Chapter 193 [Alien] Memory Imprisonment

Back to the past, no, it was just a formation, a formation that could not revive the obsession of the lover, the formation left behind, repeating their acquaintance, understanding, love, and separation. Year after year, year after year, with no end.

He was thinking too much. The lens had completely affected him and needed to be removed quickly. Perhaps... he wouldn't be able to wait until after the competition.

"What?"

"nothing."

Hua Jin followed him and he didn't chase him away.

In the town, Lanyue Tower, the eleventh room of Tianzi No.

"Master Mugu, it's been a while. I was hoping to meet up with the group from Yandu, but you were off visiting relatives instead," Chen Hua handed over a bottle of wine. "It's been years since we've met, haven't you? You didn't even come to the last martial arts competition. What major event in the valley requires your personal attention?"

Mu Chi chuckled.

He thought that he and Shen Hua were not that close, so there was no way he could be tricked into giving them information.

"Master Chen, you're joking. If you don't handle the affairs of the valley, who else can?" He returned the wine to Chen Hua. "After that incident, you and I are no longer friends. What is the reason for your invitation today?"

Although the two are no longer friends, they still have to put on a good show, so Mu Chi comes to the appointment.

"Where is she?" Chen Hua didn't beat around the bush. He changed his flattering demeanor and asked directly, ignoring Hua Jin's presence. "For so many years, I haven't found any trace of her. She can't have disappeared for no reason. And you look so calm and composed, so I guess she's not dead."

Shen Hua said that she was the beloved one of both of them, of course, this was just what he thought.

"If you're only doing this for her, then we have nothing to discuss," Mu Chi stood up. "You're already married, so why are you holding on to her?"

Chen Hua also stood up and said, "He's in your Hidden Valley, right? You locked her up? You don't let her see me, even though you know she loves me!" He pointed at Hua Jin and said, "Does your apprentice know that you are such a vicious person?"

Mu Chi looked at Hua Jin behind him, and Hua Jin was also looking at him, and suddenly a chill came over him.

"He doesn't know, right? Well, I'm here to tell him today that he has the wrong master!"

"You still haven't made any progress. Chen Hua, she belongs to my Hidden Valley. She can come and go freely. I have no control over her. She can show up when she wants to, and not show up when she doesn't want to. This is not something I can control, nor can it be controlled by you." Mu Chi left his seat. "But you still don't know after all these years that she is not someone you can like."

After talking for a while, Mu Chi left with a dark face, and Hua Jin followed closely behind him.

Chen Hua watched Mu Chi leave, his heart itching with hatred. What did he mean by "not someone he could like"? He had used all means to get to where he was today, just to marry the one he loved, but Mu Chi just wouldn't let her go.

Mu Chi not only wants to compete with him for women, but they have been competing with each other since childhood. Ling Hong won first place in the competition, auctioned magic weapons, and so on.

How could he swallow this bitter pill?

Looking at his arrogant look, he always takes his apprentice with him wherever he goes. He must be very precious to him.

After leaving Lanyue Tower, Hua Jin and Mu Chi stood side by side. He asked, "Master, what did Master Chen say?"

Hua Jin had a vague guess.

Mu Chi waited for him to ask. He knew that Chen Hua must have come to him because of her, so he brought Hua Jin to listen in.

"You locked up his lover? Why?" Hua Jin was puzzled. In his mind, Mu Chi was not the kind of person who would interfere with others. He had a vague suspicion in his mind.

"She is the one I love, and she is also your master's wife." Mu Chi's face was calm, but he kept saying sorry in his heart.

"I've never heard you mention her before," Hua Jin suppressed his anger. He felt like he had been deceived for over a decade for no reason, so he really was the one who was abandoned. "Then where is she?"

"She's gone on a long journey."

What Mu Chi said was true. The goddess traveled far away and hid her tracks. Before leaving, she handed Hua Jin to him. The next time they met, she took Ye Musi back to the valley, and they never saw each other again.

"Traveling far away?" Hua Jin repeated in a low voice, his voice like snow blown away by the wind. "Then Master has always had him in his heart, without me?"

"Master has told me many times that I only treat you as a child. Forget about the matter of Yandu."

"I can't forget, I can't forget! I can't forget!! How can I forget!"

Such a big thing quickly attracted the attention of people around.

"Let's talk about it when we get back." Mu Chi was very sensitive to such looks and said quickly.

The four words "Let's talk about it when we get back" were like a gag order, but they couldn't stop the blood boiling in the boy's eyes.

He dragged Hua Jin by the wrist, out of the crowd, through the streets and alleys. Lanterns on the eaves swayed in the wind, a dazzling red, like the fireworks in the Banquet Capital that year, burning him awake all night. Mu Chi's palms were cold, but his knuckles were clenched tightly, as if if he relaxed even a little, the person behind him would shatter in the shadows of the lanterns.

Only when Linghong Mountain came into sight and the pine wind outside the courtyard was blowing like a tide did Mu Chi let go.

Hua Jin stumbled half a step, his back against an old plum tree. The rough bark hurt his shoulder blade. He took a breath, raised his eyes and smiled, his eyes red. "Master, can you tell me now? Or are you going to treat me like a child again?"

Mu Chi walked into the yard. Hua Jin thought he didn't want to pay attention to her, so she walked up to him and grabbed his wrist.

"How dare you!" Mu Chi couldn't shake off his hand. The other person's palm was so hot, and his eyes were fierce. It was obviously Murong Lian...

No, he also said that Murong Lian in the mirror was Hua Jin. Perhaps Hua Jin himself was such a person. He...

Decades of entanglement in the mirror of the heart are just a short year in reality.

Those ten years or so changed Mu Chi a lot, and his opinion of Hua Jin also changed a lot. He thought it through and understood that he might not be able to be a good master. He would be sorry to the goddess and the people, and sorry to his disciples.

He was very afraid of Hua Jin like this, so even his tone of voice trembled.

"Master, you've let me be unruly more than once, why not now?" Hua Jin tightened his grip, so tight that Mu Chi's wrist turned white and his fingertips purple. "Tell me, how could you forget? She's your lover, but what about me? Will you be as tolerant of her as you were of me? Have you ever had physical contact with her?"

"Let go." Mu Chi calmed himself down, and used his other hand to circulate spiritual power, ready to strike out at any time.

"It's easy for you to say that, Master. Ever since I became your disciple, I have never seen the mistress you mentioned. She went on a long journey. She left this mess of Master Chen to you. How could she have you in her heart?"

Mu Chi did not answer. He was still thinking about what to say, and his heart was full of apologies for blaspheming the goddess.

Hua Jin saw Mu Chi was silent, so he said, "You are not a heartless person, you are a heart of stone. Even though she treated you like this, you still think about her. I am sincere to you and like you, but you don't even look at me!"

"Just treat me as your apprentice. Do you think I really want to be your apprentice?"

The sound was like a blunt knife splitting the night, causing the snow on the branches of the old plum tree to fall. Mu Chi's lips trembled, but in the end he said nothing.

The spiritual energy condensed in his palm dissipated, like a candle flame snuffed out by the wind. The bluish-white halo dimmed, revealing the bones of his fingers, like a dead branch ready to break at any moment.

"You have me in your heart! You just won't admit it because you love two people at the same time. Don't you dare?"

Hua Jin hugged Mu Chi in his arms, holding him tightly, as if he wanted to integrate him into his bones and blood, making him a part of himself.

"Xiao Jin, you don't understand. Innocence is too important to Yinyou Valley." Even if he likes her, even if he falls in love with her, what then? He can't like her, he can't love her.

"In the final analysis, Master, you just don't believe me. I said I want to change this world. If others don't like us being together, then I will kill them. I only want you. Do you know how happy I was when I realized that you have a place for me in your heart? Master, she left, she went on a long journey, and there is still me, I..." At the end of the conversation, Hua Jin coaxed himself, "I don't mind, Master, don't love those who don't love you, just love me."

Mu Chi closed his eyes and swallowed a pool of snow water into his throat.

"Love?" His voice was very soft, but every word was sharp. "If I really agreed to your request, I would be trampling underfoot the thousand-year-old reputation of Hidden Valley, the Goddess's will, and the righteousness of the world. Xiao Jin, it was never me you wanted. You wanted to drag me into your willfulness."

Hua Jin's arms tightened suddenly, pinching his knuckles so tightly that his shoulder blades ached. The fire in the boy's eyes suddenly exploded into a crimson gold, like a young dragon with its scales gouged out.

"Reputation? Righteousness? If I had said this in the past, I would have considered it a grave matter, unforgivable. But Master, you like me, so these are nothing to me." He let go of Mu Chi, took a deep breath, and said something he had thought he would never say in his lifetime. "The so-called righteousness, the reputation of Yinyou Valley, is extremely important to you, the Valley Master, but it's worthless to me."

Mu Chi opened his thin lips slightly, stunned.

"You are too presumptuous." Before he could finish the scolding, he felt dizzy, and then he opened his eyes and found himself back in a place he was very familiar with.

He was frightened and hid in a corner.

Hua Jin appeared in front of him in surprise, bent down and pulled him up.

"Mu, Murong..." Before Lian could finish her words, Hua Jin dragged him onto the bed.

Mu Chi's back hit the bedpost with a dull sound, like the broken bell of an ancient temple, which made his eardrums hurt.

Instantly, a sense of familiarity washed over him. This was where he had been imprisoned by Murong Lian. He had no idea where this place was, surrounded by walls. It was huge, with not only a bed but also various things he wouldn't expect, yet used every day.

In a trance, he heard Murong Lian's voice: "What should you call me?"

"Owner……"

Hua Jin leaned over and felt strange when he heard Mu Chi say that. He turned Mu Chi over and saw that the man under him had an empty look in his eyes. In a short while, his face was covered with tears and the bed was wet.

Mu Chi looked at Hua Jin as if he was looking at Murong Lian.

In the past, he knew that they were the same person, but he could still distinguish them. Now their shadows completely overlapped and he could no longer tell them apart.

Mu Chi was like looking in a mirror, holding Hua Jin, his body clearly trembling, but he couldn't help but get closer. This was already his instinct. As long as he returned to this place and saw those disgusting things and that same face, he would be defeated, wagging his tail and begging for mercy, and approaching Murong Lian.

His lips pressed against Hua Jin's, lightly touching them.

"Master, what's wrong with you?"

When Mu Chi saw that the man in front of him did not kiss him, he thought he had done something wrong and made him unhappy, so he quickly apologized.

"I won't dare anymore... I won't dare anymore... Master, please don't be angry..."

Hua Jin froze beside the couch.

Mu Chi was still shaking, tears streaming down his temples into his black hair, like a never-ending plum rain. Seeing that Murong Lian remained unmoved, he took a deep breath, took out the whip from under the bed, and handed it to Hua Jin.

"Master, please punish me..."

Since he admitted his mistake and took out the torture instruments, no matter how angry Murong Lian was, she would take the whip and whip him until her anger subsided and everything would be fine.

At least this way Murong Lian wouldn't choose the torture device, if...

Hua Jin took the whip and watched Mu Chi skillfully get out of bed and take off his clothes until he knelt naked in front of him. He had this ring for so long, and all he knew was that it contained the wine Zuo Qianqian had given him, some things he didn't know what they were for, a bed, and a table, and that was it.

He didn't even know there was a whip at the head of the bed. How did Mu Chi know?

He reached out to grab Mu Chi, but Mu Chi had been waiting for a long time and turned around, and the two of them met face to face.

At this moment, the two of them had different thoughts.

Hua Jin could clearly see from Mu Chi's eyes that he was afraid of him, just like when Mu Chi was in seclusion two years ago and he insisted on seeing him.

"Owner……"

Mu Chi thought that Murong Lian was not satisfied with the whip. His heart tightened, fearing that the other party would choose the torture instrument himself. If that was true, then he would have no time to rest and recuperate today.

"What's wrong with you?" Hua Jin grabbed his arms. He didn't do anything, so why did Mu Chi suddenly become like this? He could scold him just now, but now he seemed like a different person, a person he was completely unfamiliar with.

Mu Chi was also confused by Murong Lian's behavior. He didn't know what the other party was going to do, so he didn't dare to act rashly.

The two of them remained in a stalemate for a while, and Mu Chi asked, "Are you not interested?"

He glanced at the wall of torture instruments, and Hua Jin followed suit.

The wall of torture instruments shone with a cold, iron light in the lamplight.

Iron hooks, barbs, chains, finger shackles, bladed jade implements...

Each one was engraved with mysterious forbidden patterns, like mouths sealed by time, silently mocking him. When Mu Chi's eyes passed over them, his pupils shrank slightly and his lips turned pale.

It was an instinctive fear, but also an instinctive familiarity.

He could even remember which one would leave what kind of scar, which one would keep him unable to get out of bed for three days, and which one... had been held in Murong Lian's hand, forcing her to say "I like it".

Mu Chi turned around and looked at Hua Jin.

"Can I choose for myself..."

"What to choose?"

Hearing this, he thought the other party was unhappy and quickly shook his head.

"Master, please choose..."

"Master, what's wrong with you?" Hua Jin pulled him up. "I haven't done anything yet. Are you pretending to be like this on purpose to scare me?"