The face before her was both familiar and strange. Scars she had personally inflicted ran from his left temple to the right corner of his mouth—new flesh had healed the wounds, but left traces completely different from his original skin tone. A map of the hatred that had once burned between them.
Meng Ruji swung her hand, knocking his away. Her other hand gathered every silver coin she possessed.
In the next instant, the silver condensed. A long sword glowing with blue light materialized in her palm, curse symbols flowing along its edge like water. Without a word, she swung.
Zhan Ye dodged sideways. The blade returned and pressed close again, forcing him to retreat continuously down the street until they emerged outside the inn into desolate wind and empty space.
Zhan Ye steadied himself and raised his eyes to look at Meng Ruji, who followed him out with her sword held high. Her expression was ice—overlapping in his mind with memories from a thousand years past. He couldn't help but grin, his eyes full of madness and obsession.
"You want to protect the people inside. You're still the same as before."
Meng Ruji gripped her sword tightly. His words didn't register. Her only thought was how to kill him.
But looking at the malevolent aura surrounding him, she knew the truth: she couldn't defeat him. Without her Inner Core, her silver couldn't support higher-level magic. The sword in her hand had already reached maximum power these coins could maintain.
She reached into her bosom with her left hand, grasping the gray-black stone.
She tapped it twice lightly.
Still no response.
Mo Li is still sleeping.
If she called Mu Sui... but his Inner Core was with him. Could they win against this much malevolent aura? Last time they defeated Ye Chuan's illusion projection, but Zhan Ye's power was many times greater.
If I call him over, could I be leading him into a death trap?
Compared to her wariness, Zhan Ye moved with unsettling ease. He spread his arms and walked slowly toward her as though to embrace her.
"Meng Ruji, I've slept here for many years. Do you know how happy I am to see you again?"
Meng Ruji raised her sword, eyes empty of emotion as she watched his movements, adjusting her breathing, waiting for an opening.
"Swoosh!"
A flash of light struck from the side—directly at Zhan Ye!
It was Ye Chuan, recovered from the inn, throwing a copper coin. Not powerful, but enough to make Zhan Ye turn. In that instant of distraction, Meng Ruji shot forward like an arrow. Her blade pierced straight through his heart.
Blood dripped down.
But her expression grew even graver because—
Zhan Ye had grasped her sword-holding wrist, gripping the flower branches around it so tightly they threatened to embed into her skin.
Blood rolled in his throat as he smiled. "After so long apart, you've forgotten that this can't hurt me."
Yes. Ordinary magic couldn't harm him.
Last time, she'd used her Inner Core's power to "kill" him. Now...
His grip on her wrist tightened, tightened, as though he wanted to crush bone. Meng Ruji gritted her teeth and endured without making a sound.
"I'm taking you back to the mortal realm," Zhan Ye stared at her. "This time, you'll stay by my side forever—"
Before he finished, the wind stirred. Like a gentle spring breeze, silent and invisible.
Zhan Ye's eyes widened—his arm separated directly from his body.
The hand gripping her wrist continued applying force, but strength diminished instantly.
Meng Ruji reacted immediately, turning and retreating to distance herself.
Horrifyingly—the severed arm on her wrist followed as she retreated.
In a moment of suffocating silence, Zhan Ye's body and the arm finally gushed torrents of terrifying blood.
The sword disappeared as Meng Ruji's magic withdrew. Covered in blood, pressing his bleeding wound, Zhan Ye stood in place and looked behind him with a sinister expression.
Mu Sui approached slowly, a rabbit perched on his shoulder. But the rabbit wasn't docile—it bared its teeth, blood-red eyes savage and ready to devour. Tuzi in animal form, transformed by fury.
Mu Sui's expression was unchanged, yet somehow carried more authority than before. In his hand, a golden formation rotated—the curse arrangements of Inner Core usage, the method Meng Ruji had taught him in the illusion days ago.
He had learned it long ago, then.
Meng Ruji violently tore the severed arm from her wrist and threw it aside.
She looked at Mu Sui, gazing at the golden formation in his hand, feeling an odd mixture of envy and something else. She'd spent countless times more effort than he had to gradually master that Inner Core. He'd learned it once in an illusion a few days ago and now wielded it to sever limbs.
"Where did you want to take my wife?"
Mu Sui's voice was cold but carried a hint of hoarseness—an undertone she couldn't quite define.
Meng Ruji frowned slightly. Something felt off about him.
Zhan Ye smiled grimly. "It's you, Qianshan Jun. You actually obtained her Inner Core."
"I'm asking you—where did you want to take her?"
As his words fell, a strong wind passed. Zhan Ye's throat seemed strangled by an impossibly fine thread, his head severing cleanly.
But the moment it hit the ground, his entire form instantly became black malevolent aura and vanished. The severed arm on the ground disappeared with him.
Taking advantage of the moment, Meng Ruji ran to Mu Sui's side. Seeing him about to attack the floating aura, she grabbed his hand and forcibly pulled down his spell-casting fingers. She glared at him seriously.
Mu Sui met her gaze and said nothing, silently lowering his hand.
"That wasn't him," Meng Ruji said. "I could tell when you severed his arm—just a mass of malevolent aura he controlled."
The aura floated for a moment, then gathered in a mass.
From within came Zhan Ye's nearly manic laughter: "I was so happy to see you that I only gathered this bit of malevolent aura to take form and meet you. But this person beside you is truly in the way. Meng Ruji..." The aura dispersed, leaving only his voice. "Next time, we'll meet alone."
Tuzi, back in rabbit form, jumped from Mu Sui's shoulder and fiercely chased after it.
Meng Ruji wanted to call him back, but he disappeared quickly.
"Call him back! He can't chase!"
"He has sense—he'll only track direction," Mu Sui said. Then he looked at Meng Ruji again, grasping her hand and pulling her up.
Only then did she see her wrist—where Zhan Ye had gripped it, swollen and red, bones aching faintly.
"Fortunately," Meng Ruji smiled self-mockingly, "I only suffered this small injury."
Mu Sui held a piece of silver over her wrist. Light rotated, and her wrist healed visibly.
Meng Ruji watched in amazement, about to praise him, when she saw his somber expression staring coldly at her.
"What's wrong?"
"Why didn't you contact me?"
Meng Ruji was startled.
"If you and I encountered the real Zhan Ye now, this wouldn't be the situation. He might spare my life, but he won't spare yours." She answered, then paused. "It's strange, though—given Zhan Ye's temperament, when he found me, he should have come personally. What important business does he still have in Zhuliu City..."
"Meng Ruji."
Her hand was completely healed. Mu Sui released it. Her gaze followed their parting hands downward, but in the next instant, her face was cupped by his other hand and tilted upward. This look led straight into his night-deep pupils.
"Next time, contact me immediately."
"But... what if it's a death trap—"
"Even if it's a trap of ten thousand deaths."
In a trance, her heart seemed to skip a beat.
She looked at him, forgetting even to look away.
"Cough!" A violent cough shattered the moment.
Meng Ruji blinked and immediately looked aside. Ye Chuan, struck by Zhan Ye earlier, struggled from the debris beside the inn. "The malevolent aura on him is so powerful!" he said hatefully. "Such a villain must not be spared!"
He coughed and straightened, seeing only Meng Ruji and Mu Sui standing in the quiet street.
"Where is the villain?"
Meng Ruji cleared her throat and immediately pushed Mu Sui away.
Mu Sui stepped back accordingly. He looked up toward where Tuzi had chased, then raised his hand with his index finger to his lips and gave a light whistle. Tuzi came running back from the distance, leaping from rooftops above and transforming back into his burly form.
"City Lord! He flew toward Chiying Hall! It must be the thief who stole the Golden Staff!"
"Why were you previously unaware of such a person heavy with malevolent aura?" Ye Chuan asked while coughing. "If not for Miss Meng's swift action, I'd probably be dead—"
Tuzi looked at Mu Sui: "I've never heard of him. During your time away, I never saw him. Where did he come from?"
"He said," Meng Ruji spoke up, "he'd been sleeping here for many years. Is there a place in Zhuliu City where someone could sleep that long?"
Tuzi wondered: "Where would there be... But Brother Chensha said that when I left to find City Lord, that person suddenly appeared and snatched the Golden Staff. Could he have been sleeping under the Marriage Tree?"
"Who is Chensha?" Meng Ruji inquired.
"One of my subordinates," Mu Sui answered briefly.
Meng Ruji looked at him. "When you said 'before,' how long ago was that?"
Mu Sui glanced at Tuzi.
Tuzi bit his lip and smiled awkwardly.
Meng Ruji crossed her arms, looking at both. "It wasn't just now, was it?"
Mu Sui had to look elsewhere. "I didn't plan to hide it from you—I wanted to split up to gather information faster."
"Where is he now?"
"Secretly contacting former subordinates."
Meng Ruji snorted coldly and smiled. "Qianshan Jun is quite thorough."
Seeing the situation turning bad, Tuzi quickly changed the subject, staring at Ye Chuan: "You—didn't you say you spent every day under the Marriage Tree waiting to die? Did you see him?"
Ye Chuan shook his head: "I only arrived recently. From Miss Meng's meaning, that person seems to have been sleeping in Zhuliu City a long time."
"Of course," Meng Ruji said coldly. "He died by my hand over a thousand years ago."
Tuzi drew in a sharp breath: "Then wouldn't that be two hundred years before City Lord even came to the Land of No Refuge? When Zhuliu City didn't even exist?"
"Miss Meng," Ye Chuan asked, unable to help himself, "what connection do you have with this person? You say you killed him, but he seems to have many obsessions with you. Could he be... the same as I was before?"
At this point, all three looked at Meng Ruji.
Ye Chuan was genuinely curious. Tuzi looked back and forth between Mu Sui and Meng Ruji.
Only Mu Sui crossed his arms exactly as Meng Ruji had done earlier.
"Mountain Lord Meng, your past is quite colorful and varied," he said—that tone identical to how Meng Ruji had praised his being "thorough."
"No wonder you two can be husband and wife," Tuzi muttered quietly.
Meng Ruji glared at Tuzi, then glared at Mu Sui: "I've told you about my relationship with him. You don't need to be jealous."
"Now you'll probably have to tell us in detail," Ye Chuan said seriously. "This person has taken control of Zhuliu City and is extorting gold and silver everywhere. He's extremely difficult to deal with. What kind of person is he exactly? What does he want to do?"
Meng Ruji lowered her eyes slightly.
"He wants to become a perfect person."
The words hung in the air like a confession of something far more dangerous than merely wanting power or revenge.
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