Meng Ruji hurried over. Standing at the window, she looked outside.

Mu Sui stood on a silver formation beneath his feet, which was the source of power allowing him to float in mid-air: “You came so easily?” Meng Ruji found it hard to believe. “No one stopped you?”

“If it weren’t my city, it wouldn’t have been so easy. Come out.” Mu Sui extended his hand.

Meng Ruji quickly stopped him: “Don’t touch it. There’s a restriction on the window.”

Hearing this, Mu Sui’s hand paused, his brow furrowing slightly.

Meng Ruji gently tapped with her finger from inside, and indeed, a row of golden formations appeared in the air, looking much more expensive than the one beneath Mu Sui’s feet.

“He doesn’t want to kill me, so it should be fine for me to touch it from inside, but I don’t know what consequences there would be if you touch me from outside.” Meng Ruji looked back at where Zhan Ye had appeared earlier, finding nothing unusual, then said to Mu Sui, “You should go back first…”

“There’s no reason to return empty-handed.” Mu Sui said, taking out three round golden beans from his chest!

Golden beans!

Meng Ruji was so shocked that her eyes widened: “You still have three gold! Where did you get the money?”

As she asked, an equally expensive-looking formation had already formed in Mu Sui’s palm! Just as it was about to attack the window’s restriction, Meng Ruji quickly came to her senses and shouted to stop him: “You can’t attack! I can’t leave yet!”

These words made Mu Sui’s face darken, but he still complied with Meng Ruji’s words and didn’t attack directly.

The formation rotated in his palm as he stared at Meng Ruji with displeasure: “Do you truly want to reminisce with him?”

“Don’t be jealous! Calm down!” After Meng Ruji’s exasperation, she spoke seriously: “You can forcibly break the restriction today, and I can indeed leave with you, but then what? Won’t Zhuliu City still be controlled by Zhan Ye? Won’t the wealth here still be at his command? The people living here would still be unable to escape disaster.”

Meng Ruji made sense. Before coming, Mu Sui had also considered that rescuing Meng Ruji wouldn’t fundamentally solve the problem.

But didn’t come to rescue Meng Ruji?

He couldn’t do it.

He told himself it was the connection between the life-sustaining object and the half-dead person that made him unable to do so. He couldn’t resist this feeling, couldn’t control this impulse.

“Inside this restriction, the spell you cast on the bracelet seems to have failed, but it doesn’t matter. Mo Li has awakened…”

As Meng Ruji spoke, a clear voice suddenly came from her chest: “Good son-in-law, I’m here.”

The air fell silent for a moment…

Then both Meng Ruji and Mu Sui rolled their eyes speechlessly.

Mu Sui was the first to control his emotions and speak: “Don’t keep it in your chest!”

“I know, I know.” Meng Ruji replied perfunctorily, then continued: “He can let you and me meet in dreams, much safer than us hanging here chatting. Go back later, find a place to hide well so Zhan Ye doesn’t capture you too, then get some good sleep.”

Mu Sui was silent for a moment, then nodded: “Nightmare demon arts are indeed feasible.”

Before he finished speaking, Meng Ruji suddenly caught a whiff of an unusual scent. Looking back, she saw formations beginning to appear where Zhan Ye had emerged earlier, with wisps of malevolent qi starting to drift out from the formations.

“He’s coming! Leave first!”

Mu Sui looked deeply at Meng Ruji.

“Don’t worry, he won’t kill me!”

“The Golden Staff of Chiying Hall—find a way to locate it.” Mu Sui left these words. The golden formation rotating in his hand immediately changed, the symbols and characters on it transforming—this was an exquisite wind-riding technique that even made Meng Ruji look impressed.

Meng Ruji looked steadily into Mu Sui’s eyes: “See you in dreams.”

In the next instant, golden light enveloped Mu Sui, and his figure disappeared like wind.

As Mu Sui left, a black stream of malevolent qi suddenly shot out from behind Meng Ruji like an arrow released from a bow, chasing in the direction where Mu Sui had vanished.

Meng Ruji’s heart tightened. She immediately raised her hand to block it. The malevolent qi passed through her palm, instantly sending excruciating pain drilling through her palm to her heart. She didn’t first pay attention to her hand, but looked in the direction Mu Sui had left.

She saw that her intervention indeed hindered the malevolent qi—that black “arrow” didn’t chase far before dissipating in the cloud layers.

Just as Meng Ruji breathed a sigh of relief, her wrist was suddenly grabbed. Looking back, she saw Zhan Ye with a dark expression.

“Meng Ruji.” While withdrawing the malevolent qi attached to Meng Ruji’s palm, Zhan Ye looked up at her: “I said I am your blade, so you shouldn’t be tainted by divine malevolent qi.”

Meng Ruji looked at Zhan Ye coldly, watching him speak obsessively and lowly:

“You should become a perfect person, and then become the best god.”

Meng Ruji coldly withdrew her hand, not intending to waste another word with him. But on second thought, she remembered what Mu Sui had just said—the Golden Staff of Chiying Hall.

It sounded like something very valuable, probably worth quite a bit of gold.

How could she find it…

Meng Ruji studied Zhan Ye, but he had already walked past her to the window, looking down into the clouds below: “To find this place, he’s more troublesome than I thought.”

Without needing explanation, Zhan Ye could already guess who had come.

“This was originally his place.” Meng Ruji responded, then walked casually toward the bed as if relaxed, chatting as if casually: “For you to control his territory in such a short time—he should be the one saying you’re troublesome.”

“You seem to have some admiration for him?” Zhan Ye leaned against the window, looking at Meng Ruji sitting by the bed. “How unexpected. I thought you married him only because he was the Lord of Zhuliu City.”

“It was indeed because of his status.” Meng Ruji also looked at Zhan Ye. “But I also appreciate him—there’s no conflict.”

Zhan Ye’s eyebrows raised slightly: “He’s nothing but a lowly person. Meng Ruji, you shouldn’t have any attachment to him.”

“Lowly?” Meng Ruji looked sideways at Zhan Ye. “You chose to stay in Zhuliu City, using malevolent qi to control this place—isn’t it precisely because this ‘lowly person’ you speak of created wealth that could pile into a thousand mountains? Being able to earn money through ability in this place isn’t lowly. What’s lowly is oc-cu-py-ing oth-ers’ nests.”

A flicker passed through Zhan Ye’s eyes.

Meng Ruji continued: “Your talk of taking me back to the mortal realm is also just by forcibly seizing others’ wealth, at the cost of destroying others’ century-old foundations—draining the pond to catch fish. Zhan Ye, are you the perfect person you speak of?”

Zhan Ye was silent for a moment: “I’m not yet. If the old world isn’t destroyed, the new world naturally cannot be reborn.”

Meng Ruji pretended to think deeply, silent for a moment, then said: “I’ve never asked—how do you plan to destroy the old world?”

Hearing this, Zhan Ye’s eyes brightened: “You’re willing to listen?”

“Go ahead.” Meng Ruji looked at him leisurely. “First, tell me how you plan to destroy the Land of No Return.”

“I once lay on the icy lake, wholeheartedly seeking death. In despair, I received a wisp of divine malevolent qi. Half-dreaming, half-awake, I saw all the gods surrounding me, commanding me to overturn the mortal world, exterminate humanity, and overthrow the immortal way.”

“You’ve said this before. I remember.”

Zhan Ye’s gaze softened for an instant: “When I came to the Land of No Return, before being sealed by the Lord of No Return, I learned during our battle that this Land of No Return is merely a realm of desire created by the Lord of No Return.”

Meng Ruji moved her eyebrows slightly, suppressing the urge to touch the stone in her chest.

At this time, Mo Li was naturally silent, as if he had never existed at all.

“This place was created by the Lord of No Return’s thoughts combined with powerful divine force. This thought was extremely strong—attached to divine power, it drew over the dying desires from the mortal realm.”

“So…” Meng Ruji understood, “only those harboring unwillingness and obsession can enter the Land of No Return.”

“And here, the so-called wealth is merely the manifestation of everyone’s desires.”

Meng Ruji didn’t understand: “What do you mean?”

“Why can a thousand gold buy life?” Zhan Ye said in a low tone. “The wealth here can serve as a medium for casting spells and can make people ‘return from the dead’—this power defies heaven’s way, overturning the power of life and death. How could mere gold and silver possess heaven-defying power?”

“It’s… everyone’s desires?”

“The gold and silver of the Land of No Return are born from the thoughts of all living beings. The thoughts of all living beings can reverse life and death, defy heaven and change fate.”

After hearing this, Meng Ruji couldn’t recover for a long time.

What she thought was the Land of No Return’s boring money game was a struggle of desires.

Gold and silver were born from all living beings and circulated among them, exchanged, nourishing so many people in the Land of No Return…

When gold and silver were overused in spells and turned to powder, it was because that portion of collective desire couldn’t support such intense spells.

Meng Ruji suppressed her inner shock and asked Zhan Ye, “When you fought the Lord of No Return, would he tell you these things?”

“Naturally not.” Zhan Ye said. “But ever since I came to the Land of No Return, I’ve often heard divine voices in my head…”

The stone in Meng Ruji’s chest moved slightly. She immediately shifted her body to conceal the slight tremor of her clothing.

Fortunately, Zhan Ye seemed immersed in memories and didn’t notice the anomaly.

He continued: “She told me her name—Mo Yi. She also told me why the Land of No Return exists, and finally, she told me how to destroy the Land of No Return.”

The stone in her chest seemed to tremble slightly. Meng Ruji simply folded her arms, completely blocking where the stone was located.

“The god wants to destroy the world, annihilate everything—immortals, humans, and human desires.”

“So, how did the god say to destroy the Land of No Return?”

“Draw the water of the Nai River into the clouds and rain it down upon the world.”

Meng Ruji fell silent.

“Nai River water is highly toxic because this river water can dissolve desires. The people and gold and silver here all exist because of desires—naturally, they would disappear when desires dissipate. When gods create worlds, all things are mutually generating and restraining, perfectly balanced.”

Zhan Ye’s tone remained calm throughout, as if describing what he had eaten yesterday. But in Meng Ruji’s heart, waves were already surging: “You… have been in Zhuliu City, besides seizing gold and silver…”

Zhan Ye smiled, just like before when he would beat Meng Ruji at chess.

“Two thousand gold is somewhat difficult, but not that difficult. Zhuliu City is the highest place in the entire Land of No Return. Here, arranging this matter couldn’t be more suitable.” Zhan Ye said. “Previously, I’ve already successfully made it rain once in the Land of No Return, but unfortunately, Nai River water hasn’t yet been drawn into the clouds.”

A few days ago, that heavy rain in the forest forced their group to take shelter in the ruined temple…

That rain… wasn’t just a simple rain…

Meng Ruji turned her head to look out the window. Seeing the sea of clouds that had never dissipated outside, her throat tightened:

“Zhan Ye, you’re truly insane.”