Chapter 671: I Like Him Quite a Lot

This green-robed ape demon—if they had no intention of killing it—would undoubtedly be a hot potato for the imperial court.

The longer it remained in Jianyang Prefecture, the more it would fall into others' eyes, and the rumors would spread like a wildfire through the mountains, growing ever more intense.

Therefore, after Shen Yi agreed, the prefecture office quickly arranged a carriage.

The carriage bore no insignia representing the imperial court, and the one pulling it was not an imperial horse, but an exotic beast with an indigo-blue furry hide, bearing some resemblance to a qilin. It was said to have been borrowed from a certain important figure, and was called the Green-Furred Qingmao Qingmao Yushizi.

"Will it work?"

Meng Xiuwen stood before the carriage and asked with some concern.

Although the golden ring bound it, he had personally experienced this ape demon's strength firsthand. No matter how resentful he felt inside, he had to honestly admit it was terrifying.

Coupled with its violent, unpredictable, and cunning nature, Shen Yi's decision to set aside Ye Lan and escort it alone carried risks that were truly a bit too great.

"If there's any problem, discuss it with this Qingmao Qingmao Yushizi elder. It has plenty of experience and exceptional strength."

"Understood."

Shen Yi nodded and turned to board the carriage.

"Don't worry. If I really wanted to do something, no matter how careful you are, little brother, it wouldn't do you any good."

The ape demon laughed strangely as it looked at Meng Xiuwen, casually patting Shen Yi's shoulder.

That day in the courtyard, the gaze of this black-robed youth staring straight at it had clearly displeased it, and especially after coming back to its senses, a few pangs of embarrassment rose in its heart.

It had actually been intimidated by a mere Celestial Immortal junior.

Naturally, it now had to recover some face.

"Still, I have no interest in bullying a cultivator who makes his living through alchemy."

Having said this, the ape demon flipped up its robe hem and sat down on the carriage with bold, commanding ease.

Hearing this, Meng Xiuwen's face darkened. After a moment of silence, he could only cup his fist toward the Green-Furred Qingmao Qingmao Yushizi: "Many thanks for your trouble, elder."

"..."

The Qingmao Qingmao Yushizi did not respond—clearly in a foul mood. It casually lifted a paw, and the carriage vanished from the spot. When it reappeared, it was already far from Jianyang Prefecture.

Outside the city, a graceful figure slowly walked out, stepping on auspicious clouds, and followed the carriage at a measured distance.

Ye Lan stood with her hands at her sides, quietly staring down below.

She was clearly unable to set her mind at ease and had decided to escort Shen Yi part of the way.

Just then, without Ye Lan noticing at all, a thin, small figure had silently appeared behind her.

Only when an aged voice sounded beside her did she suddenly realize, and she turned her head sharply.

"Is this your new subordinate? Connected to the injured Meng Xiuwen and that little dragon demon?"

"Yanlan pays respects to General Yan." Ye Lan recognized the newcomer's appearance, finally lowered her guard, and respectfully cupped her fist in salute. Only then did she seriously reply: "This man is called Shen Yi. He is the newly appointed Demon-Slaying Officer of Jianyang Prefecture, and has been with our Zhan Yao Si for less than a year."

"Less than a year? A Demon-Slaying Officer?"

Yan Lanting glanced at the girl with a half-smile: "I can see that you truly value this person. You're even willing to hand over the Alchemy Peak of Master Master Shenxu Mountain to him. But caring for someone the way you do won't produce a crack soldier."

"The matter of the Demon-Slaying Officer is because Meng Xiuwen, he—"

Ye Lan got halfway through her explanation and suddenly faltered. Meng Xiuwen was indeed ungovernable and often caused unnecessary trouble, but Shen Yi was hardly a well-behaved sort either. When it came to the ability to stir up incidents, ten Meng Xiuwens couldn't compare to him.

She helplessly lowered her eyes with a smile: "General Yan doesn't much like Shen Yi?"

"It's not quite that bad."

Yan Lanting waved his hand and likewise looked down at the carriage. The instant his gaze fell, the Green-Furred Qingmao Qingmao Yushizi seemed to sense something and quietly nodded toward the sky, quite docile.

"It's just that, if my good friend were wounded by a demon—even if it were an order from above, even if my strength were insufficient to slaughter the demon, I would never personally send it back." The old man raised an eyebrow.

"That's why you've been pushed aside by the other two Town-South Generals until you're like a lone wanderer." Ye Lan replied softly.

"Hah!" Yan Lanting's eyes went wide, then he laughed in spite of himself: "So I can't even be talked about."

This girl had actually changed her temperament. In the past, no matter what she thought inside, at least on the surface, she wouldn't have dared to talk back to him like this.

"But what you say does have some truth to it. I may truly not be suited to remain in the Zhan Yao Si."

He smiled, a hint of loneliness surfacing in his eyes, and stared at the carriage: "He's a fine Demon-Slaying Officer... but I just don't like him. So what?"

Ye Lan sighed softly: "He's helped me a great deal along the way, and this time he was also unwilling to see me put in a difficult position."

"..."

Yan Lanting listened to her words defending that young man and smiled noncommittally. Just then, his eyes suddenly narrowed slightly, and his brow slowly furrowed.

The Green-Furred Qingmao Qingmao Yushizi, though a mount, was his mount as Town-South General.

If not for the fact that the Zhan Yao Si's identity couldn't be exposed, strictly speaking, although the lion and the ape demon were both at the fifth-rank Taiyi Immortal realm, the lion's status was a full generation higher than the other's.

Its speed was terrifyingly swift. In the short time since, it had already crossed seven or eight great prefectures.

Inside the carriage compartment.

Two figures sat facing each other.

The green-robed ape demon watched the youth across from it, who had his eyes closed in rest, with some boredom. Unable to bear the other's ease, it curled its lips and bared its fangs.

"I'm familiar with Master Master Shenxu Mountain. The Peak Master of Alchemy Peak is that young lady surnamed Ye—a proper Taiyi Immortal, with at least five hundred tribulations of refinement on her body."

"A prodigy like her—even if the imperial court sent someone to invite her to handle matters, she'd probably be too proud to bow her head to Elder Yu Chi's Immortal Gate. You, at your mere Celestial Immortal realm, must have been pushed out by her to take the blade for her, right?"

"My advice to you: if you don't have the status, don't try to hold on."

The ape demon extended a finger again, hooking at the golden ring around its neck: "Take this thing off me, and we can all save face. Otherwise, once we reach Elder Yu Chi's Immortal Gate, you'll suffer terribly."

It was carrying out tasks for an Immortal Venerable—how could it return in the posture of a prisoner?

Yet no matter how much the ape demon talked, it failed to move Shen Yi across from it in the slightest. On that handsome face, he couldn't even be bothered to lift an eyelid.

Seeing this, the smile on the green-robed ape demon's face slowly froze.

A hint of vicious intent rose in its eyes.

The golden ring was formed from the human world's imperial qi, but at this moment... they had already gradually moved far from the Divine Dynasty.

If earlier it could suppress all of its cultivation, now it could suppress at most around sixty percent. The remaining forty percent was certainly not enough to deal with the Green Lion outside, but merely to teach a Celestial Immortal a lesson was more than enough.

In the next instant, the figure that had been sitting upright suddenly sprang to its feet.

As the green robe surged, it pressed one hand onto the carriage behind Shen Yi, looking down at the young man from a height, its hoarse voice surging with violence: "I am speaking to you. Are you deaf?"

As the words drifted away, the green-haired jade lion slowly halted its steps; its already displeased mood now surged to the extreme.

Malice flickered in its eyes as it turned to look into the carriage.

But before the lion could speak.

Inside the carriage, Shen Yi finally slowly opened his eyes; his black pupils held no emotion. He merely glanced casually out the carriage window.

This place is not within the Divine Dynasty, nor has it entered the Immortal Sect.

It is a prime feng shui site for burying the dead.

In an instant.

The black robe rose high, and a long boot shot up with the speed of lightning, ruthlessly stamping onto that green robe.

The ape demon had intended to intimidate the boy with its aura, completely unprepared for the other's sudden assault. In a moment, a force as vast as the four seas and Wang Yang instantly flooded into its body, sending it flying backward, caught completely off guard.

Crack!

The exquisite, beautiful carriage exploded loudly, shattering apart. Amidst the flying wood shavings, the green figure stumbled out, crashing hard into the ground and rolling over several times.

Even the green-haired jade lion pulling the carriage froze in shock.

The two people watching from the sky also simultaneously changed color slightly.

The ape demon gasped for air, its eyes filled with a bit more horror, looking back at the spot with some disbelief.

It saw Shen Yi step out from the carriage wreckage, walking toward it unhurriedly. His black robe swayed slightly; his steps seemed calm, yet before the lion could finish its warning words, he was already before the ape demon.

"You..."

Though the ape demon was of the Demon Clan, that single kick had caused its entire qi and blood to churn violently.

Now staring straight at Shen Yi, it finally saw the faint Jin Guang rising on the other's skin. With every gesture, faint sounds of dragon roars and tiger growls rippled out.

"You are not of the Sanxian Sect!"

The ape demon roared low, eyes wide, reacting swiftly to strike first. Its sleeve billowed, and its right arm swung forward with a sudden, powerful force.

The golden ring on its neck trembled violently, yet that slender arm still unleashed surging spiritual energy. Amidst a booming sound like a great bell, it seemed as if the entire sky had fallen a few degrees lower.

Facing such overwhelming momentum.

Shen Yi remained unmoved; only the Dragon-Tiger Fruit Seat on the lotus throne within his body radiated brilliant Jin Guang.

The Arhat Dharma Image is vast and noble, but when the Dharma Image is not revealed, and all the calamity power within that Fruit Seat gathers into this slender body, the power displayed, in stark contrast, appears even more terrifying.

He stared at the ape demon's face, casually swung his arm, and his two palms collided. The green sleeve instantly exploded into powder, and along with it, the ape demon's entire arm shattered.

"Ah!!"

The ape demon let out a sharp, mournful cry and instinctively kicked its leg at the youth.

Shen Yi likewise raised his long boot and coldly stepped down. The sole of the boot brutally pressed onto the ape demon's knee, effortlessly crushing it into a mess of mixed flesh and bone.

Roar—

The ape demon's mournful cry turned into a bestial roar. Clutching its thigh with its remaining left arm, its lower body was immobilized beneath the boot, while only its upper body rolled in pain on the ground.

"I was wrong! I was wrong!"

"I will return with you obediently. Do not hurt me anymore!"

The ape demon timidly raised its head, breathing heavily. After a simple exchange of two moves, it had already seen the gap between itself and the other.

Under the suppression of this golden ring, it was completely no match for this person.

"Huff."

Shen Yi bent slightly, his long five fingers reaching toward the ape demon's neck.

The ape demon instinctively shrank backward like a startled beast: "No need, no need to remove it. It is fine just as it is..."

However, in its current state, how could it escape that hand?

In the next instant, those fingertips had already pinched its neck, then lifted its entire body up.

"What do you intend to do!"

In the same posture, when Ye Lan had grabbed it, even though the other's five fingers had already pierced its throat, it had still managed to let out a piercing laugh.

But now, merely feeling the cold touch on its fingertips, its entire heart hung in suspense.

"Help you remove it. Send you home."

Shen Yi silently gazed at this twisted, ugly ape face so close, a faint trace of violence appearing on his lips.

The green-haired jade lion came to its senses but felt something was wrong.

Although the other spoke such words, the killing intent radiating from his body was no act; it was so cold and sharp that even it felt some dread.

Home? Which home?

"Do not act rashly..." The jade lion strode forward, but before it could approach, it heard the youth's cold voice.

"This evil beast refused Fuguan Sect discipline, attempted to break free from restraint, and rose up to injure others. Demon-Slaying Officer Shen Yi, for self-preservation, had no choice but to slay it."

A simple sentence, yet the moment the three words "Demon-Slaying Officer" rang out, the green-haired jade lion stopped its steps in shock.

The Demon-Slaying Office is an existence that cannot see the light; it cannot be known by the Three Sects or the Heavenly Court.

Hearing this sentence, even if the three Southern Pacifying Generals were present, they would absolutely not allow the other to return alive to Elder Yu Chi's Immortal Gate.

"What... what Demon-Slaying Officer..."

Veins bulged on the ape demon's forehead. It gripped Shen Yi's wrist with all its might, yet found the Jin Guang on the other's skin as scorching as magma, burning it until tears and snot streamed down, yet it dared not let go.

"The Divine Dynasty ordered you to send me back to Elder Yu Chi! You, merely a Shanfeng Master of the Master Master Shenxu, how dare you defy the order?! Do you not fear the Divine Dynasty troubling your sect?"

At this point, the ape demon instead pulled on the banner of the Divine Dynasty.

However, a crisp voice sounded beside its ear.

It saw the golden ring suddenly crack, reforming into thick imperial qi, drifting away toward the direction of the Divine Dynasty.

At the same moment, Shen Yi's palm abruptly pierced into the ape demon's throat, and dense Jin Guang, accompanied by dragon roars and tiger howls, brutally poured into its limbs and bones!

"Kraak! Kraak!"

The ape demon shuddered all over as if struck by lightning, its three eyeballs nearly bulging from their sockets; moments later, its entire broken body went limp and still.

It died without ever understanding where the other party got such boldness from, or why that lion had not stopped him?!

Shen Yi casually stored it into his thumb ring, then turned to look at that green-haired jade lion.

He did not speak, only quietly sized up the other party.

"You—" The lion's cultivation was clearly stronger than the other's, yet it instinctively retreated one step backward.

Mainly because this youth's body was brimming with strangeness, and combined with his having been quiet and still the whole way, then suddenly erupting to kill, and remaining expressionless after the kill, his temperament made one feel an inexplicable dread.

Shen Yi stood silently in place, loosened his tightly clenched five fingers, and glanced sideways into the distance.

A moment later, two figures with complicated expressions descended from the sky.

"Who are you waiting for?"

Yan Lanting stared coldly at this kid: "You knew I was here long ago? How did you know?"

"It nodded toward the sky earlier; I saw it," Shen Yi replied calmly.

"You saw it and still made your move — you simply don't take me seriously at all."

Ye Lan bit her lip; listening to General Yan's sarcastic words, her heart involuntarily skipped a beat, and her whole person grew somewhat tense.

Yet Shen Yi's expression still did not change, looking entirely like a dead pig unafraid of being scalded.

Even Ye Lan had never seen him this stubborn before; it was only now that he finally showed a bit of a young man's manner, rather than a scheming, black-hearted cultivator.

"Good, good, good."

Yan Lanting's mouth corner twitched; he looked this handsome youth up and down, and the severity on his face eased a little.

"What's good about it?" Shen Yi looked over neither servile nor overbearing.

Hearing this, Yan Lanting finally laughed, and lightly clapped his palms: "Naturally, the killing was well done!"

(End of this chapter)