"I'm not being overly cautious; I'm simply being more thorough than you. That female spirit clearly isn't someone to be trifled with..."
"You brat, are you scared?" Mu Anxiao interrupted without mercy.
Hearing Mu Anxiao's words, Jia awkwardly shifted his gaze and said, "Alright, I am indeed scared."
"You're a Yin Messenger specializing in capturing spirits, and you're afraid of this? Hei Feng has never been like this before." Mu Anxiao stared intently at Jia's face, hoping her words would dispel such cowardly thoughts.
Conversely, Jia's expression turned grim after Mu Anxiao finished speaking.
Although Mu Anxiao was unaccustomed to seeing people's moods change so quickly, she said, looking at him, "What's with that look?"
"You said before that whenever Hei Feng got into trouble, he'd make me go, and you called him an asshole. Now," Jia said, "you're saying this. Do you think I'd believe you?"
Mu Anxiao: "You have a good memory, you brat."
"You're trying to provoke me. Don't think I can't see through it," Jia exposed Mu Anxiao's intentions.
Mu Anxiao's eyes flickered slightly as she said, "I'm not provoking you," her tone firm, "I'm just telling the truth."
"The truth..." Jia let out a soft snort. "I can't see it."
"Hei Feng does avoid things in certain situations, but he always helps me when I'm in danger. You, on the other hand," Mu Anxiao said sternly, "are talking about running away. You deserve to be Hei Feng's subordinate."
"What do you mean by that?" Jia became angry.
Mu Anxiao: "It doesn't mean anything. If you don't want to help me, so be it. Anyway, if I die, Hei Feng won't let you off either." She had originally intended to dissuade Jia's cowardly thoughts in a gentler manner, but now she felt it was unnecessary.
"You. I didn't say I wouldn't help you," Jia said in a low voice.
"You didn't say it, but do you take me for a fool? You've said so much nonsense, and the conclusion is that you won't help me."
"We're about to fall into a crisis, and I just wanted to discuss it first. What's wrong with that?"
"..." Mu Anxiao suddenly couldn't understand Jia.
Seeing Mu Anxiao's confused expression, Jia said, "Forget it, I'll tell you the truth. This incident actually caused me a lot of trauma."
"What trauma?" Mu Anxiao frowned.
Jia said with a gloomy expression, "Think about it. I'm quite a formidable Yin Messenger, but I was controlled by a completely useless female immortal spirit. Saying that out loud," he looked awkward, "is so embarrassing!"
"The day you became Hei Feng's subordinate, you were already embarrassing enough. Besides, this is an immortal spirit, not a demon spirit. You..."
"It's precisely because it's an immortal spirit that I feel embarrassed."
"Uh, you really are strange." Mu Anxiao was somewhat exasperated with Jia.
Jia: "Demon spirits are cunning, while immortal spirits..." He trailed off, then thought about Mai Liang's methods and said, "What's the difference between her and a demon spirit?"
"What?" Mu Anxiao couldn't keep up with Jia's train of thought.
Jia: "She's an immortal spirit, yet she used such low-down tactics to control me. In that case, what's the difference between her and a demon spirit?"
This time, Mu Anxiao understood Jia's 'complaint' and laughed, "There's not much difference from a demon spirit. But the one thing that differentiates her is that she doesn't harm people."
"But she still controlled me," Jia insisted, still fixated on the issue.
"..." Mu Anxiao stared at Jia's face for a few seconds before saying, "Let me put it this way: at first, no one thought you were embarrassing. But if you keep saying you're embarrassing, eventually, everyone will think you are."
"How would others know?" Jia retorted.
Mu Anxiao pointed to herself, "If you say another word, I'll personally spread your story." She raised an eyebrow.
Jia froze.
Mu Anxiao: "As long as you shut up now, at this very moment, I won't say anything." She deliberately threatened Jia, as she really didn't want to discuss such a trivial topic with him anymore.
Upon hearing Mu Anxiao's words, Jia fell silent for a few seconds and then said, "Let's go."
"You're not saying anything else?" Mu Anxiao tilted her head up slightly, looking at Jia's face.
Jia nodded.
"Good for you for being sensible," Mu Anxiao said. She pushed herself up with one hand, just as a woman's scream suddenly echoed from afar. Hearing that voice, her scalp tightened. "Did you hear that?" she asked, standing up.
Jia looked around and said, "I heard it, but I can't see. I can't see." He looked up at Mu Anxiao.
Mu Anxiao frowned, looked down at Jia, and asked, "What do you want to do?"
"I need to borrow your shoulder," Jia pointed at Mu Anxiao's shoulder.
Mu Anxiao followed Jia's finger and looked down at her own shoulder. "You're really something else," she said, then crouched down again.
Instantly, Mu Anxiao was carrying Jia on her back. Jia sat on Mu Anxiao's shoulders, looked around, and directed her to turn in a circle on the spot to get a better view of the distance.
A few minutes later.
Mu Anxiao held Jia's legs with both hands, her eyes blankly staring in a certain direction, allowing Jia to press on her head. "Can you see?"
Jia: "Wait, I think I can see."
At this moment, the woman began to wail.
The sound, to Mu Anxiao, was also eerie. "Can you actually see or not?"
"It's pitch black out here, I..."
As Jia was speaking, Feng Qishi stopped behind them and interrupted, "What are you two doing?"
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao curled her lips. Carrying Jia on her back, she turned to face Feng Qishi, who held a lantern with a cold expression, and asked, "Are you deaf? Can't you hear the woman's screams?"
"I heard them," Feng Qishi said coldly.
"Heard..."
"I'm not interested in the woman's screams. Right now, I just want to ask," Feng Qishi looked up at Jia, "what are you two doing?"
Jia, holding onto Mu Anxiao's head, said, "We're looking for that woman." As he spoke, he focused on the lantern in Feng Qishi's hand. "Can I borrow your lantern?"
Feng Qishi looked down at the lantern, then at the lanterns hanging on the trees on either side. "There are lanterns on both sides."
"They're inconvenient to hold," Jia said.
"Do you think it's appropriate for you to hold it?" Feng Qishi retorted.
Jia frowned, "Only by holding a lantern can I see into the distance. You..."
"Jia, forget it," Mu Anxiao interrupted.
Jia paused, looked down at Mu Anxiao's head, and said, "We can't just stand by and do nothing."
"I didn't say we should stand by and do nothing. I just feel... if you're holding a lantern, won't people in the distance get scared if they see it?" Mu Anxiao said in a low voice.
"..." Jia felt that Mu Anxiao had a point, so he fell silent.
Feng Qishi glanced at Jia and Mu Anxiao respectively and said, "You two are blocking my path. Move aside."
"..." Jia and Mu Anxiao thought Feng Qishi had decided to help them, but to their surprise, he uttered these heartless words instead. Hearing this, they both froze.
Feng Qishi continued to look at them with a cold expression and said, "Move aside."