THIS WAS INDEED the right direction. The silver needle gleamed brighter with every step Mo Xi took.
Mo Xi stopped before a servant's cramped quarters and slowed his quickened breath. He lifted pale and slender fingers and found that the ring's needle had reverted once again to the soaring snake pattern. Gu Mang was inside.
If Gu Mang was drugged, then the strongest urge in his heart right now would, inevitably, be lust, and this room…
Mo Xi swallowed. This room…was where he and Gu Mang had shared most of their trysts.
In those days, Murong Lian had been shamelessly despicable. After their first great battle, he claimed credit for all of Gu Mang's battlefield achievements, and the emperor had lavished rewards upon him while Gu Mang remained a nameless little slave in Wangshu Manor.
Given the sprawling vastness of the noble estates, Mo Xi and Gu Mang hadn't been able to meet once since returning from the battlefield. Mo Xi held back and endured quietly as one month passed, then two… Until finally, he could endure no longer. It seemed that Gu Mang couldn't come visit him, so Mo-gongzi donned a grim expression and deigned to pay Wangshu Manor a visit.
At first, he intended to use the excuse of discussing military matters with Murong Lian to catch a glimpse of Gu Mang. However, the housekeeper said that Murong Lian was cultivating in seclusion at the practice field; he wouldn't emerge for a while yet.
"If Mo-gongzi doesn't mind, why not take a stroll in the back gardens? We can arrange for an attendant to come with you."
"Then please ask Gu Mang to come along," Mo Xi replied with complete poise. "We're more or less acquaintances."
This request was not an unreasonable one. Gu Mang happened to be free, so the housekeeper sent for him. When Gu Mang entered the great hall and laid eyes on Mo Xi, he was struck somewhat dumb.
Mo-gongzi and Murong-gongzi mixed as poorly as water with fire. Mo Xi gracing Wangshu Manor with his presence was more shocking than a visit from His Elderliness the emperor himself.
"Shaozhu won't come out for another two hours yet. You must accompany Mo-gongzi on a stroll through the manor grounds," the housekeeper instructed Gu Mang.
A pause. "Of course…" he replied.
Mo Xi glanced at him, then lightly looked away.
Wangshu Manor consisted of seven compounds; the first five bustled with activity, while the last two were reserved for gardening and the cultivation of spiritual herbs. Rarely did any servants go back there.
Gu Mang followed Mo Xi as they walked from the front courtyard to the back. Along the way, he played tour guide for Wangshu Manor's scenery and described the layout of the grounds.
They acted overly distant and courteous with each other, to the point that no guards or servants who passed noticed anything unusual about their conduct. Only Mo Xi knew his own impatience.
He wanted very much to talk to Gu Mang alone. He wanted to look into his eyes and devour this man—who still belonged to Murong Lian— with his bare hands, without leaving a drop of blood or scrap of bone.
But he had to hold on.
"To the left is the qin room, where the young master plays in his leisure hours. There's a five-stringed jiaowei qin made from the wood of a foxglove tree, left by the old master…"
As they walked ever farther into the gardens and the passersby grew ever rarer, Mo Xi's heart began burning hotter, as if even his blood had been set aflame.
When they stepped into a medicine garden, they were finally entirely alone.
"There are seven hundred and sixty-five types of medicinal herbs in the garden," Gu Mang said, "including—"
What they included would remain a mystery, because the Young Master Mo in front of Gu Mang suddenly stopped in his tracks. Gu Mang didn't notice and kept walking, bumping straight into his broad back.
Mo Xi turned to gaze wordlessly at him.
"What's up?" Gu Mang asked hesitantly.
"Don't you…" Mo Xi's expression was wooden. Clearly, he craved and adored Gu Mang beyond measure, but when Mo Xi stood before Gu Mang and his nonchalant gaze, he found himself woefully unsure. Unable to take the hit to his pride, he stiffly finished, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
Gu Mang muttered something to himself, then rubbed his nose and smiled. "Long time no see, Gongzi?"
Mo Xi said nothing.
"Hey, don't glare at me. You know I'm pretty busy. I have to wipe tables, chop firewood, and catch garden pests. All of those things are super important…"
The expression on Mo Xi's face worsened; he looked as if he'd been poisoned by his own rage.
But at the time, Gu Mang hadn't confirmed they were in any kind of real relationship. In the field, Gu Mang had shamelessly said that this kind of thing was normal—as young men, they shouldn't take sleeping together too seriously.
Now this young man's heart was about to give out thanks to this old scoundrel. And somehow, that scoundrel was still rambling here and chattering there about his "important responsibilities" at Wangshu Manor— as if his lordship the young master of the Mo Clan was less significant than one of Murong-gongzi's damn tables. It made Mo Xi want to hurl a fireball into Murong Lian's desk. Then they'd see what Gu Mang could wipe!
Gu Mang went on and on about Murong-gongzi's high standards for his desk—how you had to be able to see your reflection in the sandalwood surface. Halfway through his next sentence, the world spun, and by the time he came back to his senses, Mo Xi had pinned him to the wall.
"You…" Gu Mang began.
You what? Gu Mang didn't get to finish. Mo Xi kept him trapped with his body, that cool, elegant face tilting closer as one of his hands curled around Gu Mang's waist and the other lifted to press against the wall by his face. Mo Xi dipped his head and firmly sealed Gu Mang's rambling mouth with his own.
Mo Xi kissed Gu Mang forcefully, as if he wanted to bring all his desire crashing down upon the man in his arms, as if he wanted to devour and possess Gu Mang from head to toe. His every movement betrayed an unnerving thirst for domination and control. His breaths were uncommonly ragged, his tongue unspeakably passionate, as though the aloof Mo-gongzi from a moment ago had been a different person altogether.
"You're crazy…this is Wangshu Manor…" Amid their entwining kisses, Gu Mang came back to his senses. He tore himself violently out of Mo Xi's hold as his wet lips opened and closed. "Someone will see!"
Gu Mang pulled with too much strength, and Mo Xi made no attempt to defend himself. With a muffled sound, his arm was dislocated.
"Holy shit." Gu Mang hadn't expected that Mo Xi wouldn't resist, nor that he would emerge the dubious victor in this scuffle. He was instantly mortified, and he swallowed hard. "All right, all right, all right, you're crazy, I admit defeat. I was in the wrong, all right? I'll help you pop that joint back in."
Gu Mang reached out, wanting to help Mo Xi realign his shoulder, but the young master ducked away and refused his touch. He only continued to stare at him fiercely.
"Dage," Gu Mang wheedled, "I'm begging you, let me pop it back into place, okay? Otherwise, when Shaozhu comes out and sees that his guest's been injured, and he asks me how it happened, what am I supposed to say?"
Gu Mang stuck to his act. This rascal who was invincible amid the smoke of war was even more incandescently infuriating off the battlefield. "It's not like I can say I did it, can I?"
Mo Xi made no sound. His face was still icy-aloof, but upon closer inspection, though he was as yet still in control, a dangerous emotion was surging in the depths of his eyes. After maintaining his rigidity for a long moment, he abruptly, stiffly asked once more, "Don't you have anything to say to me?"
"…I do, actually."
"Speak."
"Have you been cursed to repeat yourself?" Gu Mang hastily smiled at Mo Xi's answering expression. "Hey, hey, hey! I'm sorry, I swear!"
"Don't touch me! I can do it myself!" Mo Xi said angrily.
"You can't! You suck at healing magic and healing techniques!"
Mo Xi's expression darkened further.
But Gu Mang stopped him, grinning, his smile filled with the smug delight of getting away with a prank. Then he darted close and kissed Mo Xi's cheek.
Mo Xi didn't move.
"How come my princess isn't reacting?" Gu Mang murmured, stroking Mo Xi's chin. "Another kiss, then."
Only after he'd paid for his mischief with many more kisses did Mogongzi finally, and very unwillingly, let Gu Mang realign the joint. It plainly didn't hurt very much when it popped back into place, but the glare Mo Xi leveled at him was teary and a touch red.
"Huh? You…" Gu Mang wanted to take a closer look, but Mogongzi's palm landed square on that face that was as thick as a city wall, pushing him back. Mo Xi tore his gaze away, refusing to let him see.
After a stretch of silence, Mo Xi said, his face still turned, "I haven't seen you in two months."
"No. Still twelve days to go."
Mo Xi's head snapped around, shooting Gu Mang another fierce glare.
Arms crossed, Gu Mang leaned leisurely against that whitewashed wall. He looked at Mo Xi with a smile, chin slightly raised.
At length, the young master spoke, expression flat: "Take us somewhere no one will see."
In truth, after they'd been apart for so long, Mo Xi wasn't the only one unable to hold back. It was just that Mo Xi disguised his need with cool arrogance, while Gu Mang used breezy nonchalance.
But once they were holding and grinding against each other, both youths burned with torment. In the end, Gu Mang led Mo Xi to an unassuming little room. As hints went, this was way too obvious, and almost as soon as they entered, Gu Mang was shoved hard against the wall. The dark, windowless little room was soon filled with their low panting and the sound of soft kisses.
Just as Mo Xi was biting and sucking on the side of his neck, Gu Mang opened his eyes. Even as the tide of desire rose, he still remembered to gasp, "Don't kiss so high. Sh-shaozhu will notice…"
Mentioning Murong Lian at this moment was clearly not a wise decision. Mo Xi stilled, as if powerfully restraining some terrifying impulse. Gu Mang panted beneath him, and after these few beats of stillness, he was roughly turned around, his belt pulled free…
Mo Xi seemed to be wrestling with some colossal grievance as he pressed Gu Mang against the wall to furtively kiss his cheek, his nape, and eventually that slave collar with which Murong Lian had bound him.
That ice-cold black hoop seemed to stab into Mo Xi, reminding him that no matter how he yearned—to the point of pain, to the point that his heart was about to tear itself apart—the person in his arms still belonged to Murong Lian.
Murong Lian could summon Gu Mang whenever he wanted, torture him however he pleased. It was for him to say whether Gu Mang lived or died, whether he received praise or shame—one iron collar, digging into his spirit, and the lifetime of control it entailed.
Mo Xi was holding someone who belonged to Murong Lian.
Jealousy burned the rims of Mo Xi's eyes. He wrenched Gu Mang's face closer as his control eroded, compelling Gu Mang to twist around and take his kiss while still pressed against the door. Darkness made the wildfire in Mo Xi's heart blaze so searingly. How could their mouths entwine so passionately, so wetly?
Mo Xi made short work of Gu Mang's clothes, but his own weren't yet in disarray. Likely because he could feel the condition of the person behind him, Gu Mang said with petulant amusement, "You're so prim and proper every time you fuck me, but in reality…"
The rest of the sentence turned into a muted groan.
"Shaozhu will be out in two hours. You…you need to be quick…"
Mo Xi pulled out his wet fingers and took hold of Gu Mang's hips. His hot, thick cock rubbed between Gu Mang's legs before suddenly thrusting in.
"Ah…" Gu Mang cried out, instantly going limp. He barely managed to stay on his feet by gripping the door. He could vividly feel the heat and girth of Mo Xi's cock throbbing within him, as if it were about to burn him from the inside out.
Panting in low rasps, Mo Xi grabbed Gu Mang's hips and began to fuck him standing there against the door. Even though Gu Mang lived in a remote courtyard, there was no guarantee that no one would pass by. The door was thin, so Gu Mang had to tightly bite his lips, not daring to make a sound. Mo Xi thrust into him in this way for some time before he turned Gu Mang's face to capture his wet lips. Only when Gu Mang opened his mouth did his gasps leak out. Those sounds seemed to provoke Mo Xi further, and the movements from behind him grew more urgent, pounding audibly against his ass. Every one of Mo Xi's thrusts seemed to reach the deepest part of Gu Mang, as if he were fervently trying to press his entirety into him. Amid this brutal pounding, Gu Mang couldn't stop himself from panting out loud.
He struggled, trying to stop Mo Xi, doing his best to turn around, to say something to him. Yet Mo Xi only allowed Gu Mang the slightest space to turn before he pressed him down again without giving him the chance to speak. He lifted Gu Mang's legs from the front and, as if unwilling to wait a moment longer, rubbed his burning cockhead against his still gaping hole before driving aggressively back in.
"Aahh…ah… Too deep, it's too deep… Mo Xi… M-Mo Xi… Ah…"
With his legs held up like this, Gu Mang was viciously yet silently fucked by this young man, who usually looked devoid of all desire. His earlier coarse breathing and muted groans soon gave way to incoherency as he felt that his stomach was about to be pierced through. Even Gu Mang's toes, hanging suspended in the air, had curled against his will.
Mo Xi didn't like to speak much during sex, but that primitive, fiery, feral instinct and that deep gaze—that seemed to want to devour Gu Mang whole—was more than enough to make one's heart quiver. Not to mention how ruthlessly and frantically he pounded into Gu Mang, each thrust driving into the deepest recesses of his body, urgent and wild.
Perhaps the door's violent shaking finally brought Gu Mang back to his senses. In the end, he managed to pant in a low voice, "Not—not here. Go inside… There's… There's a bed inside..."
Bed? More like a kennel.
Gu Mang was the only person in the world who was capable of coaxing the overly fastidious Young Master Mo to lie on a battered and broken-down little wooden bed.
"Why not here?"
"S-someone will…ah…" Gu Mang had never possessed a sense of shame, nor was he well-read. Whenever he was distraught, he spoke with mortifying plainness. Arching his neck, he gasped violently. "Someone will hear you fucking me…ah…"
"Does that scare you?"
"B-bullshit! I still gotta live off Shaozhu's money… Ahh… What are you doing?! Not so fast… That's too—too fast… Ah…"
"It'll be best if he kicks you out. You can live off me," Mo Xi bit out.
Despite his words, he knew that if their tryst were to be discovered, getting kicked out would be the least of Gu Mang's worries; it was equally as possible that he'd be drawn and quartered. So he picked up Gu Mang, driving his cock so deep into him that he almost cried out loud, and carried him into the room.
Mo Xi's arms were strong and sturdy, and Gu Mang was not weak. As the two of them walked, Gu Mang's legs tightly wrapped around Mo Xi's waist, his cock never slipped out, and it rubbed repeatedly against Gu Mang's inner walls. The movements were neither quick nor slow, but rather the height of torment.
By the time Mo Xi dropped Gu Mang onto the bed, Gu Mang couldn't hold back anymore. When Mo Xi pressed him down with his vigorous, searing-hot body, lifted his legs, and began to once again fiercely and rapidly fuck him, he panted through muffled moans. "Ah…ah… Ah, Shidi… Shidi…fuck me there…ngh… Right there… Harder… Aahhh…
This was Gu Mang's way, never bothering to hide anything. Or perhaps it was precisely because he wanted to hide something that he always acted shamelessly, saying things like, Never mind, never mind, you're young—I respect the elderly and cherish the youth, so I'll let you top. Between us guys, whatever goes as long as we both feel good.
But Gu Mang's body couldn't bear this kind of stimulation. He had a naturally high tolerance for pain and was unaffected by injuries on the battlefield, but he couldn't bear the pleasure of being fucked. In the end, he always started to cry—but despite his tears, he still threw himself into entangling with Mo Xi.
It was often like this when they made love—Mo Xi wasn't very talkative, but Gu Mang brazenly said things that drove him out of his mind.
You're so big, you're fucking me too hard, get deeper inside me, you're gonna break me, why are you so hot, why haven't you come yet… How…how much longer are you going to take…
This provocation, annoyance, and teasing was too much for Mo Xi, but he couldn't do anything about it.
Gu Mang was a shameless ruffian—he was given to spouting such nonsense. Gu Mang was also a lowly slave, so perhaps, when he slept with Mo-gongzi, even if he did bottom, he had no hang-ups to overcome. He even allowed Mo Xi to…
Mo Xi wasn't sure if he was mistaken, but Gu Mang seemed to like it when Mo Xi came inside him. Mo Xi had once asked him about this, his question full of hidden meaning.
Gu Mang had smiled and confessed everything: "Yes, it feels so good. Those moments feel amazing—do you want to try? How about I do it next time—"
Mo Xi didn't let him finish, capturing that mouth in sore need of a lesson in a kiss. He buried his hips between Gu Mang's spread legs and pistoned back and forth swiftly and ferociously, reducing Gu Mang's banter to disjointed moans.
Mo Xi was a prudent and decorous person. But unexpectedly, he loved hearing Gu Mang's almost incoherent and wanton noises. He just never admitted it out loud.
In the end, after both of them had come, Gu Mang was practically limp with exhaustion as he lay beneath Mo Xi, soaked in sweat. His hole was still clenched around Mo Xi's cock, which plugged the come inside him as Gu Mang's sturdy chest rose and fell. Who could have guessed that such a powerful, well-muscled male body was currently pumped full of another man's come?
Gu Mang stared into space, dazed, for a while. As Mo Xi kissed him tenderly, he suddenly laughed. "Why'd you come to see Shaozhu?"
Mo Xi was silent for several heartbeats. With rare humility, he mumbled, "I missed you."
Gu Mang laughed harder. "What a righteous gentleman you are," he said to the youth on top of him. "Why didn't you think of climbing over the wall to see me instead?"
Mo Xi stared at him blankly. The idea truly hadn't occurred to him. Upon careful consideration, it seemed like Gu Mang's suggestion was eminently sensible… How hadn't he thought of it before?
As he pondered this, the slave collar around Gu Mang's neck lit up.
"Shaozhu is looking for me," Gu Mang said after a moment. "It's time for you to go too. I'm supposed to be taking a stroll with you, not sleeping with you."
For a period of time after this tryst, until they again received orders to go to battle, Mo Xi often visited Gu Mang. Although Wangshu Manor was shielded by barrier spells, they posed no trouble for Mo Xi.
In those times of impassioned rutting, occasionally, when Mo Xi had fucked Gu Mang out of his mind, Murong Lian would for some reason want a servant. As the slave collar tightened around his neck, Gu Mang would be almost breathless between two forms of torment—choking as he came and reducing the sheets to a sodden mess.
Murong Lian had an irritable temperament and was unwilling to wait long after summoning someone. Often, Gu Mang didn't have time to clean himself and rushed over as soon as he was properly dressed. Sometimes, even as he knelt before Murong-gongzi, Mo-gongzi's come would still be inside him…
Those days had been thoroughly absurd. Thinking back to it now, even Mo Xi was stunned at his youthful recklessness.
There had been no promises between them, no foreseeable future. But his heart had never cooled, as if he meant to be caught up in Gu Mang for a lifetime. They had nothing. They could only turn their love, control, and possessiveness into this intense and yearning entanglement.
One was a pristine young master held above all, while the other was a Wangshu Manor slave, low to the bones.
It was the most shocking of scandals, but it was also the most heartwarming of young loves.
Such were the golden days of their youth.
Now, within the dreamscape, Gu Mang had been sent to this place once again. Dream of Longing had manifested the hidden desires in his heart. In that case, what would Mo Xi see when he opened the door?
Gritting his teeth, Mo Xi stared at that door he had seen countless times before.
At this juncture, he couldn't back out, but he also had no way of breaking through. Nowadays, he was too level-headed and powerful to ever again be that youth who had been unable to distinguish between the waking world and dreams. But the old Gu-shixiong, who had once himself been the one to pull them out of an illusion, had also long since changed.
This time, Gu Mang was the one ensnared in Dream of Longing while Mo Xi was powerless to act. The phantom had correctly identified the nature of their relationship, thereby revealing Mo Xi's greatest vulnerability.
Under these circumstances, if he reacted to Gu Mang and Gu Mang's thoughts were stirred, then Dream of Longing would become more powerful and drag Gu Mang even deeper within it.
But if Mo Xi didn't react at all, Gu Mang would, in all likelihood, still be tormented out of his mind. The phantom had drugged him, and Mo Xi knew what that medicine would do if Gu Mang wasn't granted relief or antidote in time.
So. Before the emperor's reinforcements came, all he could do was his best. He would stall for time and try to keep Gu Mang lucid.
Mo Xi thought this over briefly, then lifted a hand, pushing the door open.
At almost the same moment, the person on the other side grabbed him and pushed him against the wall. In the darkness, helpless, impatient blue eyes met his. Before Mo Xi had a chance to say anything, his lips were caught against a trembling mouth.