10: Truly skilled at managing a household!

"Bang!"

"Fellow Daoist, I'm back."

"Slap!"

"Uh, Fellow Daoist, what are you doing?"

As soon as Jiang Hongyue pushed open the door, he saw a peculiar scene.

Zhou Yan was sitting cross-legged on the bed, slapping his own face every now and then with a serious expression, his brow furrowed from time to time as if he had encountered something unpleasant.

"Ah?" Zhou Yan finally snapped back to reality and looked toward Jiang Hongyue at the door.

"Uh... this, I..."

"Oh! I understand. Fellow Daoist Zhou is truly a Prodigy; I misjudged you before."

Just as Zhou Yan was trying to find an excuse to brush him off, he saw Jiang Hongyue's face filled with sudden realization.

What did he understand now? Never mind, I'll just go along with it for now.

"Mm."

Seeing Zhou Yan agree, Jiang Hongyue became even more certain of his thoughts.

"I didn't expect you to be so profoundly righteous. Not only did you use your innate Divine Ability to see through the secret that The Dong and Zhou Families were all demonic scoundrels colluding with a major Demonic Path Sect, but you are also repenting for killing them."

"I previously felt that you were too bloodthirsty, but now it seems I was narrow-minded. Please accept my bow."

"Ah?"

This... Just as Zhou Yan was about to ask what was going on, he heard a notification sound in his ear.

"Ding! Detected that the player has become the Family Head. The Family System has been activated. Current Family Rank: Lv3, Top-tier Town."

"Ding! Detected that the player's Family average living standards have dropped. Please pay attention to adjustments."

"..."

"Ding! Detected that the player's Family average living standards have risen. Congratulations."

What happened? Zhou Yan's mind was a bit of a mess. A Family System had suddenly popped up, followed by a series of notifications that made his head throb.

But he couldn't worry about that now. Zhou Yan quickly looked at Jiang Hongyue, desperate to know what had occurred.

Soon, Zhou Yan learned the whole story through Jiang Hongyue.

In fact, from the moment Zhou Yan entered the cabin, the prisoners had been executed one after another. Because the entire Family practiced Demonic Techniques, no one survived.

This explained why Zhou Yan started gaining experience and Karma after slapping himself; it just happened to sync up perfectly from afar with the executioner.

Every time the executioner cut someone down, he slapped himself. Since he was the one who gave the order, he was credited with an assist and gained some base experience.

So those hundreds of slaps I gave myself weren't for nothing?

Those slaps had directly triggered his Combat Mode. Because Combat Mode was active, his face remained unchanged after hundreds of slaps, aside from losing a negligible 30 HP.

If it were anyone else, they would probably have clapped and shouted 'Holy crap!' after seeing that. Without the game mode's protection, that would have been no different from beating oneself half to death.

However, the more serious matter was that the old geezers of these two families were actually involved with the Desire Realm.

According to Jiang Hongyue, the Desire Realm is a powerful force in the cultivation world composed of demonic Sects. Although each Sect is not strong individually, when combined, they are enough to rival the top Sects of the cultivation world.

This was precisely the reason Jiang Hongyue was in a hurry to return.

He had already notified the Sect Elders about the matter. To prevent any sudden incidents that might harm Zhou Yan, he planned to return to the Sect early.

As for The Dong and Zhou Families, Jiang Hongyue said there was no need to worry. After all, before he returned, only one-third of them were left in the square. Now that he was back, they had presumably all gathered for a reunion dinner in the afterlife.

Zhou Yan could be certain of one thing, because just as he finished saying this, the System popped up another notification.

"Ding! The Zhou Family's average living standard has reached the level of Imperial Nobility. Reward: 'Expert Home Manager' Gift Pack *1. Obtained title: [Expert Home Manager (Fine)]."

"Ding! Detected that the player has slaughtered all Family members except for the player. Obtained growth-type title: [Path of Slaughter (Fine)]."

"Ding! Detected that the player has obtained three titles. The Reputation System has been activated."

"Oh no! How did I unlock the Path of Slaughter!" Looking at the Path of Slaughter title with the big 'Fine' quality label, Zhou Yan had an ominous premonition, a feeling that his future was 'limitless.'"

In his past life, this was standard equipment for red-named players. Basically, every veteran red-named player had an 'Excellent' quality Path of Slaughter title.

Its quality would improve based on the number and severity of killing players and friendly NPCs. In his past life, only a few people had grinded the Path of Slaughter to Epic grade, and those were all notorious absolute scumbags of the online gaming world, even targeted with doxxing tools by top players. One could imagine how heinous it was.

Now I'm starting with Fine quality right off the bat. System, what are you doing! Are you trying to ruin me!

Seeing Zhou Yan's increasingly expressive face, Jiang Hongyue only assumed he was still feeling reluctant to kill, labeling him in his heart as having the 'heart of a Buddha.'

"Fellow Daoist, now is not the time to be sad for those demonic scoundrels. We should leave quickly. The Desire Realm will likely make a big move soon."

Zhou Yan: "Didn't you say the Hanning Kingdom is just a small country?"

"We just accidentally disrupted an insignificant move of theirs. They shouldn't suddenly jump out at us, right? I think we should focus on maintaining domestic stability and uprooting those demonic plants first."

Jiang Hongyue: "Originally it wouldn't have mattered, but now your name as a Prodigy is about to spread throughout the Hanning Kingdom. I'm sure it won't be long before the news that you were the one who exposed this also spreads."

"It's hard to guarantee those demonic scoundrels won't do something irrational to harm you. So the best way now is to head to the Great Qian Dynasty, take the Teleportation Array, and leave quickly. They shouldn't move against a small country, not to mention the Sect Elders are already on their way."

Before Jiang Hongyue could explain further, Zhou Yan said, "Fellow Daoist, I suddenly have a premonition. I feel that the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven is calling to me. I think we should return to the Sect immediately."

Speaking of this, he was no longer tired. They were coming for him; if he didn't run now, what was he waiting for? To wait for a crash?

Thousands of miles away, in an inn.

An exquisitely beautiful woman was applying makeup in front of a mirror. She sat at the intersection of light and shadow, like a night lotus blooming alone in a secluded pond.

Her skin was a cold white, and her features held the haziness of distant mountains. Her eyes were purely black, slightly upturned at the corners, but the eternal loneliness within them suppressed all gaudiness.

Although she looked excessively seductive, her temperament gave off a strong sense of detachment, making people afraid to approach.

Beside her was an old man in purple robes, kneeling on one knee and reporting gathered intelligence.

"This is all the intelligence gathered by your subordinate. Currently, our Miechen Sect still has one Core Formation Stage cultivator stationed in Hanning. Your subordinate believes it is well worth the cost of one Core Formation Cultivator to eliminate this rising star."

After listening to all the intelligence, the young woman continued her makeup without the slightest change in emotion.

Not until she had tidied the last strand of hair did she speak: "Just a Prodigy who hasn't grown up yet, no need to bother with him." With just one sentence, the girl decided the outcome.

I still remember the last person who said that; their ending didn't seem to be very good.

Thousands of miles away, in another direction in front of a cave.

A handsome young man was painting. With every stroke of the brush, the scroll gained more true intent. By the time he finished the last stroke, the content of the scroll had returned to simplicity, even more real than the scenery before him.

A youth in blue was prostrate at his feet, loudly praising his painting as peerless.

The young man was also very happy, picking up a wine jar nearby and taking a large gulp.

Seeing the young man happy, the youth secretly breathed a sigh of relief and then raised a question.

"Young Lord, is our Joyous Union Sect really not going to intercept and kill that Prodigy?"

The young man stopped drinking, set the wine jar aside, and sprayed a mouthful of wine onto the painting. Then, with a wave of his left hand, blue-green flames burned upon the painting. Watching the scroll burn to ashes, the young man's mood became even more pleasant.

"Why do you care about him?"

"Those guys from the Miechen Sect are all incredibly arrogant and definitely won't care. If they don't go and we do, the Qingxu Grotto-Heaven will come looking for trouble with us."

"I've told you many times, don't be so one-sided in your actions."

"Currently, humans and the Yao Race are in opposition, so we demonic Sects, as a third party, were able to establish the Desire Realm to huddle together for warmth."

"It's said to rival top Sects, but everyone knows that if those old fogies really used their hidden Foundations, none of us would fare well. At that time, do you still expect the other five Sects to help?"

"They are merely pinned down by the Yao Race and can't get away, fearing that if they really move against us, they'll damage their Foundations and won't be able to recover."

"We are also just people barely surviving under the breath of others in this war."

"Precisely because of this, we have that plan, don't we?"

"Hahahaha."

Looking at the Young Master of the Joyful Union Sect, who was immersed in his own world and unable to pull himself out, the blue-clothed youth wiped the cold sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Will I also become this neurotic in the future?

The matter here was settled. Although no Sect planned to pursue Zhou Yan, he had appeared in the eyes of two even bigger troubles. He didn't need much attention; just appearing in the eyes of those two was not a good thing.