Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains-Chapter 119: Bossy Shen Xiao

Tongling County, East City Gate, three miles out on the Official Road

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It was the Xu hour of the night, and two lonely horses stood still on the Official Road, accompanied by two men standing to their side. The man on the left was clad in white, with a handsome and scholarly appearance, appearing to be just over twenty years old. The man on the right, however, was burly, with a slightly dense beard on his lower jaw and a much rougher complexion, looking to be around thirty.

The bearded man had a trace of worry on his face. Seeing the calm expression of the scholarly young man next to him, he couldn’t help but feel curious and asked, "Brother Hou, it’s clear that Ding Dian is sending us on a suicide mission. How come you’re not worried at all?"

The scholarly young man in white, clearly lost in thought, was interrupted by the bearded man’s question. He turned his head, his face showing confusion, and countered, "Ding Dian is obviously sending us to our deaths, Brother Bai, why would you say that?"

"The martial artists from Baiye and Yulin counties are too scarce. There have long been rumors that those demons are already gathering around the Prefectural City. Isn’t Ding Dian’s task for us to scout the surrounding areas just a way to use the demons to eliminate us?"

The young man in white shook his head and said, "There is that factor, but it’s not all there is to it. So far only Ding Dian and Lord Fan have seen the demons. Nobody really knows what the situation is like around the Prefectural City. Sending people out of the city to scout might indeed be an attempt to find the true whereabouts of the demons."

After finishing his thought, he paused and then continued, "Our mission is only to scout, not to engage with the demons. Even if we truly cannot defeat them, when the time comes, escaping is always an option!"

The bearded man, upon hearing these words, still wore an expression that was far from relaxed, clearly not optimistic about the scouting mission.

"Besides, isn’t Elder Shen leading the team this time? As long as we stick close to him, there shouldn’t be any problems."

Upon hearing this, the bearded man’s expression finally eased, and he nodded, "That’s also true. Elder Shen is a warrior at the Dan Embracing Phase, and he doesn’t fear ordinary demons. Staying with him should make things a bit better."

The scholarly young man in white, who was none other than Hou Yuduan, was very sympathetic towards Bai Dongyu for the fear he was showing.

Recently, the matter of the demons in Tongling County had indeed become very fierce!

In the Prefectural City alone, in just a short period of one to two months, hundreds of martial artists had disappeared, including more than twenty warriors of the Gang Qi Realm. Their disappearances were extremely strange; all of them vanished without a trace as if they had been erased from existence.

The Prison Admin Department had started its investigations since the end of March. Initially, there were only a few cases, which did not attract much attention, but as the number of missing persons increased, and with reports from neighboring Baiye and Yulin counties as well, Ding Dian realized something was amiss and sternly ordered a thorough investigation by his subordinates.

They hadn’t realized until they looked into it that martial artists were going missing almost daily. However, at that time, Ding Dian still did not suspect the involvement of demons, until the occurrence of one case confirmed the presence of demonic activity for the Prison Admin Department.

At the beginning of last month, in a small town by the side of the Official Road in Baiye County, over thirty thousand people mysteriously disappeared in one night. They say it was Ding Dian who personally went to the scene and found some clues, confirming that it was the work of demons.

On the ninth day of the fourth month, the demons audaciously attempted to invade the barracks of the Xingnan Prefecture Mansion Army to abduct the soldiers. This finally alarmed Fan Longhe and Ding Dian, who together repelled the demons. Only then did the authorities in the county realize the gravity of the situation. They began devising countermeasures while urgently reporting the incident to the Prefectural City.

The reason for the rush to report to the Prefectural City was that such incidents of demons abducting martial artists in large numbers had occurred before. Typically, this suggested that a great demon had just revived and needed a substantial amount of blood and flesh to replenish itself. Martial artists, with their abundant vital energy, were naturally the preferred target.

And it wasn’t just other regions that were affected. Even Jinling County nearby had experienced such an event thirty years ago. At that time, Jinling County hadn’t taken it seriously, and after the great demon revived, nearly ninety percent of its living creatures were slaughtered. If it hadn’t been for the Holy Church Headquarters sending experts, it’s likely that no one in the entire county would have survived.

Now, the Prefectural City has sent a message that Jia Lan Fanyin, a Master from the Xingnan Prefecture Prison Admin Department, will soon arrive. The people in the Prefectural City have finally felt a bit more at ease.

Given that the Prefectural City had confirmed that an expert was coming, it would have been advisable for Tongling County to refrain from any rash actions. However, Fan Longhe had the intention to trap Ding Dian by letting him go and scout for the demons early.

The Rakshasa Holy Sect’s Prison Admin Department was, in fact, responsible for dealing with the demons within its jurisdiction, so Ding Dian could not refuse. But he was no easy opponent either, using the excuse of lack of manpower to counter Fan Longhe by requiring the Great Luo Sect and eight other third-tier powers to contribute a total of ten warriors of the Gang Qi Realm. Along with ten from their own Prison Admin Department, they divided into four small teams responsible for scouting the wilderness.

Hou Yuduan was assigned to a small team led by Shen Xiao, an Elder of the Great Luo Sect in the Dan Embracing Phase; then there was Qin Kai from the Hongdao Gang, a warrior in the Gathering Evil Phase; Liu Jianghe, the Chief Escort of the West Cloud Escort Agency, also in the Gathering Evil Phase; including himself and Bai Dongyu, the nephew of Patriarch Bai Yunfan of the Bai Clan, they were a team of five in total.

The fact that these five were assigned to the same team already spoke volumes about the situation.

Apart from the Medicine Dust Sect, which was above worldly concerns, the remaining eight families in Tongling County could be divided into two factions. On the side of County Magistrate Fan Longhe were the Great Luo Sect, Hongdao Gang, West Cloud Escort Agency, and the Bai Clan; while Deputy Magistrate Ding Dian’s side consisted of the Lonely Moon Sect, Ling Cheng Escort Agency, and the Qijue Gate.

This was the pressure that Ding Dian, the number one expert, brought to others. From the looks of it, it appeared that Fan Longhe’s faction was more powerful, but in reality, Ding Dian’s side had the upper hand.