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

The skin on the back of my neck feels a little numb.

Zhou Yang knew.

What does that feel like?

This gaze followed me like a shadow.

It is not fierce.

Hidden in the shadows, like a patient spider.

Waiting for the prey to make a mistake on its own.

He walked on Suzaku Avenue.

The surrounding area was bustling with activity.

The cries of vendors, the sounds of children playing, and the voices of storytellers coming from the teahouse.

The sounds were lively.

But it couldn't penetrate his ears.

In his world, there was only the gaze behind him.

He didn't turn around.

Turning back is tantamount to showing weakness.

He just walked very steadily.

The pace was neither fast nor slow.

Like every other traveler on their way.

He entered the gate of the Northern Garrison Command.

The guard captain bowed to him.

"Master Zhou."

Zhou Yang nodded slightly.

His face was expressionless.

He walked straight across the courtyard to his room.

I was no different from everyone else along the way.

But the fingertips of his hands, which were tucked into his sleeves, were already a little cold.

Back in the room.

The door closed.

He stood there for a while.

Listening to the wind outside the window.

Then, he walked to the table and poured himself a glass of cold tea.

I drank it all in one gulp.

The icy tea slid down my throat.

The heat in his heart subsided a little.

The people watching him.

Were they here for him, or for Qin Shuang?

He thought about it.

It's highly likely that it's aimed at him.

Commander Chen is dead.

It's time for the people of the Heavenly Principle Sect to come and collect their debts.

Or rather, they came to test the waters.

Look at this fish out of the water, does it still have teeth?

Zhou Yang twitched the corner of his mouth.

He wanted to figure out the murky water in the pool.

But there are always some flies buzzing around you.

I'll get annoyed if I don't kill it.

He decided not to be the prey that waited.

Tonight, he will be the hunter.

He sat on the bed.

With eyes closed.

Adjust your breathing.

It helps to calm down the blood and energy throughout the body.

He took a copper coin out of his pocket.

A very ordinary copper coin.

He put a drop of his own blood on it.

A trace of extremely weak internal energy mixed into his blood.

This wisp of internal energy is like an invisible thread.

No one else will notice.

But as soon as someone gets close to him, a tiny bit of this thread will get on their breath or clothes.

He can't smell it himself.

But tracing this scent is not difficult for him now.

He carefully put the copper coins away.

Then lie down.

As usual, I went to sleep.

Late at night.

The capital city fell into slumber.

Inside the Northern Garrison Command, only the sound of the night patrol captain's clapper could be heard, striking again and again, making people uneasy.

The moon hangs in the sky.

The cool light shone down.

Zhou Yang's door opened silently.

He was like a shadow.

It floated out of the house.

There wasn't a sound coming from him.

He stood in the courtyard.

I looked up at the sky.

Then, he took a deep breath.

He could still catch a glimpse of that familiar scent in the air, though it was so faint it was almost gone.

It's to the east.

Zhou Yang moved.

His body pressed against the shadow of the corner of the wall, and with a few leaps, he scaled the high wall of the Zhenfu Division.

It landed silently, like a feather.

He didn't take the main road.

Instead, they chose narrow alleyways.

These places were dark and filled with a damp and rotten smell.

The corner of the wall was covered with moss.

Underfoot were uneven bluestone slabs.

He wasn't walking fast.

Every step was taken firmly.

He was like a night owl patrolling its own territory.

Familiar, yet wary.

That aura became increasingly clear in his perception.

It is unpredictable.

Clearly, the opponent is also a skilled fighter.

Know how to counter-track.

But that didn't work.

Zhou Yang doesn't want people who are tracking him.

What he wants is their home.

They walked for about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Zhou Yang stopped in his tracks.

Before him stood an abandoned mansion.

The yard was overgrown with weeds taller than a person.

The plaque above the gate that read "Li Mansion" was crooked and the paint had almost completely peeled off.

This place looks like it hasn't been lived in for a long time.

But that last breath ended there.

Zhou Yang narrowed his eyes.

He walked around the courtyard.

I gently ran my finger across the wall.

There was a thin layer of ash on my fingertips.

But beneath the gray, there are some barely noticeable traces.

These are new footprints.

It's very light and cleverly designed.

They avoided all the dead branches and rotten leaves in the yard that could make a sound.

Good major.

A cold smile curled at the corner of Zhou Yang's mouth.

He didn't intend to enter through the main entrance.

He walked to the back wall of the house.

The wall is not high.

He lightly touched the ground with his feet, and he floated up.

He didn't go in immediately.

Instead, it quietly perched on the top of the wall.

Like an eagle ready to pounce.

The courtyard was dark and gloomy.

Only a faint candlelight shone from the main hall.

The light was dim, and the windows were completely covered with paper.

There are five people.

Three men and two women.

They were all dressed in black night clothes.

Their breaths were heavy, like nails driven into the ground.

He's an expert.

One of them has the strongest aura.

That must be the team leader.

They were talking in hushed tones.

Zhou Yang couldn't hear clearly.

There's no need to listen.

He'd seen enough.

He set his sights on the roof of the main hall.

With a flash, the person landed on it.

The tiles made no sound at all.

He was like a weightless ghost.

He bent down and pressed his ear against the tile.

The conversation inside could be heard intermittently.

"...The target hasn't noticed yet..."

"We're being urged by our superiors; we can't wait any longer..."

"Let's do it tonight. Alive is best, dead is acceptable too..."

"...Keep an eye on Qin Shuang, who's with him, don't let her get away..."

Zhou Yang's eyes turned cold.

Hands-on?

Their target was him, and they also wanted to take Qin Shuang along.

This debt can't be settled.

He straightened up.

No more hesitation.

He lifted his right foot.

Then stomp down hard.

boom!

A loud bang.

The entire roof looked as if it had been hit by a battering ram.

The tiles and wooden beams were instantly blasted open, leaving a large hole.

Debris flew everywhere.

Smoke and dust filled the air.

The five people in the main hall had drastic changes in expression.

There was simply no time to react.

A dark shadow descended from the sky.

Zhou Yang landed.

With knees slightly bent, all the impact was dissipated.

He stood amidst the chaos.

There wasn't a speck of dust on him.

His eyes, in the dim candlelight, were as cold as snow.

"You have some nerve."

He didn't yell.

The sound was very flat.

But every word was like an icicle, piercing everyone's ears.

The five people reacted extremely quickly.

Almost the instant Zhou Yang landed, they scattered and formed an attack formation.

"Zhou Yang!"

The leader, the captain, had a scarred face.

His pupils contracted sharply, filled with shock.

How did you find this place?

Zhou Yang did not answer him.

Too much nonsense.

He moved.

His figure looked like he was drunk.

Unsteady, his steps were disordered.

But at the most unbelievable angle, he appeared in front of a knife-wielding assailant.

The man was about to draw his sword.

Zhou Yang's hand was already on his wrist.

A slight mistake.

Click.

The sound of bones breaking is very crisp.

The knife-wielder didn't even have time to scream before his body went limp.

Zhou Yang snatched the knife from him.

He swung his hand back.

The blade flashed like snow.

Another piercing scream rang out.

Another swordsman who attempted a flank attack collapsed, clutching his throat.

Blood spurted from between his fingers.

The movements were clean and efficient.

Not a single bit is superfluous.

It only took a breath.

Of the five people, only three remained.

Including that scarred captain.

The other two were terrified by the swift and decisive killing.

Their hands were shaking.

Fear shot from the soles of my feet straight to the top of my head.

Is the person in front of me a devil?

He's not human at all.

He was like a heartless killing machine.

"Attack together!"

Scarface roared.

He knew that today it would be either Zhou Yang who died, or them who perished.

He drew the sword from his waist.

The blade was jet black and smelled of blood.

The two pounced at the same time.

The flashing blades blocked all of Zhou Yang's escape routes.

Zhou Yang advanced instead of retreating.

He charged towards the blade.

The knife in my hand is useless.

He threw it away.

He was unarmed.

With a flick of his left hand, he deflected a knife.

With his right hand held together like a sword, he pointed it at another person's chest.

The man felt as if he had been struck by a heavy hammer in the chest, and he was sent flying backward, crashing into the wall and spitting out blood.

Now, only Scarface is left.

He stood there.

Holding the knife.

My whole body was shaking.

He looked at Zhou Yang.

It's like watching a demon crawl out of hell.

He knew he was no match for them.

The gap is too big.

It is bigger than the sky and the earth.

"I...we are the Blood Shadow Guards...If you kill me, the Heavenly Principle Sect will not let you get away with it!"

He shouted, his voice filled with bluster but his heart was filled with fear.

They tried to use their reputation to force Zhou Yang to back down.

Zhou Yang walked towards him step by step.

"Tenrikyo?"

He smiled.

There was no warmth in that smile.

"Do they even deserve it?"

Scarface was utterly desperate.

He roared and brandished his black knife, aiming for Zhou Yang's neck.

This was his last struggle.

Zhou Yang looked at the knife.

He reached out his hand.

He did not try to block the knife.

His palm struck Scarface's chest directly.

Scarface was overjoyed.

He thought Zhou Yang had gone mad.

This is a life for a life!

However, his smile froze the next moment.

Zhou Yang's palm lightly landed on his chest.

It didn't have the immense power I had imagined.

Only a cold, eerie power surged wildly into his body through his palm.

"Dragon Devour!"

Zhou Yang silently recited in his heart.

A black vortex seemed to appear in his palm.

The internal energy within Scarface's body was like a flood bursting its banks, completely uncontrollable.

It flowed wildly into Zhou Yang's body.

Scarface's body began to tremble violently.

The scar on his face was twitching.

His skin sagged and dried out at a visible rate.

His once robust body was reduced to skin and bones in just a few breaths.

His once black hair quickly turned gray.

The sparkle in his eyes was quickly fading.

"What...what did you do to me...?"

His voice was hoarse and dry, like a broken bellows.

Zhou Yang did not speak.

He simply absorbed the internal energy that the other party had painstakingly cultivated for decades.

This internal force is mixed and impure.

But for him now, it's a great supplement.

He could feel his meridians expanding.

The blood and qi are boiling.

Scarface's vitality was completely drained.

His body swayed, then he fell straight down.

died.

Do not look down.

The entire process was eerily quiet.

The two people remaining in the room were so frightened by what they saw that they wet themselves.

They collapsed to the ground, shivering.

He couldn't even utter a word of begging for mercy.

Zhou Yang withdrew his hand.

Feeling the newfound power within my body.

He glanced at the two people on the ground.

He did not kill them.

Killing them would ruin the fun.

What he wants is fear.

They were to be instructed to relay back every single word of what they had seen and heard that evening.

He walked up to the two people who were still trembling.

Squat down.

The voice was very soft, yet it seeped into their minds like a spell.

"Go back and tell your superiors."

"You want to spy on me."

He paused.

"Not qualified."

After he finished speaking, he stood up.

I won't look at them again.

He turned around and leaped out of the hole.

The figure flashed a few times and disappeared into the dark night.

The room was deathly silent.

Only the heavy breathing of two people and the rapidly cooling corpse remained.

Fear, like a large net, has tightly enveloped them.

What happened tonight will become a nightmare for them for the rest of their lives.