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Chapter 320 The Domesticated Evil Corpse
After parting ways with the young master, he turned back from Lingzhou to Qingzhou. Not long after, he encountered an evil corpse in the mountains and forests surrounding the official road.

It should be noted that he had traveled around Qingzhou for several months before the Immortal Tour. Although he was not familiar with the terrain, he was able to confirm that there were no ruins in the vicinity.

Therefore, this is yet another evil species that is not limited by the distance to the ruins.

Just like the evil seed that appeared when Yuan Caiwei disappeared in Xinyuan back then, it was also very similar to the evil seeds he encountered in Zhongzhou after leaving the sacred land of the sages.

Logically speaking, these evil corpses should have been completely strangled two years ago.

Ji You stepped forward, shattering the mountain rocks, and then raised his sword on the cliff face, the three-foot-long blade trembling violently.

However, that's not the main point.

The key point is that this evil species has other differences as well.

As the evil seed raced wildly through the mountain stream, a clanging and clattering sound rang out continuously.

Just then, a purple bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the gloomy sky on this rainy night.

Amidst the rumbling thunder, the world brightened for a moment, illuminating the evil creature running through the mountain stream.

His wrists and ankles were shackled, so that when he stumbled or bumped into something while running, it made a loud clattering sound.

The shackles on his wrists were cast from a single piece of pure iron, leaving him no room to bar his teeth and claws, while the shackles on his ankles had chains that were three feet long, allowing him to take steps.

Two iron balls were also hanging at the other end, slowing his movement by dragging him with gravity.

In other words, this evil creature was being kept by someone...

Whether it was the time Yuan Caiwei disappeared or the time he came out of the sacred land of the ancestors, the evil seeds that caused the large-scale riots were suspected of being artificially controlled.

This is also why Ji You felt that the ruins were bound to bring disaster, not a chance encounter with immortals.

Unfortunately, the evil seed itself is just the remaining shell of the deceased race, unable to speak, unable to provide any useful information.

However, at this moment, the shackles on his wrists and ankles are a valid form of information.

Amidst the falling rain and billowing white mist, Ji You squinted slightly as she followed the evil creature toward the mountain stream.

Rainwater flowed down the hillside, gathering into streams in the low-lying areas, flowing gently eastward.

As you walk, water splashes everywhere.

Gradually, Ji You found herself being carried over the low hill and then into a downhill slope.

At the foot of the low mountain, in a secluded valley with dense forest, he saw a small courtyard. It was a rather large courtyard, surrounded by high walls, with three houses in the middle.

It was secluded and quiet, with nothing else around except for vegetation.

"People actually live in a place like this?"

"There's no village in sight, no shop in sight, and only one house..."

Ji You slowed down and looked up from the slope. He saw the evil creature rushing toward a wide-open black iron gate between the high walls.

At this moment, the raindrops falling on the leaves were trembling, and the lint on his clothes began to straighten.

Upon witnessing this phenomenon, Ji You held his breath, his intense energy permeating his body, amplifying his five senses.

As you listen, the only sound at first is the continuous rain falling and rustling as it hits the leaves in the forest.

As his five senses were focused, a buzzing sound gradually appeared in his mind. Then, the buzzing sound turned into a series of whistles, which came from the small courtyard.

This is a high-frequency vibration far beyond the hearing range of humans, causing the raindrops and fluff to resonate.

It seems that the sound must have attracted the evil creature back to the courtyard.

Seeing the evil creature running away without recognizing its own family, Ji You concealed its aura, leaped from its previous position, and landed on the opposite hillside behind the courtyard, golden light beginning to flicker in its eyes.

There was a high wall blocking his view of the courtyard from where he had just been.

Amplified senses are not the same as X-ray vision; otherwise, the world would be incredibly harmful to a young man's health.

Ji You stood under the gloomy rainy night and looked into the courtyard, where she saw a woman and two men.

The woman was dressed in coarse linen clothes and held a silver whistle in her hand, blowing on it continuously.

There was a crash.

The evil creature followed the whistle and entered through the door, dragging a heavy iron ball that smashed a deep crater into the solid earthen wall.

Seeing this, the two men following behind the woman immediately followed. Together, they grabbed the iron chain behind her, tensing their muscles to pull the evil creature, and then dragged it to the east wall.

There were protruding black iron rings on the ground at the base of the east wall. They looked incredibly thick, and the evil creature that had run back was locked onto those iron rings.

There were three more iron rings like this one, two of which were already bound with evil seeds, and the other three iron rings had broken.

Seeing this, the three walked over, squatted down in front of the evil creature, and stared at it quietly for a long time.

"It broke free again, and I don't know where it has run off to this time. Moon Lady, this will cause trouble."

"I'll go to the blacksmith and have a few more, even thicker ones made..."

Seemingly provoked by the crowd, the chained evil creature began to bar its fangs and claws, its heavy force causing the iron chains to rattle and sparks to fly from the interlocking points.

But the woman didn't seem frightened; she just looked at the evil creature and couldn't help but bite her thin lips.

Just then, she suddenly noticed that the two men beside her stood up, and the sound of weapons being drawn rang out instantly.

"Uncle Tan!"

"Great Roc!"

"Rat!"

"Miss Ling Qing!"

"..."

As the two men's shouts abruptly ceased, the woman heard a sudden opening of the door, and all six people who had been with them rushed out of the house. She also stood up abruptly.

Looking back, the woman saw a figure in white land in their courtyard amidst the falling rain, staring at them with sharp eyes.

In fact, when she realized that the courtyard had been exposed, the woman was already on edge in the tense atmosphere, but when she saw his young face, her tension instantly eased.

She had heard from her peers that cultivation takes time, and young people are unlikely to be very skilled.

They avoided the old man the entire way, and have been safe and sound ever since.

But soon, a look of fear appeared in the woman's eyes.

She noticed that the raindrops falling on the man's head barely touched his head, instead turning into wisps of white mist on his shoulders. Meanwhile, the ground beneath his feet was gradually drying out, standing out starkly against the surrounding mud.

The others watching this scene began to tremble, their faces turning extremely pale.

"One at the Profound Realm, three at the Subtle Illumination Realm, and three at the Condensed Essence Realm..."

"And there's another one who doesn't even have any cultivation level..."

Amid the falling rain, a hint of doubt flashed in Ji You's eyes, realizing that this was completely different from what he had imagined.

In his view, if someone is really raising evil creatures behind the scenes, then they must have some ulterior motive, otherwise why would anyone raise such a monstrous thing?

But what could a person with a profound understanding leading a group of people from the lower three realms, plus a woman who is completely powerless, possibly be plotting?

As Ji You pondered, her gaze fell upon the woman who had been blowing the whistle, and she was one of the few who had no cultivation whatsoever.

For some reason, Ji You felt a sense of familiarity from her face, a familiarity that seemed so distant.

After staring at her for a long time, Ji You's gaze settled on the beauty mark at the corner of her mouth: "Huang Yueniang from Hongya County, Zhongzhou?"

Upon being recognized, the woman's eyes widened in disbelief: "Young master, you recognize me..."

"It really is you..."

"Have we met before?"

“I received your notice at the Pantheon.”

A flash of light appeared in Ji You's hand, revealing a neatly folded roll of cloth.

The scroll unfolds to reveal twelve portraits, each labeled with its identity and name. The signature at the very bottom of the scroll reads: "Huang Yueniang, Hongya County, Zhongzhou."

This was received during his time at the Heavenly Way Society.

When the finals ended, Ji You won five consecutive victories to take the top spot on the Tongxuan Realm leaderboard.

The Lu sisters hosted a celebration for him at a restaurant. That evening, after returning from dinner, he and Yuan Caiwei went back together. On the way, they encountered a woman with a mole under the right corner of her mouth who hurriedly handed him a rolled-up piece of paper.

He had received many letters seeking a Daoist partner at the time, and assumed this one was the same, so he paid no attention to it.

But on his way to the holy site of the sages the next day, he discovered that it was a missing person notice.

Cao Jingsong told him that during the Tiandao Society, many outsiders claimed that their family members were missing and came here to ask if anyone had seen them. Huang Yueniang was one of them.

She was looking for a man named Li Ruilin from the Li family, and she was Li Ruilin's mistress kept outside the family.

Huang Yueniang came from the countryside and had no cultivation, so even though Li Ruilin was just an insignificant member of a branch, she still did not qualify as his concubine.

In fact, Huang Yueniang no longer remembered Ji You, because she had given the notice to many people at the time.

However, although she didn't recognize anyone, she was very familiar with her own notices.

Huang Yueniang was stunned for a long time, her eyes blinking slightly: "It's been two years, hasn't it? Why is the young master still carrying it with him..."

Ji You looked at her quietly: "This thing doesn't take up much space, so I was thinking that if I see the person on it later, I'll let you know that you're looking for him."

Huang Yueniang was somewhat surprised to hear this.

She searched for her husband for two years, issuing countless notices, but they were mostly glanced at and then thrown away.

She picked it up, shook it clean, and went to ask the next person, but this was the first time she had ever heard such a response.

"Thank you for your kindness, young master..."

"No need for thanks. Tell me, you've been searching for someone, so why are you keeping a demonic corpse here?" Huang Yueniang remained silent for a long time before turning to look at the demonic corpse that had been locked up earlier: "Young master, I have found my husband..."

Ji You turned to look at the struggling evil corpse, her pupils gradually shrinking: "You mean to say that this is the Li Ruilin you're looking for?"

"Moon Mother!"

The two men standing nearby shouted sharply, their eyes full of warning.

Ji You looked at them in the direction of the voice: "If I wanted to make a move, none of the people in this courtyard would survive today, including those few evil corpses."

The two men froze, their eyes widening in shock as they gripped the iron knives in their hands with trembling hands.

Huang Yueniang looked at the old man standing in front of the house and nodded after seeing his approving look: "Young master is right. This is my husband. He has changed his appearance, but even if he has changed, I can still recognize him."

"What about the other two?"

"One of them is my son."

The old man in front of the house spoke softly: "The other one is the family member of one of our companions."

Ji You stared at the old man for a long time: "And who are you?"

The old man bowed forward and said, "I am Tan Huizhi, the head of the Tan family. It is raining heavily in the mountains, so please come inside and let us talk in detail."

After a moment of silence, Ji You sheathed his longsword, stepped into the rain, and walked up the wet steps into the house under the watchful eyes of everyone.

The young people living with Huang Yueniang looked at the old man and said, "Uncle Tan, we've kept this a secret for so long, we can't just expose ourselves like this. Let's all attack together..."

"You can't win."

"Why?"

"Ji You of Tianshu Academy".

Beneath the wooden steps, in the light rain, young men and women stared in astonishment at the figure entering the house.

Over the years, they have been searching for their lost family members, inquiring about many things and naturally hearing many rumors.

They knew that there was a hermit named Ji You in the Heavenly Academy who built a family, killed immortals in the manor, reduced taxes, and later suppressed all the cultivators in the realm with his Tongxuan Upper Realm cultivation, taking the top spot and entering the Holy Land of Sages.

On the day he emerged from the sacred land of the ancients, these people were nearby and witnessed the Dao sword fall and the mountains collapse.

They later heard that he cut off the transport of spirit stones on a snowy day and instead sent disaster relief supplies, forcing countless noble families to go to the border to get them themselves...

Ji You had already left the house by this time.

The house was larger than he had imagined. It was a wooden structure with the ground floor raised by wooden pillars and suspended on a leeward hillside.

Although nine people had just left, two old women and four children were still sitting in the house.

As for the furnishings inside the house, besides the bedding spread on the floor and the wooden cabinets used for storage, the most numerous items were medicine jars, three of which were still burning, and the bubbling steam filled the entire house with a strong medicinal smell.

As they were looking around, Tan Huizhi, Huang Yueniang, and the other seven people returned to the house and then all bowed to the ground.

"Young master, can you keep this a secret for us?"

"Do you know that these evil creatures eat living people and are impossible to kill? Yet you keep them as pets?"

Huang Yueniang immediately shook her head in a panic: "We never let them go out to cause trouble, but they are still family, how can we bear to see them strangled..."

Ji You's brow furrowed slightly: "Where did you find them? Why have they turned out like this?"

"This……"

"If you tell the truth, you might still have a glimmer of hope."

Ji You was particularly sensitive to the matter of the evil seed. Seeing them stammering, his murderous intent instantly surfaced.

The heavy force pressed down like a mountain, causing the medicine pot on the fire to clang loudly, and making everyone present feel suffocated.

"In reply to your question, young master, we found the three of them in two mountain caves."

The highest cultivation level here is Tan Huizhi, who is at the Tongxuan Upper Realm, but even he was sweating profusely after enduring a few breaths and could only grit his teeth and speak.

To be honest, he was actually somewhat relieved, because it wasn't some other immortal who came, but Ji You.

Although outsiders say that Ji Wulu of the Heavenly Academy is eccentric, unruly, and reckless, no one has ever said that he is of low character. In fact, to some extent, he is more like a pedantic good man.

Upon hearing Tan Huizhi's answer, Ji You raised an eyebrow slightly.

"Mountain cave?"

"That's right, they are mountain caves that hide countless evil corpses. One is in Zhongzhou and the other is in Qingzhou. We almost got surrounded and killed by evil species when we went to investigate. We only managed to escape after going through countless hardships."

After listening, Ji You showed a hint of doubt: "You were only investigating your family, so why did you end up investigating the evil seed?"

Tan Huizhi swallowed hard: "This matter has to start with the Bu family incident."

"You've also been to the Bu family's house?"

“We have never been to the Bu family, only to a branch of the Bu family winery. Since leaving the Tiandao Society, all our leads have been lost. The only person our companions were looking for had attended a wine tasting event at a branch of the Bu family winery and then disappeared. So we decided to follow this lead.”

After catching his breath, Tan Huizhi said, "Later, hard work paid off, and we finally found a clue in one of the businesses, which was a ledger for the transportation of liquor by the Bu family business."

Ji You was puzzled after hearing this: "How could the transportation of alcoholic beverages be related to the evil species?"

“At first, we didn’t think there was any connection. We just wanted to find the person who disappeared at the Bu family’s banquet. Later, Ah Jun looked through their accounts and said there was a problem. That’s when we realized that this branch of the Bu family had transported a large amount of liquor to a small county called Long’an City.”

The man holding the knife next to him spoke up upon hearing this: "Long'an City is my hometown. We have never had the Bu family's spirit wine in our area. Moreover, the quantity is so large that it could supply a hundred Long'an Cities. I had a feeling at the time that what they were transporting was definitely not wine."

Tan Huizhi nodded: "We followed the recorded transport route to Long'an City and searched all the way. Finally, we found a large number of evil creatures in a canyon on the west side of Long'an City. We almost died in there."

Upon hearing this, Huang Yueniang raised her eyes and softly said, "My husband, Li Lang, is in that morgue..."

Ji You turned to look at Tan Huizhi: "What about your grandson?"

Tan Huizhi pursed his dry lips: "In another place in the ledger, there was a large supply of alcohol. Nearby, there was also a cave full of evil creatures. That place was later found by the Imperial Observatory, and all the evil creatures in it were wiped out."

"Are you saying that the Bu family isn't transporting wine, but rather smuggling evil seeds in all directions? And that your family members happen to be among them?"

"We dare not speak presumptuously, but it is indeed as you have said, sir."

"and after?"

"Later, Qingzhou was in complete chaos. We saw countless immortals enter the Dongping Mountains. We didn't know what they were looking for, and we shouldn't have stayed outside, so we led them to hide here."

Ji You looked at them, and her heart sank.

After Bu Qirong died, the Immortal Sect searched Qingzhou thoroughly to uncover their secrets, but to no avail.

He didn't know if they had checked these records, or if the accounts were already in good condition when they checked.

Seeing that he didn't speak, Tan Huizhi assumed he had doubts, so he continued, "For the past six months or so, evil creatures have appeared all over Qingyun. We later compared the maps and found that there were three places that overlapped significantly with the places the Bu family caravan frequented, as well as the whistle in Yue Niang's hand..."

Huang Yueniang took out a whistle from her sleeve: "This was found in the cave where Li Lang was discovered. Every time we blow on it, they will react no matter how far away they are. We discussed it later and felt that it should be the one they used to transport the evil seed."

Ah Jun, who was standing nearby, spoke up at this moment: "Young Master Ji, we really didn't ask them to harm anyone, we just want to find them..."

"What about the others?"

"Whom are you asking about, young master?"

"Other missing persons."

Ji You snapped out of her daze and unfolded the missing person notice in her hand.

He now desperately wants to know where these people went and why they suddenly turned into evil beings.

As Ji You pointed to each item, Tan Huizhi and Huang Yueniang began to recount their stories.

Among these missing persons were scions of noble families, ordinary mortals, and disciples of immortal estates with relatively low cultivation levels; all of them disappeared one after another.

Their search team originally had more than 30 people, but gradually only they remained.

After all, the missing people are gone, but the living must continue to live.

After the relatives who had transformed into evil beings were found, they imprisoned them here and arranged for people to guard them while preparing medicine.

Yes, they considered it an illness and tried to cure those who had become evil.

However, despite their efforts, it never worked.

Before Ji You arrived, Li Ruilin had already broken free and escaped twice.

Before he turned evil, he was a cultivator with considerable skill, so he became even more difficult to control after turning evil. If it weren't for that silver whistle, they might have been discovered long ago.

Upon hearing this, Ji You fell silent.

The matter of the ruins had always been a source of many doubts for him, especially regarding the group of people who had transported babies from Qiling. Qingwa had seen them with his own eyes, but those people had disappeared without a trace after the death of the Zheng family patriarch.

Later, after Dou Yuankong's exposure, Ji You assumed that the group of people were from the Bu family.

The problem is that this speculation is very far-fetched.

The Zheng family is a thousand-year-old family, while the Bu family, which makes a living by brewing wine, is just a branch of a hundred-year-old family.

Even if the Zheng family had accomplices, they probably wouldn't have made this choice.

Upon hearing Tan Huizhi's guess, Ji You felt that some things seemed to make sense now.

If the Bu family is just the smallest link in the chain, and their role is merely to dispose of evil corpses for others, then that makes sense.

Only a small-scale family like the Bu family, which has a transportation business, is suitable for this role.

This also means that there were other people who transported the baby, and that they did not stop as Ji You thought, but instead continued to make moves.

These people who have turned into evil beings may have come from their hands, just like those people imprisoned under the Zheng family's old house.

(Ask for monthly ticket)

(End of this chapter)