An Jiu said, “Yelu Quan Cang’s method of controlling people is probably not poison.”
If both of them had been poisoned, there was no reason for one to know and the other to be completely unaware. No one had poisoned her before, yet she had still sunk deeper and deeper into the marsh.
“Oh, right!” An Jiu remembered the reason she had come after him. “Is it difficult to use one’s heart’s blood to cure illnesses? Is it something only someone like Mo Sigui can do?”
“I’ve heard that taking blood is very difficult,” Chu Ding Jiang understood her worry. “Don’t spread this for now, let’s just observe the situation quietly. You’ve just recovered, you can’t be running around aimlessly. Even if Yelu Quan Cang wants to capture Mo Sigui, he’s not in immediate danger for now.”
An Jiu nodded.
The quiet night was clear. The full moon hung high.
Mo Sigui, accompanied by two tigers, was joyfully hurrying towards the Bright Moon Pavilion. He had just heard the best news of his life – Yelu Hongwu was dead. Bright Moon should no longer be so stubborn and would go back with him to live a peaceful, tranquil life.
“Together in harmony, this is the perfect time for a reunion,” Mo Sigui glanced at the moon in the sky, then looked down and asked with a smile, “Big Jiu, how many children do you think I should have?”
Big Jiu stared at him with his bronze bell eyes, his face completely bewildered as he turned away.
“In the future, I’ll want a daughter. I’ll teach her to be gentle from a young age, not like her mother,” Mo Sigui said.
“Tsk, what should I say when I see her? What would be the most moving first words?”
Mo Sigui sat on the back of Little Moon’s tiger, his ebony hair flying in the wind. His peach blossom eyes were shimmering, as if dyeing the quiet night in a pale blush. It had been so long since he had exuded such elegance.
What would be the most touching first words to say when they met?
“Bright Moon, I was wrong before. I didn’t protect you well enough. Give me a lifetime to make it up to you,” Mo Sigui smiled, tapping his folding fan against his palm. “I’m talented, any woman would be moved to tears.”
“No, our Bright Moon is not just any woman.” He frowned again.
After pondering it the entire way, when Little Moon and Big Jiu finally stopped, Mo Sigui looked up and saw the sign – it was the same inn where he had helped Bright Moon before!
Mo Sigui was certain that Bright Moon was thinking of him, and couldn’t help but be delighted. Standing at the doorway, he carefully straightened his clothes and hair, then turned Big Jiu’s tiger face to look at himself.
“Graceful and elegant.” He wasn’t sure if Big Jiu saw clearly, but he was satisfied with the conclusion, turning to climb the steps.
As soon as he approached the main entrance, Mo Sigui faintly sensed a murderous aura. He paused slightly, then quietly retreated to a concealed corner. From his medicine case, he quickly wrote a letter, placed it in a bamboo tube, and tied it around Big Jiu’s neck, patting its neck.
Big Jiu turned and ran back.
Mo Sigui then heard a loud boom from upstairs, followed by a muffled groan from Little Moon.
His heart clenched, and he tossed a medicine pellet to Little Moon before leaping over the courtyard wall and rushing toward the room the sound came from.
“Miss, don’t be rash, we mean no harm!”
Without hesitation, Mo Sigui immediately kicked open the door. “Bright Moon!”
The sight that greeted him was shrouded in mist.
Hearing Mo Sigui’s voice, Bright Moon slowly turned around. The room was filled with smoke, and a dozen black-clad men had her cornered.
She stood by the window, and seeing Mo Sigui burst in, she suddenly pushed open the window, hoping the wind would clear the mist. The moonlight streamed in from behind, casting a silver glow around her, and outlining her beautiful figure. Her expression was indistinct in the darkness.
“Go!”
She could only hoarsely utter that single word before her entire body was enveloped in thick black smoke, the stench of burnt flesh permeating the room.
Spring Wind Unspeaking! The corrosive poison he had concocted!
Mo Sigui’s eyes were wide with anguish, his hands trembling as he opened his medicine case, the bottles and jars spilling to the floor. He frantically grabbed the antidote for Spring Wind Unspeaking.
Bright Moon looked down at him, her eyes brimming with tears.
When Mo Sigui looked up again, he saw her enchanting features crumbling, turning into withered butterflies blown away by the night wind.
The tears fell to the ground, but she was already gone.
Just like that, in an instant.
The smoke drifted out the door, and the room quickly returned to calm, leaving only piles of charred bones and ashes.
Mo Sigui looked around blankly, his gaze finally settling on the full moon outside the window.
What happened?
Just now… did he see Bright Moon?
His clothes were soaked with the antidote, and his body was immune to most poisons… but Bright Moon had just used her last ounce of strength to push open the window, clearly afraid that he would be caught in the vast amount of toxic fumes before he could take the antidote.
Mo Sigui’s face was expressionless, and Little Moon let out a low whine, stepping forward to nudge the pile of remains by the window, but afraid of breaking them.
After standing there for a long time, Mo Sigui finally began to react, the excruciating pain suddenly overwhelming his entire being, robbing him of the ability to make a sound.
He had prepared so many words, but not even one had come out yet.
They had been apart for so long, and he hadn’t even had a chance to properly look at her, not even to apologize. And now she had disappeared from his sight forever.
In the blink of an eye, so suddenly.
Did she die by the very poison he had concocted?!
Pah!
Mo Sigui suddenly felt a sweetness in his throat, and he coughed up a mouthful of blood from his heart.
The blood was a vivid crimson, but his face was deathly pale as if he had aged ten years in an instant.
“Ha, ha, ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha!” Unable to shed a single tear in his utter grief, he instead wanted to laugh, to laugh at this cruel fate!
After laughing, his whole body trembling, he pointed a hoarse finger at the pile of remains. “I, Mo Sigui, can bring life and reduce flesh to bone, but tell me, how do I revive the one I’ve reduced to ashes?”
Mo Sigui had never felt such bone-deep hatred. It was not only hatred for those who had forced Bright Moon’s death but also hatred towards Bright Moon herself. Why had she been so resolute, leaving no room for retreat? And so cruel, to use the poison he had made himself!
A weight like Mount Tai pressed on his heart, nearly suffocating him.
…
“Mo Sigui!” An Jiu suddenly sat up.
Chu Ding Jiang, awakened by the movement, sat up and patted her. “Did you have a nightmare?”
“I dreamed that Mo Sigui jumped off a cliff.” An Jiu was still shaken. “I saw him standing on the edge of the cliff, and I kept shouting for him. He turned and smiled at me, saying, ‘Ah Jiu, I’m going to go take a look,’ and then he jumped off.”
“You’ve just been thinking too much before bed.”
“No!” An Jiu grabbed his arm urgently. “You don’t understand, I used to only dream about the past, but ever since I used Wei Yu Zhi’s blood, I’ve been having all these strange dreams, and they always come true.”
“But that doesn’t necessarily mean he jumped off a cliff. It could just be a warning that he’s in danger.” Chu Ding Jiang comforted her. “Tomorrow, I’ll take you to find him.”
An Jiu lay back down, tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep again.
Chu Ding Jiang couldn’t sleep either, so he asked her, “When you dreamed about Xiao Ce, what did you see?”
“That dream was very chaotic, with some scenes from the past and some I’d never seen before. But the clearest thing I remember is a phrase he said to me before.”
“What did he say?”
“You are the most perfect weapon I’ve ever seen. With you, I can destroy everything, so I’ll never let you slip from my grasp.”
Chu Ding Jiang felt that this person’s reference to An Jiu as the “most perfect weapon” was not actually about a physical weapon. After all, no matter how powerful a person is, they can’t destroy everything. And from An Jiu’s simple description, this person seemed to be a genius, and geniuses often had arrogance. He wouldn’t truly entrust such a thing to someone else.
Most likely, this person was dependent on An Jiu.
“What are you thinking about?” An Jiu asked.
Chu Ding Jiang joked, “Wondering if you’ve become a seer.”
An Jiu was very serious. “You’ll have to ask Wei Yu Zhi about that.”
Chu Ding Jiang laughed and embraced her. “Sleep now, I won’t let you go out until you’ve fully recovered.”