Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains-Chapter 111 - 094, Born in adversity, die in comfort.

Second floor of the dilapidated temple in the village

Maiden Hong stood alone by the window, watching her beloved Hou Yuduan being carried away on Hou Yujie’s shoulder, a trace of reluctance in her eyes. However, she thought that he would still visit her often in the future, which eased her discomfort somewhat...

Not until Hou Yuxiao and Hou Yujie disappeared from sight did Maiden Hong turn around to face the two figures behind her, her face suddenly shrouded in a cloud of red mist.

"Yang Xin, Lv Luo, I need to feed!"

Her voice was no longer soft but had become eerily shrill and chilling.

The sheep-headed demon and the maid Lv Luo nodded respectfully upon hearing this, dove into the ground, and emerged holding two martial artists who were bound and gagged, unable to speak.

The four martial artists, upon seeing the three demons, had pupils filled with terror. They desperately activated the Gang Qi within them, attempting to break free from Yang Xin and Lv Luo’s grasp.

Unfortunately, their resistance was futile and only served to make the red mist around Maiden Hong thicken, as if she relished in their terror.

Maiden Hong leaned forward slightly, and the blood mist on her face slowly swirled, stretching out into four sharp blood-colored branches that suddenly thrust forward, piercing through the foreheads of the four Gang Qi Realm warriors.

A massive amount of blood energy flowed through the branches into Maiden Hong, causing the dantians of the four warriors to wilt instantly, followed by their bodies slowly shrinking...

In a frenzy, the four thrashed their heads, their eyes filled with begging and fear. It was clear they wanted to plead for mercy, but their mouths were sealed, rendering them unable to speak.

Before even a few moments passed, the four Gang Qi Realm warriors were reduced to withered bodies, completely sucked into four mummified corpses. Maiden Hong struck their bodies with a palm from mid-air, turning them into dust, then turned to face Yang Xin and Lv Luo, speaking in an unhappy tone.

"Why only four? What have you been doing lately?"

Yang Xin and Lv Luo immediately knelt down, their expressions frozen, and answered, "Miss, Yulin and Baiye counties are simply too weak and have very few Gang Qi Realm warriors. You instructed us not to slaughter indiscriminately and not to go to the prefectural city, so we only brought these four!"

Maiden Hong pondered for a moment before speaking somberly, "Then expand the scope. You can also go to the prefectural city. Apart from Zhaoyang, you may strike in all of Tongling and across the entire territory of Xuzhou in Wanyang County. If you encounter people you can’t handle, send me a message anytime."

The two respectfully answered, "We will go now!"

Maiden Hong nodded, watching them leave before stretching out her hand to empty space and suddenly materializing a water-blue longsword in her hand, the blade inset with eight greenish-blue gems, looking quite precious.

She looked down at the longsword in her hand, her expression alternating between familiarity and strangeness. After pondering for a while with no result, she gave up on thinking and instead looked towards Zhaoyang City, envisioning Hou Yuduan’s face, her lips curling into a sweet smile...

The moonlight outside the window shone on the eaves; she, in her flowing red dress, lightly clasping the longsword, moved gracefully as if a lively fairy. Yet, paired with the ruinous temple, it created a stark, eerie dissonance.

............

"Big brother, next July, are we really going to marry off Old Fifth?"

In the Ya Xiang Courtyard of the Hou Mansion, Hou Yujie gently laid Hou Yuduan on the bed, turned back with a worried look, and asked Hou Yuxiao softly.

An hour had passed since the danger at the decrepit temple, and the two had just returned. It was now the Hour of the Tiger, just before dawn, and the sky was beginning to brighten.

Hearing Old Fourth’s question, Hou Yuxiao looked down at the still-unconscious Hou Yuduan, shook his head gently, and said, "Of course not, the living and the spirits walk different paths. Even if Old Fifth is willing, we must stop him!"

"Then why did you just agree with that Maiden Hong, saying that next June the Hou Mansion will be decorated, awaiting her proposal?"

"Under those circumstances, would you dare to refuse?"

Hou Yuxiao’s voice turned somber as he asked, causing Hou Yujie’s expression to stiffen, instantly deflating at the mention of Maiden Hong.

"We still have more than a year, let’s think of a way to stabilize her first!"

Hou Yujie’s expression eased slightly, then he continued to ask, "But if Old Fifth keeps seeking her out, are we not going to stop him?"

"We can’t stop him anymore, if we do, she will take action herself. But, I still have another way!"

"What way?"

"We’ve been busy all night, let’s go back and rest first. You’ll know in time."

"Alright then!"

......

"Sigh..."

After the two left the Ya Xiang Courtyard, about ten breaths later, a sigh suddenly emanated from the room. Unbeknownst to them, Hou Yuduan had already sat up from the bed, his expression full of struggle.

............

Hou Yuxiao returned to the main hall, placing the Cangling Stick Decree in front of him, spending over an hour flipping through it before laying it down with admiration.

"In Jin Land stands a mountain named Cangling, sheer as a cliff, its peaks clustered together. Activating all twelve meridians, pushing force with force, Cangling’s five overlapping layers surge like tides. When brought to the Transformative Realm, it feels like mountains pressing down, embodying the might of ten thousand men. This is First-Class Martial Arts, indeed First-Class Martial Arts!"

Up until now, Hou Yuxiao had seen two sets of First-Class Martial Arts, including Ling Er, the Holy Maiden’s maid, with her Spirit Snake Palm and Cheng Yue’s Divine Luminous Gang Qi.

Of course, this is because he couldn’t make out the martial arts displayed by Sikong Yue, Tian Fazheng, and Gu Chenfeng.

He had believed that to obtain first-class martial arts, he could only rely on the promotional function of the Divine Lotus, but who would have thought that he would acquire them so confusedly and even get two styles.

Maiden Hong was clearly familiar with them and offered two styles of martial arts, specifically a stick technique and a sword technique, which were obviously prepared just for him and Hou Yujie.

Too bad she’s a female ghost!

If she were a normal person, let alone stopping Old Fifth, Hou Yuxiao would even forcefully push Old Fifth towards her.

While obtaining two first-class martial arts styles was certainly delightful, the joy vanished instantly when considering the terrifying demons lurking outside Zhaoyang City.

From last year’s righteous movement in Wanyang County, Xuzhou’s attack, to the quelling of chaos in both territories, and just as peace had returned briefly, Hou Yuxiao visited the prefectural city and finally achieved the Hou Clan’s ascension to the higher ranks—only to have unknown demons pop up just days later...

Zhaoyang County, could it be that its geomancy is poor?

A look of helplessness crossed Hou Yuxiao’s face as he suddenly thought of something, walked to the shelf behind the main hall, and pulled out a thick ancient text. The words "Annals of Zhaoyang County" on its cover were strikingly conspicuous.

County annals everywhere were compiled by local scholars, a national policy personally set by Yu Shenzong during the Great Yu Dynasty.

Yu Shenzong once said, "Study history to understand intentions, know the past to reflect on the present." Although a thousand years had passed since the era of Yu Shenzong, this statement had left deep marks in people’s hearts.

The current Hou Mansion was originally the county government, thus all its contents naturally came into the possession of the Hou Clan. Hou Yuxiao opened the annals and directly started flipping through the records from the final years of the Wuzong era.

Suddenly, a line of small text in the annals caught his eye, and Hou Yuxiao’s face changed dramatically as he hastily began to read carefully.

In the 153rd year of Wuzong, the world was in chaos; bandits attacked Zhaoyang, and the last County Lord, Hong Zhanpeng, chose death over surrender, rallying the city’s able-bodied to resist. After seven days, the city fell, and 180,000 people, including the elderly, women, and children, were slaughtered, their bodies strewn over ten miles, their blood flowing into the streams.

Some doubted, suspecting Hong Zhanpeng sought false fame, regardless of the lives at stake. Indeed, in the last years of Wuzong, when the common people had hard lives, martial artists would use the life force for cultivating energy. Whether surrendering or not, death was the only path. Hong Zhanpeng could have survived alone, yet he chose to share life and death with the city’s people. To have such a loyal subject in the twilight of the Wuzong era was both sorrowful and commendable...

This county annal was also recorded by people, who inevitably intermixed some of their biases, evidently, the recorder held high regard for Hong Zhanpeng.

Hou Yuxiao continued reading and noticed another line:

Hong Zhanpeng had a son and a daughter; the son, named Hong Xiufu, died defending the city; the daughter, named Hong Linger, fell into the hands of bandits, her whereabouts unknown.

"So there really is such a person, could it be, that Maiden Hong didn’t lie!"

Hou Yuxiao’s eyes flashed with suspicion; frankly, he hadn’t believed a single punctuation mark of what Maiden Hong said in the ruined temple before, after all, she was a female ghost.

He had assumed that the female ghost fabricated a tragic life story to gain his sympathy, trying to get him to agree to her and Hou Yuduan’s matter.

But upon actually seeing this record in the county annals, he began to feel somewhat shaken.

No, no...

Wuzong reigned for 159 years, the entire course of the Great Yu Calendar lasted 2991 years.

Yu Shenzong perished suddenly in the year 2832; this story occurred in the Wuzong’s 153rd year, which was in the year 2985 of the Great Yu Calendar. Now, it is the year 1322 of the New Yu Era, which means, if what this female ghost said was true, then she had been in Zhaoyang County for 1328 years!

A female ghost who had been here for 1328 years, whom no one had ever heard of before, suddenly appeared, and right away took a liking to their Old Fifth...

"You almost had me fooled!"

Hou Yuxiao shook his head, closed the county annals, but failed to notice that the very next section recorded... was about the Zhaoyang Blood Demon.

With Sikong Yue gone and a great demon arriving, just as the Hou Clan started to relax a bit after their ascension, Hou Yuxiao became tense once again.

Mainly because he felt too insecure, as they had told him right to his face that Zhaoyang City could not hold or be protected even with a barrier.

Three months ago, successors from the Holy Land came flocking, and that feeling of having one’s head hanging by a belt returned; Hou Yuxiao couldn’t help but feel anxious again.

Facing this situation, Hou Yuxiao could only comfort himself with the old saying "Born amidst worries, die amidst comforts".

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No matter how much you argue, the two years following Hou Tong’s death showed progress within the family, but compared to what followed, it hardly seemed significant.

From the disturbances in the two territories to the sudden appearance of Maiden Hong, not even a full three months had passed, yet the development pace of the Hou Family was rocket-like.

Crisis indeed harbors both danger and opportunity; after some thought, Hou Yuxiao felt somewhat relieved.

He and the Fourth Elder had discussed Hou Yuduan’s matter and chose not to disclose it, to avoid worrying others. The next day, Old Fifth woke up knowing nothing, just as Maiden Hong had said when she let them leave.

However, from then on, both Hou Yuxiao and Hou Yujie looked at him with slight changes in their eyes, a mix of worry and respect, occasionally paired with odd glances...

Hou Yuxiao, as the family head, was on edge, which naturally made everyone else less comfortable. From his own cultivation to the cultivation of others, from minor family business to major city affairs, Hou Yuxiao had to be involved in everything.

Thus, the entire Hou Family plunged into a mad race for cultivation, dedicating all their time outside their duties to cultivation, making outsiders wonder if the Hou Family was up to something major again.

This way of life continued until April 28.

Hou Fei returned with his Kui Sector troops and brought along a familiar face. Upon seeing this person, all members of the Hou Family, including Hou Yuxiao, showed excitement on their faces!