Meng Ruji felt like she was constantly falling. In the spinning and tumbling, she seemed to hear the sound of wind, and as the wind sound became clearer, Meng Ruji felt as if she had crashed hard onto the ground. The pain awakened her.

She opened her eyes and saw a gray, overcast sky and tree branches.

All around was silent, the scenery desolate and gray. On the barren earth, no grass or trees could be seen, only withered trees.

Before long, Mu Sui’s face appeared in this gray, desolate scenery, finally bringing a touch of color to Meng Ruji’s world.

Mu Sui still had one arm in a sling, his expression cold and distant.

Mu Sui examined her for a while, confirming she was unharmed, then extended his hand to help her up.

Meng Ruji was pulled up in a daze: “Where is this? Are we still in that forest from before? How is it already daylight…”

“We’ve been pulled into an illusion by the malevolent aura,” Mu Sui answered coldly. “In illusions, time flows differently from the outside world, completely controlled by the master of the illusion.”

“Malevolent aura? Master of the illusion? Oh… Ye Dahe…” Meng Ruji recovered her memory. “What kind of illusion has he pulled us into?”

Mu Sui glanced at Meng Ruji: “How would I know? Mountain Lord Meng, shouldn’t you remember your memories with him more clearly than anyone?”

“So this illusion is my past with Ye Dahe?” Meng Ruji was extremely confused. “What kind of past could we have?”

Mu Sui stared at Meng Ruji: “Ask your conscience.”

Here it comes again…

Another suffocating question.

Meng Ruji rubbed her aching temples, as if returning to that day on Xuejing Cliff when she first awakened. Ye Chuan had descended from the sky, forcing her to say his courtesy name.

It was precisely because she couldn’t say it! Because she couldn’t remember anything! That this karmic entanglement had struck her with heavenly lightning and brought her to the Realm of No Return!

Meng Ruji let out a long sigh: “I really can’t remember anything.”

“Heh…” Mu Sui gave a sarcastic laugh. “Not wronged at all – that Ye Dahe deserves to scold you for being heartless and fickle.”

“Tsk…” Meng Ruji patiently said to Mu Sui, “Control yourself, Qianshan Jun, control yourself! Whatever happened between me and Ye Dahe has nothing to do with you. Can you restrain that bitter expression of yours! We’re grasshoppers on the same rope right now! We need to leave this illusion together! Stop just being jealous!”

Mu Sui turned his face away and took a deep breath. He knew Meng Ruji was right, and he wanted to control his emotions.

But!

Wasn’t he just!

The same as Meng Ruji!

She couldn’t remember who Ye Dahe was, no matter what, and he couldn’t control these emotions, no matter what!

This Ye Dahe!

Deserved to die!

Mu Sui viciously stomped a stone at his feet into the ground.

In the forest, both were immersed in their respective emotions, falling into anxiety.

Before long, rustling sounds came from the distance, and faintly, the sound of crying could be heard.

“Don’t… leave me behind… why leave me behind…” The voice was sorrowful and trembling. “Is there anyone… is there anyone…”

Meng Ruji and Mu Sui quickly exchanged glances.

“The voice is coming from behind the hillside.”

Before Meng Ruji even finished speaking, Mu Sui had already started walking in that direction.

Meng Ruji followed behind, repeatedly calling to him: “Be quieter, be careful he doesn’t discover us…”

“The master of the illusion is – he can naturally discover us.”

“But going to find him so openly is still somewhat risky. Why don’t we take a roundabout route…”

Within a few words, Meng Ruji had already followed Mu Sui to the small hillside. Though Mu Sui moved quickly, he still turned slightly to hide behind a withered tree. Meng Ruji crouched beside him like a cat, looking down the slope.

“Don’t leave me alone here…”

Below the small slope, a young man had both feet trapped in a swamp marsh. His hands desperately gripped the roots of a withered tree on the shore, his hands already beginning to tremble uncontrollably, his lips pale, his entire face turning blue and purple.

Once his strength was exhausted and he could no longer hold onto the tree roots, he would be swallowed by the swamp beneath his feet.

Meng Ruji frowned and slightly lifted her body, but Mu Sui spoke: “Want to save him? Too late. This is his memory. In his memories, you can’t be a savior.”

Meng Ruji crouched back down, but she glanced at Mu Sui: “You could speak to me properly – there’s no need to be so passive-aggressive.”

Mu Sui turned his face away, ignoring Meng Ruji.

But the instant Mu Sui turned his head away, he froze.

Noticing Mu Sui’s stiff posture, Meng Ruji curiously poked her head over to look.

With this look, she also went rigid…

She saw herself…

A disheveled, bedraggled, mentally unclear version of herself, but one that… emanated golden light.

The past Meng Ruji…

“This moment!” Meng Ruji suddenly stood up. “It’s this moment!”

Mu Sui turned his face coldly and asked Meng Ruji: “What moment?”

Meng Ruji looked in shock at her past self, staggering toward the swamp: “When I… when the Inner Core had just entered my body… when I was mentally unclear…”

Accompanying Meng Ruji’s difficult answer, the past girl and the young man in the swamp met.

The young man Ye Chuan, in the swamp, on the verge of death, looked up and saw the girl approaching with golden light surrounding her.

“Miss…” He was shocked but also held hope. Using his last strength, he reached out to the girl: “Save me…”

But the girl Meng Ruji was almost completely unconscious at this time. She didn’t see the young man, and naturally, she didn’t see the swamp that had trapped him.

The girl, Meng Ruji, stepped right into the swamp.

Ye Chuan was stunned. He watched speechlessly as the girl took two steps forward in the swamp, then slowly began sinking.

“Miss!” He shouted, seemingly trying to wake the girl, but…

To no avail.

The girl, Meng Ruji, sank into the swamp.

Present Meng Ruji: “…”

Present Mu Sui: “…”

“I… at that time… was mentally unclear,” Meng Ruji rubbed her forehead to explain. “Even now, I still can’t figure out what happened then, what I did, how many days passed…”

“Mountain Lord Meng,” Mu Sui held back for a long time before finally saying, “You could be considered someone with incredible luck. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have made it this far.”

His words carried mockery that Meng Ruji couldn’t refute.

At this moment, in that swamp, in Ye Chuan’s despair, golden smoke began rising from the swamp. As the smoke ascended, blinding light shot up from below, as if there was a sun beneath the swamp, evaporating all the water.

With a thunderous rumble, the entire swamp was directly overturned by an enormous force from below.

Mud, water, soil, and stones flew everywhere, then crashed heavily to the ground.

Blown out by the tremendous force, besides the swamp’s wet mud, was the despairing Ye Chuan.

Ye Chuan fell sitting on the ground. His hand was accidentally cut by a dead wood, and his arm was bleeding. Covered in mud and filth, he stared ahead with vacant eyes.

After the smoke cleared, where the swamp had been was now a large crater. At the bottom of the crater stood that mentally unclear girl.

The girl continued walking forward, but not in another direction – she headed straight for Ye Chuan, stepping toward him.

Step by step, surrounded by a halo, she walked to Ye Chuan’s front.

Ye Chuan seemed completely stunned. He looked at the girl before him, the mud and filth on her body seemingly wiped away by the golden light.

Like a deity.

“Blood…” The girl stepped forward, approaching Ye Chuan.

Suddenly, she fell before him like a begonia petal plucked by the wind, gracefully falling into his embrace.

Ye Chuan naturally didn’t dare retreat, catching the girl in his arms.

In his embrace, the golden light on the girl’s body changed from extremely unstable flickering to stable radiance.

Ye Chuan didn’t dare move, only stiffly holding her.

But the girl Meng Ruji seemed to be finding a comfortable position in his arms, rumpling his clothes, pulling open his collar, exposing his skin. Then she pressed her cheek against the exposed skin of Ye Chuan’s neck and finally… fell into deep sleep…

Ye Chuan stayed motionless in place, not daring to move, his hands stiffly protective on either side.

Present Meng Ruji also stared in shock on the small slope, standing rigidly.

Beside her, Mu Sui crossed his arms, leaning against the withered tree, his fingertips tapping repeatedly on his arm, anxious and somewhat irritable.

He looked at the young man and woman embracing there, then at the real person standing like a pillar here.

Mu Sui’s expression was as cold as icicles hanging from eaves in winter – one gust of wind could make them fall and kill someone.

“Such skilled methods at such a young age, Mountain Lord Meng.”

“I…” Meng Ruji came to her senses, pinching her forehead. “I… no… I was because… I was mentally unclear! I’m not! I just was, at that time my brain wasn’t right!”

“Heh.” Mu Sui laughed coldly and turned his face away again.

Meng Ruji continued watching in trepidation.

The “play” between the young man and woman continued.

Time flew by quickly. As the sun set and the moon rose, Ye Chuan had been holding the girl for an entire night.

Afraid the girl wouldn’t sleep comfortably, he hadn’t dared move at all. The wound on his arm went untreated, and the blood had already darkened and scabbed into ugly patches.

“Miss,” Ye Chuan murmured, looking at the girl’s face. “I am a disciple of the Lingxi Sect, practicing healing arts. Because of my exceptional talent, I was valued by the clan leader, which aroused jealousy. So I was… led here by my martial uncle, trapped in dire straits, nearly losing my life. Thanks to your sacrifice to save me…”

The sleeping Meng Ruji didn’t answer, but the watching Meng Ruji covered her face while answering: “There was no sacrifice…”

Mu Sui glanced at her and said nothing.

Ye Chuan continued: “You and I now have… intimate contact…”

Meng Ruji pressed her throbbing temples: “I didn’t!”

Mu Sui also felt he had been taking too many deep breaths and was getting dizzy.

Ye Chuan said with a red face: “If you’re willing, could you tell me your name? In the future, I will come to ask for your hand in marriage…”

Meng Ruji shook her head, swearing to Mu Sui: “I didn’t say anything. I was unconscious then!”

Mu Sui laughed coldly: “Is that so?”

Then the girl Meng Ruji in Ye Chuan’s arms moved her mouth: “Sheng…”

“Shengsheng?” Ye Chuan was overjoyed. “You… your name is Shengsheng, right?”

Meng Ruji looked as if she had failed an exam.

Mu Sui crossed his arms, staring at Meng Ruji with cold, distant, emotionless eyes: “Your name is Shengsheng, right, Mountain Lord Meng?”

“It’s my childhood name…”

Mu Sui looked up at the sky and nodded: “Good, it’s even a childhood name.”

Meng Ruji: “…”

She had nothing to say!

Ye Chuan helped smooth the girl Meng Ruji’s hair: “When you wake up, I’ll go with you to meet your parents…”

“My parents had already passed away by then…” Meng Ruji added lifelessly from the side.

But Ye Chuan couldn’t hear anything.

“First, I’ll make promises to your parents. When I return to the sect and report to my master, my martial uncle who harmed me will surely be punished. After I handle the sect’s affairs, I’ll come to marry you.”

“No need…”

“Shengsheng, Shengsheng…” Ye Chuan murmured her name. “My surname is Ye, given name Chuan. I haven’t taken a courtesy name yet. I think my courtesy name could be ‘Buxi’ – Chuan means great river, water carries all things… eternal and unceasing.” The young man said with a red face, “What do you think…”

The “Shengsheng” in his arms did not react.

But the Meng Ruji beside them looked up and let out a long sigh.

She thought it wasn’t good… could it be changed…

Mu Sui: Complete nonsense!