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

In the early morning, a ray of light shone into the room, seemingly sweeping away the gloom of the previous night.

Thirteen, who hadn't slept all night, opened the door with huge dark circles under his eyes.

Looking at the ruins in the yard, she couldn't help but feel a headache coming on. She immediately recalled Shen Mu's shameless behavior last night, clearly testing her, but it wouldn't have been as bad as him personally demolishing her house.

Especially when she looked at the bright red figure standing at the entrance of the courtyard, her headache suddenly worsened.

“Thirteen!” Zhou Jinghuai’s expression was utterly exhausted. He stood there stiffly, his whole body drenched in sweat.

"What are you here for?"

A hint of surprise flashed across Thirteen's eyes. Feeling a little guilty, she subconsciously touched her nose. Recalling Zhou Jinghuai's heart-wrenching cry yesterday, she ultimately did not ask Shen Mu for an answer.

After all, according to Shen Mu, they were all from the God Realm, and they would probably have some connection with her former master. Now is not the best time to expose this.

"I've come to you to ask you something."

Zhou Jinghuai awkwardly used the cane that Haojing had given him, walking step by step toward Thirteen, his body trembling as if he were about to fall to the ground at any moment.

Thirteen pretended to have just noticed his injury and hurriedly stepped forward to help Zhou Jinghuai up.

"What happened to you? Wasn't yesterday Emperor's Birthday? How did you manage to fall?"

Zhou Jinghuai paused, staring at Thirteen's eyes as if trying to see something in them, but she was too enigmatic to discern anything.

He paused, then said, "You don't know?"

Thirteen frowned slightly and shook his head, looking puzzled.

"What do I know? I was at home yesterday."

"Hmph—" Zhou Jinghuai curled his lips. He didn't want to question Thirteen about anything now, because if it really was her, she would never admit that she was Shi Wanyan.

With Thirteen's help, he finally plopped down on the bamboo chair.

"I've come to see you today because something happened at the palace last night, did you know?" He looked somewhat smug, and even without asking, Thirteen knew he was here to boast about his great achievements last night.

"I know, I know, you burned down the Bright Moon Palace, right?"

"How do you know?"

Zhou Jinghuai frowned. He was in so much pain last night that he hadn't had time to see Shen Mu except for knocking on Haojing's door in the middle of the night to have Haojing apply medicine to him.

Naturally, they were unaware that Shen Mu had already revealed their true identities to Thirteen.

Thirteen, seeing the doubt on Zhou Jinghuai's face, suddenly burst out laughing.

"Young General Xichen, you truly live up to your reputation. Ever since I met you, your injuries have never healed."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Jinghuai's breath hitched. He wondered if Thirteen was truly the Demon Lord's man. At this thought, a cold killing intent suddenly surged in his usually smiling eyes.

Seeing Zhou Jinghuai's serious expression, Thirteen feigned panic and said...

"It seems I let it slip, General Zhou."

“You—” Zhou Jinghuai gripped the cup in his hand tightly, his face showing difficulty. He suddenly wondered for some reason whether he should kill Shisan if Shisan really was Shi Wanyan and Shi Wanyan really was the Demon Lord’s person.

Thirteen's bright smile truly stung him. She smiled as she glanced at Zhou Jinghuai's expression, her voice faltering as she spoke.

"You don't actually think I'm one of the Demon Lord's people, do you?"

She raised an eyebrow mysteriously, her expression completely different from her serious demeanor last night when she was scheming against Shen Mu. Instead, the way she looked at Zhou Jinghuai now was exactly the same as when she had been humiliated yesterday.

"You! Cough cough cough..."

Zhou Jinghuai suddenly couldn't catch his breath, and was choked by Thirteen's words, coughing out a string of coughs. His already weak and pale face suddenly turned a few unusual blushes from coughing.

"Speak slowly." Seeing this, Thirteen picked up the teapot on the bamboo table and poured Zhou Jinghuai a glass of cool water to moisten his throat. He had just gotten up and hadn't had time to boil water yet.

Zhou Jinghuai drank several glasses of cold water before he could suppress the cough that was stuck in his throat. He glanced sideways at Thirteen.

"Shen Mu told you?"

Thirteen nodded, his smile fading.

"I've already told you, to be honest, you've kept a lot of things from me."

She suddenly remembered how Shen Mu attacked her last night, every move aimed at killing her, showing no regard for life or death. Her expression turned cold as she stared intently at Zhou Jinghuai.

She needs to find something to make up for herself from Zhou Jinghuai, otherwise she will really suffer in silence.

Zhou Jinghuai, however, failed to notice the change in Thirteen's expression and said awkwardly...

"That was Shen Mu's idea, it has nothing to do with me. If you want to blame someone, blame him, he told me not to tell you."

"Then how dare you come here so early in the morning to tell me about burning down the Bright Moon Palace? Aren't you afraid I'm on the Demon Lord's side?" Thirteen rested his hands on the table, watching Zhou Jinghuai pour himself another glass of water with great interest.

"I came to tell you this first thing this morning, but last night I was ambushed by an assassin who injured my back."

As Zhou Jinghuai spoke, he kept glancing at Thirteen's expression for any change. Logically, he felt that the girl from last night was her. However, he lacked evidence and dared not bring it up openly.

Thirteen raised an eyebrow, naturally understanding Zhou Jinghuai's probing.

"There's someone even you, General Xichen, can't beat? You must be really weak." She used a double entendre, feigning ignorance, and successfully fooled Zhou Jinghuai's probing.

"You—" Zhou Jinghuai was speechless and rolled his eyes at himself.

It's not that he's particularly weak; it's just that most of his divine power is suppressed in the mortal realm, making it difficult for him to fight off enemies—that's the truth.

He didn't sleep all night and thought about it for a long time. The girl who attacked him yesterday clearly didn't use any divine power, so why was the arrow she used so powerfully?

If the other party hadn't held back yesterday, I'm afraid I would have really suffered.

Thirteen watched as Zhou Jinghuai finished all the water in the teapot, a smile subtly playing on her lips, but she quickly suppressed it, afraid he would see it.

"I'm just a little curious, how did we find you such an unpopular identity in the mortal world?"

Thirteen was implying something, recalling the Nanyang Emperor's reaction to him in the Imperial Study, which must be because he had behaved too badly as a person in the mortal world.

Zhou Jinghuai glared at her, annoyed, thinking to himself, "Why do you have to bring up something I don't want to talk about?"

"It's all my fault for that subordinate. He gets nothing done all day long, but he causes me a ton of trouble."

“That’s true. After all, people who work under General Xichen can tell what kind of person you are just by looking at how your subordinates do things.” Thirteen winked at Zhou Jinghuai, feigning innocence.

"Can you stop now?!" Zhou Jinghuai was so angry at her calling him "Little General Xichen" that his heart ached.

He could have gotten away unscathed last night, but instead he fell down on the spot and refused to tell anyone the reason for his injury.

Upon hearing this, Thirteen stopped laughing at him and instead said with a somewhat serious expression.

"Shen Mu didn't tell me last night what your plans are next. Are you just waiting for the Taoist priest to expose himself?"