Chapter 109

Mild gory scene.

Xie Bi An stood up in fear and looked around, "Something is not right here!" His memory seemed to be interrupted, as if he had slept, and before he slept he was hurrying on his journey, but when he woke up he was already here, and what had happened in between, he could not connect the dots.

Moreover, he found that his feet suddenly didn't hurt anymore and he moved as if he hadn't been hurt at all.

"Wu She, we ..." Xie Bi An turned his head and saw that Fan Wu She was gone.

Not only was he gone, the tables and chairs where they had been sitting, and even the entire style of the small restaurant had also changed, turning it into a larger inn. A plaque with the name of the inn hangs behind the counter at the entrance - Gutuo Inn. He did not remember coming to this inn, but standing here created a lingering sense of familiarity again.

"Wu She, where are you?!" Xie Bi An shouted as he ran out the door, but the next instant he was yanked back until his body lurched. He turned back, his gaze following the shadows under his eyes and went down, seeing a finely sculpted boy, about seven or eight years old, tugging at his sleeve.

"Big brother, where are you going?" The boy looked up at Xie Bi An. His big black and white eyes as clear as two clear springs.

Xie Bi An's heart felt as if it had been struck by a blow, so painful that half of his body went numb. He looked at the boy in a daze, his mouth dry, his chest choked, and he slowly crouched down, a name rested against the lips, calling out.

"Big brother?"

"... Xiao Jiu?" Xie Bi An only felt a lump in his throat, and a great tide of grief that he had never experienced before came over him.

How could he be so sad? He had never been this sad before. Why did he know that this child was the "Xiao Jiu" in his dream? Why did Xiao Jiu make him so sad? It was as if this child was right in front of him, yet he actually lost him long ago.

Xiao Jiu naturally snuggled into Xie Bi An's arms: "Don't sneak out by yourself ah. You promised to take me out to play."

Xie Bi An gazed at Xiao Jiu, his hands unconsciously tightened, holding Xiao Jiu in his arms, his vision gradually blurred.

"Big brother, what's wrong?" Xiao Jiu stretched out his small hand and wiped away the moisture under Xie Bi An's eyes, "Why are you crying ah?"

Xie Bi An wiped away his tears with his hand, and his vision became clear. He examined Xiao Jiu carefully, and the more he looked, the more familiar he felt.

The child's features have not fully grown yet, but was already beautiful and extraordinary, especially that pair of eyes. The end of the eyes hooked up, as if drawn by a god, naturally charming. The more he looked at it the more he looks like ... like ...

Xie Bi An broke out in a cold sweat. No, he shouldn't be here, he should be on his way to Mount Tai with his junior brother. This inn, this child, everything in front of him is not real. He might have been caught in an illusion!

Xie Bi An pushed Xiao Jiu away from him, trying to find the weak point in this illusion.

Xiao Jiu grabbed Xie Bi An's arm: "Big brother? Let's go back to our room, aren't you going to test me on my homework today?"

Xie Bi An wanted to break out of Xiao Jiu's grip, but when he collided into that wholeheartedly trusting, dependent look, he suddenly lost his strength.

"Today's food is so bad, I really want to eat the pork ribs stewed by big brother." Xiao Jiu said as he dragged Xie Bi An towards the inn.

Xie Bi An's sanity hovered between chaos and clear-headedness. A voice shouted in his heart not to believe what was in front of him, but his body allowed Xiao Jiu to lead him forward.

This is fake, this is…fake?

Xiao Jiu, his younger brother, who later turned against him, was what he had seen in his dreams about his past life, but he just couldn't connect the soft, sweet child in front of him to the domineering man who had forced him. No, no, because this child was not Xiao Jiu in the first place. Xiao Jiu could not have a face that resembled Fan Wu She's. This was all an illusion based on what he knew and felt!

Xie Bi calmed his mind and shook off Xiao Jiu's hand.

Xiao Jiu looked at Xie Bi An in confusion, "Big brother, what's wrong?"

"You, you're not Xiao Jiu." Xie Bi An stepped back.

"Big brother, where are you going?" Xiao Jiu panicked and ran towards him.

"Don't come any closer!" Xie Bi An shouted, chanting a meditation incantation. He was under an illusion. Everything in front of him was fake. Both he and Fan Wu She were in danger. He had to come to his senses as soon as possible.

"Big brother, don't leave Xiao Jiu behind." Xiao Jiu hurriedly reached out to him, his eyes filled with tears, "Big brother, wait for me ah."

Xie Bi An looked at his tearful appearance and his heart ached. He shook his head, "You're not, you're a fake, don't come over."

Suddenly, a group of black-clad masked men emerged from all directions, bright swords stabbing towards them.

Xiao Jiu was terrified, "Big brother help me----"

"Xiao Jiu!" Xie Bi An couldn’t care about convincing himself that everything before him was an illusion. He drew his sword and rushed forward.

But it was too late, the silvery-white blades pierced Xiao Jiu's body mercilessly.

"No-----" Xie Bi An screamed with a heart-breaking scream.

The tiny body instantly bled like a fountain. His bright eyes gradually dissipated, like a lamp that had been snuffed out. The sharp blades tore through his flesh and gutted him, and the man in black dug out a pale gold glowing core from his bloodied belly.

"Ahhhhhh ------" Xie Bi An let out a mournful yell, like a beast driven to extremes. Hatred, anger, despair, pain, all the most tragic emotions of his life collided, almost overwhelming his sanity.

He lunged forward without caring about his safety and wiped out numerous enemies with one strike of his sword. All the men in black were like reflections in the water, distorted into nothingness as the water rippled and dissipated.

Xiao Jiu was also gone, leaving a pool of blood on the ground.

Xie Bi An looked blankly at that puddle of blood. The air was still hot and stinky, and the tears on his face were not cold yet, but Xiao Jiu was gone.

Illusion, reality, truth mixed with false, what should he believe?

"Brother, do you feel guilty in your heart?"

A voice quenched with ice came from behind him.

Xie Bi An turned around quickly.

A tall, cold man with an aura of black death was staring at him with a pair of resentful eyes.

Fan Wu She?!

No, that wasn't right. This man was not his junior brother.

The man took a step closer and smiled cynically, "Or should I ask, big brother, do you have a heart?"

Xie Bi An's scalp tingled and his instinctive fear of this man invaded all his limbs. All he wanted to do was run.

This man in front of him was the man in his dream, the Xiao Jiu that had grown up. But he had never seen this man's face clearly in that dream. This face shouldn't be Fan Wu She's face.

He slapped himself hard.

Illusion, illusion, this is an illusion.

Xie Bi An's consciousness wavered between muddled and awake. He didn't know how much longer he could hold on. This illusion was like a swamp, dragging his sanity into the abyss little by little.

Xiao Jiu stepped closer: "Why are you looking at me like that? We haven't met in only ten years. Big brother wouldn't have forgotten me, would you?"

"You ... you are Xiao Jiu."

Xiao Jiu sneered, "And how could you forget who you stepped on to sit on the throne? Isn't it all thanks to you that I have become what I am today?"

The throne? He, he sat on the throne? He is the emperor?

Xie Bi An said in a trembling voice, "Who are you? Who am I?"

Xiao Jiu cornered Xie Bi An against the wall, his handsome face twisted with hatred: "Are you afraid? When you harmed me and my mother, did you not think that today would come?"

Xie Bi An shook his head, "No, you, this is Wu She's face, you are an illusion..."

The corners of Xiao Jiu's lips lifted up slightly, revealing an evil smile, "You should be afraid. No one isn't afraid of me in all of Jiuzhou, especially you. You know why I came back. For ten years, I have tasted inhuman suffering. Only one thought was supporting me, and that is ---- you." He grabbed Xie Bi An’s chin with one hand, "I want to come back, and I'm going to make you pay." With those words, his lips collided hard with force.

A rough and brutal kiss; kissing hard with a force that will swallow him up.

Xie Bi An's mind was in turmoil as he recalled the domineering kiss in his dream and the entangling kiss with Fan Wu She. The passionate breath gradually merging so that he could no longer distinguish Xiao Jiu from Fan Wu She, as if they had always been one.

This knowledge sent shivers down his spine.

No, Fan Wu She was not Xiao Jiu, and who was Xiao Jiu? No, none of this was right!

Xie Bi An struggled with all his might, his consciousness once again catching a glimpse of clarity and he was able to surface from the illusionary surroundings to catch his breath. He forced himself to stay awake and his Qi sank into his dantian. He released his spiritual pressure as a meditation incantation escaped from his mouth.

"Don't try to run away from me, don't try to get rid of me."

"I can kill everyone you care about."

"You're worthy to talk to me about the past?"

"You're only worthy of being fucked by me."

"What you owed me in a lifetime could never be repaid until death."

"I hate you."

"Big brother."

The cursed words kept ringing in his ears, cutting Xie Bi An’s liver and guts into pieces*.

Shut up, shut up, shut up-----

A huge spiritual pressure erupted from Xie Bi An's body, washing over everything around him like a flood.

The person in front of him disappeared. Carrying that hatred, prejudice, madness, and disappeared.

Xiao Jiu, whether it is that child who nestled in his arms, or that man who had coerced him, had all disappeared.

A distant voice called out to him.

Xie Bi An opened his eyes with all his might, and the face in front of him went from blurred to clear. A pair of dangling fox eyes with their ends hooked up, now written with anxiety.

Xie Bi An's breath hitched.

"Senior brother, senior brother, are you alright? Wake up."

Wu She, this is Wu She.

Xie Bi An embraced Fan Wu She, his body trembling beyond recognition.

"Senior brother, you ..."

"Xiao Jiu." Xie Bi An blurted out these two words and even stunned himself. He shook his head helplessly, tears subsequently surged downwards.

Fan Wu She's expression suddenly changed.

 

 ----

cutting one’s liver and guts into pieces*[肝肠寸断]--- grief-stricken

 

Edited on 17 Apr. 21 (Emzie)

 

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