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

The realms of gods and demons are currently not interfering with each other.

But four hundred years ago, they were mortal enemies.

Zhou Jinghuai's face suddenly turned deathly pale, and he muttered to himself.

"Gods and demons... are mortal enemies! How can this be..."

"You know perfectly well, yet you've been deceiving yourself all along. Zhou Jinghuai, was it Aunt Qin who sent someone to take you away back then, or were you simply too afraid to face her?"

Shen Mu's tone was solemn and cold, devoid of any emotion.

"You...you old fox..."

Zhou Jinghuai suddenly seemed relieved and chuckled softly.

Shen Mu frowned and looked down at him, watching him stagger to his feet with a questioning gaze.

"I was deceiving myself, but I already regretted it on the way back. But it was already too late, Shen Mu..."

"how?"

"What if... what if I wanted to take Thirteen with me..."

"Ah……"

Shen Mu suddenly chuckled softly, his handsome features taking on a more alluring quality in the candlelight. He raised an eyebrow and said...

"If you think you can take her away, then go ahead. But let me give you a piece of advice: she doesn't remember anything now."

Shen Mu's words made Zhou Jinghuai, who was about to leave, stop in his tracks. As if struck by lightning, he turned around in astonishment and looked at Shen Mu sitting at the table.

"What did you say?"

His eyes widened, as if he thought he had misheard.

Shen Mu secretly exhaled a breath of stale air, slowly walked up to him, and met his questioning gaze.

"If you still remember, when we came out of Zuixianlou, Thirteen's nightmare appeared. That nightmare should be her past memory."

Zhou Jinghuai fell silent instantly.

Indeed, he also remembered that when they came out of Zuixianlou, Thirteen suddenly became like a demon, going mad.

If Shen Mu hadn't knocked her unconscious, she probably would have been trapped in her painful memories and unable to escape them.

Thinking of this, Zhou Jinghuai took a deep breath to keep himself from fainting, but his voice still trembled uncontrollably as he spoke next.

"so what should I do now?"

"By now, your Aunt Qin should be able to guess Thirteen's identity. If that's the case, then it's actually a good thing that she doesn't remember you right now."

Shen Mu's eyes darkened, as if a subtle emotion was stirring within them.

"You mean I can't acknowledge her as my daughter yet?"

Zhou Jinghuai's breath hitched. He had waited a full hundred years for this day. Finally, the person he had been longing for day and night was right in front of him, but he could not acknowledge her.

Thinking of this, his hands unconsciously clenched into fists, and his whole body trembled.

"She has lost her divine powers. If she were to reveal her relationship with you, would General Qin Rao let her go?"

Shen Mu's words were also tinged with his own selfish motives, but ever since the people he sent discovered Thirteen's background, he had his own ideas.

Since Zhou Jinghuai couldn't protect Thirteen, then it was up to him to do it.

After a moment's deliberation, Zhou Jinghuai hesitated before finally admitting defeat.

"Then I won't look for her. I'll deal with Demon Lord Chongming first, then it won't be too late. That's all, I'll go back and rest now."

Zhou Jinghuai glanced at Shen Mu, then left the tent in a hurry without waiting for a response.

Just then, Hao Jing and Xie Qiao, who were hiding not far away, stared at each other without saying a word.

"You mean that Thirteen is Shi Wanyan? That Thirteen is the old friend that Young Master Zhou has been searching for for over a hundred years?"

Xie Qiao's face scrunched up. For him, it took Hao Jing three explanations to understand such a complicated relationship.

Hao Jing sighed deeply; he knew all too well that this relationship was far too strange.

"I also want to know if it is or isn't, but you also said that there's a girl named Shi Wanyan on Haohai Cliff, right?" Haojing looked at Xie Qiao in confusion. When he first heard this news, he himself had some doubts.

A hundred years ago, they were clearly at the foot of Cangqiong Mountain, and Shen Mu recognized the girl's name as Shi Wanyan based on that jade pendant.

And it was he who sent that girl to Mount Cangqiong, where she became a disciple of the Mountain Lord of Cangqiong.

But how come there's another person named Shi Wanyan in the demon realm now?

"If you ask me, we should tell the adults about this first and let them decide." Xie Qiao slowly stood up, even though he had been squatting for a long time and his legs were numb and he could not stand up straight.

Haojing pulled on his arm, and with the help of him, Yitong stood up.

He twisted his aching back, secretly groaning in pain.

If that's the case, his days ahead will likely be even more difficult.

"I certainly wouldn't dare to say anything. You should. You have no idea how the master looked the other day when Young Master Zhou gave the Thirteenth Miss a wooden hairpin. He looked like he wanted to eat her alive."

"If you don't go, how dare I go?"

Xie Qiao was naturally afraid of Shen Mu. He turned around to leave, but bumped into Shen Mu, whose face was ashen, who had somehow appeared behind them.

"Big... lord!"

He quickly stood up straight and nudged Haojing, who hadn't yet reacted, with his elbow.

"What are you doing... sir!"

Haojing twisted his waist and turned around, instantly freezing in place.

He quickly shut his mouth, instinctively shouting out.

"My lord, Xie Qiao needs to speak with you. I have other matters to attend to, so I'll be going to take care of them now!"

After saying that, he ran off and disappeared, leaving Xie Qiao behind with a look of utter astonishment on his face.

"Big……"

"What's the matter?"

Shen Mu's tone was extremely cold, likely due to the unpleasantness he had with Zhou Jinghuai in the tent earlier.

Xie Qiao swallowed hard; he had naturally thought of that as well.

He had intended to run away, but when he looked down, he saw Shen Mu grab his arm. The faint pain from that arm instantly brought him to his senses, and he quickly began to explain.

"My lord, I have found Miss Wei in the demon realm. She has the same name as the girl that Young Master Zhou was looking for before."

"Shi Wanyan?"

"My lord... I understand."

When Xie Qiao first returned, he only told Shen Mu about the girl in the demon realm. However, Shen Mu did not mention at that time that the demon realm lord's sister would share the same name as Thirteen.

Such a coincidence is hard to believe; they could be two different people.

Especially when Xie Qiao learned about Thirteen's true identity from Hao Jing.

Given such a huge coincidence, Xie Qiao wasn't too stupid; he could easily guess that there was something wrong with this.

Shen Mu rubbed his forehead with one hand, suddenly feeling a bit tired.

Right now, he clearly wants to deal with the Demon Lord first, so why is he focusing on Thirteen's identity all over the place?

"I've always known this, but I thought it had nothing to do with our continued efforts to capture Sun Youzhi. So I simply put it aside and didn't want to involve others too much."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Kill Sun Youzhi first."