Do you really think you can get me with just a banana?

Yan Ruchen frowned slightly and said in a low voice: "What do you mean?"

Guan Shanyu took a step closer, looking directly into Yan Ruchen's eyes, his tone wooden but firm: "You won't find out anything if you follow their arrangements. Why don't you think about it yourself? Don't you think this is all very strange?"

Yan Ruchen stared at him for a long time. It was rare for him to see Guan Shanyu with such a serious expression. After a long silence, he slowly asked, "Do you know something?"

Guan Shanyu chuckled and said, "So what if I know? I don't intend to interfere with your investigation. The result is the same to me anyway. But can you please use your brain to think about it?"

Yan Ruchen stared at him closely. Seeing that Guan Shanyu wanted to leave again after he finished speaking, he immediately grabbed his hand. Guan Shanyu looked back at him with a numb look in his eyes and said, "Yan Ruchen, I didn't bully you along the way. You can't punish me, right?"

Yan Ruchen frowned and asked, "What do you mean by punishing you? I just want to ask, what did you mean just now? Do you know something?"

Guan Shanyu chuckled and said nonchalantly, "It's boring. I don't know."

Yan Ruchen's grip tightened slightly, and he said in a deep voice, "If you know anything else, why don't you say it? Aren't you worried that this will implicate more people?"

Guan Shanyu looked down at the scar on his hand, a wry smile on his lips: "Don't worry, I don't have anyone I want to protect."

Upon hearing this, Yan Ruchen was stunned for a moment, turned his head to avoid his gaze, and said in a deep voice: "What about Li Qi and the others? You don't care either?"

Guan Shanyu was stunned when he heard this and looked at him silently. Yan Ruchen also turned his head and stared at Guan Shanyu silently. The two of them exchanged glances in the air for a moment, and finally Guan Shanyu spoke first: "You are not allowed to touch them."

Yan Ruchen frowned, puzzled, "Why should I touch them? I mean, the mastermind behind this incident, shouldn't I touch them?"

Guan Shanyu's heart tightened when he heard this. He pursed his lips and stared at Yan Ruchen for a long time before finally saying, "If I help you investigate, will you swear that no matter what happens in the future, you will not harm Li Qi and the others?"

Yan Ruchen didn't understand Guan Shanyu's intention, but still responded in a deep voice: "I swear, no matter what happens in the future, I will never hurt Li Qi and the others."

Guan Shanyu took a deep breath after receiving the assurance, turned his head to the side, blinked a few times quickly, and forced himself to suppress the bitterness in his heart. He bit his lip and remained silent for a long time before saying stiffly, "Okay, then you and I will go somewhere to check some things. Apart from this, don't trust anyone else, including Tianxuan."

*

The sky was originally deep blue, but a cloud quietly floated in and blocked out the dazzling sunlight.

Guan Shanyu and Yan Ruchen walked slowly down the mountain path. It was quiet all the way. Guan Shanyu just kept his head down as he walked, neither speaking nor looking back at Yan Ruchen.

Yan Ruchen followed behind him, thinking about the meaning of Guan Shanyu's previous words, but when he saw the conspicuous scratch on his right cheek, he swallowed the words back. He could only look at him from time to time and occasionally remind him to be careful with his step.

The two of them reached a corner. Yan Ruchen was so distracted that he didn't notice a branch sticking out from the side, and was suddenly hit on the face. He quickly pushed the branch aside and found that Guan Shanyu in front of him also had a lot of fallen leaves on his head, obviously he had been hit by the branch just now.

However, Guan Shanyu did not remind him.

Yan Ruchen hurried over, looking at Guan Shanyu's silent profile. Ever since those words, Guan Shanyu has remained in this state, tightly pursed lips, lowered head and staring at the ground, wondering what he was thinking. Yan Ruchen's eyes moved to his right cheek. Guan Shanyu's skin was very white and tender, better than many men's, but this purple-red scar was like an abrupt mark, destroying this perfection. He sighed softly and finally spoke: "Shanyu, you..."

"It'll take four days to get to the north. Since we have someone to lead the team, why don't we go down the mountain and have a meal today?"

Suddenly, a conversation came from the other side of the stairs. Yan Ruchen immediately shut up and was about to turn around to look, but Guan Shanyu in front of him stopped and didn't look back. He just stretched out his hand to gently stop him and whispered, "It's Hu Qi and the others. Don't go over there."

Following Guan Shanyu's gesture, Yan Ruchen looked and saw several Tianxuan disciples passing by on the other side of the mountain road, with Hu Qi walking in front. Fortunately, they were slightly lower and had not been discovered. Yan Ruchen was puzzled and asked quietly, "If it's Hu Qi, why didn't he go over?"

Guan Shanyu glanced back at him and said seriously, "We are going to investigate a case this time. We must be careful and not let them notice our whereabouts, otherwise we will ruin the matter."

Yan Ruchen was a little stunned. Looking at Guan Shanyu's expressionless face, he whispered "Okay". After Hu Qi and his group walked away, Guan Shanyu continued to walk forward and said, "Let's go."

Yan Ruchen saw that Guan Shanyu had this attitude all the way. He remembered that he was not so uncomfortable when he told him the true effect of the secret technique. But he became like this after meeting Song Ziye. He wondered what Song Ziye said to him.

Yan Ruchen's eyes darkened slightly, and he took the initiative to find a topic to break the silence: "Shanyu, usually people go down the mountain by the main road, how did you know this small road?"

Guan Shanyu replied expressionlessly: "I've been here several times and I've memorized the terrain."

Yan Ruchen nodded silently behind him. Seeing that Guan Shanyu was silent again, he asked, "After we get down the mountain, how do we get to Songpi County?"

Songpi County and Yunjichan are relatively close to each other, both located in the territory of Yunze, but Yunjichan is located in the center, while Songpi County is just a small county town on the edge of Yunze. However, the location is good, and the sect sites of Fang Jiulong and Yulintai encountered before are also located nearby. Although they are two or three hundred miles apart, they are at least blessed places surrounded by immortal gates.

Guan Shanyu stopped and stared at the road down the mountain without looking back. He said, "If they know my whereabouts wherever I go, then we should go to Yunjichan first and then go around to Songpi County. They are now busy investigating the person in the painting and should have no time to care about me. So we can ride horses on the way to Yunjichan. Even if they see us, they will only think I am going to help and will not think much of it. But once we pass Yunjichan, we must hurry and fly straight to Songpi County to avoid being discovered by them. Once we get to Songpi County, we will adapt to the situation."

Yan Ruchen stood behind him, seeing him considering every aspect of the trip with his back to him, but he still asked the question in his heart: "Why don't we go with the elders to track down the person in the painting?"

Guan Shanyu turned around and stopped, looking at Yan Ruchen, and said calmly: "Of course, you can also follow them. Whether they investigate or not is not important to me."

Yan Ruchen was startled and replied, "That's not what I meant..."

But before he could finish his words, Guan Shanyu had already turned and walked away, leaving Yan Ruchen's words to dissipate in the wind. Guan Shanyu really didn't seem to care at all. Seeing this, Yan Ruchen sighed lightly and quickly caught up.

Following Guan Shanyu's arrangement, Yan Ruchen went down the mountain and went to the post house set up by Tianxuan Dao Sect at the foot of the mountain to pick up a horse. He wanted to ride with Guan Shanyu, but he pointed at another horse and said to Yan Ruchen, "Get another one."

So, the two of them, one in front and one behind, each riding a horse, set off on their journey. Although Guan Shanyu was riding alone, he actually asked Yan Ruchen to help lead the horse, but he deliberately kept a distance from Yan Ruchen. Yan Ruchen would look back at Guan Shanyu from time to time, looking at him with confusion. Guan Shanyu noticed his gaze, but just turned his head away, pretending not to see it.

Arriving at the bustling street, Yan Ruchen slowed his horse and carefully weaved through the crowd. He turned back again, only to find Guan Shanyu intently looking the other way. He thought he was still in a bad mood and didn't want to pay attention to him, but just as Yan Ruchen was about to turn back, Guan Shanyu suddenly said, "Something happened over there, do you want to go and take care of it?"

Yan Ruchen looked back at Guan Shanyu. His face remained calm, and he pointed to another street, staring blankly at him. Yan Ruchen looked in that direction and saw a bustling crowd of people on the street. A large crowd had gathered in front of a small stall. Just as Yan Ruchen was wondering why Guan Shanyu had suddenly brought this up, he caught a glimpse of Chen Rongrong in the crowd.

"You go take care of it, I'll watch the horses here."

Without waiting for Yan Ruchen's response, Guan Shanyu dismounted, took the reins, and said to Yan Ruchen expressionlessly. Yan Ruchen frowned slightly, then dismounted as well, handed the reins to Guan Shanyu, and said, "I'll be right back."

After Guan Shanyu grasped the reins, he immediately turned around and walked to the other corner to sit down, not even listening to Yan Ruchen finish his words. Yan Ruchen looked at him silently for a while, sighed almost inaudibly, and then turned around and hurried towards the block.

The area around the stall was in chaos, a massive crowd tightly packed around the people inside, making it impossible to get out. Yan Ruchen squeezed in to see that several disciples from Qionghua Peak and Xuanshuang Residence were surrounded by the crowd. The crowd was ranting and cursing, with comments like, "The Immortal Sect is in chaos," "You've squandered all your money," and "How can you protect us if you can't even manage yourselves?"

Chen Rongrong and a group of disciples were trapped in the middle, shouting anxiously: "Calm down, it's useless to block us. We are just disciples who came down the mountain to buy things, not what you said!"

But the crowd refused to listen and continued to curse, "I think you immortal sects are all scammers. One moment, your disciples' private affairs are exposed, and the next, there are rumors that your disciples are killing each other. You can't even control yourselves, and you are always causing trouble. How can you protect us? And you ask us to pay so much money? Impossible! Give us back all the money we paid!"

Yan Ruchen, who was in the outer circle, understood what was happening. Seeing that the crowd was about to raise their hands to throw vegetable leaves at them again, Yan Ruchen hurriedly said, "Excuse me, excuse me," squeezed through the crowd, and stood in front of Tianxuan's disciples. He shouted to the onlookers, "Everyone, calm down! Let's talk it over."

Several women couldn't stop themselves and threw the vegetable leaves at Yan Ruchen's face. However, after seeing the appearance of the young man who suddenly appeared before them, they were frightened by his handsomeness and asked hesitantly, "Who are you?"

Yan Ruchen gently brushed off the rotten vegetable leaves on his head and turned around. When Chen Rongrong saw it was him, tears came to her eyes: "Ruchen, you're finally here!"

Yan Ruchen didn't bother to respond, and directly said to the onlookers, "Everyone, listen to me calmly. Don't believe those rumors outside. The world is difficult, and we are also working hard to deal with it. The Immortal Sect is committed to protecting the peace of the people and will never accept your offerings without reason. If the amount of the offering is unusual, be careful not to be deceived."

"Nonsense! Didn't you just say that we have to pay you if we ask you for help? Now you say no. Do you know how many of these amulets our family buys every year? Who would have known that your own sect would be in turmoil first? I heard about it! So many people died in your sect for no reason, and you couldn't even handle it yourselves!" said an aunt, and the onlookers echoed.

"Nonsense! It's the demons causing trouble, and we are dealing with it. Besides, we never sell things like amulets, so don't buy fakes and frame us!" Chen Rongrong retorted.

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd became even more agitated, demanding their money back, believing them to be a fraudulent sect. Yan Ruchen raised his voice to calm the situation, "Fellow villagers, our sect only charges a small amount of merit when we eliminate harm for the people. If they charge a large sum, they are definitely imposters. Recently, outsiders have indeed been impersonating disciples of the immortal sect to commit fraud. Please be vigilant and do not be fooled!"

"You farted, you did it!"

The crowd ignored Yan Ruchen's explanations and continued to curse and throw vegetable leaves. Yan Ruchen and his disciples were sweating profusely, but they could only desperately explain, not daring to hurt anyone. In the midst of this chaos, a soft question came from the end of the group: "Hey, was he the one who led the troops to quell the monster rebellion at Wuzijian?"