About ten or so miles away from Zhaoyang County Town, sixteen-year-old Tian Honglu's expression grew increasingly excited.
Having grown up in the Mountain Sword Sect, aside from her own Tianling County, she had never really been anywhere else.
This was her first time traveling far from home, to Yongzhou under the influence of the Demon Path, and not only that, she was going to join Senior Brother Duan to confront a notorious villain in the county to eradicate a menace for the people. Naturally, she felt exhilarated.
"Miss Tian, Tianling County is under the righteous rule of Xuzhou, which should be totally unrelated to Zhaoyang County. Why do you hate Hou Lao Da so much? Is it just because he fed your horse..."strong medicine?"
Tian Honglu turned to him with a serious correction, "Not the horse, it's... Xiaohong!"
Little did they know, this young girl cherished this horse greatly.
Hou Yuxiao inwardly sneered, quickly apologized twice, and even bowed to Xiaohong on the horse's back as a way to offer an apology, after which Tian Honglu finally let it go and began to answer him.
"If he hadn't mess with Xiaohong, I wouldn't have even known about this person. Upon inquiring, I found out that this Hou Lao Da, this Hou Yuxiao, has quite a reputation in Zhaoyang County these past two years!"
At that time, Duan Zhengqi also nodded in agreement, saying earnestly, "Indeed, I have also inquired about him from others and know some of his details."
Hou Yuxiao's real name is Hou Yuxiao, hailing from the Hou Clan of Zhaoyang. Though the Hou Clan is only one of the four insignificant forces in Zhaoyang County, its family head, Hou Tong, is a true Gang Qi Realm first-level martial artist, ranked 819 on the Righteous Path's Minor Demon Extermination List, nicknamed Black Ape Demon, renowned for both strength and reputation as the number one expert in Zhaoyang.
Hou Tong has four sons and one daughter, known to outsiders as the Five Sons of the Hou Family; Hou Yuxiao is the eldest, followed by Second Elder Hou Yucheng, Third Elder Hou Yuling, Fourth Elder Hou Yujie, and Fifth Brother Hou Yuduan.
As the saying goes, a crooked beam leads to skewed rafters; with such a demon as a father, the five children are naturally no good!
His four sons in Zhaoyang County commit arson, robbery, abduct women, and engage in all sorts of wicked deeds, including murder.
As for Hou Yuling, she's even worse. This woman in her early twenties keeps a bunch of male concubines at home, not only disregarding women's virtues but also indulging in affairs with men, preferring to see them entangled with each other in her presence.
This type of woman, disregarding human relations, I, Duan Zhengqi, have never heard of such in most of my life!"
The Five Sons of the Hou Family run rampant in Zhaoyang County, making life unbearable for over two hundred thousand people. Everyone feared their father and could only endure again and again.
It was said that heaven has eyes, and when people become too arrogant, even Heaven can't stand it anymore.
The invincible Hou Clan finally met their downfall two years ago!
Two years ago, a disciple of Jizhou Qinjian Villa was traveling in Zhaoyang County when, somehow, the Black Ape Demon provoked someone and was killed within three moves by him.
Upon the death of the Black Ape Demon, everyone clapped their hands in relief. The entire Zhaoyang County celebrated joyously, nearly running around to spread the news. The other three minor forces of Zhaoyang, Green Wolf Gang, Flying Eagle Sect, and Happy Forest, immediately allied to capture the Five Sons of the Hou Family and eradicate their clan."
Duan Zhengqi suddenly paused here, catching a glimpse of the "Little Monkey" next to him whose expression seemed to grow increasingly grim, his eyes instantly wary as he gestured with his gaze toward his junior sister, Tian Honglu.
"Why aren't you speaking anymore, Senior Brother Duan?"
Unfortunately, Tian Honglu hadn't noticed anything; eager to hear more about Hou Yuxiao, she was fascinated and promptly urged him to continue as soon as he stopped.
The suspicious look in Duan Zhengqi's eyes hadn't faded; he didn't immediately respond to his junior sister but instead pondered for a moment.
They encountered this Little Monkey on a path when he and his junior sister were traveling west from Tianling County. He appeared unremarkable, with only a Three Levels of Body Opening cultivation, unlikely to be someone with ulterior motives.
For the sake of caution, he initially inquired about the other's background.
The man claimed he was from Zhaoyang County and, due to struggling financially, was forced to take risks off the Official Road to Tianling County to trade some medicinal herbs.
Duan Zhengqi saw the unsold medicinal herbs on the man and his thin body, clearly suffering from chronic hunger.
In these times, daring to take such a risk on the Official Road, traveling from Yongzhou to Xuzhou to trade herbs for money, there were only two possibilities: either he was very skilled and brave or was truly desperate.
Considering the young man's low level of cultivation, it was obviously the latter!
Thus, Duan Zhengqi and his junior sister decided to trust this "Little Monkey."
Zhaoyang County is adjacent to Tianling County, separated by only about a hundred miles, but Tianling belongs to the Zhengdao Seven States of Xuzhou, while Zhaoyang falls under the Demon Path's Six States of Yongzhou.
Ever since the Ten Great Sacred Powers divided the thirteen states of The World a thousand years ago, the Righteous and Demon Paths have been distinctly separated. Even within the Righteous Path, inter-state relations are cautious and infrequent, let alone between a righteous Xuzhou and a demonic Yongzhou; interactions are even rarer.
Each state implements its defenses, and whenever two neighboring states share a border, at least fifty miles of buffer zone is maintained, and the Official Roads are built only up to thirty miles outside border towns.
All the Official Roads in the current thirteen states of The World were constructed by the Ten Great Sacred Powers themselves and are protected by them.