He walked forward.
Each step felt like intagible hands ripping into his organs, wildly plundering his body for blood and vitality. His spiritual energy had already been almost completely consumed by the jade scrolls, but that light was still so far away from him.
So far away that it seemed like the Gu Mang of eight years ago, a shabby cloth sack on his back, holding his sworn brother's head, leaving in the setting sun, in the sorrowful lotus song of that old beggar.
---- "Now that my prime has come to an end, how can I keep my dignity, my friends have left me like a useless dog. I have no porridge in the day and no sleep at night, forced to sing the lotus songs on the street. Who can bear the two parts of life, I don't blame my parents nor the heavens. Knowing of this end, I regret making friends with demons then. Now that nothing can be done, I beg all of you, don't repeat my destiny!"
Turns out... that was not a traitor's retreating back.
But a hero's farewell.
Gu Mang stood on the Chonghua Bridge, turning back to look over the capital city. He murmured, knowing that he was going to go fight a battle no one would help him on, and enter a fray mottled with blood and flesh.
He knew he was heading towards hell.
And softly said, goodbye.
