Chapter 88: This Venerable One Meets Another One Reborn

Mo Ran's head snapped up to look in the direction the sound had

come from.

A person in a floor-length, gold-patterned black cloak appeared at the

end of the hall. His figure was tall and straight, and his entire body was

concealed by that cloth. Even his face was shrouded behind a curtain of

black silk. The only thing Mo Ran could see was a pair of eyes, but the

darkness made even these difficult to clearly discern.

The person held a blade in his hand. A narrow blade, completely

black, unmatched in sharpness—Bugui.

"Who are you?!"

"It doesn't matter who I am," the person said coolly. His voice

sounded strangely warped, as if it had been intentionally distorted. "All you

need to know is that I know who you are."

A chill ran through Mo Ran, but he forced himself to keep his cool.

"I'm just a disciple of Sisheng Peak. So what if you know me? What's your

point?"

"A disciple of Sisheng Peak? Heh, that's not wrong. But have you

forgotten that you're also Taxian-jun, Emperor of the Mortal Realm, a

vicious ghost who slew his teacher and spit on virtue, a soul that fled the

road to the underworld?"

Mo Ran's blood grew colder with every word. He felt like he had

fallen into a frozen cave.

Taxian-jun. Who had bathed all seventy-two cities of Rufeng Sect in

blood. Emperor of the Mortal Realm. Who had married the most beautiful

woman in the world, who had killed his teacher and family alike, who had

trod on countless people to reach the top.

"You are Mo Weiyu," the person continued in an icy tone.

Mo Weiyu. Evil beyond redemption, may he die ten thousand deaths

and be denied reincarnation.

Mo Weiyu, deserving of naught but to be torn to pieces at Sisheng

Peak, his heart and eyes dug out—undeserving of an intact corpse!

"Who are you?!"

Mo Ran saw red. His youthful demeanor wholly vanished from his

face, replaced by a ruthless, fiendish snarl as he stood off against that man at

the end of the hallway. He was on the verge of lunging at the man's throat and

ripping it to pieces alongside all those names he never wanted to hear again.

The man lifted a hand wrapped in black silk, and the hallway was

instantly encased in layers of ice, dividing the space between them.

"You can't call this blade anymore, can you?" The man walked closer,

slow and leisurely, stopping some ten paces away. "Emperor of the Mortal

Realm… Or maybe it's better to call you Mo Ran? How laughable. Have you

ever taken a good look at yourself as you are now?

"A heart that is no longer cold and hard as steel. You've stayed by Chu

Wanning's side and even developed some genuine fondness for him…

"Rebirth, rebirth. I wonder where that person is… The one you swore

to protect in your last life."

Mo Ran's expression instantly transformed. "Shi Mei?! What did you

do to Shi Mei?!"

The man did not answer his question, only sneering disdainfully. "Do

you know why you can't call Bugui anymore?" He slowly traced a fingertip

along the black body of the blade. "It's because your soul is about to change,

and your hatred about to dissipate… Your regret, as you lay dying, was that

you couldn't protect your Mingjing-shixiong, and your wish was that, if there

was a next life…you wouldn't fail him again."

Those piercing eyes turned on him.

"Mo Ran, have you lived up to that wish?!"

"I—"

"The ghost realm barrier is soon to rupture, and the events of the past

are sure to repeat. Do you intend to watch him die again? Do you plan to beg

Chu Wanning for mercy once more? You're only letting your second chance

go to waste. You don't deserve to touch Bugui ever again."

"I don't need you to tell me that!" Mo Ran roared, enraged. "What

happens between me and Shi Mei is no one else's business! If you know I've

been reborn, then who are you? The fake Gouchen? Or some damned ghost

who's been reborn like me?!"

"Heh…" The man snickered lightly. "Some damned ghost who's been

reborn… Yes, I suppose I am some damned ghost who's been reborn. Or did

you really think that, with the world as it is now, you were the only one the

heavens graced with rebirth?"

Just who exactly was this?! Indistinct faces flashed deliriously through

Mo Ran's mind, one after another.

There were the ones who had died before him in his past life: Xue

Zhengyong, Madam Wang, Chu Wanning, Song Qiutong, Ye Wangxi…

There were the ones who had charged Wushan Palace just in time to

see him off: Xue Meng, Mei Hanxue, the executioners from the ten great

sects…

Who was this? Who was this?!

Just who had found out his secret and seized his weakness?! Of all his

demons from a lifetime ago, which one of them had crawled out of the

underworld to hound him, to force him back down the road to ruin?! Who

was it?!

In the split second it took Mo Ran to think, there was a flash before his

eyes, and with a flurry of robes, the man had moved to stand right in front of

him. The sheer strength of this man, even after rebirth, rattled Mo Ran.

Bugui's tip was pressed to his chest. Just a bit of pressure and it would

pierce through his flesh and into his heart.

"Mo Weiyu, I thought you devoted in matters of affection. Perhaps your

Mingjing-shixiong doesn't enjoy the fortune of your favor. Even in your

second life, you still care nothing for him."

Mo Ran gritted his teeth. "Bullshit."

"Is it, though?" The man smirked darkly. One hand closed around Mo

Ran's throat, then slid slowly down to rest on his chest. "Does he truly have

a place in your heart? Even the scrap of memory you used to cherish has long

since worn away. Is anything left anymore?"

"As if you would know who's in my heart better than I do!" Mo Ran

growled. "You've blathered on long enough. Why don't you take off that veil

and show me your face already?!"

"Why the rush to see my face?" The man's voice was like smoke and

his gaze like mist, both threaded with contempt. "I'll make sure you get a

glimpse, right before you die."

"You die first, you—"

Mo Ran didn't finish before he suddenly felt a bone-chilling cold

underfoot. He looked down to find that without his notice, the man's icy

thorns had climbed up his body.

Ice spells, ice thorns… Water element… Who was it? Who from his

past life had used such spells? Mo Ran had met far too many adversaries,

and his head was an utter mess as he scrambled to remember them all.

Xue Meng, fire. Chu Wanning, metal and wood. Ye Wangxi, earth. Xue

Zhengyong, earth.

Just who was it? Why couldn't he think of someone who had such

powerful command of ice?

"You're not wrong. I'll die too. But Mo Weiyu, that won't be for a

long, long time."

The ice spread rapidly over his entire body. This man's strength was

truly terrifying. Mo Ran released some spiritual energy to fend off the freeze

and was met with a burst of immense and oppressive force bearing down on

him. The enemy before him might rival even Chu Wanning.

Water element. Who?!

For a fleeting instant, a blurry face seemed to flash through Mo Ran's

mind, but before he could focus on it, his foe's hand clamped down on his

neck.

Fingertips wrapped in black silk caressed his throat. There was no

reflection in those dark eyes. "Your Imperial Majesty needn't concern

himself with the length of my life," he said slowly. "More importantly, let me

help you retrieve some basic human emotions so that you don't screw up my

plans by doing everything but what you're supposed to."

"Nngh!"

There was the wet sound of something being cut into. Bugui cried out

in sorrow as it pierced its former master's flesh.

"It's not deep. Just getting some of your blood to bind the seal."

True to his word, the man took only a bit of blood from Mo Ran's

wound to mark him between his brows. Then he began to chant some manner

of incantation.

A searing pain exploded in Mo Ran's head. "Fuck. Your. Mother!" he

cursed. "The fuck did I do to you in my last life? Did I chop you into minced

meat or kill all eighteen generations of your ancestors or some shit? Fucking

hell! The fuck are you doing?!"

"Shh, hold still. It's just a virtue spell."

"I don't fucking care if it's a virtue spell or a vice spell—keep

touching me and it's gonna be a vomit spell! Fuck off!"

"Ah, Mo Ran." The man sighed softly while drawing a seal on his

brow. "How could you bear to tell me to fuck off?" He paused, then resumed

chanting. "Heart lesser than water, fervor unstoppable. Heart gate…open."

Agony tore through Mo Ran's chest. "You…"

Suddenly, the ice was dispelled. Mo Ran stumbled, legs giving out as

he sank slowly to his knees, face pale and colorless.

"You should thank me." For a while, the black-robed person looked

down at him through lowered lashes, expression apathetic. Then he said

evenly, "I've heightened the emotions in your heart, made love and hate

clearer still. Surely you should be able to figure out your own feelings now.

If, even after all this, you still don't understand that you must do all in your

power to protect Shi Mei, up to and including giving your life, then you…are

truly useless. Nothing more than an unwanted child to be tossed aside!"

So this virtue spell made love and hate more intense and clear-cut?

Why would this person go to such lengths to preserve Shi Mei's life? Water

element…

These were the last scattered thoughts in Mo Ran's head before his

consciousness faded. He crumpled to the floor with a thud, thick curtains of

lashes closing over his eyes.

The black-robed person stared dispassionately at him for a while, then

slowly crouched to take his pulse. He thought for a short moment before

lifting a hand to gather a brilliant blue light in his palm.

"Forget," the black-robed person intoned in a low voice. The blue

light glowed brighter still, and Mo Ran's tightly locked brows slowly

relaxed.

When Mo Ran woke, he would only remember going out to try to

summon the holy weapon, to no avail. He would remember nothing else, nor

would he know that in this world, another person had been reborn.

Meanwhile, the virtue spell, though its effects lasted for only a few

days, was an excellent tool for showing the lost where their desire truly lay.

"With your emotions heightened, you might wake up to find yourself

even more in love with Shi Mingjing," the black-robed man said in a cold

voice. "So in love that you want nothing more than to wrench out your own

heart and give it to him… See you later, Emperor Taxian-jun."

The storm blew over and the waves settled back down.

Mo Ran opened his eyes the next morning to find himself lying on the

floor next to Chu Wanning's bed. He turned his head to the side. The window

seemed to have been blown open by the wind sometime during the night; it

was half-closed, swinging gently in the morning breeze, creaking every time

it made contact with the wooden beam.

It was quiet inside the room. Mo Ran didn't have to check the bed to

know that Chu Wanning was still asleep.

The sky outside the patterned window was a dull teal. The morning

sky was often pale before the rising sun broke through the clouds to dust a

blush on her cheeks and bathe her in warmth. Few people rose this early, so

she didn't bother painting her wan, tired countenance.

The breeze from outside carried the faint scent of fresh grass and

morning dew. Mo Ran lay there for a while, waiting for consciousness to

come to him before sitting up—only to feel a stab of pain in his shoulder.

Weird. Why was there a rip in his clothes, and dried blood under it?

He stared at it blankly for a while.

Hadn't he gone out in the night to test Bugui? He seemed to remember

that it hadn't responded, so it was probably a fake after all. And then… Tsk,

can't remember.

Mo Ran looked around and found a thick nail sticking out of the dark

brown floor. That must've scratched him, then. Had he been so deeply asleep

that he hadn't felt it? He draped an outer robe over his shoulders and looked

toward the bed.

Chu Wanning lay there in peaceful repose. Mo Ran had long since

grown used to him being all aloof and high-up, enjoying the best while Mo

Ran had to settle for the leftovers, like making do with the floor at the foot of

the bed. But for some reason, he felt extra irritable today, and he glared at his

shizun's figure with an itch in his teeth.

"How come you always get the bed while I have to sleep on the floor?

Sure, the saying is, 'Respect your teacher,' but doesn't it also say to, 'Love

your young'?"

Mo Ran was irked. He only got more disgruntled when he remembered

the nail sticking out of the floor that had cut him for no damn reason. It was

still early, and he didn't want to pitifully curl up on the floor anymore, so he

climbed on the bed and closed his eyes to go back to sleep.

The bed was spacious enough that he and Chu Wanning, one facing left

and the other facing right, didn't have to touch. They had once slept in each

other's arms; now they slept with an invisible barrier between them.

In their last lifetime, they had been skin to skin, limbs entangled, and

on particularly frenzied days, Mo Ran hadn't even pulled out after making

love to him.

These two, who had once been so intimate, now lay on opposite ends

of the bed to sleep.