Listening leisurely to Mu Anxiao’s words as she once again exposed her, she dared not be perfunctory and replied, "Yes."
"It seems you’re very eager to prove yourself," Mu Anxiao summarized, aligning with the things leisurely had explained to her earlier. Leisurely’s eyes sank, "I just want to catch monsters…"
"And then prove yourself," Mu Anxiao interrupted.
Leisurely fell silent, as if Mu Anxiao had spoken her mind, for that was indeed what she thought.
Mu Anxiao quietly observed leisurely’s face and asked, "Do you know where Jiong Ye is?"
"..." Leisurely hesitated, then said, "I don't know."
"If you don't know, do you know his scheme?" Mu Anxiao continued to ask.
Leisurely had thought Mu Anxiao would stop after hearing her previous statement, but instead of ceasing, Mu Anxiao posed new questions.
She began to feel uneasy, "I..." She uttered a single word and shook her head.
Mu Anxiao looked at leisurely’s expression of refusal to answer and felt helpless, "I saved you just now, so I suppose I’m half your savior."
"Then I don't know either," leisurely mumbled.
Seeing leisurely like this, Mu Anxiao’s temper flared, "I don’t believe you don’t know." Her tone was stiff.
"..." Leisurely’s eyes darted away.
Mu Anxiao knew in her heart that leisurely was definitely hiding something. Thus, she deliberately stopped talking to leisurely and instead looked up at the sky, saying, "Fine, if you won't say, then forget it."
"..." Leisurely breathed a sigh of relief.
Immediately, Mu Anxiao turned back to leisurely and said, "You stay here, we’re leaving." She then turned towards Ouyang Ye and the others.
Seeing this, leisurely became nervous, "Why do I have to stay here?"
"You just said you wouldn't lie, and now," Mu Anxiao turned sideways, her gaze locking onto leisurely's face once more, "you are lying to me again."
"I..." Leisurely was guilty, "I didn't."
"You deny it, yet you clearly know where Jiong Ye is and you know all his schemes, but now you say you don't know," Mu Anxiao snorted, "Do you really think I'm stupid?"
"I… I didn’t," leisurely dared not offend Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao watched as leisurely’s eyes filled with fear and sneered, "You say you didn’t, but you claim to be his subordinate. Moreover, the task of finding the grateful ghost benefactor was yours too. I could believe you don’t know where Jiong Ye is now, but I truly don’t believe you don’t know his schemes." She shook her head.
Leisurely: "..." She lowered her head.
Mu Anxiao quietly watched the suddenly silent leisurely and said coldly, "I’ll count to three. If you don’t speak, don’t blame me for abandoning you." She narrowed her eyes.
Leisurely looked wronged, "I really don’t know, his scheme…"
"I don’t believe you don’t know his scheme. You’d better hurry, I don’t have time to waste with you." Mu Anxiao knew leisurely would eventually tell the truth. She believed her tactic of goading would definitely work.
"..." Leisurely looked at Mu Anxiao’s increasingly impatient expression, recalling her willingness to listen to her past and speak up for her, as well as her own promise to Mu Anxiao. She instantly cast aside her fear and said, "His scheme is to surround this place."
"Surround…" Mu Anxiao frowned and immediately looked at Ouyang Ye, who was watching them, "Jiong Ye wants to capture him." She pointed at Ouyang Ye.
"Yes," leisurely nodded.
"Just because he’s the grateful ghost benefactor?" Mu Anxiao looked at leisurely again.
This time, leisurely thought as she spoke calmly, "Jiong Ye said he got in his way too much."
"Got in his way?" Mu Anxiao repeated, frowning, "How did he get in that guy’s way?"
"..." Leisurely fell silent again, but this time her gaze didn't waver; instead, she continued to stare firmly at Mu Anxiao’s face.
Mu Anxiao calmly looked at leisurely’s silent expression and said without thinking, "You’re afraid he’ll kill you."
Leisurely nodded.
At this moment, Mu Anxiao also saw the words 'cherishing life' written on leisurely’s face. Then, thinking of Jiong Ye and Zhao Mei’er, whose faces were plastered with 'cunning' and 'liar', she suddenly didn't know what to say.
"..."
Leisurely looked at Mu Anxiao’s silent expression, contemplating her own worries, and said, "You’re afraid of him too."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao came back to her senses and stared at leisurely’s face, "I’m not afraid of him, I just… I don’t know what to do?" She felt it necessary to tell the truth.
"Then I won't tell you anymore."
Mu Anxiao’s expression froze upon hearing this.
At the same time, Ouyang Ye looked at Mu Anxiao’s stunned figure, frowned, then signaled to the ghosts beside him, and walked forward, asking leisurely, "Why aren't you saying it?"
"..." Leisurely looked at Ouyang Ye, not daring to speak.
Mu Anxiao glanced at leisurely, then at Ouyang Ye, and said, "Don’t come over. This is between us. Go back." She waved her hand.
Ouyang Ye paused upon hearing this, looking at Mu Anxiao opposite him with confusion, and said, "I'm helping you. Your time can't be delayed any longer. If it’s delayed further..." He thought for a moment and deliberately said, "Feng Qi Shi will die."
"..." Mu Anxiao continued to wave her hand.
Ouyang Ye was speechless at this.
Following that, Mu Anxiao turned back to the resolute and rejecting leisurely and said with a burst of courage, "I will protect you."
However, the moment Mu Anxiao said this, Ghost Number Four frowned and shouted, "You said you would protect me!"
Immediately after Ghost Number Four’s cry, leisurely swallowed the rest of her words and, bypassing Mu Anxiao, looked at Ghost Number Four.
Ghost Number Four looked wronged.
Mu Anxiao did not recall saying she would protect Ghost Number Four. But… Ghost Number Four’s shout did not seem false, so she did not ponder and fell into difficulty.
Conversely, Ouyang Ye saw Mu Anxiao’s predicament and suddenly said, "Old Four, is it?"
Mu Anxiao was startled and looked at Ouyang Ye.
Leisurely felt that Mu Anxiao was tricking her and thus lowered her head.
Hearing this, Ghost Number Four withdrew his wronged gaze and looked at Ouyang Ye seriously, saying, "I'm telling the truth. She said she would protect me." He pointed at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao still couldn't recall if she had ever made such a promise to Ghost Number Four!
Ouyang Ye continued to stare at Ghost Number Four and said, "Me protecting you, isn't that good?"
Ghost Number Four: "She said..."
"Since you’re so determined," Mu Anxiao interrupted, not wanting to owe Ouyang Ye a favor, "then… I’ll protect both of you directly, alright?"
"How can one person protect two of us?" Ghost Number Four looked at Mu Anxiao's frail little frame, thinking that her protecting him was already enough, and protecting another… what would happen then?
"I have my ways," Mu Anxiao said resolutely.
Ghost Number Four looked at Mu Anxiao’s determined gaze and compromised, "Alright, then I’ll trust you."
Up to this point, Mu Anxiao still hadn’t remembered if she had given Ghost Number Four such a guarantee, but she didn't dare to say she hadn’t, because at this juncture, she thought he must be very sensitive. So, to avoid provoking him, she said it like this.
"That’s good then," Ghost Number Four nodded.
At this moment, Mu Anxiao looked at Ghost Number Four’s trusting expression and, though she didn’t know what to say, she couldn’t help but feel relieved.
"Then you shouldn’t speak anymore," she said.
"Why?" Ghost Number Four looked foolish.
Mu Anxiao: "If you speak, it will affect my planning for the next tactic."
"Okay, I understand."
"It’s good that you understand," Mu Anxiao nodded and turned to look at the expressionless leisurely, "What’s wrong?"
"You want to protect me and him?" leisurely asked with disdain, pointing at Ghost Number Four.
Ghost Number Four frowned.
Mu Anxiao tilted her head and said, "You disagree."
"Of course I disagree. How can one person be double-minded? Besides, you should know better than anyone what kind of person Jiong Ye is."
"What do you want to say?" Mu Anxiao feigned ignorance.
Leisurely frowned, "I want to say that I am more important than him. In other words, I am the one who told you Jiong Ye's secret. If Jiong Ye finds out, he will definitely want to kill me. Therefore, you must protect me wholeheartedly."
"Do you mean, it's either me or him, or him or me?" Mu Anxiao asked.
Leisurely nodded.
Subsequently, Mu Anxiao was troubled.
At the same time, Ouyang Ye sighed and chose not to involve himself in their affairs for the moment.
Ghost Number Four looked at leisurely, who was making such a request of Mu Anxiao, his eyes sinking. Just as he was about to speak, Ghost Number One walked up to him and asked, "She didn't say this to you, did she?" He looked at Ghost Number Four.
Ghost Number Four was startled.
Ghost Number One seized the opportunity to put his arm around Ghost Number Four’s shoulder, "You’re doing this on purpose. If I’m not mistaken, you just want to burden Mu Anxiao, so she can treat you as a priority, isn’t that what you mean?" He stared at Ghost Number Four’s profile.
"...." Ghost Number Four’s eyes darted away, and he began to worry that Ghost Number One had seen through his badmouthing Mu Anxiao.
Ghost Number One calmly looked at Ghost Number Four’s face, curled his lips, and said, "Weren't you just crying out heartbreakingly over there? How come… now you’re saying she wants to protect you? That’s not right."
"..." Ghost Number Four was silenced by Ghost Number One.
"Why aren't you speaking? I know, you’re…"
"Enough," Ouyang Ye interrupted, looking coldly at Ghost Number One.
Upon hearing this, Ghost Number One, fearing he might anger Ouyang Ye, quickly removed his arm from Ghost Number Four’s shoulder, gave Ouyang Ye a few foolish smiles, and said, "Okay."
Ghost Number Four breathed a sigh of relief.
Ouyang Ye glanced at Ghost Number Four, then turned back to Mu Anxiao, who was once again in a difficult position because of Ghost Number Four, and said, "Don’t worry about him."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao finally looked back at Ouyang Ye.
Ouyang Ye glanced at Mu Anxiao and then at leisurely, "You stupid girl, you’d better not lie to me this time."
"..." Leisurely frowned, "What do you mean by that?"
Ouyang Ye: "You’re truly stupid. Once, twice, but not a third time. You’ve lied to me twice. If you lie to me a third time, I will really kill you."
"..." Leisurely was stunned.
Mu Anxiao was equally stunned and asked, "You want to protect her?" As she spoke, she glanced at leisurely again.
Ouyang Ye’s eyes flickered, "Stop the nonsense. You’d better protect yourself, lest you get stabbed in the back again and have to expend spiritual energy."
"I’m not expending yours," Mu Anxiao glared at Ouyang Ye, but she was still grateful to him in her heart.
Ouyang Ye snorted.
Then, Mu Anxiao turned back to leisurely and continued the topic, "So, tell me, how did Ouyang Ye get in the way?"
Seeing that Ouyang Ye didn’t seem to be lying, leisurely honestly said, "Those ghosts were all transformed from demon souls. You know about this, right?"
Mu Anxiao nodded.
Leisurely continued, "As far as I know, Jiong Ye’s family was killed by demon souls. From then on, he hated demon souls to the bone, so he devoted himself to cultivating a demon art to subdue demon souls. Any demon soul, he would turn them into ghosts."
"They are from that batch," Mu Anxiao pointed at the ghosts.
The ghosts, upon hearing this, retreated two steps in fright.
Leisurely calmly glanced at the group of ghosts and said, "Yes, I captured some of them, but they don't recognize me."
"Why don't they recognize you?"
"Because, when carrying out missions, we cover our faces and alter our scents."
"Is that so," Mu Anxiao responded perfunctorily and asked again, "What is Jiong Ye's scheme?" She felt that Jiong Ye's intentions were definitely not as simple as leisurely described.
"His scheme is to lock those ghosts in a dark room, use certain methods to stimulate the malevolence within them, and finally, banish them out to kill mortals."
"..." Mu Anxiao didn’t expect leisurely to know so much. Looking at her, Mu Anxiao thought for a moment and asked, "What is your purpose for capturing demons?"
"My purpose for capturing demons is to prove myself." Leisurely’s eyes were firm; she felt her intention was not wrong.
Mu Anxiao’s eyes sank, "What was your father’s purpose for capturing demons?"
"My father…" Leisurely repeated, lowering her eyes slightly, "My father’s purpose for capturing demons… was simply to complete the task assigned to him by the immortals."
"Task…" Mu Anxiao deliberately repeated these two words in her mouth and then said, "Do you know why your father took on this task?"
"There are monsters in our village, so… we have to capture them…" Halfway through her sentence, leisurely suddenly lowered her head.
Mu Anxiao calmly watched leisurely suddenly fall silent mid-sentence and deliberately asked, "Why did you stop talking?"
Leisurely: "My father captured demons for…" Her eyes sank, "…for the peace of the village."
"And you?"
"I just want to prove myself," leisurely said, looking up at Mu Anxiao, "I was wrong."
"It’s not too late to realize your mistake now," Mu Anxiao said calmly.
"Really?"
"By telling me this, you have… atoned for half of your wrongdoings."
"Half?"
"Yes, only half," Mu Anxiao nodded.
Leisurely looked uneasy, "Then how much will it atone if I say more?"
"You’re afraid," Mu Anxiao said intentionally.
"Of course, what should I do now? Can you tell me?" leisurely asked nervously.
Mu Anxiao lowered her gaze and thought, "Yes, but you have to do exactly as I say."
"No problem," leisurely said firmly.