By the campfire, after hearing this past story, everyone fell into silence.

After a long while, Ye Chuan finally asked, “From the current clues, he should have come to the Land of No Return after being slain by you, but for some unknown reason, he fell into slumber until recently awakening?”

Meng Ruji nodded: “Otherwise, with his abilities, plus the fact that malevolent qi isn’t affected by the Land of No Return’s rules, he would have long ago earned a thousand gold and bought his way back to life.”

Tuzi was also confused: “Why did he fall asleep, and why did he awaken?”

No one knew the answer; after all, calculating the time, he had arrived even earlier than Mu Sui.

Meng Ruji sighed: “Today, he merely used malevolent qi to condense a puppet, yet it was already difficult to deal with. If his true body moves, I’m afraid the four of us tied together wouldn’t be enough for him to beat.”

“I think City Lord Brother fought him pretty well,” Tuzi chimed in. “Right, City Lord Brother!”

Following Tuzi’s words, Meng Ruji cast a sidelong glance at Mu Sui, her gaze circling his chest area, catching sight of his skin through his slightly open clothing.

Mu Sui poked at the firewood in the campfire, not responding.

“The risk is great,” Meng Ruji said softly. “It’s not worth risking one’s life to fight.”

Hearing this, Mu Sui finally glanced at Meng Ruji. Seeing her calm expression, Mu Sui only said: “Finding a way to make him fall back into slumber would be best.”

Once he spoke, Tuzi immediately changed her tune: “Right! To subdue the enemy without fighting is best! City Lord Brother is truly far-sighted!”

Meng Ruji rolled her eyes at Tuzi, then took out the gray stone from her embrace again.

“This person is the strangest. After being injured by that Luo Yingfeng, he’s been sleeping ever since. Even with all today’s commotion, I couldn’t knock him awake. Logically, he died earliest and has been in the Land of No Return the longest, so he might know some clues…”

“Let me see,” Mu Sui extended his hand.

“Keep your promise. Don’t make a move—he’s currently the only breakthrough we can grasp,” Meng Ruji instructed, handing the stone to Mu Sui.

Mu Sui took it in his hands, examined it carefully, and frowned slightly: “You said earlier he was a nightmare demon, so why is his true form a stone?”

Meng Ruji shook her head: “Indeed, it shouldn’t be a stone. Perhaps this is his life-sustaining object.”

“That’s impossible,” Tuzi interjected. “Life-sustaining objects exist independently of half-dead people. I’ve never heard of anyone being able to hide inside their life-sustaining object for so long.”

“We can only wait for him to wake up and ask him,” Meng Ruji sighed. “Do you have any way to wake him up?”

Mu Sui pondered for a while, then took out silver coins from his chest, drew a formation, placed the stone on top of the formation, and activated it. But after the light circulated, the stone showed no changes whatsoever.

However, seeing Mu Sui’s formation, Ye Chuan looked up at him with some surprise: “This medical formation is extremely ancient yet exquisitely refined. How did you learn it?”

“Saw it in a book,” Mu Sui answered indifferently. After the formation’s light completely faded, he picked up the stone again and weighed it a couple of times. “Is he truly unconscious due to severe injuries?”

Meng Ruji thought about Mo Li’s previous behavior and shook her head.

“I can hardly distinguish how much truth there was in his words. It seems we can only wait for him to wake up on his own.”

“Sigh…” Tuzi sighed. “So there’s no result…”

“Forget it. Let’s rest early today and think of a solution tomorrow,” Meng Ruji put away the stone, ending the discussion, and gave Mu Sui a meaningful look. “Everyone, go rest.”

Night deepened, and the campfire burned until the latter half of the night, much dimmer than before.

When rustling sounds appeared by her ears, Meng Ruji immediately opened her eyes. She sat up and looked toward where the sounds came from, indeed seeing a figure with somewhat staggering steps walking into the distance.

Ye Chuan and Tuzi were both sleeping soundly. Meng Ruji didn’t wake them and followed Mu Sui toward a secluded place.

After walking for a while, Mu Sui stopped, but Meng Ruji didn’t stop, slowly walking up to him.

“Qianshan Jun, where exactly did you develop this habit of neither crying out in pain nor asking for help?”

Mu Sui’s body leaned slightly to one side, slowly sitting down against a tree, only then looking up at Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji had guessed he was unwell, but seeing his face so deathly pale still startled her. She hurried forward, crouched beside Mu Sui, and naturally and familiarly grasped his hand.

“Does this feel better?”

Mu Sui glanced at her hand—her palm was warm, just as before: “You followed again.”

His voice was hoarse, but he still had the strength to speak. Meng Ruji steadied her mind and asked: “What exactly is wrong with your body?” She examined him. “The injuries on your body were from long ago. Your healing ability is good—I’ve witnessed it. But these two times… once was coming out of Ye Chuan’s illusion realm, and once was today…”

Mu Sui lifted his eyes slightly, staring into Meng Ruji’s eyes. Even though his body was weak, his gaze was still compelling.

Meng Ruji didn’t back down either, speaking directly: “Mu Sui, does using your Inner Core power cause backlash against you?”

The night was tranquil, a cool breeze gently caressing.

After a long silence, Mu Sui slightly lowered his eyes and answered softly: “Indeed. Perhaps your Inner Core hasn’t yet fused with my body.”

Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow slightly: “Is that so?”

“What else?” Mu Sui countered with a sharp question.

“Oh.” Meng Ruji seemed to nod in understanding, then, after a while, asked seemingly casually: “I’ve always forgotten to ask you—how do you know that malevolent qi is a divine object?”

Their clasped hands maintained the same temperature, but the air between them somehow became subtly tense.

Mu Sui looked up at Meng Ruji again.

Meng Ruji smiled without warmth, pulling the corners of her mouth. “I know malevolent qi is a divine object because Zhan Ye told me. What about you? How do you know?”

“Books…”

“Books again?” Meng Ruji directly cut off his words. “Husband is truly learned, having read so many books. When we enter Zhuliu City later, you must show me your study.”

Faced with Meng Ruji’s sarcasm, Mu Sui smiled: “Alright…” Before finishing the word, Mu Sui gritted his teeth, seeming to endure a new wave of pain sweeping through his body.

“You have so many secrets,” Meng Ruji complained, yet pulled Mu Sui toward herself, embracing him and placing his head on her lap. “Is this better? Are you more comfortable?”

When Meng Ruji positioned Mu Sui on her lap, he was still somewhat dazed, as if he hadn’t reacted yet.

He stared at Meng Ruji in bewilderment.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Ruji seemed a bit puzzled. “Didn’t you say last time that this would be better?”

Mu Sui remained silent. After a long while, he suddenly smiled.

“Meng Ruji…” he said hoarsely, “You know I have many secrets, you’re suspicious of me, yet you still help me. You… are truly strange.”

“Knowing you’re hiding many things from me and helping you are two separate matters,” Meng Ruji said softly. “You won’t harm me now. Our current goals are the same. Helping you is helping myself. Besides, having traveled together this far, I know that you, husband, are not exactly a bad person.”

“Is that so?” Mu Sui smiled self-mockingly. “Madam, should I praise you for being clear-headed or kind-hearted?”

“Either is fine.”

Mu Sui chuckled again. After a good while, he said something seemingly unrelated:

“So… that’s why he became so extreme.”

But Meng Ruji immediately understood what Mu Sui was talking about.

“Zhan Ye?”

Mu Sui closed his eyes on Meng Ruji’s lap, as if resting: “You used blood sacrifice formation to save everyone, yet were stripped of reputation, placed in danger, even struggling to obtain medicine for healing… He should hate that. If it were me…”

Meng Ruji suddenly tapped Mu Sui’s head: “You absolutely must not be like Zhan Ye! First, I haven’t been that good to you—it’s not worth it. Second, he was too extreme, not advisable.”

“So, how good were you to him?”

“Is that the point?”

Mu Sui’s lips pressed together, the corners of his mouth slightly downturned—it was hard to say this was a happy expression.

“Zhan Ye’s matter taught me a great lesson. From then on, all children who came to my Hengxu Mountain had to attend school first before beginning cultivation. Cultivate the heart first, then cultivate the Way. Then they complement each other,” Meng Ruji said, becoming somewhat proud. “Later, the Five Guardians I trained all turned out very well.”

“Having experienced something like Zhan Ye, you still dared to pick up people for Hengxu Mountain?”

“What’s there to fear? You can’t stop saving people just because you saved one bad person. That would be throwing the baby out with the bathwater, becoming as extreme as him. The injustice and strife Zhan Ye saw is an unavoidable aspect of this world… but isn’t there another side?”

“Which side?”

Magically, as if enchanted, Mu Sui’s words just spilled out.

He truly wanted to hear Meng Ruji continue.

He wanted to see the slight upward curve of her lips when she spoke of these things, wanted to hear her unhurried voice, and even more wanted to be watched by her gaze.

As if these things, like the warmth of her palm, could comfort him.

“Take the Mizong Mountain incident, for example. After I used the blood sacrifice formation and woke up from three months of unconsciousness, Zhan Ye had indeed become somewhat mad. He couldn’t see many things, but I saw quite a lot.”

Meng Ruji’s eyes were bright as she spoke earnestly:

“Among those thousand cultivators, someone wrote me a letter saying he knew I had done all this and expressed his gratitude. It’s just that he had little influence, so no one believed what he said. When setting up the formation, there were too many people—I couldn’t even remember his appearance or name, but he remembered me.”

“There were also people unrelated to the formation—people who, like Hengxu Mountain, would be affected by Mizong Mountain. They knew I had initially been contacting everyone about this matter, so they also sent letters. Some even sent me pills. Although those pills couldn’t heal my injuries, they could heal my heart.”

“I told Zhan Ye many times that we couldn’t control disputes between other immortal sects, nor could we sew up other people’s mouths. But by containing Mizong Mountain and protecting those who should be protected, my blood wasn’t shed in vain.”

“I’m not truly that kind—I don’t want to save everyone. But saving those worth saving makes it worthwhile.”

Mu Sui listened quietly from below. When she looked down at him, Mu Sui asked without thinking: “Am I someone worth saving?”

Meng Ruji smiled gently: “You…”

Having started to speak, before she could continue, suddenly the wind around them changed.

Mu Sui immediately became alert. He gripped Meng Ruji’s hand forcefully, but it was all too late. A strand of black malevolent qi wrapped around Meng Ruji’s shoulder.

Meng Ruji tried to reach for the silver coins at her waist, but another strand of malevolent qi bound her hands and split off another strand to cover her mouth, preventing her from making any sound!

Mu Sui formed hand seals as if to use his Inner Core power, but in the next instant, his entire person was buried by malevolent qi surging from the ground like ocean waves!

His whole being was directly swept into darkness.

Even so, Meng Ruji still had one hand clasped with Mu Sui’s.

The malevolent qi pulled the two apart, from clasped palms to fingertips barely connected, until finally, both hands were forcibly separated.

Meng Ruji was swept up by the malevolent qi, flying into the night sky…