Meng Ruji walked along the forest path back to the broken wooden house, one hand tightly gripping the “life-saving” pill wrapped in oil paper, the other clutching the money pouch.

The coins in the money pouch clinked—ten wen remained. It wasn’t that Meng Ruji had gone begging along the way, but at the medicine shop, she had stopped the shopkeeper from putting the pill in a luxurious box. By refusing that flashy but useless box, she had gotten the shopkeeper to reduce the price by ten wen.

Ten wen wasn’t much enough for her and Mu Sui to eat for one day, or with forest fruits added, they could last two days…

What Meng Ruji was grateful for now was that she had bought the small green pills yesterday. Otherwise, who knew if heaven would have priced this medicine at eight silver and five wen…

She now had a complete lack of confidence in her financial luck.

While Meng Ruji was still sighing over the pill, suddenly a cool wind rose in the surrounding forest. It felt chilly against her face.

Meng Ruji sensed something was wrong in the wind’s atmosphere. Just as she was about to look around, she suddenly heard a melancholy male voice from the forest:

“Meng Ruji…”

Called out repeatedly, eerily.

Meng Ruji’s brow furrowed slightly. She was wondering which man in the Place of No Refuge knew her name when a hand suddenly appeared behind her!

Meng Ruji’s expression immediately turned fierce. Just as she was about to turn around, a hand slapped heavily on her shoulder.

“Meeting you again!”

The force was so great that it made Meng Ruji stumble. She couldn’t hold onto the money pouch and pill in her hands—both flew out. The money pouch fell to the ground, but the pill rolled into the vegetation and disappeared.

Meng Ruji felt as if her heart had rolled into the vegetation and vanished.

“Eight silver!”

Meng Ruji shouted, not having time to see who had slapped her. She immediately dove toward where the pill and money pouch had flown, crawling on the ground to search carefully.

The money pouch was found immediately, but the pill wasn’t so simple.

After searching for a while without finding any trace, Meng Ruji heard footsteps behind her stepping through vegetation. The person walked to her side: “What are you looking for? Won’t even look at me?”

Only then did Meng Ruji look up, glaring viciously at the newcomer.

The man was lean, wearing dark robes, standing backlit so his features weren’t clear. But Meng Ruji didn’t want to know what this person looked like anyway. She just gnashed her teeth in hatred: “I don’t care what kind of ghost you are—if I can’t find my pill, I’ll still crack open your skull!”

The man froze, touched his nose, and crouched down to help Meng Ruji search on the ground.

“What does it look like? The pill?”

“Wrapped in white oil paper. The size of a fingernail.”

Wind rustled, sunlight scattered. For a moment, no one spoke in the forest. The two crawled on separate patches of ground, turning over every dead branch and fallen leaf.

The scene was bizarre yet peaceful.

“Isn’t this it?” The man found the oil paper-wrapped pill.

Meng Ruji immediately sprang up from the ground, turning to the man’s side: “Yes!” She snatched the pill and clutched it to her chest. “Thank goodness it wasn’t lost—my eight silver.”

“This pill is called Eight Silver?” the man asked curiously.

“This pill is worth eight silver,” Meng Ruji solemnly introduced to him.

Then Meng Ruji saw the face of the man who had been crouching on the ground with her. She froze.

“You…”

The man smiled slightly, propping up his cheek and looking at her leisurely: “Oh. Seems you still remember me, little Meng.”

The man before her had skin whiter than snow, hair black as ink. When he smiled, his red lips and white teeth were more beautiful than any woman’s.

Meng Ruji remembered him…

Of course, she remembered him!

The person who gave her that Inner Core with the power of creation, the one who turned her into a half-demon—it was this man before her who smiled harmlessly but had nearly destroyed the entire mortal world!

“Yan Tianjun… Mo Li.”

“Correct, it’s me.”

Meng Ruji stood frozen in place, so shocked she was momentarily speechless.

In her confusion, looking at this person’s smile, Meng Ruji instantly recalled memories long buried in her heart.

Long ago, when Meng Ruji was still an ordinary person, she lived in the most common village in the mortal world, beside the most unremarkable little river. When she encountered Yan Tianjun, it was when the world was in complete chaos.

Everyone in her family had died for various reasons—from illness, starvation, or killed by accidents while fleeing the village…

Only Meng Ruji, a thin girl, remained guarding their ruined home, living hopelessly like an ant.

But Yan Tianjun Mo Li was a great figure that even someone like her, ant-like as she was, had heard of.

Because everyone said the world’s chaos began with Yan Tianjun. He was a half-demon with boundless ambition who wanted to rule the world alone. Moreover, he had a strange temperament, was moody, bloodthirsty by nature, and had hands stained with blood.

The day she met Yan Tianjun, Meng Ruji had already gone three days without food. She was digging tree roots in the forest near her home. Outside the forest lay the bones of others who had starved to death. She knew if she couldn’t find something to eat today, she would end up just like those bones.

It was then, dizzy from hunger, that Meng Ruji saw someone approaching through the mountain forest.

His face was ghastly pale, wearing expensive dark robes that looked damp. The grass he walked over was stained with blood, and some crimson blood was smeared on his overly pale skin, making the blood color even more shocking.

“Farm girl.” He saw her. “Good, an ordinary farm girl… What’s your name?”

Mo Li crouched in front of Meng Ruji, then raised his hand and grasped her chin.

Meng Ruji wanted to struggle, but couldn’t resist. This “great figure,” even appearing severely injured, was far more powerful than her whole and healthy self.

Meng Ruji could only obediently answer: “Meng…”

“Little Meng.” He had no patience to hear her say more, interrupting her with a hoarse voice. “On my way here, I decided something. I decided to walk west until I met the first person, then I’d give them something.”

These words were absurd, but he wasn’t giving Meng Ruji a choice. After speaking, he slightly opened his mouth.

In his mouth, a golden bead carrying dazzling light slowly condensed and took shape.

“I give you direct ascension to azure clouds.”

The golden bead was gently blown by him, then pierced into Meng Ruji’s brow, slowly sinking in, regardless of whether Meng Ruji wanted it or not.

As this irresistible force drilled into her skin, Meng Ruji felt as if she were being torn apart. Every inch of skin, every nerve screamed madly, but her throat couldn’t make a sound.

Mo Li released Meng Ruji, letting her fall to the ground. Then he stood up, looking down at her on the ground from his lofty position, as if looking at an ant.

Accompanied by extreme physical agony, Meng Ruji looked at Mo Li and deeply remembered his face.

For many days after receiving the Inner Core, Meng Ruji remained unconscious, living in a daze. When she emerged from death-like suffering, she had become a half-demon—no longer so easily hungry, and no longer so fragile.

She also heard that Yan Tianjun had died, killed by the combined forces of the immortal and demon paths.

What followed was her emergence in the mortal world. With the power of this Inner Core, she survived repeated near-death experiences in the chaotic times, eventually establishing Hengxu Mountain and nearly ascending to the position of Demon Lord.

Later, in many midnight dreams, she knew that receiving the Inner Core had been an opportunity, a change, the “ascension to azure clouds” that Mo Li and the world spoke of.

But during that time of receiving the Inner Core, the pain forever carved into her soul, along with Mo Li’s cold face, became the nightmares in Meng Ruji’s dreams year after year.

True to the title he gave himself—Yan Tianjun, he seemed to be the nightmare of all people under heaven…

And her nightmare, after countless years had passed, when she had finally healed herself and no longer had those nightmares, suddenly appeared before her again, then smiled and called her—

“Little Meng.”

Meng Ruji immediately felt a chill all over. She stood up with a “whoosh” and turned to leave without stopping. But that “nightmare” also stood up with a “whoosh” and followed her step by step.

However fast she walked, Mo Li followed. If she didn’t stop, Mo Li didn’t stop either.

Until Meng Ruji realized that continuing forward would bring them near the broken wooden house. Mu Sui might come out—he could be impulsive, but his current physical condition wasn’t suitable for any conflict with anyone…

Especially with Yan Tianjun.

The greatest villain who had once thrown the mortal world into chaos!

Thinking of this, Meng Ruji suddenly turned around again and hurried dozens of zhang away from the broken wooden house.

Mo Li didn’t understand why, but still followed Meng Ruji’s sudden turn, shadowing her as she hurried dozens of zhang away.

“What do you want?”

“Far enough.” Meng Ruji suddenly stopped, turning back with a dark expression to ask Mo Li.

Mo Li almost crashed into Meng Ruji. He managed to stop and responded with a gentle smile: “Nothing much. I just want you to help me with retirement care.”

Meng Ruji had planned to immediately refuse whatever he said.

But hearing the words “retirement care,” Meng Ruji couldn’t help but immediately say a short: “Huh?”

Mo Li nodded, seriously confirming what he’d just said: “Right, retirement care.”

Meng Ruji looked at him like looking at a madman.

Though thinking about it, Yan Tianjun had always been a madman.

From his past actions to giving her the Inner Core, everything revealed that he was a madman who acted on whims.

Then Meng Ruji returned to her main point and flatly refused him:

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” Mo Li answered seriously. “I can still take care of myself, my legs work fine. I just sometimes get backaches and tire easily.”

The more Meng Ruji listened, the more absurd it became. She looked at him speechlessly: “Yan Tianjun.”

Mo Li waved his hand: “Why still use those titles? If you don’t mind, you could call me an ancestor.”

Meng Ruji wanted to call him an old, undying thing.

“First, I don’t know you well.”

Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji, raising an eyebrow as if somewhat hurt: “Not well acquainted? I left all my family fortune to you.”

“What did you leave me?!”

“The Inner Core.”

“That doesn’t count as…” Meng Ruji said halfway, then thought about it and choked on her words.

That did indeed count as giving it to her.

“I didn’t ask you for that.” Meng Ruji grasped her rationality. “I have no relationship with you.”

“Whoever takes the family fortune should take care of the family’s elderly, shouldn’t they?”

“Who’s family with you?”

“Then why are you taking my Inner Core? I’ve been in the Place of No Refuge for years. I heard that in the mortal world appeared a Demon Lord named Meng Ruji appeared, possessing the power of creation’s Inner Core, who even built her sect—Hengxu Mountain, right? Without my Inner Core, you might have starved to death in that forest, little Meng.”

Little Meng was speechless. In matters of money disputes, she always struggled to find advantageous angles for herself.

After holding back for a long time, she could only rub her temples and say hoarsely: “That… that still doesn’t mean I should provide your retirement care…”

“People can’t be like this.” Mo Li sighed, appearing earnest and sincere. “You can’t just take what you want and then refuse responsibility, little Meng. Moreover…”

“There’s no moreover. That was so many years ago, didn’t you die already?”

“That’s exactly what I want to say. I died early, came to the Place of No Refuge early, got tired of living early, and became a stone in the Nai River. I was on the verge of losing all consciousness, but wasn’t it because of you?”

Mo Li looked at Meng Ruji with a gentle smile. “Your aura awakened me and fished me out of the river. Shouldn’t you be responsible for this? Little Meng, this is the fate that binds you to provide my retirement care.”

After hearing this, Meng Ruji looked at Mo Li for a long time, then only managed to squeeze out another short breath:

“Huh?”