Chapter 45: I knew you would come

Xue Meng shouted angrily into the air, "God of Heaven, are you blind? Are we trespassing?

Shi Mei said, "It's no use, it's the sound he left behind, he's not here at all. I think the fake Gouchen has confused Pinching Willow's judgement and made him think we are trespassers with bad intentions."

The voice continued.

"Those who are worthy of a divine weapon in this world must understand what it means to be benevolent, what it means to be tough, not to sink into illusory dreams and not to lose one's wits. Now that you are here, you will be tested by me. If you pass the test, you will be fine and the Shenwu will be presented to you, but if you are selfish and self-serving, if you are not hard-hearted, you are not worthy to be the masters of the Shenwu."

Chu Wanning's bloodstained lips opened and closed as he said, "How kind to take a man for a blood drop, is that what you call kindness?"

He knew that Gouchen Shanggong couldn't hear him, but he couldn't help but be angry, even though he was breathing heavily with every word, causing more pain in his wounds, and he couldn't keep his mean mouth shut.

The voice continues to echo through the Shenwu Arsenal: "To test the mind. You will be plunged into the beautiful dream of Pinching Willow. If you do not awaken from the illusion in time, the blood of your companions will be spilled and you will be buried here."

All three of them smiled, their blood fading away.

Shi Mei muttered, "What"

It means that the three of them are about to fall into a hallucinatory dream.

If they don't come to their senses in time, will the three of them spend eternity in a dream, leaving Mo Ran to bleed to death in reality?

Xue Meng was dumbfounded for a moment before shouting angrily, "What kind of immortal are you? If immortality is cultivated as you are, I won't even bother to touch a sword again in my life"

Chu Wanning also raged: "It's ridiculous."

"Master," Shi Mei said, urging him on, "Don't be angry, be careful of your wounds."

And Gouchen Shanggong, the grandson, even recited a poem at that moment, saying slowly: "The water is set on a level ground, each flows from east to west, north to south. Life has a destiny, so how can we sit in sorrow and drink wine to relieve ourselves, but it is difficult to raise a glass to break the song. My heart is not made of wood and stone, so I swallow my voice and do not dare to speak."

Xue Meng was so angry that she was about to faint: "What are you talking about?"

Shi Mei says: "Bao Zhaoge's poem is about the difficulty of walking on the road, which means that each person has his or her own destiny, so how can one feel sorry for oneself and use wine to relieve oneself, and the song is interrupted by wine. The human heart is not stubborn, so how can it be completely devoid of emotion, wanting to speak but not to stop, wanting to speak but not to rest."

Gouchen Shanggong let out a long sigh and said, "In this vast world, how many people can give up their life's dream to help others in the world of killing and fighting? If Shenwu falls into the hands of the treacherous, it will be my fault, and how can I forgive myself for the sin of creating the blade?"

Suddenly, the Shenwu Arsenal went dark. The pieces of the casting that were flying through the air stopped running. A shimmering light slowly came on in the dome, as if starbursts of colour were gradually trickling down to the ground.

A voice in the air murmurs, "Sleep."

The soft, crystalline light seemed to have some kind of mind-bending effect, and Shi Mei and Xue Meng, who were not well trained, soon fell into unconsciousness.

"Sleep over"

Chu Wanning gritted his teeth and fought back, but the power of the Gods of the Beginning was so vast that he could not escape the drowsiness that came over him and he fell into a dream.

Shenwu Arsenal.

As a blood drop, Mo Ran is the only one awake, coughing up blood, and through the weakening waterfall, he can dimly see the three men behind him, caught in a hallucinatory dream.

Chu Wanning, Shi Mei and Xue Meng have all fallen asleep.

Mo Ran heard Gouchen's words and knew that only if one of them woke up in time could the spell be broken and he could be saved.

But little by little, time passes, the mind grows dizzy and the body grows cold. But no one woke up from the dream.

In a previous life, he had done this to Chu Wanning, and in this life, he felt what it was like to have his blood drained away.

What a laugh.

Who among them could give up the best dream of their lives, the thing they wanted most, to come and save him

Xue Meng was never going to be possible.

Chu Wanning: I don't think about him.

If so, that person, too, would be Shi Mei.

He thought vaguely. But too much blood had been lost, and consciousness was on the verge of failing to support him.

Mo Ran glanced down at his feet, where the blood that had leaked to the bottom of the brass dripper was diluted by the water in the funnel, glowing in pale red waves.

Suddenly he wondered what he would have seen if he had fallen into Gouchen's vision.

Will he not dream of crystal-clear codpiece, Shi Mei's gentle smile, Chu Wanning's praise, and the wind-blown begonias that filled the hills when he first came to the top of the Dead?

" Mo Ran "

Suddenly, he heard someone calling himself.

Mo Ran still hung his head, thinking that he should be so close to losing his mind that he was already hallucinating.

" Mo Ran ."

" Mo Ran "

Not an illusion

He snapped his face up.

The scene in front of him caused his pupils to close suddenly

He nearly hissed, " Shi Mei "

Yes Shi Mei

He who wakes up, leaving behind beauty and happiness, still remembers his people in the midst of all things as they are.

It's Shi Mei!

Mo Ran looked across the waterfall at the frail young man walking towards him and suddenly a lump caught in his throat.

" Shi Mei You"

It was hard to know what to say. Mo Ran closed her eyes and said hoarsely.

"Thank you for remembering me in your good dreams."

Shi Mei wades in, her clothes soaked to the skin, her brow darkened, her features as gentle as when Mo Ran first saw him, as gentle as the ones he had seen in his dreams many times in his previous life, as gentle as the ones he remembers when he is cold all over.

Shi Mei said, "Don't be silly and say thank you."

As he approached, Mo Ran realised that both his feet were bleeding.

The ground had become hot at some point and Gouchen Shanggong seemed determined to test how far a man could go for his fellow man, so the lure of the dream was followed by the torture.

Shi Mei's boots had been burned through, and if he did not walk, the ground remained as it always did, but if he insisted on moving forward, with every step he took, a cluster of heavenly fire would arise beneath his feet, not hot enough to burn a man outright into immobility, but painful enough to be absolutely excruciating.

But this gentle man, who was clearly in so much pain himself already, took one step towards him with an ever more determined gaze in the midst of a glance.

" Mo Ran, just bear with me a little longer."

He said.

"I'll get you down in a minute."

When she caught his eye, Mo Ran knew she didn't have to say "Don't come any closer".

The man's gaze was too determined and stoic.

He had never seen such a look on Shi Mei's face before.

If Mo Ran had been in a more settled mood, he would have thought something was fishy.

Shi Mei always called herself "Mo Ran", when did she ever call him Mo Ran?

He only thinks that Shi Mei is good to him, but he doesn't realize that the person standing in front of him is not Shi Mei, but

It's Chu Wanning.

The last skill of the ancient willow is called heart picking.

The so-called heart-picking is the exchange of hearts and minds between people.

When Chu Wanning breaks free from his dream and awakens, he finds that he and Shi Mei have switched hearts with each other. Under Pinching Willow's spell, his consciousness had been transferred into Shi Mei's body, and I assume Shi Mei had done the same. But Shi Mei did not wake up, so she was unaware that she had switched bodies.

Chu Wanning is too late to explain, and Mo Ran, who is oblivious to the truth, really believes that the person in front of him is Shi Mei.

He felt that Shi Mei would have been able to endure the pain, just as he could not forget his goodness even after his own death. People are very stubborn.

But it's too cruel.

When Chu Wanning finally reached the bronze driphole and climbed the towering willow to rescue Mo Ran, it suddenly sprouted a thin, flaming thorn.

Chu Wanning was not expecting this, and when his hand was suddenly stung by a hot spike, he tried to climb on it, but Shi Mei's body was not well built and he slipped, the flesh of his hand instantly being melted away by the sharp spike.

""

Chu Wanning cursed and grimaced in pain.

Shi Mingjing This broken shell

Mo Ran: " Shi Mei "

Chu Wanning fell to his knees, his flesh instantly scorched by the heat that touched the ground, but his brow furrowed and he inertially bit his lip without shouting.

Such a look would have looked stubborn and cruel on his own face, but on Shi Mei's soft face, it was flattering and pitiful.

One really can't compete with people.

" Shi Mei "

Mo Ran opened her mouth, but tears flowed down her face.

His heart cut like a knife. In his dense and blurred vision, he saw the thin and thin body of the man, so frail, but little by little, clutching the vine willow and slowly climbing upwards.

Fine thorns pierced his hand, and the fire burned the bone and blood.

Bright red stained the area, and everywhere it passed, it was flecked with blood.

Mo Ran closed her eyes, her voice was bloodied and her voice choked with each word.

" Shi Mei "

The man was close enough that Mo Ran saw a flash of bitterness in his eyes; he seemed to be in real pain, and even Mo Ran's voice was a torture to him.

So the man in front of him, stubborn as he was, had a gaze that could almost be called pleading.

"Don't call me again."

""

" Mo Ran, just wait a minute, I'll get you down"

Almost as soon as the words were spoken, a tough light rose up under his eyes, like a sheathed blade, and on that gentle face, which was used to being gentle, it was indescribably beautiful.

Chu Wanning's robe rolls and surges, his hair and feet leap onto the brass dripper.

His face was as thin as gold paper and he was shaking like a dead man, except that he was still breathing.

In that moment, Mo Ran felt she would have been better off bleeding dry and dying than putting him through such suffering.

His throat was all fractured, "I'm sorry."

Chu Wanning knew that the apology was not for himself. He wanted to explain, but caught a glimpse of the silver-blue sword of Gouchen Shanggong, stabbed right between Mo Ran's chest and ribs, where the source of the vine chakra's spiritual energy might have come from. Fearing that Mo Ran would be more seriously injured in his surprise, he asked, still in his " Shi Mei ".

" Mo Ran, do you trust me?"

"I believe you." There was no hesitation.

Chu Wanning lifted the curtain of his eyes and looked at him, gripping the hilt of his sword, which was close to his heart, and if he was not careful, Mo Ran would die.

"" Chu Wanning's hand shook a little, holding, but not moving.

Mo Ran's eyes were still red, but she suddenly smiled: " Shi Mei ."

"Hmm."

Mo Ran said, "I'm not going to die."

"No."

"If I'm going to die, can I hold you for a while?"

He said this with care, his eyes shining with a wet light. Chu Wanning's heart softened instantly.

Yet this softness, at the thought of Mo Ran seeing another person in her eyes, immediately freezes into ice.

He suddenly felt as if he was an insignificant clown on the stage, hidden behind the water-sleeved clouds of the green-clad flower girl, and no one noticed him.

He is redundant in this touching and heartfelt repertoire.

Or perhaps the only use for it is to wear the ugly face, the smile made of ink, to set off others' happiness, sorrow, love, hate and sorrow.

How ridiculous.

Unaware of this, Mo Ran saw the twinkle in Chu Wanning's eyes and thought it was Shi Mei's reluctance, saying immediately, "Just a hug. Just a little bit."

A faint, imperceptible sigh.

"Actually, I."

Mo Ran: "What"

"Never mind." Chu Wanning said, "It's nothing."

He leaned over, not particularly close for fear of moving the sword, then he reached out and gently closed his hand around Mo Ran's shoulder.

He heard Mo Ran whisper in his ear, " Shi Mei, thank you for waking up, thank you for remembering me in your good dreams."

Chu Wanning lowered his eyes, his eyelashes fluttering like butterflies, and then he smiled lightly, "No thanks."

After a pause, he added, " Mo Ran ."

"Hmm."

Chu Wanning, as if still in a dream, embraced him, stroked his hair and sighed softly, "Do you know that if a dream is too good to be true, it often isn't?"

He said this and the hug was as quick as a dragonfly.

Mo Ran raised his eyes, not really understanding Shi Mei's meaning, but knowing that this little hug was a kind gesture from Shi Mei to give him sweets.

Sweet and sour, with a hint of astringency as it rubs against the base of the tongue.

The moment the sword was struck, blood flew like a begonia whipped off by a fierce wind.

Mo Ran felt a sharp pain in her heart and thought for a moment that she was going to die, and with a mixture of resignation, she suddenly blurted out, "Shi Mei, I have always loved you very much. What about you?"

As the sword fell to the ground, the vine and willow scattered in an instant, the rushing waterfall from the vault of heaven came to a screeching halt, and Shenwu Arsenal was suddenly silent again.

I have always been particularly fond of you.

What about you?

The body was at its limit and Mo Ran felt a violent blackness before her eyes.

The moment he fell, he was caught by a pair of bloodstained hands and fell into Shi Mei's arms. I don't know if it was an illusion or not, but Mo Ran saw Shi Mei's eyes slowly closing with a thin frown, and water seemingly cascading from her eyes.

It was as if he heard Shi Mei whisper, "Me too."

Mo Ran :""

I think it was a hallucination, but why else would Shi Mei, who looked so sad, have promised him.

"I love you too."

Consciousness finally dissipated and Mo Ran fell into a coma.