The moment she crashed hard onto the bottom of the cave, Meng Ruji heard the sound of bones shattering.

But they weren’t her own.

She was being held in Mu Sui’s embrace, and it was Mu Sui who cushioned her fall, whose bones had broken.

After recovering from the brief confusion following the impact, Meng Ruji immediately climbed off Mu Sui. She roughly brushed off the dirt and vegetation from her body, then turned to look at Mu Sui.

Moonlight shone down into the pit bottom. Apart from the sound of mud, stones, and vegetation tumbling down, it was very quiet. Mu Sui lay on the ground, not getting up for a moment. Meng Ruji knew that if he hadn’t been holding her, given her understanding of Mu Sui’s skills, he wouldn’t have broken any bones from the fall.

Meng Ruji said, “I could have handled this situation myself. You didn’t need to hold me.”

“Without cultivation techniques, your legs would have broken,” Mu Sui sat up. When he spoke, his expression showed no emotion whatsoever. If not for the sound of shattering bones that had just echoed right beside Meng Ruji’s ear, she wouldn’t have been able to tell that Mu Sui was injured.

“What about you then? Where did you break something?” Meng Ruji asked.

Mu Sui glanced up at her, then stood up without any visible disturbance: “I’m fine.”

Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow: “If it’s broken, it’s broken. What’s there to hide about that…”

Before she could finish speaking, she saw Mu Sui stand up, brace one arm against the wall to control his shoulder, then use his other hand to grab the front end of that arm and twist forward with a turn of his body. Another teeth-grinding “crack” sound followed. Mu Sui’s lips pressed tightly together for an instant, then he released his grip, letting his arm hang down naturally.

“I wasn’t trying to hide anything,” Mu Sui’s voice remained steady. “I’m just fine.”

Meng Ruji: “…”

She nodded and praised him: “Tough guy.”

Mu Sui didn’t respond to this praise, already turning to survey their surroundings.

However, Meng Ruji used the moonlight from above to pick up two relatively straight branches from the fallen vegetation, then tore a strip from her already tattered dress hem: “But no matter how tough you are, you still need to bind it. Come here.”

Mu Sui turned his head, looked at Meng Ruji’s eyes, then at what she held in her hands: “It will heal on its own.”

“I’ve already torn my dress hem, so you can’t refuse to let me bind it.”

Mu Sui remained silent for a moment, then extended his arm.

As Meng Ruji took his arm and skillfully began bandaging it, she said: “You seem to be quite accustomed to your body getting injured?”

Mu Sui didn’t make a sound, only quietly watched Meng Ruji under the gauze-like moonlight.

She was a head shorter than him. When she lowered her head to help him bind his wound, the skin on her forehead and nose tip was illuminated by the moonlight, appearing soft and bright. At this moment, even the eerie azure-green moonlight of the Realm of No Return transformed in her eyes into a pool of moonlit water.

Somewhat alluring.

Mu Sui’s uninjured fingertips twitched slightly. He suppressed the impulse to pull her into his embrace.

Naturally, Meng Ruji was unaware of Mu Sui’s wandering thoughts. As she carefully bandaged his wound, she continued speaking:

“Hengxu Mountain used to take in many homeless children. Some of the children were just like you. When they got hurt, they wouldn’t tell me, letting injuries heal on their own, but without proper bandaging, arms can heal crooked.”

“I’m not a child anymore,” Mu Sui said.

“They can still heal crooked.” As if remembering the past, Meng Ruji’s expression revealed a trace of nostalgia. “My Five Guardians were especially stubborn and tough, just like you…”

Mu Sui’s lips tightened: “Were you this good to every child?”

“Hm?”

The question came suddenly. Meng Ruji looked up at Mu Sui, and before she could answer, Mu Sui continued with a series of questions: “Would you bandage them, get this close to them, and be with them under moonlight like this?”

As he spoke, he stepped closer to Meng Ruji.

They were already close, and Mu Sui’s advance compressed the distance even further, forcing Meng Ruji to stop her bandaging motion. One injured arm and two of Meng Ruji’s hands holding the “bandages” were all pressed against their chests.

Meng Ruji instinctively stepped back, but Mu Sui moved forward again.

Until Meng Ruji’s back pressed against the damp earthen wall of the pit. With nowhere left to retreat, Meng Ruji stopped, and so did Mu Sui.

A sense of oppression and hidden intimacy filled the deep mountain pit.

Mu Sui stared at her like a beast eyeing its prey.

“Are you this good to everyone?”

Meng Ruji blinked, emerging from her brief bewilderment. She disliked this kind of proximity and pressure, so she pressed her fingers together into a palm and placed her fingertips against Mu Sui’s forehead: “Stop right there!”

She pushed against Mu Sui’s forehead, tilting his head back slightly, then continued applying pressure until Mu Sui began stepping backward.

When they reached an appropriate distance, Meng Ruji withdrew her hand and looked at Mu Sui: “What kind of baseless jealousy are you having?”

This calm rebuke and rejection brought Mu Sui back to his senses. Mu Sui touched his forehead where Meng Ruji had pushed him, only then realizing that his behavior just now had indeed seemed like baseless jealousy.

Whether Meng Ruji was good to others or not, whether she had been this close to other people, whether she had stood under similar moonlight with others – what did any of this have to do with him?

He only wanted to know how to use that Inner Core.

Mu Sui lowered his head, pressed his lips together, and thought to himself: It’s all because of this life-sustaining object’s fate binding him. In that moment just now, he wasn’t himself.

Meng Ruji continued bandaging the final section of Mu Sui’s “bandage.” She said, “If you hadn’t cushioned my fall, you wouldn’t have broken your hand. I’m just returning a favor.”

Meng Ruji tied a knot on the finished bandage, then looped the bandage around and hung it on his neck.

“I’m not good to everyone. For instance, that pit-digging rabbit of yours – it makes me want to eat roasted rabbit meat right now.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a strange wind suddenly blew through the deep pit.

Meng Ruji’s hair stirred, and she keenly detected the direction the wind came from – at the bottom of the pit, in a corner below, there was a dog-hole-sized opening. The tunnel entrance was pitch black, barely visible in the weak moonlight.

Meng Ruji’s gaze subtly shifted in that direction.

Naturally, Mu Sui also sensed it, but he was more cunning than Meng Ruji, feigning ignorance as he asked: “What do you mean, my rabbit?”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji smiled and glanced at Mu Sui, wanting to see how much longer he planned to act.

And just then!

A white fluffy thing rapidly shot out from that pitch-black “dog hole”! It was indeed that rabbit! It kicked off the ground and leaped up, jumping into the air!

This time, Meng Ruji was prepared. She confidently turned around, and then!

A booming voice that could cause mountains to collapse echoed heavily at the bottom of the pit: “Evil woman! Face your death!”

Upon hearing this voice and seeing the white fluffy rabbit transform into human form in mid-air, Meng Ruji still couldn’t help but widen her eyes, open her mouth, and lean backward in shock.

“Yah!” The burly man, swinging arms thicker than her legs, swung his fist viciously toward Meng Ruji’s face.

Meng Ruji hastily dodged, bending and twisting to the side, falling to the ground.

The burly man’s fist smashed into the earthen wall of the pit, causing chunks of dirt to fall, clattering onto Meng Ruji’s head.

Meng Ruji forgot to dodge. She sat on the ground, staring dazedly, shockedly, and bewilderedly at the burly man attacking her.

“You…”

Meng Ruji pointed at the burly man above her head, then at Mu Sui beside her, who looked equally stunned.

“Are you… Tuzi?”

He heard Meng Ruji ask this.

“You! Don’t even! Think about! Harming my! City Lord Brother!”

He also saw the burly man shake his full beard as he roared furiously.

City Lord Brother…

Mu Sui felt as if he’d been struck in the chest by a heavy punch.

The rabbit… was male…

So… those stewards in Zhuliu City who had been holding the rabbit and nuzzling it constantly… did they act so obediently toward him after seeing him transform into this appearance?

Were they charmed by him?

Or were they possessed by ghosts?

Had something happened to Zhuliu City? Had all those stewards gone mad?

How could this rabbit have bankrupted the family fortune?

The rabbit spirit blocked Mu Sui’s path, separating him from Meng Ruji: “City Lord Brother! Don’t be afraid! Tuzi will take you away!”

Mu Sui’s throat tightened.

Hearing these words, Meng Ruji seemed to finally emerge from her bewilderment. Her composure cracked, and a “haha” sound escaped. Then, seeing Mu Sui’s iron-gray expression, her “haha” burst forth like a mountain flood, echoing continuously at the bottom of the pit.

“City Lord… City Lord Brother!” Meng Ruji laughed until she pounded the ground. “Tuzi will take you away! Hahaha! Qianshan Jun! Your Tuzi can not only bite people and dig holes! He can also take you away! Hahahaha!”

Under the azure-green moonlight, which no longer held its previous intimacy and beauty, Mu Sui’s expression grew increasingly dark amid Meng Ruji’s piercing laughter.

The burly rabbit spirit angrily scolded Meng Ruji: “So noisy, evil woman! I…”

Before he could finish his words, Mu Sui suddenly struck from behind. He kicked the rabbit’s knee, and his uninjured hand directly grabbed the rabbit’s neck from behind, with two fingers pinching his windpipe. Without much force needed, just a light squeeze would dislocate and crush the rabbit’s windpipe, suffocating him to death.

The rabbit was caught off guard by Mu Sui’s sudden kick and didn’t react in time, but Meng Ruji, who had been laughing breathlessly nearby, did react.

Her piercing laughter immediately turned into a sharp intake of breath. She lunged forward and grabbed Mu Sui’s thumb, preventing him from crushing the rabbit’s windpipe.

“What are you doing?” Meng Ruji asked him in shock. “Do you want to eat roasted rabbit meat?”

Mu Sui’s gaze was ice-cold: “Didn’t sister want to eat roasted rabbit meat? I’ll kill him and give you some to eat.”

Meng Ruji was stunned by what she heard: “You really can be ruthless!”

“City… City Lord…” The rabbit had been kicked to its knees on the ground. Though a burly man, he now dared not move. “I came to rescue you…”

“I don’t know you,” Mu Sui said. “And I don’t need you to rescue me.”

The perfectly good burly man immediately began crying “pitter-patter”: “City Lord Brother, you’ve been threatened by the evil woman…”

With a “thunk” sound, Meng Ruji knocked out the rabbit who was about to continue speaking.

Tuzi’s eyes closed, and his body crashed to the ground like a mountain.

He fell, and Meng Ruji still held Mu Sui’s hand, ready to kill. She stared at Mu Sui: “Alright, now he can’t speak either, so you don’t need to rush to kill him to silence him.”

Mu Sui looked at Meng Ruji’s hand gripping his fingers, then swept his gaze to her face:

“So, you are this good to everyone, is that right?”

Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow. She felt that this Mu Sui was somewhat insane.

At a time like this, he was still concerned about such irrelevant matters.

“So, how much longer does Qianshan Jun plan to keep acting?”

Meng Ruji laid it all out directly. “To cover up the fact that you’ve already recovered your memories, you’re willing to kill a loyal servant who protects his master. What exactly do you want to get from me?”

Their four eyes met, seemingly returning to the day of their first encounter, on Xuejing Cliff, where they looked directly at each other, wary and dangerous, secretly competing through their gazes.

“Fine.”

The simple-minded air in Mu Sui’s eyes had completely faded. He lifted his chin slightly, adopting the posture of someone accustomed to high positions. “I won’t act anymore.”

Though Mu Sui’s clothes remained tattered and his appearance disheveled, when he no longer concealed himself, an aura of cold, murderous indifference emanated from him.

Meng Ruji re-examined Mu Sui for a while, then smiled lightly:

“I was originally planning to go along with your act and play a bit longer to probe your depths, but I’ve already obtained the marriage certificate, so continuing to play games with you serves little purpose.” Meng Ruji pointed to the rabbit on the ground, which had returned to its white, soft form. “Besides, it’s not worth killing someone over such a trivial matter. Qianshan Jun knows when to stop.”

“The Demon Lord of Hengxu Mountain has a compassionate heart. Mountain Lord Meng’s reputation is well-deserved,” Mu Sui said. “You treat me and others with equal fairness.”

“I have my scale for right and wrong, good and evil, grudges and affections. I’ll handle things according to my methods.” Meng Ruji directly accepted Mu Sui’s words – she did indeed treat him and others with equal fairness.

Upon hearing this, Mu Sui’s mouth corners turned slightly downward, though he didn’t show it.

However, Meng Ruji observed this. She stepped back and said calmly:

“Qianshan Jun, since we’ve both laid our cards on the table, why don’t we treat each other honestly from now on? I’ll be direct – I’m only after the money from your Zhuliu City. A thousand gold to buy my life – I want to return to the mortal world. What do you want? Let me see if your thousand gold can make a deal with me.”

“Alright. Zhuliu City is originally a place of trade.” Seeing Meng Ruji being so frank, Mu Sui also spoke directly. “I want the method for using your Inner Core.”

“About what I expected.”

Mu Sui’s eyes lifted slightly: “If you’re willing to teach, I’m willing to give you a thousand gold.”

Meng Ruji smiled gently, her eyes curving sweetly as she looked at Mu Sui: “But what can I do? This is the one thing I’m unwilling to trade with you. I won’t teach you the cultivation method, but I still want the thousand gold.”

Her words made the murderous aura around Mu Sui heavier, but her smile made Mu Sui clench his fists at his side. He turned his gaze away, not looking at Meng Ruji’s face:

“Earlier in the government prison, you taught me a few incantations that I still remember. I just need time to fully comprehend them. And now, I have plenty of time. If you’re unwilling to teach, your cultivation method won’t be worth a thousand gold in the future.”

“Is that so?” Meng Ruji brought her face close to Mu Sui’s and smiled. “If you could comprehend it just by having time, why would you bother pretending to be foolish and innocent in front of me, wasting all this effort? These days haven’t been easy, have they, Qianshan Jun?”

Looking at Meng Ruji, who had moved close to his face, Mu Sui again averted his gaze, but Meng Ruji had no intention of letting him off. She moved with a smile to wherever his gaze went.

“Moreover, Qianshan Jun, you now seem to have some emotions toward me that you want to control but can’t help feeling, don’t you?”

Mu Sui was startled and looked at Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji smiled so broadly her eyes nearly closed:

“You’re not stupid, and neither am I. During these days, if it were truly the unknowing Mu Sui, I would believe he could develop dependence and love for me. But you… You’re a merchant who has earned thousands of gold, someone who weighs pros and cons most carefully. That you would develop feelings for me in such a short time – I don’t believe it.”

Mu Sui didn’t deny it.

“In this Realm of No Return, half-dead people cannot leave their life-sustaining objects – that’s the rule. But life-sustaining objects also have rules regarding half-dead people, don’t they? It’s just that some people’s life-sustaining objects are inanimate, some are animals – they either have no will or can’t speak, so it’s difficult for people to deduce the patterns.”

“My body cannot leave you…” Meng Ruji directly extended her hand, her fingertip touching Mu Sui’s lips like a temptation, like teasing. “Your heart cannot leave me. Isn’t that right, little Sui?”

Mu Sui remained silent, allowing Meng Ruji’s finger to dance teasingly on his lips. His eyes became mysterious in the moonlight.

As wind blew down from above and sand and dust slipped down, Mu Sui’s uninjured hand suddenly grabbed Meng Ruji’s mischievous wrist.

Pushing it backward, he pinned her wrist against the damp earthen wall.

“That’s right, sister…”

Mu Sui leaned forward slightly, and as he drew closer to Meng Ruji, his shadow completely enveloped her:

“In the Realm of No Return, you and I simply cannot leave each other. If you want to compete for victory,” Mu Sui imitated the curve of Meng Ruji’s mouth corners, also pulling at his lips in a smile that didn’t reach his eyes as he said coldly, “I’ll accompany you.”

Dirt fell on both of them, but neither brushed the dust away.

Meng Ruji wasn’t anxious at all. She didn’t struggle against Mu Sui’s control, just looked at him calmly and casually, as if she was certain that Mu Sui couldn’t harm her:

“Fine, little Sui. We’re husband and wife. After we get out of this pit, let’s set off for Zhuliu City. It’s time for me to go back and exercise my rights as the lady of the house.”

Mu Sui listened and nodded fearlessly.

Meng Ruji looked up from below, smiling challengingly: “I’d like to see… whether you can pry open my mouth first, or I can get your money first.”

“Good.” Mu Sui smiled coldly, agreeing. “I’d also like to see how the people of Zhuliu City will deal with this female demon lord who claims to be the City Lord’s wife.”

One sentence made the smile on Meng Ruji’s lips drop.

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what it sounds like.” Mu Sui kicked the white fluffy ball on the ground. “What do you think – how did he get here?”

With one sentence, without needing more explanation, Meng Ruji suddenly realized: “You contacted your old subordinates in Zhuliu City… The marriage certificate!?”

Mu Sui again imitated Meng Ruji’s smile, but unlike Meng Ruji, when he smiled, there was no mirth in his eyes. This curve of his mouth corners made his expression appear even more harsh and mocking:

“The Marriage Tree is right in Zhuliu City. Breaking your marriage bond would be quite easy.”

Meng Ruji’s eyes widened.

Mu Sui said: “Mountain Lord Meng, your surname is Meng – could it be the ‘meng’ from daydream?”

Meng Ruji: Your surname is Mu – isn’t that the ‘mu’ from sheepdog? You dog!