As Hua Po'an said, the blood pool transformed into the blood beast expanded little by little, swallowing up the grass and trees on the river bank, soaking the water of the moat, and slowly, the edge of the city began to collapse, bricks Falling into the blood water, it also melted into a bright red viscous slurry.
This erosion is no longer as loud as it was when the two armies faced off, and the outcome will be decided in an instant.
It is more like a poisonous snake swimming in a haystack, spitting letters inch by inch, ready to devour the corpse of prey in front of it...
During this period, Chonghua and Liao did not fight. The two sides were separated by the tumbling blood-colored river, Chonghua was dead silent, and Liaoguo was gradually revelling.
That night.
Mo Xi climbed up the city tower alone, and looked out of the city from the Zhulan of the corner tower, which was full of kisses and kisses. Under the building was the water of the blood pool. Sitting around the fireplace and ordering the bonfire, it looks like victory is in sight.
Following him, the housekeeper of Xihe, Li Wei, folded his sleeves and bowed his head, waiting under the turret.
A Xiaoxiu asked worriedly, "Butler Li, are both Xi and Jun okay..."
Li Wei was silent for a while, Rao is the tongue of Jinlian, but he couldn't say anything.
Is Mo Xi all right
He didn't know, no one had an answer to that question.
After Gu Mang's sacrifice, Chonghua's soldiers once thought that Mo Xi would lose his mind, that he would collapse, that he would give up on himself, that he would be heartbroken.
But he didn't.
The cultivators repeatedly cast spells beside the blood pool that the blood beasts turned into, and they tried their best to catch Gu Mang—even Gu Mang's body.
In the end, it was Mo Xi who said to them, stop looking, go back and rest. The battle is not over yet.
He and Gu Mang were both utterly destitute. They had seen too many people die in the fire of war. The brothers who drank together yesterday might become lifeless wrecks the next day.
They don't even have time to grieve, to swallow the fact, to digest one's life and death. Everything is in a hurry, and responsibility will force the general to wake up.
Because the battle is not over yet.
If a soldier loses control of his grief, he may sacrifice his own life. And if the grief goes out of control, the coach will kill as many people as he can.
Mo Xi knew that he did not have this right.
All he could do was, while looking at the Blood Pond and the Liao Army, he leaned against the railing and stood for a while longer by the Blood Pond where his lover died.
Just for a while.
The little cultivator couldn't help but asked in a low voice, "Won't Xihe-jun be sad?"
This time, Li Wei was able to answer quickly. He said, "He is not stubborn, so how can he not be sad."
After that, Li Wei sighed inwardly, and looked at Mo Xi's lonely figure under the starry sky.
On the night when Gu Mang just sank into the blood pool, it was Mo Xi who personally ordered the cultivators to return to the city to recuperate, so that there was no need to make senseless arrests.
Some people were shocked by Mo Xi's cold-blooded and calmness.
Only Li Wei knew what it was like when Mo Xi went back that night, in the house where Gu Mang lived in Xihe Mansion, after all his identities and responsibilities were removed.
Li Wei was originally going to clean up this room that would never have a master, but before he opened the door, he saw Mo Xi's back sitting at the small table. On the table was a letter written by Gu Mang. past episodes. Mo Xi watched page by page in the dry bean lamp. Gu Mang wrote down all the happy things in his daily life, and he seldom complained about anything bad.
Mo Xi was immersed in the beautiful past woven by Gu Mang, and the rice pocket was lying at his feet, wailing, as if asking him where Gu Mang was going, as if asking him why Gu Mang didn't come back tonight...
After a few moments, Mo Xi lowered his head, and finally a low choking sound came from the room, which was suppressed, as if he was suppressing the trembling of his shoulders at the moment. But how can he hold it down? He has endured for so long, and all he has left is sadness, pain, and responsibility... Other than that, he has nothing left.
Over the years, he has gone through false betrayal, real loss, and the pain of parting. Every time he tells himself that if he goes through it again and again, maybe everything will pass.
Even a few days ago, he saw Gu Mang standing in high spirits under the banner of the Hunting Army on the school grounds. He thought that all the hardships had finally come to an end, and that he would be able to survive this battle.
But in the end, only this empty hut was left to him.
The owner of the house has left, as if a guest lived here, without even leaving too many traces.
It turned out that he had endured so much hardship, and what he endured in the end was not to stay together for a long time, but to be separated for a long time.
Mo Xi picked up the bundle of soft pages and put them on his chest, close to where his heart was beating. It seems that the writer still has temperature on the page.
He couldn't hold it any longer, and hoarsely and weakly, he called out in a low voice, "Gu Mang..."
Gu Mang.
After this, no more sentences could be said.
He is not the mainstay of the empire, not Mo Shuai. At this moment, he is just a helpless person who is forever with the person he loves, the little brother who was left in the sea of blood by Brother Gu.
All the comrades have left, and the 70,000 dead souls, those brothers who once joined the army as young as them, are now gone too.
In the end it was only him. Before dawn broke, he was alone.
Either hate or love.
His elder brother Gu Mang would never look back at him, smile at him, or be dazedly annoyed.
A hoarse whimper, like a dying beast, wailed in pain, tearing apart the last of self-control. Mo Xi lowered his head, sobbed, and mourned... In the end, he was like a beast who lost his life partner, like a lion at the end of his life.
Life is so long and the mountains and rivers are so wide, but this moment is the only thing left, and only this piece of heaven and earth belongs to him.
Li Wei looked at his back, sighed, and gently closed the door for him...
Mo Xi was never ruthless.
Li Wei knew that in the entire Chonghua, there might not be a single person who could truly understand what Gu Mang was to Mo Xi. It's not light, it's not fire, it's not hope, it's not a lover, it's not a brother... Gu Mang and Mo Xi are probably a lot more than these together.
So Mo Xi ordered them to stop wasting their efforts in search and rescue. That was not a kind of giving up. It was because Mo Xi knew better than anyone else what Gu Mang's decision was.
What does Gu Mang want
And, will he come back.
Li Wei left this small courtyard. He admired his lord very much. In fact, from the year when the lord had not given him to Mo Xi, he felt that Xihe Jun was the backbone of Chonghua.
Now that his spine is bent where others can't see it, he is in pain and it is difficult to support him any longer. But people in the whole country could only see Mo Xi's strength, but they forgot that he was only flesh and blood. He had just lost his most important person, but the place where Mo Xi was allowed to take a breath, and as a living person, was allowed to pay homage to the breath of missing another person and embrace the breath of another person, there was only this small solitary room.
That was the home of him and his brother Gu Mang.
Li Wei couldn't bear to be disturbed, and he couldn't bear to see it again - this is the farewell of Mo Xi and Gu Mang, and it has nothing to do with Xi and Jun, with Gu Shuai, with respect and humility, with life and death, and with anyone else. .
He is the housekeeper of the Xihe Mansion, and in the end, he will keep this secret for the Lord.
On the fourth day, the capital of Chonghua had been swallowed by the blood pool. The small half of the city residents had to retreat to the back of the city, watching their former home become a sea of blood.
Fortunately, Yue Chenqing was good at mecha, and among the books left by Murong Chuyi, there was another volume explaining how to build a refuge house as soon as possible. He followed the blueprints, but he also put off the difficulties of sheltering these people.
That was Murong Chuyi's magic.
Yue Chenqing thought that if Fourth Uncle was still alive, he would have done much better than him.
But his uncle is no longer there.
Only he can carry on the gentleness of Murong Chuyi in this turbulent and troubled world.
"Fourth Uncle, maybe I'm not good enough, but..." He looked up at the starry sky, his fingers that had been blistered were trembling slightly, but he still didn't put down the bamboo warrior he was debugging.
"However, I will do what you want to do according to your heart."
"I'm Yue Chenqing, your nephew, the head of the Yue family, and your heir."
The stars twinkled, illuminating this raging land, and it was also reflected in Yue Chenqing's faintly tearful eyes.
Yue Chenqing choked softly and said, "You are in the sky... have you all seen it..."
You have been silently protecting me.
It's me now, uncle.
I'm here to protect our home.
Just like Yue Chenqing, in Chonghua today, everyone is fighting to protect their homeland.
In the past, this country was indeed a mess of sand, but because people like Gu Mang and Murong Chuyi sacrificed their blood first, and because if they were defeated in this battle, they would have no way out. finally condensed together.
Become solid, become strong.
The blood pool continues to spread, but the tenacity in desperation does not need to rise.
They are looking for a way out.
On the fifth day.
When all the nobles and high-ranking commanders were studying how to curb the expansion of the blood pool in the palace military department, suddenly there were guards to report—
"Xihe-Jun! Wang Shu-Jun! Princess Mengze." The guards saluted the three most powerful and reliable people in the hall in turn, and then said, "Jiang Yaoshi is back! Waiting outside the hall!"
When Jiang Fuli entered the hall, everyone was stunned.
Among them, his wife Su Yurou is the most serious. Although Su Yurou hung her face with a white gauze, so that people couldn't see the red face, but when she saw Jiang Fuli's appearance, the cup she was holding slipped and fell to the ground suddenly, smashing to pieces.
"Furi, you—"
Jiang Fuli was dressed in cyan and silver robes. The materials and workmanship of the clothes were excellent, but they still couldn't hide his busyness. The most surprising thing was his eyes.
His left eye, which was already night blind, has been completely invisible due to some damage. The snow-white gauze was wrapped diagonally, oozing with bright red blood.
Hearing the sound, he quietly glanced at Su Yurou with his still clear Almond right eye. When the eyes of the two met, it was as if they had exchanged a secret that no one else knew, and Su Yurou suddenly collapsed.
Mo Xi heard her use a barely noticeable voice, and called out "Palace Master" softly.
Jiang Fuli was dressed in a mess, but his expression was upright. Although his face was still that of the profiteer Jiang Yaoshi, his temperament was completely different from before, and the expressions on his face were not even the same person. He seemed gentle, calm, and firm at the moment, not like the old pharmacist Jiang, who often gave people a different feeling, as if he never knew what he wanted or cared about except for money and silk.
The former Jiang Yaoshi was a ruthless and heartless puppet.
But when he returned today, it seemed that the puppet finally recalled the lost soul.
Jiang Fuli swept the room with the remaining beautiful eye, and his eyes stayed on Murong Lian and Murong Mengze for a while, and finally fell on Mo Xi.
He was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Xi He-jun, I have something important to do, please move on and talk about it."
Jiang Fuli was very polite when he said this, but there was an inexplicable pressure. Everyone in the room felt the sudden change in Jiang Fuli's personality, so when they looked over to Mo Xi, they couldn't help but feel a little worried.
Murong Lian took a hard sip, and suddenly raised his hand and grabbed Mo Xi who was about to leave with Jiang Fuli: "Wait first." Then his peach blossom eyes narrowed, staring at Jiang Fuli: "...Are you the real Jiang Yaoshi, or is it a fake again?"
"When you were seven years old, because you were not satisfied with your height, you put a thick stack of silk paper in your shoes, but you accidentally fell, broke your head, and sewed—"
"Stop, stop, stop!" Murong Lian showed embarrassment but still insisted, "Okay! I know you are real, can't you!"
After speaking, he let go of Mo Xi, rolled his eyes and cursed in a low voice.
Mo Xi and Jiang Fuli went to the warm pavilion in the side hall.
The attendants backed away, and there was no one in the cabinet. Jiang Fuli waved his hand, and the protective barrier around the Nuan Pavilion suddenly dropped. But Mo Xi stopped when he saw the barrier.
"...The Holy Spirit Barrier that was lost a hundred years ago..." Mo Xi stared at Jiang Fuli's thin profile, the man's expression was determined, but very haggard.
The "Palace Master" that Su Yurou murmured just now echoed in his ears.
Mo Xi's heart suddenly exploded with an unbelievable conjecture, and he couldn't help asking: "—Who are you?"
Jiang Fuli didn't say a word and sat down at the table.
The room was very quiet, and the brilliance of the Holy Spirit barrier was flowing all the time. Mo Xi could hear his own heartbeat. After a while, he asked in a low voice, "... Palace Lord Shen?"
Jiang Fuli raised his eyes.
The intact glazed almond eye looked peaceful, and he said, "I'm not."
"… "
"Shen Tang died hundreds of years ago, I'm just Jiang Fuli." He paused, then turned, "Also, I've heard about Gu Shuai."
Gu Mang's name was like a needle that pierced into Mo Xi's heart, which was already broken. Mo Xi suddenly lowered his long eyelashes, covering his eyes and trembling slightly.
Jiang Fuli said: "He is still very young, he has not received the respect he deserves, and the peace he deserves. He is actually different from Shen Tang... Both of them sacrificed their lives to beasts, but Gu Shuai himself is in this world. There are still desires and ties.”
When he mentioned ties, he gave Mo Xi a deep look.
Then he said, "Shen Tang is not."
"… "
"The moment Shen Tang was killed by a monster, he was already disheartened and had nothing to think about. Shen Tang begged for death while Gu Mang was alive." Jiang Fuli shook his head and said, "I'm sorry. It shouldn't be like this. of."
Mo Xi frowned slightly: "But you... If you weren't Shen Tang, how would you know what Shen Tang was thinking at the time?"
Jiang Fuli was really silent.
After a while, he sighed: "If you want to talk about this matter, it's really complicated."
"Appreciate further details."
Jiang Furi paused, as if he was considering how to speak, and finally he said, "When I healed Gu Mang before, I empathized with some of his memories. I saw that you were on Bat Island and met a man named Wuyan. girl."
"That's a banshee who longs for Shen Tang..."
"Not bad." Jiang Fuli said, "But after seeing your memories, I always feel like I've seen her somewhere."
Jiang Fuli poured two cups of strong tea, pushed one to Mo Xi on the other side of the table, and drank the other slowly. Only at this moment did Mo Xi realize that the position covered by his white gauze was sunken, and there was no curvature of his eyeballs—Jiang Fuli had completely lost his left eye.
But he didn't care, as if he didn't care about his health, his body.
He said lightly: "I've been in Chonghua for so many years. Many people have asked me which country I'm from and what happened in the past. I don't answer. He shook his head with a wry smile, "I really don't know who I am."
"Almost all the memories I have started when Yurou and I went into exile. She said that I was ill and that I had forgotten the past, so I was confused and believed in her. Regarding my life experience, Where I came from, my relatives... Yurou told me everything, and I was inexplicably tired of it.
"But in the past few years... I started to dream. In my dreams, I could always see some repeated people and things, but they were just fragmented, without any context. Yurou never said a word. I asked her anything, she said she didn't know, but I didn't check it carefully... Until not long ago, I treated Gu Mang for medical treatment and saw his memory on Bat Island. The Wuyan he saw was exactly the same as a girl I saw in my dream. "
Jiang Fuli closed his eyes and said, "I thought at the time, if I went to see Wuyan, maybe I would know what kind of person I used to be."
Mo Xi remembered Jiang Fuli's apparent ecstasy after treating Gu Mang.
Only then did I realize that it was for this reason.
Mo Xi asked, "So you've been wandering around for a while, but you actually went to Bat Island?"
"It's just one of the stops. I also went to other places. ... Do you remember the island where Wu Yan and Shen Tang first met?"
Mo Xi nodded.
"I also found it there. It was actually a piece of island land carried by Xuanwu. That Xuanwu had a covenant with Shen Tang's ancestors, and it guarded a piece of the ancient Yan Emperor Shenmu."
Mo Xi suddenly widened his eyes: "Emperor Yan Shenmu...is the first tree in the world...the king of ten thousand trees?"
"Yes." Jiang Fuli said, "Emperor Yan Shenmu, the king of all trees, gathers thousands of human flowers on one tree. Among them, a piece of Begonia tree was left in the world for some reason. Before, it was acquired by ancestor Shen Tang."
"The Shen Tang clan is very clear that the sacred tree is an immortal weapon, and its power is not trivial. If you teach people to know this secret, countless people will flock to it and take it for themselves. On Xuanwu Island, I never mention it to the outside world. It’s just that the sacred tree has a spirit, and in order to make it peaceful and upright, and not be disturbed by the evil spirits, the head of the family will go to the island for a month every year to cultivate for him.”
When he said this, Mo Xi came to understand a little - when Wuyan saw that the island was full of immortal energy, flying flowers all year round, and the four seasons were like spring, she mistakenly thought that it was because Shen Tang was here. In fact, she completely misunderstood that immortal energy was not Born because of Shen Tang, but because of the broken branch of the ancient sacred tree guarded by Shen Tang.
"..." Mo Xi couldn't help but ask, "Shen Tang has passed away for a hundred years, and his family was almost destroyed in the fierce battle with Hua Po An. No one should have been to that immortal island in the past hundred years, so you What did you see when you went there? Is Shenmu still there?"
Jiang Fuli said: "It's still there. When I found that Xuanwu Island, I saw that the island was already full of lush vegetation and flowers. Over hundreds of years, Begonia Broken Wood has turned it into a place where the spirit of the sacred tree is extremely abundant. It's just that I can see that the Tang tree has a hidden wisdom and enlightenment. I replayed a piece of music played by Shen Tang a hundred years ago with it. For a hundred years, the Xuanwu seal will not be able to seal it, and it may fall into the vast sea voluntarily again, and look away from the world."
After Jiang Fuli finished speaking, he smiled.
"Although I am curious about its future destiny, after hundreds of years have passed, the fate of this sacred tree is not something that mere mortals can control."
Mo Xi heard this silently, and suddenly asked, "Jiang Yaoshi, why do you know so much about the Shen Tang family?"
"… "
"...Are you really not Palace Lord Shen?"
Jiang Fuli put down the cup and sighed softly: "My memory was managed by Wuyan to restore me, and after I recovered, I also untied her heart knot for her—yes, I really am not Shen Tang, but For hundreds of years, there has always been one person who hoped that I could become Shen Tang completely."
Mo Xi was startled: "Who?"
Jiang Fuli raised his eyes, and three words fell on his thin lips: "Hua Po Dark."
Seeing Mo Xi's face, Jiang Fuli seemed to smile bitterly: "It's ridiculous? I think so too. I have all of Shen Tang's memories and even emotions, but I know I'm not him."
"Then you are..."
"I'm Shen Tang's cousin, as for my name..." Jiang Fuli said calmly, "Hua Po'an called me Shen Tang and Yurou called me Jiang Fuli for hundreds of years. I remember my real name. All I know is that I was Hua Po'an, who was born out of reluctance to die because of Shen Tang's death. My body is full of Shen Tang's memories, remnants, spells, and the past. ."
His voice was low and soft, without any excitement, but it made people feel very sad.
Jiang Fuli said, "I'm just a puppet. It's not much better than the bamboo warrior made by Murong Chuyi and the clay figurine made by Jiang Yexue."
Although Mo Xi was extremely shocked, he couldn't bear it in his heart, and said in a low voice, "Jiang Yaoshi..."
But I don't know how to comfort.
Jiang Fuli said: "You don't have to console me, you are already sad enough. Others can't see it, but I understand it. I came back today, not to find someone and tell him about my past. I am Come to offer the way to defeat the enemy - since Hua Po'an regards me as Shen Tang, I will not be absent from the second battle in this century."
Mo Xi's heart trembled: "Do you have a solution to the spread of blood pools?"
"There is indeed a way. No one has done it before. I have no chance of winning. I can only try it." Jiang Fuli said, "But I used to do divination on Xuanwu Island, and the fairy hexagram said that as long as Xihe Jun You do this and everything changes, even life and death."
Hearing the last half of the sentence, Mo Xi was taken aback for a moment, and then he reacted: "Including life and death..."
"good."
Mo Xi's eyes lit up like a flame, and suddenly there was a bright light.
What does it mean
Although he thought it was absurd, his blood was still running, and his fingers trembled slightly in his tightly squeezed palm: "Ask the pharmacist."
Jiang Fuli got up, leaned against the window and glanced outside. At this time, the blood monster blood pool had dispersed to the inner city and was slowly continuing to devour this royal capital.
He turned around, took out an obsidian-like spar from the Qiankun bag, and placed it on the table.
"The Shen Tang family has two hidden treasures. One is the broken branch of the sacred tree I mentioned earlier. The other is this spar. This is the most secret and important treasure of the Shen Tang family. The only solution to a catastrophe."
Jiang Furi paused and said, "There is still time. Before letting you use it, I would like to tell you clearly about the past that I know."
"—A past related to Hua Po Dark."