Before going to the government office, Mu Sui dug up a wild yam in the forest.

Digging up the wild yam was easy, but while digging, Mu Sui suddenly felt something swaying in his chest. He pulled it out to look and found it was a grayish-black stone, its interior faintly emanating an eerie glow, just like the stones in the Nai River.

Mu Sui guessed that perhaps when he fell into the river last night, this stone had accidentally rolled into his clothes. Since he had been in a state of shock, confusion, and panic all last night, he hadn’t noticed this stone. Only now, acting alone, did he become aware of its existence.

Just as Xiao Hong and Da Lu had said, broken stones were abundant in the Nai River. Mu Sui paid it no mind and directly threw the stone away, not taking this matter to heart.

He took the wild yam, used large leaves from the roadside to make a hat that covered most of his face, then went to the government office.

Collecting reward money at the government office wasn’t troublesome. Yesterday’s bandits had been beaten into complete submission and were very obedient. Everything Mu Sui had instructed them to say, they told the government officials word for word, though perhaps with some artistic embellishment.

So when Mu Sui walked into the government office carrying a wild yam, all the soldiers inside turned to stare. Wherever Mu Sui walked, whispers followed behind him.

Things like: “That’s him, one man who beat fifty.”

And also: “He killed two people from two hundred zhang away.”

Even: “He leveled the entire mountain north of the outskirts!”

The stories grew more exaggerated with each telling.

Mu Sui listened with indifference. After all, this wasn’t the first time he had experienced such things…

He pressed down his large leaf hat covering his face and walked to the room to collect the reward money.

The soldiers handling affairs had seen much of the world and had encountered many people who came to collect rewards without showing their faces. They were only surprised by his ability to single-handedly eliminate an entire bandit den, tilting their heads for an extra glance at his face under the large leaf hat. But seeing Mu Sui press his hat even lower, they tactfully withdrew their gazes, didn’t ask further questions, and conducted business formally:

“Six silver and eighteen wen in total.” The soldier gave Mu Sui a money pouch and handed him a list. “Each bandit has a different price, determined according to their past crimes…”

“I know.”

Mu Sui skillfully took the money pouch, weighed it twice, didn’t open it, and directly confirmed the amount inside based on weight and sound. Then he turned and left.

Coming and going swiftly, clean and efficient.

The two soldiers in the room were also somewhat surprised: “Looks like an experienced hand.”

“Didn’t hear about any formidable expert coming to our area…”

The experienced hand Mu Sui left the government office, removed the hat from his head, and came to a secluded forest.

He broke off three silver beads from half a silver ingot, arranged the beads in a triangle, drew a circle of formation around them with dead branches, then chanted incantations and channeled spiritual power. The formation immediately emanated waves of white light.

Wind rose all around, disturbing the forest vegetation.

Gradually, a phantom appeared in the formation, seemingly a person walking. Mu Sui called out: “Chensha.”

The figure in the formation suddenly stopped abruptly. He moved quickly, taking a stone from his waist. When his fingertip touched the stone, the previously wavering phantom in the formation immediately became solid, transforming into the appearance of a sturdy man. He had hard features, a tall build, and wore gray high-collared clothing with leather wrist guards, appearing lean and capable.

At this moment, he held the stone in his hand, seemingly listening to sounds from within it: “City… City Lord?” Confusion and shock made his expression somewhat dazed. “I’m afraid I might have misheard…”

“It’s me.” Mu Sui answered calmly.

The figure in the formation became even more surprised: “City Lord!? Why are you…” Before finishing his question, he seemed to realize something and immediately knelt on one knee, bowing respectfully. “Chensha was disrespectful…”

“Get up, find a place with no one around.”

“Master, need not worry, there is no one here.” The figure Chensha stood up and inquired: “Master is currently in the mortal world, yet can still use the Shadow Flow Stone of the Place of No Refuge?”

This question made Mu Sui silent for a long time: “I’ve returned.”

“Worthy of being the Mast… hm?” Chensha froze. “Master… has returned? Returned… to the Place of No Refuge?”

Mu Sui didn’t answer, but Chensha knew his temperament—he never repeated himself. So Chensha suppressed his confusion and nodded: “Master’s return surely has arrangements. Chensha awaits Master’s commands.”

Mu Sui rubbed his brow: “Zhuliu City—how much gold and silver remains in the treasury?”

At these words, it was Chensha in the formation’s turn to fall silent. He held back for a long time, then said quietly: “Since Master left the Place of No Refuge two months ago, to this day, one gold remains in Zhuliu City’s treasury.”

“How much?”

Mu Sui thought he had misheard.

Chensha steeled himself to answer: “One gold.”

Mu Sui was stunned for a moment, then immediately frowned: “It shouldn’t be so. When I left, a hundred gold remained in the treasury.”

“Yes… But after you left, Zhuliu City had a small accident.”

“What accident?”

“Your rabbit… became sentient.”

The rabbit.

His former Life-Sustaining Object.

When he was there, the rabbit had always been just a rabbit. He kept the rabbit by his side because the rabbit held his life. He treated the rabbit neither well nor badly—sometimes caging it, letting it roam free. He didn’t like keeping animals, but this rabbit liked clinging to him, just like how he now clung to Meng Ruji…

Only he was different from Meng Ruji—he wouldn’t let the rabbit cling to him.

Mu Sui rarely held this rabbit, only never shortchanged it on food. But he had seen his subordinates secretly holding this rabbit several times. Then they would hold it and not let go, calling out in that clingy, sticky tone he disliked: “So cute, so cute.”

And now, his subordinate was telling him his rabbit had become sentient.

“So what?” Mu Sui asked with a frown. “You let her eat Zhuliu City dry?”

“No…” Chensha said. “Your rabbit inherited your legacy… no, the rabbit wanted to learn from you, to make Zhuliu City wealthy enough to rival nations, but… the rabbit’s decisions were sometimes unwise.”

Mu Sui laughed coldly: “Are you all dead? Letting Zhuliu City be ruined by a rabbit?”

“After all, she was the City Lord’s Life-Sustaining Object…”

“Tell her to get lost, lock her back in a cage. You temporarily manage Zhuliu City’s affairs.”

“But…” Chensha was very troubled. “The city’s leadership respects the City Lord above all. After you left, everyone missed you greatly. When the rabbit became sentient, they voluntarily honored her as master. Now the Golden Staff of Chiying Hall in the city is under her control… However, with the City Lord’s return, power will surely…”

“I’m not returning for now. I still have matters to handle.”

When Chensha mentioned the Golden Staff, Mu Sui’s right hand couldn’t help but move. Previously, when he ruled Zhuliu City, every day on the high seat, what he held in his hand was precisely Zhuliu City’s Golden Staff of authority.

Mu Sui pondered for a moment: “I’ll teach you an incantation. You must immediately set out for Chiying Hall, seize the Golden Staff, then lock up that rabbit. While I’m not back, don’t release her. You must restore Zhuliu City to normal.”

“Yes.”

“The treasury’s emptiness must not be leaked. You should understand this.”

“This subordinate understands.”

In the Place of No Refuge, money was not only money but also the foundation for using techniques. Without gold and silver, how could one use spiritual power? Worst of all, Zhuliu City’s opponents still had money.

“Only you know of my return for now. Don’t tell anyone else.”

“Yes.”

After Mu Sui told Chensha the incantation, he commanded coldly, “Go, deal with that rabbit first. I’ll contact you again later. When the Shadow Flow Stone activates, remember to find a quiet place.”

“Understood!” Chensha accepted the order, put away the stone in his hand, and hung it at his waist. The moment he put away the stone, the figure in Mu Sui’s formation became a phantom again.

Mu Sui kicked apart the formation on the ground. The light disappeared, and he picked up the silver beads from the ground, putting them back in the money pouch.

After cleaning up, Mu Sui looked at the empty forest, then at his now tattered clothing, and sighed deeply.

At this moment, this desolate state of mind was no different from that impoverished and desperate self who had first come to the Place of No Refuge many years ago.

A thousand gold to buy life—he thought he had bought a smooth path, never imagining he had bought a circle.

Everything seemed to have returned to this painful starting point…

“Lost wanderer…” Mu Sui murmured these three words, walking back toward the broken wooden house with heavy steps.

Meanwhile, Meng Ruji was also murmuring about her fate: “Life of toil… life of toil…”

In front of the medicine shop counter, she looked at the tall medicine cabinet behind the shopkeeper, with its compartments marked with prices, listing various ailments and corresponding medicines.

For instance, small green pills, five wens per bottle.

Cough pills, three wens per bottle.

Among all the compartments marked with several wen per bottle, Meng Ruji’s gaze was fixed, deadly on one outstanding compartment that read:

Antidote for accidental consumption of Nai River water, eight silver, one pill.

Looking at this price, Meng Ruji almost believed heaven was pricing based on the money in her pouch, not robbing her of a single wen more, just robbing her perfectly clean.

“Is there any possibility…” Meng Ruji rubbed her temples, gritting her teeth and suppressing all emotions as she asked the shopkeeper, “This antidote for accidental consumption of Nai River water, could it be a bit cheaper?”

The shopkeeper waved his hands repeatedly: “Can’t be cheaper, can’t be cheaper. The Nai River water is so poisonous! We spent so many medicinal materials, so much effort making this medicine. Life-saving medicine—how could it be cheap?”

Meng Ruji bit her teeth, then, bleeding, handed over her money pouch.

What to do afterward… keep working!

Life of toil—that’s what she was!

What else could she do?