Cen Ji asked, "Why?"
Wen Moyin said, "Because of me."
Because of the silent chanting? Cen Ji thought and thought.
He didn't know if it was because he couldn't figure out the reason, or because he didn't want to think about it.
In short, he had no choice.
Because this is a mission.
It was an unnamed small town.
Cen Ji stood at the entrance of the town. This town was exactly the same as when he last came here.
Everyone was busy with their own things, and no one paid any attention to Cen Ji, as if he were just one of the thousands of trees in the Azure Phoenix Forest.
When they passed through the Azure Phoenix Forest, the phoenix did not appear.
Phoenix did not appear, and that red figure was even less likely to appear.
Cen Ji was somewhat disappointed.
He forgot when it started, but he began to miss that touch of crimson.
A clanging sound came from the blacksmith shop at the east end of town, which could be clearly heard even by Cen Ji, who was at the west end of town.
I remember buying a dagger at that shop last time. That dagger once pierced a thin shoulder. When it was pulled out, the blood clinging to the blade looked like withered branches outlined by a fine brush, slowly turning from a glaring bright red to an old, dark purple.
Cen Ji felt he was having some difficulty breathing and needed to gulp down large mouthfuls of hot air to gradually calm his chaotic thoughts.
"What’s wrong with you?"
Cen Ji turned his head and saw Mo Sheng sitting on the steps in front of a shop that had not yet opened, his arms empty; the rag doll with its stitches coming undone was nowhere to be seen.
Cen Ji curled his lips into a smile: "What are you doing sitting here all by yourself?"
Mo Sheng said, "Wait."
Cen Ji asked, "Waiting for what?"
Mo Sheng said, "Wait for my doll to come back."
Cen Ji walked over to him and sat down next to him. He had never dared to look Mo Sheng in the eye, not because he was afraid, but because of a sentence Mo Sheng had uttered before leaving.
She said the way to break the soul-capturing spell is that when Mo Sheng casts the spell on you, you only need to ask yourself what is truly in your heart, without holding back in the slightest.
She added that those who outwardly comply but inwardly defy will face certain death.
Everyone has a dark corner in their heart, never seeing the light of day, even as they are buried and eventually decay in the soil.
Cen Ji was the same. He rarely examined his conscience, never reflecting on himself daily. Because he believed that as a bodyguard, he was unworthy.
Therefore, when he faces, or is about to face, the soul-stealing technique, he will unconsciously flee from the clutches that are trying to steal his true heart.
Mo Sheng sat quietly with his knees drawn up to his chest, staring intently at Cen Ji's expression the entire time.
"Why aren't you looking at me?" Mo Sheng asked.
Cen Ji glanced at him unconsciously; that glance was as fleeting as a flash of light, dying before it could bloom.
"You know soul-capturing magic." Cen Ji felt there was no need to hide it.
"Yes," Mo Sheng said. "So you don't dare look at me?"
Cen Ji nodded.
"You're a coward."
Cen Ji was taken aback.
"Those who dare not look at me are those who dare not face their true selves."
Cen Ji never imagined that these words would come from a six or seven-year-old boy.
Mo Sheng snorted lightly: "Don't look at me like that. I'm already ten years old. I was born prematurely and am congenitally weak."
Cen Ji was very surprised.
"Miss Wen sent you, didn't she?"
Cen Ji nodded.
She's testing your true feelings, isn't she?
Hadn't she already tested him? Cen Ji's eyes darkened, and he felt inexplicably exhausted.
"She must want you to break my soul-capturing spell so that she can help you become the master of Kongshan and marry you."
Cen Ji found the boy increasingly terrifying, and he unconsciously began to scrutinize Mo Sheng, as if he suspected that he was a demon disguised as a child.
Mo Sheng ignored Cen Ji's sidelong glance and slowly said, "No one in the world can break the Soul-Capturing Technique."
Cen Ji said, "There is no shield in the world that cannot be pierced."
Mo Sheng added, "There is no spear in the world that can pierce through everything."
Cen Ji gave a bitter smile. If he were a spear, he wasn't a good one. The blacksmith must have been dozing off while forging him.
Cen Jiyan then asked, "Why don't you go to the Azure Phoenix Forest to find Huang?"
Mo Sheng said, "I don't want to."
Cen Ji asked in surprise, "She's your mother?"
Mo Sheng said, "I don't need a mother."
Cen Ji said, "Huang must miss you very much."
Mo Sheng said, "That's her business."
Cen Ji shook his head, a soft sigh slipping from the corner of his mouth.
"I heard that Huang has a companion. A sister named Ban Lan." Mo Sheng turned his head, his dark eyes reflecting Cen Ji's somewhat absent-minded expression.
Banlan, Banlan, did you still choose to go to Qingluan Forest?
Cen Ji unconsciously looked into the distance.
It was a lush, verdant forest called Qingluan.
Soul Capture (Minor Editing)
As noon approached, fine beads of sweat appeared on Cen Ji's forehead.
Mo Sheng still looked at Cen Ji, "Ban Lan will stay with Huang in Qingluan Forest for the rest of her life, until Huang dies."
Cen Ji knew.
Because those promises were made to his face.
"Don't you think that Banlan's choice was entirely because of you?" Mo Sheng's voice lingered in her ears, like wisps of rising heat, making Cen Ji even more restless.
"Mo Sheng!" Cen Ji turned around abruptly, meeting Mo Sheng's seemingly innocent and harmless eyes.
"Are you angry?" Mo Sheng pouted, looking exactly like the little bear that used to lie in his arms.
Cen Ji looked at Mo Sheng, and it seemed as if he had instantly transformed from a bodyguard into an eight- or nine-year-old child. The anger that had been aroused in Cen Ji vanished in an instant, replaced by a barely audible sigh.
Cen Ji admitted that he owed Ban Lan a debt, but he had no way to repay it.
"Why do you, a mere child, concern yourself with so much?" A hint of sadness flickered between Cen Ji's brows.
Mo Sheng sneered, "Since I was born, I've seen more of this kind of thing than you have in your entire life."
The entanglement between the phoenix and the dragon should never involve the child. Cen Ji sighed inwardly, her gaze towards Mo Sheng filled with pity. Mo Sheng, however, utterly loathed this pity; his small pupils were filled with mockery and disdain.
Cen Ji felt a little irritated and wanted to look away and look elsewhere.
Suddenly, he found that his gaze seemed to be locked, firmly fixed on Mo Sheng's pupils.
Oh no, a soul-capturing spell!
Cen Ji felt a chill run down his spine.
"Brother Cen." Mo Sheng's voice was not seductive, but it carried a calm and tranquil aura, which gradually calmed Cen Ji's heart, which had been clenched.
"Brother Cen, why don't you marry Sister Banlan?" Mo Sheng looked up, his small face with delicate features, and his ambiguous smile resembled that of Huang.
Why? Is it because you don't love me, or because you can't?
Cen Ji stared intently at Mo Sheng, his expression blank.
Mo Sheng saw a struggle in Cen Ji's eyes. He raised an eyebrow and leaned closer to Cen Ji. "Brother Cen, why aren't you saying anything?"
After a long while, Cen Ji's thin lips, which had been tightly closed, suddenly uttered a single word: "No..."
Mo Sheng frowned: "What do you mean?"
"No..." It was that same word, simple, yet it left Mo Sheng completely bewildered.
Is it a lack of love, or an inability to love?
Mo Sheng said, "Brother Cen, if you want to live, answer my questions seriously, otherwise you will die bleeding from all seven orifices."
Cen Ji remained silent. He still wore a blank expression, but in his eyes, a hint of unwilling struggle flickered.
What was there to be resentful about? Mo Sheng couldn't figure it out. Was it really that difficult to lay himself bare for others to see?
Mo Sheng was a little angry. He gritted his teeth and repeated, "Why don't you marry Ban Lan?"
Cen Ji's straight back swayed slightly, his expression stiff as death.