Unrestrained Heart

Chapter 24

several days ago at Mo Village

Mo Xuanyu scurries back into a corner as the door of his shabby room is kicked in. He curls up there, trying to make himself as small as possible as if he could hide from this invader.

Mo Ziyuan wrinkles his nose, "What a pigsty this place is. Smells like one too." He says contemptuously. "It suits you, cousin."

The men he brought with him laugh at his joke as if it's the funniest thing they have ever heard.

Mo Ziyuan turns to the servants and says, "Break everything, if there is anything still left in this room to break." Then he walks over to Mo Xuanyu and kicks him in the ribs. "What did you tell Jin-gongzi when he visited huh? Did you tell him we were mistreating you?"

The kick knocked the breath out of Mo Xuanyu but he manages to cry, "Nothing, I didn't say anything." It's true Yao-er-ge had done all the talking. Mo Xuanyu had only hidden in the corner, listening, afraid that his brother was angry with him. That he would hurt him like he hurt their father. Yao-er-ge's words had been surprisingly gentle; he had just told Mo Xuanyu there was a way he could get out of this painful life and exact his revenge at the same time. His brother had made the idea sound extremely appealing, but Mo Xuanyu didn't trust Yao-er-ge. Not anymore.

So his brother had left him with a couple items and whispered instructions in his ear. Everyone says that Mo Xuanyu is insane, but as soon as his brother had left, he considered burning the things he had left behind. Instead, he had found a loose floorboard and hidden them, knowing if he didn't his cousin would find them and take them.

It seems that Yao-er-ge had gone to the family after he left Mo Xuanyu and said he had complained about his treatment at the hands of the Mo family. Mo Xuanyu knows he didn't do this out of concern for his younger brother, but to push Mo Xuanyu to do as he had instructed.

If Mo Xuanyu doesn't comply this time, his brother will come back until he can't take any more abuse. Yao-er-ge is smart, he can force Mo Xuanyu without ever getting his hands dirty.

The thing is Mo Xuanyu wants to do it, he wants to make the Mo family pay even if he has to sacrifice himself to do it.

Mo Ziyuan and his servant A-Tong take turns kicking and hitting Mo Xuanyu while the other servants search the house. When the servants only manage to turn up some of Mo Xuanyu's notes, Mo Ziyuan spits on the floor next to Mo Xuanyu's head. "Just remember whose house you are staying in, and whose rice you eat. Your mother was nothing, but a servant and you are only a bastard. Don't get high ideas." He turns and motions for the servants to follow him.

Mo Xuanyu coughs up a mouth full of blood. He thinks his cousin may have broken something this time, and his spiritual energy isn't developed enough to heal easily. He can summon the low-level walking corpses to bother the family, but nothing more.

He tries to stand but falls back, so he crawls over to where he has hidden the things his brother left. He pulls up the floorboard and takes out the qiankun pouch and instructions to perform the ritual.

He can't open the pouch, it is sealed, intended for someone else, so he just lays it to the side. He cuts his palm and uses the blood to draw the array and hanging talismans. He sits cross legged in the array and says the words that will exchange his soul for another's.

"Xu Yang. Kill them, kill them all." Mo Xuanyu says after many hours of murmuring the rites of the ritual. The man who opens his eyes is no longer the cowed Mo Xuanyu, but someone whose eyes seem to sparkle with eternal mirth. "Gladly," he seems to answer himself.

Mo Xuanyu grins and opens the qiankun pouch. His smile widens when he takes out a broken piece of metal. So, Jin Guangyao had finally managed to find it. Now he could restore it, but he needs a large amount of resentful energy. Luckily, he now has an entire village at his disposal. He also finds a bag of candy. Jin-gongzi knows him so well.