Poisonous Goddess: I'm just lazing around in the mortal realm.

Once inside the carriage, Zhou Jinghuai immediately sank into the soft, comfortable cushions. His disguise undone, he squinted, scrutinizing Shen Mu, who sat upright beside him.

"How's the investigation going, Lord Shen?"

It's no wonder the two pretended not to know each other; the mortal realm was too chaotic at the moment, and they didn't know how many people were watching them from the shadows.

Shen Mu cautiously lifted the curtain and looked outside, only feeling relieved after confirming that no one was following them.

"Still no trace. Was someone ambushing you last night?"

"Of course, didn't Haojing discover that I was hiding in the side hall?"

Zhou Jinghuai gave him a look, reminding him that it wasn't Haojing who lifted his robe to check his injuries last night after Thirteen left.

"Those wounds on your body? They must have been packed with thirteen packs."

Shen Mu casually lifted his eyelids, scrutinizing Zhou Jinghuai with a critical look.

Their original plan was that yesterday, the first day of the lunar month, was the day the Taoist priest would enter the palace to deliver elixirs to the Emperor of Nanyang. The two of them waited in the palace one after the other for the Taoist priest to appear. Unexpectedly, instead of finding the Taoist priest, Zhou Jinghuai was ambushed and injured.

"Now that you mention it, I remember something."

As Zhou Jinghuai spoke, he took out the prescription that Thirteen had written at Fengya Zhai from his pocket and handed it to Shen Mudao.

"Last night, Thirteen wrote me a prescription for an antidote. I didn't believe she wrote it, but I accidentally lost it today, and she wrote another one for me right in front of me."

Shen Mu looked at the words on the prescription, paused, and said...

"The handwriting is really not very good."

However, at this moment he couldn't quite tell if the prescription was right or wrong, so he could only fold the paper neatly and put it in his pocket.

"I'll have Haojing take a look at this prescription later."

"I'm thinking, the person who attacked me is from the same place as us, so they might be able to cure this poison..."

Zhou Jinghuai hesitated, looking at Shen Mu's calm and handsome face. Sure enough, nothing he said would affect this man.

Are you sure? About the poison in your body?

Shen Mu didn't notice the other person's expression; he simply followed up with his question.

Zhou Jinghuai straightened his expression, his tone becoming somewhat serious.

"They must be my brother's men."

"If it's someone from Xichen, then we're in trouble."

Shen Mu's expression froze slightly, and his already slightly furrowed brows tightened even more.

They haven't captured the Demon Lord Chongming, who has disguised himself as a Taoist priest, yet. If the people of the Western Divine Realm intervene, things will only become more complicated. Moreover…

"Anyway, you're not from Xichen, so what are you afraid of? They'll only come to assassinate me."

Zhou Jinghuai patted Shen Mu on the shoulder and raised an eyebrow at him. The people from Xichen had been hunting him down for a long time; they were used to it.

Unexpectedly, this time it followed him to the mortal realm, and even when it ambushed him last night, it coated its sword with a poison that only comes from the Western Divine Realm.

"I'm afraid you'll get poisoned, and then the task of killing the Demon Lord will fall on my shoulders alone."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinghuai couldn't help but purse his lips and say, "You're good at comforting people, but if you can't speak properly, then don't say anything."

“I also infiltrated the Third Prince’s residence before and secretly poisoned him.”

Shen Mu turned his head and met Zhou Jinghuai's gaze, letting out a soft breath.

"However, Thirteen cracked the poison shortly after it was administered. I'm still unsure where she comes from, but her purpose is probably the same as ours."

"So you're in cahoots with us?" Zhou Jinghuai seemed intrigued upon hearing his words.

"almost."

Shen Mu recalled how Thirteen had acted suspiciously in the palace last night; he must have been there to find the Taoist priest, just like them.

Zhou Jinghuai leaned back against the soft, thick cushion.

"Whatever her purpose is, it would be best if she could be brought to our side. Otherwise, how long would it take for the two of us to deal with this Emperor of Nanyang?"

In the mortal realm, he was both scolded by the Emperor of Nanyang and assassinated by the people of Xichen. At least in Xichen, Zhou Jinghuai was a general whose word was law. He met Shen Mu when they were chasing Chongming in the God Realm. Thinking about it carefully, he and Shen Mu had known each other for almost two hundred years.

At first, the Demon Lord Chongming was merely fleeing between the realms of gods and demons, winning nine out of ten battles, which was relatively easy to deal with.

Unfortunately, the Demon Lord stole an ancient forbidden technique, transforming into a human form called "Tan," attempting to use the essence of mortals to enhance his own power.

What do mortals believe in most? Of course, it's immortality.

After several investigations, they learned that the Demon Lord's disguised form, "Tong," had become a Taoist priest from Baiyun Mountain, hiding among the emperors of Nanyang.

By claiming to have obtained the elixir of immortality for the Emperor of Nanyang, they persuaded him to build the Mingyue Palace, a grand sacrificial temple.

Ostensibly, it was said to be a prayer for the emperor to seek immortality from heaven, but in reality, the altar, once built, could become the true altar for ancient forbidden arts, absorbing the vital energy of all mortals.

Five hundred years ago, with the fall of the four great divine rulers, there were only a few divine rulers left with over a thousand years of cultivation.

Demon Lord Chongming is one of them. Although the Four Great Divine Lords destroyed most of Chongming's cultivation, if Chongming really built this altar in the mortal realm, then no one in the Three Realms would be able to destroy him!

This led them to come to the mortal realm one after another to kill "Tong," but without divine help, they could only approach the Emperor of Nanyang by using their mortal identities.

"By the way, those two assassins went into Zuixianlou. You'll have to come with me tonight."

Shen Mu's cold voice pulled Zhou Jinghuai back to reality. Zhou Jinghuai frowned and said with dissatisfaction.

"Why? I'm still injured, Lord Shen!"

He lifted his robe towards Shen Mu, revealing a wound on his abdomen that was still slightly bleeding. He had overacted a bit in the imperial study and accidentally tore it.

“You have silver, but I’m just a commander; I have no money.”

Shen Mu explained very sincerely. Those who wanted to enter the Drunken Flower Pavilion to gather information first had to pay a large sum of money to secure a passage.

Zhou Jinghuai was speechless for a moment after being choked by his words.

After he descended to the mortal realm, he originally intended for Qingfeng to arrange a more leisurely identity for him, so that he wouldn't have to fight and kill all day long like Shen Mu. Unexpectedly, he suddenly became "leisurely".

Not only did he acquire the status of an illegitimate child, but he also had a whole bunch of cronies. To make the act more convincing, these people would always use his name when they went out to do bad things, and whenever he saw the Emperor of Nanyang, they would hurl insults at him. He was so angry every time that he wanted to twist Qingfeng's head off.

He watched as Shen Mu leaned against the carriage, eyes closed, feigning sleep, head bowed, silently catching his breath. Suddenly, as if remembering something, he nudged Shen Mu and said...

"I've got a great idea."

Hearing the sound, Shen Mu lazily opened her eyes again and glanced at him.

"What's the idea?"

"How about we invite Thirteen along to go to Zuixianlou?"

"why?"

"I'm seriously injured, and you're someone who doesn't get close to women. If the two of us go to a brothel together, won't all the girls be scared away?"

Zhou Jinghuai couldn't help but roll his eyes. The two of them stood at the entrance of Zuixianlou, and no one even let them in.

"You say I'm not interested in women?"

Shen Mu merely glanced at Zhou Jinghuai, and Zhou Jinghuai immediately shrank back, momentarily overconfident and forgetting that he was no match for Shen Mu.

"It's not my fault. Haojing told me that the Fourth Princess has been obsessed with you and wants you to be her husband."

"I'm just not interested in her. Call her whatever you want, it's up to you."

"Alright, Qingfeng, let's change our route and go to Thirteen's place in the south of the city first."

Zhou Jinghuai called out to Qingfeng, who was driving outside disguised as a servant.