The man, afraid of being overheard by Mu Anxiao, quickly pulled the woman and quickened their pace as they left.
Mu Anxiao paid no mind to the woman's words, instead continuing to scan her surroundings with vigilance.
Zhang Yan, not as obviously looking around as Mu Anxiao, said, "He won't appear." As he spoke, he glanced at the slowly stopping pointer on the round disk.
Mu Anxiao retracted the disk and looked at the receding figures of the couple. "A wolf demon, it won't attack humans, will it?"
"No, it's a transparent entity now. It can't touch or harm any human, only we can see it."
"Then will Shen Yan be alright in the future?" Mu Anxiao furrowed her brow.
"I'm not sure, but I think if the wolf demon can continue to find him, it must have placed some sort of spell on his soul. Otherwise, there'd be no point in it searching for him."
Hearing Zhang Yan's words, Mu Anxiao couldn't help but think of the Marrow Replacing Powder. She then asked, "By the way, what is Marrow Replacing Powder?"
"Marrow Replacing Powder," Zhang Yan repeated, stepping forward to take Mu Anxiao's arm. "Why did you suddenly bring that up?"
"Before coming here, the wolf demon said it had put a poison called Marrow Replacing Powder into the immortal blood it gave Shen Yan back then," Mu Anxiao recalled.
"Marrow Replacing Powder is a forbidden drug," Zhang Yan released Mu Anxiao's arm.
"A forbidden drug?" Mu Anxiao hadn't expected things to be so complicated. Hearing Zhang Yan's explanation, she felt a flicker of unease. "What kind of forbidden drug is it? Can you explain it to me?"
"How should I put it?" Zhang Yan pondered. "It's quite complex to explain."
"Please just explain it simply," Mu Anxiao said, her expression tense.
Zhang Yan stepped back and sat on the bench. "Simply put, it's a forbidden drug."
Mu Anxiao turned to look at Zhang Yan, who had sat down, and furrowed her brow. "Then perhaps you should explain the complicated version."
"Sit down," Zhang Yan patted the empty space beside him.
Mu Anxiao shook her head. "I can't. If I sit, I'll just worry more."
"You like this..." Zhang Yan glanced at the passersby and said, "You're drawing too much attention. Sit down and I'll tell you."
Mu Anxiao also glanced at the few people walking past, then obediently walked over and sat beside him. "Please, go ahead."
"The raw material for Marrow Replacing Powder grows at the entrance to the underworld. I don't know what it's called, but I know that most demons with some cultivation know how to manufacture this powder. However..." Zhang Yan frowned. "Not long after Shen Yan became an immortal, he eliminated all of that raw material, and in doing so, earned a curse."
"A curse?" Mu Anxiao's eyes widened as if she had heard earth-shattering news.
Zhang Yan nodded and said, "Yes, that thing had sentience. As far as I know, one of the raw materials transformed into human form. She fell in love with another Yin flower, but just as she was about to go find it, Shen Yan stopped her. Not only that, but for the sake of the mortal world, Shen Yan wiped them all out. The transformed raw material, before dying, cursed Shen Yan."
"What did that raw material curse Shen Yan with?" Mu Anxiao asked out of curiosity.
"It seems to be... that Shen Yan must not be intimate with mortal women; if he is, he will suffer a lifetime of pain. However," Zhang Yan continued, "after she finished cursing him, Shen Yan was poisoned and lost that memory. Only his master remembers."
"His memory is too unreliable; it's always being deleted," Mu Anxiao shook her head in lament.
"His immortal post is very dangerous, which is why he needs to find a companion to..." Zhang Yan glanced at Mu Anxiao and added, "to be safe."