Mo Ran tried to speak a few times, but all he could do was move his lips. His temples were throbbing with pain, his blood rushing madly. As he struggled, he felt his fingertips getting cold.

     “Shizun.”

     “...”

     “Actually, I…” He finally spoke. But once he did, he only managed to get three words out before he broke down again.

     Why did he have to say it?

     That was all from his previous life. He had already killed himself at Wushan Palace. He had died long ago. He only carried the memories of his past life with him, so why did he have to say it?

     If he said it out loud, his conscience would be satisfied, but was this really the right choice?

     How great it was to be like this now? Xue Meng would smile at him, Chu Wanning was his, his uncle and aunt were still alive, and so was Shi Mei…

     Even if he had to feel guilty for the rest of his life, he didn’t want to destroy everything in front of him with his own hands.

     But he also felt that this was something he should say.

     Now that he was certain that the person behind the scenes must have been reborn, only he could prepare everyone for it. This was his chance to atone for his sins. Perhaps the heavens wanted him to die once, but he still retained his memories, so there would be someone who could stand up and stop the storm at this moment.

     Even if it cost him his life.

     Mo Ran closed his eyes. He was trembling, and his eyelashes were a little wet.

     He wasn’t afraid of death. He was someone who had already died once. But in this world, there were things more terrifying than death. He’d had enough of that in his previous life, and had chosen to commit suicide in order to escape from it.

     These years, especially after Chu Wanning’s death in this life, he had been running with all of his might, trying to shake the invisible beast behind him. But now he was forced into a dead end.

     Its sharp claws were hanging over his throat.

     The multitude of people who hated and reviled him.

     He couldn’t escape… he couldn’t escape…

     Mo Ran cried silently, his tears falling to the ground.

     He tried desperately to suppress the trembling in his voice, and said, “I’m sorry. I… I don’t know how to say this. I… actually…”

     Suddenly, a pair of strong arms wrapped around him from behind. Mo Ran suddenly opened his eyes. He realized that Chu Wanning had walked over and hugged him from behind.

     “If you don’t want to say it, then don’t.” Chu Wanning’s voice came from behind his shoulder, “Everyone has their own secrets… and they’ve all made mistakes.”

     Mo Ran was stunned.

     Chu Wanning actually understood.

     He already understood… That’s right, how could Chu Wanning not see through it? He had seen Mo Ran’s terrified admissions many times, whether they were sincere, fake, reluctant, or earnest.

     Although he didn’t know what kind of mistake Mo Ran had committed, he knew that Mo Ran must be trying to confess something from the past, something he didn’t want to talk about.

     “Shizun…”

     “If this matter makes you uneasy, and you want to tell me, then say it. I’m here to listen,” Chu Wanning said softly. “But if you feel that it’s very painful to say it out loud, then if you don’t speak, I won’t pursue the matter… I know that you won’t do the same thing again.”

     Mo Ran felt like a knife was being twisted in his heart.

     He shook his head slightly.

     No. It’s not as simple as you think. It’s not…

     I didn’t pick a flower I shouldn’t have plucked. I killed people. Blood flowed like a river amongst thousands of li of dried bones. I destroyed more than half of the cultivation world. I destroyed you.

     He broke down again.

     I destroyed you, Chu Wanning!

     Why do you comfort an executioner…? Why do you console the man who stabbed a knife into your own heart? Why did you ask me to forgive myself before you died?

     Why didn’t you kill me back then…?

     He was trembling uncontrollably. He couldn’t stop.

     Chu Wanning was in a daze, as he suddenly felt warm water fall on the back of his hand. He murmured in a low voice, “Mo Ran…”

     “I want to say it.”

     “Then tell me.”

     Mo Ran was a mess. He shook his head and added, “I… I don’t know how to say it.”

     His voice had been well controlled until this point when he finally got a little choked up, “Really… I don’t know how to begin…”

     “Then don’t say it.” Chu Wanning let go of him and turned him around. In the dark night, he caressed his face. Mo Ran tried to pull away, but Chu Wanning still held on to him, firmly cupping his face. It was moist from the tears that had flowed for a long time.

     Chu Wanning said, “Don’t say any more.”

     “I…”

     Suddenly, the haitang fragrance was so close. Chu Wanning kissed him. It was the first time he had taken the initiative to kiss Mo Ran. He was shaky and clumsy as he pressed close to his lips, prying his mouth open and sliding his tongue in, unrelenting.

     Chaos, unease, madness.

     Mo Ran didn’t know why… perhaps it was because love was an escape from all pain, or because humans were ultimately the same as beasts. In the midst of entanglement, anything could be thrown to the back of one’s mind. In this indulgence of desire, only joy was real.

     For the helpless.

     It would give the desperate man a moment of respite.

     Neither of them spoke again. They kissed until Chu Wanning could feel Mo Ran’s desire through his clothes. He hesitated for a moment before reaching out to touch him.

     But Mo Ran held his fingers tightly, turning them over to interlace with his own, “This is enough.” He held him in his arms. Only the person in front of him could quell his pain, could purify his soul.

     “There’s no need to do anything else. This is enough…”

     Chu Wanning raised his hand and touched his face, feeling distressed for no reason, “Why are you so silly?”

     Mo Ran then held his other hand. Like this, both of their hands were tightly linked, and he rested his forehead against Chu Wanning’s. “It would have been better if I had been silly earlier.”

     Seeing that he couldn’t persuade him, and not knowing how to say soft words, Chu Wanning could only clumsily rub his cheeks, the tip of his nose, and finally press against his lips again.

     As he did this, the tips of his ears were clearly red, but he tried his best to appear calm and at ease. He took the initiative to kiss Mo Ran, to embrace him, to do things he wasn’t used to doing in the past.

     “Shizun…” Mo Ran dodged, but his breathing gradually got heavier and heavier under his kisses, “Don’t… don’t do that anymore.”

     “You’ve always been the one to do this.” Chu Wanning broke free from his grip and wrapped his arms around his neck.

     “Today, you listen to me.”

     “Shizun…”

     Chu Wanning looked at his watery puppy dog eyes. He patted the back of his head and comforted him with a tenderness he had never shown before, “Be good.”

     There were no lights as they kissed and embraced against the wall. The kiss went from gentle to intense, then from intense to desperate, full of desire and urgency.

     “Shizun… Wanning…”

     Mo Ran kept calling his name. There was pity, love, affection, and guilt. As long as Chu Wanning gave him even the slightest bit of love, it would be the strongest aphrodisiac in the world.

     He finally stopped thinking about it, and pinned Chu Wanning against the wall, pressing him against himself. He kissed and touched him fiercely, until both of them were gasping for breath, their hearts pounding rapidly. He was desperate, the corners of his eyes red.

     Suddenly, Chu Wanning frowned into the kiss, “The light…”

     “Isn’t it already extinguished?”

     Mo Ran continued to kiss him like he was the most precious treasure in the world. He heard Chu Wanning whisper in his ear, as he held back his desire, “No, light it up…”

     Mo Ran was stunned.

     “I want to see you,” Chu Wanning said.

     He lit up the light.

     The darkness was gone.

     Chu Wanning’s phoenix eyes were bright, clear, stubborn, and firm, covered with a layer of desire. His cheeks appeared to be as pale as frost, but his ears were flushed with red, filled with color.

     He said, “I want to look at you.”

     Mo Ran suddenly felt his heart ache so much that he almost thought he was on the verge of death. How could his dirty, broken, and cold heart continue to live under such eyes?

     He embraced him, kissed him, and pressed Chu Wanning’s hand against his chest, where his heart was beating.

     He said, “Remember this position.”

     “...”

     “If one day I am guilty of an unforgivable crime,” Mo Ran murmured in a low voice, as he rubbed the tip of his nose against Chu Wanning’s. “Kill me with your own hands. From here.”

     Chu Wanning was shocked. He stared at him in disbelief, “Do you know what you’re saying?”

     Mo Ran smiled. It was a smile that contained Mo-zongshi’s beauty and sincerity, as well as the evil and madness of Taxian-Jun.

     “My spiritual core was formed because of you, and my heart is also yours. If one day I have to die, both of these should go to you. Only then can I…”

     He didn’t say anything further.

     The shock and fear, which had never appeared in Chu Wanning’s eyes before, prevented him from continuing.

     Mo Ran finally lowered his eyes, and said with a bitter smile, “I’m just kidding. I just wanted to tell you…”

     He hugged him tightly. He didn’t know how many more chances like this he would get to have.

     “Wanning…”

     I love you, I want you, I can’t leave you.

     There were so many things he wanted to tell him, but just like the events of his previous life, he didn’t know where to start.

     Chu Wanning was still between bewilderment and dismay. He wondered just how much of a mistake one had to make to be able to say something like this.

     But when Mo Ran kissed him, his worries fell apart in the chaos. He wasn’t a person with such weak willpower—maybe it wasn’t because of Mo Ran’s kiss at all, but because he didn’t want to think too deeply about it.

     There was despair in the passion, like boiling oil dripping into a flame. Their entanglement became hurried and desperate, like a traveler drinking water during a long drought, or a drowning man gasping for air.

     Before they even reached the bed, most of their clothes had been taken off. Chu Wanning was pressed down on the bed by Mo Ran, his clothes falling to the floor. Between the pillows, there was no shyness or reluctance like the first time. There was only desire, full of compassion and love.

     Chu Wanning’s trousers were quickly undone, and Mo Ran lowered his head, wrapping his lips around his cock. Sometimes, he raised his eyes to look at Chu Wanning under the light, panting slightly with his head raised.

     How many times had they been together like this?

     Once? Twice?

     He was about to go to Mount Jiao. Perhaps he would even meet the man behind the scenes right away. If that person really did use the Zhenlong Chess Formation, then the only person who would be able to break it quickly was himself.

     Then everything would come to light.

     But during their entanglement, he coaxed his Shizun, while also coaxing himself, who was almost desperate. He said that there would be many, many more opportunities for them to be together in the future.

     They would always be together.

     Like lonely souls nestling in the cold of winter, from night to day, he would bully him relentlessly. They would even sleep in such a position, entangled with each other, until dawn. And as the sun rose, he would wake up, and in his tenderness, make love to him adoringly. It would be dirty, loving, and wanting to the extreme.

     Mo Ran held their desires together, stroking them.

     Chu Wanning’s phoenix eyes were full of desire and mist. Following Mo Ran’s movements, his mouth opened slightly as he panted. His eyes gradually lost focus and went blurry as he moved in such an unfamiliar way.

     In the middle of this haze, he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door.

     Chu Wanning suddenly jerked back to his senses, the blood draining from his face. Mo Ran immediately covered his mouth, not letting him make a sound. The room was very quiet, but Mo Ran’s hand was still moving quickly, pleasuring himself and the person in his arms.

     Chu Wanning tried to shake his head, but Mo Ran was too strong. He couldn’t move, and could only flash his pair of phoenix eyes, full of pleasure and frustration, rage and frustration.

     “Shizun, are you there?”

     Hearing that voice, Chu Wanning glared at Mo Ran with growing irritation and tapped his hand on the bed.

     Mo Ran swallowed, his throat knotting sensuously, his voice low, “Yes, I know. Xue Meng.”

     “Shizun?” After waiting for a while, there was no response. Xue Meng muttered, “Strange… the light is clearly on… Shizun?”

     It seemed that Mo Ran had no intention of paying any attention to him at all. He was still leaning on Chu Wanning, immersed in love. It was too dark in the room, he even mistook the angry look in Chu Wanning’s eyes for begging.

     “Shizun?” The disciple outside didn’t plan to leave, nor did the disciple on the bed plan to stop.

     Chu Wanning couldn’t do anything about it, so in a fit of rage, he actually bit Mo Ran’s finger. Only then did Mo Ran finally move his hand away, with a trace of grievance in his eyes.

     His voice was deep and slow as he whispered, “Your bite hurt so much…”

     “You might as well die from the pain.” Chu Wanning took a deep breath and said to the door, “I’m already in bed. What’s wrong?”

     “Ah, nothing,” Xue Meng said. “It’s just that… I… I can’t sleep. There’s something on my mind that I want to tell Shizun…” His voice gradually grew softer, and one could almost imagine the little phoenix drooping his head outside the door.

     Chu Wanning: “...”

     What was going on? Why did they all have something on their minds tonight?

     Chu Wanning was worried. He patted Mo Ran, who was still on top of him, and whispered, “Get up and put on your clothes.”

     Mo Ran’s eyes widened, looking like a dog as he asked, “You want to let him in?”

     “There’s just something about his voice that doesn’t sound right…”

     “What about me?”

     “...” Although Chu Wanning was embarrassed, he still said, “Get dressed and hide under the bed.”