"Gone mad?" Li Meirong echoed Mo Jing's words in utter disbelief.

Mo Jing appeared too ashamed to meet her gaze.

​​

"A lot of what he has to say recently relates…" he trailed off and paused for a moment before he continued as if about to confess a great sin, "Well, he speaks a great deal about you."

Li Meirong surged up from her seat in a bout of anger, dropping Snowball unceremoniously to the floor.

"What does he still want with me?" she demanded. "Just because I didn't agree to be part of his ever-growing harem, I must now be ridiculed?!"

Mo Jing met her gaze in shock and shook his head, crossing his hands quickly in front of him repeatedly.

"No, no, no, it is nothing of the sort!" he hurried to reassure her. "It is definitely not what you think."

The shape of his face, despite being quite similar to his brother's chiselled features, gave off a completely different aura to his arrogant brother, which was unique only to himself. He projected nothing but earnestness.

Li Meirong pressed her lips into a thin line as she assessed him shrewdly. She found nothing but sincerity in him, and calmed herself once more.

"Then what is the matter with your brother?" she inquired calmly, once again picking up Snowball and cradling him in her arms.

The fox spirit beast looked most aggrieved by being dropped so unceremoniously from his rightful position due to the discussion, and Li Meirong felt obligated to placate him. She hugged him close and patted his head softly and, seeming appeased, Snowball nuzzled his snout into her chest and closed his eyes.

Mo Jing gave a light, embarrassed cough, his cheeks reddening.

"My brother's circumstances are far worse than you can imagine," he admitted, attempting to stay focused on the topic. He could not help but think that the fox spirit was attempting to, for lack of a better phrase, assert some form of dominance over Sister Meirong right in front of him.

"Oh?" Li Meirong uttered, completely oblivious to any subtext as she continued appeasing her attention-seeking spirit fox with her nimble fingers, gently brushing through his fur. Snowball snuggled deeper into Li Meirong's embrace, completely inseparable from her bosom and utterly content to be there.

Mo Jing swiftly looked down again, feeling rather awkward.

'Is it normal for spirit beasts to act in such a way with their masters?' Mo Jing pondered. He thought the fox was being very improper, cuddling up to Li Meirong in such a way, but he could not know for certain as he was only an herbalist, and had never owned a spirit beast of his own.

"Brother Jing, what do you mean by 'it's far worse'?" Li Meirong asked, her use of his name bringing his attention back to the subject at hand.

"I am ashamed to admit to my brother's unusual and unseemly behaviour," Mo Jing said finally, getting back to the crux of the matter as he glanced to the side. "He speaks, these days, like a raving lunatic, and his condition worsened exponentially after he met the Bestiary Division Grandmaster's long-lost son, Zhu Qingyue."

Li Meirong's brows rose higher and higher on her forehead in bewilderment as Mo Jing explained what had been happening.

Mo Jing did not seem to notice, and instead continued speaking.

"When my brother heard of your growing relationship with Zhu Qingyue, he seemed to lose all sense of reason he had left."

"..." At this point, Li Meirong was rendered speechless by Mo Jing's words. She was truly unable to make sense of what he was telling her.

'How is my relationship with Zhu Qingyue in any way related to Mo Cheng's mental stability? Or lack of,' she thought with a hint of whimsy.

Even with his expressive golden eyes shut tight, Snowball managed to radiate a sense of delight. He seemed strangely overjoyed by this new information. Li Meirong could feel his small furry body rumble with satisfaction at the prospective truth to Mo Jing's tale.

"Strange, is it not?" Mo Jing asked, but he didn't seem to want an answer as he continued immediately. "My brother has been saying very strange things as of late. It is as if this entire world is, in his eyes, some sort of fictional tale or child's game, and he and you are the only "real" people in this invented reality." Mo Jing let out a discontented laugh, his words having spilled from his lips in a babbling rush.

It was as if he couldn't bear to hear the words leaving his mouth.

"You have yet to explain why my relationship with Senior Zhu seems to bother him so greatly," Li Meirong said with a frown.

"To answer that, all I can say is that my brother has expressed on multiple occasions how wrong and misplaced this match is fated to be. He believes Zhu Qingyue is the villain of this story he believes the world to be, and that it is his duty to save you and the world from Zhu Qingyue's evil."

Snowball's satisfied rumbling ceased. He grew deathly still and hung limply in Li Meirong's arms, his attention now solely directed to Mo Jing, much as Li Meirong's was.

"Yes, that does make him sound rather crazy to me," Li Meirong acknowledged. She exhaled audibly after wholeheartedly reaffirming Mo Jing's opinion on his brother's mental state. She looked to him, her eyes narrowing slowly. "But again, I ask, what are you expecting of me? What do you want me to do with this information now that I have it?"

Mo Jing's demeanor took a sudden shift. He grew serious and sat on the spare stool opposite her, his face set into a somber expression.

"Li Meirong, the primary reason I came here is for your sake and safety, first and foremost." he confessed, his tone grave. "My brother sent me with an urgent message: you must not, under any circumstances, advance to the tournament finals."

"And the reason for this request is…?" she trailed off leadingly, giving him a skeptical look. Her small yet full lips pursed into a cherry-like shape.

"You are, of course, aware of how haughty Sister Qianqian truly is when my brother is not around to witness her true colours. Since your last visit to brother's residence, she has been plotting to end your life. She has planned it out to the tiniest detail. Her obsession has grown so fearsome that she did not even attempt to disguise her hatred of you from my brother."

To Mo Jing's surprise, instead of showing fear at the knowledge that someone was plotting her demise, Li Meirong looked at him calmly and then slowly broke into a smile. He was started by the sudden, unpredictable change in her demeanor as he met her eyes.

She bore a look of ease, her entire being portraying lazy, charming confidence. Her clear dark eyes possessed a carefree light borne not from ignorance, but from experience fraught with danger. The look in her eyes said, "I have seen the worst and survived, and I have grown stronger from it."