"You are not a demon."
Mu Anxiao had initially thought she was the only one confined here, but the moment she heard the female voice from behind, a shiver ran down her spine. Clenching her hands slightly, she slowly turned towards the source of the sound. Her eyes landed on a slender girl with shoulder-length hair and a delicate, clear-cut face.
"Are you human or demon?" she couldn't help but ask.
"I am a demon," the girl replied, waving a hand. The surrounding green light transformed into normal candlelight.
Mu Anxiao blinked in surprise. "You're the one who did this?" she asked, looking around.
"Yes." The girl nodded and walked up to Mu Anxiao, tilting her head back to look up at her. "You have immortal energy about you."
"You can sense it?" Mu Anxiao replied with a touch of awkwardness.
The girl remained silent, staring at Mu Anxiao for a few seconds before speaking, "You are neither human, nor immortal, nor demon. What exactly are you?"
However, this was a question Mu Anxiao had never pondered. Being asked so directly, three words instantly surfaced in her mind. Without a second thought, she blurted out, "An old immortal."
"Old immortal," the girl repeated, then suddenly reached out and grasped Mu Anxiao's wrist. "You have no immortal arts in your body, no, I mean spiritual energy."
"It's all the same," Mu Anxiao said with a smile.
"If you don't have these, then why do you have immortal energy?" the girl inquired.
Mu Anxiao swallowed. "That's... a long story. I won't tell it. Just remember, I am an old immortal."
"Alright, old immortal," the girl nodded with innocent sincerity.
Mu Anxiao chuckled dryly, glancing around. "Are you the only one here?"
"Yes, they said I was useless, so they locked me here," the girl replied.
"What kind of demon are you?" Mu Anxiao asked.
The girl lowered her gaze. "I'm a rat demon, but I'm not a pure rat demon because my father was human."
"Your mother was a rat?" Mu Anxiao said, conjuring an image in her mind. "Your father certainly has a peculiar taste."
"What do you mean by that?" the girl asked, a frown creasing her brow.
"Nothing, nothing," Mu Anxiao replied with a distant smile. "Do you know demon arts?"
"Yes," the girl nodded.
"What's your name?" Mu Anxiao asked gently.
The girl hesitated for a moment. "You go first, then I'll tell you mine."
"My name is Mu Anxiao," Mu Anxiao introduced herself freely.
The girl's eyes widened. "You're Mu Anxiao? Then you're the one who locked up my mother." She pointed at Mu Anxiao's face.
Mu Anxiao was taken aback. "Your mother?"
"My mother was captured by you twenty years ago," the girl said, her eyes narrowing as she looked at her own hands. "If my demon arts weren't so limited, I would end you right now."
Having captured countless demon souls of all forms over the years, Mu Anxiao found herself at a loss for words at the girl's accusation.
"Why aren't you saying anything?" the girl asked, looking up at the suddenly silent Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao's lips twisted. "I admit I've captured many demon souls. I have nothing to explain about what you're saying."
"What happened to my mother?" the girl asked excitedly.
Mu Anxiao took a step back. "I was only responsible for capturing her. I don't know what happened to her."
"How can you be like this?" the girl frowned.
"If I'm not mistaken, this is the only demon art you know," Mu Anxiao said, gesturing towards the nearby candelabra.
The girl averted her gaze. "That's right. I'm as useless as you are. But, unlike you, you are karma; I am born this way."
"Karma," Mu Anxiao repeated, reflecting on her fifty years of life. She smiled. "You're right. Perhaps this is my karma."
"Why 'perhaps'? It absolutely is," the girl stated firmly.
Mu Anxiao remained silent. She walked past the girl and sat down in a corner.
The girl furrowed her brow and turned to look at Mu Anxiao. "Why are you ignoring me?"
"You're right, this is my karma," Mu Anxiao said, leaning against the wall and closing her eyes.
The girl walked up to Mu Anxiao and squatted down. "I thought you would eagerly try to defend yourself. I didn't expect you to have no reaction at all."
Mu Anxiao turned her face away, saying nothing.
The girl smiled. "My name is Yan." She then reached out and took Mu Anxiao's hand.
Mu Anxiao opened her eyes and looked down at her hand, which Yan was holding. "I'm the one who captured your mother. Shouldn't you hate me? Why..." she lifted the hand Yan was holding, "...are you acting like this?"
"Tell me, where is my mother?" Yan asked impatiently.
"So you only want to talk to me properly if I tell you that," Mu Anxiao said, withdrawing her hand.
Yan blinked and stood up, looking down at Mu Anxiao. "If you don't tell me, I'll burn you with fire." She pointed at the candelabra.
"Burn me to death," Mu Anxiao scoffed. "Go ahead, try it. Let's see who dies first, you or me."
"You..." Yan hesitated.
Mu Anxiao asked, "Have you ever seen your mother?"
"No," Yan replied stubbornly.
"And your father?" Mu Anxiao asked again.
Yan's eyes darkened. "No. I've been with my grandmother since I was born. She told me that you captured my mother and that my mother was innocent, that you captured her unjustly." She hesitated. "But no one ever told me what happened to my father. They say he's dead."
The moment Yan spoke, Mu Anxiao recalled capturing a particularly wicked mother rat demon years ago. However, the mother rat demon wasn't as innocent as Yan described. Mu Anxiao hesitated. "Your mother..."
Mid-sentence, Yan suddenly became agitated. "It's all your fault! You're the reason I don't have a mother!"
"Why don't you think about your father?" Mu Anxiao asked.
Yan said, "If I thought about him, I wouldn't have demon arts. I'd rather have a great mother than a useless father."
"Without your father, you would have been born a rat, and you might not even be alive now," Mu Anxiao said, though she wasn't sure why these words came out.
"I don't understand what you're saying," Yan shook her head.
Mu Anxiao pursed her lips. "More than half of the blood in your body is human. That's why you have a human form. If your mother had been with a rat, the offspring would have been in rat form, or rather, you wouldn't exist."
"My mother met that useless man after she had taken human form," Yan said hazily.
"I know. I'm saying, if your mother had met your father in her rat form, your deceased father probably would have slapped your mother to death with the sole of his shoe. In that case," Mu Anxiao's lips curved into a smile, "you really wouldn't exist."