Starting as a stray dog, I embarked on a journey of cultivation.

Continuing south from Luoqing City, Gou An discovered that the closer he got to the Monster Mountain Range, the more human cultivators he encountered along the way, as if some major event had attracted them.

This forced Gou An to completely conceal his demonic aura and stop entering the city, wanting only to return to the City of Ten Thousand Demons as soon as possible.

He traveled along the way, stopping and starting as an ordinary mortal, but inadvertently overheard many rumors.

After piecing together these rumors, Gou An finally got a general idea of ​​what was going on.

It turned out that an accident had occurred at the Locking Heaven Tower, which was guarded by the Zhixuan Guard, and several heinous evil cultivators and demon cultivators had escaped from the prison.

This led to the mobilization of all members of the Zhixuan Guard, as well as disciples from various sects and independent cultivators, to track down these evil cultivators.

As long as there is news, you can provide them with information in exchange for spirit stones.

For these evil cultivators and demon cultivators, the best place to go is the Demon Beast Mountain Range, where they can enter the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

Therefore, the Zhixuan Guard deliberately blocked many roads leading to the City of Ten Thousand Demons.

Upon learning this news, Gou An was extremely worried.

How come I was fine when I came out, but now I can't go back?

Not only are there cultivators patrolling in the air, but there are also cultivators guarding various intersections on the ground.

As soon as a signal is sent from one point, cultivators from other places will immediately surround it.

And most importantly, even ordinary mortals passing by would be subject to careful scrutiny by those cultivators.

If that were all, Gou An might still have a chance to get by.

However, these cultivators possess a magical artifact that can detect whether passersby are human or demon, and whether they have cultivation or are mortals.

This magical artifact looks like a stone pillar with a round ball on top, and people in the past would put their hands on it.

Gou An wasn't sure if this thing could see through his disguise, but he didn't dare to gamble.

Once exposed, the consequences will be quite dire.

Just as Gou An was sitting by a river to rest and clear his mind, feeling at a loss, a toad covered in bumps suddenly jumped out of the calm water.

When Gou An saw this thing, his first instinct was to burn it to death.

But the next second, the toad opened its mouth wide and actually spoke: "Fellow Daoist, wait!"

"Huh?" Gou An was startled and jumped up from the ground, looking wary. "What are you?"

Gou An stared at the toad for a long time. This thing had no demonic aura, so it was obviously not a demonic beast, but just an ordinary toad.

But how could an ordinary toad talk?

"This toad is just a tool I use to deliver messages!" The toad opened its mouth, its voice hoarse. "I have a collaboration I'd like to discuss with you."

"Cooperation?" Gou An frowned upon hearing this, sensing that things weren't so simple. "Cooperate on what?"

"Let's work together to successfully reach the City of Ten Thousand Demons!" the toad replied.

"Hmm?" Gou An unconsciously looked around, and after confirming that there was no one else nearby, he said, "What Ten Thousand Demon City? Never heard of it."

"Fellow Daoist, stop pretending!" the toad said. "I've already seen through your act; you're a demon, not a human."

Gou An was shocked. He had disguised himself almost perfectly, so how could a toad have seen through him?

"Actually, I've been following you for several days. You've been heading south, right towards the Monster Mountain Range!" the toad slowly explained. "But you've stopped and hesitated around here because the major intersections are guarded by cultivators arranged by the Xuanwei Guard, preventing you from passing through."

"Since you're not a prisoner of the Heavenly Locking Tower, then your only remaining option is that you're a demon cultivator. Otherwise, what can't you do to get through?"

Seeing that the other party had revealed his background, Gou An frowned and questioned, "Who exactly are you?"

"I am one of the prisoners of the Locked Heaven Tower that these Xuan Guards are desperately searching for!" the toad replied, opening its mouth. "If you wish to cooperate, follow me."

After the toad finished speaking, it hopped and skipped towards the other side of the woods.

Although Gou An was somewhat unwilling, he had no other choice at the moment, so he could only bite the bullet and follow along.

Gou An thought the person who used the toad to talk to him wasn't far away, but he followed the toad for a long time without stopping.

"How much further?" Gou An looked around; they had already entered the depths of the nameless mountain forest.

As night fell, the surroundings grew increasingly dark.

The toad didn't answer, but as it hopped around, it suddenly lay down on the ground and didn't move.

Gou An went over and saw that the toad was dead, as if it had died from exhaustion.

"Huh?" Gou An thought he had arrived at his destination, and looked around, but saw nothing.

Just then, a black snake darted out from the bushes beside them. It stood upright and opened its mouth towards Gou An, uttering a human voice—the same old male voice: "Keep following me."

After saying this, the black snake twisted its body and continued heading in one direction.

"What kind of trick is this?" Gou An asked, puzzled, but he still followed along.

Finally, just as the sun was about to set, Gou An spotted a hidden cave entrance deep in the dense forest.

The black snake stopped at the cave entrance, then opened its mouth towards Gou An: "Fellow Daoist, please come in!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the black snake suddenly went limp, as if it had broken free of control, and its body darted away and disappeared into the forest.

Gou An looked at the dark cave entrance, hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to go in.

Just as they entered the cave, before Gou An could even gather demonic fire for illumination, a ball of light suddenly appeared, hovering and rising into the air, illuminating the entire cavern.

At the same time, Gou An immediately saw deep inside the cave, where an old Taoist priest in black robes sat cross-legged on a stone platform, his beard and hair gray.

"Who exactly are you?" Gou An asked cautiously when he saw the person, without rushing to approach.

"I am Xuan Kongzi, a mere rogue cultivator!" the old Taoist said, his voice exactly the same as when the toad had delivered the message.

"So what happened with the toad and the snake just now?" Gou An asked curiously.

"Just some minor spells, nothing to mention!" Xuan Kongzi smiled slightly, pointed lightly to the side, and a stream of light shot out, instantly creating a stone chair on the ground: "Fellow Daoist, please sit down, let's chat slowly."

Gou An glanced at the stone chair, but didn't rush to sit down. Instead, he continued to ask, "You just said that you are one of the prisoners in the Locked Heaven Tower. What exactly is the situation?"

"That's a long story!" Xuan Kongzi stroked his goatee and slowly began, "It happened more than sixty years ago. Back then, in pursuit of a treasure, I accidentally killed a few cultivators from righteous sects, which led to my capture by the Xuan Guards and my imprisonment in the Locking Heaven Tower."

"What treasure? How many did you kill?" Gou An continued to press.

"Sigh! It's all in the past now, what's the point of saying more or less?" Xuan Kongzi shook his head helplessly.

"If you don't tell me this, how can I feel comfortable cooperating with you?" Gou An questioned.

"Alright!" Xuan Kongzi smiled wryly at the sight and could only say, "I accidentally discovered a secret realm with a treasure inside that could extend one's life by a thousand years!"

"In order to obtain this item, I accidentally killed all the other cultivators who entered the secret realm with me!"

At this point, Xuan Kongzi paused, seemingly pondering, "I don't remember the exact number, but it was probably around eight or nine hundred!"

"Eight or nine hundred?" Gou An was greatly shocked upon hearing this.

"However, most of them are just minor cultivators in the Qi Refining stage!" Xuan Kongzi shook his head and said, "There are very few truly powerful ones, not worth mentioning."

"So you were arrested and imprisoned by the Zhixuan Guard?" Gou An asked.

"That's right!" Xuan Kongzi seemed somewhat unconvinced and shook his head, saying, "Actually, they couldn't have caught me. I just fell into their trap because I was careless."

Gou An frowned slightly after hearing this, then asked, "Since they captured you, why didn't they just kill you? Why did they lock you up instead?"

"Fellow Daoist is a demon, so it's normal that you don't know about the Heaven-Locking Tower!" Xuan Kongzi continued, "That Heaven-Locking Tower is no ordinary prison; it's equipped with several layers of arrays."

"We prisoners who are locked up will have our spiritual energy continuously drained by the great formation and used as endless nourishment for their purposes."

"Therefore, we who are alive are more valuable than those who are dead."

Upon hearing this explanation, Gou An was even more surprised; he had no idea such a thing was possible.

"One more question!" Gou An pulled himself together and asked, "Fellow Daoist, what is your cultivation level?"

"I am but a humble one, at the Transcendent God Realm, in the Nascent Soul stage!" Xuan Kongzi replied.

Gou An raised an eyebrow, not expecting the other party's cultivation level to be so high.

It can be said that this is the person with the highest cultivation level that Gou An has personally witnessed so far.

"Does fellow Daoist have any further questions?" Xuan Kongzi asked, seeing that Gou An remained silent.

"Yes!" Gou An nodded, then asked again, "You mentioned cooperation, but how exactly do you plan to cooperate?"

"I have a way to help you evade the checks by the cultivators along the way!" Xuan Kongzi replied, "But the condition is that you need to take me with you."

"Huh?" Gou An frowned. "Since you have a plan, why don't you act on it yourself instead of cooperating with me?"

Xuan Kongzi sighed helplessly and explained, "Fellow Daoist, you may not know this! All of us prisoners locked in the Locking Heaven Tower are marked with soul imprints."

"The Guardians of the Mysterious Guard possess a soul-searching artifact that can locate my whereabouts based on the soul imprint."

"I can barely suppress the soul imprint even when I'm using all my strength, so any action I take will reveal my location and lead to me being hunted down."

"But I have a treasure here!" Xuan Kongzi said, and a black ring appeared in his palm.

"Within this object lies a storage space capable of sustaining life!" Xuan Kongzi continued, "I can temporarily hide it within the ring's space, thus completely isolating it from the soul imprint. You only need to take the ring with you!"

After saying this, Xuan Kongzi threw the ring at Gou An.

Gou An took the ring and examined it carefully in his hand. After infusing a wisp of spiritual energy into the ring, he found that there was indeed a storage space inside.

However, unlike the lifeless space inside a storage bag, the space inside the ring has a flow of spiritual energy and can indeed store living things.

"Then how should I leave?" Gou An clutched the ring in his hand and asked, "What method can help me get away with this?"

"I have observed you for several days!" Xuan Kongzi said again. "You are naturally able to conceal your demonic aura, and although your transformation technique is not perfect, it is more than enough."

"It's a pity that your methods can only fool the naked eye, but not those detection magic treasures."

At this point, Xuan Kongzi flipped his hand and took out another item.

Gou An took a look and found that it was a string of necklace beads, grayish-brown in color.

"This is the Demon-Slaying Bead!" Xuan Kongzi said. "When you wear it around your neck, all the demonic energy around you will automatically gather into the bead, without leaking out even a trace."

"With this, ordinary detection tools will not be able to detect your abnormality."