Mu Anxiao took advantage of the woman's frown to scan her surroundings.
The woman thought that after her silence, Mu Anxiao would express her true thoughts. Who knew... she had thought too much.
"Why aren't you talking?" she ventured, carefully observing Mu Anxiao.
Hearing the woman's question, Mu Anxiao didn't retract her gaze immediately. Instead, she fixed her gaze in a certain direction and said, "If you don't speak, how can I?"
"You..."
"Don't worry, I don't like to force people to do things they don't want to do," Mu Anxiao said, turning back to the woman and smiling, "Since you don't want me to know your name, I won't ask any further."
"Are you respecting my decision?"
"Think what you will."
"Since you respect my decision," the woman continued to herself, glancing down at the spell binding her entire body, then looking back up at Mu Anxiao, "Can you let me go?"
"I will not," Mu Anxiao stated directly.
"I..."
"Even if you don't believe me, there's nothing I can do," Mu Anxiao saw through the woman's thoughts and turned her back. "In short, I cannot break the spell on you."
"If you don't release me, you'll never get out."
"Never get out," Mu Anxiao muttered, glancing sideways at the direction she had just looked. She thought that the flaw in this misty barrier must be there. With that in mind, she put on a nonchalant air, turned back, and said, "I don't mind."
"You really don't mind?" the woman asked, surprised.
Mu Anxiao shrugged. "I don't mind means I don't mind," she said, walking back opposite the woman. She then glanced at the woman's shoulder and remarked, "It seems you are not a demon soul who escaped from the underworld."
The woman averted her gaze.
Mu Anxiao continued, "I can refrain from forcing you to do things you dislike, but when I ask you questions, I hope you will answer truthfully. Otherwise," she smiled, "I'll let Bing'er see your true face."
The woman's eyes widened.
Mu Anxiao looked at the red glow in the woman's eyes and smiled faintly. "It seems that sentence is your bottom line."
Upon hearing this, the woman immediately retracted the red glow from her eyes and frowned, saying, "You're deliberately trying to scare me."
"I don't have time to waste with you. Tell me, how many women with immortal destinies have you done this to?"
"I haven't," the woman said softly.
"Stop lying. If you lie," Mu Anxiao said, pointing towards the direction where she sensed the flaw, "I will really do it then."
Immediately, the woman followed Mu Anxiao's pointing finger, turned her head towards the direction where the flaw was hidden, and then quickly looked back at Mu Anxiao, saying, "I didn't expect you to find it."
"Since you know, tell me the truth," Mu Anxiao said calmly.
The woman fell silent.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao temporarily stopped pressing the woman and waited for her reply.
The woman slightly lowered her eyelids.
Outside the misty barrier.
With Jia's help, Feng Qishi escaped Bing'er's restraint. He had now circled around to the flaw on the other side of the misty barrier and thought, "This is it." With that, he stared at the green light spot and slowly reached out his hand.
On the other side, Bing'er and Jia sat on the ground, playing a childish game.
At the same time, the woman within the misty barrier also spoke, "I had no choice either."
"No choice? What do you mean?" Mu Anxiao retorted.
The woman didn't avert her gaze. She stared straight at Mu Anxiao's face and said, "As you thought, I did have the coachman deliver the ointment to three women with immortal destinies."
"Three?" Mu Anxiao was surprised, narrowing her eyes. "Where are they now?"
"They are all similar to you, already possessing spiritual energy... As for where they went, I don't know," the woman said, shaking her head slightly.
"Having spiritual energy means they are already immortals," Mu Anxiao said, staring at the woman's face and asking earnestly, "Do you... know the consequences of harming an immortal?"
Mu Anxiao had experienced that kind of torment. If it weren't for Feng Qishi, she would have gone mad by now. Thus, she worried about those three fairies.
Of course, at first, she thought the woman was only harming women with immortal destinies. Who knew... the woman was quite audacious. She couldn't help but wonder... why did this woman do this?
"I don't know," the woman shook her head slightly.
"Annihilation of body and soul," Mu Anxiao said calmly.
The woman's eyes widened. She had never expected things to be so serious. However, she still harbored some doubt about Mu Anxiao's words, "How do you know?"
"How do I know?" Mu Anxiao pointed to herself, then recalled the lie she had told Xiao Fei. Thus, she decided to continue using that lie. "Because I am a minor immortal working with the underworld emissaries."
"Aren't you Mu Xiao?"
"I am Mu Xiao, but I have died once before. I was saved by that minor underworld emissary, and now I follow him to complete missions, catching demon souls like you," Mu Anxiao said directly, pointing at the woman.
The woman hadn't thought that far. She only knew that Mu Anxiao and Jia were acquainted. But now, hearing Mu Anxiao say this, a sense of crisis arose in her heart.
"Are you telling the truth?" her voice trembled.
"I have no reason to lie to you with this," Mu Anxiao said. Just then, she heard the sound of the misty barrier being torn. She immediately gave up communicating with the woman and quickly turned her head towards the flaw, muttering, "Not good."
Immediately, just as the woman was about to turn her head towards that direction, the misty barrier cracked open. The next second, a blue light shot in and struck the woman to the ground.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao hastily shouted, "Stop!" and just as she was about to step forward, the misty barrier exploded.
At the same time, Feng Qishi appeared in her sight.
"Are you alright?" Feng Qishi lowered his hand, which had destroyed the misty barrier, and walked to Mu Anxiao's side.
Mu Anxiao looked up at Feng Qishi and said helplessly, "You appeared rather late." Saying that, she walked to the woman's side and crouched down to look. The woman had already fainted.
Feng Qishi frowned. "I'm helping you, and you're still blaming me?" He walked behind Mu Anxiao, not even glancing at the woman.
Mu Anxiao sighed and looked up at Feng Qishi. "I do blame you, and I haven't seen you not blame me," she said, then looked down at the woman again.
Feng Qishi gave Mu Anxiao a sidelong glance and was about to say something more when he inadvertently felt the immortal energy on Mu Anxiao. He paused for a moment, then crouched down and placed his hand on Mu Anxiao's back, asking, "Your spiritual energy is back?"
"Only about two layers," Mu Anxiao replied truthfully, glancing sideways at Feng Qishi's hand and saying, "Take it away."
Upon hearing this, Feng Qishi complied, removed his hand, looked down at the woman, and muttered, "It's her."
"You know her?" Mu Anxiao asked, looking at Feng Qishi with surprise.
Just then, Bing'er walked to Mu Anxiao's side, looked down intently at the woman lying on the ground, and called out, "Sister."
Then she hurriedly crouched down and shook the woman.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao turned to look at Bing'er, who showed no surprise at seeing the woman, and frowned.