If I, a death row inmate, am not to become a demon, am I to become a member of the Imperial Guard?

Beyond the Sorrowful Soul Valley, at Sanli Slope.

The rapid hoofbeats shattered the silence of the forest, startling a flock of birds. Amidst the rising dust, a troop of knights in black armor reined in their horses, their movements perfectly synchronized, even the snorting of the horses was suppressed to a minimum.

The leader was clad in heavy black iron armor, his face covered by a bronze mask engraved with fangs, revealing only a pair of chilling eyes. He dismounted, his movements not rough, but even elegant, yet the moment he landed, the withered grass beneath his feet instantly turned yellow and crumbled, as if life had been instantly drained from it.

"My lord, the smoke column is coming from the canyon ahead, which is the stronghold of 'Ghost Doctor' Gu Laogui."

A scout knelt down and reported in a very low voice, "Based on the timeline, Commander Chen's men should have already made their move."

"Commander Chen?"

A soft sneer came from beneath the bronze mask, the sound like two pieces of raw iron rubbing together, making one's eardrums ache. "That good-for-nothing who's more trouble than he's worth? If we count on him, our mission is probably doomed."

This man was none other than Li Xuanji, the commander of the Zhenwu Guard, known as the "Iron-Faced Judge." With his cultivation at the late True Yuan Realm, he was a formidable figure in Anyang County, capable of suppressing the entire region.

He raised his head, his gaze piercing through the layers of trees, looking at the still-lingering black column of smoke.

"Pass down the order," Li Xuanji said calmly, without any emotional fluctuation. "Don't rush things, just proceed with caution. Bring me the 'Qi-Locking Plate'."

Several black-armored guards immediately unloaded a heavy black iron box from their horses. Upon opening the box, twelve black array flags were revealed inside, embroidered with dark gold runes and faintly radiating a chilling aura.

"Arrange the formation. Three flags in the Qian position, three flags in the Kun position, and seal both the Life Gate and the Death Gate."

Li Xuanji casually grabbed a formation flag, channeled his inner energy into it, causing his arm muscles to bulge instantly, and then threw it with a swift motion.

"Whoosh—"

The battle flag transformed into a streak of black light, disappearing deep into the rock wall a hundred paces away, leaving only a section of the flagpole trembling slightly outside.

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Immediately afterwards, more than ten subordinates attacked simultaneously, and the twelve array flags were pinned down like sharp swords in various locations around the Sorrowful Soul Ravine. As the last array flag fell, an invisible ripple spread through the air, rapidly expanding to a radius of ten miles.

The mountain breeze, which had been flowing, suddenly stopped.

The air inside the canyon seemed to solidify, becoming as thick as glue. Any sound, smell, or breath was firmly locked away by this invisible barrier.

Li Xuanji stood at the valley entrance, looking at the "heavenly prison" that seemed to have been covered by a gate, and coldly said, "Not even a fly is allowed to fly out. Anyone who dares to force their way through the core of the formation will be killed without mercy."

"yes!"

The guards obeyed the order and quickly dispersed, disappearing into the forest like black phantoms to begin building the second line of defense.

Li Xuanji sat cross-legged on a boulder, not in a hurry to enter the valley. He was like a patient hunter, not rushing to catch his prey, but tightening his trap first, letting the prey exhaust its last bit of strength in despair.

This is the style of Zhenwuwei in doing things.

……

Inside the canyon.

Zhou Yang had just walked a short distance when he suddenly stopped.

He keenly sensed that the wind around him had stopped. It wasn't a natural stillness, but rather as if someone had pressed the pause button. A faint smell of rust appeared in the air, the unique fluctuation of spiritual energy characteristic of an array in operation.

"Oh no!"

Zhou Yang felt a chill run down his spine and immediately stopped, his gaze becoming serious.

"What's wrong?" Qin Shuang asked from behind him. Her voice was a little weak, but it still maintained its usual cool and aloof tone.

"The Zhenwu Guard has arrived."

Zhou Yang turned around and looked at Qin Shuang, "And these aren't ordinary people; they've blocked the road outside. This is a 'Qi-Locking Array,' used to trap beasts."

Upon hearing this, Qin Shuang's expression changed slightly. She tried to gather her strength, but as soon as she strained her chest, a sharp pain shot straight to her head.

"puff--"

A mouthful of blood spurted directly onto the ground, staining the withered leaves red.

Her body swayed, and she grabbed a tree trunk with one hand, her knuckles turning white from the force. Her once rosy lips were now deathly pale, and her forehead was covered in a layer of cold sweat.

"Lord Qin?" Zhou Yang frowned slightly and stepped forward to support her.

Upon contact, he discovered that Qin Shuang's arm was as cold as ice. Her internal energy was in complete disarray, with residual force surging and churning throughout her meridians. These were hidden injuries left from her previous battle with a powerful enemy, which had been aggravated by the forced travel along the way.

"Don't touch me..." Qin Shuang gritted her teeth, trying to push Zhou Yang away, but she couldn't muster any strength in her hands.

"You're still being stubborn at a time like this." Zhou Yang ignored her resistance, placed his fingers on her pulse, and infused a trace of true energy to probe it.

The situation is bad.

His cultivation at the True Essence Realm has plummeted to less than half of its peak, and his internal organs have suffered varying degrees of damage. If he doesn't receive timely treatment, let alone break through, it will be questionable whether he can even survive for half an hour.

"You, surnamed Zhou, don't worry about me." Qin Shuang gasped for breath, leaning against a tree trunk. Her eyes were somewhat unfocused, but she still stared intently at Zhou Yang. "This was brought here by my enemies. You... you can leave on your own. I have a Jinyiwei badge; they might not dare to kill an official."

"Go? Where to?"

Zhou Yang withdrew his hand, his tone calm yet somewhat cold, "There's a Qi-locking array outside, and the leader's cultivation is at least at the late True Yuan Realm. I'm all alone now; rushing out would just be suicide."

"Then why don't you get out of here?" Qin Shuang said angrily, her violent coughing forcing her to hunch over. "Are you staying here to die with me?"

"Don't think of me as so noble, nor as so stupid."

Zhou Yang dusted off his hands and surveyed the surrounding terrain. "I may be greedy for money, but I value my life even more. Leaving you here, I'm not sure if I'll survive, but I'll definitely lose an employer who can afford to pay me in the future. This deal isn't worth it."

He paused, a playful smile curving his lips. "Besides, dying at the hands of the Zhenwu Guard means I haven't even used up the eight years of my newly acquired lifespan. What a loss!"

Qin Shuang paused, looking at the man in front of her with a calculating expression, a strange feeling welling up inside her. This guy, every word he uttered was about interests, but why did it sound... much more pleasant to the ear than those guys who spouted benevolence and morality?

"Can you still walk?" Zhou Yang asked.

"Barely." Qin Shuang took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing her surging blood and qi.

"Then stop talking nonsense." Zhou Yang walked to her side, took one of her arms and put it on his shoulder. "But let me make this clear: if I really can't carry you, I'll kick you out to take the fall."

Qin Shuang's lips twitched; she wanted to curse, but due to her weakness, she could only roll her eyes.

Although Zhou Yang's words were harsh, his actions were not rough. He focused some of his attention on Qin Shuang's footsteps, and the two of them walked into the depths of the canyon, their steps uneven.

But this Sorrowful Soul Ravine is a dead end, heavily guarded outside; going in will only make us more trapped.

Zhou Yang remained calm. He closed his eyes and channeled the pure Yang energy he had just plundered from the Imperial Guard.

This yang energy was originally intended to increase lifespan, but under Zhou Yang's deliberate control, it did not completely merge into his dantian. Instead, it covered his body like a thin film.

"System, shield your aura," he silently commanded in his mind.

As the yang energy circulated, Zhou Yang felt his body become "lighter," as if he had merged with the cold, damp canyon environment around him. The heat wave that belonged to "living people" was perfectly covered, and even the rise and fall of his breathing was reduced to a minimum.

He stopped, closed his eyes, and maximized his perception.

The Qi-Locking Array sealed off all exits, but this array was designed to trap the living. It locked away vital energy.

Zhou Yang's body was now filled with the yang energy of that captain, and even tainted by the heavy corpse energy of the place. This ambiguous state between life and death gave him a peculiar sense of the formation's operation.

It's like a giant fishing net, with spiritual energy strung along each rope. But at the edge of the net, there are always places where the flow of spiritual energy is weakest.

That place is the point where the formation and the earth's energy intersect.

"Over here."

Zhou Yang suddenly changed direction and instead of heading towards the canyon exit, he walked towards a rock face that looked like a sheer cliff.

"There's no road over there," Qin Shuang reminded her.

"There is a path." Zhou Yang stared at the rock wall covered with vines, his gaze deep and unfathomable. "There is no path for flies, but for ghosts, this is a perfect vent."

He helped Qin Shuang to the bottom of the rock wall and placed his palm on the cold stone.

A chilling, bone-chilling coldness emanated from his palm. An ordinary person would have been shivering with cold by now, but for Zhou Yang, who was in a shielded state, this coldness felt strangely comforting.

"Are we going to go through the wall?" Qin Shuang looked at the solid rock wall and hesitated.

"Dream on." Zhou Yang sneered. "There should be an extremely narrow crevice in the rock behind this, or a tributary of an underground river. The Qi-locking array covers the surface, and these deep underground cracks are often blind spots in the array."

He turned to look at Qin Shuang. "Are you ready? The road ahead might be even more difficult than before. And..."

Zhou Yang's gaze suddenly sharpened as he looked toward the entrance to the canyon.

"The one in charge seems to be getting impatient."

No sooner had the words been spoken than a deep horn sound pierced through the rock wall and came from outside the canyon.

"Waaah—"

The voice was deep and resonant, carrying a chilling intent. Immediately afterward, the ground began to tremble slightly, as if some enormous creature was approaching.

Li Xuanji has already made her move.

He waited no longer. He sensed that something was amiss in the atmosphere of the canyon. That damned "evil spirit," instead of panicking from being trapped, vanished without a trace, like a drop of water merging into the ocean.

"search!"

A loud shout rang out from outside the valley, the sound waves rolling and causing rocks to fall from the mountain walls on both sides of the canyon.

Qin Shuang's face grew even paler, and her chest heaved with blood again.

"Don't listen to that." Zhou Yang reached out and pressed her Jianjing acupoint to help her calm down. "That's the Lion's Roar, which is specifically designed to intimidate the mind. Your internal injuries haven't healed yet, and listening to it will cause you to go into a state of demonic possession."

He looked at Qin Shuang's pale face and grinned, "Looks like we'll have to pay more this time, Lord Qin."

Qin Shuang gritted her teeth and glared at him fiercely, but ultimately did not utter the word "get lost".

Without another word, Zhou Yang helped her squeeze into a crevice in the rock wall hidden by vines. The crevice was only wide enough for one person to pass sideways; it was dark and damp, and filled with unknown dangers ahead, but at least it was the only way out.

Behind them, the iron-faced judge Li Xuanji, exuding a murderous aura, stepped into the Sorrowful Soul Ravine. His cold gaze swept across the empty ground, finally settling on the several already cold corpses.

"Peak True Essence Realm...killed in one strike?"

Li Xuanji squatted down, wiped the bloodstains from the corpse's wounds with his finger, and smelled them.

"There was no sword energy, no blade marks. It looked like it had been torn apart alive by some wild beast."

He slowly stood up, his eyes behind the mask narrowing, a cold glint flashing within them.

"That's interesting."

"Pass down the order: seal off all water outlets. Release the Bloodhounds."

At a single command, the encirclement outside Sorrowful Soul Valley tightened instantly. A hunt targeting the two had just begun.