Meng Ruji was held by Mu Sui’s arm around her waist as they stood suspended in mid-air. Dozens of zhang below them was the black void that still gaped wide like a “great mouth.” On the other side was Zhan Ye, who had not yet departed.

He was stunned, bewildered.

Below all three of them, the sea of clouds gradually dispersed. Beneath the sea of clouds lay the collapsed Jieting Pavilion, the shattered mountain body, tumbling rocks, and the deathly silent Zhuliu City, its condition unknown.

Meng Ruji was held in a daze by Mu Sui.

Everything had happened too quickly; she had not yet reacted.

She looked at Mu Sui beside her, then at the black malevolent energy drifting around his body. She even raised her hand to wave in front of him, trying to fan away the malevolent energy, but discovered that the energy circled through the air and returned to Mu Sui’s body.

This was indeed his malevolent energy, no mistake.

It could not be cleansed away.

Meng Ruji turned her head sideways, gazing up at Mu Sui’s profile, looking at this face that had unknowingly matured from its initial youthful appearance. For a moment, she found it difficult to fathom her state of mind.

So it turned out that what filled his body was power brought by malevolent energy.

Therefore, he would suffer backlash from her Inner Core power. Whether it was previously dealing with Ye Chuan in Ye Chuan’s illusion, or dealing with Zhan Ye after they encountered him, while Mu Sui used Inner Core power to dispel their malevolent energy, his body was simultaneously enduring the same degree of harm.

Those quiet nights when he was alone with her, those wounds on his body that seemed to “never heal” were all new injuries he had sustained…

Meng Ruji’s mood was a mixture of complex emotions.

Before she could savor these feelings, the corner of her eye suddenly caught a strange glimmer of light.

She followed the light and saw in the distant sky an extremely thin beam of light, like silk spun by a spring cicada.

At this moment, the last rays of sunset disappeared from the horizon, the sky darkened, and that “thread” became increasingly conspicuous. Meng Ruji saw that the thread connected from far underground up to the sky, extending forward until it reached beneath them.

Meng Ruji recognized that this was a golden light technique.

The technique connected to the edge of the black void beneath their feet, seemingly using the strength of ants to pull a great tree, preventing the edge of this black void from continuing to expand.

Someone was trying to stop this disaster from below.

Meng Ruji’s gaze shifted, then her eyes widened.

Because as the sky grew darker, at the edge of the black void, she saw other threads—not just one or two…

Around the black opening, countless densely packed threads had long since formed a circle, each thread coming from a different direction, with the black hole as the center, connecting like a spider web to all directions on the ground.

Or rather, they were more like using thread to mend and patch in the sky, weaving a cloth to mend heaven, catching this sky that had been pierced by the Heaven-Falling Formation.

Meng Ruji knew that each thread came from a person underground, who was using their greatest strength to maintain these “threads” that looked like they would break with a single pull.

And they truly had used the strength of ants to shake a great tree, using mantis arms to block enormous wheels.

The Heaven-Falling Formation had been restrained.

The proof was that the Heaven-Falling Formation was now the same size as when Meng Ruji had first entered it, and it was no longer devouring more things.

Meng Ruji suddenly understood why Zhan Ye was still here—because the people on the ground were unwilling to let his conspiracy succeed, unwilling to let him depart just like that. They were all resisting.

“In this Land of No Refuge, there are still people who want to save it.” Meng Ruji murmured, then decided to set aside all her doubts about Mu Sui and deal with Zhan Ye first.

However, before she could say more, Mu Sui, who held her with one hand, had already raised his other hand.

“How dare a god-thief presume to discuss divine will?”

Those words seemed to truly come from ancient times, like a god’s cold judgment.

Meng Ruji saw Mu Sui move his fingertips slightly. In his pitch-black pupils, crimson whirling patterns seemed to rotate, and in the next moment, the malevolent energy on Zhan Ye’s body flowed out torrentially like a mountain flood, surging toward Mu Sui.

Zhan Ye was stunned for an instant, then immediately raised his hand, forming seals to try to retain the malevolent energy on his body.

But it had no effect at all.

Every wisp of malevolent energy submitted to Mu Sui’s control, rushing toward him and then merging into his body.

He was like a deity who controlled malevolent energy.

Meng Ruji speculated that perhaps just now in that abyss, those arrows of malevolent energy were not attacking him at all, but rather paying tribute to him.

Meng Ruji looked at Mu Sui. His expression was cold and thin, the crimson whirling light in his pupils still rotating. He didn’t look at Meng Ruji either, only staring at Zhan Ye, as if looking at mountains, at water, looking at nothing more than a dead object…

Without giving Zhan Ye much time, the black malevolent energy on his body was drained clean in the blink of an eye, not even leaving the power to maintain his wind-riding technique. His body began to plummet rapidly.

Having lost his malevolent energy, in the Land of No Refuge, Zhan Ye was no different from anyone else—he needed money to use techniques, and the money on his body had been stolen by Meng Ruji earlier and destroyed in the Heaven-Falling Formation.

Meng Ruji watched him fall. Her lips moved, but she said nothing.

She saw Zhan Ye’s expression. He showed no struggle, fear, or pain. He still looked at Mu Sui in shock, his expression showing understanding, unwillingness, and… jealousy…

Meng Ruji naturally knew that at this moment, Zhan Ye was certainly not jealous of some petty romantic feelings.

She knew that Zhan Ye’s greatest wish in life was to destroy the world. What he was most proud of was divine-granted malevolent energy. He believed himself to be chosen by the heavenly god and that the heavenly god had sent him to rebuild the worldly order.

But now, he seemed to see the true heavenly god he worshipped.

And this heavenly god stood on his opposing side.

He was using malevolent energy… to save people.

Zhan Ye’s figure quickly fell past where the sea of clouds had originally been. Meng Ruji watched his falling speed increase, but beside him, a golden light suddenly shot out. When Meng Ruji looked closely, it was Mo Li!?

He intercepted Zhan Ye in mid-air.

What was this old man trying to do now?

“You handle this Heaven-Falling Formation first, give me some of your gold and silver.” Meng Ruji said to Mu Sui. “Let me go down first…”

But Mu Sui’s arm holding her showed no sign of loosening at all.

“You must stay by my side.”

Very forceful.

Not knowing what had stimulated him.

Meng Ruji was somewhat surprised. Earlier in the dream, they had discussed splitting up to act separately so reasonably, but how had he suddenly changed like this?

Mu Sui turned slightly, his palm facing the Heaven-Falling Formation, then his five fingers rotated. The crimson light in his eyes intensified, and the malevolent energy in the formation was summoned out by him, cluster by cluster. The arrows of malevolent energy that had looked so fierce in the formation now all became like down in his palm, for him to manipulate at will.

When the malevolent energy gathered, with an overturned hand, the malevolent energy scattered like clouds, forming in the starlit night a massive existence like dark clouds.

The golden light pulling at the Heaven-Falling Formation illuminated the night sky, making this malevolent energy cloud appear even more terrifying.

Mu Sui clenched his hand into a fist, and the dark cloud enveloped the entire Heaven-Falling Formation. The Heaven-Falling Formation and the dark cloud seemed to devour each other, struggling.

The golden light stretching from the ground to restrain the Heaven-Falling Formation also began to fluctuate and tremble. Some golden threads snapped, some golden threads even turned to powder, floating down through the air like a golden rain was about to fall.

Mu Sui tightened his fist, the dark cloud seemed to emit thunder, and with a “rumbling” sound, the entire Heaven-Falling Formation was completely devoured. All the golden threads also snapped and shattered, and golden rain truly fell from the night sky, illuminating the horizon as bright as day.

Standing in mid-air, Mu Sui and Meng Ruji were the only dark place in all this brilliance.

The power of the Heaven-Falling Formation’s dispersal was completely swallowed by the dark cloud, and finally, all the dark clouds gathered again toward Mu Sui’s side.

Under the illumination of the golden light rain, all these changes were seen clearly by the people below.

A catastrophic disaster in the Land of No Refuge was thus resolved, but Meng Ruji also knew that with the fall of this golden rain curtain, the turmoil belonging to Mu Sui might have just truly begun.

People who possessed malevolent energy and could control it would not be welcomed, whether in the mortal world or the Land of No Refuge…

They might even… be executed.

Just like Ye Chuan before and Zhan Ye now.

Although… Ye Chuan and Zhan Ye brought disaster because they were too extreme, while the current Mu Sui seemed no different from usual.

He possessed malevolent energy, but he had not lost control to the malevolent energy. His mental state also appeared very healthy and normal.

“Mu Sui.” Meng Ruji’s pupils were illuminated by the golden light as she looked toward the person beside her. “You concealed it for so long… never using malevolent energy under any circumstances. Now, you… Why aren’t you concealing it anymore?”

Mu Sui also turned his head to look at Meng Ruji. The crimson in his eyes disappeared, his pitch-black pupils also illuminated by the golden light, but in his pupils, Meng Ruji’s silhouette could be seen.

“To…” he said, “save Zhuliu City.”

“Then why didn’t you use it before?” Meng Ruji asked with somewhat unreasonable persistence. “When you learned that Zhan Ye controlled Zhuliu City, you could have used malevolent energy to take back Zhuliu City. Why were you… still concealing it then?”

The golden light in the air had almost all fallen to the ground below. In the night sky, starlight dotted, falling into Mu Sui’s eyes like layers of ripples, flowing quietly.

“Meng Ruji, don’t you just want to hear me say that it was for you?”

Meng Ruji nodded: “Only if you admit it can I properly think about how to repay you this favor.”

“This was my choice, not a favor,” Mu Sui said. “You don’t need to repay it.”

Meng Ruji sighed: “So why would you make such a choice? Taking advantage of my entry into the game, disappearing without a trace, Mo Li being trapped, the sea of clouds concealing everything, you facing Zhan Ye alone—you had plenty of means to eliminate him while keeping it secret. Why… did you choose to save me?”

Under the night sky, it was quiet for a long time.

Meng Ruji thought Mu Sui would ignore this question. Unexpectedly, she heard the same sigh as her own.

“I don’t know the reason either.” Mu Sui looked at her, his expression showing undisguised helplessness. He smiled bitterly and said, “When I came to my senses, I was already by your side.”

He seemed quite troubled, too.

Meng Ruji looked at him and was stunned.

The noise and brightness on the ground belonged to the ground.

At this moment, under the night sky, only the sound of gentle wind brushing against clothing could be heard.

Mo Li said that Mu Sui’s fate was that of a “lost wanderer.”

But this was the first time Meng Ruji saw Mu Sui place his confusion and bewilderment before her, after a life-and-death tribulation, before facing betrayal by all.

Mu Sui, forced by her questioning, had removed his disguise, shed the “mask” that seemed embedded in his face, yet it also seemed he had voluntarily revealed the layers of armor that wrapped around himself.

He said, “he also didn’t know why he would make such a choice, but he had come to save her.”

Meng Ruji didn’t know why, but at this moment, she felt somewhat embarrassed.

She lowered her head, blinked her eyes, and only then realized that the hand around her waist was somewhat scorchingly hot.

“How about…” Meng Ruji also spoke as if possessed by ghosts, “You say the malevolent energy is mine.”

Not knowing how to respond to this “favor,” Meng Ruji could only think of taking on this “black pot” to express her most sincere… gratitude…

Hearing this, Mu Sui was silent for a long while: “Aren’t you afraid that I deliberately showed weakness just to lead you to say these words?”

Meng Ruji thought about it—this was indeed something Mu Sui could do…

But…

“Then I’ll accept it.” Meng Ruji said. “I kept forgetting to say…” She looked into Mu Sui’s eyes, the corners of her mouth curving up slightly. “Thank you for coming into the abyss to save me.”

Mu Sui was stunned. He looked at her slightly curved brows and eyes, and in a trance, felt that all the stars in the night sky had fallen into her gaze.