"Now that things have come to this, what else do you want to hide from me?" Qiao Qiu looked at him and saw no hint of a joke on his face.

The ring looked back at her, saying nothing, but also showing no intention of telling her anything.

"If we hadn't reached this critical juncture, do you think I would have brought this up so bluntly?" Qiao Qiu continued. The current situation was clear: they were at a disadvantage. If they couldn't work together to find a solution, what would the outcome be? Was she really supposed to watch them die? Was there really no way out?

If that were truly the case, she would be the one suffering the most. She doesn't know how much of her will to live she would have left if that were to happen.

The ring wasn't entirely without judgment, he said, "Actually, there's no harm in telling you."

"Hmm?" Qiao Qiu frowned slightly.

"The combined power of Ji Rufeng and me can reach a level that can destroy the heavens and the earth. When we break through this heaven, we will have a chance to break the core of the curse." The ring said, "It's just a pity that we don't know what happened, but our power can't be combined."

"What will happen if we can't merge?" Qiao Qiu asked.

The ring shrugged and said, "If we can't merge, our combined power will remain separate. Neither of us can do anything to the heavens, nor will we have a chance to break the core of the curse. Of course, the curse can't do anything to us either. No, it can do something to us. The current situation is that it wants to perish together with us."

"To perish together." Qiao Qiu muttered these four words, her brows furrowing like ravines in the deep mountains.

"Yes, it's a matter of mutual destruction. He'd rather kill us and perish with us than give us a chance to defeat him," the ring said.

"What would happen if you used your strength to break him?" Qiao Qiu asked, but she knew very well what the answer would be.

“You return to the real world, as for us…” The ring paused, looked at her closed eyes, shook its head, and said, “I don’t know what will happen to us.”

Qiao Qiu opened her eyes and looked at him. "You don't know?"

“Death is only one possible outcome,” the ring said.

"What other ending is there?" Hearing that there was still hope, Qiao Qiu's eyes lit up like fire. As long as there was a glimmer of hope, that was hope.

"This hope is very slim; it's just a guess by Ji Rufeng and me." The ring lowered its head, not daring to look at her expression. Giving hope only to be disappointed is the cruelest thing.

"What conjecture?" Qiao Qiu couldn't bear to watch them die without being able to do anything about it. If she could, she was willing to use all her knowledge to help them.

"The curse is both illusory and real, just like us. We are also illusory, yet real," the ring said. "If we still have a spirit, we will have the chance to awaken. Although you have gone out and may not see us for a while, you may eventually meet us again."

"Is this real?" It's no wonder Qiao Qiu was suspicious. They don't have physical bodies in the real world. Even if they have spirits, how could they really meet?

"As I said, this is just a conjecture on our part. Whether it will come true or not, I don't know," the ring said.

Qiao Qiu frowned, lay back, and looked up at the sky. "No matter what, let's solve one problem at a time. First, there's the issue of our powers not being able to merge. Why is that?"

“We don’t know either. Logically speaking, my power and his are the most compatible in the world. Because I was built by the Qiao family patriarch based on sensing his existence, there is nothing wrong with that.” This is what the ring can’t understand the most.

"This..." Qiao Qiu couldn't figure it out for a moment. According to the ring, everything was fine. What if the problem lay with the ring itself, or was one of them fake?

But that's impossible. She and the ring have confirmed it repeatedly. Ji Rufeng is Ji Rufeng, and he is no one else.

"I can't think of anything." Qiao Qiu shook her head, waved her hand, and a large breakfast was laid out on the table. The chair she was sitting on turned into a long bench again.

Ring sat up too. The bench he was sitting on was a bit higher, but there was nothing he could do about it; he was just too short.

"You didn't even wake me up for breakfast." Ji Rufeng's voice rang out as he sat down on the stool. He raised an eyebrow at the breakfast and smiled, "It looks quite substantial."

Qiao Qiu tilted her head and said, "It's because you didn't come out for so long. Since you won't come out, we'll just have to start eating by ourselves."

"Fine, so you're blaming me for this?" Ji Rufeng said with a smile, his words sounding like reproach, but there was no hint of blame in his tone.

"Alright, let's eat," Qiao Qiu said.

"Um."

The three of them finished breakfast in a pleasant atmosphere, and with a wave of their rings, the table was clean.

Qiao Qiu smiled and sighed again, "It's still good to have magic. Look how easy it is, it's gone in an instant."

"Wait a minute, someone's coming." Ji Rufeng suddenly noticed something was wrong outside, and his smile instantly vanished.

Qiao Qiu raised an eyebrow slightly and looked outside.

Then Dong Yuluolan and her family walked over.

"Big sister!"

Qiao Qiu frowned slightly and looked outside. If she could, she didn't want to be their enemy.

Ji Rufeng removed the restraints. He believed that Qiao Qiu wouldn't be so defenseless; he just wanted to see what this family was here for.

Roland ran in and went straight to Qiao Qiu.

Behind them, Dong Yu was carrying a child. They looked rather disheveled, as if they had come from a mountainous area.

Roland ran happily to Qiao Qiu, "Big sister, it's so great to see you all."

"Seventh Sister." Qiao Qiu greeted her with a smile and a nod, then gave a slight nod to Dong Yu in the distance before looking at Luo Lan, "Seventh Sister, how did you all get here? And how did you find this place?"

Roland looked at the mark on her forehead, tears falling, her hands trembling as she touched it. "Elder sister, if my husband hadn't mentioned it by chance, how long were you planning to keep it from me?"

Qiao Qiu took her hand and asked again, "Seventh Sister, how did you get here?"

Roland cried and said, "We traveled for half a year, crossing mountains and rivers, and it was the local earth god who guided us here."

"The Earth God?" Qiao Qiu frowned even more deeply.

Roland nodded.

Dong Yu put the child down and walked in front of Ji Rufeng. "Brother-in-law, it's so good to see you're all alright. My wife was worried something might happen to you the whole way here."

“You believed the Earth God’s words,” Qiao Qiu said.

"Big sister, what's wrong?" Roland didn't quite understand why she said that.