On the first day in jail, Meng Ruji slept through the entire morning. Last night’s running around had left her utterly exhausted.

In the afternoon, she was awakened by a rumble of thunder.

The moment she opened her eyes, she found herself gazing into a pair of dark eyes like a starry night sky.

Their eyes met, and Meng Ruji was momentarily dazed. After a while, she realized that somehow, she had fallen asleep on the young man’s lap.

“How did I end up sleeping on your lap…” Meng Ruji said, trying to sit up. “Sorry…”

Before she could finish saying “sorry,” a hand reached over to her shoulder and gently pressed down. Caught off guard, Meng Ruji lay back down.

Her head was once again pillowed on Mu Sui’s lap.

Meng Ruji blinked.

Mu Sui also blinked, then he seemed to realize: “I… my hand moved on its own.” Mu Sui explained with difficulty in a tone that brooked no argument, “It wanted you to lean on me.”

Meng Ruji was completely dumbfounded.

She and Mu Sui stared at each other for a long time.

Was this kid really this naive, or was he deliberately saying such strange things?

After a moment, Meng Ruji decided to treat him as genuinely naive.

She smiled, putting on the appearance of a good sister: “So… can you control your hands now?”

Mu Sui pressed down his hands firmly, keeping both hands pressed against his chest:

“I can now.”

Meng Ruji immediately sat up.

When she left, Mu Sui felt an emptiness in his arms, as if she had taken all the warmth with her. He murmured vaguely: “Actually, you could sleep a bit longer…”

“I’m not sleeping anymore. I’m a bit hungry. Do they serve meals in this place?”

Before Meng Ruji finished speaking, a large bowl filled with boiled vegetable stems and sweet potatoes was placed in front of her.

“They already served it.” Mu Sui moved quickly, as if afraid she might go hungry.

“Thank you.” Meng Ruji took the bowl and suddenly heard a familiar “rumbling” sound, just like the thunder that had awakened her earlier.

Following the sound, Meng Ruji looked toward Mu Sui’s abdomen.

“Rumble rumble rumble…”

Mu Sui’s stomach called out twice more, as if singing for Meng Ruji.

“They… didn’t serve your meal?” Meng Ruji asked him.

“They did.” Mu Sui pointed to a large bowl beside him.

The bowl was clean and empty, as if it had been washed.

Meng Ruji was silent for a moment, then looked at Mu Sui’s abdomen again, thinking to herself: The Inner Core is still in his body—he can’t be too hungry.

So Meng Ruji stirred her bowl: “I can’t eat all this. Let me share some more with you.”

“No need.” Mu Sui said, “I’m not hungry.”

“Rumble rumble rumble.”

Following his words, his stomach responded accordingly.

The jail fell silent for a moment.

If it weren’t for this kid looking genuinely naive, Meng Ruji would think he was being passive-aggressive and teasing her.

Meng Ruji mentally rolled her eyes, then, without further discussion, took Mu Sui’s bowl and transferred most of her food to it.

Mu Sui frowned deeply and tried to take his empty bowl away: “I don’t want it.” He spoke seriously, and his movements truly showed he was forcefully refusing Meng Ruji. “You’ll be hungry.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Hunger is uncomfortable. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

Mu Sui refused earnestly, as if he’d rather let the food spill on the ground than eat her food.

Meng Ruji pondered for a moment and decided not to confront him directly, so she adopted a gentler expression: “Alright then.”

Mu Sui hugged his empty bowl and quietly moved back two steps, afraid that Meng Ruji might sneak food into his bowl when he wasn’t paying attention.

Meng Ruji began eating slowly and carefully, saying as she ate: “After I finish eating and really can’t eat anymore, you can help me finish the leftover vegetables, okay? It’s better not to waste food.”

Mu Sui nodded: “Okay.”

After becoming a half-demon, Meng Ruji had grown accustomed to fasting. Her appetite was no longer as strong as before. As long as her stomach wasn’t uncomfortably hungry, she had no problems. These vegetable stems and sweet potatoes were quite filling anyway. She took two bites and planned to give the rest to Mu Sui, but Mu Sui didn’t believe she was full after eating so little.

So he kept staring at Meng Ruji seriously. Several times, Meng Ruji wanted to say she was full, but under his scrutinizing gaze, she took another bite.

Under this visual tug-of-war, Meng Ruji did eat until she was eighty percent full.

“I really can’t eat anymore. This afternoon, I plan to meditate and regulate my breathing. Eating too much isn’t good for cultivation.” Meng Ruji handed the bowl to Mu Sui.

Only then did Mu Sui not refuse, eating everything remaining until it was completely clean.

But what surprised Meng Ruji was that even so, Mu Sui’s stomach still rumbled.

He was still very hungry…

“How about I start teaching you cultivation methods now? If you learn to gather spiritual energy from heaven and earth, your body won’t be so hungry.”

Of course, Mu Sui would agree to whatever she said.

So, Meng Ruji began teaching Mu Sui how to condense spiritual power.

Then immediately… failed.

Not because Mu Sui wasn’t smart or couldn’t learn. On the contrary, Mu Sui was the fastest person she’d ever seen at learning cultivation methods.

He seemed like a blank slate, but when meditating and gathering qi, basically as soon as Meng Ruji told him what to do, he immediately learned it.

Mu Sui didn’t remember past events, but his body remembered past cultivation.

Meng Ruji thought that perhaps his techniques had already reached great mastery before. After all, he could break her seal, so his abilities should be on par with hers.

But strangely, while the methods were all correct and Meng Ruji could see spiritual energy being absorbed into his body, inside his body was like a bottomless pit. Whether it was absorbed spiritual energy or prison meals, everything from outside, once it entered his body, was like water drops falling into the ocean—swallowed up in the blink of an eye.

Meng Ruji taught Mu Sui all afternoon without results, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter.

This little thief was easy to deceive, but his constitution made deceiving him useless.

This Inner Core—forcing it out wouldn’t work. Having him take it out himself wouldn’t work either.

Meng Ruji let out a long sigh, feeling somewhat helpless and tired.

It seemed impossible to retrieve the Inner Core in the Land of No Lingering. She could only return to the mortal world and find her Five Guardians, then work together to figure out how to pry his Inner Core out.

Seeing Meng Ruji sigh, Mu Sui felt even more guilty.

At night, while Meng Ruji rested, Mu Sui didn’t idle. He used the methods Meng Ruji taught him to absorb spiritual energy, trying to sense the existence of his dantian and Inner Core.

But he still failed.

For a moment, Mu Sui began to feel disgusted with himself and his past.

How could he be such a harmful thief?

How could he treat her so badly?

Now, how should he compensate to make Meng Ruji’s impression of him even slightly better…

If her impression of him improved, she would be willing to stay close to him a bit longer… even just for a moment would be fine.

During these days in jail, after Meng Ruji found she couldn’t trick the Inner Core out, she focused on her cultivation and meditation, not noticing Mu Sui’s tender thoughts.

She only remembered that at every mealtime, the jailers would bring two bowls filled to the brim with vegetable stems and sweet potatoes.

The Land of No Lingering didn’t mistreat prisoners. The food was ordinary, but they tried to provide enough. Meng Ruji gave Mu Sui half each day and could still eat until seventy or eighty percent full. But for Mu Sui, it still wasn’t enough.

Every day, he ate his food quickly and cleanly. Usually, when the jailers brought them food and walked to the next cell, Mu Sui had already finished his bowl. When the jailers walked back, Mu Sui would be holding an empty bowl, looking at them.

Mu Sui was simply looking at the jailers, but his eyes were naturally sharp, and his face was stern with hidden killing intent. Every time the jailers passed by, they felt unnerved being stared at. Sometimes when there was leftover food in the bucket, they’d dump it all on him.

Of course, Mu Sui didn’t refuse.

After staying in jail for three days, they were kicked out.

The jailers said that because they’d been living here for three days, even the pigs in the pigsty had nothing to eat and had grown thin, because all the daily leftovers were finished by Mu Sui alone.

They suspected these two people had deliberately come to jail to freeload meals. So when the time was up, they wouldn’t keep them for another three days and would directly kick them out the door with a “clang.”

Meng Ruji looked back at the place that had imprisoned them for three days. The vermilion gate had a plaque hanging on it—old and shabby, with two large characters scrawled carelessly: “Yamen.”

There were no other words on either side of the gate, no gatekeepers either. It didn’t look like an official government place at all. If Meng Ruji hadn’t really been imprisoned there for three days and fed daily by guards, she wouldn’t believe there were proper officials inside.

This Land of No Lingering exuded an absurd atmosphere everywhere.

But at least they were out.

“So, next.” Meng Ruji looked at the long street ahead, then glanced at Mu Sui beside her. “We can only rely on ourselves.”

To feed such a big eater and quickly get money recognized by the Land of No Lingering to buy boat tickets at Cannot Ferry…

“Time to find ways to make money.” After Meng Ruji spoke, she sighed again.

In a trance, she remembered that on the day she met disaster eight hundred years ago, a mysterious person had whispered in her ear: “You… you’re just destined for toil.”

Today, at this moment, she suddenly understood.

Fate had been waiting for her here…

Meng Ruji sighed, then took a deep breath: “No problem! Isn’t it just making money? Could it be harder than being a Demon Lord?” Meng Ruji raised her hand and pointed forward. “Today we’ll earn enough!”

Mu Sui followed Meng Ruji’s pointing finger and looked ahead, seeing only a desolate, long road with broken stones scattered on the ground. When the cold wind swept up, the dust was rather choking.

Mu Sui reminded: “There’s no one here.”

Meng Ruji coughed twice from the dust: “Let’s walk forward and see…”

Through the broken stone road in front of the “yamen,” Meng Ruji led Mu Sui walking and searching for people.

Finally, after turning several corners, they saw some passersby. She asked around and looked here and there. Soon, she had figured out the rules of this place.

The Land of No Lingering indeed wasn’t the mortal world, but it wasn’t the underworld either.

This place was more like a “secret realm” that appeared between heaven and earth through chance encounters.

This “secret realm” was managed by the “Master of No Lingering.” Big Green and Little Red from Cannot Ferry, and the officers who arrested them, were all people of the Master of No Lingering, helping maintain order in the Land of No Lingering.

To reach the Land of No Lingering, the necessary condition was to become a “Half-Dead Person.”

So-called “Half-Dead People” were all those who died in the mortal world for various strange reasons but didn’t die completely.

For example, those who fell into comas and couldn’t wake up, those who encountered accidents and closed their eyes, and those like Meng Ruji and Mu Sui…

Who were inexplicably struck by lightning…

After “Half-Dead People” arrived here, there were only three outcomes.

First, like what Meng Ruji heard the boatman say on her first day by the Nai River—buy a boat ticket and have the boatman ferry them back to the mortal world.

But this required money, lots of money.

So much that the people Meng Ruji asked didn’t know an exact number. Some gestured one, some gestured five. Whether it was ten thousand or one thousand, five hundred or fifty thousand, no one was clear.

Everyone’s only unified response was: “Want to buy tickets to go back? Forget it. We ordinary people have no chance.”

Second, was the Nai River. As long as you jumped into the Nai River, the river water would carry that person away, rush them to the sky, and send them to “the afterlife.”

Third, he was going directly to the afterlife.

The Land of No Lingering certainly had dangers too. Some people were killed, some were hit by stones. When various accidents similar to those in the mortal world occurred, “Half-Dead People” would directly become dead people and go to the afterlife.

Even more so, perhaps when time was up or fate was exhausted, some people would mysteriously disappear from the Land of No Lingering, just like when they came.

Coming in confusion, leaving in confusion, a hurried life without reason.

As for where they’d go after “the afterlife,” no one could explain clearly.

Just like no one could ever explain clearly where you’d go after “death” in the mortal world.

After hearing these three outcomes, Meng Ruji’s heart was somewhat devastated.

First, earning boat tickets—needing two—wasn’t so easy for them now.

Second…

What difference did the second and third outcomes have from the mortal world? In other words, wasn’t this just “going to die”?

She hadn’t slept for eight hundred years and awakened just to change places to die! Since it was all death anyway, why didn’t she just die eight hundred years ago? Wouldn’t that have been easier? The reason she sealed herself was to fight for a way out!

What kind of ghostly way out had she fought for!

Meng Ruji angrily punched the wall in the corner.

On the other side, Mu Sui, who had followed Meng Ruji all the way, was particularly silent.

While Meng Ruji was gathering information, Mu Sui listened while observing the surrounding scenery. For some reason, Mu Sui felt the surrounding scenes were somehow strangely familiar.

He thought carefully. This feeling of being both strange and familiar had existed since he was awakened by the Nai River.

That eerie river water emitting ghostly light, the feeling of river water flowing past his feet, and the “yamen” plaque with crooked, sloppy handwriting…

All seemed…

Somewhat familiar…

Mu Sui stood in place. The surrounding noise and bustle seemed to make his world spin upside down. He watched Meng Ruji pull herself together and continue asking passersby, while he seemed trapped in chaos.

In the haze, some images seemed to flash through his mind, with sharp, piercing voices penetrating his ears.

“Mu Sui!”

“Mu Sui!”

“Live!”

“Live! Kill them all!”

Along with these voices and images came pain like splitting skulls exploding in his mind, then spreading to his limbs and bones.

Mu Sui closed his eyes, clenched his teeth, and desperately endured the stinging pain throughout his body. Just then, a hand with a warm palm touched his arm.

“What’s wrong with you?”

All the pain in his body was instantly taken away by this hand.

Mu Sui suddenly opened his eyes and saw Meng Ruji in front of him.

Meng Ruji looked somewhat puzzled, her head tilted slightly as she examined him. Her hand rested gently on his arm, patting him: “Are you hungry? Let me find you something to eat first.”

“No…” Mu Sui’s voice was hoarse. “I’m not hungry.”

“Oh, then are you uncomfortable? Want to sit for a while?”

“I…” Mu Sui looked at Meng Ruji. “I want to hug you. May I?”

Meng Ruji was stunned for a moment, then the corners of her mouth drooped. Her voice also carried some pain and helplessness: “Perfect, let’s comfort each other!”

Meng Ruji hugged Mu Sui tightly and lamented, “…How are we going to earn this money?”

With a silly child who could eat enormously, how could they possibly gather enough for those sky-high boat tickets home?

The Demon Lord was breaking down!

Being hugged by Meng Ruji, Mu Sui’s heart suddenly tightened, then after a moment, his limbs and bones felt filled with warm blood.

All his restlessness calmed down.

Mu Sui gently raised his hands and embraced Meng Ruji. He closed his eyes, feeling her breath and warmth.

So wonderful…

“Mu Sui!” Before Mu Sui could indulge in this “gentle embrace” for long, Meng Ruji suddenly pushed him away. “Listen!”

Mu Sui looked at Meng Ruji blankly. Hearing her words, he seemed to open his ears and heard people talking nearby.

“Yesterday, someone with a big sword came to the market and performed quite well.”

“I saw it. I even gave a tip…”

Meng Ruji looked at Mu Sui with shining eyes: “Did you hear that?”

“I heard it.”

“There’s no time like the present—let’s start making money today!” Meng Ruji was full of hope.

Mu Sui nodded: “Okay.”

“Let’s set up a stall at the market ahead. How about it?”

“Okay.”

“We don’t have anything good to sell, so let’s start by performing.”

“Okay.”

“You perform.”

At this moment, even if Meng Ruji said to sell him, Mu Sui would probably just nod and say:

“Okay.”

Sell you~