Changes in the County Situation—The Sky Is About to Change!

Outside Chen Mo's residence courtyard in the Guo Family Ancestral Land, several Guo family members assigned to watch him frowned deeply.

"Why hasn't he come out yet? A lunch shouldn't take this long, should it?"

"How about you go take another look?"

"Alright~"

The man who had delivered the food earlier entered the small courtyard with a nervous heart. He knocked on the door but received no response. After calling out several times with no answer, his expression changed at once. He immediately shoved the door open and rushed straight into the main hall.

What met his eyes was the untouched food. Chen Mo was nowhere to be seen.

He checked the other rooms, even searching the latrine, but Chen Mo was nowhere to be found.

"He ran away?!"

The man swiftly left the small courtyard and told his companions. Everyone surrounding the courtyard was shocked and hurried to inform the Guo Family's Family Head. They were deeply puzzled—having remained nearby the entire time, they should have seen Chen Mo if he had come out.

Even if he had flown away through the air, they should have seen him.

It simply made no sense.

He couldn't have burrowed underground and left, could he?

"Trash! You can't even keep watch over one person. Go to the Law Enforcement Hall and receive the Lineage punishment yourselves!" Guo Kangcheng's face was filled with fury.

Yet once the messenger had left, his expression immediately returned to calm, and a faint smile even appeared on his lips.

"It's fine that he left on his own. Saves us the trouble of wasting effort to capture him, and we might not even have been able to catch him."

"Father, should we send people to pursue Chen Mo?" Guo Kai, seated below, asked.

Upon suddenly hearing that Chen Mo had escaped, his first reaction was not anger, but relief.

Based on the information they had gathered about Chen Mo's strength during this period, he had discovered that aside from the two trump cards in the family that were not easily deployed, no one else could likely restrain Chen Mo. Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

If they insisted on fighting, the Lineage would undoubtedly suffer heavy losses.

Now that Chen Mo had run away on his own, just as Guo Kangcheng had said, it was actually a good thing for them.

To be honest, if the survival of the Lineage had not been at stake, and if the other side had not offered so much, they truly would not have wanted to become enemies with Chen Mo. Unfortunately, they had no other choice.

The other side had pressed them too hard.

Hearing Guo Kai's question, Guo Kangcheng shook his head. "Forget it. Let this matter end here. Let the Yu Family worry over it themselves."

"Understood~" Guo Kai breathed a sigh of relief.

This was the outcome he had wanted to see.

At that very moment, Chen Mo had already successfully left the Guo Family's ancestral land. It had been far easier than he had imagined.

Or rather, he seemed to have severely underestimated his own strength.

After weaving through the alleyways for a long time, Chen Mo climbed over a wall into the government offices. He found a corner in the Archives and concealed himself there.

He could also take the opportunity to review case files, learn about the county's customs and actual conditions, search for records concerning Demonic Anomalies, gain a clear understanding of the situation, and then wait quietly for the tides to shift.

"I hope the Guo Family won't make things difficult for Chen Ying and Chen Yuqi?" Chen Mo felt a little guilty.

After all, he had promised the Village Chief that he would look after them, yet now he had run away himself.

Having made up his mind, if the Guo Family truly laid hands on Chen Ying and the others, he would definitely repay them with thunderous vengeance.

"Don't worry. I'll avenge you."

After thinking that, Chen Mo's mood brightened considerably.

Chen Ying, Chen Yuqi: ???

With Chen Mo's strength, the minor clerks in the Archives, none of whom were even Martial Artists, naturally could not detect his whereabouts.

Of course, he did not remain there all day. He still had to deal with breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Other than when breaking through, he would not eat Exotic Beast Jerky.

Every day, Chen Mo visited a different wealthy merchant's home, while also taking the opportunity to observe the situation in the Inner City.

He discovered that he had not been wanted, and the Guo Family was not even searching for him.

But it was an indisputable fact that the Guo Family had poisoned him. Chen Mo still decided to be cautious and lie low for a while longer. As long as he could raise his strength to the Divine Valor Realm, his ability to protect himself would greatly increase.

Whether he stayed in Hequ County, went to another city, or lived in the wilderness, he would be able to ensure his own safety.

Days passed one after another. On the fourth day after Chen Mo left the Guo Family, the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique successfully advanced to the Minor Accomplishment stage, and he grew stronger again.

Moreover, an extremely powerful premonition arose within him... once the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique broke through another level, he should be able to advance to the Divine Valor Realm.

This advancement in his technique still significantly strengthened Chen Mo's spirit, but his body seemed to have reached the limit of what the Divine Strength Realm could attain. He could distinctly feel the presence of a bottleneck.

This sensation was exceedingly strange and difficult to put into words, yet he could truly feel that it existed.

"Going from Proficient to Minor Accomplishment took five Epiphanies. Following that pattern, the Evergreen Turtle Breath Technique will need six Epiphanies to reach Great Accomplishment. Six days should not be a problem." Chen Mo calculated inwardly.

He had already read through most of what the Archives had to offer. By his reckoning, the Black Market in the Slum District of the Outer City would open the night after tomorrow. He planned to try his luck there and have a few chance encounters with some lucky fellows, so it was about time to leave.

Walking through the streets in broad daylight would be too conspicuous. Better to wait until the dead of night.

That day, knowing he would soon be leaving, Chen Mo stopped holding back. A large amount of food was stolen from the government office kitchens, attracting some attention.

But before long, as news spread, everyone's attention was drawn elsewhere.

That was... the Guo Family and Yu Family, two of the Three Great Families in the county, were going to form a marriage alliance.

It was even a marriage between direct descendants of the two Family Head branches. This greatly strengthened the ties between them, to the point that it could practically be considered an alliance.

On the very day the news spread, the Guo Family and Yu Family joined forces to seize two of the Fan Family's iron mines outside the city. Within the city, many Fan Family shops were also suppressed and targeted by the two families.

They had outright torn off all pretense.

The key was that the Fan Family did not dare act rashly.

The sky was about to change!

That was the true thought in everyone's heart at that moment.

No one had expected that the Guo Family and Yu Family, who had always been at odds and were just short of fighting to the death, would choose to bury the hatchet and join forces against the Fan Family.

The Fan Family, which had originally remained outside the whirlpool of conflict, sitting firmly on the fishing platform and preparing to reap the fisherman's profit, had instead become the greatest victim.

One against two—the Fan Family had no chance of victory at all.

The balanced situation in which the Three Great Families opposed and restrained one another had been shattered at this moment.

It was foreseeable that the government, which had always worked to maintain this balance, would certainly not stand idly by. Most likely, it would choose to aid the Fan Family.

The outlines of opposing factions had begun to emerge.

The situation within the county grew increasingly tense, and the atmosphere was oppressive.

This series of changes proved one thing: there were no eternal enemies, nor eternal friends—only eternal interests.

For the sake of profit, enemies could become friends.

For the sake of profit, friends could naturally become enemies as well.

"So they were planning a marriage alliance with the Yu Family. No wonder they wanted to make a move against me. This must have been the Yu Family's idea. After all, I killed two of their Divine Strength Realm Martial Artists before. But the Guo Family clearly doesn't want to become enemies with me, which is why they didn't take any further action against me."

After learning all this news from outside, Chen Mo finally understood.

The Guo Family, knowing the state of his combat strength, clearly did not particularly want to fight him. Thus, the danger he faced for the time being mainly came from the Yu Family.

Having thought it through, Chen Mo hesitated a little. Should he directly join the currently weakened Fan Family? He could seek some benefits for himself while also taking revenge on the Yu Family and Guo Family.

But he quickly abandoned that idea. As someone merely in the Divine Strength Realm, he should not show himself yet. He would observe a while longer.

"If I were a Qi and Blood Realm Martial Artist right now, I wouldn't need to consider so much. I could just charge straight in. My strength still isn't enough."

Chen Mo decided to lie low for a while longer.