The So-Called Secret Art! The Hu Family's Strange Affair! The Upright Liu Family!

When Mu Yang returned to his own courtyard, it was already late at night.

He casually tore down several strips of air-dried pork hanging from the eaves, blew off the dust, and began wolfing them down.

After taking the edge off his hunger, he finally brought out the spoils he had taken from the Wang Family.

Three High-Grade Martial Arts manuals, a Century-Old Ginseng, and a special secret art.

After some thought, Mu Yang first opened the Red Sandalwood Box containing the secret art.

Demon Blood External Method was, after all, a forbidden technique. It was unsafe to keep it around for long, so he intended to install it directly into the Equipment Slot.

Though he had no plans to use this secret art, he was still rather curious about it.

"Equip Demon Blood External Method."

Mu Yang silently recited the words in his heart.

[Ding! Demon Blood External Method equipped!]

The sinister-looking secret art booklet vanished in an instant, and a stream of not overly complicated knowledge flooded into Mu Yang's mind.

Before long, he had sorted out the effects of this secret art.

This secret art required only the essence blood of demonic beasts—Monsters and Spirit Beasts—to easily attain the strength of the provider of that essence blood.

With the support of the Absorb Demon and Absorb Spirit traits, he did not even need the Blood Pills Xue She had mentioned in order to cultivate it.

The reason was simple. Ordinary Demon Cultivators needed Blood Pills because they could not perfectly fuse with Monster essence blood, and required Blood Pills refined from human blood to suppress it and aid its absorption.

Besides Blood Pills, consuming human blood raw could also suppress it and aid absorption, though the effect was weaker, and every feeding easily deepened the influence.

That was also why Demon Cultivators who lost their sanity and went so far as to massacre entire cities appeared.

Worth mentioning was that if one used Spirit Beast essence blood instead of Monster essence blood, Blood Pills were unnecessary as an aid.

However, because of the unique nature of Spirit Beasts, cultivators who had not achieved perfect fusion would develop an extreme craving for the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Ordinary martial artists clearly did not possess such an ability.

At least, the Condensing Qi Realm martial artists Mu Yang knew merely transformed Blood Qi into true qi. They had no ability whatsoever to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

And those unable to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, while also unable to perfectly fuse with Spirit Beast essence blood, faced no risk of losing their minds—but would be drained dry by the essence blood within their bodies, eventually turning into drifting ash.

"This really is quite a wicked secret art."

Mu Yang withdrew his thoughts and sighed.

Soon afterward, he placed the Century-Old Ginseng and two High-Grade Martial Arts manuals into the Equipment Slot as well.

A vast surge of Blood Qi immediately emerged.

Although the total amount was not small, for Mu Yang, who was already at the Blood-Marrow Realm Late Stage, it truly was not much.

By his estimate, he would still need eight High-Grade Martial Arts manuals, or three Monster corpses with the blue Qi-Blood Abundance trait, to break through to Blood-Marrow Realm Perfection.

Including the High-Grade Martial Arts manual in his hand, he was still short seven.

"Should I take a look at the other two families?"

This thought suddenly popped into Mu Yang's mind.

There was no hope with the County Office. He could either set out for the Prefecture City and see whether he could exchange for martial arts there at the county office, or he could plunder the Hu Family and Liu Family, the other two of the Three Great Families.

Clearly, the latter was far less difficult.

But what reason could he use...

At the same time.

Qingxi County, the Hu Family estate.

The residence, which should have fallen silent in the dead of night, was now brilliantly lit, bright as day.

A plump middle-aged man dressed as a steward hurried toward the courtyard where Hu Wanshan, the family head, resided.

The moment he entered the master bedroom in the courtyard, he immediately lowered his head.

Opposite him, the bloated Hu Wanshan reclined in a grandmaster's chair.

At his side sat a beautiful young woman with skin whiter than snow, brows and eyes like a painting, draped in sheer gauze. One glance at her was enough to feel her overwhelming allure.

This was Hu Xin, the new concubine Hu Wanshan had taken from who knew where last year.

In merely one year after entering the Hu Family estate, she had driven more than half of Hu Wanshan's wives, concubines, and descendants to their deaths. Yet not only did Hu Wanshan refuse to blame her, he fully supported her instead.

Sometimes, servants who merely looked at Hu Xin a few times would be beaten to death with random cudgels on Hu Wanshan's orders.

As a result, everyone in the Hu Family both revered and feared Hu Xin.

Even Hu Wanshan's trusted old steward, Hu Lu, kept his head lowered after entering the room, not daring to glance at Hu Xin even once.

"Reporting to Madam and Master, news has just arrived from our spies. Wang Rudong, head of the Wang Family, has died, and the Wang Family has been raided by County Commandant Zhou Heng and his men!" Steward Hu Lu said respectfully.

Hu Wanshan seemed not to have heard him. His eyes, squeezed into slits by folds of fat, remained narrowed as he happily enjoyed the grapes Hu Xin fed him with her pale jade fingers.

Hu Xin, however, spoke. "Wang Rudong is dead? Who did it? That new constable, Mu Yang?"

Her voice was languid yet laced with seduction. Merely hearing it made one's bones go soft, stirring the urge to press her beneath one's body.

Hu Lu did not dare entertain the slightest improper thought. He merely bit the tip of his tongue, lowered his head deeply, and replied, "Madam's eyes are sharp indeed. It was that constable Mu Yang who did it!"

"I recall that little girl Hu Mei was killed by him as well, wasn't she?" Hu Xin continued.

"Yes, Madam!" Hu Lu answered.

The Fox Demon incident at Fragrant Pavilion a few days ago had not caused a citywide uproar, but as the Hu Family's steward, Hu Lu had naturally learned of it at once and reported it to Hu Xin and Hu Wanshan.

What puzzled him, however, was that despite such a major incident, neither Hu Wanshan nor Madam Hu, whose moods were impossible to predict, had paid it any heed.

Yet Hu Xin had suddenly brought it up now, and he did not know why.

As he pondered this, Hu Xin's languid, bewitching voice drifted over again. "Hu Lu, prepare a generous gift and personally deliver it to Mu Yang's home. Tell him that tomorrow at the hour of the Rooster, my Wanshan invites him to the estate for a chat, to repay his kindness in slaying the demon that day."

"Yes, Madam!"

Hu Lu immediately nodded.

"Fine. Go."

"Then Madam, this servant shall take his leave first!"

Hu Lu immediately bowed, kept his head lowered, and quickly retreated.

From beginning to end, Hu Wanshan, seated in the grandmaster's chair, had not spoken a single word.

Yet Hu Lu seemed long accustomed to it and did not ask any further questions.

After Hu Lu left, only the silent Hu Wanshan and the voluptuous Hu Xin remained in the bedroom.

She extended her slender jade hand and gently stroked Hu Wanshan's greasy face as though admiring a treasure. Ripples flowed through her alluring peach-blossom eyes.

"Wanshan, whether this servant can eat her fill tomorrow will all depend on you~~"

Hu Wanshan kept his eyes narrowed and said nothing, like a carved wooden puppet.

Unlike the oppressive atmosphere in the Hu Family, the Liu Family, also one of the Three Great Families, was somewhat relaxed at this moment.

Liu Qingke, head of the Liu Family, was seated in the main hall chatting with several clan elders.

"Who would have thought that the illustrious Wang Family would stumble at the hands of a junior? What a joke!"

"Isn't that so? The Wang Family colluded with Monsters and cultivated wicked arts. They got what they deserved. It is only a pity we discovered it too late, or we might have gotten a share of the spoils."

"Elders, the Wang Family certainly got what they deserved, but we must still guard against Mu Yang. Today, he dared to come to the Wang Family's door and slaughter them. Tomorrow, he may not refrain from finding an excuse to act against the Hu Family—or our Liu Family!"

Some elders laughed loudly, some secretly regretted, while others wore faces full of worry.

The Hu Family certainly had major problems, but Mu Yang's outrageous conduct, utterly unlike that of an ordinary person, was enough to make people tremble in fear.

"Elders, you may rest assured." Liu Qingke slowly set down his teacup and said, "Our Liu Family has neither colluded with Monsters nor harmed the local people. We conduct only lawful business. Why should we fear anyone coming to our door?"

Hearing this, the elders finally felt at ease.

In truth, after hearing of what had happened to the Wang Family, they had also worried whether their own family head had been doing something shameful in secret.

Now, it seemed Liu Qingke was still open and aboveboard.

As long as their family truly had no problems, they naturally had no reason to fear Mu Yang.

All that remained was to keep the clan members in check and ensure they did not provoke Mu Yang. No matter how powerful he was, he could not possibly come killing at their door for no reason.

They would not need to fear their entire Lineage being wiped out overnight like the Wang Family.