"Honestly, every time you bring a monster in here, I break out in a cold sweat for you. If it dies, then... I'll be relieved from now on," Song Xi said, looking down at the hand Xi'er was holding. "Alright, let go now."
"Husband, I don't..."
"Be good, let go." Song Xi's face was gentle.
Xi'er cried.
In all the time Mu Anxiao had known Xi'er, she had never seen her like this. Seeing how much she cared for Song Xi now, Mu Anxiao couldn't help but recall her past self, Mu Xi. She lowered her gaze slightly, a wave of uncontrollable sadness washing over her.
The wolf demon, noticing Mu Anxiao's unusual reaction, asked, "What's wrong?" He looked down at Mu Anxiao's clenched fist.
Hearing him, Mu Anxiao immediately snapped back to reality. She raised a hand to wipe away the tears at the corner of her eyes, then looked at Xi'er, who was unwilling to let Song Xi go. "I didn't expect you to still have a heart. How miraculous," she said, stepping forward to stand before them.
"If anything happens to him, I'm not done with you," Xi'er said through her tears.
Mu Anxiao smiled down at her. "If you had been like this in the past, perhaps tragedy wouldn't have happened," she said. She glanced at Song Xi, who was patting Xi'er's shoulder, and continued, "Don't worry, your husband isn't as weak as you think." With that, she walked past them, waved to disperse the mist and smoke, and stepped towards the waterfall that was still spewing thick smoke.
Xi'er let go of his hand. "Be careful."
"Stand with them, it's safer," Song Xi instructed, turning to follow Mu Anxiao.
Following them, Xi'er glanced back at Song Xi, then walked to stand before the wolf demon and Zhao Meier. "If anything happens to my husband," she ignored the wolf demon and fixed her gaze on Zhao Meier, "I'm not done with you."
"I..."
"Why did you leave there? Honestly," Xi'er said, deliberately changing the subject to ease her own emotions.
The wolf demon, as an observer, remained silent.
Zhao Meier, on the other hand, visibly flinched when Xi'er asked this question, avoiding her gaze. "We just encountered a monster..."
"There's a path to the outside world from here," Xi'er interrupted.
Zhao Meier froze. "I don't know what you're talking about." She clenched her hands, forcing herself to meet Xi'er's eyes.
"In this entire Sinful Forest, only here are there monsters. Over there," Xi'er scanned Zhao Meier's face, "is quite safe."
"We really heard monster roars," Zhao Meier said anxiously.
"Jiong Ye wanted to find an exit," Xi'er said, completely ignoring Zhao Meier's words.
Zhao Meier hadn't expected Xi'er to press the issue. Hearing her words, the lying Zhao Meier became even more nervous. "What are you saying... I... I don't understand." She lowered her head entirely.
Seeing Zhao Meier's reaction, Xi'er's lips curled slightly. "If I recall correctly, your relationship with Jiong Ye is... unusual."
"Don't talk nonsense. How is my relationship with him unusual?"
"He was once your master," Xi'er stated calmly.
As Xi'er had said, Zhao Meier and Jiong Ye did have such a past relationship, and it was through this connection that she had met Mu Anxiao. However, in Zhao Meier's eyes, her relationship with Jiong Ye had long since ended. On the contrary, the opportunistic Zhao Meier had decided to dedicate herself entirely to Ouyang Ye.
Naturally, she found Xi'er's words at this moment utterly baffling. "What exactly do you want to say?"
"I just want to know the truth of why he came here," Xi'er's gaze was sharp.
Zhao Meier's heart sank. "I was telling the truth..."
"You weren't. There are no monsters over there," Xi'er said, her eyes widening. "Tell me, why did you come here?"
"I..." After uttering the word, Zhao Meier began to wrestle with her thoughts. Gripping the hem of her skirt, her gaze towards Xi'er became noticeably cautious. "He wanted to try one last time." She was clearly intimidated by Xi'er's stare.
Xi'er narrowed her eyes.
The wolf demon stared at Zhao Meier, who had clearly lied, with astonishment. "You lied to us."
Xi'er glanced at the wolf demon upon hearing this but said nothing.
"We really did hear monster roars... which is why we came. However," Zhao Meier pursed her lips, "I was coerced by him."
"Coerced?" Xi'er repeated softly.
The wolf demon stared at Zhao Meier in silence.
Zhao Meier nodded. "Yes, he said he wanted to try one last time. If it didn't work this time, he would pledge his allegiance to the master completely. Hearing him say that, I thought, since he couldn't leave anyway, I... compromised. But I didn't expect the monster in the water to be so ferocious. As soon as we arrived, it rushed out of the water and took him away. I didn't even have a chance to react. I... I didn't lie on purpose. I was scared, please don't tell the master." Her expression was sincere.
However, Xi'er only wanted Zhao Meier to say that it was all Jiong Ye's doing, and that there was no man-eating beast at all. Unexpectedly... after all this "interrogation," it was still the man-eating beast's doing. Hearing this, her heart sank, and she turned to look at Mu Anxiao and Song Xi, who had stopped at the waterfall.
At the same time, the wolf demon, sensing Xi'er's worry, said, "Don't worry, as long as Mu Anxiao is here, your husband will surely be fine."
"Let's hope so," Xi'er said faintly.
"Can we find the master?" Zhao Meier asked, a flash of inspiration striking her.
Hearing this, Xi'er immediately shot Zhao Meier a fierce glare. "The master just got injured. The reason he asked Mu Anxiao to come was so he could rest properly. And now you're saying to let the master come..." She clearly disliked Zhao Meier. "What are your intentions?"
"I just thought the master definitely could... I..." Zhao Meier, intimidated by Xi'er's gaze, shrank her shoulders slightly. "I didn't mean to say it like that."
"Here, say what you should say, and don't say what you shouldn't. If anything happens to my husband, I still won't let you off," Xi'er said, giving Zhao Meier a hard glare.
Zhao Meier was intimidated.
At this moment, the wolf demon also saw Xi'er's dislike for Zhao Meier. As the saying goes, a woman's heart is like a needle at the bottom of the sea. Seeing the situation, the wolf demon dared not say anything more.
Over there.
Mu Anxiao looked down at the water surface, which was still spewing thick smoke, and frowned slightly. "Isn't this water hot?" she said, squatting down.
Seeing this, Song Xi quickly asked, "What are you doing?"
"Don't be nervous, I'm just taking a look," Mu Anxiao replied. She reached out and touched a stone by the water... it was warm. "It really does have a temperature."
"The man-eating beast is in this water. If my guess is correct, this thick smoke rising from the water... is probably its breath," Song Xi said matter-of-factly.
Upon hearing this, Mu Anxiao immediately stood up, a look of disgust on her face. "Ugh, that's really disgusting." With that, she pulled Song Xi back a couple of steps.