"Why is it only safe to find a partner? What a strange idea," Mu Anxiao expressed her confusion.
Zhang Yan did not offer much explanation. Clearing his throat, he said, "After lunch, I'll accompany you to find the wolf demon."
Mu Anxiao frowned and turned to stare at Zhang Yan's profile. "This morning when we went out, you told me to go by myself. Why do you suddenly want to accompany me now? It's truly strange."
"I… I just feel that you'll be safer with me," Zhang Yan said, harboring other thoughts.
Mu Anxiao didn't dwell on Zhang Yan's internal musings. She nodded. "Alright. Although I'm familiar with the paths here, I don't object if you want to come along."
"Okay, let's go inside."
"You haven't finished telling me yet?" Mu Anxiao looked up at Zhang Yan, who was already half-rising, and asked.
"I just told you…"
"Didn't you say that the raw materials were all wiped out? Why can the wolf demon still manufacture that Marrow-Exchanging Powder?"
Zhang Yan lowered his gaze, thinking, and then sat back down. "That wolf demon is always so mysterious. Who knows where it got the poison? Anyway, as far as I know, that poison can help a demon soul escape pursuit from below and find an immortal body to mask its demonic aura. It's also a spiritual medicine that can accelerate the path to immortality for those with immortal destinies. However, it only works when both are combined."
"If it wasn't for me, Shen Yan wouldn't have become the wolf demon's shield," Mu Anxiao said softly.
Zhang Yan looked at Mu Anxiao's gloomy expression and said, "I've heard about your situation. It's not your fault. We should blame the wolf demon for being so insidious and cunning."
"If I hadn't drunk it that day, Shen Yan would be fine," Mu Anxiao said agitatedly.
"You're always dwelling on the past. It's pointless, isn't it?"
"I'm not dwelling on the past. I just feel I've let Shen Yan down. If I hadn't been so selfish back then, I wouldn't have…"
"Alright, don't think about it too much. Anyway, your main task now is to find the wolf demon. Because I've sensed that the potency of the Marrow-Exchanging Powder hasn't disappeared. If you want to sever Shen Yan's future connection with the wolf demon, there's only one method," Zhang Yan curled his lips, "but I haven't figured out the solution yet."
Mu Anxiao sighed lightly. "So their connection is indeed still intact."
"At first, I didn't consider the Marrow-Exchanging Powder. But after you told me, I finally understood why the wolf demon was looking for Shen Yan. I also know how it escaped."
"Tell me."
Zhang Yan glanced at Mu Anxiao, then fixed his gaze forward. "It stayed in Shen Yan's body for a full fifty years. Therefore, its demon soul naturally carried Shen Yan's aura. So, I suspect it escaped by relying on this aura."
"You're right."
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao and Zhang Yan both looked towards the man who emerged from the ground.
Mu Anxiao stared in surprise at the man in the suit before her, swallowed, and dared not speak.
Zhang Yan asked, "Why are you here?"
"I've come up to apprehend the wolf demon," the man in the suit said, then looked at Mu Anxiao. "You must be the junior immortal assisting me."
"You know me?" Mu Anxiao pointed to herself.
"Of course. Your master told us everything," the man in the suit nodded and said.
"Is that so?"
"This is Shen Yan's current name," the man in the suit spread his hand and produced a slip of paper, handing it to Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao took the slip and looked at it, murmuring the words on it: "Feng Qi Shi."
"You can read?" the man in the suit asked with a smile.