My words have become law; I truly have no desire to display my divine power before others.

Lu Yang took a deep breath and decided not to argue with her. He looked at Ye Qingfeng:

"Immortal Master, do you know?"

Ye Qingfeng closed his eyes and released his divine sense.

A moment later, he opened his eyes:

"There is a town about 30 li to the southeast."

Lü Yang's eyes lit up:

"It's much easier now that we have a town! Let's rest there for a while, ask around to find out where we are, and then figure out how to get back!"

As he spoke, he began to head southeast.

After taking a few steps, he suddenly remembered something and turned back to look at Shen Zhaoyue:

"Officer Shen, can you walk?"

Shen Zhaoyue stood up and stretched her legs:

"able."

The three of them headed southeast.

The mountain path was difficult to walk on, with weeds and rocks everywhere, making it hard to find a place to walk.

Lu Yang walked at the front, turning back to talk to Shen Zhaoyue as he went.

"Officer Shen, where do you think we've been taken? Could we be thousands of miles away from Jingyang Prefecture?"

"Possibly."

"When can we go back?"

"have no idea."

"How come you don't know anything?"

"Because I really don't know."

"Can't you just guess?"

"I won't guess."

Why?

"If I guess wrong, you'll ask again."

Lü Yang: ...

After walking for a while, he suddenly remembered something, leaned closer to Ye Qingfeng, and asked in a low voice:

"Master, don't you think there's something strange about Officer Shen?"

Ye Qingfeng: "What's strange about it?"

Lü Yang: "It's just... why does he talk like a woman, so hurtful?"

Ye Qingfeng glanced at him, then at Shen Zhaoyue walking ahead, and suddenly smiled.

"She was originally a woman."

Lü Yang was taken aback:

"A woman?"

Shen Zhaoyue was walking ahead when she suddenly turned around and said to Lü Yang:

"Young Master Lü, don't worry, I won't treat you like a man either."

Lu Yang's face turned dark.

Ye Qingfeng's smile deepened.

The three left the valley and walked along the mountain path hidden by wild grass.

It's called a mountain road, but there's really no road at all.

Everywhere was overgrown with weeds and littered with rocks, making it difficult to walk and leaving one's legs aching.

Lu Yang had complained no less than ten times, from "What kind of place is this?" to "When are we going to get to town?" and then to "Officer Shen, are you sure we're going the right way?"

Shen Zhaoyue ignored everything and just kept walking with her head down.

Ye Qingfeng walked at the front, his pace neither hurried nor slow, as if he were walking on the stone path in his own backyard.

The jagged rocks and tripping vines seemed to automatically move aside under his feet.

The sky gradually darkened.

The sun had already set behind the mountains, leaving only a dark red afterglow on the horizon.

The surrounding mountain shadows grew deeper and deeper, like countless crouching giant beasts, silently watching them.

Lu Yang looked up at the sky, then at the increasingly blurry mountain shadows around him, and felt a little worried.

"Master, it's getting dark. Will we be able to reach town tonight?"

Ye Qingfeng: "You definitely won't make it thirty li."

Lü Yang: "Then what do we do? Spend the night in this desolate wilderness?"

Ye Qingfeng did not answer.

Lü Yang sighed, then looked at Shen Zhaoyue, and suddenly remembered something:

"Officer Shen, I have a question for you."

Shen Zhaoyue: "Speak."

Lü Yang leaned closer and lowered his voice:

"How can you, the head constable of the Six Doors, be so stubborn?"

Shen Zhaoyue didn't stop walking and glanced at him:

"What do you mean?"

Lü Yang: "I mean, how dare you, a mere mortal, go against those mountain spirits and monsters?"

"After being slapped away by that fleshy Buddha, I thought you were something special. Turns out you were just messing with me?"

Shen Zhaoyue paused, then said irritably:

Whether I can handle it or not is not up to you.

Lü Yang: "Then tell me, what makes you think you can?"

Shen Zhaoyue continued walking forward, her tone calm:

"Our strength is related not only to our martial arts cultivation, but also to our official positions."

Lü Yang became curious:

"An official position? Can an official fight monsters?"

Shen Zhaoyue: "The head constable of the Six Doors carries the official fortune of the imperial court. The higher the position, the stronger the official fortune, and the greater the harm to demons and evil spirits."

Some evil spirits are beyond the reach of ordinary people, even a hundred cuts wouldn't be enough. But with a knife blessed by an official seal, a single strike can obliterate their soul.

Lü Yang's eyes lit up as he listened:

"That's impressive! What's your position?"

Shen Zhaoyue: "Head Constable, Rank 7".

Lü Yang thought for a moment:

"Seventh rank...tsk tsk tsk...not bad..."

Shen Zhaoyue didn't understand the meaning in his tone, or rather, she did understand but didn't bother to pay attention.

She continued, "..."

"It's alright" means that we can kill any ordinary mountain spirits or monsters that come our way.

But that monster's strength had already exceeded the range that Guan Yun could suppress. It's normal that I couldn't defeat it.

She paused, then added:

"Just like you, following the Taoist priest, you still can't even beat an ordinary ghost, can you?"

The expression was slightly disdainful, as if to say, "How dare you say that to me?"

Lü Yang choked.

"I... Master is testing me... I haven't even started learning yet. Once I do, I'll definitely be better than you!"

Shen Zhaoyue's lips twitched slightly, but she didn't say anything.

Ye Qingfeng walked ahead, listening to the two bickering. His face remained expressionless, but he found it somewhat amusing.

Shen Zhaoyue is indeed very straightforward.

Lu Yang was speechless after being rebuked by her. He walked away in silence for a while, then suddenly spoke again:

"So, according to you, the higher your official rank, the more powerful you become?"

Shen Zhaoyue: "Theoretically, that's true. But who among those who reach high positions would personally go to capture demons? They would all stay in the rear and send their subordinates."

Lü Yang: "With your injuries like this, can you still fight?"

Shen Zhaoyue: "He has two broken ribs, but he can still move his hands. If it really comes down to it, he can easily take down three or five petty thieves."

Lü Yang curled his lip:

"Keep bragging."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a gray shadow suddenly darted out of the roadside bushes!

The shadow came incredibly fast, like a gray lightning bolt, rushing straight towards Lü Yang!

Lu Yang felt a blur before his eyes, and a stench hit him. Before he could even see what it was, his legs went weak.

He instinctively stepped back, but tripped over a stone and fell to the ground with a thud.

It is a wild wolf.

The wolf was enormous, with gray and white fur, baring its fangs, and its eyes gleaming with a ghostly green light.

Ye Qingfeng stood aside without making any move, or rather, he had already anticipated it and was not surprised at all.

It lunged at Lü Yang, opening its massive jaws to bite him—

A flash of light.

Shen Zhaoyue moved.

She didn't even stop walking; with a flick of her wrist, the knife at her waist was already drawn.

The blade flashed so fast that its trajectory was almost invisible. With a soft "whoosh," the wolf was cleaved in two in mid-air, its blood splattering everywhere.

The front half of his body crashed next to Lü Yang, while the back half landed three zhang away.