Chapter 98: Master, please, pay attention to me

At the top of the Dead and the Living is a mountain with the amusing name of 'Ahhhhh'.

There are many stories about the origin of the name, the most common one being that it was named "Ahhhhh" because the mountain was so steep that people often fell off it.

But Mo Ran knows otherwise.

It is a mountain that towers above the clouds, where apes and brambles worry, and where snow accumulates at the top all year round, making it extremely cold. If someone dies at the top of the mountain, the coffin will rest here, waiting for the funeral.

Mo Ran has only been here once in her last life.

That time, it was not so different from today. It was the same time when the infernal hell broke open and a bloody battle took countless lives, including Shi Mei's. Unwilling to accept this reality, he knelt by Shi Mei's coffin, looking at her face in the ice coffin as if it were alive, for many days.

"The reason it's called ah-ah-ah, is because that year, your father went away." In a previous life, Xue Zhengyong was by his side, in the cold of Frost Palace, and said this to him.

"I have only one elder brother, and the two of us worked together to create the summit of death and life, but your father, like you, was an extremely capricious man. After enjoying his happiness for a few days, he got tired of it, lost his hand in an encounter with an evil spirit, and left."

The Frost Palace was so cold that Xue Zhengyong brought a jug of soju and smothered it for himself before handing Mo Ran his sheepskin wine bag.

"Here's some for you to drink, but don't tell your aunt."

Mo Ran didn't pick it up and didn't move.

Xue Zhengyong sighed, "This peak, called ah ah ah, is because in those days, I also had a hard time, my heart felt like it had been torn out, and my whole body was on the mountain guarding your father, and I couldn't help crying loudly when I thought of the sadness. It was hard for me to cry, always howling ah-ah-ah, hence the name."

He looked at Mo Ran for a moment and tapped the other man on the shoulder.

"Uncle has not read a few days, but he knows that life is like the morning dew, it is gone in the blink of an eye. Just think of Ming Jing as a step ahead and be a brother again in your next life."

Mo Ran slowly closes her eyes.

Xue Zhengyong said, "All this talk about mourning is just empty words. If you don't want to go, stay here and spend more time with him. But you have to eat and drink. Go to Mengpo Court later and have something to eat before you come back. After that, if you want to kneel, I won't stop you."

Frost Palace is silent and cold, and in the large, cold room, white silk flutters gently, like gentle fingers on the forehead.

Mo Ran slowly opens his eyes.

It is still the same kind of ice coffin as remembered, Kunlun, cast in Xuanxue, its body crystal clear and lingering with wisps of cold air.

Only the person lying in it is Chu Wanning instead.

Mo Ran never thought that Chu Wanning would be the one to die in this life, in this rift.

He was a bit caught off guard and couldn't even react.

Faced with the cold remains of this man, there was actually not much fluctuation, no joy at the death of an enemy or sadness at the immortal death of a master.

Mo Ran looked down at Chu Wanning for a long time, almost suspiciously. The man's face was even thinner than usual, now it was really covered with a layer of frost, even the tightly closed eyelashes were frozen with ice, his lips were blue-white, his skin almost transparent, you could see the pale blue veins, like fine cracks in white porcelain.

How can it be him who walks

Mo Ran raised his hand and touched Chu Wanning's cheek, which was cool to the touch.

All the way down, throat, neck, no pulsation.

In hand again.

He took his hand, his knuckles already a little stiff, but it felt rough.

Mo Ran found it strange that Chu Wanning's hands were always soft and delicate, despite the small calluses on his fingers.

He recalled what Xue Meng had said.

"He is no longer able to use his magic or transmit his voice, so he can only carry you on his back and climb the steps to the top of Death and Life one step at a time."

Unable to hold on, unable to stand up, prostrate on the ground, kneeling and dragging until his ten fingers were worn out and his hands were covered in blood.

Take him home too.

Mo Ran murmured in a daze, "Did you carry me back?"

""

" Chu Wanning, is that you?"

""

"I won't believe you if you don't nod your head yourself." Mo Ran said to the man in the coffin, his face actually calm, as if he was sure that the man in front of him would really wake up, "Chu Wanning, nod your head. If you nod, I'll believe you, I don't hate you anymore, just nod, okay."

But Chu Wanning was still lying there, his face indifferent, his brow cold, as if he didn't care whether Mo Ran hated him or not, and he had left others in the world to worry.

This man, alive or dead, is far more a source of annoyance than of pain.

Mo Ran snorted suddenly, "And so it is." He said, "When have you ever listened to me."

He looked at Chu Wanning and suddenly felt ridiculous.

All this time, he has been angry with Chu Wanning for not looking up to him and for not saving Shi Mei's life back then.

This hatred went on for more than ten years, but then one day he was told

" Chu Wanning turned away then because he didn't want to drag you down."

Suddenly someone told him

"The kanji knot is twin, and as much as you are wounded, so is he."

His spiritual flow is depleted, he is incapable of defending himself, he

Good, that's really good. Chu Wanning is right about everything, what about him?

Blindfolded, ignorant of everything like a fool, played like a clown, grimacing and digging in to hate for so long.

What is it?

A misunderstanding of this kind, if fleeting, is like a clump of dirt that sticks to a wound as it heals, and it is good enough to be caught in time to wash it off and reapply the poultice.

But if it is a misunderstanding that has been renewed for ten or twenty years, the person trapped in the net has invested in this misunderstanding a long time of hate, a long time of caring, a long time of bonding, and even a life.

All these emotions have scabbed over and grown into new flesh and skin, blending completely with the body.

Suddenly someone said, "That's not true, everything is wrong."

So what to do at this point? All the dirt of that time has grown under the skin and been born in the blood with the years.

That's a lot of intact flesh to rip apart to get the ice off.

A year of misunderstandings is a misunderstanding.

A decade of misunderstanding, a wrongdoing.

And from birth to death, a lifetime of misunderstanding, that is life.

Their fate was thin.

The heavy stone doors of the Frost Palace slowly open.

As in his previous life, Xue Zhengyong, carrying a sheepskin sack full of soju, paces heavily up to Mo Ran and sits on the floor next to him.

"I heard that you were here and uncle came to keep you company."

Xue Zhengyong's leopard eyes are also red, showing that he had just cried a short time ago.

"Come and keep him company too."

When Mo Ran didn't say anything, Xue Zhengyong unscrewed the jug and took several gulps before stopping violently, wiping his face and forcing a smile, "Yu Heng was always upset when he saw me drinking in the past, but now, alas, I won't talk about it. I'm not that old, but I've sent one old person after another away. Mo Ran, do you know how it feels?"

""

Mo Ran drops her eyes.

In a previous life, Xue Zhengyong had also asked him this question.

At that time, all he could see was Shi Mei's fading flesh and blood, and he did not understand, nor did he want to understand, what other people's lives or deaths were.

But now, how could he not understand

Before he was reborn, he was all alone in the large Wushan Palace.

One day he woke up from a light sleep and dreamed of his old days under the tutelage of Yu Heng, and when he woke up, he intended to go back to his old bedroom to have a look, but when he pushed the door in, the small disciples' room had been deserted for a long time and the walls were dusty.

He saw a small smoker knocked to the ground, but did not know who had knocked it over and at what time. He picked it up and subconsciously tried to put it back in its original position.

But the years were rushing by, and as he held the small stove, he suddenly froze.

"This cooker, where it was originally placed"

He doesn't remember.

His hawk-like gaze raked over the crowd of people following him, but they all had blurred faces, and he couldn't even tell who was called Zhang San and who was called Li Si.

And they, naturally, did not know where the incense burner from the emperor's teenage years was placed in the room.

"This cooker, where it was originally placed"

He does not remember, and those who can remember such a past are dead and scattered.

How could Mo Ran not understand what Xue Zhengyong was feeling at this moment?

"Sometimes a joke from my youth suddenly comes to mind and I say it unconsciously, only to find that there is no one left who can understand it."

Xue Zhengyong takes another sip of wine and smiles down.

"Your father, those former fellow soldiers, your mentor."

He shattered the light and asked, " Mo Ran, do you know why this peak is called Ahhhhhhh"

Mo Ran understood what he was going to say, but he was too distracted to listen to Xue Zhengyong talk about his late father, so he said, "I know. My uncle cried here."

"Ah," Xue Zhengyong froze and blinked slowly, a deep mark at the end of his eyes, "Your aunt told you that."

"Hmm."

Xue Zhengyong wiped his eyes and took a deep breath, "Okay, okay, then you know, what uncle wants to say to you is that it's okay to cry if it's hard. There is no shame in a man's tears for a gentleman."

Mo Ran did not shed any tears, perhaps because he had been through two lives and his heart was as hard as iron, and he was now so calm compared to the heartbreak of Shi Mei's death. So calm that his heart even jumped at his own numbness. He had no idea that he was so cold.

After drinking and sitting withered for a while, Xue Zhengyong rises, not knowing whether it is because his legs are numb from kneeling for so long or because he has had too much to drink and is stumbling slightly.

He clapped his broad hand on Mo Ran's shoulder: "The rift in the sky has been mended, but who is behind it is yet to be discovered. Maybe this will go away, or maybe there will be a second battle soon. Mo Ran, it's almost time to go down to the mountain and eat something, don't starve yourself."

With that, he turned and walked away.

It is night time, and the moon is high outside Frost Palace. Xue Zhengyong is treading on the snow that never melts, carrying half a jug of wine and singing a short song from the Middle Shu Area in a raspy voice.

"I worshipped my old friend, half a ghost, but now we can drink together in a drunken stupor. Under the cinnamon tree, we drink together, our faces decaying and our temples already spotted. My dreams are shattered, and I am abandoned to my old age and tears. May I add to my life with the Duke of Zhou, and let you return with your wine in your arms."

In the end, it was not Shi Mei who died, but Chu Wanning, so Xue Zhengyong will have more emotions.

With his back to the open doors of Frost Palace, Mo Ran listened to the long, raspy cry of a manly, yet forlorn voice. The sound of the song is like a vulture moving away, eventually swallowed up by the snow and wind.

The sky and the earth are white, the moon is high and the people are small, and everything is washed away very, very lightly, except for the phrase, "back and forth.

"Abandon my old body to tears abandon my old body to tears"

It was some time before Mo Ran slowly made his way down to Frost Palace.

My uncle was right. The rift in the sky may be mended, but things may not stop there. Chu Wanning is no longer with us, and if there is another battle, he will be left to fight it on his own.

When we arrived at Mengpo Court, it was late and there was no one there except the old woman who was cooking the midnight snack.

Mo Ran ordered a bowl of noodles and found a seat in the corner to eat it slowly. The noodles are spicy and warm in the stomach. As he swallows, he looks up and sees the dim lights of Mengpo Court in the dense heat, a blurred image.

In his last life, after Shi Mei's death, he was far more capricious than he is now, refusing to leave for three days and nights and not eating.

When I was finally persuaded to leave Frost Palace to get something to eat, I saw Chu Wanning's busy back in the kitchen. The man was clumsily rolling out the dough, mixing the fillings, with flour and water on the counter and rows of dumplings neatly laid out.

"Clang."

The contents of the table were swept off, the tyrannical sound coming through the rolling dust of the past. The sound of the tyrannical voice came through the dust of the past, making it difficult for Mo Ran to throw his hands in the air and eat.

He felt at the time that Chu Wanning was taunting him and was unkindly trying to sting him.

But when I think about it now, perhaps Chu Wanning was just trying to cook another bowl of cod roe for Shi Mei, who was already dead.

"What are you? You're worthy of the things he used and the dishes he made. Shi Mei is dead, are you satisfied? Do you have to drive all your disciples to death and madness before you're satisfied Chu Wanning No one else in the world can make that bowl of chuanshu, even if you imitate it, you can't be like him"

The word cones.

He didn't want to think about it anymore and he ate his noodles.

But how can he be left to his own devices? Memories will not be spared.

More than ever he recalls Chu Wanning's face, without joy or sorrow, and he recalls every detail of that time more clearly than ever.

Think of a light tremor on the tips of your fingers, a little crumb of flour on the side of your cheek.

Think of the full, snowy white coppers rolling all over the floor.

Think of Chu Wanning dropping her eyes, leaning over and slowly picking up food that is no longer edible and dumping it with her own hands.

Pour it out with your own hands.

There is still most of the bowl of small pea noodles left.

Mo Ran could not eat any more. He pushed the noodle bowl away and fled from the place that would drive him mad. He ran away from the top of the deadly life, like he wanted to leave behind all the misunderstandings of the past ten years, like he wanted to catch up with the man who had left Mengpo Court alone.

Catch up with him and say a word.

"I'm sorry, I hated you wrong."

Mo Ran runs through the darkness in a disorderly manner, running but everywhere Chu Wanning's shattered figure is found. The Terrace of Good and Evil, teaching him to read and practice his sword. Naihe Bridge, holding an umbrella with him, walking with him. The Temple of Green Heaven, where he was chastised with a cane and walked alone.

He grew more and more desolate and helpless in the night.

Suddenly, I ran to a clear spot and suddenly felt the clouds clearing and the moon hanging high.

Mo Ran gasps for breath and stops in his tracks.

Tongtian Tower

The place where he died in a previous life, the place where he first met Chu Wanning.

His heart is beating like a drum, his eyes are filled with horses and soldiers, and he is chased by a tidal wave of the past, unable to fight or hide, and finally forced to come here.

When the moon is white and the wind is clear, when we first meet you.

Mo Ran finally stopped running, knowing that there was no way he could escape and that he was doomed to owe Chu Wanning his whole life.

He walked slowly up the steps and under the begonia tree, which was still winding down. Reaching out, he brushed his hand over the dry boils, hard as the calluses of his heart.

By this time, nearly three days had passed since Chu Wanning's death.

Mo Ran tilted his head, and suddenly saw the flowering trees gentle and vaguely like old times. It was only then that a sudden surge of endless sorrow came over him, and he pressed his forehead against the trunk of the tree, finally losing his voice and weeping like tears.

"Master, Master," he murmured chokingly, repeating under his breath the same words he had used when he had first met Chu Wanning, "You pay attention to me, okay you pay attention to me"

But things have changed and he is the only one left in front of Tongtian Tower, no one cares about him and no one comes back.

He has seen so much life and death, so many sorrows and sorrows, that since his resurrection, he has not been able to reveal his true feelings of joy and sorrow, but has always been covered by a false face.

But at this moment, such confusion and pain suddenly spread across his face, naked, childish, pure and youthful.

Only at this moment did he truly look like a plain boy who had lost his master, like a child who had been abandoned, like a lonely dog who had lost his home and could never find his way back.

He said, "You pay attention to me.

You'll see

But, in the end, all he got in response was the hovering leaves and the shadows of the flowers.

But the man with the beautiful eyes beneath the begonias will never, ever look up at him again, not even for one last time.