At Li Ji’s words, tears instantly streamed down Hua Manman’s face.
She answered through her sobs.
"It’s me, Ji. I’m back."
But Li Ji couldn’t hear her and just kept calling out to her again and again.
"Manman, please say something."
They were face to face, close enough to touch.
But Li Ji could neither see her nor hear her voice.
Though mere inches separated them, it felt as if an entire world lay between them.
Suddenly, the voice of the Main God resounded in Hua Manman’s mind.
"You must understand now, don’t you?
You were never from the same world to begin with.
Even if you managed to defy all odds and return to him, he still wouldn’t be able to see you.
You can never truly be together."
Li Xun finally noticed something was wrong as well.
He looked up at his father, his vision blurry with tears.
"Mother is right here! She just spoke to you. Can’t you hear her?"
Li Ji asked urgently, "What did your mother say?"
Li Xun enunciated every word.
"Mother was calling your name. She said she’s back."
Those simple words sank into Li Ji’s heart.
Like winter turning to spring, melting the ice and snow.
The immense longing that had been weighing on his heart rushed over him like a tidal wave,
and the rims of his eyes instantly reddened.
He raised a hand, slowly reaching out in Hua Manman’s direction.
His trembling fingertips betrayed his turbulent emotions—nervousness, anxiety, and fervent anticipation.
He longed to touch Manman.
It had been too long since he had last seen her. He missed her so terribly.
Just then, however, Hua Manman felt a familiar, powerful pulling sensation.
It was the sign she was about to leave.
She hurriedly raised her hand, reaching for Li Ji.
She wanted to grasp his hand.
But in the instant their fingertips touched,
Hua Manman suddenly vanished!
Li Ji’s hand grasped at empty air.
His heart clenched in pain, unable to touch the one he yearned for day and night.
Thinking he had reached in the wrong direction, he began feeling around in other spots.
But no matter where he searched, he came up empty.
He was like a blind man who had lost his sight, searching the entire world for his one ray of sunshine.
Li Xun cried out in a panic.
"Mother disappeared!"
Li Ji froze.
He whirled around and asked desperately,
"How could she disappear? Where did she go?"
Li Xun didn’t know where his mother had gone either.
He subconsciously reached for the jade pendant hanging on his chest.
But his hand met with empty air.
He looked down and saw only a red string around his neck.
The Lotus Jade Pendant that was supposed to be hanging from it had vanished at some point.
Without the Lotus Jade Pendant, he had lost his only chance of ever seeing his mother again.
An overwhelming sense of grief and despair flooded Li Xun’s heart.
He clutched the red string, tilted his head back, and began to wail.
Through his Mind Reading Technique, Li Ji learned what his son was thinking.
He stood there, stunned. All strength drained from his body, and he could no longer hold himself up. His vision went black, and he collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
...
When Hua Manman came to her senses, she found herself surrounded by darkness.
All around her was dead silent, and she could see nothing.
Clinging to a final shred of hope, she called out cautiously.
"Ji? Gou Dan?"
As expected, there was no reply.
Li Ji and Li Xun were gone.
A moment later, a ball of white light emerged from her body.
It floated in mid-air.
Though it had no facial features, Hua Manman could feel it watching her.
The Main God’s voice emanated from the white ball of light.
"The system probably didn’t explain things clearly to you back then.
The Amulet has a limited number of uses. It can only be used three times at most.
Now that those three times are up, the Amulet is useless.
Even if Li Xun runs into danger again in the future, he won’t be able to summon you."
Right now, Hua Manman couldn’t care less about the Amulet.
She asked urgently.
"You promised to send me back to the past! Why did you drag me back here again?"
The Main God said in a leisurely tone,
"Even if I sent you back to Li Ji right now, he wouldn’t be able to see you, hear you, or touch you."
Hua Manman remembered that feeling of being so near yet so far, and a bitter feeling washed over her.
The Main God continued, "Now that the Amulet is gone, not even Li Xun can see you anymore.
Even if you were standing right beside them, they wouldn’t know.
This isn’t the kind of family reunion you were hoping for, is it?"
Hua Manman had thought that returning to the past was all it would take for her family to be reunited.
She never expected the Main God to have set such a huge trap for her.
She snapped angrily,
"You did this on purpose!"
The white ball of light circled her slowly, looking quite unconcerned.
"You misunderstand. This isn’t my doing.
Every world has its own mechanics.
Anyone or anything that tries to cross time and space to enter another world will be rejected by that world."
Hua Manman countered, "But I was fine when I transmigrated to the past before, wasn’t I?"
The Main God replied, "That’s because the system found an anchor in this world.
It used the original female lead, Hua Qingqing, as an anchor to allow itself to remain in this world long-term.
As its host, you naturally enjoyed some of those privileges.
If you want to stay in this world, you’ll need to find an anchor for yourself as well."
Hua Manman immediately replied,
"I’ll use Li Ji as my anchor."
A hint of amusement tinged the Main God’s voice.
"You can, but ordinary people can’t choose their own anchors. You’ll need to borrow my power to do so."
By this point in the conversation, Hua Manman had already guessed its intentions.
"What price do I have to pay for your help?"
’There’s no such thing as a free lunch. For the Main God to say all this, it must be after something.’
The white ball of light stopped in front of her again.
The Main God said, "I don’t need you to pay a price. I just want to make a bet with you."
Hua Manman asked cautiously, "What kind of bet?"
The Main God said, "Didn’t you say that you and Li Ji were able to come together across time and space because it was fate’s finest arrangement?
To test that claim, let’s have fate make the choice one more time.
I will seal away all your memories of your last transmigration.
The celestial chart of fate will be reset.
Everything will start over from the beginning.
Let’s see if you and Li Ji can still find your way to each other, shall we?"
Although the Main God’s words sounded grand and eloquent, Hua Manman felt like she was watching a cheesy primetime soap opera.
She couldn’t help but retort,
"What are you, some kind of evil mother-in-law? Why are you so dead set on breaking up Li Ji and me?!"
The Main God: "..."
’How did I inexplicably gain a grown daughter-in-law?’
The Main God said morosely,
"Because of your meddling, this world’s plot has gone completely off the rails.
It’s full of holes and inconsistencies now, which has forced my workload to double.
You have to take some responsibility for that, don’t you?"
’Hua Manman was the one who made this mess, but in the end, I’m the one who has to clean it up.’
’Even a Main God gets pissed off about being forced to work overtime.’
Its words made Hua Manman feel a little guilty.
’It really wasn’t right to make someone work overtime.’
She mumbled softly,
"I’m sorry."
Seeing her take the initiative to admit her mistake, the Main God thought she might be redeemable after all. But just as it was about to praise her, she tacked on another sentence.
"But I’d do it again!"
The Main God: "..."