Family Cultivation: My entire family are Villains-Chapter 86 - 072, The Fourth Petal [Second Update!]

Tongling County spans a full fifty li squared, supporting the lives of over two million people; hence, the city itself is abuzz with activity. Even with night having fallen completely, the streets remained bustling with a considerable number of pedestrians.

Initially, Hou Yuxiao had been concerned that their traveling party was too large and would draw undue attention. However, Hou Yuling had assured her along the way that there was nothing to worry about, and only upon entering the city did she understand why.

On the streets, convoys similar to theirs, escorting horse-drawn carts with dozens of individuals, were not uncommon. Some, by their attire, were obviously outsiders, among whom those without any fluctuation in vital energy were presumably the common folk engaged in ordinary businesses. As for those who looked more formidable, they appeared to be martial artists involved in other trades.

Of course, one would only need to glance at the imposing figure of Hou Yucheng to realize that their group certainly fell into the latter, more formidable category.

"The prefectural city is roughly divided into three areas: the core zone, which holds the Prefectural Magistrate's Office, Prison Admin Department, and Shengxin Residence, spans about twenty li; following that, the middle fifteen-li region is the territory of the Great Luo Sect; the outermost fifteen li is where the seven second-rate forces of the entire county are stationed."

The shops, inns, and restaurants within each power's territory are mostly owned by these forces themselves, with the commoners living among them.

That being said, those who manage to reside within the prefectural city are, eight or nine times out of ten, the family members of sect members of these forces."

After entering the city, Hou Yuling no longer stayed on the horse cart, instead walking in front while leading the way for Hou Yuxiao and others, and explaining the situation within the county.

"The outermost fifteen li, each force controls areas of two li or more; among these, the Bai Clan's territory is located in the northeast direction. The property that I previously purchased in the county for our family is also in this area; follow me."

As Hou Yuxiao followed Hou Yuling, a genuine sense of gratitude towards the Bai Clan grew in his heart.

Given Hou Family's difficulties in the past two years, the third sibling's success in bringing back the necessary resources from the prefectural city wouldn't have been possible without the Bai Clan's assistance.

The uninformed in Zhaoyang County all assumed that he had an affair with Bai Yujie, when in fact, that wasn't the case at all. Bai Yujie indeed had an affair, but not with him, rather with the third sibling, Hou Yuling...

This incident was actually quite intriguing. Two years prior, in an attempt to create a lifeline for his family, he had harbored such intentions and had indeed disguised himself as Ye Fei, the deputy gang leader of the Green Wolf Gang, infiltrated the Flying Eagle Sect, and kidnapped Bai Yujie.

It was certainly not his intention to defile her; such acts, if witnessed, required only a day or two of abduction to achieve his purpose, even if he had done nothing.

Unexpectedly, during Bai Yujie's captivity, Hou Yuling put his oar in...

He truly became entangled with that Bai Yujie, which is why later, when Patriarch Bai Yunfan, who was also Bai Yujie's father, sent men to kill him, Bai Yujie pleaded for his life.

Bai Yunfan adored his daughter, that was beyond doubt, but his assistance to the Hou Family was also driven by his own agenda.

Firstly, Bai Yujie had initially married Tie Budong merely to avoid a different matrimonial engagement, so the actions of the Hou Family essentially served to liberate Bai Yujie from her bonds, making the Bai Clan less inclined to pursue his demise.

Secondly, Bai Yunfan was motivated by business considerations.

Tongling County boasted two major arms dealers, Shen Clan's Tian Gong Pavilion and the Bai Clan's Foundry. Those who sell weapons naturally need to produce them, and for that, iron ore is indispensable.

One would assume that Bai Clan, being the largest local arms dealer and with their ancestors from the Great Luo Sect, would be the default buyers of iron ore from all providers.

However, the reality was that unless the Bai Clan offered higher prices, the providers would rather sell their iron ingots to the Shen Clan.

No wonder, given that the Shen Clan was a second-rate weapon-forging family from Yunxiang County, selling iron ingots to them was not only more profitable but also proffered an opportunity to curry favor with a powerful force. Why would anyone refuse?

Faced with such circumstances, the Bai Clan desperately needed to alleviate their shortfall in iron ingots and were eager to change this predicament. That's when the Hou Family came into the picture.

For the past two years, not a single ingot of iron from the Hou Family had leaked out—it had all been sold to the Bai Family, significantly easing the Bai Clan's shortage.

Although each had their own motives, the Bai Clan had provided significant help over the past two years, and that favor was not lost on Hou Yuxiao. The iron ingots loaded on the five horse carts represented his repayment to the Bai Family now that he had unified Zhaoyang.

Of course, there would still be a price to pay...

With Hou Yuling leading the way, the group quickly arrived at their destination, which was the Hou Family's residence in Tongling City.

The residence wasn't large, covering roughly fifty meters square with just three courtyards—it could comfortably accommodate several dozen people, but would be cramped for a hundred or more. This didn't even take into account the five carts and over a hundred horses...

With a wry smile, Hou Yuxiao immediately summoned Gao Hu, Hou Fei, and Su Li to lead their respective teams to stay at an inn, keeping only the five carts.

Fortunately, the inns in the county were not too expensive, with ordinary ones charging only fifty wen per night. For around a hundred people, the cost would only be fifty liang of silver per night, an affordable expense.

After the majority of their companions had departed, the residence became much more spacious. Hou Yuxiao, looking at the five carts and then turning back to Bai Yujie, said, "Miss Bai, I'll trouble you to notify the Patriarch of the Bai Clan tonight. It's quite late now, so I, Mr. Hou, will pay a visit in the morning."

Bai Yujie nodded. With her return to the county, she naturally had to go home. Before she left, she and Hou Yuling took their time saying their goodbyes, and if Hou Yuxiao's expression wasn't becoming increasingly sour, it seemed likely that Hou Yuling wouldn't have let her go.

"Big brother, we're selling the iron ingots to the Bai Clan and the herbs to the Medicine Dust Sect, but how should we handle this batch of gold?"

As soon as Bai Yujie left, Hou Yucheng moved three boxes down from the carriage and turned to ask Hou Yuxiao.

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"Take apart two of the boxes. After Hou Fei, Su Li, and Gao Hu bring the men over tomorrow morning, give each one two ingots, and then have them exchange them for silver one by one. They should exchange with Great Jin Tongbao, Rakshasa Silver Shop, and Da Luo Pawn Shop interchangeably. It'll be fine as long as they finish exchanging within ten days. There's no need to rush!"

Hou Yuling's eyes immediately lit up beside him. "Break it into small amounts."

Hou Yuxiao nodded beside him. During this journey, he had not been idling around. Exchanging three hundred catties of gold all at once would definitely attract attention. Breaking it into small amounts was the best solution he could think of for now.

"Gao Cheng, these next few days, take Wenwen with you to scout for a location. Follow your previous plan of setting up Happy Forest in the civilian district, and purchase a sufficiently concealed and inconspicuous estate in the prefectural city to serve as Happy Forest's base here in the future. The price doesn't matter, the main thing is that it must not stand out. Understood?"

Gao Cheng nodded, taking the silver note of ten thousand taels handed to him by Hou Yuxiao, and replied, "Rest assured, Family Head, this is my specialty!"

Hou Yuxiao then turned to look at Hou Yuling and Hou Yucheng, saying, "I'm giving you two fifty thousand taels of silver each. Go change your weapons, and buy one for Fourth Elder and Old Fifth as well. Also, exchange all the spoils of war you brought this time for Yuan Gang Beads."

Both of their faces immediately revealed smiles. Fifty thousand taels of silver were more than enough to buy four common-grade precious weapons, and the key part was the Yuan Gang Beads that followed; those were what they relied on for breaking through to the Gang Qi Realm.

"Alright, stop giggling. Go back and rest!"

Three courtyards. San Niang and Gao Wenwen were staying inside, with Hou Yucheng and Gao Cheng living outside, and Hou Yuxiao himself residing in the middle. The goods on the five horse carriages were secondary; the key was the batch of gold, which he had to watch over himself.

At midnight, Hou Yuxiao sat cross-legged in his room alone. The Gangsha in his body, following the rhythm of his breathing, ebbed and flowed, circulating through the eight extraordinary meridians around his body before gradually converging within his dantian.

The Three Realms of Gang Qi: Coagulate Gang, Gathering Malevolence, Embracing Elixir. The so-called Embracing Elixir implies "Embrace the Origin and Preserve the Unity," with Gang Qi nurtured within the dantian. Gang Qi and Malevolence circulated through the eight extraordinary meridians to the dantian, continuously compressed and coalesced, ultimately forging the Core Essence Qi.

A single strike of Core Essence Qi could hit a target over ten meters away, and it also carried the attachment of Gangsha, with power far surpassing the Gathering Evil Phase. Hou Yuxiao recalled Tian Linong's Guixin Sword Decision and a flicker of longing shone in his pupils.

"With the New Moon Token in hand, Cheng Yue cannot openly touch me anymore. Even if he causes trouble secretly, I'm not afraid. But if his master, Ding Dian, also has no shame and personally makes a move against me, then there would be some danger.

However, no one has come to look for me till now, which proves that this Ding Dian does care about his reputation!"

It's unbelievable to think that Ding Dian doesn't know about our group's arrival. Hou Yuxiao definitely doesn't believe that. Over a month after the Zhaoyang Disturbance, to say that the prefectural city has no attention on Zhaoyang, Hou Yuxiao wouldn't believe it even if he were to die.

"It seems like Sikong Yue has given them a heads up. She can decide on such a big matter as not setting up the County Lord and Deputy Magistrate; her status is so high, it seems to far exceed my imagination. I should make good use of this tiger's skin."

Hou Yuxiao's eyes slightly brightened. Just as he was feeling smug, the image of Sikong Yue emerged in his mind, and his body shivered immediately, daring not to continue thinking.

"Ding Dian is the top martial artist in the county, but the right to command thirty thousand mansion troops is all in Fan Longhe's hands, and there's Ding Buhai of the Great Luo Sect, the local snake. These three are definitely not on good terms with each other.

The seven second-rate forces below are certainly aligned with these three.

It seems that this prefectural city is indeed a den of dragons and snakes…"

Hou Yuxiao murmured softly, straightening out his thoughts in his mind, then finally turning his attention to the lotus in his mind.

The lotus still had only three petals lit up—two black and one white—and the only difference was the numbers of his merit and karmic obstacles, which had changed significantly.

Merit: 1368

Karmic Obstacles: 683

The Hou Clan led the rebuilding of Zhaoyang City during this period, earning him quite a lot of merit. The number would have been even higher, but he exchanged more than twenty Minor Rejuvenation Pills, giving them to Hou Yucheng and four others, as well as Gao Cheng, Gao Hu, Hou Fei, Hou Ying, Hou Cun, Su Li, each receiving two.

With an increase in the clan's second-rate martial arts, these Minor Rejuvenation Pills could also play a great role. As the clan's strength grew, the demand for Minor Rejuvenation Pills would also increase.

Looking at it now, trading one for just 15 merit points seems a real bargain!

Hou Yuxiao looked at the fourth white petal with a fleeting gleam in his eyes. Ever since he had the Merit Gold Page, he understood the various values of the Lotus of Good and Evil very well.

To light up the fourth petal, 1000 points of good deeds were needed!

"The prefectural city is still too dangerous. Better light it up first and see if it can give me some means of survival."

Hou Yuxiao pondered and poured all the good deeds in his mind onto the fourth petal, which immediately emitted a burst of strong white light.

After a long while, Hou Yuxiao's mind sank as he checked the function of the fourth white petal. He was momentarily stunned before joy erupted on his face...