his shoulders at this moment. But how could he suppress it? He had endured it for so long. His entire being was only left with sorrow, pain, and responsibility … Other than that, he had nothing else.
All these years, he had experienced false betrayals, real mistakes, and the pain of parting. Every time, he told himself to endure it, endure it, and perhaps everything would be over.
Even a few days ago, when he saw Gu Mang standing in high spirits under the fluttering military flag on the drill ground, he thought that all the suffering had finally come to an end. He thought that after this war, he would be able to endure it for a long time.
But in the end, all that was left for him was this empty little room.
The owner of this room had already left. It was as if he had lived here as a guest and didn't even leave behind many traces.
It turned out that he had suffered so much. In the end, what he had endured was not a long time, but a long separation.
Mo Xi held up the soft pages and pressed them against his chest, close to where his heart was beating. It was as if the person who had written the words still had some warmth left on the pages.
He couldn't hold it in any longer. He called out hoarsely, weakly, and softly, "Gu Mang …"
Gu Mang.
After this, he couldn't say any more words.
He wasn't the pillar of the Empire, he wasn't Marshal Mo. At this moment, he was just a helpless person who had been separated from his loved one forever. He was the little martial brother that Senior Brother Gu had left behind in the sea of blood.
All his comrades had left. Those 70,000 souls of the deceased, those brothers who had been in the army as young as them, had also left Gu Mang.
In the end, he was the only one left. Before dawn broke, he was the only one left.
No matter if it was hate or love.
His Big Brother Gu Mang would never look back at him again, smile at him ostentatiously, or be confused and annoyed.
A hoarse whimper, like a dying beast howling in pain, tore apart the last of his self-control. Mo Xi lowered his head, choked with sobs, and mourned … In the end, he was like a trapped beast that had lost its life mate, like a lonely lion at the end of its road, trapped and desperate. Finally, in this silent night, he sobbed silently.
Life was so long, the mountains and rivers were so vast, but only this moment, only this world, belonged to him.
Li Wei looked at his back, sighed, and gently closed the door for him …
Mo Xi had never been heartless.
Li Wei knew that in the whole of Chong Hua, there might not be a single person who could truly understand what Gu Mang was to Mo Xi. Not light, not fire, not hope, not lovers, not brothers … Gu Mang might be more to Mo Xi than all of these put together.
Therefore, Mo Xi's order to stop wasting energy on the search and rescue was not a form of giving up. It was because Mo Xi knew better than anyone else what Gu Mang's decision was.
What Gu Mang wanted.
And whether he would come back.
Li Wei left this deep courtyard. He respected his Lord very much. In fact, since the year before the Lord gifted Mo Xi to him, he felt that Lord Xi He was the backbone of Chong Hua.
Now that the backbone was bent in a place that others could not see, he was in pain and could not bear it anymore. However, the entire state could only see Mo Xi's strength, but forgot that he was also made of flesh and blood. He had just lost the most important person to him, but the only place that allowed Mo Xi to take a breath, allowed him, as a living person, to mourn, miss, and embrace another person's breath, was this small isolated room.
That was his and his brother Gu Mang's home.
Li Wei did not have the heart to disturb them, nor did he have the heart to watch. This was Mo Xi and Gu Mang's farewell. It had nothing to do with Lord Xi He, with Gu Mang, with status or inferiority, with life or death, with anyone else.
He was the housekeeper of Xi He's residence, so he would keep this secret for his Lord.
On the fourth day, a small part of Chong Hua's capital city was swallowed by the blood pool. The small part of the city's residents had no choice but to retreat to the back of the city, watching their former home become a sea of blood.
Fortunately, Yue Chenqing was good at mecha techniques. In the book left behind by Murong Chuyi, there was a volume that explained how to build shelters as quickly as possible. He followed the blueprint, which temporarily alleviated the problem of finding a place for these people.
That was Murong Chuyi's magic.
Yue Chenqing thought that if his fourth uncle was still alive, he would definitely be more thorough than him.
But his youngest uncle was no longer alive.
Only he could continue Murong Chuyi's gentleness in this turbulent and chaotic world.
"Fourth uncle, I may not have done well enough, but …" He looked up at the starry sky, his blistered fingers trembling slightly, but he still did not put down the bamboo warrior that he was testing.
"However, I will do what you want me to do."
"I am Yue Chenqing, your nephew, the head of the Yue Clan, and your successor."
The stars twinkled, illuminating the land that was filled with flames and smoke. They were also reflected in Yue Chenqing's teary eyes.
Yue Chenqing sobbed softly, "You are in the sky … Do you see everything …"
You used to protect me silently.
Now it's my turn, uncle.
I will protect our home.
Just like Yue Chenqing, today's Chong Hua people were fighting to protect their home state.
In the past, this state was indeed a plate of loose sand, but because people like Gu Mang and Murong Chuyi had sacrificed their blood, and because they knew that if they lost this battle, they would have no way out. Everyone knew this clearly, so this plate of loose sand finally gathered together.
It became solid and strong.
The blood pool continued to expand, but the tenacity in the midst of despair did not diminish, but instead increased.
They were looking for a way to turn the tide.
On the fifth day.
When all the nobles and high-ranking commanders were studying how to stop the expansion of the blood pool in the palace's Military Council, a guard suddenly came to report.
"Lord Xi He! Lord Wangshu! Princess Meng Ze. " The guard bowed to the three most reliable people in the palace, and then said, "Pharmacist Jiang is back! He is waiting outside the palace! "
When Jiang Fuli entered the palace, everyone was stunned.
Among them, his wife Su Yurou was the most shocked. Although Su Yurou's face was covered with a white veil, making people unable to see her beauty clearly, when she saw Jiang Fuli's appearance, the cup in her hand slipped and fell to the ground, smashing into pieces.
"Fuli, you …"
Jiang Fuli was wearing a green and silver robe. The material of the robe was excellent, but it still could not hide the dust on his face. The most shocking thing was his eyes.
His left eye, which was already night blind, seemed to have suffered some kind of damage. He could no longer see anything. The snow-white gauze was wrapped around his left eye, with bright red blood stains.
When he heard this, he quietly looked at Su Yurou with his clear almond right eye. When their eyes met, it was as if they had exchanged a secret that no one else knew. Su Yurou suddenly collapsed.
Mo Xi heard her softly call "Palace Master" in an almost inaudible voice.
Jiang Fuli's clothes were in a mess, but his expression was upright. Although his face was still that of the profiteer Pharmacist Jiang, his temperament was completely different from before. The expression between his eyebrows was not even the same person. At this moment, he looked gentle, calm, and firm, unlike the Pharmacist Jiang of the past. In the past, Pharmacist Jiang often gave people a different feeling. It was as if he never knew what he wanted or cared about except for money.
In the past, Pharmacist Jiang was a heartless puppet.
But today, he was like a puppet that finally called back its lost soul.
Jiang Fuli used his remaining beautiful eye to look around the room. His gaze stopped for a moment on the Murong Lian, the Murong Meng Ze, and finally on Mo Xi.
He was silent for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "Lord Xi He, I have something important to tell you. Please come with me."
When Jiang Fuli said this, he was very polite, but there was an inexplicable sense of oppression. Everyone in the room felt the sudden change in Jiang Fuli's personality, so when they looked at Mo Xi, they couldn't help but feel a little worried.
The Murong Lian took a sip of Floating Like A Dream. He suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Mo Xi, who was about to leave with Jiang Fuli, and said, "Wait." Then he squinted his peach blossom eyes and stared at Jiang Fuli, "… Are you the real Pharmacist Jiang, or are you a fake?"
"When you were seven years old, you were unhappy that you were shorter than Gu Mang, so you put a thick stack of silk paper in your shoes. In the end, you accidentally fell and hurt your head, and you sewed …"
"Stop, stop, stop!" The Murong Lian looked embarrassed, but he still insisted, "That's enough! I know you're the real Pharmacist Jiang! "
Then he awkwardly let go of Mo Xi, rolled his eyes, and scolded in a low voice.
Mo Xi and Jiang Fuli went to the warm room in the side hall.
The servants left, and there was no one in the room. Jiang Fuli waved his hand, and a protective enchantment appeared around the room. However, Mo Xie stopped in his tracks the moment he saw the barrier.
"… The Holy Spirit Enchantment that was lost a hundred years ago …" Mo Xi stared at Jiang Fuli's thin face. The man's expression was firm, but he looked very haggard.
Su Yurou's murmur of "Master" echoed in his ears.
An unimaginable conjecture suddenly exploded in Mochime's heart. He couldn't help but ask, "Who are you?"
Jiang Fuli didn't say anything and sat down at the table.
The room was very quiet. The light of the Holy Spirit Enchantment kept flowing. Mo Xi could hear his own heartbeat. After a while, he asked in a low voice, "… Master Chen?"
Jiang Fuli raised his eyes.
His undamaged almond-shaped eyes looked very peaceful. He said, "I'm not."
"…"
"Chen Tang died hundreds of years ago. I'm just Jiang Fuli." He paused, then said, "Besides, I've heard about Gu Shuai."
Gu Mang's name was like a needle that pierced Mo Xi's broken heart. Mo Xi suddenly lowered his long eyelashes, covering his eyes and trembling slightly.
Jiang Fuli said, "He's still very young. He hasn't received the respect he deserves, nor the peace he deserves. He's different from Chen Tang … Both of them sacrificed themselves for the magical beast. But Gu Shuai still has his own desires and ties in this world. "
When he spoke of ties, he took a deep look at Mo Xie.
Then he said, "Chen Tang isn't."
"…"
"The moment Chen Tang sacrificed himself for the magical beast, he was already disheartened and had no other thoughts. Chen Tang wanted to die, while Gu Mang wanted to live. "Jiang Fuli shook his head and said," I'm sorry. Things shouldn't have turned out this way. "
Mo Xi frowned slightly. "But you … if you're not Chen Tang, how do you know what he was thinking at that time?"
Jiang Fuli fell silent.
After a long while, he sighed. "If you want to talk about this, it's really very complicated."
"I'd like to hear the details."
Jiang Fuli paused, as if he was considering how to speak. Finally, he said, "When I treated Gu Mang's injuries, I shared some of his memories. I saw that you met a girl called Wuyan on Bat Island. "
"She was a female demon who lusted after Chen Tang …"
"That's right." Jiang Fuli said, "But after I saw your memories, I felt like I've seen her somewhere before."
Jiang Fuli poured two cups of strong tea. He pushed one cup to Mo Xi on the other side of the table, and slowly drank the other cup himself. Mo Xi then realized that the place covered by the white gauze was sunken in, and there was no arc of an eyeball — Jiang Fuli had completely lost his left eye.
But he didn't care, as if he didn't care about his health or his body at all.
He said lightly, "I've been in Chong Hua for so many years. Many people have asked me which country I'm from and what my past is, but I don't answer them. You just think that I'm cold and unwilling to talk, but actually, I'm not. "He paused for a moment, smiled bitterly and shook his head." I really don't know who I am. "
"Almost all the memories I have are from when Yurou and I were in exile. She said that I was sick and had forgotten my past, so I was muddle-headed and believed her. About my past, where I came from, my relatives … Everything was told to me by Yurou. I was inexplicably tired of it and instinctively rejected it. I never wanted to delve into it. "
"But these few years … I started to dream. In my dreams, I always saw some repeated people and things, but they were fragmented without any context. Yurou also never spoke. No matter what I asked her, she said she didn't know, and I didn't investigate in detail … Until not long ago, when I was treating Gu Mang, I saw his memories on Bat Island. The Wuyan he saw was exactly the same as a girl I saw in my dreams. "
Jiang Fuli closed his eyes and said, "At that time, I thought that if I went to see Wuyan, maybe I could find out what kind of person I used to be."
Mo Xi remembered that after Jiang Fuli treated Gu Mang, he was obviously in a daze.
Only now did he know that it was because of this reason.
Mochime asked, "So you've been traveling all this while because you went to Bat Island?"
"It was just one of the stops. I went to other places. Do you remember the island where Wuyan and Chen Tang first met? It was like spring all year round. "
Mo Xi nodded.
"I also found that place. It was actually a piece of land carried by the Black Tortoise. That Black Tortoise had an agreement with the Chen Tang's ancestor. It guarded a branch of the ancient Yan Emperor's Divine Tree. "
Mo Xi suddenly opened his eyes wide, "The Yan Emperor's Divine Tree … is the first tree in the world … the king of all trees?"
"Yes," Jiang Fuli said, "The Yan Emperor's Divine Tree, the king of all trees, gathered thousands of flowers on one tree. Among them, there was a piece of Begonia Tree that was lost in the mortal world. By chance, it was found by the Chen Tang's ancestor a thousand years ago. "
"The Chen Tang's people knew very well that the Divine Tree was a peerless weapon with great power. If people knew this secret, there would be countless people rushing to take it for themselves. The Chen Family had always hated fighting, so they sealed this piece of Begonia Tree on Xuanwu Island and didn't mention it to the outside world. However, the Divine Tree has a spirit. In order to keep it calm and not be disturbed by turbid Qi, the head of the family would go to the island for a month every year to play the zither and cultivate it. "
When he said this, Mo Mie somewhat understood. Back then, when Wu Yan saw that the Immortal Qi on the island was dense, flowers flew all year round, and it was like spring all year round, she mistakenly thought that it was because Chen Tang was here. In fact, she was completely wrong. The Immortal Qi was not born from Chen Tang, but from the broken branch of the ancient divine tree that Chen Tang guarded.
"…" Mo Xi couldn't help but ask, "Chen Tang has been dead for a hundred years. His family was almost destroyed in the fierce battle with Hua Poan. In the past hundred years, no one should have been to the Divine Island. So when you went there, what did you see? Is the Divine Tree still there? "
Jiang Fuli said, "Yes. When I found the Xuanwu Island, I saw that the island was full of plants and flowers. In the past hundred years, the broken branch of the crabapple tree had turned the island into a place full of Divine Tree spirit. However, I saw that the crabapple tree had developed some intelligence. When I played the song that Chen Tang played a hundred years ago with it, it seemed to like elegant music and made all the flowers on the island bloom. I think that maybe in another hundred years, the Xuanwu Seal won't be able to seal it. Maybe it will voluntarily fall into the Immensity Sea again and go to the mortal world. "
After saying that, Jiang Fuli smiled.
"Although I am curious about its future, after a few hundred years, the fate of this Divine Tree is not something a mortal like me can control."
Mo Xi listened to this quietly. Suddenly, he asked, "Medicine Master Jiang, why do you know so much about the Chen Tang family?"
"…"
"… Are you really not Palace Master Chen?"
Jiang Fuli put down the cup and sighed. "Wuyan tried to restore my memory. After I recovered, I helped her untie the knot in her heart. Yes, I am not Chen Tang. However, in the past hundred years, there has always been someone who wants me to completely become Chen Tang."
Mo Xi was stunned. "Who is it?"
Jiang Fuli looked up and said, "Hua Poan."
Seeing Mo Xi's expression, Jiang Fuli smiled bitterly. "Is it ridiculous? I think so too. I have all of Chen Tang's memories and emotions, but I know that I am not him. "
"Then you are …"
"I am Chen Tang's cousin. As for my name …" Jiang Fuli said, "In the past hundred years, Hua Poan called me Chen Tang and Yurou called me Jiang Fuli. I have been muddle-headed for so many years that I don't remember my real name. I only know that I am Hua Poan. He didn't want Chen Tang to die, so he created another version of him. My body contains Chen Tang's memories, remnant soul, spells, and past. "
His voice was low and gentle. There was no emotion in it, but it made people feel sad.
Jiang Fuli said, "I am just a puppet. I am no better than the Bamboo Warrior made by Murong Chuyi and the clay figurines made by Jiang Yexue. "
Mo Xi was shocked, but he couldn't bear it. He said in a low voice, "Medicine Master Jiang …"
But he didn't know how to comfort him.
Jiang Fuli said, "You don't have to comfort me. You are sad enough. Others can't see it, but I understand. I didn't come back today to find someone to tell him about my past. I came to offer a way to defeat the enemy. Since Hua Poan treats me as Chen Tang, I will not be absent from the second battle in a hundred years. "
Mo Xi's heart trembled. "You have a way to stop the blood pool from spreading?"
"I do have a way. No one has ever done it before. I have no chance of winning, so I can only try." Jiang Fuli said, "But I did a divination on Xuanwu Island. The divine divination said that as long as Lord Xi He does this, everything can be changed, including life and death."
Mo Xi was stunned when he heard the last part of the sentence. He said, "Including life and death …"
"That's right."
The flames in Mo Extinguishing's eyes suddenly lit up.
What … did this mean?
Even though he felt it was ridiculous, his blood still flowed. His fingers trembled in his clenched fists. "Medicine Master, please."
Jiang Fuli stood up and leaned against the window to look outside. The blood pool of the Bloodsucking Scourge had spread to the inner city and was slowly engulfing the capital.
He turned around and took out an obsidian-like crystal from his Qiankun Bag. He placed it on the table.
"The Chen Tang Clan has two hidden treasures. One is the broken branch of the divine tree I mentioned earlier. The other thing was this crystal. This is the most hidden and important treasure of the Chen Tang Clan. It is also the only way to break Chong Hua's calamity. "
Jiang Fuli paused. "There is still time. Before I let you use it, I want to tell you about the past I know."
"— The past related to Hua Poan."
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