After seeing Xie An off, Xie Shuci suddenly felt a sense of loss.

Watching Xie An's figure disappear at the end of the long street, Xie Shuci looked around blankly, feeling that everything around him was very unfamiliar. It was as if he had just realized that he had left the world where he had grown up and come to a strange and dangerous place.

Alright, there's no time for sentimentality here.

Being submissive is the true nature of a hero. Xie Xiaoci, as a man of steel in the 21st century, what is this little difficulty?

So what if it's a monster? Don't underestimate me, Young Master Xie. He won't kneel down and beg for mercy within three moves! That's how principled Young Master Xie is!

Turning back to the inn, the innkeeper came downstairs carrying a basin of dirty water and came face to face with Xie Shuci.

"Thank you, young master." The shopkeeper looked pale and forced a smile.

Remembering what happened last night, Xie Shuci followed the shopkeeper into the backyard without saying a word.

"Brother Chen, is this matter related to you as well?" Xie Shuci followed him to the well and couldn't help but ask.

The shopkeeper's surname was Chen, and his name was Chen Cai.

Chen poured the dirty water into the wooden bucket, and then filled it with water again.

Upon hearing Xie Shuci's question, Chen Cai froze for a moment, his body trembling slightly. After a moment of silence, he suddenly burst into tears without warning.

"It's my fault, I was blinded by greed, I'm the one who ruined Ah Dong!"

Chen Cai desperately needed an outlet. He felt like he was floating on water, desperately needing to grab onto every piece of driftwood around him and tell the truth of the matter in a choked voice.

It turns out that Zhang Quan had taken in an injured wolfhound and kept it at home for several days. At first, he did not have the intention of eating its flesh.

Chen Cai ran an inn, and Xie family disciples often stopped there when they came down the mountain. He had heard some things about spirit beasts.

He knew that the meat of ordinary poultry was different from that of the spirit beast; eating it could not only strengthen the body but also prolong life. Later, when he heard that Zhang Quan had found a very intelligent wolfhound, he immediately thought of the legendary spirit beast and went to observe it several times. He discovered that this wolfhound was not only intelligent but also naturally friendly to humans, just like a six- or seven-year-old child.

Chen Cai was overjoyed, thinking Zhang Quan had struck gold. He believed the wolfhound's meat would be tender, delicious, and even have medicinal properties. So, he persuaded Zhang Quan to use the wolfhound's kindness to locate its pack. Because the wolfhounds were so clever, they didn't hunt them all down at once, fearing they would scare them away. Instead, they would poach two wolfhounds every other day, cook their meat, and sell it at a high price.

At this point, the shopkeeper suddenly said, "On the surface, it's been Zhang Quan who's been doing it, and no one else knows that I'm involved. Even the demons can smell our lingering scent in the desolate mountains and come after us, but, Young Master Xie, Xie An by your side should absolutely not know about this!"

Xie Shuci had no time to think about anything else. Upon hearing this, he immediately stood up straight: "Does Xie An know about this?"

Chen Cai nodded wearily: "I originally wanted to warn you to be careful of him, but I never had the chance. Later, I found out that he knew about this and had something on him, so I dared not tell you. In short, it's a good thing for you to send him away now."

After listening, Xie Shuci frowned.

He recalled that Chen Cai seemed to want to say something to him, but hesitated when he saw Xie An appear.

Moreover, after what happened last night, Li Song also came to remind him that Xie An was not simple.

Xie Shuci had considered Xie An's identity, after all, judging from the way he read certain Jiang's pure love novels, Xie An, who was good-looking and had a blood feud, was definitely not a simple character.

If it weren't for the fact that the protagonist, Xiao Xun, is a madman who cultivates the path of slaughter, and no one dares to hunt him down except him, Xie Shuci would almost have guessed that the little blind man was Xiao Xun himself.

However, he didn't believe such a ridiculous story could happen. Besides, if he had encountered Xiao Xun, he would have been chopped to pieces by him long ago... Wait!

Xie Shuci recalled the chilling look Xie An gave him when they first met; Xie An had also wanted to kill him back then!

Holy crap.

Xie Shuci suddenly had a bold idea: Could Xie An be Xiao Xun himself? Aren't the people of the Xiaoyao Sect hunting him down?!

No. Xie Shuci shook his head, quickly dismissing the idea.

According to the timeline of the original text, Xiao Xun was cultivating in some remote corner. His cultivation level had advanced by leaps and bounds in just one year. How could he have almost died in a small forest in a corner of Bianzhou like Xie An? Moreover, Xie An is now blind and deaf, and his cultivation level has been completely destroyed. He could not possibly be Xiao Xun.

Thinking about it this way, Xie Shuci relaxed a lot.

As long as the blind boy isn't Xiao Xun, Xie Shuci doesn't care about his identity. Of course, it's best if he's not that idiot protagonist either.

However, in this timeline, the idiot protagonist is still searching for treasure in some secret realm.

Chen Cai brought up a bucket of water, and seeing that Xie Shuci had finished agonizing over it, he suddenly bent his knees and knelt down in front of Xie Shuci.

"Holy crap—what are you doing?" Xie Shuci was startled and instinctively assumed a running away stance.

With red eyes, Chen Cai kowtowed heavily to him, choking back tears as he said, "Young Master Xie, you are the only one who can save A Dong now! A Dong won't live to see the Xie family find another inner core, and the Li family won't give this inner core to A Dong either. Only you... only you can save A Dong!"

Xie Shuci's expression darkened. Needless to say, he would also save Adong. But he was powerless to do so. He couldn't obtain the demon's inner core and would ultimately die under the demon's claws just like Adong. Moreover, he didn't want to harm the demon.

“Brother Chen, I won’t help you, but I will save A-Dong.”

“I heard Master Li say that if a demon voluntarily offers its inner core, it will not be in mortal danger. As long as it is willing to give its inner core to A-Dong, I will even pay with my life! Young Master Xie, please take me to find it! I will beg it, I will pay with my life! You are the only person I can trust!”

Xie Shuci was taken aback, then gave a bitter smile.

It's not as simple as it sounds. For a demon to cultivate its inner core, not only does it need a pure heart, but it also requires the perfect timing, location, and people. Some demons would rather self-destruct than hand over their inner core. How could they easily give away something they've cultivated for decades or even centuries to someone else?

"This is none of your business. Take good care of Adong. Also, be prepared to die." With that, Xie Shuci flicked his sleeves and went back to his room.

The thought that this might be the last time he tried to look cool made me feel a little sad.

Xie Shuci's idea was still very naive. He thought that if he could use Brother Chen's life to save A Dong, he wouldn't have to kill the dog demon to get the core, and he could also save his own life. The demon would lose its inner core and cultivation, but it wouldn't be struck by lightning. It was a win-win-win situation. Brother Chen's death was worthwhile and could be considered as atonement for his mistakes.

Anyway, give it a try.

Late at night, the stars twinkled in the sky, but the inn was pitch black.

Xie Shuci concealed a dagger in his bosom, stealthily closed the door, and quietly left the inn in the dark.

It was still pitch black outside. The night wind blew through the empty street, making eerie, ghostly howls that were quite chilling.

Xie Shuci rubbed the goosebumps off his body and steeled himself as he walked toward the town's exit.

Li Song fed the horse a lot of spiritual herbs, making it run exceptionally fast. The round trip would only take two days, and tonight would be Xie Shuci's only chance.

The Taoist in the green robe was seriously injured, and the other disciples were also recuperating. Xie Shuci had no chance to leave the town during the day and could only act under the cover of night.

Along the way, Xie Shuci silently recited the core socialist values ​​to bolster his courage. After leaving the town, he followed a path Chen Cai had described and climbed into the mountains. The moonlight barely illuminated the path beneath his feet, and the chirping of insects echoed around him. Xie Shuci gripped the dagger tightly in his hand, his palms damp with cold sweat, almost unable to hold on.

Xie Shuci was extremely tense. He stepped on a dry twig, snapping it with a sharp, unusual sound. Startled, as if chased by a ghost, he took off running forward, chanting, "Prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality..."

With a "thump," Xie Shuci tripped over a stone and fell flat on his face.

"Pah!" Xie Shuci spat out the grass clippings in his mouth, rubbed his knees, and stood up.

"Xie Shuci, are you even a man? If you're a man, don't be a coward! If you didn't love to brag, would that brat dare to run out?"

Xie Shuci sniffed and warned himself in a hoarse voice.

“If you die, you might be able to return to the modern world. But if A-Dong dies, he's really dead. So don't be a coward, Xie Shuci. You are the chosen man. You have to believe in yourself. You're not going to kill it. You're just negotiating with it. Besides, it's injured, isn't it? It might not be able to beat you.”

"Xie Shuci, what you did this time was really awesome. No one will believe it if you tell anyone. You have to make me proud and go down in history, understand?"

Before long, Xie Shuci saw the desolate mountain.

Under the moonlight, the barren mountain resembled the forehead of a bald old man, reflecting the light from the sky and illuminating the ground with unparalleled clarity.

We've arrived in the territory of the monsters!

Xie Shuci tried hard to recall the feeling when he healed A Dong, and a wisp of silvery-white spiritual energy emerged from his palm, covering the dagger. When his spiritual energy completely enveloped the dagger, he felt as if the dagger had become a part of his body, inseparable from him.

A chilling wind swept over him, like icy water washing over Xie Shuci, and he couldn't help but shiver.

A streak of silver light flashed in the distance, and an extremely fast figure darted through the grass, rushing towards Xie Shuci with lightning speed.

A savage killing intent enveloped Xie Shuci. He didn't even have time to feel fear; his powerful will to survive made him swing his knife straight ahead.

The sword light shot towards the figure like an arrow released from a bow.

Xie Shuci, panting heavily, asked, "Did it hit you?"

The figure in mid-air was extremely agile. It tore through the void with one claw and tilted its body to the side, seemingly trying to dodge the sword light and grab Xie Shuci.

But no one noticed that the instant Xie Shuci swung his sword, a sword light also flew out from the woods not far behind him, merging into Xie Shuci's sword strike at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Just as the demon dodged to the side, the sword light suddenly expanded rapidly, splitting into two beams of light, one of which struck the demon's lower abdomen.

Blood splattered instantly, dripping onto the grass.

The monster let out a low whimper, its body falling straight down and rolling into the grass.

Xie Shuci was dumbfounded.

He looked at the blood on the ground, then at the knife in his hand, and muttered in disbelief, "Am I that powerful?"

Xie Shuci remained skeptical and slowly approached the spot where the monster had fallen.

He saw the monster emit a dazzling white light, its tall figure shrinking continuously within the light until it became a normal-sized... husky?

"Holy crap? Huskies can become sentient these days?"

Xie Shuci took two steps closer and realized that he was not mistaken; the monster's true form was a dog that looked like a husky.

It had several different sword wounds on its body, almost all of which were deep enough to expose the bone. Blood gushed out from beneath it, probably because it had exhausted its spiritual power and was too weak to repair its body.

Upon seeing Xie Shuci, it bared its teeth and glared fiercely at him, trying to stop him from approaching with its barks.

"Aren't you just a stupid dog? Why are you always pretending to be a big shot? It seems that dogs of your breed have traded their good looks for intelligence."

Upon discovering that the monster that had kept him on edge all day was merely a common pet in modern society, and that it was so badly injured, he forgot his pain once the wound healed, lowered his guard, and approached it.

The monster understood his words and, enraged, opened its mouthful of fangs. To defend its dignity, it endured the pain and howled twice.

"Don't bark, I can save you." Xie Shuci bent down to examine its wounds. They were quite severe. Luckily, it wasn't an ordinary dog, or it would have died long ago.

"Woof!"

Go ahead and call it that.

"Don't shout!"

"Woof!"

Xie Shuci, impatient, slapped the dog on the head and said, "Shut up."

"Waaah..."