Ink Blade

Washing Away Mud (part 1)

Mo Ren's pupils shrank in shock, and he couldn't believe his own eyes.

Just at that moment, he finally knew everything, and he found the reason for all the strange things in the past few days. Briefly calling to mind the past events, Chu Yan had really treated him abnormally, Mo Ren was not only shocked, but surprisingly……he could just accept it very quickly.

However——  

Those bizarre, desolate and mixed emotions that had already filled his heart, but before he could sort out these wildly growing vines, they were all shattered into dust under this tear.

...He had never seen Chu Yan cry.

He had known his master's arrogance since he was a child. Chu Yan had always been arrogant and self-sufficient. He never showed any fragile emotions in front of others, let alone wet corners of the eyes.

Whether it was when he was forced to death several times by his brothers and sisters' schemes when he was a child, or when his mother died of illness and the sudden death of his father, or even when Bai Hua was stabbed half to death by his sword that time…..

He had never seen Chu Yan cry.

Mo Ren originally thought that he would never see his master cry in his life. Much less, his master doing it for himself…..

After all, Chu Yan was Chu Yan. Mo Ren couldn't react for a moment on his spot, thus he quickly raised his sleeve to wipe the corners of his eyes, turned his face away coldly, and said in a hoarse voice, "Go."

Mo Ren was startled and subconsciously said urgently, "Master...!"

Chu Yan didn't look at Mo Ren, his jaw was tense, and his expression was dark. He was used to being stubborn, and he really couldn't say anything like "This Master is ashamed to be served by you again" or "This Master doesn't deserve your loyalty and devotion"......but that's exactly what he’s conveying.

"Asking the Master to be merciful!" Mo Ren suddenly took two steps on his knees, stretched out his hand to pull the corner of Chu Yan's clothes, but he didn't dare to be presumptuous, and his hesitant fingers landed into nothing, "Leaving the Jiuzhong Palace, leaving the Master, this subordinate don't know where to……where to go."

Chu Yan pulled off the coat on the head of the bed and put it on, turned around and waved his hands, "You can take away some people in the Jiuzhong Palace. Who do you want to accompany you...... Qiu Jin? Ying Yu? This Master will allow it.”

“.......”

Hearing this, Mo Ren's eyes suddenly became a little crestfallen.

He asked softly, "What about you?”

Chu Yan was stunned.

...If Ah Ren is gone, what about him?

Chu Yan really didn't think about it seriously.

In his previous life, Mo Ren had been with him since he was nine years old, and they had never really been separated. Until later, he fell in love with Bai Hua and went astray, became muddle headed and ignorant and finally made a big mistake.

Now that he was reborn, everything could start all over again. As for the two people who were engraved in the bones and were imprinted in his heart in the previous life, Bai Hua had betrayed him, he would naturally repay his enemies with blood; he owed Mo Ren as well, thus he would like Ah Ren to leave him to live a brighter future.

And in the end, what about the one left in place?

......deserves to be alone.

“This Master..." After a moment of silence, Chu Yan slowly raised his sharp phoenix eyes, sneered, and tapped the corner of the table with his fingers.

"This Master, as the Palace Master of the Jiuzhong Palace, naturally is still respected and supreme, and leads a life in boundless pleasures. Do you still need to worry about it?"

This kind of bravado was already too obvious, and Mo Ren didn't know how to reply for a while. He had no choice but to lower his head and calmly said, "This subordinate doesn't want to leave."

Chu Yan said patiently, "You have to go."

Mo Ren stood up, he turned to the wall and took his own sword hanging there, knelt in front of Chu Yan with both hands, closed his eyes and said, "If the Master insists on abandoning this subordinate…..then please grant him death.”

"You!!" Chu Yan slammed his palm on the table angrily.

Mo Ren still closed his eyes, "This subordinate was indeed useless in the previous life, and provoked the Master to be fed up. Since the Master has abandoned it once, it is also appropriate to not keep this subordinate in this life to increase the Master’s displeasure. It's ju…”

As soon as he said this, before he even had time to say "just", Chu Yan immediately panicked, "This Master doesn’t—This Master doesn’t, that's not what this Master meant!" Annoyed and anxious, he supported Mo Ren with both hands, "How can you say such nonsense......"

Mo Ren immediately lifted his eyes happily, "Then is the Master willing to keep this subordinate?"

Chu Yan pressed his brows, and took a deep breath, "This Master wants to ask you, if this Master was not reborn, if this Master is still infatuated with Bai Hua, what will you do?"

He shook his head self-consciously again, tried his best to restrain his agitated emotions and said, “This Master knows that you want to kill Bai Hua, and then? Willingly accept this Master's anger and die tragically again!?"

"No..." Seeing that he was going to make the master anxious again, Mo Ren hurriedly defended, "This subordinate has no such intention!"

"....." Chu Yan's fingers twitched, and he didn't know what he’s feeling for a moment. He silently said to himself–fortunately, this person wasn't really stupid enough–and lowered his eyes and said in a low voice, "And you.....how about you?"

Mo Ren's face was solemn, and he said very seriously, "This time, this subordinate will kill himself before he could die tragically."

“......”

Chu Yan's blue veins throbbed on his forehead, and when he raised his hand, there was another bang!

This time, the Palace Master of the Jiuzhong Palace was really angry, and the poor table corner was finally smashed into pieces by his palm.

Mo Ren: "....Master,  cease your anger.”

Chu Yan felt like he was going crazy, he really couldn’t understand, "...Why! Why would you rather die than leave, and insist on following this Master!! This was the case in previous lives, will this also be the case in this life!"

Mo Ren went silent for a few breaths.

Then slowly, he fell to his knees again.

The guard in black knelt in front of his master, the pale and delicate young man with his face drooping, and a few strands of black hair fell by his ear.

He looked calm, and his eyes seemed to be hazy with memories. The light-colored lips opened and closed, and then Mo Ren said softly.

"Master…..used to treat this subordinate...very good."

"Master used to…..be very good.”

Chu Yan froze in disbelief.

After a while, he tried to make a self-deprecating laugh, with a trembling voice.

“......What did you say?" 

"This subordinate just feels that..."

Mo Ren also seemed to be hesitating. He tilted his head slightly in confusion, as if he was not sure even himself when he murmured in a low voice.

Thus, that voice that used to be cold and desolate, now contained a bit of softness.

"This subordinate feels that the Master shouldn't be...like that."

Shouldn’t be violent without reason and have fluctuating irritability.

Shouldn’t end up betraying friends and allies and destroying their foundation.