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

In the Valley of Sorrowful Souls, the stench of blood was so thick it was almost unbearable.

The moonlight was completely swallowed by the dark clouds, and the valley floor was pitch black. You couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

Zhou Yang stood beside the pile of corpses, his breathing steady. His heartbeat did not quicken at all.

The killing just now seemed to have been done by someone else. He was just a bystander.

Li Xuanji's men had already completed the encirclement. Charging out now would be tantamount to walking into a trap. The Zhenwu Guards were not the rabble of the Heavenly Principle Sect; they were professional butchers.

The most dangerous place is often the safest.

This idea took shape in Zhou Yang's mind.

He's going to stay here and blend into the search party.

It's dark under the lamp.

He crouched down and began to work. His movements were swift and decisive. He peeled the tattered, blood-stained garment from the body of the Imperial Guard captain he had torn to pieces. The fabric was soaked in blood, cold and stiff, like some kind of inferior armor.

Zhou Yang put it on. The wet, slippery texture clung to his skin, sticky like a slithering snake. He couldn't help but shiver.

"Qin Shuang," he called softly.

Qin Shuang emerged from the shadows. Her face was still pale in the darkness, but her gaze was steady. She didn't ask anything, only looked at Zhou Yang.

"Just bear with it for a bit." Zhou Yang patted the Shadow Fiend Blade sheath at his waist.

This is the system space. A storage compartment that belongs only to him.

Qin Shuang's figure transformed into a streak of light and disappeared into the scabbard. The scabbard sank slightly and returned to its normal appearance.

Zhou Yang breathed a sigh of relief. This was the first time he had revealed this secret to someone else. But he had no other choice. Trust, sometimes, is the most efficient transaction.

He began to set up the scene. He dragged several corpses over to cover the knife that truly belonged to him. Then, he grabbed some dirt and bits of grass from the ground and smeared them haphazardly on his face and hair. Finally, he lay down on the ground, curled up into a ball, and buried himself in the shadow of the pile of corpses.

He transformed himself into a corpse that was about to "die".

Time passed slowly. The sounds from outside the valley grew clearer: the thud of horses' hooves, shouts of men, and a low, oppressive bark of dogs.

Bloodhound.

Li Xuanji released his dog.

Zhou Yang closed his eyes and regulated his breathing. He wanted his heartbeat, pulse, and body temperature to be as close as possible to that of a critically injured, dying person. This was acting, and also a skill.

He replayed the captain's dying moments in his mind over and over again—his disbelieving eyes, his face contorted with fear. He imitated them, he learned from them.

Soon, the footsteps drew closer.

The torchlight flickered at the valley entrance, like a swarm of hungry yellow eyes. The light swept across the valley floor, illuminating the outlines of the cold corpses.

"Everyone, search carefully! Don't miss an inch!" a rough voice rang out.

The soldiers of Zhenwuwei spread out in a fan shape, cautiously entering this land of death. Their leather boots rustled as they stepped on the gravel and mud. The pervasive stench of blood in the air caused some to instinctively cover their noses.

Zhou Yang could feel someone walk past him. The person's boots almost hit his leg.

He held his breath and remained motionless.

He's waiting. Waiting for the right opportunity. Waiting for the person who can make the decision to appear.

Footsteps came and went. Someone was examining the body, poking it with a scabbard to see if anyone was still alive.

"Damn it, they're all dead."

"This evil creature is too ruthless; it even wiped out the entire Imperial Guard."

"Stop talking nonsense, search carefully! The commander said, we need to find them alive or dead!"

As Zhou Yang listened to their conversation, his fingers lightly traced lines in the mud. He was calculating the distance, calculating the timing.

Finally, a steady footstep stopped not far away.

"Commander Li, something's a bit strange here," a soldier said hesitantly.

Zhou Yang knew that the main character had made his appearance.

He slowly opened one eye.

A tall man dressed in black, wearing a silver mask, stood in the center of the valley. He was Li Xuanji. The mask concealed most of his expression, revealing only his eyes. In the torchlight, those eyes resembled two icy knives.

Li Xuanji ignored the soldier, his gaze sweeping across the entire scene. From the arrangement of the corpses to the drag marks on the ground, to the faint fluctuations of true energy remaining in the air.

He was like a seasoned butcher examining his own slaughterhouse.

"Peak True Essence Realm...killed in one blow?" Li Xuanji crouched down, smeared blood from a corpse's wound with his finger, and smelled it. "No sword energy, no knife marks. It looks like it was 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."

The time has come.

Zhou Yang mustered all his strength and let out a weak groan. The sound was like the last struggle of a dying person.

"Well……"

The groans weren't loud, but they were exceptionally clear in the relatively quiet valley.

Everyone stopped moving. Dozens of eyes turned to the source of the sound—the shadow of the pile of corpses.

Li Xuanji waved his hand. Two soldiers immediately drew their swords and cautiously approached.

Zhou Yang continued his performance. He began to struggle, his body writhing on the ground like a dying fish. A hand reached out from the pile of corpses, weakly scratching at the ground.

"There are still survivors!"

The soldier's face lit up with surprise.

Zhou Yang had been waiting for this moment. He propped himself up with his arms, completely exposing himself from the pile of corpses. He was covered in blood, his face was muddy, and his hair was stuck together in clumps of blood; he looked utterly miserable.

He raised his head, his gaze passing over the two soldiers and looking directly at Li Xuanji not far away.

He opened his mouth, squeezing out a hoarse, dry voice that didn't belong to him at all. It was the voice of the Imperial Guard captain that he had imitated countless times.

"Sir...sir..."

The sound was soft, yet it struck everyone's heart like a hammer.

Li Xuanji's eyes suddenly narrowed.

Zhou Yang coughed up a mouthful of blood, his chest heaving violently as if he were coughing up his lungs. With his last bit of strength, he stretched out a blood-stained hand toward Li Xuanji.

"The evil creature... has been severely damaged... Quick... after it..."

After saying this, his head lolled to the side, as if he had completely exhausted all his strength, and he collapsed limply to the ground. Only the faint rise and fall of his chest proved that he was not dead.

The valley was deathly silent.

Everyone was stunned by the sudden appearance of a "survivor" and "important intelligence".

Li Xuanji did not speak immediately. He strode through the gaps between the soldiers and walked step by step to Zhou Yang's side.

He squatted down.

The torchlight illuminated Zhou Yang's "pale" face.

Li Xuanji's gaze was like two icicles, piercing into Zhou Yang's bones. He scrutinized every detail of Zhou Yang's face: his tightly closed eyes, his trembling eyelashes, and his chapped lips.

Zhou Yang's heart seemed to stop beating at that moment. But he forced himself to maintain the physiological state of being severely injured and dying. His breathing was weak and erratic, and his pulse was barely perceptible.

He knew this was the most crucial test. Any slip-up would mean utter ruin.

Li Xuanji extended two fingers and placed them on Zhou Yang's wrist.

A faint, chaotic pulse, seemingly about to break, emanated from my fingertips.

Li Xuanji's brows furrowed almost imperceptibly.

He reached out and touched a bit of the "blood" on Zhou Yang's face. It was the captain's blood. He rubbed it between his fingers; the blood had begun to thicken, consistent with the characteristics of someone who had been dead for some time.

"Which unit are you a captain from?" Li Xuanji suddenly asked, his voice not loud, but carrying an undeniable pressure.

Zhou Yang's eyelids twitched with difficulty, as if he wanted to open them, but he couldn't muster the strength. A hoarse sound came from his throat, like a broken bellows.

"Anyang... East... Office..."

His voice was broken and filled with pain.

Li Xuanji remained silent.

He stood up and looked down at the half-dead captain on the ground. The man's demeanor was flawless. Both his physical characteristics and his identity matched perfectly.

A severely wounded, dying man struggles to crawl out at the last moment to pass on intelligence to his superiors. All of this makes perfect sense.

That's so reasonable... it's almost excessive.

Li Xuanji's intuition told him that things were not that simple.

But intuition can't be taken as evidence. What he needs now is a breakthrough. This "survivor" in front of him is the only clue.

Zhou Yang could feel that the cold gaze had moved away. His heart, which had been hanging in suspense, felt half relieved.

"Lift him up," Li Xuanji coldly uttered. "Take him back and let the army doctor treat him. I want to see what else he can say."

Two soldiers immediately stepped forward and lifted Zhou Yang up, one on each side.

Zhou Yang's body was limp as a lump of mud, allowing them to do as they pleased without any resistance. His head hung limply, like a doll that had completely lost its life.

He was dragged along, heading out of the valley.

His eyelids twitched slightly as he passed the pile of corpses covering his weapons.

His gaze swept across the blood-stained Shadow Blade amidst the chaos.

Inside the scabbard, all was deathly silent.