For a while, no one spoke in the hall. The only sound that could be heard was the choked sobs of Mr. Chen.
Shi Mei lowered his head and covered his cheek. Then he raised his head to look at Chu Wanning, his eyes full of earnestness: "Shizun, don't fight anymore. If you continue to fight like this, it will reach Life-Death Peak…"
Mo Ran was even more frightened. Although he was an asshole, he was infatuated with Shi Mei. When he was born again in this life, he secretly vowed to hold him in his arms and protect them. But it hadn't even been a few days and Shi Mei had been injured by the willow vine. What the hell is this!
He didn't care about going to settle things with Chu Wanning. He hurried to Shi Mei's side to check the wound on his face.
Shi Mei said softly, "I won't get in the way…"
"Let me see."
"It's alright."
Even though he resisted, Mo Ran still pulled down the hand covering the wound.
His eyes suddenly closed.
A deep bloody scar hideously stretched across his face. The flesh was flayed and blood kept oozing out, flowing down his neck…
Mo Ran's eyes burned red. He bit his lip and stared at it for a long time. He abruptly turned his head and yelled at Chu Wanning: "Are you satisfied now?"
Chu Wanning's face was sullen. He didn't say anything, didn't apologize, didn't step forward, and stayed frozen in place, still holding Tianwen, lifeless without any spiritual power, in his hand.
"…"
Mo Ran's chest seemed to be filled with a myriad of dancing spirits and demons.
Who could stand having a beloved, who died once in a previous life, repeatedly suffer such aggravation and torture?
He and Chu Wanning just stared at each other; neither gave in, neither conceded. It felt like blood vessels were bursting in Mo Ran's eyes. He had hated Chu Wanning with such intensity for so many years. He and the man in front of him were always at odds!
When he had first entered the sect, whenever he did something wrong, Chu Wanning just beat him. Later, Shi Mei was injured. Chu Wanning only had three disciples in his life, but he had stood idly by and insisted on not saving one of them. Later, when Shi Mei died and Life-Death Peak was destroyed, he, Mo Weiyu, had become the emperor of the cultivation world, who wouldn't obey him? Only Chu Wanning was working against him, ruining his great campaign and poking at his conscience - constantly reminding him that the Immortal Emperor, no matter how powerful he was, was nothing more than a heartless and rebellious madman.
Chu Wanning.
Chu Wanning…
Before this life and after his death, it's always been him!
Both of them were still wearing matching auspicious clothes. The red shirts faced each other, standing at a distance. There seemed to be an unfilled gap between them.
Eventually, Chu Wanning finally recalled Tianwen.
Mr. Chen heaved a sigh of relief and knelt in front of Shi Mei. "Thank Buddha, thank Buddha. This immortal cultivator is a living buddha who ends all suffering. Thank you for saving my family. Thank you, cultivator, thank you."
It was always like this.
He dealt with the problem but he drew the willow vine every time. Chu Wanning cleanly did what he was commissioned to do and broke the strict sect rules in the process. In the end, the 'Buddha' was someone else and he was a villain.
It had always been like this.
He had a bad temper, he admitted it.
He had no regrets either.
Only the willow vine had missed its target and he hit his disciple. He finally felt some semblance of guilt, but he had no real dignity and was reluctant to say anything about it. He left on his own and moved towards the Chen family's youngest daughter.
When the little girl saw him, she unconsciously took a few steps back in fright, shivering.
Out of every surviving member of the Chen family, she was the only good one left. Chu Wanning spoke in a slightly slower tone: "Your mother has been possessed by a malevolent ghost and has lost more than 20 years of her life. If she still doesn't want to repent and still has evil intentions in her heart, she'll die in the near future. After she wakes up, tell her to personally set up a red mahogany spiritual tablet for Miss Luo. Miss Luo's identity needs to be acknowledged on the tablet. Luo Xianxian is Chen Bohuan's legitimate wife. You have been hiding the truth for years. The truth needs to be known. This will fulfill
her life's wish."
After a pause, he kept going:
"In addition, your whole family will kneel down three times a day, three bows from the knees and nine full kowtows, and recite the 'Send Off Incantation'. Only then will you be able to satisfy Miss Luo and drive away the ghost plaguing your family. This incantation must be recited for ten years without stopping. If you stop halfway through, Miss Luo will come back to seek revenge."
The little girl trembled: "… Understood. Many thanks, Dao Master…"
Chu Wanning turned his head again, his eyes as sharp as a snow-covered dagger. His gaze swept across the youngest Chen son and Mr. Chen and said sharply: "After Chen Yao wakes up, you both need to tell her everything you've been hiding. Whether you get to stay or go is up to her. If you try to hide anything, I'll cut your tongues out!"
The two of them who were originally rebellious individuals, who wouldn't have dared to agree to this, repeatedly bowed as a promise.
"As for the Hundred Butterfly Fragrance Powder, Luo Shusheng prepared it with his own hands yet you brazenly claim that you made it. You know what to do. I don't need to spell it out for you." Chu Wanning brushed his sleeve aside.
"W-We'll go to the shop to fix this, to clarify things. We'll tell everyone that this powder was Mr. Luo's… Mr. Luo's…"
After everything was arranged, Chu Wanning asked Mo Ran to help Chen Yao back to her room. I'll cleanse the poison from her body.
Although Mo Ran held hatred in his heart, he knew that being so young meant that he should offer his shizun more respect than disobedience, so he stayed quiet. He shook Shi Mei's hand and whispered: "Go treat your face and stop the bleeding. I'll help her to the room."
The Chen family's eldest son's bedroom still had a large red 'double happiness' banner. He was pretty sure that the accident happened so fast and hard that he had been too occupied and forgot to take it down. Chen Bohuan had become dust at this point, so it was extremely ironic to look at it like this.
In this absurd situation, Chen Yao had eventually become the victim of greed. What would she do once she woke up?
Her body was not as resilient as Shi Mei's. After all, she was an ordinary person. Chu Wanning silently cleanse her body and fed her a pill. During the process, Mo Ran was at his side to provide towels and water. The two didn't speak, nor did they look at each other.
When leaving, Chu Wanning inadvertently glanced at the wall. His eyes shifted away, but he suddenly realized something, and turned back, staring at the words hanging on the wall.
It was a few lines of regular script in ink that shouldn't have been written that long ago. The ink should not have yellowed yet.
The writing was –
Soft rosy hands, yellow sealed wine, the city brimmed with the colours of spring as willows lined the palace walls.
East wind devastates, happiness wears thin. A cupful of melancholy, several years of separation. Wrong wrong wrong!
Spring remains the same, but her frame grew thin, tears washed away the rouge and dampened her silk handkerchief.
The peach blossoms are falling, by the empty waterside pavilion. Our oath to each other still remains, yet I can no longer profess my love. Don't don't don't!
Chu Wanning's heart suddenly skipped a beat. The regular script was neat and correct, and the three characters spelling Chen Bohuan were very eye-catching.
The son of Chen, who was forced to marry the daughter of the Yao family, had an unspeakable sadness in his heart. In the last days of his life, he could only stand by the window, with an ink and brush, transcribing the first part of "Phoenix Hairpin"??
Never wanting to stay in Chen home anymore, he endured the sharp pain from the wound on his shoulder and turned to leave.
Chu Wanning and Shi Mei were both injured and weren't able to travel back to Life-Death Peak on foot. Chu Wanning especially didn't like flying with swords, so they went into town to find an inn to rest. It also gave them a chance to see the aftermath of the Master of Ceremonies Ghost's ritual the next day.
Although those ghostly corpses were obliterated into dust by Chu Wanning's "Wind", only the bodies controlled by the Master of Ceremonies Ghost were destroyed. The souls were left alone. They would stay a few more days to make sure there were no residual effects.
Chu Wanning walked silently in front and the two disciples followed behind.
A thought popped up in Shi Mei's mind and he asked: "A-Ran, the clothes you and Shizun are wearing… they're… what's going on?"
Mo Ran froze. He suddenly remembered that he and Chu Wanning were still wearing auspicious wedding outfits. For fear of Shi Mei misunderstanding, they had to take them off.
"They're… from the illusion that happened earlier. Don't think too much about it, I…"
Halfway through the conversation, he took another look and discovered that, because Shi Mei had also participated in the Master of Ceremonies Ghost's wedding ceremony, he was also wearing one. However, its style was different from theirs. In addition to the wear and tear of the tattered outfit, it was hard to make out what its original design was supposed to be.
But nonetheless, it was also an auspicious outfit.
Standing side by side with Shi Mei right now, he could almost imagine holding his hand, celebrating in the Master of Ceremonies Ghost's illusion and drinking a cup of ceremonial tea together.
Because of that thought, he just couldn't bring himself to take off the outfit. He just stared at Shi Mei blankly.
Shi Mei asked with a gentle smile: "What's the matter? You trailed off."
Mo Ran muttered: "… Nothing."
Chu Wanning was in front of them, a few steps ahead. He didn't know how much of their conversation he heard, but he suddenly stopped and turned around.
The sun had started to rise. After a night of ups and downs, the twilight faded away. and the first ray of dawn emerged from the horizon. The bright red sun rose like a broken and bleeding heart, struggling out of the abyss of the dark night, with a glorious, splendid touch.
Chu Wanning stood against the light, standing at the end of the long night that was getting more and more translucent, standing in the light of the first rays of sunlight painting the sky.
He was facing to his side, his clothes looked as dark as blood. The sun painted a faint golden edge on the side of his face, making it difficult to see his expression.
Suddenly, with a strong surge of spiritual power, the auspicious outfit was torn to shreds by a powerful force.
The fine red fabric, like the red petals of a begonia flower, blowing in the wind, scattering in all directions.
The outfit fell away, revealing the white robe underneath. It fluttered in the wind along with his long black hair.
Fresh blood on his shoulder.
Fragments of cloth flying in the wind.
The splotches of blood that he had obtained trying to protect Mo Ran were especially prominent and vibrant on the white robe.
Chu Wanning sneered rather mockingly: "Mo Weiyu, what's there to misunderstand between us?"
When he got angry, he would call Mo Ran 'Mo Weiyu'. He stayed cold and polite, no bite to his words.
Mo Ran choked, preventing him from making any kind of comeback.
Chu Wanning smiled and walked away.
At this time, there was no one around. He walked up ahead by himself, as if the vast world was small and he was its only inhabitant.
His mocking face was angry and bitter. As soon as he arrived at the inn and closed the door, he couldn't help but tense up.
Chu Wanning grit his teeth, with a painful look on his face, and raised his hand to touch his shoulder.
The Master of Ceremonies Ghost's claws were an extension of an immortal being's body. Because of that, they were almost as powerful as the heavens itself. They were extremely powerful weapons. His entire shoulder was torn and scrapped down to the bone. But, because of his rush to eradicate the evil spirit, he didn't deal with it in time. Now the wound was infected and had started to fester. The pain was unbearable.
Standing in his room, he calmed his breathing. Chu Wanning wanted to take of his robe, but the blood on his shoulder had already started clotting. His clothes and his flesh were stuck together, every tug causing severe pain.
Mo Ran was in the room next door. The inn wasn't very soundproof. He didn't want anyone to hear him, so he bit his lip and viciously tore the bloody cloth off his shoulder!
"Ah…!!"
After a muffled grunt, Chu Waning slowly loosened his lips. His lips and teeth were painted in blood. He panted. His face was drained of blood, a cold sweat breaking out all over.
Dropping his long and thick eyelashes, he trembled slightly and glanced at his injuries.
It wasn't too bad.
He could handle this…
He supported himself on a table and slowly sat down. With some clean water and the handkerchief that Shi Mei had brought, he pushed through the pain and used his uninjured hand to slowly clean the wound.
He used a sharp knife to cut off the festering skin.
Then he applied the wound medicine made by Madam Wang.
And then, slowly and with difficulty, wrapped himself in gauze.
He wasn't used to showing weakness in front of others. He had experienced this kind of pain many times, and every time he had survived it alone.
If an beast was injured, it would hide itself and lick its wound. Sometimes he felt like those animals. In the future, he would probably always be alone.
He knew he wasn't likeable so he didn't want to pitifully ask anyone for help. He had his own inexplicable paranoid obsession with his dignity.
When he took off his clothes, a pouch fell to the ground.
An acacia tree was embroidered on it in red silk. He moved his painful and trembling fingertips and slowly opened it. Inside was two pieces of entangled blue silk.
His and Mo Ran's.
Chu Wanning was at a loss for a while. He wanted to hold the pouch over the candle flame and burn it along with the ridiculous knot of hair. But in the end, he couldn't do it.
Binding hair as husband and wife, the love between them is clear.
The pitched laughter of the golden boy and girl seemed to ring again in his ears.
He knew the deep throbbing sensation he felt in his heart and he hated himself even more. He held the soft pouch tightly in his hand and slowly closed his eyes.
He couldn't accept the thoughts of Mo Ran he had always had in his heart. He wanted nothing more than to be able to dig out his heart, and slice out those nasty thoughts. Cut them out then throw it away.
What was wrong with him?
Is Mo Weiyu really the one he should be concerned about? What kind of shizun was he? He really was worse than an animal!
Knock knock knock.
There was suddenly a knock on the door and Chu Wanning, who had been chastising himself, was startled. He quickly raised his eyes and swiftly put the pouch into his wide sleeve. He put on a not-so-convincing composed expression.
"Who is it?"
"… Shizun, it's me." Mo Ran's voice sounded outside, making Chu Wanning's heart beat a little faster. "Open the door."