The sky was getting dark, crows were crowing and magpies were chirping, a long night was approaching, clouds and mist obscured the moon, and a cold and wet rain began to fall.

The originally silent long street was suddenly filled with stiff and numb walking corpses, like a picture of hell.

The closer they got to the City Lord's Mansion, the denser the zombies became, like ants. Xie Lu stood on the eaves with a paper umbrella, watching the zombies on the street pouring towards him like a tide. It would be a waste to use his spiritual power to clear such zombies, but he had anticipated this scenario and prepared explosives in advance.

Saltpeter, sulfur, charcoal powder... are all materials used in alchemy. He borrowed a lot from Danfeng, tied the explosive packs to the arrows, and attached a spiritual power to clear the evil spirit. It was easy and quick to clear the soldiers, saving a lot of time.

Xie Lu slowly put away the paper umbrella, drew his bow, and shot an arrow. After a few or three arrows, the zombies on the long street exploded into fireworks. In the blink of an eye, the whole street was filled with broken bodies.

He jumped from the eaves, cleared the streets one by one, and slowly approached the City Lord's Mansion.

The difficulty of the mission is actually not high for the Heavenly Rank disciples, but the Heavenly Rank disciples always have more important missions to do, so this kind of mission is generally only assigned to the low-rank disciples, and the low-rank disciples can complete the mission by relying on their large numbers.

After clearing four more streets, Xie Lu was about to leave when he saw zombies on the street not far away rushing in the opposite direction of him.

Logically, these zombies would only go where they could sense the presence of living people. Xie Lu frowned slightly, quietly concealing his presence and following the zombies, only to discover that the direction the zombies were heading seemed to be their safe house.

There was indeed a living person there, but...

Xie Lu's expression gradually darkened.

Didn't he repeatedly tell you not to leave?

*

The rain was getting heavier, the wind was strong and the rain was sudden. My boots splashed into the puddle.

The hoarse and strange cries seemed to be squeezed out from the throat and echoed throughout the world. The walking corpses in all directions could not be killed. Shen Yimian was panicking and slashed desperately with the sword. There was a masked man who was moving slowly following closely behind.

Rain and sweat soaked his clothes. Shen Yimian turned around with tears in his eyes, and saw that the masked man was still following him. He almost wanted to kneel down and kowtow to him.

Don’t chase him, don’t chase him, he’s just a useless yellow rank guy!

There were more and more zombies surrounding him, and the tip of his sword was stained with blood. The strong smell of blood made Shen Yimian feel like vomiting. Although he knew that these were dead things, the scene of flying flesh and blood was really disgusting.

The little kung fu he learned by being lazy and slacking off around Si Wuxing was not enough to make it possible for him to break out of the encirclement.

He could only run away while looking for Xie Lu, but he was not careful and slipped in a puddle on the road.

Shen Yimian felt a sense of despair as his heart felt empty. Just as he was about to get up, he found that the group of zombies rushing towards him had stopped.

He raised his eyes in surprise.

In the heavy rain, Xie Lu's snow-white clothes were stained with blood, and the sticky and fishy blood dripped down along the hem of his clothes as it was washed by the heavy rain.

Suddenly, there were flashes of lightning and thunder in the sky. Shen Yimian clearly saw his face appearing and disappearing in the cold white light. It was clearly a calm face, but for no reason, there was a strange and terrifying look in his changing expression.

He walked slowly in his boots, and the long sword in his hand, which was shining with silver and white rain, flipped easily. Like a ruthless judge born in hell and in charge of life and death, he used the most basic simple calculations to determine the vital points of the person in front of him. After the calculation was completed, he cut his throat with a sword. Blood spurted out first, splashing on the side of his already pale face, and then the momentum decreased sharply, and even the other party's remaining breath slowly and desperately returned to calm.

Shen Yimian inexplicably felt an immense chill rising up in his heart, vaguely feeling that Xie Lu didn't seem to be here to kill the zombies, but rather to kill him.

No, no, Xie Lu promised not to kill him and came to save him.

Xie Lu stood in front of him. The sword he had picked up from somewhere was already full of holes. He looked down at Shen Yimian from above. After a while, he slowly stretched out his hand towards him.

Somehow, Shen Yimian always felt that Xie Lu's eyes were looking at an idiot. She quickly held his hand and got up from the ground, and asked with lingering fear, "How did you know I was here?"

"Tracking a walking corpse." Xie Lu answered concisely, but he didn't look at him. Instead, he stared indifferently at the masked man behind Shen Yimian.

Shen Yimian felt that he seemed to be getting angrier and explained in a low voice, "Just now, that little girl tore up the yellow talisman, and then I..."

"Um."

Xie Lu interrupted him, "You're not hurt, are you?"

Shen Yimian's voice was even lower, "No, you are angry?"

Hearing this, Xie Lu tilted his head to look at him and asked, "Have you seen The Wandering Earth?"

"It is indeed a luxury to expect humans to remain rational forever—the wise words of our predecessors are indeed applicable."

He really doesn't like plot developments that deviate from the calculated results.

Shen Yimian: ...

He also recognized his senior.

"No, I really didn't expect that little girl to tear up the yellow talisman..." Shen Yimian cried out in injustice, "If it were you, you wouldn't run away"

Xie Lu glanced at him calmly, "What you have hanging around your neck is a sex toy."

Shen Yimian: ""

He was about to curse when he looked down and realized that he was wearing the Xiuyu collar given to him by Xie Lu, which could protect his body.

No wonder he was saying how he suddenly became so awesome, fighting his way through without getting hurt at all.

Shen Yimian's arrogance suddenly disappeared, and he said awkwardly, "I forgot, sorry."

His face was hot, he lowered his eyelashes and whispered, "Do you think I'm stupid?"

He said he wouldn't come. This kind of work shouldn't be given to someone of his level.

"Now is not the time to say such things." Xie Lu stared at the masked man, gently pressed Shen Yimian's head, and pushed the man behind him.

"We'll discuss your intellectual issues at a meeting tonight."

He threw away the broken sword, took his sword from Shen Yimian's hand, and pointed it at the masked man opposite.

It was a camphorwood mask similar to the ones used in Nuo opera. The hideous and gorgeously painted face did not look like a god, but rather like a ghost, eerie and terrifying.

Neither side spoke. Xie Lu drew his sword and charged forward. His sword moves were so fast that Shen Yimian couldn't tell which sect or school he belonged to. He just saw him moving forward with a whoosh and a whoosh. In just a quarter of an hour, the masked man was defeated and fell to the ground.

The sticky and smelly blood was like a exploded jar of old pickled kelp. After the masked man died, he turned into a pool of blood, leaving only bones. Shen Yimian vomited and finally vomited it out.

"This person hasn't been dead for many years, and he stinks like this."

"The hip joint is severely worn, so he must have been over eighty years old. He is a walking corpse with an intelligent mind, so the time of his death is unknown."

Xie Lu never lets his words slip. He leaned over and took off the camphorwood mask for a closer look. "The author borrowed inspiration from Nuo opera masks. I suspect the demonic purpose behind this might be related to witchcraft."

"Witch ritual" Shen Yimian spit out all the words, "What witch ritual?"

"Modern Nuo opera involves killing chickens and drawing their blood to offer sacrifices to spirits and gods. Many regions no longer practice killing chickens, and instead use wooden chicken statues as offerings." Xie Lu pondered for a moment and added, "Considering this is a cultivation text and the demons have killed many people in Yunhuai City, they might not be using chickens for sacrifice, but rather human sacrifices."

Shen Yimian understood a little bit, which meant that the entire Yunhuai City was a sacrifice to the demons.

"Let's go back first." Xie Lu said calmly.

"Where to go back to?" Shen Yimian became more and more angry as he thought about it. "The safe house has been exposed. The people alive here are all those people left here by the demons on purpose. They are here to force them to tip off the monks as soon as they arrive."

"Since there are spies everywhere, then anywhere can become a safe house." Xie Lu nodded slightly, and added calmly, "It's not that stupid, actually."

Shen Yimian realized that he was answering what he had said before, and gritted his teeth secretly, "Any fool can see this kind of thing. Aren't you an AI? Why are you still mocking me?"

Xie Lu headed towards the safe house without looking back, answering his question casually, "I'm 50% perfectionism, 30% venomous, 18% dry humor, and 2% self-satisfaction."

Shen Yimian quickly ran after him. Upon hearing this, he said in disbelief, "Who gave you so many messed up things?"

"It comes with random factory settings and cannot be changed. You'll get used to it slowly."

“…”

Xie Lu grabbed Shen Yimian and jumped lightly on the eaves on his toes. In the blink of an eye, he was back to the safe house.

The two stood in front of the door, looking at Chunhua huddled inside in silence.

"elder brother……"

Chunhua stepped back, carefully shrinking into the corner, "I'm sorry, brother, I was wrong..."

Xie Lu stared at her quietly, with a hint of coldness in his eyes, but suddenly Shen Yimian's voice of relief came from beside him.

"Luckily I didn't die."

After the words fell, Xie Lu glanced sideways, a hint of confusion flashing across his eyes.

Shen Yimian stepped forward and picked up Chunhua, patting the dust off her body, "Are you hurt, Chunhua?"

At that time, Chunhua was standing behind the masked man, and he couldn't take her with him, so he could only lead the masked man and the zombie away first.

Chunhua stared at him blankly for a while, then she hugged Shen Yimian's neck tightly and burst into tears, "I'm sorry, brother, I didn't mean to hurt you, they asked me to do this, I miss my parents so much, I'm so scared..."

Shen Yimian carried her to the bed and comforted her patiently for a while. Xiao Chunhua soon fell asleep with sobs.

After a while, Shen Yimian was about to get up when he heard Xie Lu's voice behind him.

"The yellow talisman has been repaired."

He looked back and saw Xie Lu taking off her blood-stained coat and hanging it on a chair. Her eyes flickered, "I want to remind you that under extreme pressure, human animal instinct will make her act in self-preservation, so she might betray you again next time."

Shen Yimian blinked, "And then?"

"You should avoid risks, stay away from her, and don't be soft-hearted and trust her again." Xie Lu wiped the blood from the side of his face and said in a cold tone, "Even if she is just a child."

He chose to give food only because the mission included saving the people of Yunhuai City. He never did anything other than the mission.

Shen Yimian knew that he was thinking about her safety, so she nodded and said, "You make sense, then let's throw her out to feed the dogs."

Xie Lu: "That's not necessary, just leave it alone."

Shen Yimian snorted and muttered, "We are here to eliminate demons and save people. As long as we eliminate the demons, how could she betray me? If she wants to find me, she has to take a carriage for three days and three nights and climb Yanshan Mountain to find me. Where is the risk? All the problems are caused by the demons. The people are forced into it."

If he were Chunhua, he might have told the demons what kind of underwear Xie Lu was wearing. "Mo Taijun, come this way, the one in white underwear is working."

Strangely, Xie Lu was actually convinced by his logic.

He paused for a moment, thinking deeply, then nodded and said, "There's no need for the meeting tonight."

Shen Yimian: ""

"You're not too stupid about some things."

Shen Yimian gritted his teeth, stared fiercely at Xie Lu's back, and praised him, "You can die, right?"

"By the way, I have another thing to tell you in advance."

Xie Lu suddenly began to take off his clothes.

He quickly turned his head away. After being swayed by those perverts in Yanshan, he felt a little embarrassed when he saw his same-sex partner taking off clothes. "What's the matter? I have to take off my clothes to talk about it."

Xie Lu untied his belt, stripped himself naked, and washed the blood-soaked clothes with a cleaning spell, "Clean the body, there's a lot of blood on it."

He had to wash the blood off his body carefully. The magic cleansing would make him feel that it was not clean enough, and the sticky touch of the blood would always cling to his body, which was very uncomfortable.

After taking off his outer garment, only a thin crescent-white inner garment remained. In the night, Xie Lu's skin was pale to the point of bluish, and his figure was as straight and tall as ever. His broad shoulders hung with strong and nimble arms, as if he could touch the beams with just a lift of his hands. His waist was narrow and strong, with his belt half tied and half loose around his waist. With a height of over 1.9 meters, he looked like a boss when he stood there.

In comparison, Shen Yimian's normal male physique can actually be described as weak.

The candlelight reflected in his eyes, but there was no warmth in it.

"What I want to say is that I need order. Order makes me feel safe, so I don't like unplanned events to happen. Please don't disrupt my order."

He was polite and courteous, but his eyes were fixed on Shen Yimian.

Shen Yimian inexplicably felt a sense of panic as if he were being targeted by a beast more powerful than himself in the wild. He subconsciously backed off and coughed lightly, "What if it breaks?"

"It's okay, but I'll be a little angry."

"Oh." Shen Yimian was relieved. He understood obsessive-compulsive disorder. "Don't worry, as a friend, I will try my best to avoid such conflicts."

Xie Lu nodded slightly, obviously satisfied with his answer.

He brought a tub, heated it up with his magic to sterilize it, and then filled it with water for a bath. He asked in a friendly manner, "Do you want to take a bath?"

Shen Yimian's body was also stained with a lot of blood from the zombies. After hearing what he said, he could smell a bit of fishy odor. He coughed dryly and said, "You wash first. I'll wash after you finish."

"Let's go together."

Shen Yimian's expression froze, and he almost suspected that he had heard it wrong. He turned his head subconsciously.

Xie Lu looked at him calmly, his dark hair soaked and draped over his shoulders. He propped his chin up on his hand and said calmly, "Save water. I can also give you a bath."

"come over."