Mu Anxiao watched Jia's foolishly smiling face, and then thought about her plan that had been shelved for a moment. Her eyes sank, and she said, "It seems it's better to rely on oneself than to beg others." With that, she shifted her gaze from Jia's face to the ground.
Jia glanced at her and exclaimed in surprise, "Mu Anxiao, what foolish thing are you going to do?"
"You wait for me here, I'll go find Hei Feng," Mu Anxiao said deliberately.
Upon hearing Mu Anxiao's words, Jia was completely unnerved. "Mu Anxiao, can you stop provoking me? I told you I don't have that pill, and I don't have it. You..."
"Mai Liang appeared precisely to take my life. Only if I feign death can Mai Xia be saved. Also," Mu Anxiao didn't want to listen to Jia's rambling anymore, so her expression became exceptionally serious. "Me, don't you understand me yet? If I truly didn't trust you, I wouldn't have thought of you first in every moment of crisis. You... lack confidence too much."
"Are you serious?"
"Why wouldn't I be serious? This matter is indeed tricky."
"Then what should we do?" Jia asked.
"What else can we do? The only solution I can think of now is to fulfill Mai Liang's wish. After Mai Liang completely rescues Mai Xia, then..." Mu Anxiao trailed off, suddenly remembering something and freezing.
Seeing this, Jia immediately showed a puzzled expression. "What's wrong?"
"I remember now, Mai Liang is not a demon soul," Mu Anxiao's eyes lit up as she stared at Jia.
Jia said, "She disappeared twenty years ago. She is now a celestial soul."
"You still remember?" Mu Anxiao was surprised that Jia's memory was even better than hers.
Jia nodded.
Immediately afterward, Mu Anxiao sniffed the surrounding demonic energy and suddenly remembered Mai Xia's mortal identity. She said in a low voice, "No, this demonic energy absolutely couldn't have come from Mai Xia."
"What are you talking about?" Jia was completely confused.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao withdrew her gaze, lowered her head, and stared at Jia, who was looking up at her. She said calmly, "There's definitely something fishy about the situation in this mansion."
"What do you mean?" Jia was bewildered.
"Shen Moyun said that this demonic energy is emanating from Mai Xia," Mu Anxiao stated simply.
Jia froze and quickly said, "Impossible, she's human."
"Exactly, she's human. How could this demonic energy be hers? Also," Mu Anxiao said seriously, "Mai Liang is a celestial soul, she couldn't have demonic energy either. Therefore, I now seriously suspect that the demon creating the demonic energy is lurking within the Mu mansion."
"It's possible, she's using Mai Xia and Mai Liang to cover her tracks," Jia said very seriously.
Mu Anxiao nodded.
Then, Jia glanced in the direction of Shen Lü and Mai Liang and said in a low voice, "All we can do now is pretend to be foolish."
"Understood. If that's the case," Mu Anxiao said after some thought, regaining her clarity, "then I must not let them have their way."
"What's the next step?" Jia asked intentionally.
Mu Anxiao's lips curled. "What else can we do? Of course, we'll go in with Mai Liang and investigate."
"Perhaps we can even earn great merit from this," Jia said excitedly.
"That's right, let's go," Mu Anxiao said, turning and walking ahead.
After this brief exchange with Mu Anxiao, Jia felt inexplicably excited. "Wait for me," he said, skipping to catch up with Mu Anxiao.
Immediately afterward, Mu Anxiao and Jia stopped in front of Mai Liang, their faces filled with joy.
Mai Liang looked at the two of them, who had suddenly become so cheerful, with astonishment and asked, "Did you... encounter something good?"
Jia didn't know how to speak and immediately fixed his gaze on Mu Anxiao.
Shen Lü frowned slightly, curious about Mu Anxiao's next... move.
Mu Anxiao smiled.
Seeing this, Mai Liang frowned slightly, genuinely not understanding the deeper meaning behind Mu Anxiao's expression. "What's wrong with you...?" Her mouth twitched twice.
"Is it Mu Gui who wants to kill me, or... that madam?" Mu Anxiao asked calmly.
Mai Liang looked at Mu Anxiao's expressionless demeanor regarding life and death, and her attitude. Her heart sank as she said, "It's the madam."
"And what about Mu Gui?"
"Mu Gui... follows the madam's wishes."
"Is that so?" Mu Anxiao said, leaning forward to sniff the demonic energy on Mai Liang. Her lips curled as she realized... this layer of demonic energy was merely attached to her. This made Mu Anxiao realize... there must be a demon in the Mu mansion that could allow her and Jia to earn great merit.
Mai Liang looked confused. "What are you doing?" she asked, looking down at Mu Anxiao, who was still leaning forward to sniff her.
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao slowly straightened up with a smile. "Nothing," she said.
"You..."
"Don't worry, I won't give my life to you."
"I know," Mai Liang replied in a low voice.
"So calm, it seems..." Mu Anxiao said, looking up at Shen Lü, who was still wearing the face of Feng Qishi, and smiled faintly. "He must have said something to you, right?"
Upon hearing this, Mai Liang lowered her head.
"I'm not doing this for you; I just want to investigate the situation in this city as ordered," Shen Lü said hurriedly, trying to distance himself from Mu Anxiao, afraid she would misunderstand.
Mu Anxiao felt nothing about this. On the contrary... she merely smiled faintly. "I know, no need to explain. Explanations are just cover-ups," she said, deliberately trying to scare Shen Lü.
Shen Lü's face turned pale.
Jia laughed. "You really do care about her." He completely failed to recognize that the person in front of him was the fake Feng Qishi.
"You little thing, stop talking nonsense," Shen Lü blurted out in a fit of pique.
Jia, who had always hated being called a little thing, was provoked by Shen Lü's address. "Shen Moyun, say that again if you dare," he said, pointing his hand at Shen Lü.
"Little..."
"Enough." Mu Anxiao didn't want to waste time on such matters. She quickly interrupted and looked at Mai Liang. "Lead the way."
"I don't know..."
"At this point, still pretending? It's meaningless," Mu Anxiao saw through her in one go.
Mai Liang's eyes sank, and she said in a low voice, "Bind me with silver ropes." She extended her hands.
Mu Anxiao looked at Mai Liang's voluntary action and smiled. "Mai Liang, you seem to have forgotten your identity."
"What?" Mai Liang didn't react immediately.
Shen Lü looked puzzled, staring down at Mu Anxiao, who had suddenly said that.
Mu Anxiao didn't bother to explain to Mai Liang. Instead, she pointed towards the back door. "I believe you know where they are now, right?"
"I..."
"Those guys are all impatient. If we don't go soon, whether Mai Xia lives or dies will be another matter," Mu Anxiao interrupted Mai Liang deliberately.
Hearing this, Mai Liang's eyes sank, and without thinking, she turned and walked into the door.
"Let's go," Mu Anxiao said, glancing at Shen Lü, and stepped forward to follow Mai Liang.
Subsequently, Jia cast a sideways glance at Shen Lü and walked ahead.
Seeing Jia like this, Shen Lü couldn't help but smile and followed.