Chu Wanning did not confirm the matter of Emperor Taxian-Jun, nor did he say anything else.

     In fact, the uneasy expression on Mo Ran’s face was the best answer. There was no need to ask anything else. What’s more, he felt extremely tired at the moment, and his mind was numb after taking one blow after another.

     After a long time, he broke free from Mo Ran’s embrace and slowly stood up. He didn’t look at Mo Ran directly. He closed his eyes and spoke, his voice frighteningly calm. He said, “I want to go into the cave.”

     “...”

     “Since the other me has worked hard to set up this plan, I want to see it.”

     “...If you know the truth, will you hate me?” It was an almost childish question, but Mo Ran still asked. After asking, he murmured the answer, “You’ll hate me.”

     Chu Wanning’s eyes moved slightly, and he finally turned around to look at him. “Emperor Taxian-Jun… has done what?”

     He didn’t ask “you.” He used the name Emperor Taxian-Jun.

     Mo Ran felt a glimmer of hope because of this title, but this glimmer was too dim. On one hand, he wanted to hold onto it, but on the other hand, he was frightened.

     Chu Wanning’s lips moved slightly, his eyes narrowing.

     “Kill people?”

     Mo Ran didn’t answer.

     “Massacre the cities?”

     Mo Ran shut his eyes. He was silent.

     Chu Wanning thought of the dreams he had before, those spring dreams he had thought were absurd and ambiguous. He thought of the man in Dragon Soul Hall and his words and actions towards him. He had already vaguely understood the whole story, but when the words came to his mouth, he couldn’t ask. In the end, he only said, “What about me? What am I by his side?”

     The knot in Mo Ran’s throat rolled. He wanted to answer, but he couldn’t.

     Mo Ran had been running for so long. Now, he couldn’t speak. He felt that he was a sinner standing on the execution platform, waiting for death. He knelt on the ground and could see the shadow of the executioner's knife.

     When would his head fall? When would his head fall…?

     He suddenly didn’t want to wait any longer, nor did he want to escape. The process of waiting for the blade to fall was too long. He would rather hit the wall and die, blood splashing everywhere.

     Mo Ran opened his eyes and said, “Go into the cave.”

     His fingertips moved as if he wanted to hold Chu Wanning’s hand, but in the end, he still lowered it and only rubbed the corner of his robes as he walked in front.

     Before stepping into the cave, he hesitated for a moment, then turned his head and smiled at Chu Wanning.

     “Shizun.”

     Chu Wanning looked at him. That person suddenly smiled so brightly and warmly. It was as if he wanted to squander all his hopes and happiness at this moment.

     He would never need it again for the rest of his life.

     Chu Wanning was suddenly jolted awake by the sting of this smile. He walked over but didn’t know what to say. His heart was in turmoil, and he was so distracted that he raised his cold hand and touched the other person’s equally cold face.

     “...” Mo Ran stared blankly for a moment, then his eyes widened.

     Chu Wanning closed his eyes and sighed. After holding Mo Ran, he no longer dared to take the initiative to hold his hand again. Then he spoke as if he were saying to Mo Ran but also himself, “I… I watched you grow into what you are today. So you—you’re not him.”

     “You are different from Taxian-Jun.”

     Mo Ran’s eyes were still stiff for a moment before he smiled with a sob in his throat. “Yes.”

     His eyes were wet.

     How could they be different?

     He was the most evil person in the world, a ghost who escaped from his previous life.

     But to be able to receive such acknowledgement before everything ended, Mo Ran thought the heavens really had treated him well. No matter what Chu Wanning would do after he regained his memories, he would have no complaints.

     He closed his eyes, held Chu Wanning’s hand, took a deep breath, and walked towards Longxue Mountain’s cave.

     Once they stepped inside, they could no longer see anything outside.

     The two of them looked around the cave and found that it was very narrow, about the size of a disciple’s bedroom at Sisheng Peak. Inside the empty, four-walled cave, there was only one small table with a rusty incense burner on it. It was the exact same one that appeared in Huaizui’s memory scroll. The incense burner was emitting smoke. Mo Ran didn’t like the smell of incense, but the smell in this incense burner wasn’t strong; it only had a faint fragrance of haitang flowers from the west prefecture.

     “What kind of spell is this?”

      Chu Wanning shook his head and said slowly, in a low voice, “...I don’t know. This ‘me’ is not the current me. He may have learned some spells by chance that I don’t necessarily know about. Just like how Taxian-Jun may not use a willow vine as a weapon.”

     His gaze turned to the incense burner. “Perhaps we must touch it to see who has come?” After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and lightly tapped the incense burner with his fingertip, but there was still no movement.

     Ever since Mo Ran entered the cave, he had been looking at Chu Wanning tenderly and sorrowfully. Although he didn’t want Chu Wanning to recover his memories, he still said, “Since ‘Shizun’ left this illusion for the two of us, maybe it’s useless for one of us to touch it alone. To open it, we need to tell it that both of us are here.”

      “...Okay. Give it a try.”

     The two of them, one on the left and one on the right, touched the intricate branch patterns on the incense burner. The flower fragrance in the cave was suddenly amplified, and smoke poured out like a wave, instantly filling the whole cave. It was so dark that it was impossible to see their own fingers.

     Mo Ran didn’t expect the change to happen so quickly. He was about to grab Chu Wanning’s hand, but the rolling smoke immediately swallowed him up.

     Mo Ran was shocked. “Shizun!”

     But it was too late. There was a spiritual force in the smoke. It was different from the power of a normal spiritual core, but it was very pure and powerful. He felt as if he were floating in the sky, and then his limbs and bones were frozen, no longer under his control. Before his voice left his body, he used all his strength to call out, “Shizun, are you okay?”

     He could only let out this vague statement, and then he couldn’t move anymore.

     Chu Wanning’s situation wasn’t much different from his. He called Mo Ran’s name in the fog, and at first he heard some response, but soon it became dead silence.

     “Mo Ran?”

     Chu Wanning fumbled through the smoke and mist, trying to find the edge, but there seemed to be some kind of spell in the incense burner that made the space here infinite, and he couldn’t reach the end.

     “Mo…”

     Suddenly, his throat was suffocated, and Chu Wanning, like Mo Ran, was shocked to realize that he could no longer make a sound. Soon, he found that it wasn’t just his voice that was restricted but also his movements—he couldn’t even control his own body.

     This feeling was like his dreams before. In the dream, he was still himself, but he was no longer free to act and speak freely; he could only watch everything in front of him, unable to change anything.

     His mind, which had already been a mess, couldn’t help but become more and more confused. If there was anything to say, wouldn’t it be enough to set up a memory scroll? Why did he have to go to this extent?

     After a long time, the smoke gradually dissipated.

     He opened his eyes and found that the original scene had disappeared. Reflected in his eyes were flickering red candles. He sat at a familiar sandalwood table. The table was very clean, not filled with too many things. There was a deep scratch on the table—it was from when he accidentally cut it with a knife while he was making Night Guardians.

     …The cave had unexpectedly turned into the Red Lotus Pavilion.

     Chu Wanning sat stiffly, his body still out of his control. It seemed that this was very much like the illusion at the Peach Blossom Springs. The only difference was that he couldn’t control the development of events. He could only stay still and repeat certain past events that had already happened.

     Why did he set up such a spell? What did he want him to see in his previous life, and what did he want him to reenact?

     It was already late outside, and two servants he had never seen before were standing behind him, helping him comb his hair.

     Controlled by the illusion, he raised his hand and stopped their movements, saying, “Don’t comb it. I’ll do it myself.”

     As soon as he said this, he heard a “crash!” and the door was suddenly pushed open violently. Chu Wanning could feel that he seemed very unwilling to see the person who pushed the door open, so he just sat at the table with his back straight. He didn’t turn his head and even closed his eyes.

     “Both of you get out of here.”

     A familiar voice came from behind him.

     The two servants immediately put down the comb and basin in their hands. They bowed their heads respectfully.

     “Yes, Your Majesty.”

     The two servants left. Chu Wanning still didn’t turn his head, nor did he open his eyes. But of course, he naturally knew who had come. How could he mishear that voice?

     Chu Wanning suddenly had the alertness of a beast. He felt that person approaching him—one step, two steps… Suddenly, his breath was against his ears, with a strong smell of alcohol, hot and blazing.

     “Why aren’t you sleeping yet?” Mo Ran asked quietly behind him.

     Chu Wanning heard himself reply coldly, “I was just about to sleep.”

     “Oh… I can see.” Mo Ran chuckled in his ear and smiled gently. “You’ve already taken off your outer robe and removed your hair crown. Do you dislike this outfit so much? This Venerable One ordered people to sew this outfit with the best golden silk and inlaid it with the finest quality jade. What This Venerable One gives you is even better than the things for the empress. Why don’t you like it?”

     “...”

     “Forget it.” Without waiting for Chu Wanning to speak, Mo Ran said to himself, “In any case, you don’t like anything I give you. You look down on me from the bottom of your heart.” When he said this, he sneered. “But so what? You see, you’re still going to be mine in the end.”

     As Mo Ran spoke, he reached out and intimately wrapped Chu Wanning in his embrace from behind.

     Chu Wanning’s body couldn’t bear such stimulation and anger. He finally opened his eyes, so he could continue to see everything in front of him—

     In front of him was a bronze mirror in which his and Mo Ran’s figures were reflected. Mo Ran wore a golden-red robe and a nine-beaded crown. It actually turned out to be a wedding outfit. The man hugged him from behind and moved his face down to start kissing his earlobe and neck.

     Chu Wanning trembled slightly, because of anger, but also because of something else.

     “Don’t act presumptuously.”

     “Ah, it’s fine if I don’t act presumptuously. Then how does Shizun want me to act?”

     Threats were useless, and he was even ridiculed instead. Chu Wanning could only grit his teeth and say fiercely, “Evil beast!”

     Mo Ran laughed lightly, his expression very obsessive. His handsome face was half sober and half drunk with lust. His lips continued to rub against Chu Wanning’s face as he muttered, “So what if I’m an evil beast? You see now, aren’t you completely… mine…?”

     Not knowing where the killing intent came from, Chu Wanning felt his body pick up something from the table. He turned around and fiercely stabbed it towards the back of Mo Ran’s hand.

     Mo Ran groaned in pain.

     He took this opportunity to break free and glared angrily at the man in the light.

     “Get out.”

     In the shell, Chu Wanning saw that what he had used to stab him turned out to be a golden hairpin, which was a man’s wedding ornament.

     “Tsk…” Mo Ran raised his hand and looked at his bleeding wound. He first sneered at it, then stuck out his tongue. Like a poisonous snake, he licked the blood and rolled it between his lips and teeth.

     His eyes flashed with a wild light full of bestiality. For a moment, his face no longer looked so handsome but instead looked a bit sinister.

     “I didn’t expect that you could still hurt This Venerable One with your spiritual core destroyed.” Mo Ran’s lips were stained with blood, and he laughed out loud. “Chu Wanning, your fingers and claws are sharp. This Venerable One really is small in front of you.”

     “...Get out.”

     “Is ‘get out’ the only thing you know how to say?” Mo Ran dropped the back of his hand. He wasn’t in a hurry to bandage it; he seemed to enjoy the pain. His expression was somewhat perverted and at ease. “You like to spurn This Venerable One so much. So why did you stay silent in front of all the guests in the hall today?”

     “...”

     “I sealed your movements, but I didn’t seal your voice. You could have shouted at This Venerable One and told me not to touch you.” Mo Ran walked towards him again, standing not far away. He grabbed Chu Wanning’s wrist that was holding the hairpin and twisted it, the force astonishingly strong.

     He grinned, and there were still traces of blood between his teeth.

     “But all you did was splash half of This Venerable One’s sleeve with bathing water when the binding spell on your hands was released.”

     Mo Ran paused for a moment, then laughed. “Shizun, since you’re so angry, why didn’t you shout at that time?”

     “You… shameless!”

     “This Venerable One is shameless, but who is a gentleman? Xue Meng? I sent him an invitation to today’s banquet, but he didn’t want to come. If he came, what would you do?” Mo Ran said with a light laugh, “Would you ask him to take you away during the ceremony?”

     Although Chu Wanning, who was trapped in replaying the restored scene, was still confused, his body obviously clearly understood Mo Ran’s words. He was so hateful and bitter that he gritted his teeth and refused to say a word.

     Mo Ran looked at him furiously and suddenly stuck out the tip of his blood-stained tongue. He turned his face to the side and lightly licked his ear.

     “...”

     “Chu Wanning, do you know when you need to be fucked the most? It’s when you stare at me with such resentful and angered eyes.” He pulled Chu Wanning’s hand down. “If you don’t believe me, feel it. Isn’t it so big and hot? Shizun, Yuheng Elder, Chu-zongshi—” Each title was more respectful than the last, but in the end, it was full of desire.

     “Look, it wants you so much.”

     “Get out!”

     “You’ve said that for the third time.” Mo Ran stared at him, the malice in his eyes growing deeper. “In any case, today is This Venerable One’s day of great celebration, climbing to the top of the mountain to marry a beautiful wife and concubine… This Venerable One even left the empress to accompany you. Why are you still so fierce?”

     He paused, full of bitterness, and finally uttered two words.

     “Chu Fei?”

     “!!!”

      Chu Wanning, stuck in his body, felt as if he’d been struck by lightning, and his body wasn’t much better. He seemed to be disgusted by these two words, and his whole body couldn’t stop shaking.

      But Mo Ran laughed loudly, his eyes flashing with light. “What’s wrong? Are you speechless with joy when This Venerable One calls you like this? Anyway, I slept with you for so long. If you were a woman and I played with you endlessly every night, I’m afraid you would have gotten pregnant before marriage and given birth to my child. If This Venerable One doesn’t give you a title, how can I have the face to let you serve me in bed in the future? This Venerable One isn’t an unreasonable person, hahahaha.”

     Chu Wanning was so angry that he couldn’t say a word.

     How could this anger and disgust come from this body?

     The controlled body and free spirit were both strongly disgusted. Chu Wanning was almost sick to his stomach. He was also terrified and didn’t dare to believe it.

     Emperor Taxian-Jun…

     Mo Ran in his previous life.

     What had he done?!

     Madman! Madman!!

     When Mo Ran had laughed enough, he suddenly pinched Chu Wanning’s chin and kissed him fiercely. His mouth was still full of the taste of blood. He roughly held Chu Wanning’s wrists with one hand and pushed Chu Wanning to the bed. He pushed him down and leaned over—

     Chu Wanning closed his eyes and trembled.

     That hot, strong male body was like a mountain pressing down on him, firmly trapping him.

     “Perform your duty and serve the emperor.” Mo Ran said, “You and I are married now. You are mine. You can no longer escape.”