CHAPTER 425: CHAPTER 395: HIDDEN AFFAIRS

According to Lu Yuanshan’s knowledge, subsequently, based on Zhang Deming’s plan, the Zhang Family will invest in this market, selling a portion of their self-produced Spirit Rice here to rapidly develop their economy.

The Zhang Family will ally and cooperate with the Cyan Mountain Sect, making Guangde County one of the Zhang Family’s important future development areas.

The Zhang Family will also purchase Spirit Pills, Cyan Bamboo Swords, and other cultivation resources from the Cyan Mountain Sect for mutual benefit and complementarity.

Simultaneously, Guangde Market will open up to other cultivation forces and clans, allowing other powers to invest in opening stores, thus expanding the resource market within Guangde Market.

By relying solely on the cooperation between the Cyan Mountain Sect and the Zhang Family, the short-term development of Guangde Market will not be significant.

After all, the products that the two families can provide are limited and not comprehensive in variety.

However, with the Dubhe Institute as its banner and the setup of the Heaven-Reaching Profound Fire Array to protect Guangde County, the safety of Guangde County can be said to be assured.

After spending a day in Guangde County, the next day, Lu Yuanshan returned to the Cyan Mountain Sect.

Cyan Lotus Peak.

Lu Ping looked at the system map before him and saw a small red dot on it.

This small red dot was the system’s notification Lu Ping received while checking the system panel earlier.

Upon closer examination of the system map, the small red dot was located to the northwest of Lushan County.

Estimating from the map, it was about over a thousand li away from the Cyan Mountain Sect.

This distance is not considered far.

This is a hidden task.

The appearance of a hidden task indicates that Lu Ping needs to personally drift over there to thoroughly investigate and understand the situation.

"Lianyushan."

The position marked by the small red dot is an area called Lianyushan.

"Looks like I have to personally drift over to take a look again."

Lu Ping memorized this location and, after some thought, decided not to inform Lu Yuanshan and the others, quietly manipulating his consciousness body to drift down from Cyan Lotus Mountain, heading towards Lianyushan.

According to Lu Ping’s current speed of his consciousness body’s movement, it would take only two or three days to arrive.

Upon reaching Lianyushan, Lu Ping wandered around the vicinity, discovering that the area of Lianyushan was quite vast, with a diameter of approximately twenty li, the entire Lianyushan appeared lush and green, with tens of thousands of plants growing there.

In the southern outskirts of Lianyushan, a large river meandered down, flowing eastwards until it joined Lingxi.

There were two villages built along this large river, nestled in the southern region of Lianyushan.

Such riverside villages are common throughout Lushan County, not considered unusual.

According to the system’s instruction, the position marked by the small red dot is on the southern side of this Lianyushan.

With a general exploration area in mind, Lu Ping began his precise investigation.

The first village, named Little Pond Village, Lu Ping floated around the village for a while and found that most of the villagers made a living by hunting, with simple and honest customs, many households had some smoked wild beast meat hanging under their eaves, occasionally attracting envious house cats to prowl.

Some children played and frolicked around the village, while the women washed clothes by the riverside. For a while, Lu Ping couldn’t see any trouble the Cyan Mountain Sect needed to resolve in Little Pond Village.

Expanding his divine sense, Lu Ping conducted a thorough investigation and confirmed that all was well here before heading to the second village to the east.

Compared to Little Pond Village, the village named Shilin Village appeared much more desolate.

After Lu Ping drifted into this place, he found the atmosphere in the village somewhat oppressive, unlike Little Pond Village, where children played and frolicked outside; every child here was confined indoors.

At the village entrance, there was even a middle-aged man holding a spear standing guard.

Not to mention a Golden Core Ancestor, even an ordinary person could guess something unusual seeing such a scene.

To find out the reason for the anomaly, the most effective way would be to ask the villagers here, but Lu Ping could not send communication to these mortals.

This was a bit of a headache.

He could only squat down to eavesdrop on the villagers’ chats to figure out what was going on here.

Describing the following actions with "if walls could talk" would be inaccurate for Lu Ping, because he didn’t need to hide himself to eavesdrop through walls.

He spent some time hovering around the villagers, listening in for most of the day, and finally learned what the situation was and the unusual aspect here.

"Sigh, it’s because we’re in such a remote rural area, not under the protection of an Immortal Sect or valued by the Court. Now with a demon beast wreaking havoc in our village, how are we going to live in the future?"

"What about Butcher Zhang from next door? Didn’t they say he was an expert in hunting when he was young? Maybe we can ask him to deal with that creature."

"Forget it, Butcher Zhang is not a cultivator, how can he deal with a demon beast?"

"Did you know, a few family members from our village, said to be from some Yunhan Mountain Armor Family, are also cultivators, yet when they faced that demon beast two days ago, those young ones were scared out of their wits and dared not make a move?"

"It hasn’t been long since they returned, and they have already left our village, probably scared away."

After carefully listening to the conversation between the two villagers for a while, Lu Ping confirmed that there was indeed a demon beast appearing near Lianyushan.

As for this Yunhan Mountain Jia Family, Lu Ping knew that it was a small Qi Cultivation Clan in the west of Lushan County, some of whose ancestors joined the Cyan Mountain Sect.

The Yunhan Mountain Jia Family is a family that emerged during the early founding period of the Cyan Mountain Sect, depending on it for prosperity, and the family had produced a Foundation Establishment Cultivator.

Subsequently weakening of the Cyan Mountain Sect, the Yunhan Mountain Jia Family separated to establish their own house.

After the Jia Family’s Ancestor fell in a magical combat with others, the Jia Family began to decline, now relying on a few late-stage Qi Cultivation ancestors to keep the family running and avoid annihilation by other clans of the same level.

The Yunhan Mountain Jia Family has tended to develop into a hidden clan seeking self-preservation, unwilling to participate much in the disputes of the Lushan County Cultivation Realm.

After Lu Ping learned of the demon beast’s trouble nearby, the system popped up with the specific details of the hidden task at this time.

[Hidden Task: A phenomenon of demon beast White-winged Griffin injuring people appears in the villages near Lianyushan, quickly dispatch disciples to eliminate that demon beast]

[Quantity: 1]

[Combat Power: Fifth Layer Foundation Establishment]

[Status: A fish that slipped through the net from the Southern Wilderness Beast Tide, now active around Lianyushan, please clear it in a timely manner]

[Completion Reward: Three-star - Physical Block, Reputation 2000]

...

Reading the specific details of this hidden task, Lu Ping’s gaze tightened.

A Fifth-Layer Foundation Establishment demon beast, no wonder it scared off the Jia Family’s children.

Even disciples from the Cyan Mountain Sect would avoid such a level of demon beast.

"Hmm? This is... a fish that slipped through the net from the Southern Wilderness Beast Tide..."

And the status bar below made Lu Ping pay more attention to it.