Jie Moshu: Darkest Nightmare

Jie Moshu woke in an almost pitch-black place he had seldom visited—his own inner core. In the gloom, it was hard to see the whole thing, but for him, it was nothing but a place he knew the layout blindfolded.

Dream butterflies were formed by charms and only the fox tribe could perform such complicated spells. Those magical creatures fed with charms were able to dig into people's desires. As humans of mortal flesh, they have their own greed of unachieved dreams, bringing them to their deepest, darkest desire. In the end, trapped their souls in their own world, looping inside of a nightmare.

And this was the last place Jie Moshu wanted to visit: the very pit that drifted his mind to places long forgotten. He'd rather keep locked away in the deep recesses in his mind.

Right now, there was nothing bigger than his urge to break this enchantment sooner. He was worried about her.

Liu Huayu.

Would she be doing fine in her inner core?

Despite the fact he had returned Kylin to her soul, worry still washed over him, as his mind reeled to his human wife.

Jie Moshu glanced around, there should be a way to find the exit of his own inner core. Only momentarily covered by the enchantment spell.

From the endless darkness, something giggled with the voice of a young woman.

Another second, he saw the woman in the distance. She was standing thigh-high in the ocean, clothed in a robe made of the smoothest silk. Although she was backing him, he could tell that she was perfect. Her wavy deep brown hair cascading down her flawless cream skin.

A moment caught Jie Moshu's attention, she swiveled round to her back, and her aquamarine eyes met his. Then she spoke. A voice that he had longed to hear. Her voice was so hard, so cold that he scarcely recalled them from the back of his mind.

"You're selfish. From the beginning until the end, you're selfish, Jie Moshu."

Jie Moshu stumbled backward. Yuhua, the sole woman whom he loved and his wife. Those words bombarded horrible memories, flashing back to him. Yuhua's tears scalded her eyes. Her fingers slowly touched him as she grabbed his arm to her chest. Ripples of foam hovered here and there to the thin air.

By the time, Jie Moshu realized what was happening, it was too late. He felt the familiar Solar Wyvern Sabre on his grasp, thrusting it to his wife's chest. His eyes widened at the bloody sabre in his hand. Blood slowly smeared her white robe. He tried to pull it, but Yuhua cold hand grabbed him and plunged it even deeper than before.

"Yuhua!" He shouted.

Her breath came in ragged gasps. A mouthful of blood was spilled from her mouth, turning her lips into crimson. Her expression said nothing, flat and impassive. Her eyes shone in green-blue, flashing emotions that Jie Moshu knew too well—anger, melancholy, and resentment.

The feelings already tightened in his chest, tangled threads slowly strangling him from the inside out.

Now images shoved their ways to his thoughts: Execution Stone, a giant wave of water, clouds everywhere, lightning flashing against the sky.

"I've always wondered if you remembered me," Yuhua whispered, her voice was weak and powerless. "If you remembered Axiang and your sister, Yuenü. If you ever thought about them or me or what happened that day. If you ever thought bringing me back to life was a mistake. If you ever care about my feelings."

She whispered words that brought Jie Moshu into despair. The memories of sadness blackening his face like ugly bruises. As he was a god, these wounds that would never fade, forever haunting him like a nightmare. He had carried these scars right on his tattered, torn heart.

Jie Moshu heard himself speaking, "How could I forget?"

How could anyone forget what had happened that day? Watching her dying in front of his eyes, one by one eternal lightning struck her delicate body. Realizing her soul had vanished to the Underworld, he even went to see King Yama. It wasn't something that he would ever forget, not in the rest of his immortal life. But he didn't tell Yuhua about it, she had her own horrible memory of that day. Everything that happened was because of his miscalculation.

As terrible as that day had been, as much as it had scarred him inside out, as much as it had shaped him into he was now, an exiled crown prince of the Heavenly Kingdom, he knew it was his fault. The past couldn't be changed, haunted him in memories and there was nothing he could do about it. No sentiment, only embrace the pain and live with it.

No. She's not real, Jie Moshu told himself. For a while, he had forgotten that he was in his inner core.

What mattered now was to keep Liu Huayu safe and finding a way to avoid the same tragedy happened. Protecting the people he loved. It was what he needed to focus on now.

And then he heard it. The sound of clapping hands coming through another side of his inner core.

"Bravo!" That person said as he clapped his hands intensely, "That was quite a show!"

The Yuhua in front of him suddenly disappeared along with his sabre. All those memories were now replaced by a man standing straight at him.

Xiuluo, the embodiment of mischief and trickster, the God of Eclipse—and his long-dead twin brother.

"Brother, how are you?" Xiuluo sounded like he meant it. "It's been a long time since you last visited me. When was it? Ah, around a thousand years ago."

He looked alike to Jie Moshu, it was as if he had caught his own reflection in the mirror. Dark hair, pale skin, red crimson eyes. Except the man was wearing an ancient black robe—and blood was covering almost everywhere, from his hands, arms, and face.

Jie Moshu gritted his teeth. "You looked fine."

"And you looked miserable, brother." When Jie Moshu didn't reply, Xiuluo shot him a rakish grin. "As I thought, about that woman again. What's her name again?" He tried to hide his smile as though thinking hard, "Ah. Yuhua, the daughter of—"

Jie Moshu had already wrapped his throat, digging his fingers into Xiuluo's skin. "Don't you dare say her name. You're not worth it."

Although Jie Moshu's strength threatened to choke Xiuluo inside out, the god still barked a laugh. Like the grasp didn't bother him. "G-getting pumped? Hah, this is the Jie… Moshu, I know."

Xiuluo had been holding grudges since the day they were born.

Two children, one bearing the power of light and the other the power of darkness. The prophecy that two suns couldn't share in one sky had made the Celestial Emperor put an order: to kill the evil child.

And the hunting began. Low deities, immortals who had yet ascended were finding ways to kill the unwanted prince.

The whole Three World knew the story of the great archer, Houyi. The man who shot down the sun of evil, creating the sky to only own one sun. He was glorified and given the title to be ascended to the Ninth Heaven.

But behind the story, Houyi wasn't as brave to kill a young lad. Instead, he used a method of merging two souls in one's body. A sun that embodied both the power of light and darkness.

The same curse that Goddess of Souls bestowed upon Si Ming. Another reason why Jie Moshu had agreed to help Si Ming in the first place. He knew exactly the pain of having two souls living inside his body. The moment his body was no longer his, causing the chaos of losing his beloved forever in the Netherlands. It was something he would never forgive Xiuluo for.

Jie Moshu reached for his power. A flicker of red sparks sparkled in his hand, centered over his palm. Flames burst into Xiuluo's neck as he let out a low groan.

"D-do you think… by doing this to me, I'll be forever out of your life?" Xiuluo gave him a smug, slightly maniacal smile. "You… you can't kill me…"

Jie Moshu's face tightened until his lips were just a thin slash against his pale skin. He knew the truth in Xiuluo's sentence—he couldn't kill him because they were one.

"I can't," Jie Moshu ground out the words through his clenched teeth. "But I can have you locked down here for eternity."

"C-can you?" Xiuluo snapped. "I'll eventually… find my way out, brother… and what's mine will be mine."

That was it. Just a few simple sentences had made Jie Moshu's stomach clenched. He knew exactly what Xiuluo meant, he wanted Yuhua. Her yet awakened powers.

"I'll never let you hurt her."

This time his other hand grabbed hold of his light magic. For a moment, his long-unused Solar Wyvern Sabre was again on his grasp, relishing the feel of the hot power burning through his veins; then he pushed the magic outward. A burning light flame flickered on his palm. He leaned forward and thrust the sabre to Xiuluo's chest, and let loose his power.

Light flaring against Xiuluo's body, bursting out the dark energy within him, sealing his powers in and out. He focused on that blackened heart, forcing the light in that direction—and then Xiuluo's soul crackled into the thin air. The curls shimmered in the dark glow of Xiuluo's magic sinking into his inner core, disappearing.

Followed by an echo. Not Xiuluo's cry of pain that echoed inside his inner core but a peel of laughter. Leaving a faint, small and weak, but Jie Moshu recognized the meaning of his laugh.

The cold realization hit him. Xiuluo wanted revenge. Xiuluo's hatred for the Heavenly Kingdom, Three Worlds, and him. Again, Yuhua—Liu Huayu would be in danger.

The sharp shriek of the charm magic snapped Jie Moshu out of his inner core. Thousand of years he had been plagued by vivid, vivid memories of the past. But instead of the twisted thing, he realized his real nightmare—the existence of Xiuluo in himself and his desire to protect his wife.

Jie Moshu glanced around, he was back at E'mei's lair. Liu Huayu and Axiang both were on his lap, while Si Ming and Huashe were lying on the ground. What worse, E'mei was nowhere to be found.

E'mei probably had gone for Goddess of Souls' body. He would deal with her later. The poor wench should have handed out the goddess' body when she had the chance—because he wouldn't be giving her a second chance.

But first, he would go into Liu Huayu's core himself.