At the start of the game, you have one equipment slot; the effects of unequipping the equipment rema

It was late at night when Mu Yang returned to his courtyard.

He casually tore down a few strips of dried pork hanging from the eaves, blew off the dust, and began to eat them in large mouthfuls.

After eating a little something to fill his stomach, he took out the spoils from the Wang family.

Three top-grade martial arts manuals, a century-old ginseng root, and a special secret technique.

After thinking for a moment, Mu Yang opened the sandalwood box containing the secret technique first.

"Demon Blood Outer Technique" is a forbidden technique after all, and it's not safe to keep it forever, so he plans to put it directly into his equipment slot.

Although he wasn't planning to use this secret technique, he was still quite curious.

"Equip the 'Demon Blood Outer Magic'."

Mu Yang silently recited this in his heart.

[Ding! "Demon Blood Outer Magic" has been equipped!]

The seemingly sinister book of secret techniques vanished instantly, and a stream of relatively simple knowledge flooded into Mu Yang's mind.

He quickly figured out the effects of this secret technique.

This secret technique only requires the essence blood of demonic beasts (monsters and spirit beasts) to easily reach the strength of the essence blood provider.

With the enhancements of the "Demon Absorption" and "Spirit Absorption" attributes, he could cultivate without even needing the Blood Pill that Xue She mentioned.

The reason is simple: ordinary demonic cultivators need blood pills because they cannot perfectly fuse with the essence blood of demons, and they need blood pills made from human blood to suppress and assist in absorption.

Besides blood pills, consuming raw human blood also has the effect of suppressing and aiding absorption, but the effect is weaker, and each time it is ingested, the effect is more likely to be aggravated.

This is why there are demonic cultivators who lose their minds and even massacre cities.

It's worth mentioning that if you don't use the essence blood of demons but instead use the essence blood of spirit beasts, you don't need the blood pill to assist you.

However, due to the unique nature of spirit beasts, cultivators who have not achieved perfect fusion will have an extreme craving for the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Ordinary martial artists obviously do not possess this ability.

At least as far as Mu Yang knew, Qi Condensation Realm martial artists could only convert their blood and qi into true qi, and they had no ability to absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth.

Those who cannot absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth, and cannot perfectly fuse with the essence of spirit beasts, will not lose their minds, but will have their essence drained from their bodies and eventually turn to ashes.

"That's quite a strange and mysterious technique."

Mu Yang snapped out of his thoughts and sighed.

Soon, he picked up the century-old ginseng and two top-grade martial arts techniques and put them into his equipment slot.

A surge of powerful energy and vitality instantly appeared.

Although the total amount is not small, it is indeed not much for Mu Yang, who is already in the late stage of the Blood Marrow Realm.

According to his estimate, he would need eight more high-grade martial arts techniques, or three demon corpses with blue blood and qi attributes, to break through to the Blood Marrow Realm Perfection.

Including the high-grade martial arts technique he already possesses, he still needs seven more.

"How about we check out the other two?"

This idea suddenly popped into Mu Yang's mind.

There was no hope in the county government. He now had two options: either set off for the prefectural city to try and exchange for martial arts skills at the county government office, or plunder the Hu and Liu families, who were also among the three major families.

Clearly, the latter is significantly less difficult.

But what reason could be used...?

..................

At the same time.

Qingxi County, the Hu Family Mansion.

The courtyard, which should have been quiet late at night, was brightly lit and brightly illuminated.

A middle-aged man dressed as a butler, who was overweight, was hurrying toward the courtyard where the head of the family, Hu Wanshan, was located.

He lowered his head immediately as soon as he entered the master bedroom of the courtyard.

Opposite him, the overweight Hu Wanshan was sitting back in a grand chair.

Beside him was a beautiful woman with snow-white skin, exquisite features, and a sheer veil that exuded allure.

This is Hu Xin, a concubine whom Hu Wanshan took in from who-knows-where last year.

Having entered the Hu family compound for only a year, she drove most of Hu Wanshan's wives, concubines, and children to their deaths. Yet, Hu Wanshan not only did not blame her, but also fully supported her.

Occasionally, even servants were beaten to death with sticks on Hu Wanshan's orders simply for glancing at Hu Xin a few times.

As a result, everyone in the Hu family both respected and feared Hu Xin.

Even Hu Wanshan's trusted old steward, Hu Lu, kept his head down after entering the room, not daring to look at Hu Xin at all.

"Reporting to Madam and Master, our scouts have just brought news that Wang Rudong, the patriarch of the Wang family, has died, and the Wang family has been raided by County Lieutenant Zhou Heng and his men!" Steward Hu Lu said respectfully.

Hu Wanshan seemed not to hear, his eyes narrowed into slits by his fat, as he savored the grapes that Hu Xin's slender, white fingers had pinched.

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

Her voice was languid yet alluring, enough to make one's bones melt and make one wish they could pin her down.

Hu Lu dared not harbor any evil thoughts. He merely bit his tongue lightly, then lowered his head deeply and replied, "Madam has keen insight; it was indeed that constable Mu Yang who was behind it!"

"I remember, he was the one who killed that little girl, Hu Mei, wasn't he?" Hu Xin continued to ask.

"Yes, madam!" Hu Lu replied.

The incident of a fox spirit appearing at Qingxiang Tower a few days ago, although it didn't cause a city-wide uproar, Hu Lu, as the steward of the Hu family, naturally knew about it immediately and reported it to Hu Xin and Hu Wanshan.

What puzzled him was that neither Hu Wanshan nor his capricious wife seemed to care about such a big matter.

Now that Hu Xin has suddenly brought it up, he doesn't know why.

Just as he was pondering, Hu Xin's languid and alluring voice came again: "Hu Lu, go and prepare a generous gift and personally deliver it to Mu Yang's house. Tell him that tomorrow at dusk, my Wan Shan invites him to the mansion for a chat to repay the kindness of eliminating the demon that day."

"Yes, Madam!"

Hu Lu nodded immediately.

"Alright, go ahead."

"Then, Madam, I shall take my leave!"

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

Throughout the entire ordeal, Hu Wanshan, sitting in the armchair, did not utter a single word.

But Hu Lu seemed to be used to it and didn't ask any more questions.

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

She stretched out her slender, jade-like hand, as if admiring a treasure, and gently stroked Hu Wanshan's greasy face, her alluring peach blossom eyes shimmering with tears:

"Wanshan, whether I can have a full meal tomorrow depends entirely on you~~"

Hu Wanshan remained squinting, silent, like a wooden sculpture.

..................

Unlike the oppressive atmosphere in the Hu family, the Liu family, also one of the three major families, seemed somewhat relaxed at this moment.

Liu Qingke, the head of the Liu family, was sitting in the hall chatting with several elders.

"It's unbelievable that the renowned Wang family would be defeated by a junior like him! How laughable!"

"Who says otherwise? The Wang family colluded with demons and practiced evil magic. They deserved to die. It's just a pity we found out too late, otherwise we could have gotten a share of the spoils."

"Gentlemen, the Wang family certainly deserved to die, but we must also be wary of Mu Yang. If he dared to come and slaughter the Wang family today, he might find an excuse to attack the Hu family or our Liu family tomorrow!"

Some elders were laughing, some were secretly regretting, and some looked worried.

While the Wang family certainly has many problems, Mu Yang's unconventional actions, which are completely unlike those of ordinary people, are truly terrifying.

"Rest assured, elders," Liu Qingke said calmly, putting down his teacup. "Our Liu family has neither colluded with demons nor harmed the villagers. We only conduct legitimate business, so why worry about others coming to our door?"

Hearing this, the elders were finally relieved.

In fact, after hearing about the Wang family's situation, they were also worried that their own family patriarch might be doing something shady in secret.

Looking back now, Liu Qingke still seems quite open and honest.

As long as they themselves are truly without fault, they naturally have nothing to fear from Mu Yang.

The rest is to keep the clansmen in check and not provoke Mu Yang. No matter how strong he is, he won't come to kill us for no reason.

There's no need to worry about the Wang family being wiped out overnight like they did.