The scenes from the past came to an abrupt halt when Madam Lin fell to the ground.

The real Mo Yi waved her hand, dispersing all the mist that had outlined the scenes.

Because the past courtyard was arranged identically to the present one, Meng Ruji felt momentarily confused and couldn’t emerge from the past. Only when Madam Lin, still sitting on the ground, spoke softly did her weathered, hoarse voice call Meng Ruji back to reality.

“I remember all of this.” Madam Lin looked at Mo Yi, her pupils seeming to retain the moisture brought by the mist. “Every word, every incident—I remember them all.”

“If that’s the case…” Mo Yi asked in confusion, “Why did you change?”

“Because… my child never cried, yet on the day she killed me, I saw tears in her eyes.”

Mo Yi was slightly stunned.

This answer seemed completely beyond her expectations.

It was as if she hadn’t even realized that her own eyes would have held tears at that time.

“You were very obedient. You always completed my harsh demands very well. Never cowardly, never retreating, always moving forward. I convinced myself and felt justified in thinking—this is just how you are, you are my… most perfect creation.”

Madam Lin shook her head gently as she spoke: “But I was wrong, terribly wrong… I realized too late. Only in that final moment did I see that you didn’t just have talent—you also had the most sensitive heart. That’s why you worked so hard, just to avoid disappointing me even a little.”

Mo Yi remained silent, listening to Madam Lin’s confession of error. She seemed somewhat confused, her expression showing the same animal-like bewilderment.

As if even now, Madam Lin’s words made her even more incomprehensible.

“I came to the Land of No Departure, yet I’m also trapped here. You killed me, but your obsession kept me here, not letting me leave completely, nor letting me return to the mortal world. To this day, it remains so. Mo Yi, you’re still wavering, aren’t you?”

In her despair toward the human world, Mo Yi had killed her birth mother, yet deep in her heart, she was still trying to hold on.

So Madam Lin remained in the Land of No Departure, unable to leave even with a thousand gold.

This was Mo Yi’s power as a deity, and also her “selfishness” as a human.

Meng Ruji couldn’t help but look at Mu Sui beside her.

He was different from Mo Yi, yet so similar. To destroy everyone was his hatred carried over from being a deity, but his confusion and hesitation were his attachment as a human.

Having lost his divine status, walking the mortal realm for many years, and even passing through the Land of No Departure where obsessions ran deep…

Even though Mu Sui had no one in his heart, he inevitably developed humanity.

With humanity came weakness, vulnerabilities, attachment, and reluctance to let go.

Like greed and brutality, these were all inseparable aspects of human nature.

Meng Ruji tightened her grip on Mu Sui’s hand a little more. She knew that holding his hand at this moment didn’t represent anything, but she hoped she could pull him a little more toward the human side.

Because destruction wouldn’t just destroy other people—it would also destroy the “human” within himself.

When the outside world became ruins, the world inside Mu Sui would probably be left with nothing but ruins too…

Meng Ruji didn’t want this world to reach that point, whether for the people outside or for Mu Sui himself.

“You’re wrong. Keeping you here was a previous mistake,” Mo Yi said coldly to Madam Lin. “Now, I can let you leave, too.”

As she spoke, her fingertip moved slightly. Seeing her borrow the power of the thousand gold to cast a spell, light flashed at her fingertip, but then dimmed again.

“It’s just that I still have one question… You say you were wrong, so when you sought someone to replace you in returning to the mortal world, it wasn’t for revenge? You didn’t send someone to kill me?”

Madam Lin smiled bitterly: “Do you think I would hate you?”

“I killed you. Shouldn’t you?”

Madam Lin was silent for a moment, but didn’t answer directly. She glanced at Meng Ruji beside her: “Recently, I’ve often thought of you, perhaps because you truly came. I often look at Miss Meng and ponder—perhaps if given another chance, I would teach you to be like Miss Meng, not needing to be so perfect.”

Although… but…

Even though Madam Lin spoke very seriously, Meng Ruji still pursed her lips and ultimately swallowed a “thank you” back into her stomach.

She chose not to interrupt Madam Lin.

“All these years, I’ve sought someone to give him the thousand gold, to have him return to the mortal world in my place, merely wanting someone to help me deliver a message… I wanted to tell you that Mother was wrong.”

“Only that?” But Mo Yi pointed at Meng Ruji, then looked at the stone table. “Then why did you make things difficult for them? What kind of person were you selecting?”

“Selecting someone who dares to oppose me.” Madam Lin’s tone became firm. “Someone with the courage to oppose fate…”

Upon hearing this, Meng Ruji suddenly understood.

The curse poison was coercion, that was right. The thousand gold was an enticement, also right. But weren’t coercion and enticement also how fate forced all beings to submit?

Madam Lin wanted to…

“I wanted to apologize to you, then bring another message—don’t give up…” Her voice was aged, as if coming from history itself. “Don’t listen to others’ arrangements, even if it’s fate itself.”

Meng Ruji was holding Mu Sui’s hand, so she felt Mu Sui’s body stiffen slightly. She turned to look at Mu Sui and saw him somewhat lost in thought, not knowing what he was thinking about.

Meng Ruji didn’t ask, still choosing to firmly hold his hand and stand with him.

Meanwhile, Mo Yi, after hearing Madam Lin’s words, had a light flickering slightly in her eyes, but after a moment, she slightly closed her eyes, sweeping away all the ripples within them.

“Madam Lin, you surprise me somewhat. I didn’t expect that seeing you again, I would hear such words. However…” Mo Yi still moved her fingertip, light gathering at her fingertip, the radiance cold and sharp, much like her voice, “I only listen to my own arrangements now.”

The light condensed and shot directly toward Madam Lin!

Meng Ruji was shocked. She wanted to intercept, but she only had a few silver pieces left from recent days, which wasn’t nearly enough to match Mo Yi’s spell condensed from a thousand gold.

“Mu Sui!” Meng Ruji called out.

Malicious energy around Mu Sui was about to move, but another light arrow came around from behind Meng Ruji without anyone noticing. Mu Sui detected it and first used his malicious energy to block the attack from behind. This completely exposed Madam Lin to the light arrow’s attack!

She intended to send Madam Lin to her death right here, without any hesitation or reluctance!

With a “bang,” in a flash, a huge gray water curtain descended from the sky, blocking Mo Yi’s attack.

Meng Ruji looked up and saw a figure standing in the air, dressed in black robes—it was Mo Li. His face was pale, seeming to have used methods only available to the Lord of No Departure, reversing the flow of Nai River water that was flowing toward the horizon to bring it here.

Mo Yi had condensed her spell with a thousand gold to attack Madam Lin, but the spell condensed from a thousand gold was instantly dissolved the moment it contacted the Nai River water.

Only then did Mo Li save Madam Lin, but even from a distance, Meng Ruji could see his struggle.

He had been injured before…

He was risking his life.

Meng Ruji felt somewhat anxious. She looked at Mu Sui beside her, knowing that he couldn’t use much more malicious energy now. He always loved to show off his strength, and though he didn’t show it on his face, heaven knew what kind of reaction was occurring in his body as Zhan Ye’s malicious energy clashed with his own.

And she now only had a few silver on her—a clever woman couldn’t cook without rice.

In the current situation, if Mo Yi wanted to kill…

None of them stood a chance.

Meng Ruji was extremely anxious, while Mo Yi, who had been interrupted, seemed overly calm.

She looked up toward the sky.

In her past story, Mo Li was almost the “wedge” that led her toward her destined ending, yet now she looked at Mo Li as if looking at a stranger.

A thousand years had passed, seas had turned to mulberry fields, and old friends were ultimately no longer old friends.

The two who had once vowed to join hands to change fate now stood on opposite sides of heaven and earth.

“The Land of No Departure was created by you and me together. You cannot stop me.”

Radiance shifted around Mo Yi’s body, and malicious energy identical to what was on Mu Sui appeared.

The Nai River water could block the spells of the Land of No Departure, but it couldn’t block divine malicious energy.

“Qianshan Jun, this divine malicious energy—you and I share the same source,” Mo Yi said. “I will sever the last ties with humanity, and you should do the same. The thousand gold is here. You should join me in returning to the mortal world to create a new world.”

Having said this, Mo Yi’s malicious energy surged greatly. The malicious energy was like a whip, shooting up to the sky and directly yanking Mo Li down from the air.

The Nai River water, having lost its controller, surged back toward the horizon.

Mo Li crashed heavily beside Meng Ruji. He glanced at Meng Ruji, then looked at Mu Sui nearby.

“Little Meng,” he suddenly said. “I’ve troubled you.”

These words came out of nowhere, and Meng Ruji was completely confused. Before she could ask, Mo Li raised his hand and waved it toward Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji’s entire body seemed to be swept up by a gust of wind into the air, following the returning Nai River water, flowing backward and upward toward the massive Nai River in the sky.

Mu Sui, besides Meng Ruji, was focused entirely on watching Mo Yi ahead, guarding against her attacking Meng Ruji. How could he have expected the danger to come from beside him!

The moment their tightly clasped hands were unexpectedly separated, Mu Sui felt as if something had been torn from his heart.

His chest suddenly felt empty.

“You old bastard!”

Mu Sui heard Meng Ruji cursing from the air, but soon her voice disappeared because she had fallen into the Nai River, uncontrollably flowing upward.

Before the massive river, she was like a tiny dot, having become a grain of sand in the river…

“You got the wrong person…”

Whether Meng Ruji’s words came through was unclear. She only felt herself being pulled by an irresistible force, spinning dizzily through the air.

The Nai River water in the air seemed extremely light, not like water but more like clouds.

She was shaken until she wanted to vomit, but she didn’t dare open her mouth because she remembered that Nai River water was highly poisonous.

Had that nightmare demon gone mad!

Meng Ruji cursed in her heart, but when she struggled to open her eyes in the chaos to identify her direction, she unexpectedly discovered a familiar figure ahead.

He was coming toward her with determination and without hesitation.

Falling into the Nai River and being swept up to the sky would lead directly to the afterlife…

Meng Ruji very much wanted to remind Mu Sui, whose face couldn’t hide his anxiety.

But it seemed… she didn’t need to remind him.

He had been in the Land of No Departure much longer than she had. He should know very well, but he still came.

When Mu Sui grabbed her and pulled her into his embrace, Meng Ruji suddenly understood why Mo Li had done this.

Mo Yi wanted to take Mu Sui back to the mortal world, and the thousand gold was already in Mo Yi’s hands.

In a situation where it was uncertain whether Mu Sui would leave with Mo Yi, compared to snatching the thousand gold from a human deity’s hands, the more reliable method was obviously to lure Mu Sui away…

Attacking Meng Ruji and putting her in danger seemed to be what Mo Li considered the best way to lure Mu Sui away…

Realizing this point, Meng Ruji’s emotions became extremely complex for a moment.

This old bastard…

His approach to breaking the deadlock was quite unique indeed.