Chapter 46: Hengxu Mountain

                  

Meng Ruji had spent many nights in the Land of No Refuge, but she had never felt any night as noisy as tonight.

The sounds of insects chirping, night wind, breathing, the rustling of clothes, and her heartbeat... all mixed together, creating far too much noise.

Meng Ruji held her breath and tightened her abdomen, but even though she tried hard to restrain herself, with each breath in and out, she could still feel Mu Sui's head rising and falling faintly in her embrace, and she could even sense the breath he exhaled.

It was somewhat ambiguous.

Meng Ruji was unwilling to let this continue, so she broke the silence. "Qianshan Jun..."

A cold laugh came from her embrace. Because his mouth and nose were buried, Mu Sui's voice sounded somewhat muffled.

"Not calling me husband now?"

"I only call you that with such sarcasm when you're not speaking properly. I was learning from you—what do you think of my performance?"

"Not bad. Learn something else next time."

"Such as?"

"Silence is golden."

Meng Ruji also let out a cold laugh.

After this verbal sparring, the romantic atmosphere of the quiet night dissipated considerably. Meng Ruji became more at ease, simply relaxing her abdomen and telling him, "The rules of the life-binding object—I think you should still find a way to restrain yourself. Your constant inability to control wanting to touch me and getting jealous isn't good for either of us."

"I have been restraining myself." Mu Sui said, feeling Meng Ruji's now-relaxed belly, soft and warm. His voice was calm and even. "You followed me here yourself."

Meng Ruji paused for a moment. "Tonight doesn't count. Starting tomorrow, please restrain yourself."

Upon hearing this, Mu Sui let out another cold laugh. "We can act as husband and wife, so why can't I touch you and be jealous? I've acknowledged the marriage contract, wife. As for other matters, you should acknowledge them too."

Having spoken to this point, the forest fell quiet again.

After waiting a long time without hearing Meng Ruji's rebuttal, Mu Sui slightly loosened his hold on her and lay flat across her legs. Looking up at Meng Ruji from below, he met her serious gaze.

"Alright." Meng Ruji nodded.

Mu Sui raised an eyebrow, somewhat surprised.

Meng Ruji continued, "I think what you said makes some sense. Between husband and wife, even if it's acting, we've signed a contract, and we should have responsibility toward each other."

Mu Sui listened in a daze.

"In the future, when you're uncomfortable and want to touch me, I'll accept it. When you see me with other men and get jealous, I'll accept that too. I shouldn't ask you to restrain your emotions, but rather should guard your emotions for the sake of our contract."

Under the moonlight, in the night wind, Mu Sui quietly gazed at Meng Ruji for a long time.

"What's wrong?" Meng Ruji asked. "Do you have other needs in this marriage?"

Mu Sui didn't respond, suddenly asking, "Are there many people like you?"

"Hm?" This question came out of nowhere, and Meng Ruji was a bit confused. "What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Mu Sui said, sitting up. "I'm feeling much better now."

He had changed the subject, and Meng Ruji indeed became concerned about his physical condition. She tugged at his collar, and this time, Mu Sui didn't stop her, allowing her to examine his chest. After looking for a while, she shared with Mu Sui, "It is true—all that malevolent energy seems to have disappeared." Meng Ruji studied Mu Sui. "The injuries the malevolent energy caused you—you feel much better when you're close to me? Why is that?"

After Meng Ruji withdrew her hand, Mu Sui began arranging his collar. "One question for one question—are we starting this now?"

Meng Ruji raised an eyebrow. "If you say we're starting, then we're starting."

"Alright."

Mu Sui answered, "I speculate that the root of why being close to you calms me lies in your Inner Core."

This answer wasn't outside Meng Ruji's expectations. She easily accepted it, nodding. "Previously, Mo Li said he could sense the existence of the Inner Core, proving that this Inner Core has some connection, more or less, to the bodies it has inhabited. Now it just went from my body to yours, so it still has a connection with me—that makes sense."

Speaking to this point, Meng Ruji looked at Mu Sui teasingly.

"Your continued inability to understand how to use the Inner Core is also because of this, right? Although it's in your body, it arrived suddenly. When I first obtained the Inner Core, I experienced a very long period of confusion, but your constitution was stronger than mine back then, so when the Inner Core entered your body, it didn't cause confusion in your mind. But for a time, it's also very difficult for you to master it."

"Master Meng is a clever person. This question-and-answer session seems to require little explanation from me."

"Not at all, I still need Qianshan Jun's guidance."

Meng Ruji was somewhat pleased with herself, smiling as she looked at him. In the moonlight, she seemed to have a layer of light on her body, making her eyes appear like water and her skin like jade.

Mu Sui lowered his gaze, not looking at her. "It's my turn now."

"Ask away."

"Malevolent energy is something of the gods—how do you know this?"

"I already said in the illusion Ye Chuan created that I've suffered greatly at the hands of this thing. That suffering allowed me to discover something about the origin of malevolent energy."

"What kind of suffering?"

"That counts as a second question."

Mu Sui paused for a moment. "Fine. If you insist on being this way, we can play this game until dawn."

Meng Ruji quickly said, "Qianshan Jun needn't be so serious. I'll answer after I finish. It's just that these are all old matters from long ago."

"I don't mind you telling the story at length."

Meng Ruji pursed her lips. "After I obtained the Inner Core, many years passed. I merged with this Inner Core, gained some abilities, and managed to establish myself at Hengxu Mountain."

Thinking of the past, Meng Ruji's expression became somewhat gentler.

Hengxu Mountain at that time had nothing—it was just a barren mountain where few people went. She brought some orphans she had picked up along the way and tidied up that barren mountain, building stairs, making houses, and even opening up a cliff face, naming it Xuejing Cliff.

She led a bunch of monkey-like children, like occupying a mountain as king, cultivating, practicing martial arts, and living there.

At that time, she only felt that she had been an orphan before, having suffered the hardship of being without a father, a mother, or a home. So she thought that when it was within her power, she would support a "home," so that those children who were like her would no longer suffer the same hardships.

Only Meng Ruji didn't know then that human hearts are changeable, full of ravines and abysses that one dares not look into deeply.

"Zhan Ye." Meng Ruji mentioned this name. "He was one of the children I took in. I picked him up from an ice lake."

Mu Sui's gaze sharpened. "Ice lake?"

"To the north of Hengxu Mountain, I think. I can't remember the exact location. Legend says it was where a god fell—the place where the last divine miracle appeared."

Mu Sui's eyes deepened slightly. "When did this happen?"

"How would I know? The time when the gods disappeared... so many people have studied it but can't figure it out..."

"I'm asking you..." Mu Sui interrupted her, "When did you go to the ice lake?"

"Calculating from now, about a thousand years ago."

"A thousand years ago..." Mu Sui repeated her words, murmuring twice, then looked at Meng Ruji with a somewhat different expression.

Meng Ruji couldn't read his expression, only feeling somewhat dissatisfied. "Qianshan Jun, with your method of asking one question that leads to a hundred small questions, shouldn't I be able to demand extra payment of one gold per additional question?"

"I will also answer your questions in detail."

Meng Ruji pursed her lips and continued, "That day, I was returning from a banquet in the north when I discovered Zhan Ye on the ice lake, all alone, curled up on the ice surface. I saved him, using magic to wake him up. He said his parents were dead, and he was bullied by his uncle and aunt at home, so he ran away and wanted to seek death. I brought him back to Hengxu Mountain as I had done before. But..."

"You brought back a wolf cub?" Mu Sui guessed.

Meng Ruji pursed her lips. "More than just a wolf cub." Speaking to this point, Meng Ruji wanted to try hard to hide her emotions, but her lowered eyes still revealed her feelings to Mu Sui.

Mu Sui sensed her regret and sadness.

"He killed forty-five people at Hengxu Mountain."

Mu Sui fell silent.

"They were all orphans I had taken in before. The youngest was five, the oldest was sixteen..."

Meng Ruji still remembered that day when blood stained the stairs of Hengxu Mountain. Zhan Ye stood on the stairs, looking at her madly, saying, "From now on, there will be no predecessors, no successors. Meng Ruji, you only have me."

His eyes were as black as ink, without a trace of light.

Hearing this, Mu Sui looked up at Meng Ruji. "He died?"

"Of course."

Mu Sui nodded.

"Unfortunately, the others could never come back..."

After pausing for a while, Meng Ruji continued, "Zhan Ye killed people using this malevolent energy. It's just that neither he nor I knew the name of this energy. Zhan Ye said he obtained this strand of energy at the ice lake, that this energy could help him quickly cultivate magic, could help him protect me... heh... Then, as you know, I used the Inner Core to research a way to deal with this energy."

"So you speculated that malevolent energy is something of the gods."

"It's not my speculation—Zhan Ye said it himself. He said that at the ice lake, he saw a god, and the god granted him this boundless magical energy."

Upon hearing this, Mu Sui frowned slightly.

"My answer was comprehensive, right?" Meng Ruji timely stopped reminiscing about the past and smiled at Mu Sui. "It's your turn, Qianshan Jun."

Mu Sui stopped pondering and looked at Meng Ruji silently.

Meng Ruji asked, "I want to know where the malevolent energy in your wounds came from?"

The forest fell silent.

"I forfeit."

Hearing these three words, Meng Ruji was directly stunned.

Her gaze was almost vacant as she watched Mu Sui stand up, watched him pat the dirt off his clothes, then take steps toward the campfire.

Meng Ruji was stunned for a long time before she also stood up, furiously grabbing Mu Sui's arm and pulling him back. "What do you mean forfeit?"

"The question-and-answer game—I can't play it, so I forfeit."

"Are you playing..." Before Meng Ruji could finish, she was cut off by Mu Sui's retort, her curse getting stuck in her throat.

He forfeited—so what? Could she punish him to death?!

Meng Ruji laughed in anger. "You have no shame, husband."

"Zhuliu City is a place for making deals." Mu Sui said to Meng Ruji. "Some deals simply can't be made. Wife."

Meng Ruji: Profiteer! Scoundrel!

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