Why was the former Demon Lord still struggling in poverty after half a month?

 Which household would have a “money pit” like this?

Initially, Meng Ruji had planned to have Mu Sui catch thieves to earn money. After all, she was now just an ordinary person – no spiritual power, no physical strength. Although Mu Sui ate quite a bit, he could at least guarantee catching thieves.

But later, Meng Ruji discovered this wasn’t sustainable.

First, in the marketplace, there weren’t the “big thieves” she wanted, not even “medium thieves” – just petty thieves who only dared to pickpocket. Catching one or two, Mu Sui could eat through the reward money in a single day.

Second, worse yet, after catching thieves for two days, there were no more thieves in the marketplace!

Knowing there was a “King of Hell for thieves” here, who would dare commit crimes brazenly?

All the thieves went into hiding underground.

But how could Meng Ruji afford to wait them out?

They could stop operating, eat less, but could Mu Sui? Could her Inner Core? Could she?

Going hungry for one or two meals was fine, but after one or two days of hunger, she was now dizzy and weak, unable to walk properly!

So on the third day, Meng Ruji picked many wild fruits from the mountain forest for Mu Sui, instructing him to stay well inside the house, not to go anywhere, to rest properly, and not move around too much.

Mu Sui was unwilling at first, but under Meng Ruji’s stern demands, he obediently kept his feet inside the wooden house, looking at Meng Ruji with grievance.

Meanwhile, Meng Ruji herself opened the medicine bottle Miaomiao had given her, ate a small green bean, and went to the marketplace to “work.”

Meng Ruji began her daily bustling in the marketplace. She was very clear that her positioning was different from Mu Sui’s.

She wasn’t like before now – without spiritual power for protection, there was no need to do dangerous work like catching thieves. So she set up a small stall in the marketplace with wooden sticks, took a wooden board, and wrote the words “Work Available” with charcoal.

There was business – all sorts of odd jobs…

Some were easy: helping people write letters, do calculations, earning half a wen or one wen.

Some were more tiring: when Miaomiao was too busy, helping her wash pots and scrub bowls, earning one or two wen.

Some were even harder: helping people deliver things, running back and forth, or helping someone plaster walls and repair roofs, but these paid more.

Although the Placeless Realm was where the half-dead lived, all the bustling activity was still “living people’s” business.

The marketplace was full of people making a living, none with much money. For Meng Ruji to make a big score at once, unless she went to people’s homes to rob them, she could only rely on herself, working hard and diligently, day after day, doing odd jobs…

This went on for more than ten days…

During these ten-plus days, Meng Ruji gained enlightenment and clarity. She finally understood that she seemed to have not finished the work of the next eight hundred years, and had perhaps already enjoyed all the blessings of the next eight hundred years.

So now, living to this point, she still had to endure people’s cold stares in the marketplace, tolerate their curses, and face life’s difficulties with forced smiles.

She truly deserved the compliment of having a “laborious fate.”

Nothing more to say – she accepted it.

But what made Meng Ruji eat wild fruits while gazing at the greenish moon, expressionlessly shedding tears, wasn’t the suffering of this laborious fate, but a more realistic predicament—

Just as Mu Sui couldn’t find thieves, Meng Ruji couldn’t find odd jobs either.

The marketplace was only so big, with only so many people and so many jobs. Meng Ruji had been so diligent these past days that she’d helped everyone who needed help, and now everyone went back to their own lives as usual.

So tonight, Meng Ruji and Mu Sui were once again eating these forest fruits that were neither fully ripe nor completely unripe.

Should she just give up…

Forget it, she was tired. Stop working, just pass on to the next life, stop suffering like this…

Sob sob sob…

However, though she spoke these dispirited words, Meng Ruji hadn’t completely given up. After all, heaven hadn’t completely blocked her path. Fortunately, there were still many wild fruits in the forest, enough for her and Mu Sui to eat for a while.

Every time Meng Ruji picked fruits, it was a rare moment when her mood relaxed. Thank goodness for this heaven-sent blessing, otherwise she’d be worried sick.

Mu Sui accompanied her to pick fruits every time. She’d pick one, Mu Sui would gather one, putting them all in his clothes pockets, carrying a full embrace of fruits home with her.

It was also today that Meng Ruji returned completely empty-handed, and she could only sigh a bit while picking fruits.

After they returned home, while Meng Ruji was washing fruits, Mu Sui suddenly said he wanted to go out for a while.

Meng Ruji was washing fruits while worrying about tomorrow’s livelihood. Not thinking about where he was going, she unconsciously reminded him not to go too far and let him leave.

Unexpectedly…

He went “hunting”…

What?

Did this little wild man want to become the breadwinner?

Meng Ruji looked at Mu Sui sleeping on her lap, her hands idle and bored, she played with his hair.

Mu Sui slept lightly. He opened his eyes, lying on Meng Ruji’s lap, looking up at her from below, his gaze clear: “Meng Ruji, can’t you sleep?”

When he called her, it was always so formal and proper, with a kind of childish seriousness.

“Mm, thinking about where to earn some money tomorrow.”

There were still fruits in the forest. If worst came to worst, they’d eat fruits for another day tomorrow. But her small green beans were almost finished – only one left for tomorrow. She couldn’t delay any longer; she had to buy new ones.

“Let me go with you tomorrow.” Mu Sui said seriously and earnestly, “I won’t run around, and I won’t tire myself out.”

Since Meng Ruji had forbidden Mu Sui from catching thieves, she’d ordered him to lie in this little broken house and rest. Mu Sui could see that they were now very poor and couldn’t afford to keep him.

To make him eat less, he had to move less.

Mu Sui told Meng Ruji, “I won’t be so hungry now.”

“Gurgle gurgle”

Meng Ruji stared at him: “…Really…”

“Really.”

“Gurgle gurgle…”

Meng Ruji knocked on Mu Sui’s stomach: “Don’t tell lies that can be exposed so easily.”

Mu Sui lowered his eyelids.

Seeing that his face showed some dejection, Meng Ruji found it odd: “What’s wrong?”

Mu Sui was silent for a long time before speaking: “Earlier in the marketplace, I heard someone say…”

“Mm?”

“His donkey ate too much, and he was considering whether to sell the donkey or kill it…”

“…”

Meng Ruji held back for a moment, licked her lips, and didn’t let herself laugh out loud. But when she looked down, she met a pair of clear, bright eyes. He had no intention of joking at all:

“I don’t want to be sold by you, and I don’t want to be killed by you.” Mu Sui stared at Meng Ruji, seriously telling her: “So I’ll make myself eat less. I won’t let myself be so hungry all the time.”

Hearing this, Meng Ruji’s heart was instantly filled with mixed emotions.

If this had been before, Meng Ruji would have felt she wasn’t a good person – look what she’d driven the child to! Hungry but not daring to say so! Having to endure it, feeling guilty and ashamed because of hunger.

But now, Meng Ruji felt both that he was pitiful and that she was pitiful too!

She had truly tried her best, but just couldn’t earn enough money for him to eat his fill!

What could she do? She didn’t want him to go hungry either…

Want to cry…

Meng Ruji held back and held back, but ultimately didn’t let her emotions show. In the end, she could only force a smile and maintain her facade of being a good older sister in front of Mu Sui.

“You’re not a donkey, so of course I won’t sell you or kill you.” She touched his hair, “Use the meditation and breathing method I taught you to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Try more…”

Mu Sui shook his head: “I’ve tried many times.”

“Don’t give up…”

“This place is different.” Mu Sui looked at Meng Ruji, honestly saying, “When you’re not here, I’m always meditating and regulating my breathing, but there’s no progress. Haven’t you already noticed this?”

Meng Ruji fell silent, not expecting this little wild man to be so observant.

These days, Meng Ruji had indeed studied cultivation matters. After all, if she could achieve “fasting” through meditation, that would be easier than her daily struggle to earn money.

But as Mu Sui said, this Placeless Realm was different from the mortal world.

There was spiritual energy, and the previous cultivation methods still worked, but when Meng Ruji was at Hengxu Mountain before, cultivating for a day, all the spiritual energy she absorbed into her body would obediently enter her dantian, then be stored in her Inner Core for future use.

Now, after the spiritual energy here was absorbed into her body, it wouldn’t enter her dantian but would wander around in her body before dissipating.

Meng Ruji had initially thought this was Mu Sui’s constitution problem, but later discovered that eating too much was his problem, while cultivation difficulties were everyone’s problem in this place.

So far, Meng Ruji hadn’t seen a single cultivator in the marketplace.

She could only work to earn money to buy food.

It was as if the Placeless Realm was telling them: You must follow my rules.

But Meng Ruji had also vaguely discovered a breakthrough in this place’s rules – the money of the Placeless Realm.

It could be opened and closed again, and after closing, there were no traces. This proved that some kind of technique was hidden in this money, and operating techniques required spiritual energy, perhaps not much, but some.

So the spiritual energy of the Placeless Realm could be stored somewhere for a long time, just requiring the right method.

Meng Ruji planned to study the Placeless Realm’s money carefully, but the difficulty was…

Where was the spare money? Where was the time, where was the energy!

After finishing work each day, the marketplace would be nearly empty. She’d hurriedly exchange money for food, return to fill their stomachs with Mu Sui, then collapse like a dead dog, falling asleep on the ground.

Only today, having received no work, was she lying awake at night worrying.

She felt that coming to this place had turned her into a trapped beast, confined by various rules to a path she had to follow. The so-called way out, adaptation, reform – those were things only people who had eaten their fill could think about and implement.

But just the daily struggle to eat enough had already exhausted her completely.

“Sigh…” Meng Ruji let out a long sigh, still steadying her emotions to tell Mu Sui, “Tomorrow, let’s try again. If it doesn’t work… You can come with me to the marketplace the day after tomorrow.”

“The day after tomorrow, no more small green beans?”

“If I earn money tomorrow, there will be.”

Mu Sui fell silent. He looked up at Meng Ruji from below. These days of running around had made her appear slightly haggard, but her hand stroking his hair was still so gentle.

“You should rest.” Mu Sui said, “Meng Ruji, I’ll think of a way to make you less tired.”

Meng Ruji smiled without directly responding. She leaned her back against the wooden wall, slowly closing her eyes. The broken wooden house fell silent for a moment, quiet enough to hear each other’s breathing.

“Oh.” Meng Ruji’s voice carried sleepiness, mumbling, “Now that I close my eyes and think about it, that man you tied up and brought back today looked somewhat familiar…”

“He’s that pickpocket thief.”

“I thought so, he was released so quickly.”

“Mm.”

“Why did you target him…”

“I hold grudges.”

Meng Ruji smiled, sleep gradually overtaking her. Finally, she drowsily reminded: “Never do this kind of thing again… you.” She was almost asleep.

Mu Sui softly responded in her embrace: “Mm.”

Mu Sui sat up, seeing that Meng Ruji had fallen asleep. He reached his hand to the back of Meng Ruji’s neck, his fingertips gentle, cradling her head and lightly drawing her toward himself.

Meng Ruji then leaned against his shoulder. She didn’t wake.

“You also need to…” Meng Ruji murmured in her sleep, “Consider yourself…”

Mu Sui’s gaze was gentle: “I have discretion.” He lightly nuzzled Meng Ruji’s hair.

Meng Ruji had fallen into deep sleep against his shoulder.

Mu Sui turned his head, gazing at the moonlight outside. He held Meng Ruji, and his eyes reflecting the moonlight revealed a hint of cold light. His voice merged into the night, sinking into the darkness, dissipating icily.

“I saw him… alone.”