The figure looked at Mu Anxiao’s silly grin and sneered, “You are truly audacious, coming to the lakeside in the dead of night to disturb my slumber, and now you’re playing dumb here.” He tilted his head to the side, “Hmm, I remember there were two people, how is it that only you remain now?” As he spoke, he frowned slightly.
Mu Anxiao continued with her silly grin, “Big brother, which eye of yours saw two people? It’s always just been me,” she chuckled foolishly.
The figure fell silent.
At the same time, Zhao Xiang, hidden behind a tree, breathed a sigh of relief the moment he heard Mu Anxiao’s words.
Fearing the figure might look elsewhere, Mu Anxiao deliberately said, “Big brother, please spare me, this humble one…” To prevent the figure from growing suspicious, she made her voice tremble, “This humble one was merely passing through, I was lost. Just now, after I saw you, I ran away. Speaking of which, do you know why I ran?” The corners of her mouth dared not droop.
The figure: “You weren’t running because you were afraid of me.”
“Of course not,” Mu Anxiao replied, mustering her courage and feigning a fawning demeanor, “I just didn’t want to disturb you.”
“So, you knew I was resting?” the figure asked deliberately.
Mu Anxiao: “At this late hour, what else would you be doing if not resting? This…” she said, “Any sensible person can see that, right?” She deliberately lowered her voice.
The figure: “You’re quite bold, aren’t you, kid?”
However, Mu Anxiao had been maintaining a silly grin towards the figure precisely to highlight her timid nature. Little did she expect that after all her feigned pretense, she would receive such a remark from the figure. The silly grin on her face instantly froze.
“I am very timid,” she said softly, looking up at the figure floating in mid-air, not moving towards her, and swallowing.
The figure calmly observed Mu Anxiao’s feigned timidity and sneered, “I’ve seen people before, and their reactions upon seeing me were very different from yours.”
“Of course, they’re different,” Mu Anxiao attempted to step back.
“You do speak with a rather firm conviction,” the figure said coldly, finally stopping.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao breathed a sigh of relief. “How could I dare to speak with conviction?” To prevent the figure from turning to look at Zhao Xiang, she stopped walking and smiled at him, “It’s just that everyone expresses fear differently. My way is to grin foolishly. I am truly afraid of you.”
“Is that so?” the figure said, slowly landing.
Mu Anxiao tensed up, “Why did you come down? I think,” she glanced upwards, smiling, “you’re better off floating.”
“Oh?” the figure smiled, “You’re quite a direct person.”
“How am I direct?” Mu Anxiao feigned confusion.
The figure: “What’s your name?” he asked, tilting his chin upwards. The beam of light enveloping his body also faded at that moment.
Immediately after, Mu Anxiao saw the figure’s face clearly, and at that very instant, she was once again unsure of his gender.
“Are you a woman or a man?” she asked, staring at his refined face, illuminated by the light around his body.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Mu Anxiao asked this, the figure’s face darkened.
Mu Anxiao, having witnessed the change in the figure’s expression, swallowed. She grew fearful, “I know my words are impolite, but I am human, and I sometimes get curious about certain things and people. So, please don’t take my words to heart, and don’t be angry.” She reached out, fearing he might suddenly lash out.
“You are not human,” the figure suddenly said.
Mu Anxiao was taken aback, “Why are you scolding me?” she felt uneasy.
“Don’t play dumb,” the figure added.
Mu Anxiao, hearing this, recalled her previous statement and suddenly understood, grinning foolishly, “Of course I’m human. If I’m not human, what am I?”
“An immortal,” the figure uttered a single word.
This forest was indeed quite gloomy and terrifying. In the past year, although Mu Anxiao had been framed and abandoned by her own family, none of them had dared to come here. Naturally, she was entirely unfamiliar with this place.
She didn’t recognize the figure before her at all; she couldn’t even sense his aura. What was he?
It was this that frightened her.
Driven by fear, she refused to admit her identity.
“I am not. I am human,” she stated firmly.
The figure smiled.
Seeing this, Mu Anxiao was bewildered, “What are you smiling at?”
“Humans, I’ve consumed many, so I know better than anyone the scent of a human’s aura,” the figure said, deliberately leaning in to sniff, “and you, you only carry the scent of spiritual energy, no human scent. You…”
“You eat people,” Mu Anxiao interrupted, suddenly feeling a desire to take him in.
At the same time, the figure said with a laugh, “You’re quite something. I spoke such a long passage to you, and all you remember is that I eat people.”
“What exactly are you?” Mu Anxiao deliberately tried to change the subject.
Seeing Mu Anxiao like this, the figure’s face immediately turned grim.
Mu Anxiao noticed this and said softly, “What, did I offend you?”
“I detest being interrupted and having the topic shifted,” the figure said, suddenly turning his gaze towards the tree concealing Zhao Xiang, “There’s someone behind there, isn’t there?”
“…” Mu Anxiao’s body stiffened. She deliberately did not respond.
Hearing Mu Anxiao’s lack of reply, the figure frowned and immediately turned his gaze back to Mu Anxiao’s face, “I’m talking to you, can’t you hear, or…” he widened his phoenix-like eyes, “are you deliberately choosing not to answer me.”
“There’s no one,” Mu Anxiao said softly.
Zhao Xiang, listening to Mu Anxiao’s reply outside, and hearing the figure’s extraordinary tone, became nervous.
“No one,” the figure said, nodding, “Alright, I’ll trust you for now. Can you tell me your name?”
“I don’t have a name,” Mu Anxiao replied ‘honestly’ to prevent the figure from finding Zhao Xiang.
“No name,” the figure seemed to believe her, nodding slightly, “Very well. Why did you come here? You can tell me this, can’t you, little immortal?”
Little immortal?
Mu Anxiao was truly startled by the figure’s indifferent tone. Swallowing, she looked up at the figure’s face with a timid expression, grinning foolishly.
This time, the figure remained silent, deliberately waiting for her reply.
Mu Anxiao realized that the figure was not one to give up easily, so she had a sudden idea and deliberately asked back, “What’s your name?”
“She Ning,” the figure stated directly.
However, Mu Anxiao had not expected the figure to introduce himself so honestly. Hearing this, she felt awkward.