"Grandma Bai, I just saw the great white wolf Mu Yuan!"
I simply ignored Si Jiangchen and followed Grandma Bai out of the room.
"Mu Yuan?!"
Grandma Bai had been washing the dishes by the public water tank in the yard. Suddenly hearing me mention Mu Yuan, she immediately stopped what she was doing, turned around, and asked in surprise, "Didn't Lord Mu Yuan already perish in his tribulation?"
"He didn't perish! Grandma Bai, they're still alive!"
I shook my head and held out the flickering silver - white bead in my hand in front of her. "Mu Yuan turned into a really tall and handsome man. He gave this to me and asked me to give it as a gift to Xixi's son."
It was the darkest moment before dawn. The demon core, which was like an ice crystal, even outshone the light of the electric bulb on the yard wall.
"Xiao He, quickly put it away!"
Grandma Bai quickly dropped the bowls, covered my hand with both of hers, and barely blocked the light of the demon core. "Lord Mu Yuan is an ancient monster. If his ten - thousand - year demon core appears in the world, it might stir up another storm of bloodshed."
"Okay!"
Hearing Grandma Bai's words, I quickly took out a red - cinnabar soul - calming yellow talisman from my pocket and wrapped it around the demon core.
The soul - calming talisman could calm a person's living soul and also block external evil qi from disturbing the spiritual body. After being wrapped by my talisman, the demon core seemed to struggle a couple of times as if it had a temper, and then it finally calmed down. Its light was blocked by the yellow paper and cinnabar. Only then did I carefully hold it back in my hand.
"Grandma Bai, why do you say... 'another'? What does 'another' mean?"
From Grandma Bai's words, it seemed that Mu Yuan's demon core had been taken away by someone else before!
"Sigh... More than a decade really has passed in the blink of an eye!"
Grandma Bai shook her head and said with emotion, "They say that an ordinary man will fly into a rage for the sake of his beauty. Who would have thought that an ancient monster would also fall in love with a human..."
She sighed. Seeing Si Jiangchen slowly walking out of the room, she smiled and said, "Mr. Si, don't be jealous just because Xiao He and Mu Yuan are old acquaintances. Lord Mu Yuan's lover's surname is Lu. Her name is Lu Ruanruan. Even if she were still alive, she would only be around forty years old."
Si Jiangchen glanced at me and said indifferently, "I'm not a jealous person. Why would I be jealous..."
"Uh."
I was stunned. Si Jiangchen was jealous?
What on earth was he jealous about?!
I had only met Mu Yuan two or three times, and the first two times he was in his wolf form. I wasn't so perverted that I would fall in love with a great white wolf that wanted to kill me at any time!
However, thinking of his gnashing - teeth expression, which was different from his usual one, I somehow felt happy.
"Come here."
Seeing me sizing him up and down, Si Jiangchen couldn't help but reach out, grab me, and pull me into his arms. He whispered in my ear, "If you ever dare to..."
He only said half of his sentence. Then, not knowing what he was thinking of, he sighed softly, buried his head in my neck, and said nothing more.
"Xiao He, what kind of place is the Land of Ghosts and Jians?"
Seeing that Si Jiangchen and I finally had no more rifts between us, Grandma Bai then asked me again, "We originally thought that Lord Mu Yuan and A Ruan were no longer in this world!"
"It's a place where there's nothing."
I couldn't describe that space. It was even different from the underworld I had been to. It was completely an unpredictable void. "I don't know how, but Mu Yuan and Lu A Ruan suddenly appeared in front of me. Mu Yuan said that his demon core could only allow one person to leave safely. He voluntarily stayed there to accompany his wife."
"The Land of Ghosts and Jians..."
Grandma Bai seemed to be hearing this place for the first time. Her gray eyebrows knitted into a frown.
"A man becomes a ghost after death, and a ghost becomes a jian after death. The Land of Ghosts and Jians is probably a place that even the underworld can't control." Si Jiangchen spoke up. "If it weren't for you helping her hold on to a breath just now, Xiao He would have probably scattered her soul and perished long ago! That's why she was able to enter that space."
"I also took a risky move..."
Grandma Bai put the washed bowls on the shelf beside, wiped her hands, walked up to me, reached out to feel my pulse, and then said, "Xiao He, you must never attract lightning to devour yourself on your own again. The power is beyond what a mortal body can bear!"
Hearing Grandma Bai say this, I couldn't help but look up at Si Jiangchen.
The last time he was also backlashed by his own lightning spell. Why didn't he have such a terrifying result as I did?!
"Fortunately, Lord Mu Yuan's demon core helped. If it weren't for him helping you come back, I'm afraid no matter what method I used, I wouldn't be able to find your soul again!"
Grandma Bai finally let go of my wrist. "The Land of Ghosts and Jians is a place that none of us have even heard of... It seems that I have to ask Master Gu if he knows about such a place. Maybe I can also rescue Lord Mu Yuan and his wife!"
"Grandma Bai, please don't!"
Remembering Lu A Ruan's entrustment, I quickly waved my hand and said, "Lu A Ruan said that she doesn't allow her daughter to look for them. If anyone disturbs their world for two, they will... uh, they will make Xixi unable to have children again!"
I didn't understand what Lu A Ruan meant, so I just repeated her exact words.
Grandma Bai was stunned for a moment and then couldn't help laughing. "This little girl is still so willful even after becoming a mother! No wonder Lord Mu Yuan would fall in love with such a girl..."
"Grandma Bai, have Lu Xiyu and the others already returned to Green City?"
I didn't dare to be the least bit negligent about Mu Yuan's entrustment. The demon core he gave me made me feel like an ordinary person carrying a precious jade. I was in danger of being robbed by humans, demons, or ghosts at any time!
"Yes, they should be at home in Green City by now."
Grandma Bai probably understood what I meant. "Do you want to set off for Green City now, or do you want to finish dealing with the matters at hand first?"
"Deal with them all together!"
I remembered that Officer Xue's accident also happened in a village in the city in Green City. I might as well go to Green City this time and solve all these troubles!
However, before that, I had to drive out the One - Eyed Buddha Mother that had taken over Xue Shuo's body!
By now, it was almost dawn. A faint orange glow had broken through the light - ink - colored sky on the horizon.
"Xiao He, Mr. Si, I'm going back to rest. If you two have anything to do, just go to that room and find me!"
Grandma Bai pointed at the room where Wu Mingyu used to be and slowly walked back. I watched as her back gradually faded into the distance, getting smaller and smaller. The door was pushed open just a crack about half a foot wide. A large white - spiked hedgehog wriggled its body and walked into the room...
"Ah?!"
It was the first time I had really seen an animal transform into a human form. I couldn't help but let out a soft exclamation.
Si Jiangchen had already taken out his phone and dialed a number. He frowned slightly and asked, "Have you found them?"
"Yeah! We've already spotted the target." It was Fu Ning's voice on the other end of the phone. "General Manager Si, Xue Shuo led his mother directly into a temple!"