Starting at the Nascent Soul stage, a rogue cultivator is incredibly poor.

Deep in the canyon, the fog was as thick as ink.

Daohe turned his head and saw several streaks of light chasing closely behind him. The cyan streak in front was incredibly fast; it was Qingyouzi, and he was about to catch up.

A fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he bit his tongue hard.

Blood and essence are burning!

Driven by the secret technique, his escape speed suddenly increased dramatically, and the gray light flashed like lightning, instantly leaving several other streaks of light behind him behind.

But what weighed heavily on his mind was that Qingyouzi had not been shaken off.

The azure light intensified, increasing its speed and relentlessly pursuing the figure three zhang behind, like a shadow.

Daohe broke out in a cold sweat.

The chase lasted for several hours.

Qingyouzi followed closely behind, never attacking, but merely pressuring, driving, and wearing down his prey. Like a hunter chasing a wounded beast, he neither rushed nor killed, waiting for his prey to exhaust itself.

"He's trying to wear me down..."

Daohe felt a sweet taste in his throat, and another mouthful of blood welled up, which he forced down.

Already severely injured and still recovering, he had just burned his life essence to activate a secret technique, and now the backlash was striking, making his internal organs feel as if they were being scorched by fire. His escape light began to become unstable, and his aura rapidly weakened.

"If this continues... we're doomed."

He abruptly stopped his escape and turned to face the pursuing green shadow.

He took out a jade bottle from his storage bag, tilted his head back, and drank all the millennium-old spiritual milk inside. Spiritual power surged into his dantian, barely stabilizing his injuries, but his face remained ashen.

Qingyouzi stopped at the same time, hovering ten feet away.

She wasn't in a hurry to make a move; she simply watched him quietly, her eyes devoid of any emotion.

"Fellow Daoist Daohe," Qingyouzi spoke, his voice calm, "You are seriously injured. You forced the secret technique just now, and now you are suffering a backlash. Why resist? Come with me back to Tianxian City for investigation, and you may be spared some suffering."

Daohe stared intently at his opponent, his body trembling slightly from the intense pain, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

"I said... I'm not a traitor."

His voice was hoarse, and each word seemed to be squeezed out from between his teeth.

"I, Daohe, have never considered myself a benevolent person. I have committed murder and robbery, and I have also schemed and plotted... But I was born and raised in Nanxuan, my roots are here! Why would I betray them? Where would I go? Would the people of Beiting Continent truly accept a Nascent Soul cultivator who has betrayed the place that gave me birth and raised me?"

He was panting, his eyes bloodshot.

"You've all been fooled... This was all planned. Someone wants me to take the blame, someone wants me dead!"

Qingyouzi remained silent.

But behind him, countless blue threads had quietly emerged, like venomous snakes raising their heads, their killing intent solidified into reality.

"Now that you're here, I have no intention of delving into right and wrong," Qingyouzi said slowly. "If you truly have a clear conscience, the Heavenly Immortal City will give you justice."

"justice?"

Daohe laughed, a mournful laugh, with blood foam spilling from the corner of his mouth.

"I'll surely die if I go back! They've set this trap, how dare they allow me to speak out? The Old Man of Heavenly Secrets' divination… Hahaha, what a fine Old Man of Heavenly Secrets! His divination skills are so unfathomable? So unusable?"

He steadied himself, his gaze momentarily unfocused before snapping back to focus.

"I'm just a rogue cultivator... without sect or affiliation, with no one to rely on. I joined the Heavenly Immortal City to fight, just to earn some battle merits, exchange them for cultivation resources, and some means to protect myself... What's wrong with that?"

He stared at Qingyouzi, his eyes churning with emotions. Regret, resentment, anger, all of which eventually turned into a cold despair.

"If you were the one wronged today... Fellow Daoist Qingyou, could you remain so calm? Could you?!"

"Stop talking nonsense." Qingyouzi's voice was slightly cold.

"Nonsense? Hahahaha!" Daohe laughed loudly, tears of blood mingling with blood streaming from the corners of his eyes. "Good, good, good! If that's how it is."

Suddenly, a gray-white whisk appeared in his hand, its dust as white as snow, its handle mottled and full of the marks of time.

"This whisk is a memento from my master... Before he passed away, he said that the path of a wandering cultivator is difficult, and told me to guard my true self." Daohe lowered his head and stroked the handle of the whisk, his voice suddenly becoming soft, "Have I guarded it? I don't know..."

He suddenly raised his head, his eyes calmly gazing at Qingyouzi standing quietly in front of him, and his voice rose.

"Fellow Daoist Qingyou, we are both rogue cultivators, and I naturally understand your difficulties and your purpose. But I will not surrender so easily. Today is the perfect day; I have long wanted to test my skills against you."

Before he finished speaking, the whisk suddenly swept across!

A streak of gray-white sword energy tore through the mist, slashing straight at Qingyouzi's face!

Qingyouzi was prepared, and his figure disappeared in an instant.

When it reappeared, it was already three zhang to the left of Daohe. Countless blue threads poured down like a torrential rain, piercing straight at the major acupoints all over Daohe's body!

Daohe looked up and met the calm eyes behind the silk thread.

He gave a bitter smile and waved his whisk once more.

Millions of white dust threads surged, colliding and entangled with the blue threads in mid-air! The ancient blue demonic fire attached to the blue threads scorched the white threads, emitting a hissing sound and a pungent stench.

It was difficult to determine who was better at the time.

But Daohe's face grew paler and paler.

His body was severely injured, and his vital essence was backfiring. At this moment, he was forcibly activating the magic weapon, and blood began to seep from his seven orifices. His hand holding the whisk trembled violently.

"I...can't die...I...can't die unjustly like this, I must catch...the traitor who truly wronged me!"

He gritted his teeth, suddenly withdrew his magic, and let the black hair pierce through his shoulder blades!

Using the force of the impact, his body flew backward, and at the same time, a flash of light appeared above his head.

The nascent soul leaves the body!

The tiny figure, carrying a whisk, transformed into a streak of light and sped towards the depths of the canyon!

"I was on guard against you."

Qingyouzi's voice came from all directions.

Countless blue threads burst forth simultaneously from the rock walls on both sides of the canyon, from the mist overhead, and from the crevices beneath one's feet! A net of heaven and earth, layer upon layer, instantly sealed off all paths.

Daohe's nascent soul crashed into the silk net, and the ancient green demon fire suddenly spread, scorching the nascent soul so much that it screamed in agony, and its spiritual light rapidly dimmed.

"Aaaaaah—!"

The whisk in the nascent soul's arms fell off and plunged into the abyss.

Qingyouzi loosely clenched his right hand.

The wire mesh suddenly contracted!

With a loud bang!

A burst of inspiration erupted, and a surge of energy rolled in.

As the light faded, only a faint afterimage remained of Dao Crane's nascent soul, floating in the air before slowly dissipating.

His eyes, gradually becoming empty, stared silently at Qingyouzi. The emotions in his eyes were too complex: resentment, confusion, sorrow, and a faint trace of resentment.

His lips moved slightly, and his voice was so soft it was almost inaudible:

"I...I really...am not a traitor..."

The afterimage completely disappeared.

The soft sound of the whisk hitting the ground echoed from the bottom of the abyss, lingering for a long time.

Qingyouzi stood still, his face turning blue from the blue light of the Ancient Azure Demon Flame.

The canyon was deathly silent.

Only that one sentence kept echoing in my mind.

"Even at the last moment... he still wouldn't admit it." Qingyouzi muttered to herself, "If he really is a traitor, why would he do this? If he isn't..."

He shook his head, suppressing the strange feeling in his heart.

He swiftly retrieved a jade bottle, gathering and sealing the remaining life force of the Nascent Soul in the air. He then landed, picked up the Dao Crane's body, and removed its storage bag. He placed the body, along with the jade bottle, into a new storage bag; these were the credentials for exchanging battle merits.

A separate storage bag, tied around the waist.

As he turned, his gaze swept across the abyss.

The gray-white whisk lay quietly among the rocks at the bottom of the valley, its dust spreading out like snow covering the ground.

Qingyouzi remained silent for three breaths, but ultimately did not pick it up.

If Daohe was truly wronged...

Why did the Old Man of Heaven's predictions go wrong? Does the Northern Continent truly possess a treasure capable of altering the secrets of heaven?

"That's enough."

He turned around and transformed into a blue rainbow that soared into the sky.

He was powerless to delve into the truth of the matter. The path of a rogue cultivator was inherently precarious; merely preserving oneself was already difficult.

The azure rainbow pierced through the mist and headed towards the direction of Celestial City.

The canyon returned to silence.

Only the whisk was gradually buried by dust at the bottom of the valley.

Amidst the dust, a line of small characters can be faintly seen engraved on the end of the handle; the characters are long since blurred.

"Guard your heart".

What kind of heart are you guarding?

Perhaps even its owner couldn't explain it at the last moment.