Chapter 1: The Fallen Prince
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
Prologue:
“Hahahaha… Ruoyin, I was finally able to refine the Channel Opening Solution. I’ve succeeded…” Inside a messy lab, Mo Wuji started laughing, clutching a porcelain bottle in his hand as if he had gone mad.
“Ding…” A glass cup fell onto the ground, spilling tea everywhere. A beautiful girl in a crimson red cheongsam stood by the doorway, blankly staring at the hysterical Mo Wuji. Only after a good while did she speak in a shivering voice, “Wuji, did you succeed? Did you really succeed?”
Mo Wuji stared at the beautiful girl standing at the entrance. He knew that Xia Ruoyin had come to serve him a cup of tea. This piece of information had shocked Xia Ruoyin greatly; due to her excitement, the cup slipped from her hands and fell to the ground.
“Ruoyin, there is absolutely no error this time around. I just tried half of the bottle, but I could clearly feel as if a fire was burning down my meridians as they are gradually being opened and expanded. At the moment, my meridians are still in the process of opening, but we have succeeded.”
Mo Wuji, while holding the porcelain bottle, excitedly walked up to the girl and grabbed her hands. “Ruoyin, it has been hard for you. In all these years, I have been dedicated to researching the Channel Opening Solution and I did not take care of you. Instead, you had to take care of me. Let us marry. Afterward, we will start a company specializing in the production of the Channel Opening Solution. I believe our business will soon be a sensation throughout the world.”
The girl finally calmed down, but she still spoke in a shivering voice, “Did you take down the drug formula?”
Mo Wuji nodded his head, “Ruoyin, don’t worry. I have all the information on my laptop. Here, take a look…”
After Mo Wuji finished speaking, he turned around and walked towards his laptop.
Suddenly, he felt something cold, followed by an excruciating pain from his back. Upon seeing the tip of a blade emerging from his chest, he realized that someone had stabbed him through his heart from his back.
The pain caused him to feel extremely dizzy and his strength started to fade away. Mo Wuji slowly turned his head around as he unconsciously looked at the hands clasping the blade. It was Xia Ruoyin’s. With his eyes wide open, he muttered, “Ruoyin… Why? Why?”
He still could not believe that his lover whom he had loved dearly for many years would stab him.
“I’m sorry, Wuji. I’m sorry…” Xia Ruoyin’s hands were trembling as a shudder went through her whole body. She had killed her lover. He was the man who she had loved for over a decade and the one who had showered her with endless affection.
Two teardrops appeared at the corners of Mo Wuji’s eyes. He felt his body becoming colder by the second. He gradually lost his consciousness and his eyes began to lose its luster. However, he still did not want to close his eyes. He kept on staring at Xia Ruoyin as he murmured, “If you wanted the formula… you just had to say it and I would have given it to you… why?”
Mo Wuji did not shed his tears because he was dying. For as long as he could remember, he had never cried in his life. However, today, what hurt the most was not the injury on his back, but the pain caused by the betrayal of his lover.
Perhaps even Xia Ruoyin did not know her position in Mo Wuji’s heart. If she had asked for it, Mo Wuji would have willingly died for her. However, Xia Ruoyin, the woman who he would have gladly died for, had stabbed him on this fateful day.
Maybe the question would remain unanswered for a long time. Perhaps he would not even be able to rest in his grave. His dim eyes finally closed, leaving the two teardrops by the corners of his eyes.
“Pa-ta…” Xia Ruoyin also shed two lines of tears, which fell on the corners of Mo Wuji’s eyes, washing away his teardrops.
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The Fallen Prince
"Gua…." The shrill sound of a crow woke Mo Wuji up. As soon as he raised his head, he saw a single crow flying above him, quickly disappearing together with its shrill cries.
“Where am I?” Mo Wuji felt strange. He seemed to be sitting on a newly piled up tomb, surrounded by seven to eight children kneeling in front of him. Among them, a young girl wearing a floral blue skirt was holding a bamboo basket beside him.
As Mo Wuji was still confused about the situation, the young girl whispered with a gentle voice, “Everyone behaved well today, however, there are no more sweets left so let us call it a day and come back tomorrow to continue playing.”
“Were these games played in the previous emperor’s dynasty? Why does this scene feel so familiar?”
Mo Wuji was shocked because this scene resembled the last scene of the novel in which Mu Rongfu was in. Mu Rongfu became crazy because of what he had to do for his country. His beautiful cousin and childhood sweetheart Wang Yuyan left him for another man, and in the end, all he had left by his side was a servant named Abi. This present scene is the scene after Mu Rongfu went crazy because of his lost country and Abi gathered a few children to play with him.
"Long live my King, goodbye my King. We will be back for more sweets tomorrow…" The children dispersed after chanting these words in a non-orderly manner.
Mo Wuji gazed all over the place, and he noticed a few young men and women were walking by. When he rested his eyes on a lady wearing a purple skirt, he was so infatuated by her beauty that he completely forgot about his current situation.
The lady in the purple skirt exchanged looks with Mo Wuji. She looked confused, sympathetic and was disappointed with him. The other young and attractive men and women seemed to be discussing and laughing about him while they passed by.
“Can’t be…”
All of a sudden, Mo Wuji thought of a horrible scenario. “Could it be that after my death, I was reborn into Mu Rongfu’s body? Did our souls really crossed over to other bodies in this world?”
“And why would my soul crossover? What was I doing before this?”
At this point, Mo Wuji started to have a headache. He finally recalled that after he successfully developed the solution, his lover who he was willing to die for backstabbed him. With this thought, Mo Wuji’s entire spirit was overwhelmed with sadness…
His throbbing headache caused him to think of this matter no further. There was an excessive amount of information flooding into his head. It was only after two full hours that Mo Wuji finally understood what was actually happening.
He realized that this was not the Song dynasty anymore, and he was not just reborn into Mu Rongfu’s body.
This was not even Earth! He was currently in Rao Zhou City, the national capital of Cheng Yu state. He was called Mo Xinghe, the prince of Northern Qin Prefecture. His father named him Mo Xinghe after the Xing Han Empire.
Mo Xinghe could not recall exactly how big this world was, but he knew that Xing Han Empire is not the only empire. Every empire was divided into states, and every states were further divided into many prefectures.
Mo Xinghe belonged to Northern Qin Prefecture under Cheng Yu State, and Cheng Yu belonged to the Xing Han Empire.
Nineteen years ago, Mo Xinghe’s grandfather, Mo Tiancheng, was the Northern Qin Prefecture’s lord. After he arrived at Cheng Yu state, he suddenly disappeared. As a result, Northern Qin Prefecture needed a new lord, and this lord needed to have the approval of the State Lord.
If it was not for Mo Tiancheng’s sudden disappearance, Mo Tiancheng could have passed the throne directly to his children and reported it to the State Lord. However, Mo Tiancheng was missing and he did not pass his throne to anyone officially. Hence, the successor must now personally head to the state to take over the throne in front of all the other prefecture and state lords.
Mo Xinghe’s parents decided to bring Mo Xinghe to Rao Zhou City for two reasons. Firstly, they wanted to locate Mo Tiancheng. Secondly, Mo Xinghe’s father, Mo Guangyuan, had always wanted to gain recognition from the other lords and succeed his father’s throne.
Originally, succeeding the throne was a simple affair. Nobody expected it to turn out to be filled with so many different obstacles. Mo Xinghe's parents have spent countless amounts of money, and ran around for more than a decade; however, they were still unable to succeed the throne.
Mo Xinghe’s parents died of illness and Mo Xinghe inherited his father’s obsession to succeed the throne. With the death of Mo Xinghe's parents, the Mo family finally exhausted all their money. Mo Xinghe was then on the move for several years without achieving anything meaningful. When he found out that Northern Qin Prefecture had been taken over by Cheng Yu’s lord, Mo Xinghe went crazy and was then reborn as Mo Wuji.
Mo Wuji also managed to recall who the lady in a purple skirt was. Her name was Wen Manzhu and her father was very close friends with Mo Xinghe’s parents. Mo Xinghe and Wen Manzhu were childhood sweethearts and even though they were not promised to one another, everyone agreed that both of them would grow up and be together.
Ever since the Mo Clan lost their opportunity to ascend the throne, along with the death of Mo Xinghe’s parents and the loss of Mo Xinghe’s sanity, the Wen Clan gradually disregarded Mo Xinghe. As Wen Manzhu grew up, she grew apart from Mo Xinghe and went closer to the princes from other more influential families.
Upon feeling two drops of tears on the back of the hand, Mo Wuji raised his head from his knees and saw that it was a sad young girl, marked with a scar on her face.
Just like how Abi faithfully stayed beside Mu Rongfu, this girl called Yan’Er was the only person who stayed by him despite only being his servant. If not for Yan’Er, Mo Wuji would have never been reborn and no one would have known how long the original Mo Xinghe would have been dead.
Other than the scar on her face, Yan’Er also suffered from malnutrition. She was pale, her hair was all blonde, and she lacked the vibrant energy of a typical young lady.
“It still doesn’t make sense…” Mo Wuji shivered. The Mo Clan was still a part of the royal clan, so even if Mo Xinghe’s father was not able to succeed the throne, in this rich country, he still should not have died of illness in poverty. Was it not possible for him to leave Rao Zhou City and return to the Northern Qin Prefecture as soon as possible? Alternatively, was it that there was no escorts or money given to the Mo Clan?
There was certainly something wrong here…
Mo Wuji looked up and saw Yan’Er wiping her slightly reddish eyes as she gently asked, “My King, can we return now?”
Mo Wuji bowed his head and sighed, for not only Yan’Er but also his current state and body. Even while playing such a childish game, Yan’Er still had to be polite and ask for permission as if she was really in an empire state.
However, Mo Wuji recuperated very quickly and felt that he should be upset at himself the most. He had mixed feelings about whether he should be grateful that he was not dead, heartbroken that his lover was the one who plotted against him or saddened that he could no longer return to Earth.
Seeing Mo Wuji not say anything after a while, the overly cautious Yan’Er spoke again, “My King, the sky is getting darker…”
Mo Wuji sighed as he looked at the distant setting sun. He was unsure of whether it was because he thought of Mo Xinghe, or if he was just lamenting about his own destiny. He eventually said, "Let’s go back…”
He saw Yan’Er’s surprised look on her face, without feeling the need to explain any further, he sighed and said, “Let’s go back to the dynasty…”
Having said that, he wanted to stand up, pat off the soil on his legs, and leave. However as his leg were crossed for a long time, they were numb and asleep. Fortunately, Yan’Er was there to help him up.
As Yan’Er helped him out of the sparse forest, Mo Wuji was busy rearranging the thoughts that remained on his mind.
"What kind of world is this...?” The two quietly walked for a few minutes, when Mo Wuji mumbled this to himself.
“My King, what did you just say?” Yan’Er asked as she did not quite understand what Mo Wuji said earlier.
Mo Wuji shook his head, “Yan’Er, please do not call me your King anymore. Address me by my name.”
Because both Mo Wuji and Yan’Er will still be living together in the future, there was still some explaining left to do.
Feeling a bit touched, Yan’Er asked excitedly while carrying a bamboo basket with her trembling hands and teary eyes, “Young master, are you feeling better?”
Mo Wuji replied with a slightly hesitant smile, “Perhaps I have not completely recovered or remembered everything, but I will not act and dream like an idiot as before anymore.”
Mo Wuji was afraid he would let the cat out of the bag, so he simply stated that he had not completely recovered.
"Then…” Yan’Er seemed like she wanted to say something, yet she did not dare to.
Mo Wuji knew Yan’Er wanted to ask if he still wanted to play with these children tomorrow, but she was afraid that after playing these games, it would remind him of the previous dynasty’s incident and make him crazy again.
Patting Yan’Er’s back, Mo Wuji laughed and said, “I have lived the Emperor’s life before and I am now sick of it already. Let us not come tomorrow and instead, we should think about how to carry on living tomorrow.”
Yan’Er dropped the bamboo basket she was holding, tears rolling down her cheeks with her knees on the floor. She can’t seem to stop mumbling to herself…