“I didn’t make you worry. In other words, even if you hadn’t come, I wouldn’t have died anyway. After all,” Mu Anxiao said, tapping Ouyang Ye’s shoulder with her wet finger, “don’t follow me. When I want to find you, I’ll find you. Don’t just show up out of nowhere, you’ll scare people.”
“Then I’ll wait for you to find me,” Ouyang Ye replied, taking hold of the finger that was on his shoulder. He smiled. “Go back and change your clothes.” With that, he released her hand, turned, and walked away.
Mu Anxiao watched Ouyang Ye’s retreating back and breathed a sigh of relief. “I didn’t expect that guy to be so cooperative.” She shook her head. The moment she turned, the Demon Sword suddenly struggled twice in her hand. She quickly lowered her head to stare at it. “What are you doing?”
The Demon Sword stilled again.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao paused for a few seconds and then left.
Meanwhile.
Ouyang Ye appeared outside the hall where Jiong Ye and Zhao Mei’er were confined. At that moment, Song Xi also arrived. “Master, you’ve returned,” he said, rushing to Ouyang Ye’s side.
Ouyang Ye looked straight ahead and said coldly, “I heard one of them was executed.”
“Yes, that fellow showed no remorse, so,” Song Xi said with a grin, “he self-immolated.”
“Record it all,” Ouyang Ye instructed, then strode into the hall.
Song Xi acknowledged, “Yes,” and walked away.
Half an hour later.
Mu Anxiao sat at a table, her gaze fixed on the motionless Demon Sword. She frowned, about to speak, when Chong Zi poked his head in through the doorway. “What are you doing?”
Hearing the voice, Mu Anxiao looked towards Chong Zi’s head and said, “You’d better not come in and disturb me, or else,” she pointed at Chong Zi, “don’t blame me for beating you.”
“Why are you so violent?” Chong Zi flinched.
Mu Anxiao glared at Chong Zi. “I’m in a bad mood, you…” She stopped midway, suddenly remembering Chong Zi’s connection to the Demon Sword. It was with the surge of this memory that she abruptly stood up. “Chong Zi, come here.”
“What’s with your attitude?” Chong Zi muttered.
Mu Anxiao’s expression was serious. “When I tell you to come, you come. Why so much nonsense?” As she spoke, she slammed her hand down forcefully on the table.
Seeing this, Chong Zi dared not utter another word. He crossed the threshold and scurried to Mu Anxiao’s side. “Why did you call me over?” he asked, casting a fearful glance at the motionless Demon Sword ‘lying’ there and swallowing hard.
“I have a question for you,” Mu Anxiao said, her expression earnest. “How did you communicate with it before?” She pointed at the Demon Sword.
“Just freely and easily, I guess,” Chong Zi replied somewhat perfunctorily.
Mu Anxiao tutted. “Speak properly. How did you communicate with it?” Her gaze was sharp.
Chong Zi, intimidated by her gaze, admitted, “It’s just… I could understand the sword’s language, and it could understand human speech. That’s how,” he explained, “we communicated.”
“So what’s its situation now?” Mu Anxiao asked, pointing at the still Demon Sword.
Following Mu Anxiao’s finger, Chong Zi mustered his courage and fixed his gaze firmly on the Demon Sword. “It doesn’t seem right,” he said, slowly reaching his hand out towards it. xxs壹贰
Mu Anxiao watched Chong Zi’s hand slowly extend towards the Demon Sword, her nerves tightening with his every move.
Just then, Chong Zi placed his hand on the sword’s body. To their surprise, the Demon Sword remained completely still. Seeing this, Mu Anxiao and Chong Zi’s eyes widened in unison.
“Why… why isn’t it moving?” Mu Anxiao asked.
Chong Zi furrowed his brow. “Yeah, why isn’t it moving? By rights,” he continued to stroke the sword, “shouldn’t it be getting up to settle accounts with me by now? Strange, why isn’t it moving?” With that, he picked up the Demon Sword.
Mu Anxiao exclaimed, “What are you doing?”
“To see if it’s still alive,” Chong Zi replied, and directly tossed the Demon Sword into the air.
Seeing this, just as Mu Anxiao was about to step onto a chair to catch the sword, Chong Zi shouted, “Don’t move.”
Mu Anxiao froze at his words.
Simultaneously, just as Chong Zi had surmised, the Demon Sword hovered in mid-air. “I knew it wouldn’t die that easily,” he said, looking at the startled Mu Anxiao. “Alright, it’s fine now.”
“What’s wrong with you?” Mu Anxiao ignored Chong Zi and addressed the Demon Sword.
Following that, the Demon Sword slowly descended onto the table, its blade flashing twice with blue light.
However, Mu Anxiao couldn’t decipher the Demon Sword’s meaning. As she was about to press further, Chong Zi spoke. “It wants your help.” He then shifted his gaze to Mu Anxiao’s face.
Mu Anxiao also looked at Chong Zi. “You understood it,” she said, surprised.
Chong Zi smiled. “What’s so difficult about that? A single glance and I knew what it meant.”
“You mean you can understand all its actions?” Mu Anxiao was astonished by Chong Zi’s capabilities.
“Pretty much. I used to stay in the armory for a while, so I had some interaction with those cold weapons. Therefore, these things…” Chong Zi said, scratching the back of his head, “I can understand them.”
“That’s wonderful,” Mu Anxiao said with delight.
Conversely, Chong Zi didn’t quite grasp Mu Anxiao’s meaning. His expression froze for a moment as he asked, “What do you want to do?”
Mu Anxiao revealed a faint smile.
A few minutes later.
The Demon Sword floated in front of Chong Zi. Chong Zi stood ‘behind’ it with a look of helplessness, asking, “What do you want to do?” He had been nervous since Mu Anxiao had smiled, and seeing the current situation, his anxiety naturally grew.
Mu Anxiao, ‘face to face’ with the Demon Sword, temporarily ignored Chong Zi. “Demon Sword, I’m going to start asking questions now.”
The Demon Sword flashed.
Chong Zi glanced at it and translated with resignation, “It says, ask away.” He then looked at the Demon Sword and had an epiphany. “You’re making me stand behind you so I can translate for you?”
“Yes,” Mu Anxiao replied casually, her gaze still fixed on the Demon Sword. “Why were you pretending to be dead?”
“I just didn’t want to talk to you, because I knew you wouldn’t help me,” Chong Zi said on behalf of the Demon Sword.
Mu Anxiao frowned. “How do you know I won’t help you?” She was satisfied with communicating with the Demon Sword this way.
“Your relationship with my master doesn’t seem good,” Chong Zi said, staring intently at the Demon Sword, afraid of misinterpreting. He became serious.
A shadow fell over Mu Anxiao’s eyes. She couldn’t help but recall Jiong Ye’s words from not long ago. “He said you were a soul sword, that you were trash. Don’t you… don’t you get angry?” she asked, feeling a pang of sympathy for the Demon Sword.