Immortal Dao is dead, I am the mastermind behind it all.

"Spicy with cumin!"

"There are cultivators fighting in the city!"

The street vendors and ordinary people scattered like birds and beasts, avoiding them at all costs.

One sword.

Just one sword strike.

He didn't even see how his opponent drew his sword; his protective spiritual energy was like a thin sheet of paper, easily torn apart.

What kind of monster is this kid?

"Kid, you're so young, but you're really ruthless," the burly man grinned.

"Thank you for the compliment," Shen Moyan said calmly.

The most urgent task is to leave this place of trouble as soon as possible, break through to the mortal realm, and then, from the high mountain where fish leap, go to see the academy that Jiang Zhi Qiu mentioned.

The burly man glared at Shen Moyan, clutching the severed part of his right arm, gathering his spiritual energy to stop the bleeding.

Fortunately, we are still inside the city, so this person wouldn't dare to kill me.

"There's no mistake... Xuanming True Iron, you actually dare to possess such an extraordinary item."

Xuanming True Iron?

Is that a meteorite that fell a thousand years ago?

Shen Moyan secretly remembered it, but then his expression turned serious.

"Since you already know, cutting off your hand is a way of teaching you a lesson."

"But how did you discover that I had a sword on me?" Shen Moyan's voice rang out again, cold and calm.

That's the key issue.

He had already used a series of secret techniques from the "Azure Sun Rising Technique" to conceal the aura of the Heavenly Demon Sword to the extreme. Unless one's cultivation level was far higher than his, it would be impossible for them to detect it with just divine sense.

The accompanying techniques of the Azure Sun Rising Technique include a series of secret arts such as the Breath Concealment Technique, the Concealment Technique, the Flight Technique, the Soul Searching Technique, and the Eye Technique.

"Heh, I have my own methods."

"But you, Daoist cultivator, why have you lingered in the city without the city lord's permission?" the burly man sneered.

"Did you get permission?" Shen Moyan asked.

"Not yet, but who are we two brothers? As long as we state our names, we can pledge allegiance to one of them..."

A slender wisp of sword energy shot out silently.

Swish!

Without a second thought, Shen Moyan drew his sword and beheaded him.

Then he flicked his finger at another person, and sword energy shot out.

Another boy had a bloody hole in the center of his forehead. His expression, full of surprise and resentment, froze on his face. His body twitched twice and then he fell down, completely silent.

"That's utterly nonsensical." Shen Moyan said expressionlessly.

Two cultivators practicing Qi gathering were wandering around a nursery established by a Transcendent Realm cultivator, without being granted permission to stay for long.

The presence of outside Daoist cultivators would shake the city's residents' understanding of the Dao of Immortality, and the city lord wished that every cultivator would keep their mouth shut.

It's best if the enemy is dead, of course.

These two cultivators, who had no powerful backers, might as well die.

Shen Moyan's hands gripped the two heads firmly as he used his Soul Searching Technique.

"I see."

It's called the "Treasure-Sniffing Nose." This burly man obtained a piece of nerve tissue from a treasure-hunting rat in his early years and refined it into his own nose. Although its grade was low, it had a faint ability to sense unrefined rare and precious materials, divine weapons, and magical artifacts. They used this to find their targets.

The young man refined a rare and precious herb called "Earth Listening Mushroom," which he then placed inside his ear, transforming it into "Earth Listening Ear," which allowed him to hear all sounds within a hundred miles.

Shen Moyan possessed the body, removed the storage ring from the burly man, and then put both of their corpses into the ring.

"We are law enforcement cultivators of this city. Fellow Daoist, killing a fellow cultivator in broad daylight is rather unreasonable, isn't it?"

Three cultivators slowly walked from the direction of the city lord's mansion.

There were two men and one woman. One of the men was fat and the other was thin. The woman was extremely beautiful.

"Pay some spirit stones, and we'll treat you leniently," the fat man said, looking at Shen Moyan.

"Or you can just come with us." The woman swayed her voluptuous waist and gave Shen Moyan a flirtatious wink.

Pshaw, trashy charm.

"What if I say no?" Shen Moyan asked calmly.

"No? Then let us experience your supernatural abilities, fellow Daoist."

Faced with the approach of the three law enforcement cultivators, Shen Moyan silently dispelled the Turtle Breathing Technique and released his aura.

Gathering Qi from the ninth level!

In an instant, the expressions of the three cultivators changed drastically, turning ashen.

"We are only temporarily undertaking patrol duties on the orders of the city lord. We hope this fellow Daoist will understand." The thin man in the middle stepped forward first, cupped his hands and bowed.

"Ni Gaoyuan? You..." The fat man looked at the thin man named Ni Gaoyuan with disdain.

"Just now, you only killed two troublemaking bandits, which is a meritorious deed for Dongshan City. Why don't you come to the City Lord's Mansion for a chat?" the woman said with a stern face.

"He Qiao'er, you too..." The fat man looked at the two of them with a strange gaze.

Then he shifted his gaze and met Shen Moyan's cold, deep eyes, and he was also discouraged, falling silent.

"However, there is still one thing that Mr. Ni does not understand."

"Did you go to Yingxiantai, west of Dongshan City, yesterday at dawn?"

"I've never been there," Shen Moyan blurted out.

"Alright, then that's all. Fellow Daoist He, Fellow Daoist Meng, let's go." Ni Gaoyuan gave the fat man a look, then turned and left.

"By the way, fellow Daoist, if I may add one more thing..."

"Dongshan City has been quite unsettled lately. It's best for us Daoist cultivators to keep a low profile and stay away from mortals."

Goodbye.

"Tch!" The fat man glanced at Shen Moyan one last time before leaving.

Just after the three left, Shen Moyan also walked out of the west gate of Dongshan City.

"Yesterday...in the west of the city...Jiang Zhi Qiu?"

Shen Moyan's connection to Jiang Zhi Qiu's whereabouts, along with the injuries he sustained today, subtly revealed a causal link.

"Heh, what's it to me?"

Shen Moyan had no intention of getting involved in the affairs of this city.

Whose nursery these ordinary people in the city belong to? It's none of my business.

In this perilous world, only yourself is worthy of trust.

Even with Jiang Zhiqi, he only dared to believe three-tenths of what he believed.

At this moment, Shen Moyan left the city and came to the nearest cliff, where he could take in the entire scenery of Dongshan City.

The last rays of the setting sun were swallowed by the distant mountains, and night began to envelop the earth.

"I'll go into seclusion here; the spiritual energy is plentiful."

It's strange, though. The city is full of worldly dust and turbidity, so why don't any cultivators come to the mountain to cultivate?

"Um?"

In the shadows of the forest, several scarlet eyes gleamed.

"A demonic beast?" Shen Moyan realized.

So that's how it is. The rampant monsters outside Dongshan City have caused considerable disruption to cultivators' secluded cultivation.

"Looks like we need to build a cave dwelling."

During the subsequent construction of the cave dwelling, they encountered several similar attacks from demonic beasts, but Shen Moyan easily dealt with them all.

He didn't even need to fully draw his sword; the mere burst of sword energy was enough to tear these low-level demonic beasts, devoid of intelligence, to shreds.

"It seems I need to go back to the city and buy some more magical artifacts."

Shen Moyan pondered. A rogue cultivator like him, without any powerful backing, has no guarantee of safety should an accident occur during his seclusion.

"With the magical artifacts that protect me, I can now refine the Treasure-Smelling Nose and the Earth-Listening Ear with peace of mind."

The next day, after hastily attempting to refine the Earth Listening Ear and absorbing that wisp of the Great Sun's Breath, Shen Moyan returned to Dongshan City.

But when he reached the city gate, he stopped in his tracks.

At the west gate of the city, a male corpse with disheveled long hair was hanging.

The corpse was dressed in tattered clothes, but one could vaguely tell from his attire that he seemed to be a scholar.

Shen Moyan leaned closer and carefully examined him with his divine sense, finally discerning his identity from the face swarming with flies and mosquitoes.

It was none other than Jiang Zhi Qiu.