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

However, due to the war orchestrated by the Demon Lord Chongming five hundred years ago, the emperors of the four kingdoms perished one after another. Without the protection of the divine lords, the divine realm gradually developed intricate connections with the demon realm and the mortal realm, using some form of transaction to consolidate their divine status.

More and more gods with divine powers are emerging, but this has also brought many hidden dangers to the four kingdoms.

Many demonic beasts from the demon realm attempted to seize the throne, become emperors, and unify the four divine realms.

However, all of this was told to her by her master, Lord Cangqiong Mountain. After all, Cangqiong Mountain is located right in the center of the three realms of gods, demons, and mortals, and it has no jurisdiction over any of them.

Thirteen, who seemed to have sorted out some of the clues, looked at Shen Mu with a somewhat suspicious gaze.

"You come from Azure Feather. What does that have to do with testing my capture of the Demon Lord?"

She truly couldn't understand why the difference in strength between the gods and mortals was so great when the gods came to the mortal realm.

"Don't you know that poisons from the realm of gods can only be neutralized by those from the realm of gods?"

"And what about the Demon Lord?"

"The first time you sneaked into the palace, it was I who sent Haojing to ambush you."

Upon hearing this, Thirteen looked up and saw Shen Mu's pretentious expression. From the moment Shen Mu deliberately exposed her identity, she felt that the cunning Shen Mu in front of her was his true face.

She suddenly felt like a clown being made a fool of, turned her head away from him, and even couldn't suppress her anger.

"So, Lord Shen, you're saying I was being watched by you from the very first few days after I arrived in the capital?"

"Yes"

"Was that poison deliberately given to me to see?"

"Yes"

"So Zhou Jinghuai is also from the divine realm?"

"Yes"

"Then aren't you a jerk?" Thirteen couldn't help but roll her eyes, thinking that they were all in cahoots, just waiting to see her make a fool of herself.

"That's not it."

"Then what do you mean? Just to test me? How boring, Shen Mu."

Thirteen seemed to be filled with anger. She grabbed Shen Mu's collar, but because she was a head shorter than him, her hand gripping his clothes looked like she was being coquettish.

A hint of surprise flashed in Shen Mu's eyes. He looked down at Thirteen's puffed-up face, which was actually quite cute. The way his eyebrows and eyes looked really resembled Shi Wanyan.

He even regretted that he had never associated Shisan's face with Shi Wanyan before, even though he had only met Shi Wanyan a few times.

Thirteen was unaware that the other party's hand, hidden in his sleeve, was secretly gathering power. At this moment, Shen Mu wanted to switch back Thirteen's true form to see if it was Shi Wanyan.

As the two stared at each other, someone suddenly tumbled down from the collapsed low wall, breaking the strange atmosphere in the courtyard.

"Ouch—"

Haojing stepped on the bricks and tiles, lost his balance, and fell to the ground in pain. He had already suffered too much today.

Shen Mu turned around at the sound and saw Hao Jing wriggling on the ground. He said in an unfriendly tone...

"Who asked you to come here?"

"master"

As soon as Shen Mu finished speaking, Xie Qiao suddenly appeared from some corner and landed steadily in front of Shen Mu.

What two good followers!

With a cold laugh, Shen Mu withdrew his hand from under his robe.

Only Thirteen remained rooted to the spot, her little hand still clutching Shen Mu's clothes.

Hao Jing stood up unsteadily and saw that Thirteen was actually grabbing his master. He quickly spoke up.

"Lord Shen, what are you doing?"

Thirteen then remembered that she was still holding onto Shen Mu's clothes and quickly let go. She coughed a few times in a serious manner.

"I'll go get you some water."

As soon as she finished speaking, she dashed into the house.

Xie Qiao didn't speak, but her eyes swept over the teapot on the bamboo table, which was still steaming. Wasn't that water?

"My lord...did you two have a fight?" Hao Jing looked at the ruins at his feet, thinking that they had indeed fought after all.

Shen Mu looked displeased and did not answer his question.

"What are you two doing here?"

"The banquet at the palace ended quickly. Your guess was correct, sir. There was indeed a grand show."

Seeing the dissatisfaction in Shen Mu's eyes, Xie Qiao hurriedly explained.

When the two of them returned to the Shen residence, they did not see Shen Mu, so they wondered if he had gone to Thirteen's place, and that's why they came looking for him.

Shen Mu put his hands behind his back, seemingly reverting to his usual cold demeanor.

"Is Consort An pregnant, and does the Emperor of Nanyang wish to establish an Empress?"

Xie Qiao was taken aback upon hearing this, not expecting his master's guess to be so accurate, and nodded.

"That's right, but Prime Minister Pei stopped us."

Just now in the main hall, the Emperor wanted to make Consort An the Empress, since the position of Empress had been vacant for more than ten years, and Consort An had been managing the Phoenix Seal on her behalf, only lacking the title.

As the courtiers in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment, Prime Minister Pei was the first to stand up and oppose the emperor's decision to make An Ruyi empress.

Shen Mu's tone faltered, carrying a hint of sarcasm.

"Is Prime Minister Pei using the war as an excuse?"

"That's right, that's why the Emperor is furious and the matter of establishing an Empress remains unresolved."

"What about the Second Prince?"

“He…” Xie Qiao was taken aback, but Hao Jing continued his sentence.

"The Second Prince presented the Emperor with a box of treasures, and I think there was a girl from the Western Regions hidden inside."

Shen Mu sat down on the bamboo chair by himself, closing his eyes and remaining silent as the chair swayed.

On the contrary, Haojing looked at Xieqiao with a questioning gaze. Even though Shen Mu wasn't in the palace, he could guess what had happened.

He walked to the bamboo chair, looking puzzled.

"My lord, how did you know the Second Prince was making a move?"

Hao Jing carefully recalled that during their months in the capital, they had never seen Shen Mu pay any attention to the Second Prince. After all, he was a nobody in the Nanyang royal family who couldn't get a word in edgewise.

So much so that Haojing didn't even take the Second Prince's attendance at the Emperor's birthday celebration tonight to heart.

"Then how do you think Helian Nash knew that the Embroidered Uniform Guard had handed over the evidence of the assassination of the Nanyang court officials to the Emperor?"

Shen Mu's words left the two of them stunned on the spot.

Hao Jing stared at Shen Mu for a long time before daring to ask.

"Does Your Excellency mean that the Second Prince is colluding with the Khan of the Western Regions?"

Xie Qiao interrupted Hao Jing, speaking in a serious tone.

"You can't just exchange this for a girl from the Western Regions for the Emperor, can you? What good would that do him?"

Upon hearing this, Shen Mu slowly opened his eyelids, his eyes cold and devoid of any emotion, and said...

"As long as it's something that can disgust the An family, the Second Prince would be willing to do it even if it meant exchanging ten pieces of news from the Nanyang court for a girl."

The discord between the second and third princes was not caused by a power struggle within the court.

On the contrary, it was an accident in his childhood that caused the Second Prince's mother, Consort Shun, to fall into the lake and die. It is said that a palace servant saw that the Third Prince pushed Consort Shun into the lake when he was crossing the stone bridge.

Because the late empress had already passed away, the power of the harem fell into the hands of An Ruyi, even though the second prince had brought all the witnesses and evidence to the emperor.

Due to An Ruyi's influence and the Duke of Anguo's meritorious service in controlling the floods, the emperor, in order to quell the matter, only hastily punished the third prince with a year of confinement.