That night, lying on a couch in Life-Death Peak, Mo Ran rested with his hands behind his head. He stared at a ceiling beam, unable to fall asleep.
A slideshow of memories played in front of his eyes. In the end, while some of the memories were disjointed and fragmented, they all focused on Chu Wanning's handsome and somewhat cold face.
In fact, when it came to Chu Wanning, Mo Ran never knew what he was thinking.
The first time he saw him was under the blossoming tree in front of the Sky-Reaching Pagoda. He had on white robes with wide sleeves. Out of more than 20 elders, he was the only one that wasn't wearing Life-Death Peak's trademark silver-blue armour.
On that day, he had his head lowered, thinking intensely about the armour he was wearing. The side of his face looked focused and gentle, like a white cat basking in the warm golden sun.
Mo Ran watched him from afar, unable to take his eyes off him.
He thought that his first impression of Chu Wanning was pretty good.
But he couldn't bear the repeated punishments and cruel chastizing that followed. The white cat's fangs and claws wounded him.
He was rescued from a sea of fire by his uncle. He was dying, his life hanging by a thread. He originally thought that once he got to Life-Death Peak, he would find a shizun who treated him kindly and cared for him sincerely.
However, despite all his pleasantries, all his efforts, Chu Wanning seemed to completely ignore them. On the contrary, he was severely whipped. When he was even slightly wrong, he was beaten bloody.
Later, he would understand that Chu Wanning looked down at him with every fibre of his being——
"Inferior character, questionable abilities."
That's what the man in snow-like white under the blossoming tree thought of him?
He had once regarded Chu Wanning as the Ninth Heaven's Cold Moon, sincerely revering and respecting him. But in the Ninth Heaven's Cold Moon's heart, what was Mo Ran?
A disciple he was forced to take.
A despicable piece of trash.
A bastard who grew up in a pavilion and was tainted with sour and dirty air.
Although Mo Ran always wore a joking and indifferent look, he really started to hate Chu Wanning. That hate was tinged with a strong feeling of resentment
He resented him.
Once upon a time, he had held a growing determination to impress Chu Wanning; trying to get his attention, his appreciation, to prove himself to him.
During that time, if Shi Mei had praised him with a "very well," he could have gone to heaven happy.
However, if he would have been able to get Chu Wanning to dignify him with a "not bad", he was willing to lay down his life.
But Chu Wanning never praised him.
No matter how much he worked, how hard he tried, how good he was, the cold man would always nod his head indifferently then turn his face away.
Mo Ran felt like he was going crazy.
God knows how much he wanted to pinch Chu Wanning's cheeks back then. How he wanted to turn him around, force him to stare into his eyes and swallow that sentence "Inferior character, questionable abilities" right back into his gut!
However, he could only meticulously kneel in front of Chu Wanning, like a coyly mourning dog, kowtowing down and respectfully saying, "This disciple heads his shizun's teachings".
In front of Chu Wanning, Mo Weiyu was humbled to the bone.
Even though he was a "young master", he is still nothing in comparison.
He finally understood that people like Chu Wanning simply didn't even acknowledge the likes of him.
Then, later on, he experienced a lot of things.
Mo Ran took control of Life-Death Peak, then aspired to be the head of the Higher Cultivation Realm, becoming an unprecedented overlord. Under his dark reign, everyone trembled, everyone was afraid, even those who remembered his dirty origins, his past stains, would say his name in a hushed tone——
Since then, there was no more Mo Weiyu, only Ta XianJun.
The Immortal Emperor.
People hated him. They hated him to the extreme. The heinous Mo Ran, ten thousand chances at reincarnation still couldn't save his soul.
The Immortal Emperor Mo Wieyu, the Immortal Emperor Mo Weiyu, the Immortal Emperor Mo Weiyu——
…The, Immortal, Emperor.
But no matter how scared they were, what could they do? Life-Death Peak rumbled with the sound of people chanting in unison. Thousands of people knelt down in front of the Wushan Hall, and the densely packed bodies kowtowing before him.
"Ta XianJun will live forever and never falter."
He felt so flattered.
Until he noticed Chu Wanning's face in the crowd.
At this point, Chu Wanning had already destroyed his cultivation base and was locked under Danxin Hall, a prisoner.
Mo Ran was determined to kill him, but he didn't want Chu Wanning to die quickly. He restrained Chu Wanning's limbs and cut through the blood vessels in Chu Wanning's neck. The wound wasn't large. A spell was cast to keep the wound from clotting. Little by little, blood dripped out. Little by little, his life drained away.
The sun was scorching. The coronation ceremony had been going on for half a day. Chu Wanning's blood should also have finished draining.
When he died, Mo Ran would finally be severed from his past, so he deliberately arranged for Chu Wanning to be bled and executed at his coronation ceremony.
When he became the supreme overlord of the cultivation world, Chu Wanning became a lifeless corpse.
Everything that happened before had disappeared.
It was really great.
But if this person was going to die, why was he still so conflicted? That handsome somewhat thin-skinned … his face was pale, but his expression was soft, looking at Ta XianJun neither subserviently nor fearfully.
Only with disgust, contempt, and–
Mo Ran felt that he must be going crazy. Either that or Chu Wanning was crazy.
There was also a hint of pity.
Chu Wanning, a dying man, a defeated man, pitied him! He actually felt pity for an overlord who reached the top and was calling the shots. He, he would actually—he dared to!!!
The anger that had been accumulating inside of Mo Ran for the past ten years made its appearance. He was in Danxin Hall. Of course, at that time, he had renamed it Wushan Hall. He stood up suddenly in front of thousands of worshipping faces. Amidst the flattery and praising voices of the people, his black robe rolled as he walked down the steps.
In front of everyone, he pinched Chu Wanning's chin, his face twisted, smiling sweetly yet hideously.
"Shizun, today is a great day for your disciple. Why are you still unhappy?"
Thousands of people went silent for a moment.
Chu Wanning did not give in. His expression was cold: "I don't have a disciple like you."
Mo Ran let out a hearty laugh. He laughed freely, resembling a vulture hovering between the corridors of the Golden Palace. Even the geese were shocked.
"Shizun is so heartless, yet you think This Venerable One is cold." He laughed and shouted: "No disciple like me? Who taught me cultivation? Who taught me these techniques? Who taught me to be cruel and cold-hearted ——Who was it, again?! I still can't get rid of the whip scars on my body — Let me ask you, who made them?!"
He narrowed his smile. His voice grew fierce, and his eyes reflected an icy gleam.
"Chu Wanning! Are you ashamed that you took a disciple like me? Am I bad in my bones or the pickled dirt in my blood can't be washed away? Let me ask you, Chu Wanning, let me ask you - what do you mean by 'inferior character, questionable abilities.'"
He had finally gone mad, and his voice was distorted as he shouted.
"You never regarded me as your disciple! You never acknowledged me! But I—but I used to—I really treated you as my shizun. I truly respected you, admired you, and how did you treat me? Why did you never praise me, no matter what I did? Is there nothing I can do right?!"
Chu Wanning shivered, his face gradually paled.
He opened his phoenix eyes ever so slightly. He looked at Mo Ran, his lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but in the end, he didn't say anything.
On Life-Death Peak, where things were everchanging, the two people who remained the same faced each other.
During the incredibly awkward silence, Mo Ran seemed to have finally calm down. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, he had that god-hating smile, cackling, making the crowd shudder.
He said gently and affectionately: "Shizun, are you looking down on me? Do you think I'm weak?"
After a pause, his gaze skimmed over the heads of the thousands of people; all of them kneeling, all crouching like dogs in front of his temple, all acknowledging him as the venerable master of the cultivation world, above the rolling dust clouds.
Mo Ran smiled and said: "Now what? Before you die, I'll ask you one more time. In this world, who is the inferior and who is the superior?Who has trampled who underfoot and come out on top as emperor? And who is the one that's been defeated?"
Chu Wanning lowered his eyes, seemingly still taking in Mo Ran's proclamation just now. He didn't have the strength to move again. In the end, Mo Ran had to grab his chin and forcibly lift his face.
But just as he forced him to look at him, Mo Ran suddenly froze.
For the first time, he saw a look of regret on Chu Wanning's face.
That look was so unfamiliar that Mo Ran felt like he had been burned and instinctivly let go of his face.
"You…"
Chu Wanning's expression was very painful, as if he was enduring some kind of heart-wrenching, heart-piercing pain.
His voice was very soft, almost hoarse.
Floating in the wind, Mo Ran was the only one who heard what he said.
He said: "I'm sorry, Mo Ran. This is all Shizun's fault…"
At that moment, everything around him lost its sound. The sound of the wind, the sound of the grass and trees, the sound of the billowing robe, all fell silent.
The face of Chu Wanning gazing up at him was the only bit of clarity. It was the only sight he could see.
At that moment, he should have had many thoughts. Happy ones, proud ones, ecstatic ones.
But no.
His thoughts were strange, to say the least. There was only one thought, actually –
He didn't know when… he had ascended so much higher than Chu Wanning.
So much time has passed.
Many things from the past had changed.
Mo Ran's mouth fumbled and he murmured: "What…what did you say?"
Chu Wanning smiled. That smile was unfamiliar to Mo Ran, who saw his distorted expression reflected in those phoenix eyes.
Then, those eyes slowly closed, and Chu Wanning fell backwards - Mo Ran grabbed his shoulders as he fell. He howled frantically, like the sound of a beast breaking down.
"Chu Wanning! Chu Wanning, what did you say? Say it again!!"
The person in his arms never responded again. His lips were as pale as pear blossoms. That face had always held an indifferent expression, but just before he died, his face was frozen into a somewhat bleak smile, the corners of his mouth turned slightly upwards. Searching through his memories, Mo Ran saw that face for the first time standing in front of Sky-Reaching Pagoda.
A faint smile, somewhat gentle.
"Chu Wanning!!"
That tenderness shattered, and begonia flowers fell to the ground.
He finally got what he wanted. He had snuffed out his Shizun's life and reaching the top of the world.
But what is this? What is this!!
What was this building bitterness and hatred in his chest?
Mo Ran condensed a faint black mist in his palm. His fingertips flew and quickly covered several of Chu Wanning's blood vessels, sealing his last pulse.
"You're going to die just like that?" Mo Ran's eyes bulged and his face was grim. "We're not done here, Chu Wanning. We haven't settled things yet. This isn't over yet! It's not over! If you don't clear this up - I'll crush Xue Meng, destroy Kunlun Taxue Palace, and obliterate the last few people you wanted to protect!!! I'll tear them all to pieces!! Think about that!!!"
The ceremony didn't continue. He didn't care about the thousands of people kneeling in front of him.
He changed his mind. He didn't want Chu Wanning to die.
He hated him. He wanted Chu Wanning to live - he wanted him alive…
He picked up the man who had lost too much blood, flicked up, and jumped onto the roof with high eaves. His robe fluttered and stretched like the wings of a lone eagle, and his figure quickly flew over the eaves and headed straight for the south peak—— straight to the Red Lotus Pavilion, the place where Chu Wanning once lived.
There was abundant spiritual energy and many immortal herbs there, and he wanted to save Chu Wanning.
Only when someone was alive could they be hated. If that person was dead, there was nothing left to hate. Did he think about killing Chu Wanning with his own hands before he went crazy?
If Chu Wanning died, then what was left for him in this world…
He was lying on his bed, sifting through memories alone.
It was midnight but he couldn't sleep.
Mo Ran simply got up, washed his face, and put on his clothes. He grabbed a lantern, and walked towards Yanluo Hall.
Chu Wanning must have just haphazardly replaced his bandages and went to kneel there. He was a person, Mo Ran knew, that was loathsome and stubborn, and he was very set in his ways. He never considered whether his body could endure it. Even if Xue Meng wanted to stop him, he couldn't.
Sure enough, when he arrived outside Yanluo Hall, he saw a lone green lamp burning, wax dripping down the sides of the candle.
Chu Wanning was kneeling with his back to the hall door, his posture upright, as handsome as a towering pine tree.
When he saw his back, Mo Ran kind of regretted coming. It was the middle of the night, why was he here? To look for Chu Wanning? Was he insane?
But coming all the way here just to turn around and leave felt pretty stupid.
He thought for a while and came to a compromise. He put the lantern down lightly on his feet. He didn't intend to leave or go in, just stand outside the window with his elbows on the windowsill, resting his cheeks in his hands, watching Chu Wanning from afar.
The copper bells on the eaves swayed gently, the fragrance of flowers and plants filling the night.
The two stayed there, one standing, one kneeling, separated by the vermilion lattice window and the quiet empty hall.
If this happened before he had been reborn, Mo Ran would have been in a position to crash into the hall and order Chu Wanning to stop thinking and go to sleep.
If Chu Wanning hadn't been willing, he would have also had the ability to seal Chu Wanning's hands and feet together and roughly carry him away.
But now, he had neither position nor ability.
He wasn't even as tall as Chu Wanning.
Mo Ran was feeling complicated. He looked at the person inside through the window, but the person inside didn't know he was there. He couldn't see Chu Wanning's features, and Chu Wanning couldn't see his face.
Thus, the white cat knelt all night without turning his head.
Thus, the foolish dog also stood all night, never straying too far.