Who Let Him Cultivate?!

When Qi Wu first found the old hunter, there were several households nearby that appeared normal, but were all transformed into ghouls.

After the Tiger Demon was subdued, the ghouls were, for a time, in disarray; some proposed to descend the mountain, while others opted to continue hiding in the mountains. Their course of action was up for debate.

As they were arguing, three people appeared and captured them all. As Meng Jingzhou exuded a trace of pure yang energy, the ghouls cried out in agony on the ground.

“There’s no need to keep so many, two are enough to impersonate a Cultivator from the Demon Path,” Lu Yang said coldly. There was no need for sympathy for these ghouls who served the Tiger Demon.

If they had not agreed to the Tiger Demon’s demands, they wouldn’t have become ghouls.

They deserved to die.

Lu Yang tried but found that he could not command the ghouls. He could only let his Yin Soul out of his body.

“Man Gu, it’s up to you.”

Man Gu said nothing, sparing two of the ghouls who had disguised themselves as travelers and wiping out the rest clean and neat.

Using the hunter’s ghouls would easily tip off the demonic sect; they would guess that it was the result of killing the Tiger Demon. It would be much less risky to use the ghouls disguised as travelers.

“Absorb.” Man Gu absorbed the ghouls, one male and one female, into his body.

This was also part of the skill to Expel Ghosts-capturing ghosts into the body and summoning them for battle when necessary.

On their way to Yanjiang County, the three encountered Qi Wu and his men, who were still lost in the woods.

It was still raining, and Qi Wu and his men did not know the way; naturally, they could not find the way down the mountain.

“Our saviors!” On seeing Lu Yang and his companions, Qi Wu and his men were extremely excited, as if they had found a lifeline.

“Our gratitude to our saviors, we will never forget it for the rest of our lives!”

“The mountain god has shown its compassion!”

“The favor of saving our lives, will never be forgotten!”

They thanked the three profusely and sincerely.

Seeing the people they had rescued and hearing their heartfelt words of gratitude, the gloom in Lu Yang’s heart gradually dissipated. He no longer thought about the skeleton in the cave.

“Us Cultivators should walk the Righteous Path, there is no need for thanks,” Meng Jingzhou declared his position seriously. Saving people was a matter of course, not something he did for gratitude.

Man Gu observed Meng Jingzhou, whose face was full of righteousness, and felt that he was indeed a role model in staying calm under circumstances. He himself could not have done that.

Lu Yang knew without looking at Meng Jingzhou that this grandson of his was pretending. He was certain that Meng Jingzhou had been overjoyed from the outset and was even perhaps ecstatic about it.

Why did he think so? Because right now, Lu Yang was looking very righteous himself.

When they delivered the merchants to Yanjiang County, the sky was just beginning to brighten. The heavy rain that had been falling all night finally stopped and a faint rainbow hung in the sky.

“Did we forget something?” Meng Jingzhou felt as if he had forgotten something.

“We didn’t forget anything, did we?” Lu Yang counted the number of people; it was three people and three minds, so nothing was left behind.

“Just felt like we missed something, never mind; let’s not ponder over it.”

Within Qinghuai County, in the backyard of an inn, a carriage was parked. The old horse was leisurely eating the feed left by Meng Jingzhou.

When is the young master of Meng Family gonna find me? The feed is only good for a few days. Didn’t he promise to finish the task in five or six days?

The old horse was a mutated demon beast, so it couldn’t eat normal feed like an ordinary horse. Its food was the spiritual essence feed that Meng Jingzhou had carefully prepared and bought at a high price.

The old horse snorted and clicked its teeth, feeling bored. It glanced and noticed a small white mare in the neighboring stable.

After the three men entered the city, they casually selected a teahouse, ordered a pot of tea and some snacks, and pondered their next steps.

“Yanjiang County is so vast, how are we going to find this Qin Yuanhao? Ask for help from the local government office?” Man Gu asked, frowning.

Yanjiang County is not a large county for cultivation, and its population ranks behind other counties. It is barely noticeable on the map, and only detailed maps even show it. However, Yanjiang County still has a population of two million. Looking for one person is like finding a needle in a haystack; it’s not easy at all.

Lu Yang waved his hand: “That’s not appropriate. We don’t know how long the demonic sect has been hiding here. The assortment of forces involved is complex and could potentially include local government support.” Man Gu didn’t understand Lu Yang’s point: “Isn’t the demonic sect subjected to universal condemnation? Why would a government office help them?”

Meng Jingzhou, who was most familiar with the matter, responded without waiting for Lu Yang’s reply: “Just because everyone condemns them, the Great Xia Dynasty added ‘number of demons executed’ to their performance evaluations for local officials. The more demons they exterminate, and the higher their cultivation levels, the better their performance is judged.” “Think about it; the demonic sect could easily strike an agreement with the County Magistrate, routinely providing demons for execution in exchange for protection of their location.”

The facts Meng Jingzhou spoke were not made up—they were recounted directly by his relatives in the government.

Those relatives said that although Emperor Xia had executed batch after batch, some still slipped through the net.

Some in the court proposed eliminating this performance indicator but were thwarted by the Prime Minister. As long as the indicator remains, the majority of officials work diligently to exterminate the demons, with a minority colluding with the demonic sect. If the indicator were removed, it would be hard to guarantee how many officials would still take the trouble to search for the traces of the demonic sect.

All in all, the existence of this performance indicator is, on balance, beneficial.

The facts Meng Jingzhou relayed gave Man Gu a feeling of having his knowledge overturned-this was something he had never before considered. “Even though the likelihood of the County Magistrate and the demonic sect collaborating is slim, we need to be prepared for the worst-case scenario,” Lu Yang said.

“Assuming that the County Magistrate and the demonic sect are in cahoots, if we reveal our intentions to the County Magistrate, he will definitely hand Qin Yuanhao over to us to prevent his own exposure. However, once the entire Yanjiang Rudder receives news of this, they would hide themselves, making us lose our chance to infiltrate the demonic sect. This is a classic case of losing the main chance for the sake of a minor gain; it’s inclined to be inappropriate.”

“The current plan is for us to keep our identities hidden and search for Qin Yuanhao first. If we can’t find him, then we can seek help from the Government

Office.”

Man Gu nodded, feeling that the two were making sense.

“But, how do we draw out Qin Yuanhao?” Many ideas flashed through Man Gu’s mind, but none seemed to be good ones. They all had major drawbacks. Posting flyers and notices was out of the question-it would draw too much attention.

Gathering information in black markets? If Qin Yuanhao found out that people were trying to find out about him, he would go into hiding. It’s likely that he would even rally forces from the demonic sect to suppress them, which would place them in a passive position. That plan wouldn’t work.

Man Gu was curious to know what plan Brother Lu and Brother Meng had come up with.

Early on the journey down the mountain, Lu Yang had thought of a plan. He chuckled and said, “Do you know, unlike us from the Righteous Sect, those who drift in the society outside value face that much.”

“Especially the people in the demonic sect, they take face as their status; a loss of face stings more than being killed.”

“So what we need to do is to widely propagate that Qin Yuanhao is a kind person who does good deeds every day without attending to proper duties. Once the rumor that he is a good person has circulated throughout the whole Yanjiang County, and everyone in the demonic sect thinks of him as such, he will find it intolerable and jump out!”

“That will be our opportunity!”

Meng Jingzhou simply summed it up: “In other words, concoct and spread rumors.”

Conveniently, Meng Jingzhou was a natural at this, excelling at causing a scene. Man Gu realized all at once that this was indeed a great plan. If they can’t find Qin Yuanhao, they can directly compel him to come out.

But what did it mean by: unlike us from the Righteous Sect, those who drift in the world outside value their face?