Chapter 146 Entanglement: I Will Extinguish the Flame of the Heavenly Furnace

Wu Shuang remained silent, and Lou Cangyu dared not utter a sound either. He rested his chin on his hand and gazed at her face, which was as rugged as a mountain, as if admiring an ancient painting that had been hidden for many years. He could look at it for a whole night, for several days and nights, for many years without getting tired of it.

It wasn't greasy, but... the cold wind was chilly, and Lou Cangyu couldn't help but shiver. Afraid that Wushuang would notice, he quickly turned his head to look at the sky. Seeing that Wushuang was not moving and didn't care at all, Lou Cangyu felt a little disappointed. He rolled his eyes and deliberately coughed a few times.

"It's cold on this snowy night. If you can't stand it, go back." Wushuang looked up at the sky, but still didn't glance at Lou Cangyu.

Lou Cangyu took the opportunity to move closer to her. "Who can't stand it? We've been training hard on Canglang Island, never missing a day of rainstorms, blizzards, or snowstorms. This weather is nothing to us. I'm just worried you'll be cold." As she spoke, she reached out to touch Wushuang's hand, but when her fingertips touched it, she caught sight of Wushuang's icy gaze and quickly withdrew as if touched by a needle.

"Since we came to Rongdu from Xingguo Ward, it's never dark again." Wushuang seemed to be talking to herself. "Is it true that the Heavenly Furnace never goes out all year round?"

Lou Cangyu was stunned for a moment, then said, "It's not just that it never goes out, it has never been extinguished. We've been carefully protecting the fire on the waterways to Rongdu. For the Heavenly Furnace to be extinguished, unless... unless..." Lou Cangyu slapped himself and dared not continue.

"Unless the Pei family is completely wiped out?" Wushuang asked casually, her starry eyes sweeping over Lou Cangyu's face. "Besides the Pei family, will anyone else in Xingguo Ward protect the Heavenly Furnace Flame?"

Lou Cangyu, unaware of Wushuang's meaning, hesitated and said, "The workshop master said that as long as the furnace exists, people live; if the furnace is destroyed, people die. If the Heavenly Furnace is truly destroyed...none of us will survive, right?"

"Absurd." Wushuang scoffed. "The Heavenly Furnace is just an inanimate object. If the furnace is destroyed, why should people die too? Lou Cangyu, are you willing to die for an inanimate object?"

"I..." Lou Cangyu hesitated, unable to finish her sentence.

Wushuang glanced at his pale face and chuckled, "I almost forgot, some people even tried to kill themselves after losing a sword."

"My great-grandfather died because of a broken sword," Lou Cangyu finally confessed. "The broken sword is a disgrace to the Lou family. The blacksmith died by striking the sword. My grandfather and father spent two generations burning the materials. I did my best to make the swordsman, but the sword broke again. It is a great disgrace and I have no face to live."

As if touched by something, Wushuang turned to look at Lou Cangyu, a hint of pity in her eyes. "If you really died, and you found out in the underworld that the Meteor Sword was broken because of a little trick... wouldn't you regret it?"

Lou Cangyu shook his head without thinking, and Wushuang approached him, "You'll lose your life because of a trick, won't you regret it?"

"I have no regrets about dying at your hands."

The swordsman before her had a handsome face and spoke with a resounding voice; even the hardest heart couldn't remain unmoved by him. Wu Shuang looked at Lou Cangyu with sorrow and sighed softly. Lou Cangyu noticed this sigh, which was as light as a butterfly's wing. He quietly reached for Wu Shuang's hand again, and this time Wu Shuang did not refuse. Lou Cangyu was overjoyed and clenched his fingers tightly to hold her hand. He then wrapped one arm around Wu Shuang's waist and pulled her into his embrace.

The body in his arms was stiff and somewhat unnatural, but Lou Cangyu knew that if this woman didn't like him, she would never yield even with a sword to her throat. Wushuang didn't dislike him, and that was enough.

"You won't regret dying, so you'd be willing to do anything else?" Wushuang murmured.

Lou Cangyu kissed her hair, his rough palms gently stroking her back. "I'm willing."

Wushuang closed her eyes. "What if... I were to extinguish the flames of this Heavenly Furnace?"

Lou Cangyu's palm trembled, as if he had misheard. "What if I were to extinguish the flames of the Heavenly Furnace?" Wushuang looked up at Lou Cangyu. "You wouldn't agree?"

Lou Cangyu suddenly released his grip, extinguishing the flames of the Heavenly Furnace… Was Wushuang going to eliminate the Heavenly Furnace… or… eliminate Xingguo Workshop…?

"You don't want to?" Wushuang climbed onto Lou Cangyu's shoulder, turned his head, and asked aggressively.

“I…” Lou Cangyu dared not meet her eyes. “We have made a blood oath to live and die together and never betray each other. Anyone who breaks this oath may kill him. Betraying Xingguo Fang is a crime punishable by heaven and earth.”

Wushuang scoffed, "Heaven and earth punish you? You actually believe in that? You're not even afraid of death, so what's there to fear about heaven and earth punishing you? Isn't that just death anyway?"

Lou Cangyu was speechless for a moment, and after a long while he said with difficulty, "It's one thing to take my life, but my mother... my elder brother are still on Canglang Island... If we break the blood oath, not only me, but they will probably not survive either."

Seeing Wushuang remain silent and indignant, Lou Cangyu assumed she was just throwing a tantrum. He calmed himself down, hugged her again, and whispered in her ear, "There's no need for the two workshops to fight to the death. The inner workshop didn't lose today either. Perhaps... it's a good thing for the two workshops to shine together. Stop talking nonsense. If you think the Heavenly Furnace is making Rongdu too bright, I'll have Jiannu add less silver charcoal later."

"Now you're thinking about your silly older brother?" Wushuang glanced coldly at Lou Cangyu's forced smile. "Last time there was bloodshed. If Ajiu hadn't pushed you, you would still be hiding and refusing to come out."

"I had just returned to the neighborhood then, and it was inconvenient for me to clash with my uncles..." Lou Cangyu was suddenly stunned, as if someone had hit him on the back of the head, his head buzzing and he felt dizzy. Wait! How could Wushuang know about that incident?

Lou Cangyu's hair stood on end, and cold sweat poured down his back. The woman in his arms was warm; she was clearly human, not a ghost, so why was she speaking ghostly words? At the foundry, Lou Shitou was beaten, and Jiang Muyun was the one who rushed to his aid. Jiang Muyun was dead. Wushuang… how could Wushuang know what happened that day? She even knew Lou Shitou was stupid…

Lou Cangyu felt a chill run through him. For a moment, he tried to run away, but his feet seemed to be bound by something, digging into the sand. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull them out. Lou Cangyu gasped for breath, his body trembling uncontrollably. Snow water soaked his shoes and socks, and the biting cold surged from the soles of his feet to his ankles, spreading straight to the top of his head. Lou Cangyu stiffly held Wushuang in his arms, holding his breath and not daring to move an inch.

"How...how did you know?" Lou Cangyu forced out the words, his lips clenched and teeth chattering. If it really was a ghost, he wanted to know the truth before he died. "I know I saw blood, I know...my older brother is stupid..."

“Because.” Wushuang’s cold fingertips touched Lou Cangyu’s pale face. Seeing him frozen in fear, she found it even more amusing. “Because… I was there that day too.”

"Impossible!" Lou Cangyu declared firmly. "You are Wushuang, you are Wushuang, you are not her, you are not..."

"Her? Is she the one who makes you feel guilty? Is she Jiang Muyun?" Wushuang wrapped her arms around Cangyu's neck, and Cangyu's heart sank heavier and heavier, like a bowstring that was about to snap at any moment.

"You can't be her," Lou Cangyu said, forcing out her last bit of stubbornness. "You can't be her, she's dead...dead..."

"Did you see it with your own eyes?" Wushuang didn't give him any room to think. "You saw her die with your own eyes?"

Lou Cangyu strained his eyes open. Everyone else saw it, but he didn't. Everyone said Jiang Muyun was dead. Even if he didn't see it, dead is dead. Did they all collude to fool him?

"—Jiang Muyun sacrificed himself in the furnace, did you see it with your own eyes?"

Lou Cangyu knew how Wushuang Lianjiang Muyun died... He told himself he couldn't look directly into her eyes anymore. Wushuang's piercing gaze seemed to be trying to steal his mind. If he looked any longer, he might die here... But... Lou Cangyu couldn't look away. Wushuang's eyes seemed to have a magical power, and he felt as if he had been cursed with the deepest spell in the world. He was powerless to break free or resist, and could only let her drag him down into the abyss.

"I...I didn't see it." Lou Cangyu felt numb all over.

"You didn't even see her, so how can you be sure she's really dead?" Wushuang slowly coaxed him.

Lou Cangyu's lips were half-open and dry. "Everyone else saw it, but I didn't. I didn't see it... How can I be sure she's really dead? But how could she still be alive? The Meteor Sword was forged, and the Meteor Stone was melted with Jiang Muyun's flesh and blood... If she wasn't dead, how could the Meteor Stone have melted? She's dead... She can only be dead." Lou Cangyu loosened his grip on Wushuang and pounded his head hard, as if he had walked into a dead end.

"Let me tell you." Wushuang, as if comforting a helpless child, suddenly leaned down and touched Lou Cangyu's lips like a dragonfly skimming the water. Lou Cangyu looked up in surprise, and their eyes met. Whether he was a human or a ghost no longer mattered. At this moment, even if Lou Cangyu died, he would have no regrets.

Between breaths, Lou Cangyu was clearly not satisfied with the brief encounter. He licked his dry lips, then quietly pressed them against Wushuang's neck again, opening his thin lips and suddenly covering them fiercely. Wushuang responded to his action, her palms stroking his well-defined back. "I'm here to tell you, Jiang Muyun is not dead... I am not dead..."

Wushuang said that Jiang Muyun did not die; she was Jiang Muyun.

Lou Cangyu was suddenly jolted awake. He saw the rising mist from the Heavenly Furnace, the pale yellow night sky over Rongdu, and the bowls filled with the blood of the people being passed around and gulped down. He saw the majestic Rongdu city on the coast. He followed everyone onto this land, and the bustling world unfolded before their eyes…

Lou Cangyu also saw... the girl who often came to deliver things to Pei Chong's old residence. A few years ago, she was still very young and didn't attract much attention from the boy. Later, when she came again, Lou Cangyu vaguely felt that she seemed different. He only glanced at her a few more times when she actually picked up a pebble and threw it at Lou Cangyu's head, which made Xiao Ma and the others laugh: "Girls change a lot as they grow up. She's not a little girl anymore, and you're still staring at her? You deserve to be hit."

Lou Cangyu rubbed his forehead, furious. That heartless brat! Every time she delivers something, she hides behind Pei Chong's grave and peeks for ages. I don't know what she's looking at. I haven't even reported her to Steward Pei. And she's so ungrateful that she throws stones at her benefactor! If this happens again, I'll definitely drag her out and report her to the neighborhood head.

Later... Jiang Muyun brought the item but didn't linger, coming and going in a hurry, so you couldn't see it even if you wanted to... And then...

Lou Cangyu cupped Wushuang's smooth face in his hands, wanting to confirm once again that what he was seeing was not a dream.

Later, when they met again in the neighborhood, Jiang Muyun, like a flower bud, had blossomed. She appeared before Lou Cangyu, who thought that everything was just beginning, but little did he know that all the endings had already been written.

"Miss Muyun, please don't blame me." On the way to the prison cell, Lou Cangyu murmured these words, "Please don't blame me."

"Don't be afraid." Lou Cangyu relaxed a little. "Perhaps you'll be out in a few days. My name is Lou Cangyu. Do you remember me?"

Jiang Muyun kept her lips closed and didn't make a sound. Her eyes were filled with tears, but there was no fear in them. She didn't utter a single word of begging for mercy. She just struggled to turn around and look for Guan Ye, as if she was looking at Guan Ye, or as if... there was something else she couldn't bear to part with.