Mo Li pretended to be frightened and tried to hide behind Meng Ruji, but when he took a step back, Mu Sui pushed him away:

“Stand farther away!”

Mo Li was shoved back two steps, opening his mouth with a pitiful expression: “…What’s the matter? That was something from so many years ago, and it’s something her mind conjured up… I never really said that…”

“Alright, alright.” Meng Ruji played peacemaker, addressing Mo Li: “He’s protective of me and can’t control himself. You know this already.”

Mo Li glanced at Mu Sui beside him, but saw that Mu Sui had already grown accustomed to such words and showed no reaction. He then glanced at Meng Ruji, only to notice that as the married couple stood there, their shoulders unconsciously leaned against each other.

Mo Li touched his nose: “Fine, united as husband and wife – I’m also quite gratified. But you two should still show me some respect. If we’re going to talk about it, I was the one who played matchmaker for you two. If I hadn’t told her your identity as the City Lord of Zhuliu, do you think she would have gone to such lengths to sign that marriage contract with you?”

Mu Sui’s gaze shifted sideways, glancing at Meng Ruji beside him.

This time, it was Meng Ruji who touched her nose: “Don’t speak of idle matters.” She put on a serious expression and addressed Mo Li: “I still have many things I want to ask you, Lord of Wuliu.”

“Lord of Wuliu?” Mu Sui examined Mo Li, and in just a moment, he nodded to himself in understanding. The suspicious points about this person were all resolved the moment his identity was revealed. “You’ve been missing for many years. Why have you suddenly appeared again?”

“Qianshan Jun.” Mo Li chuckled softly: “During the hundreds of years you’ve been in the Wuliu realm, though we’ve never met face to face, we’ve helped each other many times. You and I have never stood in opposition. There’s no need for you to be so hostile toward me now. You, both of you – I’ve never harbored any intention to harm you.”

“Is that so?” Mu Sui pointed to where that mass of mist had just disappeared. “That dream just now, though it was embellished by her mind, still showed that when you gave her the Inner Core, your intentions weren’t kind.”

“Indeed.” Mo Li smiled: “At that time, I was somewhat self-destructive. I wasn’t trying to save her – I just randomly found someone…”

Meng Ruji rolled her eyes: “Although I knew this in my heart, isn’t it still a bit excessive for you to say it so calmly?”

Mo Li still smiled: “…But Little Meng’s performance was beyond my expectations.”

“Me?” Meng Ruji sneered coldly, also quite surprised by Mo Li’s words. “At that time, I was just an ordinary mortal. What performance could I have had?”

“Precisely because you were just an ordinary mortal.” Mo Li’s smile slightly faded as he looked seriously at Meng Ruji. “An ordinary mortal, yet possessing an extremely tenacious will to survive. You didn’t accept your fate, you endured the power of the Inner Core – that surprised me greatly.”

Hearing this, Mu Sui glanced at Meng Ruji, only to see her sneer, seemingly quite disdainful of Mo Li’s words.

“All living things seek survival – it’s merely instinct. You’ve stood on high for so long that you’d be surprised by such a thing.”

Mo Li smiled again without refuting.

“My past needn’t be discussed further. Let’s talk about your story with that deity. Mo Yi…” Meng Ruji crossed her arms and studied Mo Li’s expression. “Right?”

Mu Sui’s eyes turned, sweeping imperceptibly between Meng Ruji and Mo Li: “A deity? You also know a deity?” His voice was low, as if also concealing secrets.

But Mo Li, after Meng Ruji’s words, stood stunned for quite a while before finally laughing: “Worthy of being the provider I chose. Little Meng is clever – you figured out my relationship with her so quickly.”

“There’s nothing hard to guess about it. When the three of us were thrown into the river by Luo Yingfeng, I was bumped by you in the Nai River and saw your memories.” Meng Ruji recalled those sacred lights and gray-white giant rocks.

“A deity gave you a fate of lonely old age and death. You called her Mo Yi, and you said you wanted to change your fate.”

Mo Li seemed to have some old memories stirred up by Meng Ruji’s words. He was silent for a long time: “Little Meng, having too good a memory isn’t necessarily a good thing.”

“I also remember you saying she was a human deity. Is that correct?”

As soon as these words were spoken, suddenly there was a “buzzing” sound, and the entire gray, misty dream space shook violently.

“What’s wrong?” Meng Ruji’s figure swayed from the shaking. She looked around and felt the background had become somewhat darker. Meng Ruji asked Mo Li, “Is there a problem with your nightmare technique?”

Mo Li looked up, glanced at Meng Ruji, then shifted his gaze to Mu Sui.

Mu Sui lowered his head. For a moment, Mo Li couldn’t see his expression.

“Qianshan Jun.” Mo Li called Mu Sui. “Are you experiencing any discomfort? The linked dream is somewhat unstable.”

Mu Sui raised his head, his expression normal: “Mm, it seems someone outside moved my body. It’s not a big problem.”

Mo Li looked thoughtful: “Oh…”

“Then let’s resolve this quickly.” Meng Ruji said. “Who is that human deity, Mo Yi, and what relationship does she have with you? Earlier, Zhan Ye told me that a human deity might still be alive in the mortal realm. Perhaps she truly wants to destroy the world and has joined forces with Zhan Ye.”

Mo Li was silent for a long time again, then sighed: “Mo Yi is different from other naturally born deities. She was once human, then cultivated to become an immortal, and finally ascended from immortal to deity. She is the only one who became a deity from being human.”

“From human to deity…” Meng Ruji was somewhat surprised. “With such an impressive background, why have I never seen any mention of her in the histories of any cultivation sects? I didn’t even know such a deity existed.”

“Because…” Mo Li spoke with difficulty, “Long ago, Mo Yi had already broken ties with the cultivators of the mortal realm. I don’t know the specific reasons. The only thing I know is that when she became a deity, she was given a fate: ‘Human becomes deity, all things perish.'”

Meng Ruji was startled by these six characters.

Mu Sui spoke indifferently: “Deities have no fate. Only mortals do.”

“Right, I think I’ve heard that before, too.” Meng Ruji agreed. “Deities are born divine, without fate. Only mortals have fates that can be seen by deities.”

“Exactly. But she became a deity from being human. At the moment of her ascension, she saw her fate. Mortals only have three-character fates, but she alone had six. Before becoming a deity, she had the first three characters; after becoming a deity, she was supposed to fulfill the last three. But once she completely became a deity, she could no longer see her fate – the only thing she could see was the fate of the common masses.”

“Then me!” Meng Ruji thought of something. “The person who determined my fate – it wouldn’t be her, would it? An old man?”

As soon as she spoke, the surroundings fell quiet for a moment.

Mo Li smiled slightly: “It was this old man.”

Meng Ruji’s eyes widened: “Again… It’s you?”

“Yes, because Mo Yi gave me the ability to see others’ fates. But I can’t see just anyone’s fate – most of the people whose fates I can see eventually come to the Wuliu realm.”

In other words… her fate of toil and hardship was already determined eight hundred years ago…

Meng Ruji was speechless for quite a while.

Mo Li glanced at Mu Sui: “I also determined your fate. Do you still remember, Qianshan Jun?”

Mu Sui’s expression darkened, and Meng Ruji glanced over.

Mo Li said with a smile, “Lost one, have you still not found the path you will take?”

“You speak too much.” Mu Sui said coldly. “Just explain your affairs.”

“So serious.” Mo Li pouted: “My story with Mo Yi is long and complex, but to summarize: about two thousand years ago, when I was young, I met Mo Yi, who had already become a deity. Though she had become a deity from being human, after being a divine being for many years and witnessing many changes in the mortal world, she had already developed chaos in her heart. Yet she was still fighting against her destiny. I was fortunate to meet her and wanted to help her fight against that ethereal fate.”

Mo Li smiled self-mockingly.

“She determined my fate, saying I would die alone in old age. I thought that if I could fight against my destiny, then perhaps she could fight against hers too. We became friends and talked happily. I used my nightmare demon power to create a dream for her – in the dream, she was always a deity with a clear dao heart, blessing the world.”

“She was very happy in the dream. To preserve this dream, she used her divine power to permanently seal it away, creating a space that was illusory yet real in the world.”

Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji and Mu Sui, his expression seeming to hold compassion: “That space is the Wuliu realm.”

Meng Ruji understood: “The Wuliu realm was created by you and Mo Yi together. No wonder when I called you the Lord of Wuliu, you said ‘sort of’…”

Mo Li smiled bitterly: “When we left that space, we only thought we had trapped a dream. Even after we left, we never went back to look for it. We never imagined that years later, that space would attract so many wandering souls, obsessions, and lost people.”

Mo Li looked meaningfully at Mu Sui.

Mu Sui pressed his lips together, his face very cold and hard.

“Mo Yi once believed that I could change fate, so she was also willing to make one last effort to avoid destroying all things. She refined almost all of her divine power into a divine pearl with Creation Power and gave it to me.”

“She said that if she eventually couldn’t control herself and slid into the abyss, then I, having obtained the power of this spiritual pearl, could commit deicide.”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji looked toward Mu Sui’s dantian in shock: “Inner Core…”

Mu Sui only stared at Mo Li: “She slid into the abyss, and you didn’t kill her.”

“I didn’t have the chance.” Mo Li pretended to be relaxed. “After she gave me this pearl, she returned to the legendary divine realm. I couldn’t ascend there, so I could only cultivate in the lower realm, hoping to comprehend the mysteries of divine power as soon as possible. But during my cultivation, in just a century or two… I encountered an accident.”

“With such divine power, what could harm you?”

“A half-demon with Creation Power – what harm would they face? Meng Ruji, you understand this better than I do.”

Meng Ruji fell silent.

Mu Sui glanced at her profile, his fingertips in his sleeve moving slightly, but in the end, he only returned to calm.

Mo Li continued: “My temperament isn’t as good as yours. I usually don’t think about doing good deeds and accumulating virtue – I only focus on cultivation. The result was predictable. Many cultivators said that nightmare beasts are inherently evil, and some powerful beings tried to seize the ‘divine power’ in my body through various schemes and plots. They even gave me such a terrifying title – ‘Yan Tianjun’… Heh, catchy and known throughout the world. You see how smoothly you usually call me by it.”

“Because of me, or rather because of this power in my body, the world was thrown into great chaos…”

Meng Ruji naturally knew – her parents and many people in the village had starved to death because of that “great chaos.”

She had almost starved to death too…

“I’m not a saint either. It’s rare to have a clear mind, but when attacked by groups and driven to desperate straits, I looked up at the starry sky many times and wondered why the human deity I believed in had still not returned.”

“If she came, could the slander and injustice I bore be cleansed? I also thought that I was too slow in comprehending divine power. If I could fully unleash this power, the first ones I’d kill would be those cultivators. Even at the very end… I thought, if Mo Yi could destroy the world, that wouldn’t be bad either.”

“Mo Li…” Meng Ruji couldn’t bear to listen, but more than that, she felt moved.

What he was saying – others in the world might not understand, but she did.

However, even now, Meng Ruji didn’t know how to comfort Mo Li, not even with a single word…

Because she understood such feelings too well, and she also knew too well that any comfort… was useless.

“So in the end, you were still killed by cultivators.”

Almost somewhat abruptly, Mu Sui’s steady, calm voice rang in their ears, breaking the emotions stirred by memories of the past.

“Yes.” Mo Li said. “Before meeting Little Meng, I was already at my wits’ end. At that time, I only thought – they want this Creation Power, they want to use it to climb to higher heavens, but I deliberately wanted to bestow this Creation Power upon someone who had nothing…”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji felt helpless but didn’t know whether she should scold him. She could only look at him with a mixture of tears and laughter.

Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji, his expression gradually softening.

“I saw her pain and struggle, just like mine. But I also saw her resistance and fight for survival, like all living things.”

“Then, she succeeded.”

Mo Li reached out and grasped a strand of hair that had fallen over Meng Ruji’s shoulder, his pupils filled with countless emotions: “In that instant, it was as if all living things revived before my eyes. I don’t know why, but I cried. Meng Ruji, what you said just now about the will of all living things to survive – it’s truly magnificently great.”

Meng Ruji was somewhat stunned by his words. After reacting for a moment, she pulled her hair from Mo Li’s hand: “What you’re describing were all my unconscious actions. It was indeed the survival instinct of all living things – there’s no need to praise me specifically.”

Mo Li smiled, glanced at the very unhappy Mu Sui beside them, and waved his hand, obediently stepping back:

“The Inner Core has Creation Power. You need to have the will to control Creation Power to suppress it. I was originally a half-demon with considerable power. When Mo Yi gave me the Inner Core, she also helped me pacify it. I never truly tamed this power. But you did it then. I’m not praising you – I’m just describing this fact.”

Meng Ruji shook her head: “Though you received the Inner Core with others’ help, it was only a century or two in total. Such a short time would naturally make it difficult to coexist with that Inner Core. I also spent a long time merging and comprehending it. In the end, eight hundred years ago, I still had to seal myself to avoid being torn apart by this abundant power. Only…”

Meng Ruji looked at Mu Sui beside her and examined him up and down: “He seems to have never shown any rejection.”

Hearing this, Mo Li joined Meng Ruji in examining Mu Sui.

Mu Sui pressed his lips, and after a long while, stiffly said three words: “I can endure.”

Anyone could tell he was hiding something with such an answer.

But now wasn’t the time to probe into his secrets.

“After giving you the Inner Core, I used my last strength to help you once more.” Mo Li smiled cunningly. “Those cultivators came chasing after me. I led them away and let them kill me. They thought this divine power died with me, so no one would trouble you anymore.”

“Indeed…” Meng Ruji recalled the past: “During that time, my consciousness was chaotic, and for a very long time afterward, I didn’t comprehend the power of the Inner Core. If I had been targeted then, I probably would have…”

“Mm, but I didn’t completely die. I came to the Wuliu realm. There were already many wandering souls here, and in the time I was absent, this place had developed its spatial laws and rules. But fortunately, this place still recognized me.”

“Then you naturally became the Lord of Wuliu.” Mu Sui interjected. “You also sealed Zhan Ye?”

Mo Li was somewhat surprised: “I told Little Meng before, but not you. How did you guess?”

“Deduction. Zhan Ye isn’t weak, but sealing Zhan Ye was done silently and without a trace. It must have been done by someone powerful. But when I came to the Wuliu realm, I never heard legends of any powerful beings – only of the Lord of Wuliu.”

Mo Li chuckled: “You two spouses are each cleverer than the other.” Having said this, his expression grew serious. “Zhan Ye carries deep, malevolent energy. As soon as he came to the Wuliu realm, I sensed it. He said then that he wanted to destroy the world.”

Meng Ruji sighed: “He’s been saying that since he was in the mortal realm…”

Mo Li also sighed: “I sealed him up. I just didn’t expect that after all these years, he still hasn’t given up. When my body weakened slightly, he broke through the seal… and actually… brought news of Mo Yi.”

“It seems…” Meng Ruji’s expression became even more grave. “They truly have contact through some method we don’t know about.”

“Malevolent energy.” Mu Sui spoke two words.

Meng Ruji and Mo Li immediately understood, almost speaking in unison: “Divine artifacts!”