Murong Mengze/History

## Murong Mengze

 Emperor of Chonghua

## History

### Early Childhood

Murong Mengze was born to the late emperor and one of his concubines. He was the ninth son of the Murong Family, however, as the late empress murdered every other son in the family apart from her own, Mengze's mother colluded with the past elder of Shennong Terrace to use medicine in order to hide his identity. From then on, he was raised as a girl for his safety.

### Joining the Army

While living under the guise of being a woman yet knowing of her true identity, Mengze had her own schemes and wanted to seize the throne. She hid her viciousness and ruthlessness under a kind and virtuous character, and was willing to stain her hands with blood if it meant that she would become Chonghua's ruler. Although she faked her sincerity and kindness, in the end, she still yearned for others to call her a "Virtuous Ruler" and a "Wise Monarch."

At some point in her life, Mengze joined the army and led medicine cultivators into battle. The Scarlet Plumed Battalion was also bestowed to her. She earnestly followed Mo Xi into the battlefield, treating his wounds with care and trying to convey her feelings for him, but after receiving his rejection, she backed off. Whether or not Mengze's feelings for Mo Xi were real remains unknown.

#### Dongting Lake

During the battle at Dongting Lake, Murong Mengze led her medicine cultivators into battle once again. She broke through the Liao Kingdom's forces and stumbled upon Gu Mang, who entered the Liao Kingdom as a spy under the guise of becoming a traitor, and Mo Xi, who fell unconscious after being stabbed in the heart by Yongye.

At that point, Gu Mang had already finished taking out the puppet pill that Murong Chen planted inside of Mo Xi. He handed Mo Xi over to Mengze and asked her to keep everything a secret. Wanting to bring Mo Xi into her fold to control and manipulate his actions, Mengze accepted and told Mo Xi a false story to make up for Gu Mang's deed: That she rushed into the scene just in time and damaged her spiritual core in order to keep him alive.

To reinforce her lie, she faked her weak facade with the help of her medicinal abilities, as if she had really damaged her spiritual core to save Mo Xi.

### Xihe Manor Arc

Murong Mengze is seen again eight years later at Feiyao Terrace alongside her servant, Yue Niang at the New Year's banquet. She greets Mo Xi upon seeing him, and is surprised to see that he had brought along Gu Mang as well. After attempting to smooth out the growing tensions between the group, Mengze and Mo Xi send Yue Niang and Gu Mang off to talk in private.

Afterwards, Mengze and Mo Xi returned to the Great Hall and are greeted by Murong Yanping, who went on to teasingly call Mo Xi her brother-in-law. Embarrassed, Mengze reprimands her, and leaves to find a few of her friends to make her greetings.

Later, she is present when Gu Mang is being cornered by the nobles present at the banquet after he took wine on Mo Xi's behalf. Seeing that Mo Xi was pulled into the chaos, Mengze rushes to help him. She takes a look at the wound on his shoulder after the emperor ordered the imperial guards to stop the fight, and eventually brings Mo Xi back to Xihe Manor along with Gu Mang and Yue Niang.

Upon their arrival at Xihe Manor, Gu Mang apologizes and says that he did not do it on purpose, only wanting to take the wine on Mo Xi's behalf. At that, Mengze remains silent and impassive, however Yue Niang is angered by this and starts to berate him. Mengze puts a stop to this, and then tells Gu Mang to stop making trouble for Mo Xi and let him be. Li Wei, who had caught sight of Mengze short after, rushes over to greet her and welcome her into the manor.

After Li Wei brought Mo Xi into a side room, he returns to flatter her, telling Mengze that Mo Xi has a special seat saved for her so that it would be convenient for when she visits, to which she denies it and says that Mo Xi only did that for the sake of symmetry. Li Wei refutes this and offers Mengze tea. After she glanced at the tea set that Li Wei claimed to be Mo Xi's favorite, she realized that it was the sort of tea set used to receive extremely close friends or between married couples. Afterwards, Mengze and Yue Niang leave Xihe Manor.

### Jade Scrolls Arc

While Mengze went through memorials in her older brother's place, she is once again unexpectedly visited by Mo Xi, who had come to request an audience with the emperor after returning from Bat Island. Though shocked, she greets him and asks Yue Niang to serve tea for him. After Yue Niang returns with the tea and leaves to wait outside, Mo Xi asks about the emperor's health, and Mengze tells him that he is bedridden and will need three or four days to recover. Mo Xi reports to her the results of his mission in Bat Island, and Mengze advises him to write a report which she will deliver to the emperor on Mo Xi's behalf.

Mengze teased Mo Xi to keep her company for a little longer when he goes to take his leave, but lets him leave in the end. Yue Niang entered the room afterwards and asks Mengze why she let Mo Xi leave, dissatisfied. Yue Niang descended into a ramble and reminds her of the great debt that Mo Xi owes her for the spiritual core she sacrificed for him, and is interrupted when Mengze asks her if she thinks that Mo Xi was handsome as well, leaving Yue Niang bewildered as she tells Mengze that she would not dare. Mengze firmly tells Yue Niang that she would not force Mo Xi to stay with her throughout their conversation until Yue Niang conceded.

After, Yue Niang asked her if she would truly be able to let it go if Mo Xi were to get together with a different girl behind her back, making Mengze pause. Yue Niang continues on to tell Mengze that Mo Xi was wearing a commoner's hair ribbon, leading her to think that Mo Xi may be getting together with someone else. Yue Niang continues to pester her about it, up until Mengze tells her not to mention it anymore.

Realizing that Gu Mang was about to recover his memories, she later sent Zhou He to prevent this by making him use malevolent methods while interrogating Gu Mang during the black magic trial.

Mengze later received a messenger butterfly from Li Wei and the servants of Xihe Manor, asking her to deal with the matter between Zhou He and Gu Mang. She only arrives just in time after Mo Xi rescues Gu Mang from Sishu Terrace, asking him if that was how he was going to waste the spiritual core she gave him. With Yue Niang behind her carrying her medicine chest, Mengze scolds Mo Xi for disregarding his life again, and then reminds him of the events of Dongting Lake.

Though shocked when Mo Xi orders the Shennong Terrace elder to continue healing Gu Mang, she understands when Mo Xi tells her that he will explain afterwards if she trusts him. She made the decision to help him, and asked for the medicine chest that Yue Niang was holding.

Mo Xi stopped her, telling her that he already owed her a life and Gu Mang could not owe her more. Heartbroken and no longer being able to silently endure, Mengze asks him if he ever thought of her even when he was always downcast whenever something happened to Gu Mang, and only asks him to have more consideration for her in the future.

They were interrupted by the medicine cultivator in charge of Gu Mang choking on the blood in his throat, and then Gu Mang himself. At this, Mengze realized that the black magic curse had begun to revolt inside of Gu Mang's body, and that if he was not brought under control, he would die. Just after this, Jiang Fuli, who also received a message from Xihe Manor, arrived at the scene.

### Da'Ze City Arc

After Shituo Gate was attacked by the Liao Kingdom, the emperor let Mengze in charge of the situation on his behalf due to a flare up with his illness. However, many officials of the court were not satisfied with this decision. Mengze planned to send the Winged Cavalry and a portion of troops from two nearby fort garrisons to fix the situation at Shituo Gate, but it was dismissed by numerous officials since it was Mengze who was in charge. As a result, Shituo Gate along with Feng City, Da'Ze City, and Huo City fell to the Liao Kingdom, which incited the anger of the emperor. While the emperor was trying to find out who turned down Mengze's suggestion, she tried to help calm him down first and then suggested that they should immediately prepare for a counterattack and transfer troops from the Northern Frontier Army.

The emperor was set on picking Mengze to lead the Scarlet Plumed Battalion again for the counterattack, and she later set out for Da'Ze City along with Mo Xi, who was leading the Northern Frontier Army, Murong Lian, and unbeknownst to her, Gu Mang.

After Mo Xi's tryst with Gu Mang, rumors spread throughout the troops that Mo Xi slept with Mengze. When Mengze and Mo Xi were alone in the main tent, she asked Mo Xi if he now held another person in his heart. Mengze was not surprised when Mo Xi said that he always had, and then asked whos noble daughter he was with. She was stunned when Mo Xi told her that he was with a commoner and not a noble daughter, and tried to remind him of what happened with the late Wangshu-jun. Mo Xi was not fazed by this however, and stated that the matter between him and his lover had nothing to do with anyone else, and that he will protect not only him, but also Mengze because of his gratitude for her. Though saddened, in the end, Mengze accepted and understood this and then left the tent.

During the battle against the Liao Kingdom, Mengze arrived just in time after Mo Xi took back the brocade pouch containing the wisp of the Demonblood Beast and Gu Mang from the Guoshi, with the Scarlet Plumed Battalion in tow. She immediately ordered her subordinates to treat Murong Lian and an undercover Gu Mang's wounds. After the Guoshi revealed to the army that the injured man in a mask was Gu Mang, the cultivator in charge of treating Gu Mang reached out to take Gu Mang's mask off, but was stopped by Mengze. She said that if Mo Xi's attendant wears a mask, then his identity must remain secret, whether he was actually Gu Mang or not. She scolds them for losing sight of national law and making a move against Mo Xi, and then orders them to take Gu Mang away.

Mengze kept watch over Gu Mang for the following days when Mo Xi was too busy to stay by his side. He told her of Gu Mang's true identity as a spy, to which she felt shock and then regret for her attitude towards Gu Mang beforehand. She did not make any moves to mess with Gu Mang's memories or trigger the black magic inside his body as it would incite suspicion from Mo Xi. Mengze gave her report on Gu Mang's condition to Mo Xi, but was slightly taken aback when Mo Xi thanked her for not taking offense at what he said back in the main tent. Though she admitted that hearing that Mo Xi held someone else in his heart was somewhat hard to take, she reassures him and says that he does not need to apologize to her at all.

Seven days after the aftermath of the battle, Mengze was in the middle of tidying up her medicines into her medicine chest when Murong Lian requested an audience with Gu Mang. She let Gu Mang put on his mask first before letting Murong Lian in. She asked Murong Lian why he was there, but he only told her that he was there for Gu Mang. Anxious at this point, she tried to convince him to only speak to him after returning to the capital, but this was ineffective as he dragged Gu Mang out of the tent anyway.

#### Assassination Attempt

While Murong Lian and Gu Mang were conversing on the city outskirts, Mengze appeared again in the depths of the forest, shooting an arrow towards Murong Lian in an attempt to injure him further. His voice was distorted by a voice-changing spell, and he also wore a black cloak edged in gold. He coldheartedly mocked Murong Lian when he asked him who he was, laughing at their attempt of escape. He then told them that he only wanted to kill Murong Lian, and then have Gu Mang pay for the crime of his death.

Mengze, along with more than ten cultivators under his command, emerged from the forest at his order. He then ordered his men to kill Murong Lian then and there, and to fire their arrows at him. The arrows were made out of spiritual energy that would explode before hitting the flesh, leaving no arrowheads on Murong Lian's body. Mengze, along with his group of cultivators, proceeded to swiftly leave the scene as fast as they appeared.

### Gu Mang and the Heavenly Vow

After attempting to assassinate Murong Lian, Mengze infiltrated the treatment room that Gu Mang was placed in after the army returned to the capital.

He wore black, tight-fitting martial robes with a black cloth covering his face and held a snow-bright scimitar dripping with blood. Gazing at Mengze through the canopy, Gu Mang abruptly questioned him about why he tried to kill Murong Lian. Stunned, Mengze asked him back about how he knew it was him from that day. When Gu Mang demanded to know why he wanted to kill Murong Lian, Mengze only told him that it wasn't him who wanted to kill him; he was just given orders. However, he did know why the person who had given him the order wanted Murong Lian dead, and it was because Murong Lian knew secrets that he shouldn't know. He admits that if it were him, he wouldn't let Murong Lian live as well.

Mengze then told Gu Mang that he was not there to kill him at all, though he also admitted that it would be easier and cleaner to take his life. Instead, he came there to tell Gu Mang about *"a secret that he wasn't able to figure out before,"* the Heavenly Vow that Mo Xi took to spare Gu Mang's army.

Mengze proceeded to tell Gu Mang about the truth behind how the emperor allowed Mo Xi to take over the remnants of the Wangba Army. The emperor was set on handing the Scarlet Plumed Battalion to Mo Xi, but Mo Xi kneeled before the throne room for three days and three nights to beg for mercy on behalf of the forces that Gu Mang left behind in the aftermath of his defection. He told him about how he trampled himself into the mud for the Wangba Army, how numerous people criticized him for not noticing that Gu Mang would turn traitor, and how he was blamed for the defeat and loss they suffered. Mengze continued to guilt him about how Gu Mang lied to him, was the one to make the choice for him, was the one who forced him, and didn't give him the chance to bid him a proper goodbye.

Mengze revealed to him that, in order to spare his army, Mo Xi took the Heavenly Vow and sacrificed ten years of his life. Yet the two of them knew that it was actually in vain, as the emperor wouldn't have laid a hand on his soldiers anyway; both knew that Mo Xi used up ten years of his life for nothing. At this point, the remaining bits of sanity that Gu Mang had were lost, and the black magic inside his body exploded. Mengze placed a narrow jade scroll that held the scene of Mo Xi swearing the oath onto Gu Mang's bed, sheathed his blade, and left before Mo Xi could reach them.

### Lin'an Arc

After Mo Xi brought Gu Mang back from his senses, Gu Mang was given to Mengze to have his condition examined in Xihe Manor. She told Mo Xi that Gu Mang's body didn't suffer severe mutations and that the only change was that the demonic qi grew stronger. Gu Mang had practically reverted back to his original state, but Mo Xi insisted that Gu Mang still remembered him as he was the only one that Gu Mang would respond to when interacted with. Mengze reasoned that this was because his mind had not yet been fully devoured by black magic, and he only retained an extremely small portion of his memories.

She reminded him of Jiang Fuli's words: if Gu Mang suffered another breakdown, there would be no hope left for him unless his two missing souls were returned. Much to her surprise, Mo Xi asked her if she knew any cultivators who were capable of summoning souls in the Nine Provinces. She tried to tell him that such a process would take around ten to twenty years; however, Mo Xi only replied, saying that he knew, but to him, abandoning Gu Mang would be harder to do. Mo Xi proceeded to tell her about how, after his family fell into ruin, it was Gu Mang who accompanied him throughout his hardships and saved him from a herd of demonic wolves when he thought that no one would. He stated that it was his turn to save Gu Mang now, and no matter how much or how long it took, he would keep trying as long as the two of them were alive.

Mengze felt that Mo Xi's will was far too strong. Having been a medicine cultivator for so long, she's seen people give into despair and lose control when facing such predicament, and yet she saw that Mo Xi never complained, nor did he ever act unreasonably and lose control. She told him about a legend that she saw in a medicine manual spread in the streets: in the north of Lin'an City, there is a reclusive sage who knew the Rebirth Technique, living in a patch of densely wooded mountains.

She warned him that the legend was only a few sentences long, and if it was true, then there was no knowing what Mo Xi would get from meeting this reclusive sage. The sage is difficult to find, and their temperament is "fickle and capricious." They would save people when content and harm people when angered. This, however, did not faze Mo Xi at all, and Mengze could tell that he would still go down this path either way.

As Chonghua was still at war with the Liao Kingdom and Murong Lian was bedridden, Mengze knew that her older brother wouldn't allow Mo Xi to stray too far from the capital. She tells him that she will explain the situation to the emperor and make a request for them to be allowed to travel to Lin'an City.

In truth, instead of a grandmaster cultivator, it would be Mengze himself waiting in the woods for Mo Xi and Gu Mang. He planned to ambush them and completely break Gu Mang's mind. He disguised himself as a cultivator and waited for them to fall into her trap; however, his plan did not go through, as the incident with the Yue Family in Huntian Cave distracted Mo Xi from trying to find the sage.

## Notes

2. ↑ Not the same person as Huaizui, as stated by Meatbun in her author's notes. This person is, however, the one who taught Huaizui the Rebirth Technique.

## References

2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 Novel, Chapter 193: With You
3. ↑ Novel, Chapter 62: Princess Mengze
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Novel, Chapter 63: Heart's Pain
5. ↑ Novel, Chapter 65: You're Not Worthy
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Novel, Chapter 66: Paying Respects
7. ↑ Novel, Chapter 107: His Only Stain
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Novel, Chapter 108: Women Are So Hard to Deceive
9. ↑ Novel, Chapter 125: Severe Injury
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 Novel, Chapter 126: Mengze's Lament
11. ↑ Novel, Chapter 139: War Starts Again
12. ↑ Novel, Chapter 142: Return to Battle
13. ↑ Novel, Chapter 145: Affection and Gratitude
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Novel, Chapter 153: Retaking the Hostage
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Novel, Chapter 154: A-Lian Attacked
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Novel, Chapter 155: Murong Lian's Memories (Part 1)
17. ↑ Novel, Chapter 157: The Hero's Ribbon He Could Never Wear
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 18.2 18.3 18.4 Novel, Chapter 158: The Final Straw
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 Novel, Chapter 160: The Legendary Soul Summoner