LU ZHANXING SMILED. "What's done is done—I've already killed him. What else is there to say?"
"Lu Zhanxing!" Mo Xi snapped, dark brows drawing together in anger. "Do you know what things are like on the outside?"
"What are they like?"
"After the defeat at Phoenix Cry Mountain, where your seventy thousand comrades died in battle, the remaining thirty thousand were taken into custody and await their sentence even now. The dead are without gravestones, and the living have no way forward! And Gu Mang…all his achievements have been erased. His Imperial Majesty will never again use him for matters of importance. Almost everything he cares for has been destroyed, yet all you can say is 'what's done is done'?"
Lu Zhanxing listened in silence, though his rough fingers never stopped moving the dice. After a moment, his mouth split into a mocking grin. "Isn't it a good thing, to never again be used by the emperor for important matters?"
Mo Xi stared in shock. What did Lu Zhanxing mean?
Lu Zhanxing and Gu Mang had grown up together and were thus inseparable, but Mo Xi understood little about this brother of Gu Mang's. Countless times, he had seen Lu Zhanxing embrace Gu Mang and ruffle his hair as the pair of them laughed uproariously. He saw, too, that Gu Mang would regularly help Lu Zhanxing dress his wounds. It bothered him. No matter that it was proven again and again that Lu Zhanxing adored women and Gu Mang harbored no feelings beyond friendship for him, still Mo Xi was bothered. The sight of Lu Zhanxing made his skin crawl with irritation.
Likewise, Lu Zhanxing had a poor impression of Mo Xi. From his perspective, his childhood buddy had suddenly, for some inexplicable reason, gained an aristocratic young master as a bosom friend. Of course the intrusion displeased him; plus, this little aristocrat constantly monopolized Gu Mang's free time. Oh, he needed Gu Mang to accompany him while patrolling or cultivating. And sometimes, when Lu Zhanxing was wounded, that rich young master would promptly also get hurt, forcing Gu Mang to rush back and forth between them. The first time it happened could be chalked up to coincidence, but when it kept on happening, Lu Zhanxing began to suspect that the Mo brat was doing it on purpose.
And so Lu Zhanxing's initial courtesy toward Mo Xi turned chilly. When the two crossed paths, they would pretend not to see each other. If Gu Mang was watching, they would halfheartedly nod in greeting.
Given this standoffish relationship of theirs, Mo Xi's understanding of Lu Zhanxing remained entirely superficial. Mo Xi had presumed Lu Zhanxing would at least feel regret or shame for the disaster he'd brought down on his brother's head—never had he imagined that Lu Zhanxing would look as if he'd gotten exactly what he wanted.
At the sight of Mo Xi's bloodless face, Lu Zhanxing stretched his limbs into a more comfortable sprawl and continued to toss his dice. "In any case, I'm a dead man walking. There's no harm in saying what I truly think."
Mo Xi gritted his teeth. "What other disgraceful last words do you have?"
"They're not so disgraceful." Lu Zhanxing snickered. "I think I've been awfully clever—it's just that I had to sacrifice a bit more than I should have. But I've more or less achieved my aim."
"What do you mean?"
Baring his teeth like a wolf, Lu Zhanxing shot Mo Xi a glance designed to provoke. Eyes never moving from Mo Xi, he said, "Do you all think I killed that envoy because I felt him suspicious? That I was further enraged by his disrespect, so I beheaded him on impulse?"
Mo Xi's lips parted. "Is that not so?" he asked softly.
Lu Zhanxing swung one leg over the other and scoffed. "Xihe-jun, do you think so little of me and Mang-er?" He spoke lazily, his expression open and uninhibited. "Mang-er and I grew up together. Did you think he would appoint me his deputy general were I really so stupid and reckless? He's a demon of war, not an idiot who lets his emotions call the shots."
The candle within the cell silently shed its waxen tears. Lu Zhanxing's words almost made Mo Xi tremble in fear. "You did it on purpose…"
"I've fought with him on so many battlefields, for so many years. When have I ever done anything so irreversible on impulse?" Lu Zhanxing said casually. "Yes. I did it on purpose."
Air whipped through the cell as Mo Xi yanked Lu Zhanxing from the bed and shoved him against the stone wall. Two lamps guttered out and the cell sank into gloom, but Mo Xi's eyes seemed only brighter. In the darkness, they glimmered with flame, sparking with disbelieving wrath. His knuckles strained; he was on the verge of simply snapping Lu Zhanxing's neck. "Lu Zhanxing! Are you fucking insane? Do you have any idea what you've done? You've ruined his life!"
Lu Zhanxing's face flushed red in Mo Xi's grip. He looked down at Mo Xi with a single breath remaining in his lungs. Even so, he still plastered a mocking smile onto his face. "Having me ruin his life is still better than seeing him ruin his own and the lives of others." Lu Zhanxing ground each syllable between his teeth as light flashed in his eyes. "Still better than…letting him lead a flock of idiots, driven by a dream doomed to fail…to risk their lives on behalf of you people…" Mo Xi was choking him so hard that vessels stood out on his forehead, but he still he said contemptuously, "Risking their lives…like fools! His Imperial Majesty was right to strip him of his power!"
Upon hearing that honest shout, Mo Xi dropped him as if bitten by a wild dog. He stood there panting, hands shaking in fury. He felt cold all over. How many truths from eight years ago were hidden in bloodshed and death?
The instant Mo Xi let go, Lu Zhanxing doubled over and coughed violently. Only after many great, gasping breaths did he turn his face up.
Mo Xi's voice sounded hollow and empty. "You ruined him on purpose?"
"Wrong." Lu Zhanxing licked his lips and rose slowly. "I saved him."
Mo Xi looked at him as if he'd heard the most absurd joke. "Saved him?"
"Yes," said Lu Zhanxing. "How could a noble young master like yourself, born into the lap of luxury, understand our circumstances? Ever since the late emperor made an exception for Mang-er, started making use of him, he's fought countless battles without ever tasting defeat. But the higher he flies, the more inexplicable the criticism slung at him. I wonder, Xihe-jun, if you've heard the things they say?"
Mo Xi fell silent. He didn't know when those slanderous rumors had originated, but they were like innumerable demons and monsters dancing wildly behind the curtain of night. How could Mo Xi not have heard them? When Gu Mang had been only a minor officer, there were a few comments and jabs. But as he gained more valor and distinguished himself further, those cold and malicious words turned into a swarm of snakes, slipping from unknown tongues to wrap themselves inextricably around Gu Mang's limbs.
"He's just biding his time, hiding who he really is."
"Beast of the Altar? What real ability has he got? And don't you think his strategies and illusions feel a bit…dark? He's too opportunistic; I've heard he even dabbles in black magic spells of the Liao Kingdom."
"He's a slave after all, not a proper cultivator born of a noble house. Of course he'd have dishonest ambitions. If His Imperial Majesty keeps trusting him so—pardon my disrespect—ill will befall Chonghua sooner or later."
There were even those who directly compared Gu Mang to that villain from the past.
"He's just the next Hua Po'an!"
"The nation's inviting disaster upon itself!"
Watching Mo Xi's expression, Lu Zhanxing laughed, his slender lips curving. "It seems Xihe-jun isn't totally deaf to it all."
Stepping over to the little table, Lu Zhanxing sat down. He tossed the pair of dice onto its surface, then poured a measure of wine for himself and took an unhurried sip. "Mang-er has pretty much heard it all. It made me furious, but he would always say there was no need to take these words to heart. He would say that as long as we proved ourselves, these voices would falter by and by. More and more people would understand that not all slaves would be like Hua Po'an. There were those like him, Gu Mang, and me, Lu Zhanxing."
Lu Zhanxing smiled bitterly. "He's just naive. Or maybe it's not that he's naive. It's that he always sees the best in things—despite living in the mud, he still insists on raising his head to look up into the boundless sunlight."
"Yes," Mo Xi said softly. "He's always been like this."
"You probably understand why he's a war god," Lu Zhanxing continued. "He's never faltered. No matter how difficult the battle, he always made it seem like it was no big deal. He had an endless, inexhaustible passion, more than enough…" He sneered. "More than enough for the leech that is Chonghua to suck from him till bloated."
It was a cruel thing to say. "That's what you think!" Mo Xi fixed Lu Zhanxing with an icy glare. "That's why he's the war god, and not you. He's the one who wanted to take new territory; he's the one who wanted to prove himself."
Lu Zhanxing smiled grimly but said nothing.
"Not everyone who steps onto the battlefield imagines that their blood is being drained," Mo Xi said. "Gu Mang had his own ideals—he said he chose this path for himself with no regrets."
"Ha ha…ha ha ha… No regrets, no regrets…" Lu Zhanxing threw his head back and laughed. The chains on his wrists and ankles clanged as they swayed. "That's why I said he's stupid! Look at him! So many years of merits and honor, and what has he proved? Did those voices pecking at him stop? All he's done is make those old nobles fearful as they see a face that looks more and more like Hua Po'an's with each passing day. After so many years of him constantly proving himself, I've never seen anyone who hates him change their tune. I've only seen those who once tolerated him begin to suspect him at every turn. Tell me, Xihe-jun, what did he prove? Didn't he merely prove he can mobilize troops just as well as Hua Po'an?!"
Mo Xi couldn't contain his fury any longer. "Then what do you want?! To prevent him from continuing on this stupid path by giving him no other choice but to follow in Hua Po'an's footsteps in actuality?"
Lu Zhanxing slapped the table. "I just hoped he would stop!"
Wine splashed over the rim of the cup, and the dice tumbled on the stained old table.
"…I just hoped he would stop." Lu Zhanxing repeated. These words seemed to have struck something tender in that coarse heart. His eyes lost focus, and his voice softened as he mumbled, "I just wanted him to wake up…to stop…to not be so naive."
Lu Zhanxing closed his eyes. His face was flushed with emotion, but his voice had gone hoarse with the helplessness of despair. "It's been so many years… His future seemed so bright. You saw him taken off the slave registry, you saw his fame spread throughout the land as he was showered in praise—but when I look at him, I see him standing on an iceberg about to melt, surrounded by sharks waiting to tear him apart the instant he touches the water."
He looked up at Mo Xi. "Power threatens kings. Not just for him— this goes for you too. Xihe-jun, can you afford to have these words applied to you?" Mo Xi said nothing.
"But he refused to take it seriously." Lu Zhanxing took up a white and red dice again, slowly spinning it on the table. "You see, he's gone undefeated—his army's gone undefeated. No one could find a real reason to act against him. But he can't go a lifetime without defeat. And the consequences of defeat for him are destined to be more tragic than that of any other general with the power to pose a threat."
Mo Xi tensed.
Without a shred of courtesy, Lu Zhanxing said, "Because, from the beginning, he was no more than a dog you people picked off the streets."
If someone had dared to say these things to Mo Xi before he entered the Time Mirror, he would have roundly denied it. But he'd just heard the emperor himself speak those words: Gu Mang is nothing but a dog. He had no way to refute what Lu Zhanxing was saying. The more truths he uncovered, the more his heart ached, and the more his blood chilled. That fire in his chest seemed to be slowly guttering out.
Lu Zhanxing sighed. "The new emperor has recently ascended; Mang-er hasn't angered him much. At this point, his defeat because of my actions only resulted in him being stripped of his power and dismissed from his position. His life isn't under threat. If he had continued to behave so recklessly—if he had suffered defeat at the pinnacle of power—he would die mutilated and scorned."
Mo Xi's throat was raw. "So you did it on purpose…"
"Yes." Lu Zhanxing smiled lightly and crossed his arms. "I have divine omniscience; I can see heaven's will. Yes, I made him lose on purpose. I wrecked his future on purpose. Reality has proven the accuracy of my guess—look. Sure enough, he has nothing left."
Mo Xi's fingertips were trembling; he stared into Lu Zhanxing's face. Today he had finally gained some understanding of what kind of person Lu Zhanxing was.
A madman. A madman who risked it all.
Mo Xi forced out each word from between his clenched teeth. "Lu Zhanxing! Don't you know…seventy thousand soldiers died because of you?"
"Better than seven hundred thousand to come."
"Don't you see that you destroyed Gu Mang's life's work?"
"Better than for him to end up drawn and quartered, tortured to death."
Wrathful fire gripped Mo Xi; his heart throbbed violently. Fingertips trembling, he grabbed Lu Zhanxing and slapped him fiercely across the face.