Startled by the sound, Mu Anxiao turned to Feng Qishi, saying, "You should protect yourself. Let go."
Feng Qishi replied with a determined look, "I will protect you."
Mu Anxiao calmly met Feng Qishi's increasingly firm gaze and then glanced at the old man with the strange smile opposite them. She said, "Shen Fengzi, this is not the time for you to be crazy. Let go."
"You promise me you won't use sorcery, and I'll let go."
"I've explained it so clearly, don't you understand?" Mu Anxiao expressed her helplessness.
"You'll deplete your spiritual energy this way."
"I can feel whether I'm depleting it or not. Let go, don't..."
"You may know more than I do from experience, but I've been to the upper realm and understand many things better than you. If you insist on using sorcery, and then deplete your spiritual energy by going mad, I advise you not to regret it." Feng Qishi spoke and then released his hand.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao recalled Zhang Yan's frequent teachings. Her heart sank, and she withdrew all the sorcery she had gathered in her hand. She asked, "Shen Fengzi, will you really protect me?"
Feng Qishi nodded, "Yes."
Mu Anxiao swallowed and said, "Alright, I trust you." With that, she moved directly behind Feng Qishi.
Feng Qishi's body stiffened, and he turned to look at Mu Anxiao, "What are you doing?"
Mu Anxiao tilted her head up. "You said you'd protect me. Since that's the case, him," she pointed across at the seemingly impatient old man, "is up to you."
"It might not be good to deal with an old man," Feng Qishi said, glancing at the old man opposite them casually.
Seeing Feng Qishi's slow reaction, the old man asked, "Who exactly are you two?"
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao casually supported Feng Qishi's arm and slightly leaned her head forward to ask the old man opposite, "You dead demon, transforming into an old man to gain sympathy is quite something, isn't it?"
Feng Qishi looked down at Mu Anxiao's agitated face and then at the old man opposite, whose brows were clearly furrowed in confusion. He asked, "What kind of demon are you?" He handed his magic lantern to Mu Anxiao.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao took the lantern without a word, then released her other hand, and stepped back. "Shen Fengzi, he's all yours."
Feng Qishi didn't speak and summoned his usual long sword.
Mu Anxiao glanced at the blue-glowing long sword in Feng Qishi's hand and breathed a sigh of relief. She turned her head and happened to see a tattered old man smiling at her not far away. She paused, "Uh."
"So noisy," the tattered old man said, truly walking into Mu Anxiao's line of sight.
This time, Mu Anxiao was not scared by the tattered old man. Instead, she realized that this old man was clearly much older than the one opposite.
Of course, whether he was the ninety-year-old man Mu Anxiao was looking for was another matter.
"Are you Hun?" she asked.
The old man replied, "Why are you here so late?" He glanced at Feng Qishi's back as he spoke.
"Looking for you," Mu Anxiao simply replied.
"Looking for me?" The old man pointed to himself, then thought, "Could it be that you are that young man's friend?"
Hearing the old man's words, Mu Anxiao's mind conjured up Piao's face.
Then, she asked again, "You died at the age of ninety, right?"
The old man confirmed, "Yes."
"Then it must be you," Mu Anxiao smiled as if she had found a treasure.
"Can you help me?" the old man asked excitedly, looking at Mu Anxiao, completely ignoring Feng Qishi and the old man on the side.
Mu Anxiao also ignored the two on the side and said, "If the conditions allow, I can help you, but first, you have to help me."
"How can I help?"
Due to the limited time, Mu Anxiao no longer had any superfluous suspicions about the old man's identity. She thought for a moment and said, "Come into the city with me. What we need to do after that, I'll tell you once we get inside."
"Enter the city?" The old man's expression froze.
Seeing the old man's sudden frozen expression, Mu Anxiao immediately said, "From what I know, the fellow who occupied your body has already left it. Now, if you help me, I can..."
Mid-sentence, her heart sank. She suddenly remembered another of Xu Lan's words: "That guy cast a spell on them. As long as that guy is alive, no matter where they go, they won't have a chance to come here."
Thinking of this, she frowned and said, "I'll find a way to help you."
"Can I be resurrected?"
Hearing the old man's slightly expectant question, Mu Anxiao's eyes flickered. Then, using the lantern light, she looked at the scar at the corner of the old man's eye and the bloodstains on his body, and said, "I'm afraid that's not possible."
"..." The old man lowered his eyes.
"You are already so old, resurrection... is probably difficult. But I can help fulfill your other wishes."
"I want to see my family."
"Family?"
"Yes, I left in such a hurry, and there were many things I didn't get to tell them, so..."
"Even if you see them, they won't be able to see you."
"I know, but I still want to see them. It doesn't matter if they can't hear me speak."
However, Mu Anxiao hadn't expected the old man's request to be so simple, which made her heart ache. "Okay, but you help me find..."
"Mu Shazi, help."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao reluctantly swallowed the words that had reached her lips. She turned to look at Feng Qishi, who was looking at her anxiously, and asked, "What is it now?"
"Come here, I need you."
"You..." Mu Anxiao uttered a word and turned back to the old man, "Wait for me here."
"..." The old man nodded.
Then, Mu Anxiao gave the old man an apologetic smile and gracefully walked to Feng Qishi's side, asking, "What do you need me for?"
"Find the old man."
"Find..." Mu Anxiao hesitated, then looked back towards the opposite side and asked, "Hey, where did that old man go?"
"I just said he was dead, and then he got angry and disappeared."
"Eh?"
"No more 'eh'. Although this is outside the city, I'm worried someone might pass by. So, it's out of necessity that I need your help."
"If you can't do it, you can't. And you still need to find excuses. You're something else," Mu Anxiao said, looking around.
The old man stood obediently in place, not saying a word.
Feng Qishi retorted, "Who's like you?" Then he raised his long sword, pointed it in a direction, and said, "Go and see if there are any thatched huts around."
"..." Mu Anxiao was already afraid of this place, and now with Feng Qishi's arrangement, her nerves instantly tensed. "I won't, unless you let me use sorcery."
"No."
"Then I won't go," Mu Anxiao said, crossing her arms in front of her.