“No effect at all…”

In the gray, hazy dream space, Meng Ruji squatted on the ground, scratching her head in distress: “I’ve used up all my tricks…”

Beside her, Mo Li stood stroking his chin and muttering: “In my view, there’s still some effect, just a bit slow. In another two days, we’ll reach the Ruwei grass shade. If he gets the thousand gold pieces, then we’ll be even more passive.”

“Are the thousand gold pieces that easy to obtain?” Meng Ruji turned to ask him, “What kind of person lives at that Ruwei grass shade?”

“A woman who came to the No Refuge Land quite early. Her accumulated savings over the years have long exceeded a thousand gold pieces, but strangely, she doesn’t use the thousand gold pieces to buy her life. Instead, she seeks a person. As long as that person meets her requirements, she’ll give them the thousand gold pieces.”

Meng Ruji’s eyes immediately brightened: “There’s such a shortcut?” After a pause, she shook her head again, “With such a shortcut available, yet she hasn’t given away her thousand gold pieces in all these years—it’s not easy to obtain. Her requirements must be difficult to meet.”

“Exactly. So many people have tried, but I’ve never seen anyone succeed. Previously, when I was being playful, I disguised myself as a half-dead person and went once…”

Meng Ruji was curious: “What are her requirements?”

“…” As if thinking of something difficult to mention, Mo Li remained silent for a long time, “In any case… ordinary people find it very difficult to meet them.”

Meng Ruji looked Mo Li up and down, then stopped pursuing the matter, only saying: “Then Mu Sui might not be able to meet them either.”

“I observe that he’s determined to succeed this time. Better not to gamble on this ‘might not.'”

“You make sense.” Meng Ruji agreed, then lowered her head in thought again. After thinking for quite a while, she suddenly looked up at Mo Li, “I’ve thought of several schemes that need your cooperation.”

Mo Li rarely became serious, listening attentively: “Go ahead.”

“First, I plan to take advantage of a crisis.”

“What do you mean?”

“When Mu Sui is sad and distressed, I’ll comfort him and successfully enter his heart.”

“Sounds good.”

“Think of a way to make him sad and distressed first.”

Hearing this, Mo Li turned his head to study Meng Ruji: “Me?”

Meng Ruji returned his gaze sincerely: “Yes, manipulate his dreams, find his vulnerable moments. You go.”

Mo Li held back for a long time: “Father can’t do it. You’ve seen his dreams. Making me manipulate his memories to make him sad would be harder than making him cry from a beating.”

Meng Ruji sighed in disappointment: “Fine then, just go beat him up.”

Mo Li: “…”

He listened as she continued giving ideas: “I’ll play the beauty saving the hero. Romance blooms most easily in times of crisis. Tomorrow you lurk in the shadows and use hidden weapons, traps, or other underhanded tricks to ambush him—whatever works, just don’t let him discover it’s you.”

Mo Li stared at Meng Ruji for another long moment: “Me?”

“You can’t do this either?”

Mo Li gave up: “How about we switch roles—I’ll seduce him, and you ambush him with his hostile aura.”

Meng Ruji put herself in that position and felt this was indeed quite dangerous—she might die. She looked at Mo Li with disdain: “Then tell me, what use is this Master of No Refuge?”

“I found you a place to sleep and rest!”

Meng Ruji lowered her head again, sighing deeply as she scratched her scalp: “How is making someone fall in love so difficult? If he were just a paper formation, I would have studied him thoroughly long ago and broken through him.”

“Stop thinking about these fancy tricks.” Mo Li said, “My son-in-law admits he’s already moved. You should follow my previous suggestion—just take him!”

Meng Ruji was speechless, rolling her dead fish eyes at him: “How to take him? In this current situation, tell me how?”

“Take him by force!”

“Drug him?”

“He previously sold pills in Zhuliu City, so he should understand pharmacology. Drugging him would be difficult.”

“Then get him drunk?”

“We’re traveling—he might not necessarily drink…”

After Meng Ruji and Mo Li’s speculation, both fell into silence.

Finally, Meng Ruji slapped her knee and stood up:

“I won’t research anymore. In terms of romance, more intimate contact is always right, but preventing Mu Sui from getting the money is also a way to break the deadlock. As long as he stays in the No Refuge Land one more day, we have one more day of opportunity. Think of a way to make the journey to that grass shade more treacherous—you should be able to do this, right?”

Mo Li thought: “Having pursuers behind us is also good for us. Since he doesn’t want to cause a big commotion, I can quietly make some small moves. Don’t worry, leave this to me.”

After finishing their business, Meng Ruji walked out of her dream realm.

It was already late at night. She pulled the blanket and touched the pillow, sighing comfortably: “Going through all this trouble just to sleep peacefully afterward—it’s not easy…”

She closed her eyes and fell into deep sleep.

The next day, Meng Ruji was awakened by noise from the front courtyard.

She stepped out the door and saw Mu Sui standing with his arms folded, leaning against the back courtyard gate while looking toward the front.

Meng Ruji yawned and approached. Just as she was about to reach Mu Sui’s side, she seemed to suddenly wake up, took two steps back, and stopped behind Mu Sui.

Seeing her approach and then retreat, Mu Sui was puzzled and was about to turn to look at her when Meng Ruji embraced him from behind.

Immediately, the warmth in his embrace seemed to borrow the sun’s heat, setting his entire being ablaze.

“Husband, will you like me a little more today?”

Mu Sui almost frantically pushed her away.

He lost yesterday’s composure.

Meng Ruji looked at him and unconsciously raised an eyebrow: This was good. She thought, finally seeing his emotional fluctuation.

Indeed! She still needed to embrace him!

Her initial idea was right!

“Meng Ruji!” After pushing her away, Mu Sui scolded her, but his lips trembled for a long time without managing to say a word.

What could he say?

Don’t do this! Don’t touch me! Stay away from me!

Which sentence would be useful?

She had already told him she was going to flirt with him.

It turned out that when she revealed her cards, she became invincible…

Brazen and shameless.

Mu Sui deeply felt his previous strategy was wrong…

He shouldn’t have said anything about playing along with her…

Mu Sui rubbed his brow and steadied his emotions: “We should get on the road.”

“Wait, let me see what they’re arguing about.” Meng Ruji grabbed Mu Sui’s hand with one hand and pressed against his arm with the other, her whole body leaning against him as she craned her neck to look outside.

Mu Sui was speechless for a moment: “Someone caught a criminal to claim a reward. You can come out openly to watch—no need for such affected postures.”

“Of course, I have to stick close to you.” Meng Ruji said frankly, “Watching them isn’t the goal. Flirting with you is.”

“…”

Maybe he should just fly away…

He was tired.

Mu Sui looked up at the sky.

The noise from the front courtyard disappeared, and soon a soldier hurried over, muttering: “It’s been so long since we imprisoned anyone, where did I put the jail keys…”

Meng Ruji and Mu Sui made way for him. Meng Ruji watched the soldier’s back as he searched for keys and asked: “What kind of person did they catch?”

Knowing they were friends of the Master of No Refuge, the soldier didn’t dare neglect them and quickly answered: “We caught someone who just arrived in the No Refuge Land. Seems he was an immortal in the mortal realm. He’s acting crazy, constantly shouting that everything’s gone, all gone. I know that with so many people coming to the No Refuge Land recently, even though our place is small, trouble was bound to happen sooner or later.”

Meng Ruji keenly caught the key information: “Many people have been coming to the No Refuge Land recently?”

“Yes, I heard that some god went on a killing spree in the mortal realm, destroying many famous immortal mountains and sects. She took all their magical artifacts and treasures, becoming increasingly difficult to deal with…”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji was stunned. She released Mu Sui and stepped forward to question the soldier: “Was it the Human God? Which mountains did she destroy? Hengxu Mountain…”

“Hengxu Mountain?” The soldier shook his head, “Haven’t heard of it…” As he spoke, the soldier found the keys and hurried away again.

Meng Ruji temporarily breathed a sigh of relief, but her expression remained grave. She glanced at Mu Sui beside her:

“What she’s doing outside is what you want to do too.”

Mu Sui remained silent.

Meng Ruji smiled bitterly: “…What did ordinary people ever do to anyone? You two, one after another, really won’t give anyone peace.”

“In the chaotic mortal realm, when kings, nobles, generals, and ministers take turns on stage, when dynasties collapse and the world fights for power, ordinary people never provoked anyone either.” Mu Sui lowered his eyes, “The human race was never peaceful to begin with.”

Meng Ruji suddenly remembered what Zhan Ye had said before: destroy the imperfect and recreate the perfect.

In a sense, humans indeed had many flaws—greed, anger, ignorance, doubt, and arrogance, all displaying ugliness…

But…

Should everything be completely overthrown?

“That Human God doesn’t think like Zhan Ye, too, does she?” Meng Ruji asked Mu Sui.

“I’ve never met her, so naturally I don’t know her motives.”

Meng Ruji pondered for a moment, then patted the stone in her sleeve. Mo Li appeared instantly, his expression also grim—he had heard the previous conversation.

“I need to leave the No Refuge Land quickly.” Meng Ruji said firmly, “I’ve changed my mind. We must go to the Ruwei grass shade as soon as possible.” She looked at Mu Sui with determination in her eyes: “I’ll flirt with you while competing with you.”

“I want the thousand gold pieces, too.”

Hearing this, Mu Sui’s eyebrows moved slightly: “That’s unfortunate—you won’t get anything.”

“Is that so?”

Meng Ruji stepped forward and stood on her tiptoes, trying to kiss Mu Sui.

This time, Mu Sui was prepared. He raised his hand to press on Meng Ruji’s shoulder, so that although she was pressed against his chest, she couldn’t stand up. But Meng Ruji didn’t follow his expectations—she raised her hand, pressed the back of Mu Sui’s head, and directly pulled him down to her.

A kiss touched the corner of Mu Sui’s mouth.

Then she actively let go.

“I think I succeeded in flirting with you.” Meng Ruji said this calmly, though her purple-red earlobes betrayed some of her emotions.

Mu Sui lightly covered the corner of his lips with the back of his hand, looking into Meng Ruji’s eyes, deep as whirlpools at the ocean floor.

Mo Li stood behind the two of them, only able to applaud silently in amazement.