Looking back at the ferry crossing, Meng Ruji could see from afar the banner fluttering by the dock with three characters written on it: “Mo Neng Du” (Cannot Ferry).

Meng Ruji thought to herself that this place was truly strange. A place where you needed to buy boat tickets to leave was called the Land of No Lingering. A ferry crossing was called Cannot Ferry.

The lanterns were still those red lanterns, but the sky was almost bright now. The eerie glow over the Nai River waters had disappeared, replaced by a misty haze that painted the surroundings like a fairyland. The sinister atmosphere had faded, bringing instead a touch of distant tranquility.

Meng Ruji quickly stepped onto the wooden plank bridge of Cannot Ferry. The old planks creaked “creak creak” incessantly.

Through the thin mist, she could see two people dozing by the water’s edge at the ferry crossing. One wore a green shirt, the other a red shirt. Both leaned back against small stools, heads tilted back in sleep, bamboo hats covering their faces and concealing their features.

Though these two looked strange, having people around was helpful.

Meng Ruji suppressed the fatigue from running around all night, stepped forward and bowed politely, speaking courteously: “Excuse me, I’d like to buy two boat tickets.”

“Oh.” The green-shirted person sitting on the left was the first to make a sarcastic exclamation. “She wants to buy two boat tickets.”

The red-shirted person on the right immediately chimed in: “How novel, a big customer indeed.”

The two spoke different words, but their movements were surprisingly synchronized. They both sat up together, the bamboo hats covering their faces sliding down to their chests almost simultaneously, and they both caught their hats in sync. The faces revealed were also identical—pointed chins, small eyes, with dense clusters of small spots on their cheekbones.

“You’re buying two tickets…”

The green-shirted man began speaking, but before he could finish, the red-shirted man snatched away his words: “Do you have two coins?”

Eight hundred years ago, Meng Ruji had almost reached the pinnacle as Demon Lord, so how could she still carry money? But precisely because she had almost reached the pinnacle as Demon Lord, she didn’t lack priceless treasures either.

She removed the jade pendant from her waist: “Gentlemen, this white jade is from Kunlun, containing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. There is only one such piece in the world…”

“No, no, no.” The green-shirted man waved his hands.

“Who are you trying to fool with broken stones!” the red-shirted man chimed in.

“In the Nai River…”

“There are plenty.”

Meng Ruji stood there awkwardly. She felt around on herself: “Then I also have golden hairpins…”

“Take it away, take it away.”

“Who are you trying to fool with scrap metal?”

“In the Nai River…”

“There are tons of them!”

The red and green duo’s back-and-forth left Meng Ruji completely speechless.

Back in her day, she commanded wind and clouds, and all demons under heaven dared not disobey. Every day when she went out, the Five Guardians attended her front and back. Where had she ever suffered the disadvantage of having no money? After sleeping for eight hundred years and waking up, she couldn’t even afford two boat tickets now.

Did they expect her to be a stowaway?

If word of this got out, wouldn’t it be laughable!

“Then please see, gentlemen, what do I have that could substitute for silver money to exchange for boat tickets…”

“We only accept money.”

“Money from the Land of No Lingering!”

“Specially approved by the master of the Land of No Lingering.”

“Bearing our mark…”

“Money!”

The green-shirted man pulled out a copper coin from his pocket.

Meng Ruji looked closely and saw that the copper coin was ancient and worn, round on the outside with a square hole inside, as if it had been rubbed millions of times. The inscribed characters on it were already blurred, but she could still vaguely make out that one side of the copper coin was engraved with “No Lingering” and the other side with “No Ferry.” Apart from these characters, its specifications weren’t much different from copper coins in the mortal world.

Meng Ruji stood silently between the two men. After pondering for a while: “If, I mean if, if I don’t have this money, what methods do I have to board a small boat heading to the mortal world?”

“Dream on.”

“Even in dreams, you’d have it.”

Meng Ruji rubbed her forehead. She looked around—this cannot Ferry crossing was dilapidated, with desolate surroundings. Below the ferry crossing, only the waters of the Nai River flowed silently. There were no backup boats, nor the boatman she had seen before…

If only there were a boat, things would be much easier…

Meng Ruji contemplated secretly for a moment, then looked at the two men with a beaming smile:

“Dear brothers, I’ll be able to gather the boat ticket money shortly. Could you accommodate me? I’m in a hurry—have the boatman dock here first, and when I bring the silver money, we can board directly and leave.”

The situation forced her hand. Meng Ruji thought to herself that once the boat came, regardless of everything else, she’d seize the boat and cross the river first.

This Nai River wasn’t that wide anyway. A few quick moves and they could ferry across. As long as there was a boat, they didn’t necessarily need the boatman.

That young man looked like he could fight. When the time came, if they cooperated and knocked down these two ferry crossing guards, they could return.

Having struggled through many years in the mortal world, Meng Ruji was willing to follow rules when she could, but unfortunately, this place was terrifyingly unfamiliar now. After awakening, she hadn’t even seen the situation at Hengxu Mountain. Her guardians and other disciples of Hengxu Mountain—she hadn’t had time to look at them even once…

She still wanted to return as quickly as possible.

After finishing the matters at Hengxu Mountain, she could then find a way to come back here and make up for the boat tickets.

Having made up her mind, the smile on Meng Ruji’s face became increasingly warm and cordial.

But these two men didn’t seem to buy this approach: “Women who smile beautifully…”

“Are no good!”

“Money first, then boat.”

“Fair dealing for all.”

“No money.”

“No boat.”

They were unmoved by both soft and hard approaches, their attitude firm. Meng Ruji couldn’t maintain her smile anymore.

At this moment, dawn broke through the sky, and the sun looked like it was about to emerge.

“It’s dawn.”

“Time to get off work.”

“Come back tonight.”

“Get lost, get lost, get lost.”

The green-clothed man stood up and put away his small stool. The other red-clothed man also stood up, impatiently raising his hand to shoo Meng Ruji away.

Meng Ruji was still pondering if there were any other methods when the red-clothed man’s hand was about to rudely push her shoulder. She dodged sideways, but just as she moved aside, a black figure from behind “whooshed” lunged forward.

Meng Ruji was startled. Before she could even react, she suddenly heard a “splash,” and the red-shirted man who was about to push her had already been pushed into the Nai River!

The Nai River waters looked tranquil, but once someone fell in, they were swept away like leaves caught in a gale, drifting far in an instant.

“Ah!”

“Little Red!” The green-shirted man quickly grabbed a bamboo pole from the ferry’s edge and extended it into the river. Little Red immediately grasped the pole and was pulled to shore by Big Green.

“Pah pah pah!” Little Red lay by the river, spitting out water.

Seeing Little Red was fine, Big Green felt relieved, then turned to glare at Meng Ruji and the… young man standing in front of her.

“What are you doing?”

Meng Ruji was also somewhat stunned. She blinked blankly, looking at the young man standing before her.

The young man was a head taller than her, with broad shoulders. Standing in front of her, he almost blocked the morning light rising before her.

Meng Ruji had the same question: “What are you doing?”

The young man slightly turned his head. He didn’t speak, but his gaze was calm, carrying protective intent. This single look left Meng Ruji somewhat mesmerized.

The young man turned back to face the green-shirted man, giving his wariness and hostility to the outsider. He spoke in a low voice:

“Touch her, and I’ll kill you.”

What?

Was he… protecting her?

Meng Ruji was a bit surprised. She hadn’t expected that feeding him one meal would gain her an ally? This young man looked wild, but didn’t he have too few ulterior motives? Was he this easy to win over?

Big Green gestured with his long pole a few times, but looking at the young man who was taller and stronger than him, he huffed angrily but never dared to strike the young man with the pole.

He muttered curses while gesturing for a long time, then suddenly seemed to remember something. He pulled out a stone from his chest, smashed it on the ground, and the stone immediately turned into white smoke and disappeared. He shouted at the white smoke: “Come quickly to Cannot Ferry, there are two troublemakers here!”

Below, Cannot Ferry, Little Red, who had been pulled to shore, didn’t forget to add his voice. He pointed tremblingly at the young man and Meng Ruji, cursing: “Deal with them! Simply outrageous!”

Big Green echoed: “Exactly! How dare they push someone working for the Land of No Lingering into the Nai River!”

“None of you can escape!”

After he said this, Meng Ruji wanted to turn and run. They were clearly about to have company, but she hadn’t gotten the boat or retrieved her Inner Core. She couldn’t run away or fight successfully—either way, she’d lose.

But she only took one step before her weak, powerless legs reminded her—

No, you don’t want to run.

You can’t run!

Meng Ruji stood still again. She nudged the young man with her elbow, quietly asking: “Can you fight?”

When Meng Ruji’s elbow touched his body, the young man’s skin tingled slightly. His body trembled, and he looked back at Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji’s eyes shone clear and bright, gazing at him hopefully, as if placing all her hopes on him.

The young man was silent for a moment, then answered seriously: “Depends on the opponent. These two, I can handle.”

“I’m not dead yet!” Little Red shouted from below.

“We can hear you!” Big Green was also very displeased.

“You still want to fight in our Land of No Lingering?”

“We called a hundred people!”

Meng Ruji ignored them, only moved closer to the young man’s ear: “Do you still have spiritual power in your body? If not, can you channel Inner Core power?”

She leaned close, her lips not quite touching his ear, but her warmth had already reached him. Strangely, when Meng Ruji was so close, the restless energy in his body seemed to be soothed, becoming slower.

Earlier, when he was hungry, his whole body had only felt hunger. It was only now, at this moment, that this sensation became clear in the young man’s body.

The young man didn’t answer. Meng Ruji looked at him strangely.

Only then did the young man remember her question, and he shook his head: “What is spiritual power?”

Meng Ruji was speechless. She stepped back half a pace, her mouth moving but momentarily at a loss for words. Someone who could break her seal didn’t know how to use spiritual power? Who would believe that?

“You… you have forgotten your past completely clean.”

With no time to investigate the young man’s affairs, Meng Ruji calmed her mind and pondered countermeasures.

When she moved away, the energy in the young man’s body became restless again.

He frowned, wanting to get closer to Meng Ruji, but after pondering for a moment, Meng Ruji had already composed herself emotionally and stepped in front of the young man, protecting him behind her.

Meng Ruji put away her playfulness and casualness. Her gaze swept over Little Red below the ferry crossing, then looked at Big Green, speaking seriously:

“We did act, but that was because you were about to be inappropriate with me first. My younger brother was worried about me, so he acted.”

Her younger brother?

The young man looked confusedly at Meng Ruji, standing in front of him.

Meng Ruji said, “This is the Land of No Lingering, not the Land of Ruffians. You can’t kill us just because of this, can you?”

Big Green sneered: “Of course we won’t kill people because of this, but!”

Little Red added viciously: “We have to arrest you and lock you up for a few days.”

Meng Ruji caught the key phrase: “A few days?”

“At least three days!”

“Bad attitude gets another three days!”

After hearing this, Meng Ruji said nothing.

At this moment, there was suddenly a “bang” sound behind Meng Ruji and the young man, and several soldiers in black armor appeared out of thin air.

Of course, not a hundred came, but looking at the large sabers at their waists and their overwhelming killing aura, Meng Ruji suspected these few might be equivalent to a hundred Big Greens and Little Reds.

Seeing the newcomers, the young man immediately became fully alert, killing intent emanating from him. His body moved, and he was about to charge out and fight those soldiers. Seeing his tiger-like momentum, Meng Ruji feared she couldn’t hold him back, so in her panic, she reached out with both hands and embraced the young man’s waist and abdomen from behind!

She touched him again!

The young man was suddenly embraced from behind by Meng Ruji and immediately froze in place. Because he was so surprised, a short, small sound escaped his throat:

“Mm?”

And with Meng Ruji’s embrace, like a huge, damp cloth covering flames, the young man’s killing aura immediately subsided.

He turned his head, his expression astonished, dazed, and bewildered.

He stared at Meng Ruji.

The eyes of a tiger that had broken free from its cage now looked like a startled kitten.

Seeing that he had stopped moving, Meng Ruji immediately let go.

The young man again made a sound from his throat as if he couldn’t control it: “Mm…”

A bit strange, a bit confused, a bit reluctant…

Meng Ruji raised her hand and smoothed his back like stroking a cat: “Don’t be impulsive, don’t be impulsive, leave it to me.”

After speaking, still afraid he wouldn’t listen, she grabbed his wrist with one hand to prevent him from suddenly charging out again when she wasn’t paying attention.

Meng Ruji pulled the young man’s hand, drawing him behind her, then spoke to the soldiers with a serious expression:

“What are you doing putting on this stance? Isn’t it just going to jail? We’ll go, don’t use force!”

Meng Ruji thought, between fighting and going to jail, of course, you choose jail!

Why risk your life when you could just stay in jail?

Something that could be solved by staying three to five days—why take such a big risk?

Having struggled through the mortal world, Meng Ruji understood this principle very well in her heart. Sometimes, circumstances are stronger than people, and when you should yield, you must yield.

Meng Ruji shouted firmly and loudly: “I’ll go with you!”

Big Green and Little Red were stunned, not expecting Meng Ruji, who had been neither servile nor overbearing before, to surrender so quickly.

The arriving soldiers were also dumbfounded. Wasn’t this supposed to be troublemakers? With this attitude, this cooperation—were they trying to get free meals in jail?

Perhaps only the young man did not react to this situation. All his attention fell on Meng Ruji’s hand gripping his wrist.

Her palm was cool, as if it could smooth away all the restlessness and stinging pain in his body.

But soon she let go again, turning her wrists and extending both hands.

The young man just stared at her wrists.

If only he could keep holding her hand… how wonderful that would be…

“Come on, put them on.” After Meng Ruji finished speaking, remembering that her Inner Core was still in the young man’s body, she quickly said to the soldiers: “And him too, we’re together.” Then she winked at him: “Come quickly, together.”

As if afraid that if he moved too slowly, he’d get beaten…

The young man remained silent, looking at Meng Ruji, who kept winking at him. As if possessed, he too extended his hands…