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

Upon hearing this, Gou An felt as if he had been petrified on the spot.

Why did this guy suddenly contact me and mention Lord Jinyang?

I had just breathed a sigh of relief.

Although his heart was pounding, Gou An still managed a forced smile, pretending not to know: "Lord Jinyang? I've heard of his great name, but I don't know why the Protector of the Nation sought me out. I'm not familiar with Lord Jinyang."

"Hehe!" Xie Gu picked up the spirit tea that Niu Cuihua had just brought him, took a small sip, and then continued, "You don't know him well, but he knows you very well!"

Gou An frowned slightly, still unsure of what Xie Gu was trying to do, and could only continue to ask, "Please enlighten me, Protector of the Nation."

"You killed his younger brother, Crimson Flame Mountain Lord, and he has been investigating you ever since you returned to Ten Thousand Demon City!" Evil Bone put down his teacup and shook his fan.

"Guardian, you've misunderstood! I didn't kill the Crimson Flame Mountain Lord!" Gou An quickly denied. "How could my meager abilities possibly kill a mere Golden Core demon like him?"

"You're too modest!" Xie Gu chuckled, snapped his fan shut, pointed at Gou An, and said, "Don't even mention a mere Golden Core cultivator; even the primordial spirit of the Jin Yang Mountain Lord, a great demon, was subdued by you, wasn't it?"

Boom!

Gou An felt as if a thunderbolt had struck his mind, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

Even the hand holding the teacup unconsciously gripped it tightly; if any more force were used, the cup or wine glass would shatter on the spot.

"Huguo is really joking!" Gou An came to his senses and laughed awkwardly.

"I never like to joke!" But Xie Gu shook his head and continued, "Only you know exactly where Lord Jin Yang is right now."

"I don't know!" Gou An immediately shook his head in denial.

He didn't know if Xie Gu had been watching from afar or trying to trick him into revealing information, but he couldn't admit it no matter what.

At this point, Gou An added, "I've never even seen Lord Jinyang, so how would I know where he is?"

"Hahaha!" Seeing Gou An's reaction, Xie Gu laughed even harder, seemingly finding it very amusing: "Just pretend you don't know."

"I really don't know!" Gou An emphasized again.

"But why are you so agitated?" Xie Gu stared at Gou An from head to toe, his expression meaningful.

Only then did Gou An realize that he was indeed quite agitated, which he himself found very unusual.

"I really don't know anything about Lord Jinyang, and I'm afraid it will interfere with what you need to do to protect the country." Gou An quickly adjusted his emotions and tried to make himself look more natural.

"Jin Yang Mountain Lord has been missing for several days now!" Xie Gu continued, "It's alright for a short time, but if it goes on for too long, the Demon King will naturally notice something is wrong."

"How could a powerful demon like Lord Jinyang have disappeared without a trace?" Gou An continued, forcing a smile, "Perhaps he went on a long trip?"

"I hope so!" The smile on Xie Gu's face became even more sinister, as if he knew something but deliberately kept it to himself.

This made Gou An even more convinced that this guy must have seen the battle not far away at the time.

Otherwise, there would be no reason for him to tell me these things.

Gou An smiled, hoping he was wrong.

"As far as I know!" Xie Gu blurted out, "Jin Yang Shan Jun always carries several magical artifacts imbued with demonic runes. Even if he puts them in his storage bag, they can still be tracked from a distance."

At this point, the Evil Bone Taoist slowly unfolded his fan and gently fanned himself: "Carrying it on your person is extremely dangerous."

Gou An swallowed hard, feeling even more frightened.

Fortunately, all the magical treasures had been disposed of by Gou An on the black market, and apart from a few cultivation manuals and pills, he had nothing else belonging to Lord Chi Yan.

"You flatter me, Protector of the Nation. How could Lord Jinyang's things be on me?" Gou An smiled awkwardly.

"Is that so?" Xie Gu's face was still wearing that ambiguous smile, making Gou An want to rush up and tear his face apart.

"Since you're pretending to be confused, then I'll take it as me being nosy!" Xie Gu stared into Gou An's eyes for a moment before fanning himself and standing up. "The tea is good. Come again next time."

After saying this, he turned and left.

"I'll see Huguo off!" Gou An quickly got up to see him off.

After the Evil Bone Taoist walked out of the courtyard, he reached out and patted Gou An on the shoulder, still wearing that infuriating smile on his face, but said nothing.

The next second, the Evil Bone Taoist turned into a wisp of wind and disappeared.

Gou An rubbed his shoulders, feeling a terrible headache.

Does the Evil Bone Taoist really know, or is he pretending to know?

If he really knows the truth, then his situation will be dangerous.

Thinking of this, Gou An immediately prepared to slip away.

However, as soon as this idea came to mind, Gou An immediately suppressed it.

Leaving the City of Ten Thousand Demons is easy, but where can you go after you leave?

Wanling Sect?

Although Yukine said that I could come to her if I had any difficulties, it shouldn't be too hard for her to find me a place to stay.

However, if you want to get to the Wanling Sect, you need to go north, and you are very likely to encounter the Zhixuan Guards along the way.

Moreover, a sect might not accept someone who cultivates themselves.

Most importantly, he and Yukine had physical intimacy, and although it was for the purpose of detoxification, they did indeed do it.

If their sect finds out about this, who knows how they'll treat me?

Go to the Blackwaters?

The black-robed domain lord also recruited him, but Gou An didn't want to spend his whole life in that dark valley.

As Gou An mingled with a group of evil cultivators, he was afraid that he might one day suffer from qi deviation.

Therefore, looking across the world, only the City of Ten Thousand Demons is truly the most suitable for this demon.

Another point is that if he runs away now, it would only confirm that he has a problem.

The thought of the Demon King being enraged and sending people to hunt me down is giving me a headache.

Thinking of all this, Gou An closed the courtyard door, locked himself in the alchemy room, and began to ponder and think of a solution.

The evil bone must know something, but it may not know the truth of the matter.

Even if he knew, probably not many people would believe him if he told them.

Otherwise, there would have been no point in him testing me all this time.

This shows that he wasn't sure either, which is why he said he'd come back next time.

And most importantly, the fact that he came to see me at this time means he must have something he needs from me.

He just wanted to use the matter of Lord Jinyang as leverage to exert some kind of control over himself.

Otherwise, he could have gone directly to the Demon King to discuss these matters; going to him would only alert the Demon King.

After a moment of analysis in his mind, Gou An felt no longer nervous.

Then Gou An took out the pill bottles he had obtained from Lord Jin Yang and threw them all into the alchemy furnace in one go.

As for the other few demon cultivation manuals, Gou An threw them into the Palm Heaven Diagram and had Liu Dayong copy them all for him again.

After doing all this, Gou An burned the original manual of the cultivation technique, along with other items, to ashes.

At this point, Gou An no longer possessed anything that Blind Tiger originally had.

After doing all this, Gou An finally breathed a sigh of relief.

I just hope everything will turn out for the better.