Only hearing a voice, but not seeing the person.
The woman’s voice sounded chillingly eerie. Tilting her face up, Mu Anxiao couldn’t help but give the roof beams a thorough appraisal before turning back to the purchasing servant in front of her, asking coldly, "Where exactly are you?" She knew she couldn't follow the woman's line of questioning. To do so would undoubtedly lead her closer to the trap the woman had set. To avoid this, she deliberately acted this way.
However, the woman also sensed Mu Anxiao's thoughts and asked, "Do you truly not want to know his name?"
"His name has nothing to do with me, but," Mu Anxiao said, narrowing her eyes at the purple beam of light on the purchasing servant, thinking for a moment before continuing, "I'm more curious about you right now."
"Curious about me," the woman repeated, laughing. "That’s truly rare. Normally, not many people are curious about me."
"Let's not talk about that. Do you know Ouyang Ye?" Mu Anxiao attempted to pry.
As expected, the moment Mu Anxiao asked this question, the woman fell silent.
Mu Anxiao didn't know where the woman was, so she could only stare at the beam of light on the purchasing servant. "Why aren't you talking anymore?" she asked softly.
"Do you think I know that Ouyang Ye you mentioned?" the woman finally spoke again.
This time, it was Mu Anxiao's turn to be silent.
The woman: "Why aren't you talking anymore?"
Mu Anxiao heard that the woman was deliberately playing hard to get, so to avoid being tricked further, she let out a laugh.
The moment Mu Anxiao laughed, the woman snorted and said, "What are you laughing at?"
"You asked me what I thought," Mu Anxiao said, still laughing. "I think you and the Ouyang Ye you mentioned don't know each other." After saying this, she suddenly remembered that the woman had mentioned her demon soul collecting abilities before. Based on this alone, she was certain the woman didn't know Ouyang Ye.
Unexpectedly, after Mu Anxiao said this, the woman became angry. "If you already know, why are you asking so much? You collect demon souls; you're deliberately messing with me, aren't you?"
"I wouldn't dare mess with you," Mu Anxiao said, chuckling twice into the air. "I was just asking casually, but then I thought about it, and I still can't figure it out."
"What do you mean by that? I don't understand." The woman truly didn't understand what Mu Anxiao was trying to convey.
"What I mean is," Mu Anxiao said, organizing her thoughts before continuing, "how did you know my identity?"
"You have a strong, turbid demonic aura on you, and this demonic aura isn't yours," the woman said. "Based on my experience, you must be a demon soul collector."
"Your experience?" Mu Anxiao was genuinely bewildered.
"What is your name?" the woman asked again.
Mu Anxiao stared at the purchasing servant's face, and upon hearing the woman's question, her eyes darkened. She said, "You really don't know Ouyang Ye." She felt that this woman was not ordinary.
The woman said angrily, "Answer me when I ask you something. You who collect demon souls, if you dare to..."
"You sensed the spiritual energy on me?" Mu Anxiao interrupted. She suddenly had a bold idea: that this disembodied woman was not a demon.
"You do have a bit of spiritual energy on you," the woman said.
As it turned out, Mu Anxiao's spiritual energy had been completely sealed within her by Zhang Yan. No one could sense it. Only those with experience as immortals could sense a little. Therefore, the woman's reply undoubtedly gave Mu Anxiao a new understanding of her identity.
Thinking about it, she sniffed the air and found that, indeed, there was no demonic aura.
"You are not a demon," she stated directly.
The woman let out a cold laugh. "After all that, you were deliberately probing my identity."
"I didn't intend to probe your identity, but after talking with you for so long, I've unconsciously become curious about who you are," Mu Anxiao said, smiling at the purchasing servant's face. "I imagine you don't like me talking to you like this either."
"Trying to trick me into revealing myself," the woman said, with a cold laugh.
Mu Anxiao also smiled. "If possible, I'd prefer to talk to you face-to-face because," she said, deliberately moving to the purchasing servant's side, then looking at the purple mark on the servant's wrist, she said faintly, "No wonder I couldn't sense any aura from you. It turns out you weren't here after all." After saying this, she squatted down.
Immediately after, the woman's voice truly emerged from the purchasing servant's wrist. "You're quite clever, but..." Before she could finish speaking, Mu Anxiao suddenly reached out and grabbed the purchasing servant's wrist. At the same time, the woman's voice faltered, and she said, "Let go."
"I will not," Mu Anxiao said. She immediately closed her eyes, sensed for a moment, and then said in a low voice, "It's spiritual energy." She tightened her grip on the purchasing servant's wrist.
The next second, the woman became angry. "Let go! I told you, if you dare to probe, I will not be polite to you."
"You just said you'd give me three seconds. May I ask how many three seconds have passed now?" Mu Anxiao said, a smirk playing on her lips. "You're bluffing. I advise you to get out of his body quickly, or this time, I'll be the one who isn't polite."
"Just you," the woman said. The purple light surrounding the purchasing servant instantly disappeared. At that very moment, Mu Anxiao could no longer sense her.
"What's going on?" Mu Anxiao exclaimed, releasing her grip.
The next second, the woman's voice came from inside the purchasing servant again, "You're a woman."
"Whether I'm a woman or not has nothing to do with..."
"If that Ouyang Ye finds out you're a woman, he'll definitely investigate you. By then," the woman interrupted, beginning to ramble according to her own thoughts, "you'll be finished, won't you?"
Mu Anxiao heard that all of this was the woman's speculation.
So, she laughed. "You're threatening me." She decided to play along with the woman's thoughts.
Hearing this, the woman thought she had guessed correctly. "I am threatening you. If you dare to investigate me again, I'll go find Ouyang Ye. By then," she laughed, "we'll see who dies first."
"You dare not," Mu Anxiao feigned indignation, because she knew that as long as her spiritual energy remained sealed, Ouyang Ye would not believe the woman. Furthermore, her current identity was Cao Gen. As long as she denied it, Ouyang Ye would certainly not believe the woman's words.
Therefore, she was not worried about this.
"See if I dare not," the woman said, laughing a few more times. "Haha, alright, I won't waste any more words with you. Take care of yourself. I need to go back and rest. This time, I'll let this fellow go." The moment she finished speaking, the purple mark imprinted on the purchasing servant's wrist also vanished.
Concurrently, the purchasing servant also regained consciousness. "What happened to me?" he said, looking down at the hemp rope binding him. After attempting to struggle free, he looked at Mu Anxiao and froze.