Chapter 51: What the Dead Ask For

After releasing the bandits, the forest fell into a profound silence.

Meng Ruji sat cross-legged beneath a tree, hands resting on her knees, lost in thought. Mu Sui sat beside her in perfect stillness, as though meditating—though his eyes watched her carefully. Miaomiao slept. Ye Chuan tended the fish over the fire. Only Tuzi, having recovered from shock, finally spoke with a heavy sigh:

"How strange! When I left, the Golden Staff was clearly in Brother Chensha's hands. He wielded it so powerfully—how could someone usurp it in mere days? Which audacious scoundrel would dare?"

Mu Sui's voice cut through the darkness. "The hidden stakes Zhuliu City deployed in the surrounding villages—have you touched them?"

"Never. Those are our city's foundation. I wouldn't dare."

"Tomorrow, we detour to investigate the surrounding villages before entering the city."

"Yes..."

Hearing the plan, Meng Ruji glanced at Miaomiao and noticed her hand flickering in and out of visibility—that legendary harbinger of disappearance.

"We should take Miaomiao to Zhuliu City first," Meng Ruji said steadily. "Regardless of her mental state, we need to fulfill her wish to see flowers."

Mu Sui said nothing, but Tuzi answered immediately with frustration: "Flowers can wait! This is more urgent!"

"She can't hold on much longer."

"Bad woman, do you even understand what's happening? Your names are carved on the Marriage Tree for everyone to see! This usurper is plotting to kill you both at once!"

Meng Ruji interrupted him, staring directly at Mu Sui: "So why don't we divorce first?"

The forest fell into absolute silence.

Tuzi looked helplessly at Mu Sui. Even Ye Chuan, tending the fish, lifted his eyes to stare at him.

The quiet was suffocating, making Meng Ruji's words echo too loudly. She lowered her voice, adding softly: "Besides, I've eaten your cake and worn your clothes. My employer's business must still be handled."

Every eye in the forest turned to Mu Sui.

Finally, he lifted his gaze and looked at Meng Ruji calmly.

"Meng Ruji."

She rarely heard him use her full name.

"You're dreaming."

The rejection was clean, straightforward—and it stung.

"You signed the marriage contract. 'Until death do us part'—I said that." The firelight danced across his face, painting shadows that shifted like living things, but his eyes held the unwavering light of a nocturnal predator fixing on its prey. "You and I are bound by fate. The money splits half and half."

The words hit her directly in the heart.

I thought I was scheming to gain from a wealthy man. Instead, I'm forced to invest half my meager assets. Trying to steal a chicken and losing the rice in the process.

How unlucky.

"What about Miaomiao's matter?" Meng Ruji still tried to negotiate. "We can't break our word to her."

Mu Sui fell silent, thinking.

Then Miaomiao coughed softly and woke. After the initial confusion passed, her gaze settled on Meng Ruji. "Sister Ruji." Her voice was clear.

"She's regaining consciousness!" Tuzi said hopefully. "She can go to Zhuliu City by herself!"

"No." Meng Ruji's glance was ice. "If she goes alone, will the new city lord strip her of everything? Only I can protect her."

"What's wrong?" Miaomiao asked weakly, rubbing her chest.

Ye Chuan, who had been silent, handed her the first grilled fish. "The matter of Zhuliu City has become complicated," he explained gently. "If needed, I can escort you there and protect you myself."

"But I..." Miaomiao took the fish, looking at everyone with innocent eyes. "I don't want to go to Zhuliu City anymore."

Silence returned to the forest.

Miaomiao glanced at Meng Ruji, lowering her head with embarrassment. "I'm sorry, Sister Ruji. Earlier, my memories were confused and I mistook you for someone else. Now I think I've pieced everything together. I stayed in the Land of No Return too long and forgot, but I had such a vivid dream that I remembered everything."

Her shoulders slumped. Gone was the frantic intensity—now only defeat remained.

Meng Ruji's pity stirred. She scooted closer and patted Miaomiao's head. "Did you remember your Brother Changyun?"

"Mm." Miaomiao nodded, her voice growing distant. "He was my neighbor. My childhood sweetheart. At sixteen, he was conscripted. He promised to return victorious and marry me. I waited for him to return from war, but instead..." Her lips went pale. "The day he died, we were supposed to meet on the small bridge in town. Two Immortals appeared in the sky and began fighting. Their magic pierced through his heart."

She paused, struggling with the weight of memory.

"I kept thinking: if only we hadn't gone to that bridge that day. Then I wondered: why did Immortals come to fight in our poor, remote place? What I couldn't understand most was..." Her voice broke slightly. "After Brother Changyun died, those two Immortals simply left. They never returned. They never apologized to anyone. They showed no guilt at all."

The flames crackled. Ye Chuan forgot to tend the fish.

Meng Ruji found no words. Even Tuzi and Mu Sui remained silent.

"I left my hometown searching for those two Immortals," Miaomiao continued, her calm delivery somehow more devastating than tears. "I wanted them to apologize. Brother Changyun's mother was still bedridden. I wanted justice. I found many cultivators, but they all thought I was mad. They spoke constantly of the world's common people, but among their 'common people,' there seemed to be no room for me, for Brother Changyun, for his mother, or for my hometown."

"In the end, I never received that justice."

The campfire danced, but Miaomiao's tone remained steady—a flatness that spoke of a life hollowed out.

"So that's why you came to the Land of No Return," Ye Chuan asked hoarsely.

"Mm. I stayed too long and forgot those things. But in these final moments, I suddenly remembered." Miaomiao looked up at Ye Chuan, her expression haggard, her voice muddled but purposeful. "Young Master Ye, I heard something earlier. I have to ask you: Is there anything wrong with gods destroying the world?"

Ye Chuan's mouth opened slightly.

"Shouldn't an unjust world deserve destruction?" Miaomiao pressed on. "If the 'common people' cultivators speak of don't include me, then why should I wish them well? Is this thought wrong?"

Ye Chuan looked as though he'd been struck in the heart. He parted his lips but couldn't speak.

In the distance, Mu Sui watched them, his expression a statue's—without joy, without sorrow.

After a long silence, Ye Chuan's voice emerged, hoarse and broken: "Miss Miaomiao, I'm very sorry. Hearing your past, those two Immortals were indeed excessive."

Miaomiao's eyes widened. She stared at Ye Chuan with a dazed expression.

Ye Chuan continued, his words coming faster now, as though compelled: "You don't know—the gods didn't destroy the world without reason. Ten thousand years ago, the great war between Immortals and gods began because humans tried to cultivate and become Immortals, making the heavenly gods suspicious. For their own benefit, they initiated the thousand-year war. After thousands of years of conflict and countless Immortal sacrifices, we finally defeated them and protected the world. You—"

"Is that so?" Tuzi interrupted nearby, her lip curling. "I heard it differently. I heard the Immortals wanted the gods to kill a newly born god, and when the gods refused, the Immortals started the war." She shrugged. "That's what I learned from demons who cultivate the demonic path."

"That was a god of destruction."

"How do you know it was a god of destruction?"

"The classics say so."

"Is what the classics say necessarily true?"

"The demons' words aren't necessarily true either!"

"Enough," Meng Ruji interrupted the circular argument. She turned to Miaomiao beside her. "What matters now is what you want to do. You don't want to go to Zhuliu City—where do you want to go instead?"

Miaomiao shook her head slowly. "Nowhere. Just two things I need to do."

"Tell us."

"The first..." Miaomiao looked directly at Ye Chuan. "I want an Immortal to apologize to me. Young Master Ye, were you apologizing to me just now as an Immortal?"

Ye Chuan was startled. He considered her carefully, then nodded with absolute seriousness. "Yes, Miss Miaomiao. After so many years, I cannot help you find those two Immortals. I can only apologize myself, though it can never make up for what was lost..."

"One apology..." Miaomiao's voice softened. "That's enough. One is enough."

Ye Chuan fell silent, his expression etched with sorrow.

But Meng Ruji spoke with calm practicality. "Miaomiao, I need you to describe the magic that killed your Brother Changyun. Its color. Its shape. Any characteristics. Tell me everything. Immortals live long lives—we might encounter them someday."

Miaomiao stared at Meng Ruji in surprise. "If we encounter them, what then?"

Meng Ruji's eyes grew cold as winter. "Killing someone requires payment. One pays with one's life."

Wind passed through the forest.

Ye Chuan nodded.

From nearby, Tuzi glanced secretly at Mu Sui's expression and was surprised to find him looking at Meng Ruji with a faint curve at the corner of his mouth—something almost like a smile.

Tuzi said nothing but filed the observation away.

"Slender light..." Miaomiao began to recall, her voice distant. "The color was white on the outside, with red inside, like an arrow. At the end, it spread out like red feathers..."

"Remembered," Meng Ruji said, patting Miaomiao's shoulder. "Don't worry. I've eaten your cake and worn your clothes—you're my employer, and I'll handle your business properly. What's the second thing?"

Miaomiao's expression softened for the first time. "I..." She hesitated, then looked directly at Meng Ruji before glancing toward Mu Sui in the distance. "I want to watch you two perform the wedding ceremony. I want to see you under flowers and moonlight, bowing to heaven and earth together."

Meng Ruji's hand on Miaomiao's shoulder froze in place.

In the distance, Mu Sui's eyebrow raised slightly.

"The thing I couldn't achieve," Miaomiao continued softly, "before I leave this world, I want to see you achieve it. I want to see lovers become spouses."

Meng Ruji withdrew her hand slowly, placing it back in her lap. Her fingers twisted together until they nearly formed a pretzel.

That is to say... Miaomiao now wants me to actually go through with the wedding.

Sister knows exactly when and how to make her requests.

Perfectly timed. Perfectly played.

And somewhere in the firelight, Mu Sui's smile grew slightly wider—though he said absolutely nothing.

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