章節 258: The Strange Cheng Family
Translator: Cinder Translations
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Song Wen watched Qiu Lu's shy departure with a hint of amusement in his eyes.
A beauty trap!
Cheng Ruida's strategy was quite clever.
Using a powerless girl to divert his attention.
For someone like Qiu Lu, a weak woman without any cultivation, she was seen as a plaything that foundation-building cultivators could control at will.
The weaker one was, the easier it was to be overlooked.
This would lead to a sense of relaxation and a decrease in vigilance against her.
However, danger often does not come from powerful enemies but rather from those seemingly harmless and weak beings.
With a smile at the corner of his mouth, Song Wen stepped into the guest room.
At the innermost part of the room, he pushed open the window.
An orderly view of the spiritual fields filled his sight.
A gentle breeze swept through the Sun Spirit Herb, thin mist drifting like ribbons across the fields, resembling a picturesque paradise.
Unfortunately, behind this beautiful scenery lay a terrifying killing intent that could chill one's bones.
Six Sacred Gu flew out of Song Wen's mouth, silently darting to various corners of the Cheng family.
To avoid alarming the enemy, Song Wen did not directly use his spiritual sense to probe the Cheng family but instead utilized the Sacred Gu to search the premises.
Soon, Song Wen received feedback from the Sacred Gu.
Three meters directly in front of the small building where he resided was a man-made lake, featuring a steep and towering artificial mountain, within which lay a hidden world.
This artificial mountain, measuring over ten meters in length and width, was hollow inside, equipped with formations that concealed the life force within, indicating that someone was monitoring Song Wen.
Within the Cheng family's courtyard, there were ten alchemy rooms. In one of the alchemy rooms, spiritual energy and warmth were emanating, suggesting that Zuo Shuiyun was inside refining the Demon Luring Powder.
Cheng Ruida had returned to the main hall of the Cheng family, where he was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed.
Not long after, Qiu Lu walked in.
The Sacred Gu wanted to continue spying, but Cheng Ruida was particularly cautious.
He waved his hand, and a barrier formation rose up, enveloping him and Qiu Lu within.
The Sacred Gu outside the barrier instantly lost their perception of the two and could only leave in frustration.
"Reporting to you, my lord, Elder Wu has already settled into the guest room. Cheng Wu and Cheng Qi are keeping watch on him."
"Does he suspect anything?" Cheng Ruida asked.
"He shouldn't. He asked about the time of the Blood Demon's appearance and when clan members began to die, but he did not inquire further," Qiu Lu paused for a moment, seemingly organizing her thoughts, then continued, "This person seems to have quite a sense of justice. My daughter seduced him with her beauty, deceiving him into believing that her family had all died at the hands of the Blood Demon. He immediately expressed his intention to slay the demon for the Cheng family."
TL: Her daughter? Isn't Qiu Lu the girl's name? I think the author made a mistake here.
Cheng Ruida nodded. "Well done. Make sure Cheng Wu and Cheng Qi keep a close watch on him. We cannot allow him to discover anything he shouldn't."
"Yes, my lord."
...
The Sacred Gu, having found little of use in the Cheng family courtyard, all retreated to the back courtyard.
The back courtyard was home to all cultivators.
After thoroughly investigating the entire back courtyard, Song Wen noticed a problem.
There were very few Qi Refinement stage cultivators in the Cheng family, regardless of age or gender. Altogether, there were only a little over a dozen cultivators from the first to the ninth layer of Qi Refinement.
What was even more puzzling was that cultivators in the mid to late stages of Qi Refinement accounted for over half of the total, while those in the early stages, who should have been the majority, numbered only around fifty.
This situation seemed somewhat odd.
Of course, it could be attributed to the rampant Blood Demon that had slaughtered a significant number of lower-tier cultivators.
The Cheng family cultivators were mostly holed up at home, with some even hiding in the basements beneath their houses, making it hard to see any cultivators casually wandering outside.
Clearly, the rampant Blood Demon had instilled great panic among the Qi Refinement stage cultivators of the Cheng family.
After investigating the back courtyard, the Sacred Gu flew to the front courtyard of the Cheng family.
The front courtyard was inhabited entirely by ordinary people, who, unlike the cultivators, did not have the luxury of being served three meals a day or the option to hide in their homes.
Many of them were busy outside.
On both sides of the small river, vast fields had been cultivated, filled with various grains, with some fields planted with spiritual rice.
Most of the ordinary people appeared hurried and somewhat uneasy.
Song Wen couldn't help but wonder.
With the Blood Demon wreaking havoc and the population sharply declining, why didn't these ordinary people leave the Cheng family to live among common folk?
Though life outside might be a bit harsher without the protection of the Cheng family cultivators, it would surely be better than living in constant fear and danger.
What could be holding them back?
As the Sacred Gu weaved between the houses of these ordinary people, they soon discovered something interesting.
In a house with three tiled rooms, a seven or eight-year-old boy was lying on the ground, convulsing.
He was frantically scratching at his body, even drawing blood, showing no sign of stopping.
"Itchy, so itchy!"
The boy shouted loudly.
His voice startled his mother, a farmer in her thirties, who rushed in.
Seeing her son's condition, the mother was visibly panicked.
However, instead of calming her child immediately, she ran to another room, rummaging through boxes and cabinets.
Soon, she found a porcelain bottle.
Holding the porcelain bottle, she hurried back to her son.
In a fluster, she poured out a black pill and stuffed it into the boy's mouth.
Seeing him swallow the pill, her frantic demeanor calmed down a bit.
She lay on the ground, holding the boy tightly, preventing him from hurting himself further.
The boy struggled desperately, but his strength was too weak to break free from his mother's grasp.
"Mom, let me go! I'm so itchy; I feel terrible!"
Watching her son suffer, tears welled in the mother's eyes, her voice trembling as she spoke.
"Be good, little one. It will stop itching soon!"
About the length of an incense stick later, the boy's struggles slowly weakened.
Eventually, it seemed as if he had been tormented to the point of exhaustion, and he gradually fell asleep.
The mother carried her son to the bed, looking at his body covered in wounds, her eyes filled with heartache and confusion.
When would this life of fear and pain come to an end?
What the mother didn't notice was a small bug crawling into the porcelain bottle she had carelessly set aside.
After noting the scent of the pills in the bottle, the Sacred Gu flapped their wings and flew out of the farmer's home.
Soon, all six Sacred Gu began searching various ordinary people's homes.
After more than a moment, Song Wen reached a conclusion.
Almost every ordinary household had such a porcelain bottle, each containing a few to several dozen pills.
This meant that these pills were some sort of antidote, and all the Cheng family's ordinary people, regardless of age or gender, were poisoned.
They had to take this antidote to survive.
This might very well be the true reason they couldn't escape from the Cheng family.
(End of the Chapter)
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