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

"What business does Lord Shan have with me?" Gou An quickly cupped his hands, pretending to be respectful, while glancing around to make sure no one was paying attention to him.

Xuan Kongzi, controlling Jin Yangshan Jun, cleared his throat, feigning a serious expression, and said, "I just came out of seclusion and heard that Hall Master Gou has a very high level of alchemy skills, so I would like to invite Hall Master Feiyuelou to a gathering!"

"Huh?" Gou An frowned immediately, wondering what Xuan Kongzi wanted to do.

"Didn't my actions almost cause the Hall Master to suffer injustice? That's why I invited you to this gathering as an apology." Xuan Kongzi raised his head slightly, his eyes carrying a hint of arrogance, looking no different from the real Lord Jin Yang.

"This!" Gou An wanted to refuse, but seeing that Xuan Kongzi seemed to have something to say, he finally nodded and agreed: "Then I'll listen to Shan Jun."

noon!

Scarlet Moon Pavilion.

At this time, the Scarlet Moon Pavilion had not yet officially opened its doors, and the interior was not as lively as it was at night, appearing rather deserted.

Inside Hongyue's room, a feast of spiritual ingredients had been prepared. Gou An and Xuan Kongzi sat facing each other on either side, enjoying the sight of Hongyue playing the zither.

The music was beautiful and melodious, lingering in the ears.

Just as the first piece of music finished playing and the next piece was about to begin...

"Alright!" Xuan Kongzi waved his hand at Hongyue and said, "You may leave now. I have something to discuss with Fellow Daoist Gou alone."

"Yes!" Hongyue stopped playing the zither, quietly got up and left the room, closing the door behind her.

The next second, Xuan Kongzi made a hand seal, and an array instantly covered the entire room, completely isolating the sounds from inside and outside.

Then a beam of black light flew out from Jin Yang Shan Jun's ring, and Xuan Kong Zi revealed himself, sat down on the side, picked up the spirit wine on the table and took a sip.

Meanwhile, the physical body of Lord Jinyang on the side instantly stiffened and became motionless.

"Master Gou, eat up! What are you standing there for?" Xuan Kongzi drank wine in one hand and picked up food with the other, eating with great relish.

Gou An, standing to the side, had no appetite whatsoever. Instead, he questioned, "What were you doing last night? If you show up any later today, I'll be in trouble, you know?"

"Hall Master... no! Dao Master!" Xuan Kongzi wiped his mouth and laughed, "I went to do some serious business, I didn't mean to harm you."

"Important business? What important business?" Gou An asked, looking puzzled.

"Since I'm playing the role of Lord Jinyang, I have to act convincingly, right?" Xuan Kongzi explained, "So last night I went back to the blind tiger's mansion, changed into his clothes, and then looked in the mirror to review and learn his original habits and movements."

"Imitating a protector of the country is not so easy. After all, to deceive the Demon King and prevent him from discovering the problem, one must be well prepared."

After explaining, Xuan Kongzi took another sip of the spirit wine, seemingly finding the taste quite good, and looked very satisfied.

"After being trapped in the Heavenly Lock Tower for so many years, it's truly wonderful to finally be able to drink such a divine wine again!"

"Then why did you bring me to the Scarlet Moon Pavilion?" Gou An asked.

Xuan Kongzi tapped his forehead with his finger and said, "From Xia Hu's memories, isn't this Scarlet Moon Pavilion his property? It's perfectly normal for me to invite you to dinner at my own property!"

At this point, Xuan Kongzi glanced at the door and said, "Besides, that female demon named Hongyue is so beautiful, she can come and see her true face."

"You're so old, why do you still like this?" Gou An couldn't help but ask.

"Sigh!" Xuan Kongzi rolled his eyes at Gou An and said, "Although I am old, can't I at least take a look?"

"Although the matter of Lord Jinyang may be temporarily resolved!" Gou An glanced at the physical puppet of Lord Jinyang beside him and said with some unease, "But that Evil Bone Daoist may not be so easy to hide. You must be careful of him and make sure he doesn't discover any flaws."

"Don't worry!" Xuan Kongzi smiled. "I've seen it in Xia Hu's memories. The Evil Bone Daoist and Xia Hu weren't particularly close, and besides, my status is higher than his. How could he dare to question me?"

"That's good!" Gou An then picked up his wine glass and took a sip: "As long as you can successfully pretend for a while and clear up my problem, you can make him really disappear. Then no one will be able to suspect me, and you won't have to keep pretending."

"There's no need for that!" Xuan Kongzi shook his head. "I can easily continue this pretense, and with this identity and status, I can obtain a lot of cultivation resources from the Ten Thousand Demon City. Why not?"

At this point, Xuan Kongzi added, "Initially, I planned to directly surrender to them. Besides wanting the protection of the Ten Thousand Demon City, I also wanted to obtain cultivation resources. Now that I can gain even more benefits by impersonating Lord Jin Yang, there's no reason for me to give it up."

"Is there anything else you wanted to tell me?" Gou An thought for a moment and then asked.

"That's right!" Xuan Kongzi only remembered after Gou An reminded him. He put the wine pot on the table and said, "Last night I reviewed the blind tiger's memories and discovered an extraordinary secret, so I wanted to tell the Dao Master."

"A secret?" Gou An frowned immediately upon hearing this. "What secret?"

Xuan Kongzi smiled slightly, and his figure transformed back into black light, disappearing into the black ring.

The next second, the motionless blind tiger came to life, then flipped its hand and took out a long, narrow jade box, placing it on the table.

"What is this?" Gou An looked at the jade box with a puzzled expression.

"Open it and take a look!" Xuan Kongzi controlled the body of Jin Yangshanjun, picked up the wine pot, took a sip, and then licked his lips as if he couldn't taste it.

Gou An took the jade box to his side and slowly pushed the lid open.

Inside the jade box was a finely crafted scroll.

Upon opening it, Gou An discovered it was a complete map of the Monster Mountain Range, with many circles and dots on it, like special markings.

"What is this?" Gou An asked.

"Map of the Secret Realms in the Monster Mountain Range!" Xuan Kongzi did not reappear from the ring, seemingly because his main body had eaten its fill. He continued to control the physical body of Lord Jin Yang and said, "White circles indicate locations where secret realms may exist, crosses indicate locations that have been ruled out, and red circles indicate places where secret realms are very likely to exist."

"So many?" Gou An's eyes widened when he saw the markings on the map.

There are more than 30 places marked with red circles on the map, and hundreds more marked with white circles, and even more places marked with crosses.

"Actually, there are quite a few secret realms outside the Monster Beast Mountain Range!" Xuan Kongzi said, "It's just that because there are so many human cultivators outside, and they have been discovered slowly over hundreds of thousands of years, the number of secret realms outside has naturally decreased."

"But the Demon Beast Mountain Range is different!" Xuan Kongzi smiled and continued, "The City of Ten Thousand Demons has only been established for a few hundred years, and demon beasts still inhabit the mountains. Human cultivators from outside naturally dare not venture deep into it, let alone discover secret realms. Therefore, the ancient secret realms here are naturally well protected."

"Furthermore, judging from Xia Hu's memories, in recent decades, since the appearance of that Hundred Poisons Hermit, the speed of discovering secret realms has increased significantly, and these guardians of the country have also benefited a lot from these secret realms."

Upon hearing this, Gou An couldn't help but think of the treasure inventory in Lord Jin Yang's storage bag, which had sold for over 30 million spirit stones.

"No wonder this guy has so many good things on him, they all came from the secret realm?" Gou An exclaimed.

"With this map!" Xuan Kongzi said, "Dao Master, you can take advantage of the opportunity to go out and search for medicine to try your luck."

Finally, Xuan Kongzi emphasized, "Moreover, I have heard that there is a secret realm left behind by an ancient demon king in this Demon Beast Mountain Range. This demon king was the first demon in our world to ascend to immortality. If we can find it, it will surely contain abundant treasures."

"Really?" Gou An stared at the map for a long time, feeling somewhat tempted.

But the thought of his previous experience venturing into the ancient pagoda's secret realm made Gou An feel a bit scared.

If one were to actually encounter this ancient demon king's secret realm, obtaining the treasures within would likely not be so easy.

So Gou An put the map back into the jade box, and then put the entire jade box away: "There are too many things to do right now, I'll study it slowly when I have time later!"

"Alright!" Xuan Kongzi suddenly stood up and stretched his neck, saying, "The Demon King also ordered me to see him today if I have time, so I have to go."

"Be careful!" Gou An couldn't help but emphasize again.

Unlike Gou An's worries, Xuan Kongzi showed no tension whatsoever; on the contrary, he appeared somewhat excited: "Everything is under control!"

After saying this, he deactivated the soundproofing array in the room, opened the window, and transformed into a black wind to leave.

After Xuan Kongzi disappeared, Gou An called out to the door, "Come in!"

The next moment, Hongyue, who had been waiting outside the door, pushed the door open again and came in.

After discovering that Lord Jinyang had left, she quickly closed the door and sat down in front of Gou An, full of questions, "What exactly happened? Didn't he want to kill you? How did you end up with him? And he even invited you to dinner?"

"Don't worry!" Gou An just smiled at Hong Yue, then said in a serious tone, "Didn't I promise to help you kill him last time? So I found an opportunity to fight him in the Monster Beast Mountain Range and knocked him to the ground."

"Huh?" Hongyue frowned deeply upon hearing this, clearly unable to believe it at all.

But Gou An, like a storyteller, continued telling the story in a calm and unhurried tone:

"That day, I went out of the city to look for medicine and discovered that Lord Jinyang was secretly following me. After I discovered him, he attacked me without saying a word, relying on his own Nascent Soul stage cultivation to try to suppress me by force."

"I knew I had nowhere to retreat, so I could only fight to the death. Although he was highly skilled, he was too careless. I relied on my agile movements and quick reflexes to dismantle his attacks step by step, and we fought for hundreds of rounds."

"After several battles, I was about to be driven into a corner, but at the critical moment, I used a secret technique to break his protective demonic power and severely damage his demonic essence."

"At that time, he was seriously injured and unable to fight anymore. He knew that if he continued to resist, he would only die. He immediately bowed his head and begged for mercy, willing to submit to my orders, only asking me to spare his life."

"I originally wanted to kill him directly, but I was worried about the Demon King's wrath, so I spared his life and made him listen to me in everything from now on."

After hearing this, Hongyue was stunned and remained speechless for a long time.

If it weren't for the fact that Lord Jinyang was so respectful to Gou An just now, it would be impossible to believe.