Chapter 192 - Return to the same year

Fushui riverbank six years ago.

Night.

Mo Xi stood on the desolate riverbank, panting low. Jiang Fuli's magic had just disappeared, but he was still dizzy. He held tightly the reversal stone Jiang Fuli had given him, and his palms were full of wet sweat.

He closed his eyes and raised his face against the cool wind.

This was the closest place of the whole Fushui river area to the imperial capital. From here you could see the city of Chonghua, which was majestic, orderly, and dormant in the distant night with its magnificent flashing appearance.

At this moment, the war six years later had not come. Mo Xi knew that at this time, the emperor should be telling Murong Lian to go out in secret to destroy Gu Mang's memory.

Murong Chuyi was still alive, perhaps playing with his drawings in the refining room.

And Mo Xi… At that time, he was in the north, resenting Gu Mang's betrayal. He didn't even want to come back to see him again.

There was a dull pain in his heart, but he didn't have much time to feel sorry for himself. Within this one hour at most, he had to take the power soul box of blood demon beast, so as to change their future.

It was not difficult to find the soldiers responsible for escorting Gu Mang back to the city nearby.

He was familiar with the marching and stationing methods of Chonghua's soldiers. His seemingly solid defense was like a deserted land for him. So after a while, he found the central camp where Gu Mang was detained.

Mo Xi cast a spell to block the tent from the outside world. Then he went to the array and looked at Gu Mang through the cage light. With only one look, his eyes were red.

Six years ago, Gu Shixiong, like a wounded wolf dog, covered with blood, curled up in the prison. He was in prisoner's clothes, with his sideburns scattered, lying on a dirty felt mat, sleeping with his eyes closed.

Maybe it wasn't deep sleep, or maybe it was his self perception in the dark. The movement of Mo Xi's entry was so light that no one paid attention to it, but he woke up Gu Mang.

Gu Mang suddenly opened his eyes and got up alertly. The moon fell from the open roof of the tent. Sitting in the pure moonlight, he opened his eyes in amazement when he saw the face of the visitor.

"Mo Xi..."

However, the two words in a low voice fell into the bottom of his heart like a huge stone.

It was so painful that he couldn't breathe.

"... How could it be you... "

Mo Xi waved the beam of light, through the cage cast by magic, into the moonlight. He looked down at the prisoner kneeling on the carpet.

He wanted to say to Gu Mang, sorry, I missed you.

He even wanted to take him away and let him go, so that Gu Mang would not have to suffer the humiliation of falling into Luomei garden for two years and suffer three years of stigma.

He wanted to kneel down and embrace Gu Shixiong in the moonlight and say to him, "enough, you've done too much. It's my fault. I blamed you, hated you and didn't come back from the northern border. I'm the last one you could trust, but I… But I didn't do anything at that time. I missed everything.

But he couldn't say it.

Only one hour, one chance.

The chance to change one's life against heaven.

Mo Xi closed his eyes and his throat moved, swallowing all the bitterness in his stomach. He knew what he should do to get the soul box immediately and smoothly.

——He must take the place of Murong Lian and do what Murong Lian should do tonight.

To get the box containing the power of blood demon beast.

So he repressed the trembling in the voice and tried to hide his mood to the deepest part of his eyes. He said to Gu Mang with strong self-confidence: "it's the emperor who sent me."

The light and shadow in Gu Mang's blue eyes twinkled and went slightly dim.

The heart seemed to be cut by a knife soaked in salt, and the end was bloody.

Mo Xi continued to speak in a hoarse voice. He said the words that should have been narrated by Murong Lian. "Gu Mang, you are a traitor."

Gu Mang opened his blue eyes and looked up at his once most intimate person without saying a word.

"The emperor told me that you had written to him and said that you sealed the power of the blood demon beast with the power of your soul and made it into a soul box. You hoped you could offer it to the emperor to spare you from death Now I'm here to pick it up."

Every hard word he uttered was like breaking his own soul.

After finishing this sentence, Mo Xi couldn't say more words for a while. He was silent and lowered his eyes. He couldn't look at Gu Mang at the moment.

His voice was hoarse and almost out of tune.

"Give me the soul box and I'll go back and tell the emperor."

There was terrible silence in the prison tent, even the sound of the wind outside and the footsteps of soldiers moving back and forth was silent. After a long time, Gu Mang did not hand over the soul box.

Instead, he said, "Mo Shidi, I… I didn't expect you to come."

"..."

"I thought you wouldn't want to see me again. I thought you would not come back from the northern border. I didn't expect you..."

Gu Mang did not go on, but these words, like the tip of a needle, pierced Mo Xi so much that he had to use all the power in his heart, so that he wouldn't collapse at this moment.

Gu Mang sighed in a blank voice, "Forget it. I don't want to argue about what you said. You are right. I am a traitor indeed…"

"..."

"It's just… Mo Shidi." He suddenly chuckled, "If you look at the love of the past ten years, please do me one last favor. Would you like to?"

Mo Xi clearly knew what he needed to do by himself, but he still had to endure severe heartache. After a moment of silence, he asked, "What can I do for you?"

"I can't talk to you too much," Gu Mang whispered. "Some secrets are left in my heart. If a second person knows too well, he will implicate the second person and be greatly threatened… Mo Xi is just simple in the emperor's heart. Even though I have done many things against you before, I still want to remind you that you should leave a way for yourself. The emperor is not as trustworthy as he seems…"

After a pause, he saw Mo Xi did not refute. So he lowered his head, silently chanted and cast an incantation.

Finally, the box that was sealed by Murong Chen and hidden in the golden table appeared in Gu Mang's palm.

"This is the soul box that you want to take."

Mo Xi knew that according to Murong Lian's words, Gu Mang would ask him to give the soul box to the emperor, but there was also a key to open the box, so that he must keep it and destroy it.

Mo Xi was waiting for Gu Mang to open his mouth. As long as Gu Mang said it and he agreed, he could end the nightmare and go outside to find a place to completely destroy the box. Then everything would have a new ending.

He waited.

As expected, Gu Mang opened his mouth. It's just that——

"I'll ask you to take away a piece of my soul tonight, at this moment, and make a key lock for this soul box."

Mo Xi suddenly raised his eyes and looked at him incredulously. "What?"

Gu Mang stared at his face and repeated, "I want to ask you to take away a piece of my soul with your own hands, and cast a key lock to imprison this soul box."

Mo Xi suddenly took a step back.

What's going on? How could this happen?

Gu Mang… What was Gu mang saying?!

Under the bright moonlight, Gu Mang suddenly smiled faintly.

He rose from the ground, his pale ankles in fetters, his neck and his wrist in chains. He hung his long black hair and looked at him quietly with lake-like eyes. "Mo Xi," he sighed softly. "I think I already know where you came from."

"..."

"When you first came in, I thought it was you who came back from the north. But I'm not sure… You didn't look surprised until you did. I knew I'm afraid you're not Mo Xi from the north. You're Mo Shuai coming back from the future."

It seemed that the waves of terror rose, Mo Xi opened his eyes——

"You… How could... "

The chains jingled, the clear and white prisoner went to Mo Xi, raised his head and looked at Mo Xi's face. "Do you know what… When you look at me, there is no hatred in your eyes, but all you have is sadness."

"..."

"So you are the shidi who came back in other ways after I chose to sacrifice myself, right?"

The soft place of his heart suddenly hit, Mo Xi suddenly didn't go, but turned his head away. His tears couldn't stop. They flowed down to the ground.

"How could you..." He couldn't say any more words, his voice choking.

"Don't cry, fool. I'm not good. I knew it would happen…" Gu Mang raised the palm of his finger with the fetters on his hand and gently picked up the face of Mo Xi, "Mo Xi, in the end, it's me who bears you. In the world, I want to fill you into my life. But I already know that when I choose to die, when my soul will be broken… I can't watch you with me... "

Mo Xi suddenly turned around, eyes like a torch, wet with tears.

"Why do you know that?! You know… You clearly..."

You are just a person of the past!!

I came back to change the ending.

"Because when I empathize with the blood demon beast." Gu Mang pointed to his blue eyes and said, "I was seriously ill for seven days and in a coma. This blood demon beast has the ability to predict its own death. After I merged with it, I have actually seen my future sacrifice. I've also had visionary dreams, where you come back from the future with the reversal stone and think you can change everything. "

"But I know that nothing can change."

"No way...!"

Gu Mang shook his head and said, "Mo Xi, the reverse stone has no ability to change fate. In ancient books, it is said that "no harm is done to the world of mortals, and fate is doomed."

"..."

"Nothing in the past can be easily changed. The reason why the three prohibitions are forbidden is precisely because once there is a real change, the consequences are likely to be the subversion of the whole world. And reversal stone can change so many people's lives and deaths without paying a price - do you think that's reasonable?"

Such words were like ice to his heart. Even Mo Xi's fingertips were shaking.

"How could..."

"Before I saw you, I thought maybe it was wrong to predict the dream," Gu Mang said, "but now it seems that it was not wrong at all."

Mo Xi suddenly raised his head, and the light and shadow in his eyes swayed, like ghosts and monsters passing by, as if he were extremely sad and almost mad.

"Then why did Jiang Fuli give me the stone?! He has recovered Chen Tang's memory. Was he not clear about the role of this stone?"

"Mo Xi, Pharmacist Jiang gave you the reversal stone. He knew exactly what the result would be. But if he told you honestly that if you took this stone and went back to the past, that you were going to accomplish your mission by yourself, to split my soul out and make a key - would you still do it…"

"..."

Yes, he couldn't do it. He couldn't promise.

Gu Mang smiled. His smile was very sad. "The reversal stone, its real name, is called destiny stone. Heaven and earth created the world, the path of destiny is doomed. From then on there is heaven and reincarnation. It's just that creation is too grand, and the gods sometimes make mistakes, so they left behind reversal stones in the world. These stones can bring people back to the past and let users do some actions that they think can change the future. In fact, it is a fraud."

"Those who go back to the past just go back to repair what they should have done but didn't do. So in fact, you are the same - Mo Xi, you came back from the future to today, seemingly to change the past, but in fact, in the destiny set by the way of heaven, you are bound to complete the heavy task that Jiang Fuli has given you, and cast the key with my soul. This is the destiny of this stone that needs to be repaired."

His blood was as cold as frost.

Mo Xi's lips trembled slightly. He wanted to say, you must be wrong, it will not be like this. It's your wrong understanding of reversal stone, not Jiang Fuli deceiving him.

But he looked into Gu Mang's eyes. He knew in his heart that what Gu Mang said was true.

Yeah… If a stone can really change the way of the world, why would you still need divination? Why do you need to listen to divination? Give the stone to the person who is destined to return to the appointed time?

It couldn't change destiny at all.

It was just in accordance with the insidious intention, in a cycle of time, to repair past mistakes and omissions.

Mo Xi wanted to say something, but he was really tormented by so many emotions that he could no longer support himself. He was almost devastated. He asked, "So when you go back to the city, your two spirits are lost and your mind is lost… I always thought that the people who killed you were Liaoguo people, and those who dug out your soul were Liaoguo people… But it turns out But it turns out that..."

Tears ran down. He was like an abandoned dog. His miserable, red eyes looked at Gu Mang.

Almost crazily, he looked up and laughed, "But it turned out to be me?"

"..." Gu Mang closed his eyes.

"Is this my destiny?"

"Tonight, Murong Lian will come to look for you. He once said in our time that he saw you covered with blood and dying. He said that he thought it was the interrogator who tortured you too much - actually not at all! It's because I'm going to do it myself. It's because I had just plucked out your soul when he came! We finished the destiny of this stone! Right?!"

"Mo Xi…"

"What do you think of me?! What do heaven and earth treat me like?! You can see the future, you have a dream of foreknowledge, then you dream of your death after the devil, what about how I feel!? I can't cry, I can't mess up, I can't even collect your body! " Mo Xi choked, he held Gu Mang's hand, against his chest, "Gu Mang! I'm also a living man. Have you ever predicted what it's like for me..."

After Mo Xi finished speaking, he suddenly lowered his head. His eyes were already tearful like rain.

Gu Mang had known him for so many years. His shidi had never, never cried so sadly, as if all the pain had been paid.

Gu Mang's heart was full of five flavors, but he didn't know how to cross the gulf of fate and erase all the suffering.

They couldn't change it after all.

If he could, he also hoped that it was not Mo Xi. He even hoped that he could complete the refining of the key lock himself. However, he could not do it because his spiritual core was damaged.

He could only walk over and return from the battlefield after six years and hold his Gu Mang Gege.

He held him, feeling the exhaustion, despair, blood, and helplessness of that man. In fact, in his eyes, Mo Shuai of the empire had always been the kindhearted boy in the academy who was beaten by a cane to give poor slave brothers and sisters a meal, sitting alone under the pines and cypresses.

He originally wanted to protect him for a lifetime, but in the end, he protected all the people in the world, only to bear him.

"Shixiong..." After a long time, he heard that Mo Xi was not so fierce, but it was more and more dull than before. It was like a fire that burned to the extreme and suddenly died out.

Mo Xi was almost empty. "Coming back… It's not for the sake of fulfilling the destiny to hurt you... "

"I know."

"I've lost you in the future."

"..."

Mo Xi suddenly choked, and his tall body bent down and hung down as if he had stripped off all his support. The helpless man almost said in silence, "I don't want to lose you again in the past..."

"I know, Mo Xi, I'm sorry..."

"Why me…"

Gu Mang listened to his voice crying like a trapped animal, and his tears fell down. He hugged his Mo Shidi tightly, and his tears quietly sank into his clothes.

Why did fate choose Mo Xi?

In fact, both of them knew very clearly.

Because the most trusted person was Mo Xi, because the only one who could listen to Gu Mang's words was Mo Xi. If the emperor didn't have a key lock, he would get the power of the blood demon beast soon after he gave the soul box to him. It wouldn't last three or five years before Kyushu would be in chaos.

Because in this world, the most familiar with Gu Mang, the most similar person to Gu Mang was Mo Xi.

Gu Mang once said that some things must be done by someone, and some sacrifices must be completed. When fate finds you, you don't want to be a coward, so you are doomed to face it. We all have our own way to go.

And now, that's the way they were going.

The last leg.

Resentment, unwillingness, and pain. They could not resist the soberness engraved in his bones. From the beginning, they joined the army and became commanders-in-chief, and they could no longer get rid of their responsibilities.

Gu Shuai is Gu Shuai, not a traitor.

Mo Shuai is not a coward.

As a commander-in-chief, no matter what is powerful, only those weights placed in front of them would be carried up even if they were crushed to pieces by pain. That's what would happen.

"... Do as the reversal stone arranged, Mo Xi,"Gu Mang finally whispered. "I know that the place you come from is already a sea of blood. But I believe that's not the end. If the earth is destroyed here, why should the stone of destiny bring you back here to complete the repair of the past?"

He paused and comforted him. Comforting and inspiring him, as he used to do when they went to the battlefield together, knowing that the future was uncertain.

Where Gu Shuai was, there was fire and light.

It wasn't not the end.

"There's a turnaround."

Mo Xi's vision was almost lax as he murmured in a lowered voice. "But at that turnaround, are you still there?"

Gu Mang was silent.

"Did you foresee it?" he said mutely.

"..." Gu Mang released his hand holding Mo Xi. He stood in front of Mo Xi and said, "There is a dream. I have had it many times. But just as I couldn't be sure that the dream is a prophetic dream before I saw you today, I can't be sure that the dream I repeatedly had is foreknowledge or because I missed you so much."

Gu Mang spoke here, took a deep breath, and tried his best to deliver all his love and light in his life to Mo Xi, covering his scarred heart.

In his eyes, he saw the rain again…

Maybe because of a little hope.

Or maybe it was just a little relief.

Mo Xi muttered as if in a dream. Looking at the blue eyes, he asked, "And what happens later?"

"Later, I told you, go home."

"..." Mo Xi's lips were mumbling and his eyes were moist. He quietly dropped his eyes and blinked gently.

"Later, the rain stops and we go home."

Like him, he couldn't believe that the best dream was predictable.

Gu Mang had already died in the future.

But even so, in the heart was some tiny courage after all - he was so love him.

As long as there was a little spark of hope, he is willing to start a prairie fire for it.

Mo Xi was almost longing, but also sad. He prayed, "What happened in the end?"

"In the end, you're with me all the time."

Gu Mang's thin face showed a warm smile.

He raised his hand and crossed his fingers with Mo Xi. "As long as we don't reach the end, there is hope for everything. Don't you think that after my sacrifice, I can still talk to you like this and hold your hand?"

"..."

"Mo Xi, no matter what the result is, you never admit defeat, and neither do I. I know that your heart is also compassionate for all living beings, and the country is the most important thing. We've always been on the same path. So follow the reversal stone's instructions."

He said this, and standing on his tiptoes, gently kissed Mo Xi's lips.

"Life or death, I will always love you and be proud of you."