Chapter 112: Shizun Is Not to Be Sullied

Rong Jiu was of course referring to Mo Ran's actions on that first

day of his reborn life, when he had been full of resentment. Thinking back on

it now, while it was true that Rong Jiu had wronged him in the last lifetime,

in which he had teamed up with Chang-gongzi to scheme against Mo Ran's

life, none of that had happened in this one. This Rong Jiu hadn't yet gotten

that far in his plot with Chang-gongzi, and Mo Ran really had no good

explanation for having taken his money and things back then.

That being the case, Mo Ran didn't want to fight. "It was my bad," he

said. "Everything I took from you that day, I'll return in the future."

"And how do you intend to do that?" Rong Jiu asked. "Or rather, what

good would money and earthly treasures do me now?"

Mo Ran could think of nothing to say.

"You can return the bracelets and pearls to me, but what about my

life?"

"What?" Mo Ran was caught off guard. "Your life?"

"Yes, my life." Rong Jiu's expression clouded over, the topic still

clearly a raw wound in his heart. "Do you know how I died?"

Mo Ran did not reply.

Rong Jiu had likely been holding this in for quite some time, and now

that the lid was lifted, the steam beneath burst out in a torrent. His face

flashed with a rage that slowly grew twisted, and before Mo Ran could say a

word, he continued wretchedly, "That Chang guy was ruthless. Once you cast

me aside, I had no further value to him. He fed me some lies about how he

really, truly liked me, but his family objected because I was a prostitute in a

brothel, not clean, and said it'd be best if we stopped seeing each other. I

was blind back then. I thought his feelings were sincere, that he had no

choice, that his parents made him…bah! I can't believe I fell for that

garbage!"

"Well, what are you blaming me for," Mo Ran said. "Shouldn't you

blame that Chang guy?"

"Why shouldn't I blame you?" Rong Jiu snapped angrily, "I had

enough saved up to buy my freedom, and you stole it. I was too miserable to

stay at the brothel any longer, but I couldn't leave without money, so I ran

away in secret. If you hadn't robbed me, I wouldn't have ended up like this!"

"You ran away?"

"That's right, I ran away. I ran to his place." Rong Jiu's tone was

hateful. "But that Chang guy wouldn't open the door for me, even when the

people the brothel sent after me were closing in. All my struggles were futile

in the end. They dragged me back there, beat me to a pulp, and locked me

up."

"But that Chang character said you died when you went to visit

relatives in Butterfly Town and the ghost realm barrier broke," Mo Ran

muttered.

"Hah!" There was a shade of mockery on Rong Jiu's androgynous

face. "How shameless can he be. Relatives? What relatives could I possibly

have in Butterfly Town!"

Mo Ran had no reply to that.

"What's that you said about living under a knife? I'll tell you what it

means to live under a knife!" Rong Jiu was getting more and more worked

up, his features more and more twisted. In that moment, he truly looked like a

vicious ghost. "I'll tell you how I died! You and all my other dear patrons!

Ha ha—patrons!

"I was locked up in the brothel for ages without food, starving and

suffering. Not a soul cared whether I lived or died. Days passed like that. I

was just about to give up hope when that Chang guy turned up again. He came

crying, telling me he couldn't let me in that day because his parents were in a

bad mood and he was afraid if he did, they'd have the servants beat me to

death!"

Mo Ran shook his head. It was obviously a lie. "Surely you didn't

believe him?"

"No." There were motes of light quivering in Rong Jiu's eyes.

"I believed him."

Mo Ran was speechless.

"I believed him." Rong Jiu bared his teeth and smiled through his

resentment, the corners of his mouth curling. "Why wouldn't I? Doubt is the

privilege of those with a way out. What am I but a peddler of flesh? If I

didn't believe whatever people threw at me, how could I survive?" He

paused. "That Chang guy said he would be true to his word and take me into

his home, but that his parents couldn't accept me just yet. So he asked me to

go with him to a nearby town and live there for a short time first."

"Butterfly Town?"

"Yes. Butterfly Town."

Mo Ran's expression darkened. He already knew where this was

headed.

Sure enough, Rong Jiu continued, "So I happily packed my things.

Actually, there wasn't much to pack, since you stole everything I earned

selling my body all those years on a lark. But that's all right, I thought at the

time, I have Chang-gongzi now. Heh…" He was silent for a spell, his lips

twitching with a soft snicker. Then he hatefully spat out the name again.

"Chang-gongzi."

"So, he tricked you into going to Butterfly Town and then killed you

there?"

Rong Jiu paused again. "No." He wore a savage smile, and bitterness

flickered in his eyes. "He wasn't the one who killed me. It was all of you,

who blocked my paths one by one until I had no choice but to accompany him

on that shady venture. It was all of you. It was all of you who killed me."

Rong Jiu took a deep breath. "When we arrived at Butterfly Town, I

followed the Chang guy to a large manor. It was quiet and empty, and there

were no servants. He said he hadn't had a chance to decorate yet and told me

to stay there and rest while he went out to make some purchases. So I stayed

and waited. After a while, he came back with some man—"

Upon hearing this, Mo Ran's expression shifted. "Did you see his

face?"

"No," said Rong Jiu. "He wore a mask and a cloak with the hood

pulled up. I couldn't see his face at all… And then I saw that Chang guy

kneel before him, groveling even more pathetically than I do when I entertain

guests. If he could have seen himself in a mirror just then—disgusting. He

told the man I had residual wood elemental spiritual essence on me or some

such thing, that I'd been intimate with you before—a good offering.

Something like that. Who knows, I'm not a cultivator, nor do I want to be. I

don't know what they were on about."

But Mo Ran felt his scalp go numb. It was true that he had been

intimate with Rong Jiu before, and that would have left traces of wood

elemental spiritual essence in his body. That fake Gouchen had been looking

for a suitable replacement for the Heart-Pluck Willow. Although the lingering

spiritual energy would be very faint, it would be pure—indeed suitable for

use in spells.

"There's not much to say about what happened next." Rong Jiu's

usually easygoing expression now held a bone-chilling coldness. "As Mogongzi can see, I died."

If the Mo Ran before him had been that of the past life, or even the Mo

Ran recently reborn, he would've scoffed and mocked, "So what if you died,

what's it to me?"

But as he was now, Mo Ran couldn't find it in him to laugh. He did

loathe Rong Jiu, and Rong Jiu was unscrupulous, a man who had gone so far

as to plot his death in the last lifetime. But though he had been physically

intimate with Rong Jiu before, never had they had an open, honest talk.

Hearing such plain-spoken admissions from Rong Jiu now, down here in the

underworld, filled Mo Ran with a hundred mixed emotions. He mulled it

over and came to a decision: There was no way to untangle all these

countless threads of bygone affairs. He might as well just let it go. He sighed.

"I'm sorry about everything, Rong Jiu."

Rong Jiu was caught off guard. Not once in his whole life had anyone

said sorry to him. He looked Mo Ran over with wide eyes, like he didn't

recognize him. "Even if you say that, I'm still not going to tell you where to

find that man in the drawing."

"This has nothing to do with the drawing."

Rong Jiu was still for a while, his head lowered. He suddenly spoke:

"Mo-gongzi, did you know—Chang-gongzi was plotting with me to kill you

and steal your cultivation."

"I know."

"You…you know?"

Mo Ran nodded. "I know."

Rong Jiu stared with blank eyes. Then he said resentfully, "That Chang

bastard must've ratted me out!" His head snapped back up, eyes aflame with

hatred. "If I'd known it would end this way, I would've listened to him and

killed you. At least then I might've enjoyed a good life, instead of dying

miserably like I did."

Mo Ran gazed at him. "Do you always do whatever other people tell

you to?"

"So what if I do?" Rong Jiu asked. "All I wanted was to live well. I

sold my body, but what's wrong with that? Is it any different from selling fish

or meat? It's merely a means to make a living. I knew all you young masters

looked down on me, but it hardly mattered. What's the point of stuff like

reputation and dignity? I'd rather have good wine and good meat. That's why,

if I could've killed you back then and saved myself, why shouldn't I have?"

Mo Ran's lips moved slightly. He thought to retort, but then he

remembered what he himself had done in his past life, and found he had no

rebuttal to these words.

"People kill animals and eat their flesh in order to live," Rong Jiu

spat, "so what's wrong with killing people in order to live?"

Mo Ran sighed. "Is there any meaning in living like that?" he

murmured. The question was directed at Rong Jiu as much as it was at his

past self, the one who sat high on his throne a lifetime ago.

"I don't know. I don't know what meaning is," Rong Jiu said dully. "I

was sixteen when I was sold into the brothel, and my first customer was a

cultivator in his fifties. What gives something meaning? I wouldn't know.

When I was alive, all I wanted was money. Money could buy my freedom,

and then I wouldn't have to bow and simper to anybody anymore. But I never

got it, even until death, thanks to you beasts."

A long silence. "So if you could do it all over, you'd help that Chang

fellow murder me?" Mo Ran finally asked.

"That's right."

"All right then, if I could do it over, I'd still turn around and filch all

your money just to screw you over."

"You—!" In his anger, the faint blush on Rong Jiu's cheeks from the

rouge flower was all the more vivid. His body swayed for a second before

he slowly mastered himself. A minute passed. Rong Jiu was aware that he'd

lost his composure. He reached up to tuck a few errant strands of hair into

place, then pulled himself together and schooled his features into their usual

coy smile. Still, anger flickered in his gaze. "You can say what you want. I

can make my own way."

"Enjoy your time in the underworld, then."

Rong Jiu narrowed his eyes. "I fully intend to. All I have to do is lie

back on the bed and I'll be spared the misery of reincarnation for the rest of

eternity. I know a good deal when I see it. Unlike those idiots back there, I'm

more than willing."

Mo Ran's lips tugged up in a brief smile. "But Rong Jiu, those soldiers

work for the Fourth Ghost King. Whether you live, whether you stay—it all

hinges on his pleasure."

Rong Jiu flinched. He was immediately on guard, staring at Mo Ran

with those pretty eyes of his. "What are you trying to say?"

Mo Ran would have had no desire to go on quarreling with him even if

the situation had been otherwise. But though Rong Jiu had a docile

temperament, once he began to hate someone, he was unrelenting. Mo Ran

did his utmost to remain calm as he spoke. "You may think the person in the

drawing is average, but I think he's great. Beauty is in the eye of the

beholder, after all. Who's to say the ghost king won't take a shine to him?"

"With a frigid face like that? Who'd be into him?"

"You never know," Mo Ran said. "If the ghost king liked the soft type,

then why didn't he pick you?"

Rong Jiu fell silent, but his expression darkened somewhat.

"He has a fierce temper," Mo Ran pressed. "If he gets picked, he'll

probably flip the entire underworld upside down. And when the time comes

to assign blame, the Fourth Ghost King's people definitely won't get off easy

—some of those soldiers will hang for sure. If you wanna make like a

climbing vine, at least climb a sturdy tree. If the tree topples over when

you've barely coiled yourself around it, losing your support will be the least

of your worries. Chances are you'll get uprooted right along with it, and

that'll be a soul-scattering kind of end."

Rong Jiu's already pale face seemed to blanch further. But still he

persisted, coy yet vicious: "I doubt any of that will happen."

Mo Ran said nothing.

"All right, Mo-gongzi, let's bet on it. I just can't stand to see you doing

better than me."

A few moments passed in silence. Then Mo Ran turned vicious as

well, his eyes fixed on Rong Jiu. "I'm not betting with you," he said. "I will

rescue him, Rong Jiu. But if that's how you wanna play, then I'll put my life

on the line."

Rong Jiu tipped his chin up, and something flickered in his gaze. His

palm shot out to press against Mo Ran's chest like a serpent strike, like the

sting of a scorpion. "Who is he to you? How long have you been lovers?

Longer than the two of us? Is he better than me in bed? Is it that he knows

more tricks, or that he cries out more prettily?" He paused, lashes lowering.

"Mo-gongzi, you're not the kind of lovestruck fool who would risk your life

for another. You hold no affection in your heart. You can't fool me."

He had barely finished when Mo Ran pinched his cheek painfully. Mo

Ran peeled Rong Jiu's hand away, his ink-black brows drawn low and fire

glinting in his eyes. "I didn't have a heart before. I do now."

Rong Jiu's eyes snapped up and locked onto Mo Ran's face. He

suddenly noticed that this person was scorching hot and even a little

unfamiliar. The young man before him still appeared to be that free and easy

Mo Weiyu, but there was something different about the soul inside.

Rong Jiu flinched like he had been burned by this kind of Mo Ran. He

wanted to turn and run, but Mo Ran's hand locked him firmly in place.

"And," Mo Ran went on, "between him and me… From here on out,

there will be no impropriety. I respect and love him without a single impure

thought. Don't you ever sully him again."

At this, he shoved Rong Jiu away. Rong Jiu knocked into a column,

staring incredulously at the person before him. He was too much in disbelief

to notice the strangeness of the phrase, "from here on out, there will be no

impropriety." Had he his wits about him, he would've certainly realized the

subtle implications behind those words.

No impropriety from here on out—that was to say, there had once

indeed been impropriety.

But Rong Jiu didn't catch that. "He isn't your…isn't your…"

"No," Mo Ran said. "He's my shizun."

Rong Jiu fell silent. He was the type who could always sniff out even

the most subtle of sentiments hidden within the words of others. Mo Ran

himself might not recognize those feelings, but Rong Jiu could smell them. He

was almost certain that Mo Ran loved the person in the portrait. As someone

who had never managed to obtain anyone's genuine affection, the thought

filled him with bitter jealousy. So, there was someone even the dissolute Mogongzi would willingly risk life and limb to save.

Rong Jiu suddenly wondered: If he had been more sincere toward Mogongzi back then—if he had been earnest and wholehearted—then might Mo

Ran have also…shown him some real feeling?

He was still caught up in wondering when Mo Ran spoke again in a

cold, vicious voice without the slightest hint of humor. "Rong Jiu. I will ask

you where he is one last time. If you still claim not to know…well, I'm a

cultivator, and I know of plenty of drugs and spells that will make a person

talk. And if that fails, do you think I won't take the plunge and go see the

ghost king myself?"

Rong Jiu was completely dumbfounded now. "You…"

"I've committed every kind of transgression in my life," he said softly,

"but now I want to live properly. However, if no one will lend me a hand,

then I'm still that same Mo Weiyu. Rong Jiu, think carefully before you

answer. I'm not afraid to die, nor am I afraid of having my soul scattered. If

you insist on standing in my way, I won't hold back either."

Neither spoke as they stared each other down: the resolute against the

resentful, the unshakable against the unresigned, the fiery against the frosty.

Then the ice in Rong Jiu's eyes melted, as if defeated by the wildfire in Mo

Ran's oppressive gaze. Rong Jiu's envy and hatred ran deep, but Mo Ran's

obsession was no shallow thing either. Head-to-head, he was no match for

Emperor Taxian-jun.

Rong Jiu's face was so ashen that even the vibrance of the rouge

flower couldn't disguise the gauntness of his cheeks, hollow as ruins and

wreckage. "Why would you go so far for him?"

"He treated me better than anyone, but I tormented him like he was my

worst enemy. I owe him."

A long moment passed. At last, Rong Jiu whispered, "I really haven't

seen him." Seeing Mo Ran's expression, he added, slowly, "I'm not lying.

But—I do know that all the newly captured ghosts are kept in the biggest hall

on the east side. They're locked in individual cells patrolled by the guards.

You should be able to find him there."

Mo Ran didn't wait even a second; he turned and rushed off into the

night. Rong Jiu stared after him distractedly, feet rooted in place. A strange,

bitter feeling flooded his chest, and despite himself, he yelled after Mo Ran's

retreating back, "Mo Weiyu, you—you want to lead a proper life now? Fat

chance! You and I are both covered in filth! Neither of us gets a do-over on a

proper life!

"Mo Weiyu! Just you wait—I'm going to live well; I'll do whatever I

have to do to cling to life. Even if I have to sell my flesh and my soul, I'm

going to live lavishly, even if my whole body rots away! Just you wait! You

think you can just wash away the stench of blood? As if! The filth's in your

bones! Go ahead and play at being reformed, and I'll keep whoring myself.

We'll see who gets to live a good life, Mo Weiyu!"

He shouted until even Mo Ran's silhouette had disappeared. Only then

did he drop into a crouch. His hands came up to cover his face as he choked

back his sobs. "How come you get to do things over? How come you get to

have someone who treats you well…even someone as rotten as you…how

come…"