Demon, come and cultivate for me.

Xu Yuan was born into the Xu family in the capital, and was the eldest son of the main branch, a true scion of a powerful family.

Like the Xie family, the Xu family is a powerful martial arts clan, one of the most prominent families in the capital and even the entire Yan Kingdom.

Twenty years ago, the Xu family produced a prodigy.

When he was fifteen, his cultivation level had reached the initial stage.

Over the next five years, he made continuous breakthroughs, becoming a peak-level martial artist at the age of twenty.

This cultivation speed surpasses even that of the Xu family patriarch.

Everyone in the Xu family, including the head of the family, regarded him as the future heir of the Xu family.

The Xu family concentrated all its resources to cultivate this prodigy.

At the age of thirty-five, he broke through again, reaching the True Body Realm of the Later Heaven Martial Artist, with cultivation comparable to that of the family head.

Everyone believed that he would become a grandmaster within the age of 100.

But things are unpredictable. A few years later, this prodigy suddenly left home, taking all the family's inherited skills with him, and never returned.

The Xu family sent people to search in all directions, and finally found that his last known location was in the southern border of the Chu Kingdom.

Further south of the Chu Kingdom lies the land of the Baiyue people, and the Shiwan Mountains.

In order to retrieve the cultivation technique and find this prodigy, the Xu family spared no expense and sent many of its members to search for him in the Hundred Thousand Mountains.

But they all disappeared without a trace, and none of them returned.

Finally, the head of the Xu family personally led more than a dozen members of the Xu family south to Baiyue.

Among these children was Xu Yuan's father.

They were gone for three years.

Three years later, only the head of the Xu family returned.

His sons and sisters who went south with him have all disappeared without a trace.

After the head of the family returned to the capital, he never mentioned what had happened during his trip south.

If anyone dares to mention it, the head of the family will suddenly go berserk and may even attack people.

Therefore, everyone kept the matter a secret.

The head of the household locked himself in his room and stayed indoors all day.

They thought the matter was over and the Xu family would return to peace.

But an accident still happened.

One month later, in the dead of night, the head of the Xu family suddenly turned into a demon, his body swelling several times its normal size, wantonly killing living things and trampling on houses.

The first to suffer were the Xu family's eldest branch, who lived around the head of the household. Many of them perished in their sleep, and many of their neighbors nearby were also killed.

Finally, more than a dozen True Body Realm martial artists in the capital joined forces, and experts such as talisman masters, pharmacists, and formation masters displayed their superb abilities to control the demonized Xu family patriarch.

After regaining some consciousness, the head of the Xu family realized that he had made a grave mistake.

Unable to suppress the demonic nature within him any longer, he asked the warriors to banish him to a deserted place.

Otherwise, if the demonization continues, these martial artists may not be able to control the situation, which could lead to more innocent casualties.

The warriors had no better option than to send him to the northern border of the Yan Kingdom, where the barbarians were located.

Unexpectedly, after the talisman was broken, the head of the Xu family crippled his own cultivation in front of everyone and even dug out and crushed his own heart.

Later, some people present said that the heart was not a human heart, but a huge, black, shiny demonic heart.

From then on, the once-great Xu family fell apart, and its members scattered to various places to seek refuge with relatives and make a living.

At the time of the incident, Xu Yuan was observing mourning for his father at the ancestral hall.

The ancestral hall was far from the eldest son's courtyard, which allowed him to escape unscathed.

After that, Xu Yuan went to Wuyang to seek refuge with his maternal uncle.

The reasons for demonization have been a subject of debate in the martial arts world.

Some say it's due to the cultivation techniques themselves. They believe that some cultivation techniques are not originally human techniques, and that once cultivated to a certain level, they will become demonic.

Some believe that the demonization is related to the Baiyue Mountains, which were not only the ancient settlement of humans, but also the place where demons were sealed after the war between gods and demons.

Those who enter the Ten Thousand Mountains and unfortunately become tainted by demonic influences will have their reason eroded by demons, gradually taking over their bodies and eventually becoming completely demonized.

Xu Yuan, however, tends to favor the second interpretation.

If it's due to the cultivation technique, then the Xu family's prodigy should be the first to become demonized, because his cultivation progress is the fastest.

After witnessing Fan Li's demonic transformation firsthand, Xu Yuan became even more convinced of this idea.

The martial arts technique practiced by Fan Li was the Dragon Elephant Technique, which was the most widely circulated in the Yan Kingdom. There were at least thirty, if not fifty, people who had reached the peak of the Dragon Elephant Technique.

But I've never heard of any top martial artist becoming demonized.

Similar to Xu Jiaren, Fan Li had also been to the Baiyue Mountains, and his right eye, which he never showed to anyone, was most likely corrupted by demonic influence.

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chu couldn't help but sigh at the Xu family's plight, and at the same time, he couldn't help but worry about Fan Li's fate.

"You want to go find Old Master Fan?" Xu Yuan seemed to see through Zhou Chu's thoughts. "It's best not to go. Guniu Mountain is hundreds of miles in circumference. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Besides, even if you can find him, you won't be able to help him."

Xu Yuan's words made sense; even if Fan Li could be found, it would be futile if he couldn't help him.

At present, Zhou Chu still needs to stay in Baishi Village to allocate manpower to complete the aftermath.

Xu Yao needs his care.

I promised Lu Meng a few days ago that I would teach him martial arts techniques.

Therefore, we had no choice but to give up.

In the following days, Zhou Chu brought Lu Meng to Baishi Village and personally taught him Dragon Elephant Fist and Dragon Form Guiding Exercise.

To Zhou Chu's surprise, Lu Meng was a natural-born martial arts prodigy.

He could grasp the essence of any technique after being instructed only once, which made Zhou Chu's life much easier.

The wealthy Zhou family originally wanted to invite Zhou Chu to stay at their mansion, but Zhou Chu declined.

The original owner had a courtyard in Baishi Village. Although it was an adobe house, it could still shelter from the wind and rain, and it was more comfortable than living in someone else's house.

Seeing that the furniture and furnishings in Zhou Chu's house were too old and shabby, Zhou Da Hu sent over a batch of new furniture, kitchenware and other daily necessities.

At the same time, he also helped Zhou Chu repair the roof and paint the walls, showing great attentiveness.

It's worth noting that even when the original owner of this body served as a shaman for the mountain demons, he never received such treatment. Back then, the wealthy Zhou family didn't even acknowledge Zhou Chu as their nephew.

The reason for Zhou Dahu's change in attitude is that Zhou Chu is no longer the same as before; even the martial arts masters in the city have to obey his orders.

Another important reason was that he needed Zhou Chu's help.

That day, Zhou Chu was lying on the rattan chair given to him by the wealthy Zhou family, basking in the sun and drinking tea.

Lu Meng was chopping firewood in the yard, preparing to cook.

The wealthy Zhou family arrived at Zhou Chu's courtyard with their men and greeted him over the fence:

"Nephew, haven't you had lunch yet? Your uncle brought you some wine and food."

"That's great." Zhou Chu said, squinting. "Amon, open the door. We don't need to cook today."

"Yes, Master." Little Lu Meng put down the wood-chopping knife in his hand, got up and ran to open the courtyard gate.

Xie Ning, with disheveled hair and rubbing her eyes, came out of the main room and said:

"Lunch is ready? Why didn't you wake me up earlier?"

"Who told you to stay up so late last night?" Zhou Chu said without turning his head.

"What do you mean I'm causing trouble? You're the one causing trouble for me," Xie Ning retorted defiantly.

As soon as she said it, she felt that something was wrong.

Zhou Chu originally intended for Xie Ning to stay at an inn in the city.

Xie Ning said she was worried about Xu Yao and was afraid she would do something foolish, so she also moved to Baishi Village to live, which would be a good opportunity for Zhou Chu to take care of Xu Yao.

Last night was Xie Ning's first day in the house.

Zhou Chu arranged for her to stay in the east wing, but she insisted on staying in the main room, saying that the room she had lived in since she was a child had to be sunny, otherwise she would suffer from insomnia, nightmares, or even sleepwalking.

The east wing was filled with old, broken furniture and was uninhabitable.

So Zhou Chu told her that she could stay in the main room, but she had to tidy up the east room for him first, otherwise she would have to go back to Wuyang City.

Helpless, Xie Ning had no choice but to drag Lu Meng along to help clean up.

She was pampered since childhood and had never done any manual labor or tidying up.

In the end, it was only with Lu Meng's help that the house was tidied up to the point where it was barely habitable.