At the marketplace, Meng Ruji looked at the customer before her, wearing a polite smile, warmly inquiring:

“What would you like me to deliver, boss?”

“Some copper and iron items.” The black-clothed man said, placing the bundle on Meng Ruji’s wooden board.

Meng Ruji lifted it – about the weight of a bucket of water: “It’s quite heavy.”

“To the forest north of the outskirts, near the Nai River, there’s an inn. About thirty li distance. I need you to deliver it as quickly as possible.” The man took out a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to Meng Ruji.

Meng Ruji took it and looked – the paper had a simple map roughly indicating a direction.

“Thirty li – even walking quickly would take nearly two hours.” Meng Ruji glanced at the sky, then at the person before her. She observed him calmly for a moment, then smiled slightly: “How much are you paying, boss?”

“How much do you want?”

Meng Ruji held up two fingers: “Twenty wen. Two hours there, two hours back – I’ll spend my whole day on the road.”

The man gave a cold laugh and threw ten wen on the ground: “When you deliver it, the inn owner will give you another ten wen.”

“Alright.”

The man glanced at Meng Ruji, then turned and left as hurriedly as when he’d arrived.

Meng Ruji hefted the bundle, weighing it, and prepared to set off.

Miaomiao, nearby, looked at Meng Ruji with some concern: “Sister Ruji, the northern forest is close to bandit territory! It’s not safe for you to go alone.”

Meng Ruji smiled, looking thoughtfully in the direction the black-clothed man had gone, her voice light as she said: “Big business – can’t push away the God of Wealth.”

With that, Meng Ruji opened her money pouch, took out five wen, and pressed them into Miaomiao’s hands.

“I need to trouble you with something today. If I’m not back after four hours, please buy two wen worth of noodles and three wen worth of sweet potatoes, and take them to that little wooden house for Mu Sui. Tell him to eat his fill before coming to find me.”

Meng Ruji didn’t delay further. Carrying the goods, she used the remaining money to buy a bottle of small green beans and quickly set off to make the delivery.

Meanwhile, “Mu Sui in the little wooden house” was rushing toward the northern mountains at great speed.

His pace was fast. By noon, he’d reached the legendary bandit mountain.

The bandit lair wasn’t hard to find. They’d made a mess of the entire mountain – felled trees, trampled bare ground, all pointing the way for Mu Sui to find the gate of their stronghold.

Outside the gate, two guards were listlessly chatting: “Yesterday we didn’t get the convoy, and quite a few brothers got hurt. The boss is furious.”

“Tsk… It’s all Zhuliu City’s fault, making those weird hidden weapons. The brothers got ambushed.”

“I heard it was that Zhuliu City Lord who made them.”

“That city lord again? Didn’t we hear he crossed the river?”

“His people are still there.”

“Damn it… Give me a chance, I’ll go rob Zhuliu City!”

Before he finished speaking, the two guards suddenly noticed a figure emerging from the forest.

“Who’s that?”

One bandit squinted at the newcomer, seeing his ragged clothes, outer garments seemingly torn in many places, the tears roughly sewn up with thick thread so crudely that even the distant bandits could see clearly.

So the bandit contemptuously gripped his large blade: “A beggar coming to our place? Got a death wish? Get lost!”

Mu Sui didn’t respond, just glanced at the sky, calculated the time, and muttered to himself: “Need to hurry.”

The bandit’s hearing was sharp. Hearing this, he mocked: “Hurry to your next life, right?” He raised his blade and walked over. “Perfect – I’ve got nowhere to vent today’s anger. I’ll send you on your way!”

The bandit strode up to Mu Sui and chopped his large blade directly at Mu Sui’s head, but the next instant, a hand fell on the bandit’s neck.

Just a light twist – “crack” – like a bone popping when stretching, so subtle and light.

But the blade-wielding bandit froze in place.

Mu Sui released his hand, and the bandit fell straight backward in his blade-raising pose.

“Thud” – dust rose from the ground. No blood, no struggle, but he was already dead.

Mu Sui rotated his wrist, expressionlessly stepping over the corpse.

He stared at the other bandit: “Come quickly. I’m running out of time.”

The guard at the gate was terrified. He’d killed people and nearly been killed several times, but now, looking at Mu Sui approaching, meeting his eyes, he felt unprecedented fear enveloping him. The bandit’s back pressed tightly against the gate, clutching his blade but forgetting to raise it, only tremblingly asking: “Running out of time… for what…”

Mu Sui passed him, pushed open the stronghold gate, and stepped inside.

Behind Mu Sui, the blade-clutching bandit had already fainted and collapsed.

Ahead, inside the stronghold, dozens of bandits, busy with their affairs, all turned to look at this intruder.

Mu Sui counted the heads with his eyes and sighed: “I need to go back for dinner.”

Meng Ruji returned home every afternoon at the hour of the Monkey. She would wait for him.

At the third quarter of noon, Meng Ruji finally arrived at the location shown on the map, carrying the heavy bundle.

North of the outskirts forest, near the Nai River, an inn.

Meng Ruji looked at the forest behind her, the Nai River beside her, and the inn ahead…

She smacked her lips: “This is at most a tea stall.”

The “inn” was just a thatched hut, built crudely, surrounded by desolation.

Meng Ruji surveyed the surroundings, estimating this place was probably downstream from Mo Neng Ferry, since the Nai River had widened here. It was probably far from the ferry – she couldn’t even see the ferry’s shadow in the distance.

Looking across the Nai River, she could only see reeds, followed by thick, misty fog blocking the opposite shore, making everything indiscernible.

What kind of inn opens in such a desolate place…

Meng Ruji rolled her eyes inwardly but still approached and called inside:

“Boss, here to deliver something.”

Inside was quiet for a moment, then came a deep male voice: “Good, good that it’s delivered.” As soon as he spoke, heavy footsteps approached.

Meng Ruji looked up to see a man nine feet tall, sturdy as a mountain with scars on his face, bending down to emerge from inside. When he straightened, he was a head taller than the thatched hut.

Meng Ruji observed him for a moment and laughed outright: “You’re the boss?”

Seeing Meng Ruji not only unafraid but smiling at him, the man was silent for a moment. Walking toward Meng Ruji step by step, he replied: “I’m the boss. Give me the goods.”

With each step closer, his massive frame seemed to make the ground tremble slightly.

Meng Ruji didn’t retreat, just watched him approach and said calmly: “Boss, you still owe me ten wen.”

“Oh.” The man responded, already reaching Meng Ruji. He extended his hand as if to take the bundle, but the next instant turned to grab Meng Ruji’s arm, pulling her directly in front of him. “Go get it from my stomach!” He immediately tried to strangle her neck, attempting to crush her in his embrace.

But miraculously, in the giant’s eyes, the slender girl who’d seemed so delicate slipped out of his arms like a loach, flipped in the air, and landed behind him, gripping his right wrist!

Meng Ruji grabbed his hand and used his right hand to choke his neck.

The man tried to struggle free, but Meng Ruji’s slender fingers somehow had enormous strength, pressing a pressure point on his wrist that instantly drained his entire arm of strength.

In the next breath, before the man could react, she kicked the back of his knee from behind. The man was forced to kneel on one knee by this kick.

Meng Ruji smoothly sat on the man’s back. His body pitched forward, and his other leg instinctively knelt too. He had to use his still-uncontrolled left hand to support himself on the ground, his whole body like a three-legged stool carrying Meng Ruji on his back.

Meng Ruji’s two fingers firmly pinched the pressure point on his right hand. Sitting boldly on the man’s back, she caught her breath, calming her rapid breathing.

“Ridiculous – how dare you target me?” Meng Ruji was still somewhat angry, thinking about it. “I may tire easily now and dislike fighting, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight! Understand? Even if I’m a tiger fallen to the plains, I won’t be bullied by a dog! Understand!?”

The giant, carrying Meng Ruji with his controlled hand feeling like it might break from pain, could only wheeze out a tiny sound from his throat: “What… are you…”

“Say whether you understand or not?”

“Under… understand…”

Meng Ruji’s anger subsided. Sitting on the man’s back for a while, she looked at the thatched hut behind them. Hearing no other sounds and confirming only the giant was here, she began calmly interrogating:

“Tell me, what did you lure me here to do?”

“For… for a meal…”

He wanted to eat her…

The fire in Meng Ruji’s heart blazed again. If he’d said he wanted her money or her body, she’d have found it within expectations, but she never thought he would.

“Treating me like a dish?” Meng Ruji applied pressure with her fingers. “How dare you? Seeing me alone at the marketplace, you started targeting me, right?”

The giant cried out in pain.

Seeing it was enough, Meng Ruji loosened her grip slightly but continued controlling him: “Where’s your accomplice?” She continued interrogating, deliberately asking with sarcastic amusement, “Doesn’t he eat with you?”

The giant endured the pain and answered: “He just lures people.”

“Excellent. You’ve got this routine down smooth. How many people have you tricked?”

Meng Ruji inwardly wondered if the Placeless Realm had some evil force – why did everyone here want to eat people?

Mu Sui was a fool who knew nothing. Fortunately, Meng Ruji had stopped him before he made that mistake.

And today, she’d encountered a repeat offender.

The giant remained silent, not answering Meng Ruji’s question.

Meng Ruji applied pressure: “Speak.”

But the giant unexpectedly didn’t answer this time.

Meng Ruji found it strange, thinking she’d pressed too hard and knocked him unconscious. She was about to crane her neck to look when suddenly the giant’s head turned backward at an impossible angle, his neck twisting a full circle.

Meng Ruji had never seen anyone use spiritual power in the Placeless Realm. Suddenly seeing this eerie scene, she was completely stunned.

The giant stared at Meng Ruji and grinned:

“Including you, eighteen!”

Then the giant opened his bloody maw, and his head flew directly off his neck!

Meng Ruji was shocked, her eyes wide, seeing those unusually sharp teeth charging straight at her face!

Everything went black before Meng Ruji’s eyes!

At this moment, Mu Sui was in the bandit stronghold on the northern mountain. He suddenly felt his heart skip a beat. His movements paused slightly, then the bruised and swollen bandit in front of him trembled all over, looking at Mu Sui with fear.

The bandit tremblingly asked: “What’s wrong, big brother?” He was cautious: “Are the ropes too short to tie me? I have a belt – you can untie it to use for binding…”

Mu Sui glanced coolly at the bandit: “Shut up.”

The bandit immediately made an exaggerated motion of closing his mouth, biting his upper and lower lips tightly together so they wouldn’t separate at all.

Behind Mu Sui, the bandits were all tied up, five to a group. Some had bruised faces, some had already fainted, some lay prostrate on the ground, consciousness scattered as they moaned in pain.

Before him, the last group of bandits was being tied up.

Mu Sui counted forty-two people total.

“Big brother! Big brother!…” A tied bandit with blood on his face came running from a distance, carrying a large basin of cooked sweet potatoes still steaming hot. “The food you asked for.”

After Mu Sui had beaten everyone into submission and was halfway through tying people up, he got hungry. So he randomly pointed at someone: “You.”

The pointed person instantly became as nervous as if being skinned alive. He trembled all over, looking at Mu Sui as if hearing a death sentence, listening to Mu Sui say: “Go get some food.”

All the conscious beaten bandits were stunned.

“Get more.”

The pointed person was dazed for a moment, but seeing Mu Sui’s brow furrow slightly with displeasure, he immediately sprang up like a carp: “Get it! I’ll go get it right now.”

Mu Sui said, “If you try to run and I catch you, I’ll butcher you.”

“Ah… yes…”

By the time Mu Sui finished tying people up, the cook had returned.

The bandits didn’t live well either – this was their usual fare.

Mu Sui wasn’t picky. Taking the basin, he sat and began eating while checking the sky: “In half an hour, government people will arrive. You’ll go with them.”

Except for those groaning in pain, no one responded.

Mu Sui swept his gaze over them.

Someone immediately reacted: “Yes…”

Then the bandits, raggedly, all responded affirmatively.

Mu Sui continued eating and speaking: “At the government office, tell them tomorrow someone will come with a sweet potato to claim the reward. That person is the thief-catcher.”

“…Yes.”

Mu Sui finished the sweet potatoes in the basin and stood to leave. Just then, a gust of wind blew up the curtain at the main hall entrance, revealing a chair placed in the center.

Mu Sui’s steps paused. His gaze swept over everyone present, then he asked: “Where’s your boss?”

The bandits looked at each other – no one dared answer this question.

Just then, a carefree whistling sound came from outside the stronghold, approaching then fading, followed by a sudden cry: “Iron Head! Iron Head! What happened to you!”

A man in black, tight-fitting clothes, ran to the stronghold entrance, saw the suffocated bandit on the ground, then looked up through the open gate and immediately saw the scene inside the stronghold.

Everyone was tied up, only Mu Sui stood in the center, his gaze cold and fierce like a beast in the night, staring at him.

Seeing this scene, the black-clad man immediately understood what had happened. He immediately turned to run, but after just two steps, a large blade thrown from behind struck his shoulder. He screamed and fell to the ground.

Mu Sui approached and stepped on his wound.

The black-clad man screamed, looking at Mu Sui in terror.

Mu Sui looked at his face and suddenly remembered that earlier glance he’d casually swept at the marketplace…

At Meng Ruji’s stall, this man had given Meng Ruji a bundle.

“You’re… the bandit leader?” Mu Sui’s voice was ice-cold, killing intent spilling out, almost enough to drown the bandit on the ground.

“No, no, no… It’s not me, not me!” the man immediately explained. “The boss went down the mountain for a meal! At the inn by the Nai River. I tricked a woman into delivering goods to the inn. The boss is there eating right now…”

With each word from his mouth, Mu Sui’s face paled another shade. By the end, all color had drained from Mu Sui’s face. He felt as if he’d fallen into an ice cave, all his blood freezing into layers of solid ice, piercing through every bone, marrow, skin, and flesh in his body.

Mu Sui stepped on the man’s neck. The man’s eyes bulged, and he made no more sound.

Mu Sui’s figure had already vanished from the stronghold entrance in an instant.

Anxious, he became anxious.