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

A gust of wind suddenly blew outside the window, and the already loose window slammed against the windowsill. Only heavy breathing sounds echoed in the house, and no other voices could be heard. If Guan Shanyu had not been very close to Yan Ruchen at this time, he would even think that he was the only one in this ghost place.

Guan Shanyu's chin was still resting on Yan Ruchen's shoulder, not too close but not too far away. Because he was afraid, he subconsciously lowered his head and quietly moved forward two steps, wanting to be closer to Yan Ruchen. He thought that if he got too close to him, the demons and monsters would not dare to get close to him.

The firelight was still shining brightly in the room. Yan Ruchen stared at the scene in front of him motionlessly, holding a fire starter in one hand to illuminate the room, and slowly let go of Guan Shanyu with the other hand.

He thought that after reminding Guan Shanyu, Guan Shanyu would immediately hide behind him so that he could go forward to investigate. However, as soon as he loosened his hand, a trembling thing suddenly appeared in his arms.

Yan Ruchen frowned, looking down at the person who was almost completely huddled in his arms. Helplessly, he stretched out two fingers, tapped the man's shoulders, and pushed him away from him.

Guan Shanyu was awakened by the push, and raised his head from Yan Ruchen's arms with a look of fear. Before he could explain, he saw Yan Ruchen had drawn his sword and turned around. The sword flashed, accompanied by a loud noise from behind, and then a cold voice sounded in his ears:

"Who is it, come out."

The surroundings were quiet, and there was no response from the dark. However, Guan Shanyu was so frightened that he immediately reached out and hugged him, trembling and saying, "What the hell is this? It can't be a ghost!"

Yan Ruchen's waist was tightly held by him. He closed his eyes and frowned in displeasure. He pressed Guan Shanyu's shoulders and pushed him out again, but Guan Shanyu was too frightened and didn't move at all no matter how he pushed.

Guan Shanyu was trembling all over as if he was holding on to a lifeline. Who knew that besides his own voice echoing in the room, there were also several voices saying "Spare my life, hero."

Ok?

Yan Ruchen was about to push Guan Shanyu away again, but the person in his arms suddenly let go of his hand. Yan Ruchen had already reached out, but without a place to lean on, he lost his balance and nearly fell, his shoulder accidentally bumping into Guan Shanyu. Guan Shanyu had already turned around to check who was in the corner when he suddenly felt someone touch his shoulder. He turned around and met Yan Ruchen's slightly embarrassed expression and asked, "What's wrong? Are you hurt again?"

Yan Ruchen closed his eyes helplessly and said softly, "No, I just slipped."

Guan Shanyu lowered his head to look at the ground and thought to himself, isn't this a flat road?

However, he didn't pay attention to this detail. Instead, he turned towards the source of the previous noise and asked, imitating Yan Ruchen's words, "Is anyone there?"

As soon as the words fell, the clear sobbing sound rang out again. Guan Shanyu pricked up his ears and listened carefully. His eyes lit up, and he looked back at Yan Ruchen. Then he snatched the fire stick from Yan Ruchen's hand and ran over in a hurry.

Yan Ruchen stared at his back in a daze. This man was crying out of fear just now, but now he is so excited when he hears that the voice over there is from a living person?

Guan Shanyu trotted forward and used a tinder to illuminate the dim corner. Several terrified faces were clearly visible in the firelight. He turned around excitedly and shouted to Yan Ruchen, "Ruchen! It's a living person."

Yan Ruchen was still standing a few steps away, his hand still frozen in mid-air, maintaining the same position as before, with a helpless expression on his face. Guan Shanyu realized his own gaffe and hurried back, carefully stuffing the tinderbox back into Yan Ruchen's still-suspended palm, and said with a smile, "Sorry, I was too excited."

Yan Ruchen clenched his hands slightly, forcing a smile, his tone somewhat restrained: "What are you sorry about? Let's go and see what's going on."

Shit...seems like he's angry.

Guan Shanyu looked at the fake smile on his face, nodded silently, and carefully retreated to a place one step away from Yan Ruchen, secretly cursing himself for losing composure.

Yan Ruchen had already stepped towards the group. Seeing someone approaching, the group in the corner cowered even more, whispering "spare my life" repeatedly. Yan Ruchen raised the tinder high, frowned as he glanced at them, and turned to Guan Shanyu, who was looking over his shoulder, and said, "It's a disciple of the Immortal Sect."

Guan Shanyu was startled and asked, "Really?" He then jumped over and stood behind Yan Ruchen, carefully observing the huddled figures. Although they were all bowed and difficult to identify, the patterns on their muddy yet still recognizable clothing clearly showed the distinctive uniforms of the major sects!

The two exchanged a quick glance. Yan Ruchen gently put down the tinderbox, squatted down, and whispered to the frightened disciples, "Don't be afraid, fellow Taoists. We are from the Tianxuan Taoist Sect. Why are you hiding here?"

"Tianxuan?"

A slightly taller young man among the disciples raised his head in confusion and looked at them cautiously. Seeing this, Yan Ruchen quickly brought the fire lighter closer to himself, revealing the Tianjian Pavilion's iconic crane emblem.

Seeing the Heavenly Sword Pavilion was like seeing the Tianxuan Dao Sect. The disciple saw the origins of the two people in front of him, his eyes widened in surprise, and he muttered, "Someone is here to save us?" After hearing this, several disciples around him raised their heads, saw Guan Shanyu and Yan Ruchen clearly, and immediately rushed forward, crying, "Please! Get us out! Please, they are all dead! Please!"

Guan Shanyu was so scared that he jumped back and hid behind Yan Ruchen. Yan Ruchen did not expect that this group of disciples would react so violently. He staggered a few steps for a while, but as soon as his body tilted, the person behind him reached out and supported him.

Yan Ruchen turned around and saw Guan Shanyu supporting him while muttering, "Wow, you're really strong. What's wrong with these people..." Halfway through his words, he noticed Yan Ruchen turning around and saw that he was holding a tinderbox. Thinking that it was inconvenient for him to hold it, he reached out and took the thing from Yan Ruchen's hand, whispering, "Come, I'll hold it for you."

Yan Ruchen: “…”

He turned his head, quickly closed his eyes to regulate his breathing, and when he opened them again, he was back to his usual gentle self. Yan Ruchen reached out and helped the disciple in front of him up, saying, "Don't be impatient. Tell me slowly, what exactly happened here?"

The disciples seemed to be terribly frightened. They knelt on the ground, clutching Yan Ruchen's clothes and sobbing uncontrollably. Their faces were covered with snot and tears, and it seemed that they hadn't fully heard what Yan Ruchen said. Guan Shanyu watched them from behind and saw two female disciples in tattered clothes, covered in mud, crying bitterly with their faces covered. Their hands clutching Yan Ruchen's sleeves were almost rubbing the mud on them.

Guan Shanyu felt a little sorry when he saw this, so he took out two handkerchiefs from his sleeves and handed them over, whispering, "Don't cry, wipe your tears first."

Yan Ruchen glanced at him sideways, saying nothing. The two female disciples accepted the handkerchiefs, clasped their hands in thanks, and then wiped away their tears. The other disciples also cried freely, gradually sobbing and pausing.

The disciple who first looked up at them spoke first, "Hello, fellow Taoists. My name is Su Yi. Qing Fan and I are disciples of Yuchen Palace. The others are from Yun Jichan, Fang Jiulong, and Yulintai. We are hiding here because there are ghosts outside."

Upon hearing this, Yan Ruchen raised his eyebrows slightly and repeated, "There's a ghost?" Before he finished speaking, he felt the person holding the fire stick behind him tremble and quietly move towards him. Yan Ruchen closed his eyes helplessly and asked again, "Fellow Daoists, can you tell me in detail why you came here? And what exactly is the ghost you are talking about?"

The disciple glanced out the window tremblingly, nodded, and then slowly explained the whole story.

It turned out they were also ordered to search for the missing disciples, and each sect had dispatched no fewer than ten disciples. Even smaller sects like Fang Jiulong and Yulintai had sent dozens of men. Because demon slayers were considered a form of achievement for immortal cultivation sects, if they could reach Wangshuiling, slay the monsters, and rescue the disciples, the news would be a stellar story, greatly boosting the sect's reputation and ranking. Therefore, disciples from each sect chose to act individually, and even if they encountered fellow demon slayers, they would go their separate ways, fearing their achievements would be shared.

But the bad thing is that Wangshuiling was once the territory of the demon clan. It was filled with miasma, swamps, poisonous weeds and insects. Many disciples lost their lives just dealing with these things before they could find the monsters and the missing persons.

Su Yi said: "But the most frightening thing is that after nightfall, ghosts will crawl out of the ground."