Mu Anxiao, the moment the woman disappeared, looked at Yan with a bitter expression and said, "Yan, she is truly your mother."
Yan looked up at Mu Anxiao and said, "Tell me, how did my father die?"
"This..." Mu Anxiao once again showed a hesitant look.
Feng Qishi, looking at Yan's indifferent expression and thinking about what the woman had said before she left, said coldly, "You've really harmed this guy; you're quite selfish."
Piao glanced at Mu Anxiao, then looked at Yan and asked, "Why don't you acknowledge your mother? I don't believe it's just because of her appearance that you treated her that way."
"Yes," Yan sighed lightly and said, "It's not just because of her appearance that I treated her that way."
"Then why?" Feng Qishi asked.
Yan deliberately glanced at Mu Anxiao, "At first, I didn't believe Mu Anxiao's words. Even if I did, I still held a semi-believing attitude. But just now, I truly saw the real face of that woman. She..." She clenched her fists, gritted her teeth, and said, "She is truly the most foolish woman I have ever met."
"Foolish?" Mu Anxiao repeated and said, "You're wrong, your mother is the smartest female rat spirit."
"If she were smart, she wouldn't have been tricked by the vine spirit," Yan said impatiently.
Mu Anxiao fell silent.
Piao said, "Alright, your mother has already left. Let's go too."
The red-clothed rabbit spirit stood behind Yan. The moment Piao said this, she said, "I have never seen my mother. You should be happy that you got to see your mother."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao looked at the red-clothed rabbit spirit, who looked dejected, and said, "Not seeing your mother, what's so sad about that?"
"Mu Anxiao, have you seen your mother?" Yan suddenly asked.
Piao looked at them helplessly, as if he were being ignored, and sighed.
Feng Qishi patted Piao's shoulder and said, "It turns out that when women are talking, it's better for men not to interrupt. It's easy to be ignored."
Piao glanced at Feng Qishi and said nothing.
"I," Mu Anxiao pointed to herself and thought for a moment, "have seen her, but I just don't remember what she looks like anymore."
"Your mother already..."
"Don't curse my mother. My mother is alive and well, full of life. I just haven't gone to find her," Mu Anxiao interrupted the red-clothed rabbit spirit.
"Where is your mother?" the red-clothed rabbit spirit asked again.
Mu Anxiao looked at Piao and Feng Qishi and said, "I won't tell you. If I tell you, what if you go find my mother? No, I won't say."
"Then what about your father?" Yan suddenly asked.
"My father is of course alive and well too. Anyway, don't think about laying a hand on my parents, or I'll fight you to the death," Mu Anxiao said excitedly.
Feng Qishi calculated Mu Anxiao's age and then thought about her parents' ages, saying, "You might have miscalculated."
Hearing this, Mu Anxiao turned to Feng Qishi and asked, "What do you mean by that?"
"You're over seventy now. Would your parents still be around?" Feng Qishi asked incredulously.
"Can't my parents live to a hundred? All the sisters and brothers in my family take good care of my parents," Mu Anxiao said excitedly.
"How do you know?" Feng Qishi asked.
Mu Anxiao shifted her gaze and said, "I went to see them, okay?"
Feng Qishi was speechless.
Mu Anxiao glared at Feng Qishi, then looked at the red-clothed rabbit spirit and Yan and said, "Let's go."
"Can you tell me how my father died?" Yan asked again.
Mu Anxiao hesitated for a moment and said, "Didn't you ask him? Soon, you'll know. I can't explain it to you in a moment because there are many things I don't remember clearly myself." She touched the back of her head.
Yan nodded, "Alright then."
As Yan agreed, the woman once again approached the vine spirit.
"Why did you come back?" the vine spirit asked, still sitting on the small stool, looking up at the woman.
The woman said, "My daughter doesn't acknowledge me and favors Mu Anxiao."
"Why?" the vine spirit asked intentionally.
"My appearance is too terrifying," the woman said.
Upon hearing this, the vine spirit deliberately glanced at the woman's face and said, "She is quite ugly, but it's true that your daughter disliking you for being ugly is not ideal."
"I want to wait a while before taking revenge on Mu Anxiao. What do you think?" the woman asked.
"You want to continue following me?" the vine spirit pointed to himself.
"Yes," the woman nodded.
The vine spirit hesitated for a moment and said, "In that case, that Rabbit Queen would be the two hundred and fifty-first. This..."
"I beg you," the woman said anxiously, fearing the vine spirit would refuse her.
Seeing the woman's sincerity, the vine spirit nodded, "Alright then."
"Thank you," the woman smiled.
"You can go back first," the vine spirit said.
The woman nodded, turned, and transformed into a wisp of green smoke, disappearing.
The vine spirit glanced at the back door, then sat back down on the stool.
In the dense forest, Shi Yi, covered in sweat, looked at the changing demon barrier above with wide eyes and exclaimed, "Not good."
Hearing this, Xu Lanyan hurried to Shi Yi's side and asked, "What's wrong?"
Shi Yi dared not retract his hands, his eyes fixed on the black gas gradually emanating from the demon barrier, and said, "This is... the demon barrier's self-protection gas. If this is released, we will be trapped within the demon barrier."
"Then what can be done?" Xu Lanyan asked from behind Shi Yi.
The female rat demon said, "The only way is to remove the demonic aura and re-cast the spell to completely dispel this."
"It's still related to the demonic aura," Xu Lanyan said.
The female rat demon nodded.
Xu Lanyan frowned and looked at the first male rat demon, asking, "Can you still hold on?"
The first male rat demon did not notice Shi Yi and nodded, saying, "Yes, we need to control the rapid spread of the black gas first, and then find a way to disperse the demonic aura."
Xu Lanyan became nervous.
Shi Yi, along with them, firmly affirmed with a "yes" and continued to exert effort.
Following that, the speed of the black gas diffusion did not slow down. The black gas drifted from above their heads towards the exit of the dense forest.
Xu Lanyan looked sideways at the black gas drifting away one after another, clenched his fist, and said, "I'll go take a look over there."
"Don't go," the female rat demon blocked Xu Lanyan.
"Why? What if that thing drifts out..."
"It's just a key to seal off the demon barrier; it won't harm anyone," the female rat demon explained.
Upon hearing this, Xu Lanyan breathed a sigh of relief and continued to look at the rat demons working together, clenching his fists.
At the same time, the dog-headed demon leading the smaller demons stopped by a tree not far from the exit.
The first small demon looked at the black gas above their heads with astonishment and asked, "Boss, what is this?"
Hearing this, the dog-headed demon noticed the anomaly. Following the first small demon, he looked up at the black gas above and said, "Uh, what is this thing?"