He actually knelt down so obediently. This made me even more certain about who was lying in the coffin.
"I've finally found you..." Gu Yuan spoke first, addressing the woman in the coffin.
The crystal coffin was shrouded in a layer of white mist, which had been calm.
But as soon as Gu Yuan opened his mouth, the mist miraculously began to roll.
It felt like the sea of clouds was churning, wave after wave.
"Have you figured it out?" the old woman in the darkness spoke again.
Gu Yuan lowered his head and was silent for a while. Instead of answering the old woman, he countered with a question, "Why is this happening? Why can't it be suppressed? What on earth have you done?"
Although I didn't know what they were talking about, I guessed that what Gu Yuan meant by "can't be suppressed" was probably that thing inside him.
"Presumptuous! How dare you shout at your mother like this? What kind of manners are these? If you don't behave yourself, it's time for that thing to take your place."
Just as I had expected, the one lying in the crystal coffin was none other than Xi Nu, Gu Yuan's mother.
The old woman's voice was extremely calm. She slowly walked out of the darkness. I had seen that face before, and the wrinkles on it hadn't changed at all.
This person was none other than Nanny Liu, who had once followed Xi Nu. After a thousand years, she hadn't changed a bit, except that she now seemed a bit colder.
After all, she had watched Gu Yuan grow up. But after so many years of not seeing each other, there was not a single word of concern in their conversation, and there was no trace of emotion. This was completely different from what I had imagined.
"I've never meant to offend. I just want to know why that thing, which has never appeared for a thousand years, has suddenly shown up now? Why can't you just let him go and give him a chance to live? I don't ask for a long time, just a single lifetime. Is that really so difficult?"
Gu Yuan was so emotional that I even saw tears glistening in his eyes.
Who on earth was this "he/she" he was talking about?
"Yuan'er, my dear son..."
After Gu Yuan finished speaking, a gentle female voice echoed in the ancient tomb. The voice was so resonant and full of emotion.
Gu Yuan didn't answer. Instead, he knelt on the ground silently, listening intently to Xi Nu's call.
"Yuan'er, everything your mother has done is for your own good. Since the day you were born, I've paved the way for you. I only hope that your life will be smooth and free of hardships. But you're so stubborn. You never take your mother's words to heart."
Gu Yuan remained silent...
"The position of the Heavenly Emperor should have been yours. Back then, you didn't fight for it. In the end, you, a celestial being, even had to use someone else's name. You're my Xi Nu's son. How could you end up in such a situation?"
"Finally, I fell out with the Heavenly Emperor for your sake and ended up like this. Immortals are all cold-hearted. You could have overturned all this, but in the end, you gave up the position of the Crown Prince. How can your mother swallow this anger?"
"All of this is thanks to whom? Who taught you all this? You know better than anyone else. You suffered the pain of the Heavenly Thunder purely because you asked for it. You could have transferred it to others. It shouldn't have been you who had to bear it. But you insisted on taking on this pain for someone else. Now, you have no choice but to bear it. Why do you have to do this? Does that person even know?"
"You're my only son. Your mother can't bear to see you suffer like this. That's why I had to come up with this plan. Even if you blame your mother for the rest of your life, I'll never regret it."
Xi Nu's words were sonorous. Her strong character hadn't changed at all over time.
I stood beside her, looking at her face. To be honest, I was really a bit scared.
Xi Nu poured out all her grievances to Gu Yuan. He knelt on the ground and kowtowed to his mother.
"Today, I'm finally able to see my mother and know that she's still alive. This has finally relieved a knot in my heart."
Gu Yuan then prostrated himself on the ground with both hands and kowtowed to the coffin again.
"Mother, I appreciate your good intentions. But I don't agree. Whether it was back then or now, I just want to live a simple life. I don't want to fight for anything."
"The pain I'm suffering now is the debt I owed back then. I'm willing to bear it. If mother really wants to do something good for me, please let me live a simple life. Please tell me how to suppress the demonic nature inside me. I'll be extremely grateful."
"In the end, everything your mother said was in vain, right?" Xue Liang knelt on the ground and said to Gu Yuan impatiently.
Gu Yuan ignored him and looked at Xi Nu in the coffin with expectation in his eyes.
"Mother, please fulfill my wish." Gu Yuan's voice was very sincere.
He kowtowed one last time, and his forehead hit the ground heavily.
"Please fulfill my wish, mother."
The ancient tomb instantly fell into a deathly silence, the calm before the storm. The oppressive feeling was simply suffocating.
"You're really stubborn. Then just wait until the demonic nature inside you finds its true master. Xue Liang, give him this potion. Let him drink a mouthful every day to keep him alive. I'll just wait him out. Sooner or later, he'll give in."
After Xi Nu finished speaking, the crystal coffin made a few clicking sounds and then directly sank into the ground and disappeared.
Seeing that Xi Nu was angry, Nanny Liu quickly said to Xue Liang,
"Xue Liang, take Yuan'er to the side chamber for me. Don't let him leave for a single step. If you let him escape, watch out for your head."
After Nanny Liu finished speaking, she handed the potion to Xue Liang and then turned around and left.
Xue Liang took the potion and walked up to Gu Yuan and said, "My lord, this way please."
Gu Yuan stood up from the ground, pressing his chest. His face was even paler. It must be because the yin energy here was in conflict with the yang energy in his body.
I wanted to step forward to help him, but I thought it was inappropriate. So I could only stand behind him and watch him silently. To be honest, I felt a bit heartache.
Gu Yuan didn't say anything else. He turned to look at me and said to Xue Liang, "Take her with us too."
"Her? I'll arrange a room for her. Don't worry."
"No need. She can just stay in the same room with me." Gu Yuan glanced at me and blurted it out without even thinking.
"Ah? My lord, don't tell me you really have such a strange taste? There are plenty of good-looking girls outside. If you don't want them, they'll..." Xue Liang suddenly paused here.
He felt that something was wrong with what he had said and quickly changed his words, "If you don't want them, they'll be someone else's. Those girls are all virgins... Don't you want to give it a try?"
Looking at Xue Liang like this, I would never believe it if anyone said he was a eunuch.
"Thank you for your concern, but I have other reasons for asking her to accompany me..."
"What reasons?" Xue Liang looked confused, not knowing what Gu Yuan was up to.