Murong’s eyes widened in total disbelief: "Sis, you’re kidding me?!"
Mu Bai shrugged: "What good would it do to lie to you?"
Mu Cheng silently glanced around. Ever since entering this courtyard, he felt an unease, as if something in the shadows was constantly watching him, itching to leap out and bite him.
"What are you looking at?"
Startled, Mu Cheng turned his head and found Mu Qiuniang staring coldly at him.
"Nothing?" Mu Cheng’s eyes dodged a bit.
For some reason, he just couldn’t bear to meet her gaze, feeling as though he was being seen through.
"Ha!" Mu Qiuniang suddenly made a move before he could react, touching his forehead with a silver-white writing brush.
Mu Cheng froze completely.
"What are you doing?!" Murong yelled.
Mu Bai’s reaction was to immediately cover his brother’s mouth. Whatever the great-aunt was doing, she wouldn’t harm them.
Then, the siblings watched in shock as the brush in the woman’s hand lit up, emitting a silver-white glow like the Milky Way, shooting into Mu Cheng’s body.
A scream — from Mu Cheng’s body, not Mu Cheng himself.
Next, a mass of black mist emerged from his body, forming a ghostly figure with menacing claws, reaching towards Mu Qiuniang.
[Now that you’ve discovered me, none of you can escape...]
The shadow was fierce, like a hungry beast lunging at Mu Qiuniang. But Mu Qiuniang remained calm, drawing a silver line disconnecting it from Mu Cheng with the tip of her brush, then flicking the body of the brush.
Mu Cheng and Mu Qiuniang were merely an arm’s length apart, so the shadow was naturally also that close to Mu Qiuniang, its claws about to penetrate her body.
Mu Bai covered Murong’s mouth, rendering him unable to shout, while Mu Bai himself forgot to scream.
Her heart ached, seemingly resigned to watching the great-aunt be hurt. However, when the shadow’s fingers touched Mu Qiuniang, a silver-white shield suddenly sprang from her body.
The shadow’s hand recoiled as if burned: [Ah...] another scream.
[What have you put on your body?!] it loudly demanded.
Mu Qiuniang chuckled coldly: "Didn’t anyone tell you? There are some people in this world you can’t provoke."
The shadow’s expression changed dramatically (don’t ask me how a shadow has a face): [Impossible?! There’s no Spiritual Power fluctuation on you...] Otherwise, it wouldn’t have attacked so recklessly.
"In this world, nothing is impossible!" Mu Qiuniang tapped her brush in the air, and a golden net appeared, trapping the shadow.
The shadow screamed and vanished in a flash of golden light.
As it disappeared, a voice still whispered in the air:
[No... don’t kill me... someone sent me, someone sent me, don’t you want to know who?]
Mu Qiuniang sneered: "Not necessary!"
For a long while, the siblings Mu Bai and Murong remained in shock.
Where did they find such an amazing great-aunt, she was incredible!
They must have been seeing things just now, otherwise how could they have witnessed the great-aunt show her power and defeat a "demon"?!
Are there demons in this world?!
However, they couldn’t stay stunned for long, as Mu Cheng, who had just been rid of the "demon," fainted and fell to the ground.
"Cousin..." Mu Bai quickly let go of Mu Bai and ran to Mu Cheng’s side. He checked his breathing and sighed in relief.
"I only removed the unclean thing from him, he’s not going to die." The brush in Mu Qiuniang’s hand had disappeared, her expression as indifferent as ever, showing no sign she had just saved a life.
"Great-aunt, I wasn’t seeing things just now, was I?" Mu Bai cautiously inquired.
"No! Otherwise, do you think your grandfather, the old fox, would make a loss-making deal, sending you to find me?" Mu Qiuniang harbored little goodwill towards the Mu family’s elder. Anyone capable of raising such unpromising descendants, no matter how strong, had issues.
The progress of the Mu family couldn’t rely on a "lone hero," it required the efforts of the entire Mu family descendants.
Mu Bai shrank his neck.
Boo... If he had known how formidable the great-aunt was, he wouldn’t have been so reluctant to find her in the first place and would’ve clung to her instead.
"Hehehe... Great-aunt, was that Ghost-catching Technique just now? Can I learn it?" The still-wounded Murong shamelessly moved closer.
Does the great-aunt look young?
That’s not a problem, skills matter.
Does the great-aunt look unattractive?
That’s irrelevant, he’s not seeking a partner.
Does the great-aunt seem not to like him?
No matter, with sweetness and diligence, she will eventually like him.
Mu Bai wanted to mock; could his brother stop being so sycophantic so quickly?
Of course, she herself was also sycophantic.
Mu Qiuniang didn’t even glance at Murong, but plucked two flowers from a pot in the living room and blew on them. The pink flowers quickly transformed into human-sized figures, using two petals as legs and two as arms, lifted the unconscious Mu Cheng, and carried him to the neighboring room.
Mu Bai and Murong followed them closely, watching like they were witnessing a marvel.
Once they placed Mu Cheng on the bed and finished their task, they returned to the middle of the living room, reverted to their original form, and floated back into Mu Qiuniang’s hand.
As Mu Qiuniang placed the flowers back on their stems, they reattached themselves, showing no sign of having been plucked.
"Amazing?! Great-aunt, I want to learn this..." Mu Bai thought this skill was perfect for girls.
"You can’t learn it." To her surprise, Mu Qiuniang rejected her coldly.
"You don’t have a Spirit Root." She had checked upon their first meeting.
"What’s a Spirit Root?"
"It’s what determines whether or not you can Cultivate."
"Ah, I know this." Murong excitedly said, "Isn’t it like in those novels where Cultivation requires a Spirit Root? Great-aunt, do I have it?"
Mu Bai felt very dejected. But on second thought, so what if she didn’t have it? As the eldest daughter of the Mu family, she lacked nothing and lived comfortably. So what if she couldn’t Cultivate? It didn’t matter.
Mu Qiuniang cast a faint glance at Murong: "Yes."
"Really?!" Murong, thrilled, forgot about his injuries, which made him wince in pain with his large movements. But even that couldn’t dampen his excitement, "Great, I have a Spirit Root, I have a Spirit Root, hahaha... I’m no longer useless, I can Cultivate now!"