For instance, Tianling County, where they resided, was situated in Wanyang County, Xuzhou, and the entire jurisdiction of the roads of Xuzhou was under the control of Wanjian Holy Sect, naturally, they were also protected by them. As long as one had the official road pass issued personally by Wanjian Holy Sect, any city or checkpoint within Xuzhou territory was accessible without obstruction.
Moreover, the Zhaoyang County they were heading to, though adjacent to their Tianling County, was under the jurisdiction of Tongling County in Yongzhou, governed by Rakshasa Holy Sect. To move freely within the state, one must also possess the official road pass issued by the Rakshasa Holy Sect.
Yongzhou was adjacent to Xuzhou and was the border between the Righteous and Demon Paths; compared to other state borders, control was naturally much more stringent.
However, after all, both Tianling County and Zhaoyang County were too insignificant, with Tianling County being a third-tier force of Mountain Sword Sect and Zhaoyang County even weaker, harboring four inconsequential forces.
The weak survive, and the soft thrive. The so-called strength has its benefits, and weakness has its own advantages. Precisely because of their small scale, the two adjacent counties weren't much noticed. If not taken seriously, how strict could the control be, no matter how strict?
Therefore, there were quite a few people like Little Monkey who traveled the official roads, carrying fake passes to make a living in Tianling County.
Generally, as long as one was not committing heinous crimes or perpetrating evil acts, even if the righteous individuals from Tianling County became aware, they would turn a blind eye.
Although Little Monkey was using a fake pass from Xuzhou, he was indeed a genuine resident of Zhaoyang County and possessed a real pass from Zhaoyang County.
This genuine pass was precisely why he and his junior sister Tian Honglu were taking this person with them on the road!
The two planned to use "Little Monkey" to smoothly infiltrate Zhaoyang County and then capture Hou Yuxiao themselves.
Duan Zhengqi, unlike his younger junior sister Tian Honglu, was an experienced wanderer of the martial world.
Little Monkey was unusually quiet along the way, and Duan Zhengqi had felt it strange earlier.
Just as he had mentioned the death of Hou Lao Da's father, Hou Tong, and saw the change in his facial expression, Duan Zhengqi felt even more suspicion, and immediately became more watchful, subtly moving closer to Tian Honglu while keeping this thought in mind, and continued to discuss the matter of Hou Yuxiao.
"Two years ago, the eldest of the Hou Clan's five sons, Hou Yuxiao, had only the cultivation of Seventh Level of Body Opening in the Transforming Qi Realm, and the other four sons had even lower cultivation levels; there were just over a hundred household slaves in the Hou Clan, all of whom were at the third or fourth level of Body Opening.
With three major forces joining an attack, everyone assumed that the Hou Clan's five sons were certainly doomed, and the Hou Clan was sure to be wiped out!
Unexpectedly, Hou Yuxiao had learned some profound Facial Disguise Technique from somewhere and first disguised himself as Ye Fei, the vice Gang Leader of the Green Wolf Gang, and defiled Bai Yujie, the wife of Junior Sect Master Tie Tucheng of Flying Eagle Sect.
Then, taking advantage of the absence of Elder Sister Gao from Happy Forest, he impersonated Tie Tucheng and wreaked havoc on their daughter, Gao Wenwen."
Tian Honglu's face flushed, and she muttered under her breath, "Indeed a scoundrel, a big lecher, sparing not even a married woman; once I catch him, I must have him sliced into a thousand pieces."
"That Bai Yujie is the daughter of the Patriarch of the Bai Clan of Tongling County, who had just been married into Zhaoyang County for less than a month. She was a treasured darling in Flying Eagle Sect. Not to mention Junior Sect Master Tie Tucheng, even his father, Sect Leader Tie Budong, always treated his daughter-in-law with courtesy. Now, less than a month later, she was defiled, and one can only imagine the feelings of both father and son, Tie Budong and Tie Tucheng.
Also, although Elder Sister Gao was engaged in the assassination business, she treasured her only daughter beyond measure. Now that she had not yet left the family but had encountered such an incident, she was even more furious."
Tian Honglu, young and innocent though not foolish, had almost understood by now.
"He first instigated discord among the three forces' relationships and then spared no expense to bribe the County Lord of Zhaoyang, Ren Feng, causing the three forces to indeed fall into his trap and fight among themselves, plus with Ren Feng's protection, the Hou Clan miraculously survived!"
"So how did that big lecher turn his fortunes around afterward?" Tian Honglu asked out of curiosity, prompted to continue asking.
"Afterward, he relied on that Facial Disguise Technique, continually stirring the relations among the three forces, and while they were fiercely battling, he took the opportunity to focus on developing the Hou Clan."
After a year and a half, when the three families finally realized what was happening, he had unexpectedly reached the Ten Layers of Body Openings in his cultivation and had even fought Tie Budong to a standstill.
In the meantime, he secretly established something called the Hou Clan, and the number of sect members had unexpectedly reached over a thousand. The three families saw that his power was already established and wanted to set aside their grudges to continue collaborating, but mutual suspicions had already arisen, missing the opportunity. To deal with him now was not so simple anymore!"
After hearing all this, a hint of spirit suddenly appeared in Tian Honglu's eyes.
She was a person who made a clear distinction between good and evil, indeed, and she truly despised Hou Yuxiao, who had provoked her.
But after hearing Duan Zhengqi's words, although she could see that Hou Yuxiao's methods were vile and unprincipled, ultimately, this man was also striving for the survival of his family, so he probably wasn't rotten to the core.
"That's not right, even if no one in Zhaoyang County could see through his Facial Disguise Technique, but Bai Yujie born into the third-rate power of the Bai Family in Tongling County and being the daughter of Patriarch Bai, if she were mistreated like that, wouldn't calling over a Gang Qi expert from her parental home end Hou Yuxiao's life?"
"The problem lies with this Bai Yujie!"
"What's the situation?"
"This Bai Yujie is the youngest daughter of the Patriarch Bai from Tongling County, greatly favored by her father. When she was first mistreated, her father indeed sent a Gang Qi Realm expert from Tongling who genuinely captured Hou Yuxiao and was ready to kill him.
But later, not only did they not kill him, Bai Yujie even openly got together with Hou Yuxiao, and that Junior Sect Master of Flying Eagle Sect, Tie Tucheng, just ended up wearing a green hat for nothing."
"Why?" Tian Honglu suddenly widened her eyes in curiosity, especially upon seeing a hint of envy on her senior brother Duan Zhengqi's face, which made her even more curious.
"Have you forgotten his nickname?"
"Thousand-Faced Handsome Man..."
After Tian Honglu hesitantly uttered the nickname, her expression suddenly turned blank.
Hou Yuxiao was proficient in the Facial Disguise Technique and rarely showed his true face, hence the nickname Thousand-Faced. But the latter part, Handsome Man...
Alright then!
It finally dawned on Tian Honglu what the look of envy on Duan Zhengqi's face was about.
Her expression immediately turned strange, saying, "If he is that good-looking, why does he still need to disguise himself, not showing his true face?"
"Looking good isn't enough to feed you; a man... still needs to be strong!"
Just then, the previously silent Little Monkey suddenly blurted out this statement.
Tian Honglu was about to argue that Hou Lao Da, by relying on his looks to win over Bai Yujie, certainly considered his face as his meal ticket.
But before she could speak, her senior brother Duan Zhengqi quickly moved, snatched the reins from her hand, and pulled her, along with the horse, close to himself.
Then he rapidly increased their distance from Little Monkey, putting about five or six meters between them, drew out his longsword, pointed it at the other, and spoke coldly.
"I had sensed something was off for a while now. Who exactly are you? Come clean!"
"You came all the way to find me and still ask who I am..."