After resting for a moment and letting the fatigue in her limbs subside, Meng Ruji felt a surge of power from her dantian – the Inner Core power that had long been suppressed by the rules of the Land of No Reprieve.

The familiar power now continuously flowed into Meng Ruji’s bloodstream, so much so that she had to find ways to suppress this power.

Meng Ruji closed her eyes, skillfully yet rustily regulating her breathing, channeling the spiritual power into her meridians.

As her breath rippled and she inhaled and exhaled, Meng Ruji regained her former sense of lightness. With a wave of her hand, mystical arts condensed at her fingertips, no longer bound by “lack of money.”

Meng Ruji’s emotions surged with indescribable excitement.

But she also knew that the most important thing now wasn’t to dwell on these feelings.

She closed her eyes and searched for people with her spiritual sense. As her mystical arts unfolded, the winds between heaven and earth helped her search for the person she wanted to find. But now, unlike before, Meng Ruji’s aura was blocked by layers of malevolent energy in this world not long after leaving Hengxu Mountain.

Her search for Mu Sui’s aura couldn’t extend outward and was confined to this limited area.

Meng Ruji frowned and had to give up. But turning her attention, she detected Shang Lan’s aura and found that Shang Lan was at the foot of the mountain.

Previously, the five guardians had been doing different things. The cultivation sects in the world had been mostly eliminated by Mo Yi, leaving only Hengxu Mountain and three other sects struggling to survive.

Before, Shang Lan had stayed to guard Hengxu Mountain while Shang Yan managed the refugee camp at the foot of Hengxu Mountain. Qing Rao had gone to the immortal sect at Lu Mountain, while Xiao Yi and Xiao Bu respectively guarded the other two sects.

But when Qing Rao began executing the special task Meng Ruji had assigned her, Lu Mountain was left unguarded, so Shang Yan left the foot of Hengxu Mountain to go to Lu Mountain.

Shang Lan, who was guarding Hengxu Mountain, then had an additional task of managing the refugee settlement.

Now that Shang Lan was at the foot of the mountain, she was probably checking on the sheltered refugees.

Meng Ruji planned to go down the mountain first to find Shang Lan. Her return to the mortal realm had been sudden, and she hadn’t had time to inform them. Meeting again in the mortal realm, she wondered what expression Shang Lan would show…

Meng Ruji thought this way, but when she reached the foot of the mountain, the scene she witnessed was vastly different from what she had expected.

The refugee camp at the foot of Hengxu Mountain… was in the middle of a fight.

When Meng Ruji came down from the mountain, the people fighting in chaos didn’t notice her at all. She casually saved a child who was being cornered by a cultivator, and only then learned the reason for this group’s fighting…

It wasn’t a Nether Monster invasion, nor was it pressure from Mo Yi, but merely to compete for larger spaces…

Against the backdrop of the deity’s world destruction, the reason these people were fighting left Meng Ruji momentarily speechless.

She felt like giving up and saying let destruction come…

The refugee camp at the foot of Hengxu Mountain sheltered ordinary people, wandering cultivators with nowhere to go, and… cultivators who had once belonged to prestigious sects but whose sects had now disappeared.

Under Mo Yi’s terrifying methods, these people of vastly different backgrounds had gathered together. However, the notions of “high and low status, hierarchical distinctions” in people’s hearts wouldn’t suddenly disappear because of a crisis.

Especially among the high-ranking sect cultivators who prided themselves on their profound cultivation, some were neither willing to face the terrifying Nether Monsters that had defeated them nor willing to let go of their past identities and consider themselves true “refugees.” They still looked down on ordinary people without spiritual roots and wandering cultivators.

They hoped to maintain their “specialness” and “nobility” at the foot of the mountain, but the ordinary people and wandering cultivators who had always been suppressed beneath them no longer wanted to tolerate them.

The accumulated conflicts finally erupted today over a small matter of “territory grabbing,” and both sides started fighting…

Originally, in such fights, the “prestigious sect” cultivators would quickly gain the upper hand, but they had previously been beaten by Mo Yi and the Nether Monsters. Their better immortal artifacts and treasures had either been destroyed by Mo Yi or confiscated. So today, fighting barehanded against wandering cultivators who still had immortal artifacts, they didn’t fare well.

Both sides fought to a draw.

Meng Ruji could see Shang Lan from afar. In this chaotic group fight, she was pulling people apart on both sides, not daring to use deadly force to discipline these fellow “cultivators” because many innocent ordinary people were mixed in, and she feared that large-scale actions would harm the innocent.

Meng Ruji saw her predicament. She was thinking of solutions in the corner when she suddenly saw a mystical art light breaking through the air.

The light was slender like an arrow feather, with dazzling white on the outside and some red inside. At the tail end, the red spread out like a phoenix’s tail feathers.

Meng Ruji examined this mystical art and frowned slightly.

She immediately remembered that she had heard a description of this mystical art light from Miaomiao…

This slender mystical art seemed to carry overwhelming momentum as it charged straight toward a wandering cultivator on the ground!

That wandering cultivator was wielding a large hammer, fighting most intensely with a “prestigious sect” cultivator on the ground. Just as this light was about to pierce through the wandering cultivator’s chest, Meng Ruji raised her hand and, like gentle, soundless rain, effortlessly dissolved the mystical art from the air.

But after the mystical art was dissolved, the impact force turned into a strong wind that blew all the fighting people apart, leaving them sprawled on the ground.

This commotion was significant, and people elsewhere stopped fighting, all looking up at the sky. No one noticed Meng Ruji’s intervention, and everyone thought an immortal had come from the sky to cause this disturbance.

Meng Ruji stood in the shadows without showing herself directly. She, too, was watching the clouds in the sky to see what divine being it was.

After quite a display, the clouds dispersed, and an immortal lord whose clothes remained pristine despite the chaotic world descended from the sky.

His expression was arrogant as he stopped beside the wandering cultivator strongman on the ground. Immediately, “prestigious sect” cultivators came forward to kneel and bow to him, calling him “Immortal Lord Mi Yuan.”

Then, many “prestigious sect” cultivators came forward to kowtow to him. This person seemed to have a high status among these self-proclaimed noble sect cultivators.

Immortal Lord Mi Yuan didn’t even nod in response to those bowing to him. He contemptuously glanced at the wandering cultivator on the ground, then swept his gaze around the surrounding people.

“I wonder which immortal friend could disperse my Immortal-Slaying Arrow Feather?”

His gaze was cold and sharp. Wherever it passed, no one dared to look directly at him. The wandering cultivators looked at each other, while the “prestigious sect” cultivators, seeing someone had come to back them up, became even more arrogant: “Exactly! You group of wandering cultivator trash, your courage has grown! You dare to act against Immortal Lord Mi Yuan!”

“Immortal Lord Mi Yuan.” Shang Lan stepped forward from the crowd. She simply cupped her fists. “You come from the Four Great Sects with noble status. The cultivators here are all willing to follow you. Please command the cultivators to restrain themselves and maintain propriety. The current situation…”

“You.” Immortal Lord Mi Yuan arrogantly interrupted Shang Lan. “Guardian Shang Lan, the way you bow before me is already disrespectful.”

Shang Lan’s expression darkened.

Immortal Lord Mi Yuan flicked his sleeves: “Not to mention you, junior, even if your Mountain Lord Meng were to awaken, she would have to respectfully address me as Immortal Venerable.” He looked at Shang Lan sideways. “Kneel.”

Shang Lan’s face became ugly, and behind her, the people of Hengxu Mountain all placed their hands on their sword hilts.

Hearing this, Meng Ruji finally laughed and walked out from the corner with her arms crossed.

“Since the day I established Hengxu Mountain, we at Hengxu Mountain have never had the custom of kneeling to people.”

She spoke, her voice not loud but reaching everyone’s ears.

Everyone turned to look at Meng Ruji. They saw her in tattered clothes, with disheveled hair and bare face, seemingly no different from refugees, but as she walked forward, the spiritual energy circulating her made all cultivators tremble at the sight.

Immortal Lord Mi Yuan also frowned slightly.

Seeing Meng Ruji, Shang Lan opened her mouth in shock: “Master…”

Meng Ruji nodded: “Thank you for your hard work. I was lucky and returned a bit early.”

Shang Lan blinked, dispelling the moisture in her eyes: “We respectfully welcome the Master.”

Behind Shang Lan, the disciples of Hengxu Mountain were all shocked. Over eight hundred years, some had seen Meng Ruji while others had never seen her, but seeing Shang Lan bow, they all bowed as well: “We respectfully welcome the Master.”

Meng Ruji waved her hand and turned to look at Immortal Lord Mi Yuan: “Rather than how to address you, I just want to know one thing now.”

Meng Ruji lightly snapped her fingers. Immediately, spiritual energy in the surrounding air condensed into arrows, surrounding Immortal Lord Mi Yuan like a ball.

The spiritual energy arrows’ tips condensed with cold light and murderous intent, yet Meng Ruji smiled as she asked him, “Your Immortal-Slaying Feather Arrow – is it something only you know, or do all the people in your sect know it?”

Immortal Lord Mi Yuan’s expression became serious. He suppressed his anger and looked directly at Meng Ruji: “Meng Ruji? Weren’t you dead…”

Before he finished speaking, a spiritual energy arrow directly grazed past his ear.

Without giving him time to react or form hand seals, his ear was cut open, blood flowing down his neck.

Meng Ruji’s smile slightly faded:

“Answer.”

As her words fell like a command, spiritual energy compressed, causing blood to flow from Immortal Lord Mi Yuan’s ears as well.

All the surrounding cultivators were horrified and retreated.

Shang Lan, looking at Meng Ruji’s back, was also somewhat surprised.

“It’s… It’s my exclusive secret technique…” he answered.

Meng Ruji nodded: “In the past, did you destroy a small town during a conflict with someone?”

“What?”

“Answer.”

A spiritual energy arrow pierced through, stabbing Immortal Lord Mi Yuan’s arm.

But this time he seemed to become angry: “Meng Ruji! You’re going too far!”

He tried to resist, spiritual power surging around him. Meng Ruji clenched her five fingers, and two spiritual energy arrows moved together, directly breaking through his surrounding spiritual power and stabbing into two major acupoints on his body.

Mi Yuan screamed miserably, no longer showing the arrogance he had when he first landed. His body tilted, and he knelt on one knee on the ground.

Some wandering cultivators secretly cheered, and some ordinary people also showed relieved expressions.

“In the past, did you destroy a small town?”

Mi Yuan didn’t dare struggle anymore and could only roar: “Which one!?”

Upon hearing this, Meng Ruji fell silent for a moment.

“How many did you destroy?”

“How would I remember!” He was both ashamed, angry, and secretly terrified. “I’ve been cultivating for so many years! How would I remember those!”

Many ordinary people nearby heard these words. Some showed numb expressions while others revealed hatred, but no one dared to step forward.

Meng Ruji nodded calmly.

“Then the case is solved.”

As her words fell, she moved her fingers, and the spiritual energy arrows in the air fell like rain, piercing through Immortal Lord Mi Yuan in an instant.

His expression remained frozen in shock.

Meng Ruji snapped her fingers again. The spiritual energy arrows dissipated, and with a “bang,” they also scattered Immortal Lord Mi Yuan’s corpse, leaving only a pool of blood on the ground.

She acted so quickly that even after Mi Yuan had disappeared, some people still hadn’t reacted.

Some “prestigious sect” cultivators, after their daze, realized what had happened and immediately went weak in the knees, falling to the ground.

They looked at Meng Ruji as if looking at an evil ghost returned to the world.

But Meng Ruji didn’t care about their gazes. She only closed her eyes and silently thought: Miaomiao, your revenge is done. I didn’t break my word.

Then she opened her eyes and swept her gaze over the refugees at the foot of the mountain, including the “prestigious sect” cultivators, wandering cultivators, and ordinary people.

“I killed him for other reasons, but you can also consider it as me making an example of him. When all beings face disaster, Hengxu Mountain uses its remaining strength to protect the weak within its capabilities. This is our duty, but those who consider themselves superior and want to lord over others here, no matter who they are, are not welcome.”

Upon hearing this, the cultivators looked at each other, not daring to speak.

Meng Ruji then pointed to the blood stain on the ground and continued:

“I slept for eight hundred years, and many of you don’t know my temperament. Today is a good time to get familiar with it. At Hengxu Mountain, I set the rules, and everyone must follow them. Previously, Shang Lan seemed cold but was soft-hearted. I’m not. Whoever wants to test my patience, I’ll twist off their head.”

Everyone was terrified.

“Those who don’t want to accept Hengxu Mountain’s protection, who can’t stand me, leave early. The world outside is vast – you’re welcome to it.”

As if to complement Meng Ruji’s words, a black malevolent energy thunder suddenly crashed down from the sky with a “rumble,” accompanied by the roars of Nether Monsters blocked outside Hengxu Mountain’s barrier. No one dared to think of leaving.

After all, staying here and following the rules meant they could live. Going outside meant they would truly die…

The malevolent energy thunder outside struck once and never sounded again. Meng Ruji strangely glanced outside but didn’t think much of it. She turned to go up the mountain. Before leaving, she gave Shang Lan a look. Shang Lan nodded and immediately instructed the people beside her:

“Clean this up. Go notify the other guardians that the Master has returned.”