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

This head

Zhou Jinghuai leaned against the wall in the courtyard with his arms crossed. He turned his head to look at Aunt Qin, who was pouring tea for herself in the courtyard. Her indifferent appearance made him feel extremely annoyed.

When Qin Rao had drunk her fifth cup, Zhou Jinghuai finally spoke first.

"Aunt, did you send me here just to watch you drink tea? The matter I told you is important, and I really can't leave now."

"Which is the most important thing to you, killing the Demon Lord or that girl?"

Qin Rao placed the teacup on the stone table, raised her indifferent little face, and gave him only a slight glare.

"I……"

Zhou Jinghuai immediately fell silent; he had never expected Qin Rao to expose him like this.

Strangely enough, ever since Thirteen appeared by his side, his Aunt Qin has rarely left his side, as if she was afraid that he would do something rash.

Seeing that Zhou Jinghuai was silent, Qin Rao slowly spoke.

“I told you that the matter of Xichen cannot be delayed any longer. But you insisted on staying in the mortal realm to protect them until they reach Philadelphia. Now that they have arrived, you are telling me to postpone it for another ten days or half a month. How am I supposed to respond to you?”

She was naturally dissatisfied.

Compared to the trivial matters of the mortal world, Xi Chen should clearly be Zhou Jinghuai's top priority.

If it weren't for the remorse she felt about that incident back then, she would never have agreed to Zhou Jinghuai's request to escort the group of Thirteen safely to Philadelphia.

“But Aunt… I agreed to help them find Sun Youzhi from the beginning.”

Zhou Jinghuai's voice was firm, as if he had already made up his mind long ago.

Seeing this, Qin Rao couldn't help but find it somewhat amusing.

"Then why are you still negotiating with me? Isn't this just telling me that if you can leave here safely today, I'll let you stay in the mortal realm for another three months!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Qin Rao simply waved his hand.

The array that had appeared out of nowhere suddenly closed in from all directions, and a dark purple light enveloped Zhou Jinghuai, instantly rendering him unable to move.

"Aunt! You actually used a soul-locking spell on me!"

Zhou Jinghuai was taken aback. He tried to forcefully break the formation, but he couldn't even lift his hand and could only watch helplessly as the formation converged on him.

The technique of the Soul-Locking Curse has been lost for a long time. It is only because it can ignore the laws of the mortal world that it is classified as a forbidden technique of the divine realm.

Firstly, there was the fear that the formation would harm mortals; secondly, the formation consumed too much divine power, and now very few people in the Four Realms Divine Kingdom could use it.

However, the last time someone appeared in the mortal realm was Shen Mu from Cang Ling.

At that time, he prepared it for Sun Youzhi, the incarnation of the Demon Lord.

"Don't blame me. You broke our agreement first. I didn't want to lay a hand on you."

Qin Rao couldn't hide the pain in her eyes. She naturally didn't want to lay a hand on Zhou Jinghuai, but seeing that young man's reaction ever since he discovered Thirteen's true identity...

Acting absurdly and without any rhyme or reason

If she doesn't step in to stop it, Zhou Jinghuai will likely repeat the same mistake!

"Aunt... I only requested two months... According to the timeline of the divine realm, that's only a few days... Aunt!!"

Zhou Jinghuai was so suppressed by the formation that he could barely breathe. Currently, in the mortal realm, due to the laws of the universe, he had lost most of his divine power, making him a demigod.

How could they possibly withstand the drain of the Soul-Locking Curse?

He knelt down with a thud, sweat soaking his clothes and rolling down his handsome face.

Seeing him in such pain, Qin Rao naturally did not want to...

"If you agree to return to Xichen with me now, I will immediately lift this curse; otherwise... you may very well perish here."

"I don't want to, Auntie!!"

Zhou Jinghuai shook his head desperately, at this moment he could only try to use his remaining 20% ​​of divine power to forcibly break the curse.

But this is tantamount to throwing an egg against a rock!

Qin Rao frowned slightly as he watched him resist so stubbornly, and his voice became even more displeased.

"I think you've really lost your mind, daring to defy me so recklessly for some little girl who came from who-knows-where."

As she finished speaking, she quietly raised her hand and tightened the formation a bit more.

At this moment, Zhou Jinghuai's face was flushed red, and his eyes were bloodshot. He no longer cared about his own life, and his attitude was unusually resolute.

"Aunt...I've already...already missed two hundred years...I don't have the courage to lose her again...I don't have the courage!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Jinghuai felt as if his body was about to explode. He screamed hysterically, as if only in this way could he loosen the invisible shackles on his body.

Just as the two were arguing, a gray-green figure suddenly appeared and forcefully blocked Zhou Jinghuai's path.

"who are you?"

Qin Rao looked displeased. She looked up at the boy in front of her and felt that he looked somewhat familiar.

Xie Qiao's face was ashen as he plunged his sword straight into the core of the Soul-Locking Curse.

A sudden burst of purple light appeared and then vanished just as quickly. As the light faded, the array binding Zhou Jinghuai gradually disappeared in the wind.

While the Soul-Locking Curse is powerful, it is also extremely easy to break: an outsider must break it through the core of the formation. Therefore, this kind of formation can only be maximized if it is laid down in advance.

Qin Rao narrowed her eyes slightly. She had never expected that the young man in front of her could discover the array's core so easily.

"General Qin, this is not the time for you to argue with Young Master Zhou. I was ordered to protect Miss Thirteen and Young Master Zhou. Now that I see him in trouble, I have to help him first. Please forgive me, General Qin."

Xie Qiao's voice was icy cold, devoid of any emotion.

If he hadn't come looking for Zhou Jinghuai, who had disappeared last night, he probably would have died at Qin Rao's hands.

"For a brat like you to break my spell, I wonder if that's a slap in my face?"

Although Qin Rao's face was full of dissatisfaction, he secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

After all, she really didn't want to kill Zhou Jinghuai here.

"You...why are you here?"

Zhou Jinghuai staggered to his feet. Without the suppression of the formation, his body recovered extremely quickly.

Xie Qiao instinctively reached out and supported Zhou Jinghuai's swaying body, then said in a deep voice...

"Do you know that the Crown Prince sent people early this morning to take away Thirteen and the Second Miss Pei?"

"what!"

Zhou Jinghuai was completely stunned. At this moment, he no longer cared about Qin Rao's increasingly ashen face. He quickly grabbed Xie Qiao's arm and said...

"Where were they taken? How...how does the Crown Prince know where they are?"

Xie Qiao frowned slightly as she looked at the panicked Zhou Jinghuai.

"I went out early this morning too. I noticed the restaurant was empty just now. I asked the owner and found out that a group of guards took them away. I don't know anything else yet..."

At this point, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty.

He knew perfectly well that Zhou Jinghuai wasn't at the restaurant, so he shouldn't have gone out on business.

Now, he really couldn't even protect Thirteen!