“Walking around randomly like this, can you find wild vegetables?” Meng Ruji followed behind Mu Sui, calling out to him from behind.

Mu Sui didn’t respond to her, his footsteps continuing forward at a brisk pace.

Meng Ruji pondered for a moment, then explained to Mu Sui with considerable good humor:

“My drinking that tea wasn’t entirely without consideration. Think about it—Madam Lin needs a full month to evaluate a person, so she surely can’t kill someone on the first day. We still have time to research this. Whether it’s a curse, poison, or venom, any poison has an antidote…”

Hearing her speak so casually, Mu Sui’s footsteps paused again:

“Mountain Master Meng, what bold gambling spirit—betting a life yet speaking of it so lightly?”

“I’ve discovered you have a problem. You always have to call me something with sarcasm. Calling me Madam was to mock me, and calling me Mountain Master Meng is also to ridicule me. Little Sui, what I most want to hear is you calling me sister.”

Mu Sui turned back, his face showing not a trace of a smile. Seeing this, Meng Ruji could only touch her nose and speak seriously:

“I’m not joking with you. My drinking the tea wasn’t entirely a gamble either. Madam Lin has a thousand gold pieces but won’t leave this No-Return Land herself—she must have her reasons for not leaving. Either she doesn’t want to go, or she can’t leave.

“Those who come for the thousand gold are, in some sense, meant to return to the mortal world in her place. Her requirements are her way of selecting this person. As long as we understand what kind of person she wants to return to the mortal world in her place and what purpose she wants to achieve, we can treat the symptoms accordingly. Then we won’t worry about not getting the thousand gold.”

Mu Sui raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms as he addressed Meng Ruji: “Mountain Master Meng is generous, sharing this method with me. So you must have figured out what her purpose is and can treat the symptoms accordingly, right?”

“Spare me your sarcasm.” As Meng Ruji spoke, she sharp-eyed spotted a wild yam at Mu Sui’s feet and pulled it out. “I’m working on finding her ailment right now.” She waved the wild yam in her hand. “Starting from here.”

Wild yams and wild fruits were Meng Ruji’s usual combination for feeding Mu Sui, but today she followed him in gathering some wild vegetables to bring back.

She had previously raised many children, so while her cooking skills weren’t masterful, they were adequate. Since arriving in No-Return Land, she had struggled in poverty. Without oil, salt, or sugar, she relied on boiling everything in water and eating things raw, grateful if she could fill both Mu Sui’s and her stomachs.

Now with Madam Lin’s kitchen fully stocked with seasonings, Meng Ruji could finally stretch her abilities.

When dinnertime arrived, Meng Ruji brought three dishes and a soup to the table. Mu Sui, who had been tinkering silently all afternoon, brought out a bowl of charcoal.

Madam Lin glanced at him but said nothing.

Mu Sui stated bluntly: “I concede defeat.”

Meng Ruji wanted to laugh, but then worried that Mu Sui’s curse poison might activate directly.

Seeing Meng Ruji’s expression change, Madam Lin marked a point for Meng Ruji on the wooden board in her palm, then said: “Though Qianshan Jun’s meal is unsatisfactory, he did attempt it. Today we’re only deciding victory between you two—it doesn’t violate my requirements.” She gestured for Mu Sui to sit. “Qianshan Jun, please join us for the meal.”

Mu Sui didn’t stand on ceremony and sat down.

Meng Ruji looked around: “Where’s Ye Chuan?”

“He’s in the back yard feeding chickens, said he doesn’t need dinner.”

“Feed…” Meng Ruji choked slightly, but remembering that Ye Chuan had previously carved doors for people, she felt relieved and nodded. “Alright, let him be.”

Meng Ruji picked up her chopsticks and ate the hot, oil-fried vegetables. She immediately felt blessed, letting out a long, satisfied sigh.

After filling her stomach somewhat, Meng Ruji didn’t forget her purpose at the dinner table. She casually glanced around and chatted: “Madam Lin, though this house is kept tidy, it appears quite old. How long have you lived here?”

Madam Lin glanced at Meng Ruji: “Over a thousand years.”

“That long?”

“After obtaining the thousand gold, I settled here.”

“Then, before getting the thousand gold, you must have been in No-Return Land for quite some time too? Money isn’t easy to earn in this place—I wonder how long it took Madam Lin?”

Madam Lin said indifferently: “A few hundred years, I suppose. Many wealthy people in No-Return Land aren’t skilled in techniques. To protect their wealth, they’re willing to pay for someone to teach them. Earning money was relatively easier for me.”

Meng Ruji had an epiphany—a money-making idea suddenly opened up! Why hadn’t she thought of this earlier? Why had she been toiling away in the marketplace doing everything herself? Making money from the wealthy was much easier than moving bricks and catching thieves herself!

What a laborious fate!

Meng Ruji glared at Mu Sui somewhat reproachfully—it was his fault too, eating so much that she had no time to think of better methods.

Mu Sui caught her gaze and continued eating silently.

“Teaching the children of wealthy families in the mortal world is also a profitable business.” Meng Ruji shook off her thoughts and returned to the main topic, continuing to question Madam Lin. “But teaching well is quite difficult. For Madam Lin to earn a thousand gold through this, you must be deeply accomplished in teaching. Were you also teaching others in the mortal world before, Madam Lin?”

“Before…” Madam Lin seemed to recall the past, her slightly closed eyes carrying a touch of melancholy. “I only taught one person.”

“A disciple?”

“A child.”

“Madam Lin had a child in the mortal world?” Meng Ruji studied her. “Does Madam Lin want to take the thousand gold and return to the mortal world to see the child again?”

Madam Lin looked up at Meng Ruji, her gaze slightly cold.

Meng Ruji met her gaze but continued eating naturally, chewing slowly.

Mu Sui quietly set down his chopsticks, becoming somewhat alert.

After a moment, Madam Lin’s expression relaxed again, and she smiled slightly: “Miss Meng, you drank my poisoned tea, yet aren’t afraid of me. You still dare to chat with me and probe my past—aren’t you afraid of angering me?”

“Though I haven’t spent much time with Madam, I can sense that you’re not an unreasonable person. You wouldn’t take my life over a few words.”

“Miss Meng observes people and hearts well, with both judgment and courage.” Madam Lin nodded approvingly, then glanced at Mu Sui. “No wonder Qianshan Jun would take a wife.”

Mu Sui gripped his chopsticks again, saying coldly: “Whatever Madam Lin thinks, the situation here is quite different from your speculation.”

Madam Lin laughed aloud: “It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a pleasant conversation. I might as well tell you—I don’t leave No-Return Land because I’m trapped here by an obsession.”

Hearing this, Mu Sui lowered his eyes in thought.

Meng Ruji seized the opportunity: “So you need an obedient person—a thousand gold to buy a life, to go to the mortal world and help you find your child?” She waited for Madam Lin’s answer.

But Madam Lin only said: “Only those who obtain the thousand gold can hear what comes next.”

Madam Lin set down her chopsticks. With a wave of her hand, her empty bowl and chopsticks flew into the kitchen.

“I’m finished, thank you for the hospitality. You can put your bowls and chopsticks in the kitchen yourselves later.”

After Madam Lin left, Meng Ruji couldn’t help but mutter thoughtfully:

“A mother separated from her child, well-versed in teaching techniques—it’s been over a thousand years. If her child were still alive in the mortal world, among cultivators, they should have made quite a name… She’s unwilling to say more about her past. If we knew who her child was, we could deduce what she truly wants…”

Meng Ruji asked Mu Sui: “Qianshan Jun, do you have any clues? Do you know more about this, Madam Lin?”

Mu Sui’s response was to stand up and collect the bowls and chopsticks.

Meng Ruji was startled: “You’re full already? That’s not like you.”

“I no longer need to restore my body to its youthful state.” Mu Sui answered this one sentence and headed to the kitchen with the dishes.

Meng Ruji couldn’t help feeling somewhat disappointed: “The child has grown up.”

She hastily finished a couple more bites, then followed with her bowls and chopsticks, catching up to block Mu Sui at the kitchen doorway.

“One last question for today.” She looked at him. “Do you like me a little more than yesterday?”

Mu Sui delivered his usual rigid two-word response: “No.”

He stepped aside, avoiding Meng Ruji, and walked toward the side rooms.

Meng Ruji watched his retreating figure, then suddenly let out a muffled groan, as if her heart was in severe pain. She crumpled to the ground, the bowls and dishes hitting the floor with a clatter that made Mu Sui turn around.

Seeing Meng Ruji collapse on the ground, clutching her chest, Mu Sui’s pupils contracted. Without time to think, he took two steps back to her side, half-kneeling before her and reaching out to support her.

“What’s…”

Before he could finish, his collar was grabbed by Meng Ruji.

In his confusion, the already dim light before his eyes was blocked. Meng Ruji leaned forward, going straight for Mu Sui’s lips!

Mu Sui could have avoided it, but he didn’t move.

And Meng Ruji, at the moment of leaning in…

Stopped.

They were very close, close enough to feel each other’s body heat. Even the fine hairs on their skin seemed to touch, so close that Meng Ruji could sense that Mu Sui had held his breath.

“Little Sui.” Meng Ruji chuckled softly. “You seem to be expecting something?”

Mu Sui’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

Meng Ruji continued breathing ambiguously against his lips: “I think you are.”

With that, Meng Ruji pulled back slightly, smiling at Mu Sui.

Watching Mu Sui’s eyes grow increasingly turbid and dark, Meng Ruji found this teasing game becoming more interesting.

Ever since breaking through that boundary, she seemed to be getting better and better at doing such things to Mu Sui.

“I won’t tease you anymore.” Meng Ruji released Mu Sui’s collar and even helpfully smoothed it out for him. She prepared to stand up: “Let’s rest…”

The word hung unfinished…

Her mouth was sealed with a “smack”…

By those lips she had just approached and then retreated from.

The temperature of his lips was scorching, so hot it made Meng Ruji forget to close her eyes.

After a brief moment of shock, she tried to retreat, only to discover that the back of her neck was firmly pressed by a hand. His five fingers swept through her hair, grasping her neck like seizing prey, not allowing her to struggle or escape.

Unlike Meng Ruji’s light touch, Mu Sui was driven by intense revenge and suppressed anger, along with… the emotions he had always denied were growing, but he couldn’t help from feel…

All these emotions intertwined together like a ball of hellfire, igniting them both.

Meng Ruji’s entire face, her whole being, was burning hot, as if the blazing summer sun was enveloping her, making her flush from her ear roots to her fingertips.

She couldn’t help trembling, wanting to hide, even biting Mu Sui in desperation.

Thus, the burning kiss gained the added taste of blood.

They were like two wild beasts, opponents tearing at each other, yet also seemed to have shed all “respectable” pretenses, returning to their most essential, purest selves.

Resistance, aggression, pulling yet entwining.

In the greatest contradiction, they attracted each other.

Finally, Mu Sui released Meng Ruji. He held her neck, pulling her away.

On the ground outside the kitchen, Mu Sui half-knelt while Meng Ruji sat collapsed. They stared at each other silently, both harboring whirlpools in their eyes.

“Meng Ruji.” Mu Sui fixed his gaze on her. “You should have some restraint. Not every game allows you to escape unscathed.”

He wanted to teach her a lesson.

But it seemed he had simultaneously taught himself one too.

Meng Ruji’s hair was slightly disheveled, her emotions equally so.

Can’t look anymore…

Mu Sui forced himself to turn away, about to leave, when a soft hand grasped him. Almost instinctively.

Meng Ruji’s ears were buzzing from the shock. As the buzzing gradually faded, she finally heard her breathing again and Mu Sui’s words.

Meng Ruji didn’t know why she had grabbed Mu Sui, but she instinctively had, not wanting him to leave…

Meng Ruji blinked twice, steadying herself. Her gaze couldn’t move away from the blood at the corner of Mu Sui’s mouth. After a long while, she stiffly lowered her head and wiped the blood from her lips.

Then she pressed her lips together.

Numb…

Hot…

Damn it, even a bit…

Wanting more…

“You just said… escape unscathed?” Meng Ruji steadied her breathing and calmed her emotions. Looking up at Mu Sui again: “From the first day I began this emotional gambit, I never intended to escape unscathed.”

At these words, Mu Sui froze.

If he thought deeply about her words… if he considered carefully… her implication…

“I’m not merely the chess player, but more so a piece within the game.” Meng Ruji spoke directly. “I know this perfectly well, and I’m willing.”

Mu Sui seemed shaken by these words, far more than her previous butterfly-light kiss had stunned him.

Her implication was ready to burst forth.

Yet Meng Ruji, after deep contemplation, said:

“Mo Li mentioned a method before. I refused it then, thinking it wouldn’t work—absurd, ridiculous…”

Her voice was calm and steady, yet this calm and steadiness was like the sugar shell coating a candied fruit—one tap and it would shatter. Beneath this transparent shell lay pulsing hot blood, harboring secret expectations.

“But now I think it’s feasible, workable, and should be done.”

Meng Ruji looked at him. That character that had been circling in her mind finally transformed into the strength in her fingertips. Meng Ruji grabbed his collar and pulled it aside.

Her fingernail scraped across skin, the faint sting making Mu Sui instantly understand what she meant.

So that “blazing summer sun” seemed to instantly transfer to Mu Sui, pressing against his face, vowing to bake every drop of his blood dry.

He grasped Meng Ruji’s hand, trembling slightly: “You…” He took deep breaths and opened his mouth several times, finally managing after a long struggle: “You’re the one who’s absurd!”

As if fleeing, Mu Sui turned and quickly walked back to the side room, shutting the door tightly.

Meng Ruji sat in place, looking at the tightly closed door. After pondering for a moment, she picked up the bowls and chopsticks she had placed on the ground earlier and walked into the kitchen.

“This time he didn’t say ‘there’s time ahead.’ ” Meng Ruji pouted. “Now it’s my turn to say it.”

That night, Meng Ruji naturally returned to her room to sleep.

But when she went back, Mu Sui’s window was open—he had slipped away.

The next day, when Meng Ruji woke and walked to the courtyard, Mu Sui was nowhere to be seen. Madam Lin told her that today’s task was to go to the shrubland to feed sheep.

Meng Ruji: “…Huh?”

“Qianshan Jun took a sheep early this morning and left already. Whoever gets their sheep fed first and returns—today’s point goes to them.”

Hearing this, the speechless expression remained on Meng Ruji’s face for a long time, but she resignedly led a sheep from the backyard to the shrubland.

In the shrubland, today’s sunlight was pleasant, casting down to reveal many strangers in the forest. Each minded their own business without disturbing others.

Meng Ruji led her sheep to graze, stopping frequently along the way to observe all the people she passed, witnessing the various states of human existence.

Throughout this journey, Meng Ruji didn’t encounter Mu Sui, but she did see Ye Chuan with another sheep.

Ye Chuan was crouched down feeding grass to his sheep. Unlike Meng Ruji, he seemed completely uninterested in the surrounding people, focusing all his attention on the sheep before him, getting along very happily with it.

“You also took on a task?” Meng Ruji crouched beside him curiously. “You didn’t secretly drink the poisoned tea, too, did you?”

Seeing Meng Ruji arrive, Ye Chuan didn’t look at her much, his attention still on his sheep: “I wanted to feed it, so I asked for it myself.”

“Alright then. Yesterday feeding chickens, today feeding sheep—I didn’t realize you liked small animals so much.”

“Animals are simple.”

“True, not like Mu Sui.” Meng Ruji sighed. “Eight hundred schemes, and now he’s even playing the thirty-six stratagems with me, with retreat as the best option.”

Hearing this, Ye Chuan chuckled softly.

“Have you seen him?”

“No.” Ye Chuan asked curiously: “The bowls and dishes were scattered in the front yard last night—did you two fight?”

“Hmm… how can matters of love be called fighting?” Meng Ruji stroked the grazing sheep.

Ye Chuan finally turned to look at her: “What do you want now—the thousand gold to return to the mortal world, or Mu Sui?”

The question was direct, but Meng Ruji didn’t evade: “I want both hands full, releasing neither. Best would be best if Mu Sui abandons that terrifying world-destruction plan, returns my inner core, and I take the thousand gold back to the mortal world to guard Hengxu Mountain.

“If I can’t get the thousand gold but can make him abandon his world-destruction plan, that would be good too. Furthermore, if he won’t abandon the world-destruction plan, but I get the thousand gold, that works too—I can balance him in No-Return Land without adding chaos to the mortal world. The worst scenario is him taking the thousand gold while still wanting to destroy the world, returning to the mortal realm to join forces with those people and gods… that would be the end.”

Ye Chuan looked at her: “What are your chances of getting the thousand gold?”

“If it’s just these daily tasks of cooking and herding sheep, I’ll get it after a month. But…” Meng Ruji weighed the situation and chuckled. “I can see Madam Lin is brewing some major trouble behind the scenes.”

Seeing her still smiling, Ye Chuan tilted his head: “The world outside No-Return Land sounds chaotic already, yet you can only herd sheep here… but you’re not anxious?”

“Of course I’m anxious, but is there a faster solution? Can Madam Lin give me the thousand gold? Can Mu Sui promise not to destroy the world? No matter how anxious I am, I can only walk the current path well.”

“Miss Meng has a good temperament.” Ye Chuan nodded, speaking slowly. “Then… what are your chances of making Mu Sui abandon world destruction?”

“I’m working on it—just one last step remaining.”

“The last step?”

Meng Ruji cupped her chin, her expression serious, her voice certain: “The final step.”

Ye Chuan paused: “Then I’ll wait for you to complete this final step.”

“Huh?”

His words were somewhat cryptic, and Meng Ruji didn’t quite understand for a moment. “What do you mean by waiting for me to complete it?”

Ye Chuan pulled up a handful of grass to feed the sheep: “I mean, I’m also curious whether someone who wants to destroy the world can truly be influenced by you.”