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

Guan Shanyu was startled and turned to look at Yan Ruchen. Yan Ruchen nodded hesitantly and said softly, "I'll leave immediately."

Guan Shanyu immediately stood up and said, "Okay, I'll go with you."

"No." Yan Ruchen held him down and said, "Your injuries haven't healed yet. If a fight breaks out, it might have an impact. Besides, the secret technique you have will allow the elders to find out your whereabouts."

Upon hearing this, Guan Shanyu immediately nodded and said, "That makes sense. Then go and take a look at the situation. Remember, don't force yourself. If you are discovered, just say you are just passing by. As the acting head of the Heavenly Sword Pavilion, no one should make things difficult for you."

Yan Ruchen nodded, turned around and walked to Li Suyin. When Li Suyin saw him approaching, her legs immediately weakened. Yan Ruchen said: "I heard Shanyu said that you are his partner, so Shanyu will be taken care of by you."

Li Suyin glanced at Guan Shanyu, who was even calmer than she was, and nodded hesitantly. Yan Ruchen, having received the assurance, turned and walked over to Guan Shanyu, patted him on the shoulder, and immediately climbed out the window.

As soon as Yan Ruchen left, there was a knock on the door. A maid's voice came from outside the door, asking: "Miss, what happened? Why does your room smell?"

Li Suyin looked down and realized it must be the smell of the filth that Wang Tianyang had vomited onto the ground. However, they had been in the house for a long time, and their sense of smell had become dull. She quickly signaled to Guan Shanyu with her eyes. Guan Shanyu understood and immediately carried Wang Tianyang and retreated behind the screen.

Seeing that they were well hidden and making sure that no sound was made, Li Suyin pushed open the door, covered her chest and pretended to be uncomfortable. She said to the puzzled nanny outside the door: "I don't know what I ate at noon. My stomach is very uncomfortable. I just vomited for a while. Please tell the servants to take down my blanket and wash it. I want to take a nap and rest for a while. Don't bother me if you have nothing else to do."

The nanny was surprised to see the dirt on the carpet and quickly nodded in agreement. She asked Li Suyin if she wanted to see a doctor. Li Suyin was worried that Guan Shanyu and the others would be exposed if there were too many people around, so she quickly waved her hand and said no. So the nanny quickly retreated and asked a few servants to deal with the carpet. She didn't dare to knock on the door to disturb Li Suyin again.

After everyone left, Guan Shanyu dared to come out from behind the screen. He looked at Wang Tianyang with some worry, then sat down on his seat. He and Li Suyin looked at each other, waiting for Yan Ruchen to come back.

Yan Ruchen, on his part, still walked quickly to the tip of the dock. However, this time he did not enter immediately, but waited for Yue Lingwu, who was approaching from a distance, to bump into him.

"Ruchen? Why are you here? We've been looking for you for the past two days. Where have you been?"

Yue Lingwu spotted Yan Ruchen from afar on the mountain path and, as expected, immediately greeted him. Yan Ruchen bowed, his expression unwavering as he continued, "I heard the Council of Elders sent disciples north to search for the person in the portrait. I felt something was amiss, so I went to Yuchen Palace to investigate. Since I don't have the tablet, I have no way to report this to the elders."

Upon hearing this, Yue Lingwu raised his eyebrows slightly. "Oh? You went to Yuchen Palace? Did you notice anything unusual?"

Yan Ruchen shook his head and said, "No, everything is normal."

Yue Lingwu sneered and said, "Old Man Li is very meticulous in his work. It would be extremely difficult to find loopholes in him. We don't really believe what he said about the whereabouts of the person in the portrait. It would be better to check more with the disciples who took the elixir and Wangshuiling to see if there are any clues we have missed. By the way, where is Guan Shanyu? He hasn't been seen for two days. Is he with you?"

Yan Ruchen replied, "Shan Yu is indeed with me, but he hasn't received any missions recently, so he went to visit his companions who fought with him in Wangshuiling those few days."

Yue Lingwu nodded nonchalantly and said, "There's no use for him right now. Remember to tell him to return to the sect as soon as possible and stop wandering around outside."

Yan Ruchen said, "Okay. But Elder Yue, where are you going?"

Yue Lingwu said, "Return to Tianxuan. By the way, you haven't answered yet. What are you doing in Wuzijian?"

Yan Ruchen said nonsense: "I was passing by here and heard that Elder Yue was here, so I came to say hello to you."

Yue Lingwu waved his hand and said, "Don't worry about all this red tape. Where are you going? Let's go together."

Yan Ruchen suggested a different direction, suggesting they still needed to explore. Yue Lingwu nodded in agreement, and told Yan Ruchen to bring Guan Shanyu back to the sect and not to wander off. After Yan Ruchen agreed, he noticed that Yue Lingwu didn't leave immediately, seemingly waiting for him to go first.

So Yan Ruchen said goodbye and left.

Yue Lingwu waited until he saw him walk away before heading towards Tianxuan. However, Yan Ruchen simply hid elsewhere after he left his sight. Seeing Yue Lingwu walk away, he quietly returned, deliberately avoiding Yue Lingwu and ultimately choosing another path, the one that led to the Endless End of Life.

During the disciple trial, Yan Ruchen walked almost every inch of land in Wuzijian. He had explored almost every cave, secret passage, stream, and trap.

According to his guess, if one wants to hide someone so that he won't be discovered, he must hide in a place that is not easily discovered. Judging from Yan Ruchen's perspective as he stands in the Elders' Council, Ming Wuya is an excellent hiding place.

The thousand-meter-high cliff is littered with corpses, monsters are rampant, and methane is spreading. No one dares to go down easily. If there are prisoners inside, they dare not escape easily. It is simply a natural cage.

Yan Ruchen leaped down from the summit of Ming Wuya and reached the bottom. No demonic beasts were visible. While a deep cyan mist was indeed permeating the air, he knew it was merely a bluff. With a snap of his right fingers, Yan Ruchen vanished into the mist, his breath and spiritual energy fading. Once he was ready, he strode forward with ease.

Breaking the barrier wasn't a difficult task for Yan Ruchen. He entered unimpeded, the disciples guarding the gate not even sensing his presence. Glancing at the guards, he noticed their attire wasn't the typical sect uniforms. He suspected they were deliberately concealing their identities, and without further ado, he stepped directly into the dimly lit cell area.

After entering the dark cell area, Yan Ruchen discovered that although the space was cramped, the layout was secretive.

Each cell was small yet self-contained, tightly encased by a powerful barrier, making it impossible to peer inside, and even sound waves could not penetrate. Furthermore, a sleight of hand obscured vision made it difficult for passersby to detect the prisoners. Yan Ruchen moved swiftly through these invisible barriers, examining each one, not missing a single unusual sign.

Finally, in front of the last cell at the end, the barrier fluctuated slightly, revealing a heart-wrenching scene - the small space was filled with more than a dozen prisoners with haggard faces and empty eyes.

But Yan Ruchen didn't get too excited. He saw that all the other rooms in the cell were empty, but this one was full of people. He stood aside for a moment, glancing at everyone in the room. They all wore the same prison uniforms, their hair was disheveled, and some were sitting or leaning against the wall, but few were talking.

After observing everyone, Yan Ruchen picked out a man. He walked straight towards the man, quietly stretched out his hand and tapped the man's shoulders to the left and right. The prisoner was stunned for a moment, slowly bent down and tried to curl up, but before he could bend down completely, he immediately fell to the ground and twitched.

"What's going on! What happened to him? Why did he suddenly become like this?!"

The other person closest to the prisoner was the first to notice something was wrong and immediately stood up and cried out in surprise. The people nearby turned around and saw someone suddenly collapse and foam at the mouth. They were terrified and gathered around to check what was going on. Yan Ruchen stood quietly by and watched their actions. Finally, one of them ran to the cell door and shouted, "Jailer, someone has fainted!"

"What's the noise! ​​What's the noise!"

The disciple guarding the door heard the commotion and hurried in. Seeing someone leaning against the prison door and shouting, he immediately shouted sternly, "What are you doing? Are you trying to escape or cause trouble? Be quiet!"

The prisoners in the cell quickly pointed at the twitching man on the ground and shouted, "Brother jailer, look over there!"

The two gatekeepers approached and followed the man's gaze. They saw a man lying on the ground, foaming at the mouth. They exchanged a puzzled glance. The prisoners in the cell were terrified, hiding away, fearing the disease might be contagious. Seeing the man twitching and rolling his eyes, the guards discussed the matter and whispered, "First, seal his spiritual meridians and drag him out for an examination."

So, one guard went into the cell and dragged the person out, while the other stood outside and watched the prisoners to prevent them from moving. After the two guards brought the unconscious disciple out of the cell, Yan Ruchen followed them out.

When the two guard disciples dragged the prisoner to another cell and were about to check on the unconscious disciple, Yan Ruchen quickly stepped forward, pressed a few acupoints to freeze the two men, and blocked their senses, making them unable to perceive the outside world.

After finishing everything, Yan Ruchen walked up to the unconscious disciple and flicked his hand on his face. The disciple immediately stopped twitching and suddenly woke up like a drowning person. He took a few deep breaths of air and opened his eyes with sweat on his head, facing Yan Ruchen's calm face.

"You...who are you?"

When the disciple opened his eyes, he found that everyone else in the cell had disappeared. There were only two gatekeepers in front of him, whose pupils were unfocused and motionless. There was also a strange young man standing there. Thinking that someone was going to harm him, he quickly stepped back and looked at Yan Ruchen with some fear.

Yan Ruchen smiled and said gently, "Don't be afraid, we are here to help you. Let me ask you a small question."

Elsewhere, Li Suyin was in the room, neither sitting nor standing, pacing anxiously. After thinking for a while, she finally asked Guan Shanyu, who was sitting still beside her, "Didn't we agree to run away together? How did you get involved in this?"

Wang Tianyang, who was sitting on the ground nearby, saw the two of them huddled together, whispering, and turned his head away with disdain. Guan Shanyu saw Li Suyin's anxious face swaying before him, and turned to her and said, "If you want to get out, you have to join. Don't worry, I'll at least do my best to protect you."

Li Suyin was stunned when she heard that. She pulled her collar up to wrap herself tightly, and after a long while she said, "Why did you suddenly say something like that? It seems like you're interested in me."

Guan Shanyu rolled her eyes and said with a smile, "Sister, don't assume that someone is attracted to you just because they say something to you. Yan Ruchen's looks are in front of me every day, and I don't have any other thoughts. How could I be attracted to you? You're not attracted to me because I'm handsome, are you?"

Li Suyin tutted and muttered, "It was just a joke, why take it so seriously? Besides... Yan Ruchen is a man, why are you attracted to him?"

The two fell silent again. Li Suyin looked at the food that the servants had brought and it was getting a little cold. She asked in a low voice, "The food is getting cold soon. Are you really not going to eat anything?"

Just as he finished speaking, something suddenly knocked on the windowsill, and the two of them immediately turned around when they heard the sound.

In the darkness, two figures were seen climbing in from the windowsill, one in front and one behind. They were Guyu and Jinyu. Li Suyin was surprised when she saw them and said, "Wow, you guys were able to get in even without Yan Ruchen?" Is the barrier of our Yuchen Palace so unreliable?

Jin Yu and Gu Yu entered the house and covered the windowsill. Gu Yu explained, "Ru Chen gave us a mantra that will allow us to enter and exit Yuchen Palace freely for the time being."

Li Suyin curled her lips and glanced back at Guan Shanyu. Guan Shanyu stood up and walked over to Guyu and the others and asked, "Why are you back so late? Did something happen on the way? Did you see Brother Kunliang?"