Mo Xi, we're home.
The low voice of the dust settled causing Mo Xi to fall into a deep sleep, and then awaken.
He didn't how long it was, but he heard the patter of rain. In the depth of the rain, there was a dim voice singing. Because of the heavy rain, he couldn't tell what kind of song the smoke-like voice was singing. He only felt that the tune was sparse, sad, strange, and special, as if it had come from the distant space.
"Come and go… When will you come back... "
The only thing that he could distinguish was these vague chants.
His eyelashes trembled slightly, and he opened his eyes slowly.
There was an endless cold fog around him. The rain fell on his face, but he didn't feel wet. The rain seemed to disappear as soon as it touched his skin.
Everything in the space was shaky. He calmed down for a moment. Was this the world after death?
Then, he found himself lying in a dilapidated boat, with a man sitting on the side of the boat. The man looked in the distance with a marsh reed stuck in his cheek. When Mo Xi saw his face, he suddenly sat up and felt his blood flowed against him——
"Gu Mang?"
Gu Mang heard the sound and turned back, showing a smile on his face.
"You're awake."
For a moment, Mo Xi felt a heavy blow. The pain in his chest turned into heat in his eyes. His endless emotions poured into his throat, but he couldn't say a word.
He sat on the boat and wanted to see everything around him, but he didn't want to leave Gu Mang's face for a moment. He felt the ups and downs of his heart.
Gu Mang stood up from the side of the boat in front of him, walked to him and sat down again, and then took his hand.
Mo Xi's heart trembled. He drooped his eyelashes, and Gu Mang held him and said, "It's OK, it's all over."
It's all over. You've suffered too much. You've taken on too many unexpected tribulations.
Now it's all over.
Mo Xi also hugged him tightly in his arms. The river was misty and foggy, and nothing could be seen. Only the person in front of him was real. He could be touched. He could stay with him.
Mo Xi choked, "You're still alive..."
Gu Mang let go of him, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a wry smile, "I'm still alive, but when the boat reaches the end, it's time to go."
"This is..."
"This is the soul river leading to the ghost world," Gu Mang said. "We have both..."
He did not go on, but Mo Xi already understood the meaning of his words.
The two of them, one died in the demon blood pool, the other chose to die with the immortal heart of the blood demon beast. Finally, they both went to the netherworld and met again in the still river of souls.
Mo Xi came out slowly from his initial trance and his excitement calmed down. He looked at the blue eyes, and his heart gradually filled with a thick layer of sadness.
Yes, they were both dead.
But Gu Mang has a reincarnation, and he himself… He drooped his eyes to cover up the secret.
And he himself, as the god of the reversal stone said, would eventually be driven out of his wits and never be reincarnated. It was just this secret that he didn't want Gu Mang to know. He and Gu Mang had only one last journey left in their lives. It was heaven's pity to see each other again. He didn't want the last time to be sad.
What's more, Gu Mang had been hiding his secret in exchange for his peace.
This time Mo Xi thought, it was his turn to coax him.
He longed for the carefree reincarnation of Gu Mang and a carefree life.
"I'm sorry to have you here." Gu Mang looked at Mo Xi, and his expression seemed very uncomfortable. "I am still… I didn't protect you."
Mo Xi smiled lightly. His voice is low, somewhat hoarse, he said, "I volunteered."
The river rippled under their boat.
"Gu Mang, I should thank you. If it wasn't for you, maybe after the Mo family fell, I would have become a man full of ambition and hatred, who used all kinds of means to fight against Murong Chen. Thank you. You saved me."
Gu Mang smiled and touched his face. "You never would. It's not that I saved you, but I saw your kindness and your heart long ago. So I didn't care about your family background. I was willing to pay attention to you and accompany you." He paused for a moment. The luster in his blue eyes was a little moist, his voice is low and soft. Finally, he put his forehead against the forehead of Mo Xi. "I love you."
None of them spoke any more. The drizzle on the soul river came down and covered them with a thin and hazy light. On this boat, which was heading for the home of the dead, these two people who had loved each other for half their lives but couldn't accompany each other, were able to leave everything behind and tell each other their hearts.
"Mo Xi, I always loved you."
"Me too."
"I always wanted to be with you."
The dialogue from many years ago reappeared on the Huangquan Road. Mo Xi laughed, and there was a bitter moistness in his voice.
"Me too."
"Only you."
"Good."
"It would be nice to be with you for the rest of our lives."
This time Mo Xi did not speak. He knew that he would not reincarnate, but he looked at Gu Mang's clear blue eyes. Though his heart was filled with extreme pain, he was extremely gentle and affectionate.
After a long time, he looked into Gu Mang's eyes with a smile and said with a slightly nasal sound, "I'm afraid… Yes."
I'm sorry, I have hardly told you a lie in my life.
For the last time, I'll lie to you.
Gu Mang, I want you to do well.
"I'll see you again."
The ship continued to move forward, the fog was very big, flashing a hazy luster. All of a sudden, they heard the voice of someone in the fog, and Mo Xi was stunned for a moment.
Gu Mang said, "Don't worry. I heard that just now. It's not a bad thing. Take a closer look at the fog..."
Mo Xi turned his head and saw other boats flashing in the misty fog. With a close look, the vast amount of fog was all over the vast and boundless soul river. On each ship, there was a soldier wearing heavy battle armor. The clothes were worn by Gu Mang when he was a general many years ago.
Gradually, he found that those faces were so familiar. Stained with blood, some were still very young or even immature. They looked at the direction they were coming from, and their eyes flashed with solemn looks.
Then, Mo Xi heard the sound of golden drums coming out of the fog, the deep and solemn military songs of Chonghua echoing on the river surface of the soul river, and the voices of tens of thousands of people converged in the river and sea, the ethereal soul sending sound covering the depths of the reeds.
"In the past, there was a young man holding a sword, but it was hard to return the blood, the sand, and the bone. The body was still beautiful to the last year. Leave your heart, and I'll take care of you. I will pass on your heroic spirit. When you return to your hometown, there will be no green mountains."
Listening to the familiar ballad moment, Mo Xi could not longer help but have tears. Falling into the wind, the yellow spring road rain disappeared.
"This ship has been moored for a long time," Gu Mang whispered. "It's raining in the yellow spring and the fog of the next generation. In the fog, we can't let go of the illusions of the people who drove by here many years ago."
"..."
"I saw those brothers who died on Fengming mountain and Lu Zhanxing. Zhanxing was very restless when he walked. He sat on the deck and kept probing into the river water," Gu Mang chuckled. "I also saw Aunt Lin… My mother… She had been holding her cheek, looking back at the soul river. I know she had been thinking about me... "
As he spoke, his tears fell silently. He wiped them away casually.
He said with a strong smile, "I also saw my cousin, cousin... Cousin..." he wanted to say something about Murong Chuyi, but he couldn't go on. Life was too hard. Their relatives were also gone, their friends scattered.
Finally, they could reunite with their illusions on the way to the netherworld.
"Mo Xi, I saw them again. I didn't expect to see them again in the end. I..." Mo Xi heard the tremor in Gu Mang's voice. He looked back, and Gu Mang lowered his eyes, but his eyes were red. "I'm very happy."
Those brothers in arms in the cold fog, those heroes who died in Fengming mountain, sang the heroic soul song of the empire, and cage the desolate and magnificent river with solemn solemnity.
Mo Xi reached out his hand and hugged Gu Mang into his arms.
He looked up at the scarlet sky and whispered, "It's OK. I'll accompany you on the last road."
The rain gradually stopped. Some of the golden sun rays shined through the clouds, dispersing the coldness of the yellow spring soul river.
Mo Xi murmured, "I'll stay with you, Gu Mang. We still have the next life and the future... "
He closed his eyes and his throat was throbbing.
This was the taste of holding such a heavy secret in his heart to coax another person, accompany another person, and hope that another person could be unconscious from happiness.
Only then did he realize that his heart felt like a knife.
However, Gu Mang had suffered for nearly ten years. More than three thousand days and nights.
He just felt heartache and bowed his head, kissing Gu Mang's forehead. They didn't say anything else. Maybe they didn't have to say anything. As long as they could accompany each other and hold each other's hands tightly, it was enough.
There was never much to be desired. When they were together, they suddenly saw a figure standing in the bow of a boat. Mo Xi paused a moment, his heart beating like a drum, not from—
"Father --!"
What the yellow spring fog reflected was the mirage of Mo Qingchi.
Mo Xi finally saw Mo Qingchi's appearance from so many years ago. Mo Qingchi was as upright and kind as he remembered. Like Gu Mang's mother, he had been looking back at the road. However, his expression was more peaceful and peaceful. Although he still had some worries, he remembered his little fireball in the world.
However, he knew that the immortal beast spirit that he left behind protected his little Mo Xi.
"I just hope you can take the path of a clear conscience..."
Mo Qingchi was there, sighing and muttering to himself.
"Father… Father..."
Mo Xi choked and slowly called him. The seven-year-old fireball son did not wait for his father to go home, and now, he finally saw him.
He didn't know if it is a coincidence or another reason, but the mirage of Mo Qingchi finally looked to the place where Mo Xi's boat was and laughed faintly across the staggered time.
"Dad can't accompany you, little fireball, but Dad will always protect you..."
Mo Xi was staring at him.
Maybe that year, when Mo Qingchi sailed here, he also met with the cold fog in the yellow spring. He knew that if the fog rose, the dead could see the ghosts of the ones who they had worried about before, so he just… He just…
The boat went forward. They suddenly crossed a yellow spring waterfall, and all of a sudden, there was peace.
"Dad…"
Mo Xi choked. In the roaring waterfall water sound, Mo Qingchi's shadow disappeared.
After the waterfall curtain, the world changed, the cold fog disappeard, and there was nothing left -- Gu Mang comforted him. Suddenly they glimpsed light not far away, and Gu Mang's body suddenly froze.
Mo Xi felt his strangeness and looked back from his sadness.
Gu Mang murmured, "The Huangquan Road has arrived..."
They saw that not far ahead of the boat, there was a ferry with withered grass. A mud road extended forward from the ferry, and people were all over the road, and then the ghost city stood under the low sky.
The boat bumped into the port, and their journey of life came to an end.
It was all over.
Looking back on life, with the yellow spring water behind, the soul river to the east, the passage of time would never again be like this.
"... Let's go. " Gu Mang got up and clenched the hand of Mo Xi. Before he went ashore, he turned to Mo Xi and showed his face with a smile, "We still have the next life."
Mo Xi said, "Yes, we still have the next life."
He held Gu Mang's hand tightly, stroking the familiar palm, and swallowed the last secret into his throat.
They paced ashore.
Different from other ferries, there was a man with a straw hat sat on the bank of the ferry where their boat was moored. They got to the shore and the man got up.
They thought that this was just a tired person on the Huangquan Road, sitting here for a rest, so they didn't pay much attention to him. But when they were about to leave, the man suddenly stopped them.
"Hold your step."
Gu Mang looked back. "Hmm?"
The man sighed, "Mo Xi, Gu Mang, I have been waiting for you for a long time."
"... How do you... " Mo Xi was stunned and wanted to ask him how he knew his name. But then he felt that it was too dark to be to see with the eyes of the world. So he asked, "Sir… Who is it?"
The man didn't reply immediately. After a moment, he opened his palm toward the hesitant eyes of Mo Xi and Gu Mang. At the same time, they saw that there was a dark stone in his palm.
However, unlike before, this stone was now emitting a bright white and warm light, as if there was a real power to reverse everything in it.
At this time, Mo Xi looked up at him carefully. From the bottom of the straw hat, he saw a small part of his face. After a while, he was suddenly in awe. "Is it you?"
"..."
"You're the one in the reversal stone!"
The spirit of the deity that allowed people to make a choice no matter what!!
That day, the spirit body began to smile, and his clothes fluttered in the breeze of the yellow spring. He said, "Yes. I knew you'd come back here in the end, so I've been waiting for you… This is the last thing I wanted to give you."
Gu Mang narrowed his eyes, but he was very clever. "Oh, so you are the god of the broken stone who deceives people?"
"... That's right."
"Then what are you going to do when you're done fooling people? Get out of the way." Gu Mang was disrespectful to him and had no good temper. "We're both going to reincarnat."
"Wait a minute." But Mo Xi pulled Gu Mang.
He watched him, his heart pounding.
At this time, he suddenly realized that he and Gu Mang were somewhat different from other souls - Gu Mang or himself, compared with those ghosts walking on the yellow spring road at the moment, actually… They were different.
Those souls had been wandering, but he and Gu Mang were still flesh and blood. Was this because…
His eyes suddenly had the light of hope, and the blood gushed up. At the same time, the spirit of the god also raised his face. Mo Xi found that he was smiling at him with a pair of calm and warm eyes.
"There is a reversal stone in this world. It can reverse life, death, and pain," he said softly. The god's voice was low and hoarse.
The scarlet flowers on the other side were swaying, burning like a prairie fire on both sides of Huangquan road.
He seriously gave the reversal stone, which was shining white, to Mo Xi's hand.
"But it's not me who can light it up, it's the people who it chooses. And you, in the end, have made the choice that makes it willingly submit to you."
The wind was rising, the vegetation was bleak, and the yellow spring clouds gathered and dispersed.
The god said to Mo Xi who was stunned on the spot. "The reversal stone's reversal effect only works once. Mo Xi, it belongs to you."
Gu Mang suddenly turned his head and looked at Mo Xi. Their eyes met. After the shock of the extreme drama, a brilliant light broke through the clouds and streamed in their eyes. The words of the man wearing a straw hat dissipated the last heavy haze.
"Make a wish to it."
The boat moored on the river bank of the soul swayed gently, as if urging Mo Xi of its mouth.
"Mo Xi, let it take you home..."
—
A month later.
Chonghua City.
Wang Du.
Murong Mengze was standing on the white marble stone field with a hundred dragon claws carved on it. She and the craftsmen in hemp clothes and straw sandals were busy repairing the damaged and dilapidated palace.
More than a month has passed since the war, and she was in charge of the repair and supervision these days.
Murong Mengze ordered craftsmen and cultivators to help the people in the city rebuild their family properties. Until most of the residents of Chonghua had a place to live, she ordered the craftsmen to wait to start restoring the royal palace.
The heater that Murong Chen once put in the Jinluan hall had been completely broken, but the small golden beast hanging on the edge was still murmuring, "The emperor is in great prosperity… You are the king of the world..."
The craftsman swept the fragments of the stove into the pole, carried them, and planned to dump them on the carriage and throw them into the wilderness together with the broken bricks and tiles of the old dynasty.
"You will live forever..."
The little golden beast hummed and hawed, lying between a pile of broken wood and broken bricks, repeating yesterday's slander. It was a dead thing in the end, who knew what its fate would be.
But when it was bumped, the gold paint fell off, revealing the black iron material below. It was in a dejected state.
Murong Mengze glanced at the carriage that was transported. She did not say a word in it. When the craftsman greeted her with fear, he was very gentle and generous.
"Hard work, you've made this trip."
The craftsmen were in a state of panic and surprise, and they kept saying no to her.
Murong Mengze saw the palace construction in its original state for a while. This is what she asked them to do. Of course, she knew that the people of Chonghua were very grateful for her actions. After the war, she wanted to build buildings everywhere. She did not respect the royal power, so she naturally won more praise.
In her mind, she knew that Jiang Fuli was the most prosperous in fighting against Liaoguo.
Because it was he who finally beat Hua Poan.
Murong Mengze did not directly see the final duel between the two men, but heard that a little cultivator who had witnessed the whole situation say that after Hua Poan had lost the power of the blood demon beast, there was still the nineeyed qin that could fight Jiang Fuli. At that time, eight of the eyes were broken, but one of them was not broken.
Some people thought that there must be some amazing evil thing hidden in that eye, and he would not sacrifice it until he had to.
However, the last eye of the nine-eyed qin was still closed until the Hua Poan was defeated by Jiang Fuli.
No one knew what was hidden in the last eye. Hua Poan did not show it to anyone. It was like a seed deeply buried in his heart that never sprouted.
"Is Hua Poan?" These days, she often heard people ask such a sentence in the street.
And people's answer, however, was also divergent.
"He must be dead."
"Yes, I saw with my own eyes that he was defeated by the sword of Pharmacist Jiang, and the yuan spirit disappeared and became ashes."
"But I always find it hard to say… He's completely like a demon, isn't he... "
"Even if he's not dead, I can't find out anything."
Murong Mengze thought that Jiang Fuli should know the answer to this question, but no one could get an answer from him.
Jiang Fuli left Chonghua with Su Yurou after the war. He said that he never knew who he was. He also felt that everything he had done in the past had little significance except for making money. Now he had finally done something more than money and silk.
It was just Jiang Fuli, not Chen Tang, not a puppet.
Perhaps it was this encounter that finally made him want to take the memory of Chen Tang to the four seas and five lakes to have a look. This time, Su Yurou would not imprison his heart and his memories. Maybe he could finally get a specific answer from the long journey after that, knowing what his life would be like as Jiang Fuli.
In addition to Jiang Fuli, there was another person whose popularity rose after the war, and that was Wangshu Jun Murong Lian.
However, Murong Mengze knew that Murong Lian had been critically ill and could not live for a long time because he had been taking life like a dream for a long time. Murong Lian was a man who did things by his own pleasure. When he was recognized by the world, he was satisfied with his wish. He was tired of imperial affairs for a long time. Yesterday, she went to Wangshu Fu to see him. She saw him drinking alone under the paulownia. In the courtyard, there was his magic butterfly, and on the stone table was the Shenwu guqin.
Murong Lian finally reconciled with himself. His beloved spiritual arts and instruments that he once rejected could be summoned to his side.
"Lian Ge, are you really thinking about no longer staying in Wangshu?"
Murong Lian was still smoking his pipe, and his eyes faintly said, "No, it's not a big capital. I think it's narrow here, and I'm depressed."
"... So you're going to... "
"I'm going north and going back to my mother's fiefdom."
Murong Mengze considered for a moment and said with a smile, "If Lian Ge is tired of playing, please remember to come back at any time. I will take care of Wangshu Fu for you the whole time."
Murong Lian looked at her thoughtfully, and the water in the peach blossom eyes seemed to have seen through her mind. But Mengze did not smile, still looking back at him frankly.
"You don't have to take care of it," Murong Lian said. "Linyi is a simple place that has not flourished for a long time. My brother and I had a good time fighting with dogs in the first half of my life. I want to do something there in the days after."
"What does Lian Ge want?"
"I think it's good to open a school palace. What Chen Tang did in those years was very interesting. I was tired of being here. Being the master of the school palace, I felt happy when I thought about it."
Murong Mengze smiled. Her tone was very tactful. "But Lian Ge, you know, Chonghua only has one school palace. If you want to open elsewhere, I'm afraid it will not be conducive to the jurisdiction."
Murong Lian did not immediately refute her. He smoked his pipe. After a while, he slowly exhaled, blowing it in Murong Mengze's face. "That's all, I'll still try my best to see if I can give up smoking, live a long life, and take good care of Chonghua."
"..." Murong Mengze said with a smile, "Lian Ge, what's this saying? You must stop living a dream, and you will live a long life."
Murong Lian also laughed at her and said, "It's a little difficult."
No one spoke in the courtyard for the time being, but the butterfly formed through spiritual arts flew around and perched on Murong Mengze's shoulder. Mengze looked at it, and said in a warm voice, "Since Lian Ge has such a wish, then go. After the death of Chen Ge, you are the acting monarch. If you want to make an exception and open a school in Linyi... " She laughed. "I can't stop it."
"The school I set up is intended to be accessible to all, regardless of origin. That's exciting enough. " Murong Lian said lightly. "How do you feel?"
Unexpectedly, Murong Mengze did not mean to contradict this proposal at all.
She said, "I'll listen to brother Lian."
When leaving, Murong Lian didn't get up to see her off, but when she was about to disappear at the corner of the flower gallery, he suddenly knocked down the ashes in the tobacco pot and said calmly, "Mengze, it's time to recover, just recover."
Murong Mengze suddenly stopped.
"When the emperor restored his identity, I was the second in line. But the person nearest to the throne has never been me," Murong Lian said. "It's you."
"..."
Murong Mengze did not look back and did not respond.
Her face changed countless times. She wanted to ask, when did you know my secret, and also wanted to ask, since you knew, why didn't you say it earlier? But all kinds of thoughts were in the heart, which could not defeat Murong Lian's leisurely giving up at the moment.
Yes, for her, the most important thing for her was to abandon the card.
She could leave everything else alone.
So in the end, she just said, "Thank you very much. If you need help from Linyi school, you can come to the emperor to look for me at any time."
She turned around and left.
Without Jiang Fuli and Murong Lian, there was no one else who had higher prestige than her.
However, almost all the soldiers did not give up. They thought that their Mo Shuai was so bad that he could not have died in this way. Yue Chenqing led the cultivators of the northern frontier army to salvage several times in the river, but there was no body of Mo Xi or Gu Mang.
If the corpses were not found, it was very likely that they would be ashes. However, they were not willing to think to that level. They were more willing to believe that Mo Shuai and Gu Shuai of the northern frontier army had not been sacrificed. They always had a glimmer of hope in their hearts.
Three days ago, a man finally found an object in the river. It turned out to be a jade slip made from a straightforward whip.
No one said a word, but it made the northern frontier army boil over.
They also thought that Mo Xi must still be alive, otherwise, how could the brilliance flow freely?
At that time, Murong Mengze was reviewing the documents in the palace. Beside her was the maid Yue Niang, but she had some hesitation and fear in her eyes when she looked at her.
Others didn't know, but she knew very well that Murong Mengze recently invited her friend Zhou He to go to the wine shop for a drink. Although Zhou He used to be the emperor's man, he had admired Mengze for a long time. Now that Mo Xi was dead, he felt that he finally had a chance to invite the princess to have a drink at night. It was more a trial than an appointment.
Yue Niang didn't expect Murong Mengze would readily agree.
But she did not expect that she would inadvertently see that Mengze would quietly throw a dark red pill into the Zhou He's cup without any hesitation.
It was a lethal poison. If he stayed dormant for two months, you would surely die.
Yue Niang felt confused all day after seeing Mengze's move. How could she have imagined it since Zhou He and Mengze were so friendly and had done so many things for Mengze. Even if Mengze didn't like him, why would she secretly poison him? Was this still the princess she knows?
"Yue Niang."
Uneasy, suddenly hearing Mengze call her, Due Niang woke up as if from a dream, ran and said in a panic, "Lady."
Mengze looked at her thoughtfully, and looked at her legs slightly. Mengze then said with a smile, "How come you always think about nothing recently? Is there something on your mind?"
"No, no..."
"No, it's good. If there is any discomfort, you must tell me earlier, don't make me worry."
"Yes..."
"Besides, I have something for you to do." Mengze untied the match order and handed it to her. "Take this token to find Yue Chenqing, and say to him, I'm asking him to borrow the jade slip left by Xihe Jun for a view."
Yue Niang said she would, she then smiled to see her go out.
But when the Yue Niang's figure disappeared in the sky, her eyes gradually darkened, and she sighed and murmured, "Yue, I can't even think of you in the end…"
She was the only one left in the palace.
Mengze raised her hand and took out a bundle of exquisite jade slips containing history from the spatial bag. This jade slip was made by Jiang Yexue for Murong Chen before he was born. He was a top-level craftsman with excellent skills. Even the most amazing refiner could tell at a glance that the jade slips were forged. Mengze stretched out her fingernails without any cinnabar and rubbed the gold buttons on the side of the jade slips.
She knew what a dark plot was hidden in this bundle of fake scrolls.
Murong Chen framed many scandals related to Mo Xi, which were made up of real scrolls, so it was difficult to distinguish the true from the false. She was ready - she knew that Mo Xi used the reversal stone to go back to the past, and he was likely to know what she had done in the past.
No, it was not possible. He must know it all.
Therefore, he would die, but would also leave a jade slip, which was probably to expose her to the world that Murong Mengze was not a pure person.
He must hate her for using his gratitude and her calculation of herself, so even if she died, he should tell the public…
Even to the extent that.
Murong Mengze suddenly had a more terrible conjecture.
She could not resist shivering slightly from cold teeth.
——What if Mo Xi didn't die?
The idea made her vest wet and sweaty. She even felt that the figure of the man was wandering in the shadow of the palace. She wanted to walk from the dark to the light at any time, looking down at her and saying, "Mengze, I have another account to settle with you."
She gave a shiver and suddenly got up and knocked over the table in front of her.
"No… No.... "
It was really strange that she walked out of the hall and left the cold room behind. When she calculated Murong Chen, Murong Lian and Zhou He, she would not have such fear, but only for Mo Xi and Gu Mang.
There was self loathing in her cold heart, and self loathing eventually bred her fear.
She knew that among all her pieces, only these two pieces were true, true and unquestionable… She was stained with such clean blood.
It was her stain, and she could see it by looking down at her heart.
She couldn't wash it out all her life.
"Lady, Lady."
Suddenly someone called her name.
Mengze suddenly raised her head and saw that Yue Niang had gone back and forth. She was standing at the bottom of the steps and looking at her in a panic. Her extremely pale face made Yue Niang even more frightened.
Trembling, Yue Niang walked up the last few steps and presented the brocade box in her hand, "This is the jade slips you wanted..."
Mengze adjusted her mood and suppressed the fear, anger and heart deficiency. "Oh! So soon…"
"Yes..."
"Give it to me, and wait outside the temple."
Taking the jade slips left by Mo Xi, Mengze closed her eyes and returned to the palace alone.
She was alone in the vast palace. She locked herself in it, and then she could not wait, but she was very reluctant to face the paperwork without words.
She had almost a vivid premonition.
He must have left this jade slip to her.
Sure enough, when she opened the jade slips with her own hands, she saw that there were no words on the original paper, and as expected, faint gold words which were meaningful began to appear on the slips from Mo Xi. She trembled with hate, and so she was right enough!
She knew that Mo Xi would be stingy, he would not let her go——
The next moment.
She suddenly froze.
The words on the jade slips became more and more clear. She saw that there were only two sentences written in the beautiful handwriting she was familiar with.
"The rest of your life will be washed. Don't be a Murong Chen."
Murong Mengze felt like she was hit hard her ears were buzzing.
He… What did he say?
He meant that he knows all about her plot, but after all kinds of things, he had already understood that the people sitting in that position were not dirty at all. Although some people felt ashamed of their close friends and relatives, they could still prosper the world and rule the country with benevolence after sitting on this throne. Was that so?
She was once one of the three virtues of Chonghua. She was not worthy of her name. However, Mo Xi did not hate her. Her way of being a virtue was false to the people around her, but true to Chonghua.
Don't be a Murong Chen.
Mengze looked at the last few words quietly for a long time, and finally slowly lowered her eyebrows.
Murong Chen…
A moment later, she picked up the forged historical scroll on the jade slip and looked at it carefully for several moments. Finally, with her fingertips, she quietly turned it into powder and ashes…
Mengze fell back on the throne with force and looked up. The sweat behind her slowly cooled down. Her eyes were wide open, and the carved beam totem was reflected in the pupils of her eyes. She held the armrest of the throne with her fingers and rubbed them. Don't be a Murong Chen.
She slowly closed her eyes, the corner of her mouth grinned with a wisp of self mockery.
Mo Xi… You really…
She didn't think about it any more. She sat alone in the brand-new hall that she had supervised.
At this moment, there is still a lot of rubble waiting to be rebuilt. However, she knew that a new dynasty would be opened here.
Her heart pounded, beating the drums that had been hidden in her heart for many years, and her chest was filled with waves.
She knew the crape myrtle starlight that she had been waiting for, in her stained with blood, finally shined on her way of life.32
Two months later.
Murong Lian was walking along the riverside of Linyi. He broke a willow branch and slowly swinging it as he walked by.
The school palace was under construction and would be completed by the end of next year. These days, he was very free and had nothing to do.
However, he had a lot of secrets to digest in his heart, said Murong Mengze.
Now she was the modern monarch of Chonghua, but because of her status as a woman, some conservative and pedantic old nobles had been satirizing her unworthiness as emperor. But Murong Lian knew that soon, when Mengze's popularity was higher, she would tell a secret that she had been hiding for thirty years. At that time, Chonghua would certainly dislike the great disturbance.
But he bet that the final winner would still be Murong Mengze.
This woman… No, this person's wrist was too hard, how could ordinary be her opponent?
Looking at the two months she had been overseeing the government, she was just an acting monarch, and had made great efforts to govern the country, so that the power of all ethnic groups in the dynasty were scattered and weak, and new policies were continuously promulgated.
She pursued Gu Mang and Mo Xi as the supreme heroes, and intended to fulfill Gu Mang's wish to abolish the idea of enslavement. The school would recruit more talents to be students regardless of their origin.
In addition, she aimed at cutting off tyranny, abandoning nepotism, lowering taxes, and paying attention to people's advice.
What was her stain to ordinary people compared to these achievements?
Murong Mengze, Murong Mengze…
Murong Lian read her name several times in his heart and couldn't help laughing.
Murong Mengze, the son child of the royal family. His mother, fearing that the queen would kill him, linked the then Shennongtai elder and disguised his true identity with hidden medicine.
Murong Chen defended Murong Lian all his life, but in the end he was wrong.
The so-called "fighting against each other in the same room" did not mean
Murong Lian at all, but Princess Mengze, who he always thought was his sister.
Murong Mengze, who had been dormant as a woman for nearly thirty years, was cruel after all. Who can take what he wanted from such a cruel character?
Fortunately, he did not know this secret for a long time. That is, Murong Mengze took care of him when he was in a coma.
Murong Lian believed that with Mengze's skill, over time, people would talk less about his long years of pretending to be his daughter. As for those secret scandals that only a few people knew, they would eventually be crushed by the wheels of time and scattered into dust.
Now in the capital, Wangshu Fu was still preserved. The Xihe mansion was decided by Li Wei, the housekeeper, to be set up as a charity, leaving the homeless and poor people a place to live temporarily before they could get a living. Li Wei said that if Xihe Jun was still alive, he would be willing to see him do so. Yue Chenqing stayed in the capital, but he gave Jiang Fuli all the schematic drawings made by Murong Chuyi before he died, hoping that Jiang Fuli could seal them in a place that ordinary people could not easily reach.
"In the hands of the good, the sword is the weapon of protection; in the hand of the wicked, it is the weapon of killing. I don't think the fourth uncle wanted his manuals to fall into the wrong hands, so please seal it, Pharmacist Jiang."
Jiang Fuli finally sealed all the drawings of Murong Chuyi under the haitang tree in Chen Tang Immortal Island. The tree had a hidden spiritual sense, and the qi was clear and peaceful. It was said that it had the ability to distinguish good from evil. It couldn't be a more secure place to guard the wishes of its predecessors in silence.
Decades later, centuries later, or perhaps millennia later, another great master of refining utensils, as good as Murong Chuyi, would inherit this endless compassion for the world of mortals.33
But these people's ideals were lofty, Murong Lian was completely inferior.
He was just an ordinary person with numerous defects. He was not a hero, and he had not thought about so many things. Now he wanted to build his own school. He would choose someone to teach him the six virtues, six arts, and six elements. He didn't know whether he can teach a Chen Tang or a Hua Poan in the future. There were many things he was not sure about, but what he could be sure of was that he had drawn up the first doctrine of the school, which was to teach those who it received.
... As the leader of the Imperial Palace, he would not allow it to happen again.
It was nice to be in charge.
Murong Lian sighed contentedly, dusted himself off, coughed, and went home.
Passing by a busy market, he saw an old man selling cakes that were cooking. The cakes were crisp and brown. They looked like the famous roasted food from the north. Murong Lian took a look and stopped.
"Hello, old man, let's have a cake."
"Hello!"
Murong Lian paused for a moment, but he thought of something. He hesitated for a moment and said, "What do you think… Let's have two."
The old man was more happy, shoveled out two pieces of golden crisp pancakes and handed them to him.
Murong Lian but did not go. Standing in place and thinking, finally the boss reluctantly said, "Forget it, three pieces."
The old man: "…"
Carrying three steaming new baked pancakes, Murong Lian continued to walk back to the house as if carelessly. He said in his heart that he bought these cakes for himself. He didn't intentionally think of anyone.
He didn't look at the boss.
But it was said that Murong Lian, although extremely disliked, now had two people living in secret in his mansion. The two men came to visit him on the third day of his visit to Linyi, which scared him very much at that time.
If the old friends of the imperial capital knew that these two people were still alive, then… Hum…
Murong Lian sneered in his heart.
He didn't know what it would be.
He went all the way home. He pushed the door into the house. A man in the courtyard was carrying a small stool and hanging colored lights under the veranda.
The man was dressed in blue and white clothes and had long hair. He was smiling. His skin was healthy, and his facial features were handsome and sweet.
Hearing the news, he lowered his long eyelashes and looked at Murong Lian through the light and shadow of the lantern.
That pair of black eyes were bright, like the most brilliant night.
Murong Lian looked at him for a moment, but finally he couldn't bear it and gnash her teeth and said, "I'm sorry Gu Mang, can you be a little self-conscious! You are hiding in my house now! Who allowed you to move the set of my house at will!!"
The person who was busy hanging lanterns in the courtyard was no one else but Gu Shuai. Gu Mang, who everyone thought had passed away.
Gu Mang had not yet answered, but another person came in the hall. He was handsome, tall, and straight, and his skin was as white as ice. He was also a wearing ordinary clothes. Who else was it, but Mo Xi?
Mo Xi held a newly made lantern in his hand and gave it to Gu Mang.
Gu Mang leaned over with a smile and took it on the chair, "Thank you, Mo
Shidi."
"No thanks."
"..."
Murong Lian was even more angry. "Do you really regard this place as your own home?"
"Yes, Lian Di."
"Gu Mang, do you want to die!"
"You are going to be the master of the palace very soon. We both came to work for you and serve as elders for your disciples. Although you will be incognito at the time, your strength is still there. We didn't even ask you to raise the price." Gu Mang hung up the lantern, and quickly jumped down from the chair to avoid Murong Lian's attack, "A family, a family, if you have something to say, say it well!"
"Who is your family! Who will tell you well!"
Gu Mang laughed and ran fast around the corridor.
Mo Xi stood in the original place and looked at the two of them, speechless with a wry smile at the end.
The so-called survival after disaster was mostly the case.
He chose to die with the blood demon beast at the bottom of the blood pool. He was ready for irreparable destruction. The god in the reversal stone told him that as long as he chose to sacrifice, he was doomed to lose his soul and never reincarnate.
Therefore, he never expected that when he opened his eyes, he would return to the reversal stone.
But the deceptive god was talking with Gu Mang. Gu Mang looked at a loss.
Seeing him open his eyes, he suddenly shows surprise and smiled.
"Ah, Mo Xi, you also woke up!"
"..." At that time, Mo Xi's chest was still filled with heavy sadness and pain. When he saw him speak, he thought it was a dream in the golden rain after his death. He saw the mirage of Gu Mang. He could not say anything for a moment.
It was not until he listened to the god's gossips for a long time that he realized that the god of reversal stone could be changed more than others thought.
Since it was a god, even if it was only a shadow of the god, it was not difficult to save the lives of a few mortals. What's more, there was the strong spiritual energy of the immortal beast and blood demon beast in their bodies.
It was only that for the reversal stone to save them, the test was they must save themselves.
Only those who had redeemed their own heart and withstood the test of the reversal stone could be protected by it and swim ashore. Reversing injury, reversing pain, reversing the once-fragmented heart, reversing the blue eyes, reversing death.
This was the god's guilt and repayment to those who were destined to be selected by the reversal stone.
"You chose a road that I admire, Mo Shuai, thank you for making this all come to an end like this."
The spirit of the deity in the reversal stone finished the last sentence, and then disappeared.
At the end of his mission, he restored Gu Mang's health from when he was not tempered by the black demon, restored the lives of Mo Xi and Gu Mang, and sent them to the place they wanted to go.
"Where are you going?"
In the face of the misty fog and the echo of the reversal stone's world, Mo Xi and Gu Mang looked at each other.
Finally, Gu Mang grinned. "Where are you going? I'll go there. This time, Gu Mang Gege will not cheat you again."
It was all over.
I am no longer a spy, a traitor, or a general.
Finally, I'm just Gu Mang, your Gu Mang Gege.
I finally just need to protect you, and finally only be with you.
And the place they wanted to go, of course, would not be the imperial capital.
The imperial capital was domineering for thousands of years, and the whole city was full of intrigues. Now, Liaoguo retreated, and Chonghua ushered in a long period of promotion. Mo Xi put the straightforward jade slips in the capital river and told Mengze that he had no intention of revenge, but he would always watch what would happen to Chonghua in the hands of this new emperor.
At least for now, Murong Mengze had lived up to this chance. Murong Mengze was not a pure and honest son. He was a good man. But his purpose and Murong Chen's were always different.
Murong Chen wanted to be the supreme overlord of a unified Kyushu.
What Murong Mengze yearned for is that others would call him a "virtuous monarch" and "Ming Jun".
He would do whatever he could for this purpose, and he would devote his whole
life to it.
And that was enough.
Finally, they chose Linyi.
It was not a rich place, but it was said that Murong Lian would come here to build a school palace, to establish a career and to recruit scholars from all over the world. Gu Mang was glad to hear that.
In the end, Murong Lian was the one who had the deepest ties in the world except Mo Xi, and was his blood relative.
Gu Mang was very happy that Murong Lian finally chose such a road.
Now Mo Xi stood in the courtyard, watching Gu Mang and Murong Lian chasing each other. The paulownia flowers in the yard were flowing like a lavender waterfall, and the whole court was fragrant.
At this moment, the hatred had faded, and the achievements were far away. In fact, whether Murong Mengze gave them the title, he or Gu Mang, they did not care, and their initial wish had been realized.
In the end was a period of peaceful world would begin. In the end the initial promise came full circle. They had a home.
Tomorrow, he and Gu Mang would also enter the Linyi academy set up by Murong Lian. He would show his new identity and face those young and immature younger generations to teach them how to be righteous, what is benevolence, what is the use of spiritual arts, and how to use weapons.
After the big waves, everything was slowly getting better.
After that, the state may fall apart again. However, just like a hundred years ago, Hua Poan died for the devil. Now he and Gu Mang cast their lives in the pond. Mo Xi knew that as long as there was darkness, there would be light. People's kindness and strength were the seeds that would never die. Even in the most narrow world, they would always wake up and sprout.
How many times of chaos and prosperity, heroes initially started in the green duckweed and finally ended in the grass. When the torrent of time rolled over and changed, the former love and hatred, blood and bones would be transformed into two languages or three words, a piece of blue book.
People are too small, and not many efforts and sacrifices can be remembered continuously, but at least, the sun will shine on the earth again and disperse the long night.
This was perhaps the best reward for all the nameless heroes.
In the small courtyard, Gu Mang was chased by Murong Lian in a hurry, laughing and shouting, "Mo Xi! Help, help! What a shame!"
Murong Lian was angry and said, "Who is your di di! I was born earlier than you!"
"But I had it before you."
"Gu Mang, stop! Get out of my house today!"
"Come and get him! Beat him up for me!"
Mo Xi lowered his head and laughed. His thick black eyelashes were like two small soft fans. He went over and said, "OK. I'm here."
You see, the flowers were blooming again this year.
Liaoguo had already collapsed, and the remnant part had been surrendered. The territory which had been split up from Chonghua in the past was collected and classified as a foreign country. Then the demonic seals, those evil blood demon techniques could not be easily refined, demonic cultivation techniques could not be learned easily.
Mo Xi knew that this would not last forever, but at least it would usher in a period of peace that would live up to the sacrifice of the heroes of this era.
In the courtyard, Murong Lian heard the noise from the black dog Fandou brought by the imperial capital. He barked excitedly and rushed out, bouncing around the three people. In Linyi City, which had not yet ushered in great prosperity, the smoke was rising from every household. In the twilight and setting sun, the four fields were peaceful.
Murong Lian said, "Fireball, go away! These brothers are fighting, you are not a good man if you intervene!"
Gu Mang jumped up and strangled Murong Lian's neck and said with a smile, "That's easy to say. I'll let Mo Xi help me, and you'll let Fandou help you?"
Fandou's barking was more excited, he put his paws on Murong Lian's knee, spit drooling his tongue, eyes looking up at him.
Some laughter came out of the courtyard. They finally had a home, a family, and a place of their own. To be able to wait for this hard-earned peace of the world, to see flowers bloom in the spring, snow fall in the winter.
For many years to come, it would be as it is today.
There was no war in the south of the river or north of the desert.