Killing Dao Fruit
Chapter 181 - 178: Demon Extermination and Defending the Way, Happening Today

Chapter 181: Chapter 178: Demon Extermination and Defending the Way, Happening Today

In fact, the Prohibition Colonels, who had precise control over the "Weird" event timeline, had already gathered together early this morning.

When the Xue Mansion began to fill with screams, the innocent civilians living nearby had already been evacuated by them.

In a vacant courtyard not far from the Xue Mansion.

Old Black, always enveloped in a layer of mist, had swelled to a size almost larger than a tiger.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh...

Appearing and disappearing intermittently, with clothes grasped in its mouth, Old Black gathered all the unconscious family servants and maids of the Xue family to this place.

Among them was Lin Xiaosi, the coachman who had resisted the temptation from Xue Donglou and did not run over the pregnant woman (Chapter 158).

With the Innate Divine Ability "Listening to Heaven and Earth" at its aid, Old Black could clearly distinguish the good from the evil.

It wouldn’t leave behind a single good person, nor would it take away an evil one, and the fate of those still left in the Xue Mansion at this time was only—death!

After the big black dog finished its task,

Shen Qingyi and the other Prohibition Colonels, including Wang Yuan, quickly set up green satin Array Flags around the Xue Mansion under the command of their female colleague.

Shen Qingyi, born in Qixia Temple on Immortal Mist Island in the East Sea, formed a mantra with her hands and chanted a spell:

"Cinnabar clouds descend, the Thunder Ancestor is divine. Between the three realms, Ten Thousand Saints are genuine. Thirty-two emperors, myriad spirits of the four strongholds. The Five Elders of the Five Directions, where the sun and moon are born. Shining light intersects, separating Qiankun."

"Smoke-Locked Pond Willows! Rise!"

Whoosh—!

As a gust of wind arose, billowing green clouds swarmed out from the thirty-six green Array Flags, encircling the entire Xue Mansion within them.

Shadows of Divine Soldiers and Generals emerged, together forming a huge Formation that allowed entrance but no exit.

Among the twenty Prohibition Colonels, Shen Qingyi was the only woman other than the Miao girl Bai Mo.

She inherited the skill "Qingxia Battle Cloud Skill" and was extremely proficient in "Cloud Seal Thunder Text," as well as the Talisman and Formation arts based on it.

Over this period of time, Wang Yuan had come to realize that there were very few lone rangers and warriors without family in the Imperial Dragon Guard.

Apart from the more systematic inheritance and stronger strength of disciples from palatial schools,

It was like employers’ favorite type of employee—those middle-aged workers who have parents above, children below, and are burdened by debt. They have concerns that make them cautious, preventing them from acting recklessly just because they’re hot-blooded.

Just like this time.

Although everyone knows that there aren’t many good people in the Xue family, if it wasn’t for the fact that Wang Yuan and the others had obtained the "Immortal Sand Soul Returning Seal" from the Mountain Spirit Temple, enabling them to unleash Weird creatures to kill,

It might have ended with nothing resolved.

At worst, they would silently endure and escape from Dengzhou Prefecture, waiting out the lifespan of Xue Jiexi with a Magician’s greatest advantage in longevity, and then come back later for revenge.

Now, however, they took the initiative to unleash creatures to kill, settling the score on the spot.

"Run for it! As long as we escape, we’ll be safe!"

"To the City God Temple, to the Magistrate’s office for help!"

"Damn Imperial Dragon Guard, still not here. Once I ascend to heaven after escaping, I’ll make sure all of you are jailed and tortured to death!"

The "Formation: Smoke-Locked Pond Willows" had just been activated when some quick-witted Xue family members tried to climb the walls and escape the mansion.

Yet, after rushing into the misty Formation, they wandered around only to find themselves back in the yard again.

The Mutated Demons and Weird creatures were the same—none could successfully escape from the Xue family estate.

They were like trapped beats in a Duel Arena, left with no choice but to fight to the death.

Finding the clamor too jarring,

Jiang Feipeng, who had the highest cultivation, casually threw out four Talismans, each carved with one of the Four Divine Beasts, to suppress the four corners of the Xue Mansion, and shouted lowly:

"Four venerable spirits, relieve distress and ensure safety, the Four Symbols Sealing Formation! Rise!"

One Talisman after another lit up. To the east, a Dragon Roar sounded; to the south, a bird cry; to the west, a Tiger Roar; finally, to the north, a sea wave and snake hiss.

In that moment, a brilliant light shone, forming a perfect circular barrier around the Xue Mansion.

Concealing the entire street so completely that even the City God would find it difficult to probe, not to mention the patrolling soldiers rushing to the scene.

Then, a water mirror appeared before everyone, revealing the inner scenes of the Xue Mansion.

Screech—!

Ear-piercing cries that could split metal and stone erupted continuously, the air exploded, and buildings trembled.

At the center of the frame were clusters of "Fierce Birds" with human faces but bodies covered in disgusting tumors.

Once Daoist Soldiers, they moved with the speed of lightning. The Xue family members below the rank of Daoist Soldier were almost powerless against them.

Even the surviving Daoist Soldiers were caught off guard and forced to retreat toward their family temples.

Wang Yuan noticed that the house steward "Xue Yan" was a standout performer, exemplifying the phrase "darkened tenfold" to the fullest.

Long before the action began, he had already collected information on most of the Daoist Soldiers of the Xue family.

This second steward, who stayed at home, wasn’t nearly as formidable as the head steward Xue Ping, who had the combat strength of a fourth-level "Military Leader,"

but he was also a third-level "Dao General" in his youth. Having fallen in rank due to a severe injury, he was then taken under the wing of Prime Minister Xue.

He had long ago awakened the Innate Divine Ability "Red Kestrel Transformation" from the "Hundred Birds Battle Formation" and, after the Mutation, had almost regained the combat power of a Dao General.

The Xue family, a famous and respected clan, had always inherited the "Thirty-Six Martial Arts Books, Volume Thirteen: Hundred Birds Battle Formation" from the "Feather Forest Camp" among the Daoist Soldiers’ thirty-six camps.

The "Hundred Birds Battle Formation," like the "White Tiger Military Skill," both originated from the "Dragon Elephant Tao."

The clan elder Jiang Feipeng was from the "Heavenly Bird Sect" and cultivated this Military Skill as well.

The variety of Innate Divine Abilities within the "Hundred Birds Battle Formation" ranks at the top amongst all Military Skills, including "Red Kestrel Transformation," "Divine Eagle Transformation," "Golden Eagle Transformation," "Roc Transformation," "Peacock Transformation,"...

Once mastered, it allows one to transform into myriad birds.

And as everyone watched, the ones rampaging through the mansion were these bird demons.

Jiang Feipeng wrote frantically in the mission log without any expression on his face.

Mission Location: Prime Minister Xue’s residence in Shanyang City; Weird name: "Bird Demon"; Quantity: Seventeen.

Known taboos:

"One, they will prioritize attacking living creatures that run fast or scream loudly in front of them.

Ordinary people hiding in airtight places can increase their chances of survival."

"Two, once the target is larger than the Bird Demon, they generally abandon the target temporarily, waiting to gather in groups before launching another attack."

"Three, they only have a taste for the livers of the living, and they do not attack their own kind."

As more and more members of the Xue family died, the images in the water mirror became increasingly clearer.

This indicates that the "Dragon Qi Prohibition" in the Xue residence was weakening rapidly.

It was just like when the clan of the Luoyang King’s Yifan lineage was wiped out, and Luoyang’s "Dragon Qi Prohibition" also experienced a brief period of vulnerability.

The same was happening with the Xue residence.

The existence of the family temple turned "Human Willpower" from public to private, naturally binding the power of "Dragon Qi Prohibition" to the Xue family members.

The more members of the Xue family who died, the weaker the Dragon Qi Prohibition became, and the less power it had to suppress the evil and magic.

Watching the tragedy in the water mirror, everyone had no sympathy for the Xue family members—men, women, children, and the elderly—who were brutally killed by the "Bird Demon."

Wang Yuan had long observed that among the several hundred core lineage members living in the Xue family mansion, there were none whose "Yin Morality" was greater than their "Debt." This was true even for the children.

In this world, the basic unit of survival is not the individual, not the family, but the clan!

In even earlier times, this unit was—the tribe.

Wang Yuan had long discovered a pattern: as productivity develops and the cost of individual survival decreases, the basic unit of human society gets smaller and smaller.

Conversely, the more severe the environment, the more it forces humans, social animals, to band together for warmth.

It is completely inappropriate to judge the "guilt by association" of the era of agricultural empires using the cognition of modern people.

If an official is corrupt and practices nepotism, it will inevitably feed back to his clan, benefiting many people within the entire clan.

This is because in those days, it was the clan’s support that allowed him to finally earn his rank and fame.

Thus, putting one’s family above the state became taken for granted.

Think about it.

Officials, corrupt and rapacious like wolves and tigers, robbed the peasants of their hard-earned wealth.

This led to the peasants’ children starving to death without rice or grain, and their elderly parents suffering from serious illnesses with no money for treatment.

Meanwhile, the official used these ill-gotten gains to buy two thousand acres of clan farmland for his own family, and his father’s tablet was thus enshrined in the center of the ancestral hall, just below the ancestors.

It was the yield from these two thousand acres that enabled their entire family to survive the coming famine without a single death.

Instead, it attracted the surrounding refugees who had lost their parents and children to join, becoming slaves and working for the family without compensation.

Eventually, the clan gradually became a local powerhouse, the direct lineage destined from birth to be above others— even ordinary family members no longer worried about finding wives.

Then the strong grew stronger, and the weak grew weaker, gradually forming a positive cycle.

Born into such a family, who dares to claim innocence?

To avoid guilt by association, one must first abstain from the benefits!

When disaster strikes, those clan members who have grown up on the people’s wealth must die with their family!

This is the consensus of the penal law of the era.

In such times, if one could still possess more "Yin Morality" than "Debt," they would indeed be a person of great goodness.

Unfortunately, there was not one such person in the entire Xue residence.

Slowly, slowly...

Half a two hours later, the slaughter in the courtyard finally neared its end, the doors of the mansion were near to overflowing with blood, and the Xue family’s Clan Energy had weakened to an extreme in a short time.

Only a few Daoist Soldiers who retreated to the ancestral temple were still alive, and the remnants of the "Dragon Qi Prohibition" made the "Weird Bird Demons" helpless for the moment.

Jiang Feipeng, the leader, decisively waved his hand.

"Take action!"

Boom!

The heavy gates of the Xue residence were kicked open by Wang Yuan, who charged in front.

Twenty officers in matching "Qiu Tiger" official robes stepped in one after another with a sense of purpose.

Clang! Clang! Clang!...

Bright waist knives and long swords were drawn from their sheaths in succession.

At this moment, they each held an official document from the Xue residence, requesting the Imperial Dragon Guard to take full control of the weirdness inside the mansion and ensure all hidden demons were killed.

The key phrase was "killed clean."

This was the "virtue plaque" they intended to establish.

With this document in hand, no one could fault them officially.

At most, we arrived just a tad bit late, allowing the demons to kill the Xue family members before we could kill the demons.

It’s not a big deal.

These fierce, forbidding officers entered the Xue family courtyard, littered with corpses, and bellowed in unison:

"To eradicate demons and safeguard the Tao is our duty today!"

But in their minds, they were thinking:

"Cleanse the Xue residence, tonight we will not sheathe our swords!"