Finale
The fighting between the two sides was extremely brutal. The elite cavalry of the imperial court and the private soldiers painstakingly trained by Murong Mo fought fiercely in the streets and ruins of this northern border town.
Corpses piled up like mountains, blood dyed every inch of the land red, and the shouts and wails were intertwined, like hell on earth.
Taking advantage of the interval in this extremely chaotic battle, Ruan Yunsheng glanced at the entrance to the dungeon that was still smoking, and a trace of determination and grief flashed in his eyes.
She tugged at Wen Ciyuan's sleeve and whispered, "Ah He, we can't let Mo Yu stay down there, and we can't let Murong Mo's things ever see the light of day again."
Wen Ciyuan instantly understood what she meant. He glanced at Murong Mo, who was battling Huo Yan like a madman, then looked at the tragic battlefield and nodded heavily: "Okay, I'll cover you."
He fought hard to repel a wave of enemy soldiers, opening up a short passage for Ruan Yunsheng and Shen Yunzhou.
There was still sporadic resistance and smoke at the entrance, but most of the guards had been attracted to the main battlefield. The two men suppressed their grief and fear and went deeper into the underground passage that was like a devil's cave.
Part of the area inside had collapsed, with flickering flames and thick smoke. Relying on their memory and perseverance, they struggled to find the narrow passage where Mo Yu had fallen before.
Mo Yu's body lay there quietly, surrounded by several enemy soldiers who were killed by his dying counterattack. He was covered in blood, his eyes wide open, as if he was still staring at the enemy, guarding the direction of his master's escape.
Ruan Yunsheng's tears instantly welled up, and Shen Yunzhou burst into tears. The two of them suppressed their great sadness and carefully lifted Mo Yu's body.
"Brother, let's take you home..." Shen Yunzhou choked.
At the same time, Ruan Yunsheng threw the kerosene cans he had prepared long ago at the laboratories, archives, and nests where the failed poisonous insects were raised that had not yet been completely burned. Shen Yunzhou also scattered all the flammable powder he brought with him.
"Let's go!" Ruan Yunsheng took a last look at this hell that buried countless sins and sacrifices, and said resolutely.
The two carried Mo Yu's body and rushed out of the dungeon as quickly as possible.
The moment they rushed out of the entrance—
Boom!!!
A pillar of fire suddenly erupted from the multiple vents and entrances of the underground city! This was followed by a series of violent explosions. It was obvious that the fire had ignited Murong Mo's experimental materials or gunpowder stored deep underground!
The raging fire was like an angry red lotus, instantly engulfing the entire underground building complex. The flames illuminated half the sky and even temporarily drowned out the sounds of fighting on the battlefield.
It was not just a flame, but also a strange green flame produced by the mixture of the fuel thrown by Ruan Yunsheng and the remaining poisons in the ground. It seemed to completely purify and burn all the filth and sin!
Murong Mo, who was fighting fiercely with Huo Yan, happened to force the opponent back with a sword, and caught a glimpse of the raging fire rising into the sky with a strange green color out of the corner of his eye!
His movements suddenly stopped, the madness and cruelty on his face froze instantly, and then shattered into pieces like porcelain!
"No--!!!!"
A heart-wrenching roar filled with endless despair and pain burst out from Murong Mo's throat. The sound was so shrill that it didn't sound like a human voice.
His eyes instantly turned bloodshot and he stared at the burning dungeon entrance. It was as if all his soul and support had been sucked out of him!
"My blood and sweat!!! My eternal life!!! No--!!!"
He seemed to have gone completely crazy, completely ignoring the powerful opponent Huo Yan in front of him, and the tragic battlefield around him. Like a madman, he stumbled towards the entrance burning with hellfire!
"Your Highness! No!" The few confidants left around him tried to stop him.
But Murong Mo's strength at this moment was astonishing. He threw away the people who were trying to stop him and roared, "Get out of here! My medicine! My pill!!!"
He seemed completely oblivious to the raging flames and billowing smoke that could melt steel. All he could see was his "great" plan that was burned to ashes and his endless crazy obsession.
Amidst everyone's shock, astonishment, and even a hint of pity, Murong Mo's figure rushed into the underground city entrance that was completely engulfed in flames and thick smoke without hesitation, like a moth to a flame!
"Your Highness!" His men shouted in fear, but no one dared to rush in.
Huo Yan retracted his pursuing spear and stared at the entrance with a frown. Wen Ciyuan, Ruan Yunsheng and Shen Yunzhou also stopped and looked at the scene in disbelief.
Everyone was stunned.
The sounds of fighting gradually stopped at some point, and the soldiers on both sides were stunned by this sudden and incredible outcome.
Who could have imagined that Prince Yong Murong Mo, who was so powerful, so ambitious, and even willing to create human tragedies in order to achieve eternal life, would eventually destroy himself in such a way... in the den of evil he had built with his own hands?
For the illusory and insane "eternal life", he sacrificed everything, including his own life.
Ridiculous, sad, and lamentable.
The blazing flames seemed to silently mock this tragedy caused by greed and ambition. Is eternal life really that important? Is it worth exchanging the blood, suffering, and even one's own soul for it?
The flames crackled and thick smoke rose, swallowing up all the answers.
When the fire that burned away all the sins gradually died down, leaving only wisps of smoke and a scorched earth ruin, the soldiers dared to cautiously enter the ruins of the collapsed underground city.
They found Murong Mo's body in the passage near the alchemy room.
The corpse had already been burned black and twisted beyond recognition, and there was no trace of the former noble prince.
The curled-up posture seemed to be trying in vain to protect or find something, but in the end it ended up in such a miserable end, without even a decent death. It makes people feel relieved, but also sigh at the impermanence of life.
Huo Yan looked at the charred corpse in silence for a long time. Finally, he simply waved his hand and said calmly, "Constrain yourself. All the rebels will be detained. All evidence must be properly sealed and we will return home."
The army set out, carrying captives, evidence and Murong Mo's charred remains, and left the empty and dead northern border town.
The wind blew through the deserted streets, blowing up ashes and debris, making a whimpering sound, and the whole city was filled with an atmosphere of utter decay and death.
Murong Mo's ambition and madness eventually turned this place into a huge tomb.
After returning to Shangjing, Huo Yan reported to the emperor the events of the northern border, Murong Mo's crimes and all the evidence he had found. Murong Mo's horrific actions of secretly building a huge power, colluding with enemy countries, conducting poison experiments on living people, and intending to rebel shocked the entire court and the country.
In the emperor's rage, Murong Mo's followers were quickly uprooted, and a huge political storm swept through. The evidence brought back by Wen Ciyuan, Ruan Yunsheng and others became the key to calming the storm.
Afterwards, Ruan Yunsheng and the others finally pieced together the deep reasons why Murong Mo became so crazy and obsessed with "immortality".
It turned out that when Murong Mo was young, he was the most outstanding prince of the previous emperor. He was a man of both literary and military skills, and his talent was extraordinary. He was far more brilliant than his other brothers, including his seemingly mediocre elder brother, who is now His Majesty.
He was almost everyone's default and undisputed heir to the throne, and he also believed that he held great power and was destined to be the heir to the throne.
However, fate took a cruel turn just before he was about to be officially enthroned as the crown prince.
His elder brother invited him to go hunting, calling it the last leisurely outing among brothers before he was crowned. During that hunting trip, they unexpectedly encountered an extremely ferocious black bear.
Based on the fact that His Majesty never responded directly to the incident, the truth may be difficult to fully restore, but what is certain is that during that crisis, Murong Mo was seriously injured while trying to protect his brother, and eventually fell off a cliff.
Although he managed to survive, he lost his legs and became disabled for life.
A prince with extraordinary talent who should have soared into the sky suddenly had his wings broken. From then on, he had no chance of becoming an emperor, a prince who symbolized supremacy and required a healthy body and a majestic image.
While his brother was seriously injured and disappeared while recuperating in sadness, he quickly gained the support of court officials and eventually ascended to the throne of the emperor.
Falling from the clouds to the mire, from the height of popular support to gradual oblivion, the excruciating pain and mutilation of the body, the immense psychological gap of missing out on the pinnacle of power, and the possible suspicion and resentment of that "accident"...
All this was like a poisonous insect gnawing at Murong Mo's heart day and night.
He disappeared, not because he truly accepted his fate, but because he distorted all his ambitions, unwillingness and pain into an extreme desire for power, life and "perfection".
Unable to fight for the throne with his crippled body, he began to seek another form of "supreme power," eternal life and power beyond mortals.
So, he colluded with the evil magic of the Southern Kingdom and madly devoted himself to those inhumane experiments on immortality and poisonous people. He wanted to create a perfect, powerful and eternal body, not only to make up for his disability, but also to surpass mortals, in order to prove himself to fate and to his royal brother who took away everything from him, and even finally take back everything he thought was rightfully his!
It's sad and lamentable.
A life that should have been full of glory, but because of an accident and the inner demons that followed, it eventually turned into madness and destruction, leaving behind only a mess and countless innocent souls implicated by him.
After learning all this, Ruan Yunsheng and others felt mixed emotions. Although Murong Mo was guilty of heinous crimes and deserved to die, the twist in his fate and the distortion in his heart also made people sigh with complex emotions.
However, this is absolutely not a reason for him to kill innocent people and bring chaos to the world.
After the storm settled a little, they found a quiet, sunny slope with beautiful mountains and rivers outside Beijing for Mo Yu. There was no overly luxurious ceremony, only a few close friends quietly seeing him off.
A tombstone was erected, with the simple inscription "Tomb of Brother Mo Yu" engraved on it.
Ruan Yunsheng slowly poured a pot of his favorite wine in front of the grave and said softly, "Mo Yu, rest in peace. I have already told the Black and White Impermanence that they will take good care of you."
Shen Yunzhou's eyes were red as he put down a few rare herbs: "Brother, in your next life... don't fight so hard..."
Wen Ciyuan stood in front of the tomb for a long time without saying a word. He just patted the cold tombstone hard, and everything was said without words.
After the funeral, as they walked back to the city, the setting sun stretched their shadows very long, as if to drag along the sadness of parting.
Ruan Yunsheng looked at Wen Ciyuan and Shen Yunzhou walking side by side, and thought of Gu Nanzhi, buried in a foreign land and impossible to find, Qi Xiuming, whose life or death was still unknown, and Mo Yu, who had just been laid to rest, his tombstone still new...
She suddenly felt an indescribable melancholy and sadness, which flooded her heart like a tide, drowning the slight sense of relief that had just come from calming the storm.
She murmured to herself, her voice so soft as if she was afraid to disturb the tranquility of the setting sun: "The people around me seem to be decreasing one by one. I don't know how Qi Xiuming is doing now. Has he really returned home safely with Nanzhi..."
Her gaze was cast into the distance, as if she wanted to penetrate thousands of mountains and rivers to see whether the back of the man who left resolutely with the body of his beloved was safe and sound.
A warm, slightly calloused hand gently covered the back of her slightly cold hand, and then held it tightly.
Ruan Yunsheng was slightly startled and turned to look at Wen Ciyuan beside him.
Wen Ciyuan didn't look at her, but his eyes were also fixed on the setting sun in the distance. His profile appeared particularly clear in the afterglow, with a hint of fatigue and relief.
His voice was low and steady, yet it carried an unquestionable firmness: "Yun Sheng,"
He called her name, and his fingertips exerted a little force, as if to convey some kind of power, "Let's get out of here."
Ruan Yunsheng's heart skipped a beat, and she looked up into his deep eyes. There was no longer the sharpness and cold calculation of the past. Only the calmness after experiencing ups and downs, life and death, and a clear desire for her and their future life.
The capital is the center of power and a prosperous place, but it is also filled with too many calculations, disputes and suffocating memories. Too many old friends are buried here, and it has witnessed too many conspiracies and deaths.
Wen Ciyuan turned his head, stared at her deeply, and repeated, "Let's leave the capital, leave all this trouble, just the two of us, find a quiet place and live our own lives, okay?"
There was a subtle pleading in his tone, as well as a sense of relief and longing after letting go of all burdens.
Yun Sheng looked at the clear reflection in his eyes. She was the only one there. All her melancholy and sadness seemed to have found a home in his words.
She held his warm hand tightly in hers, and all her worries and uncertainties dissipated in his firm gaze.
She took a deep breath, the corners of her mouth slowly raised a gentle and relieved arc, and nodded heavily:
"good."
The setting sun blended their figures into one, stretching them far and wide, as if reaching into the tranquil and distant future they were about to embark on together. The hustle and bustle and political intrigue of the capital behind them seemed to gradually fade away, no longer relevant to them.
(End of full text)
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