Demon Sword Sect’s Undercover
Chapter 89 - 89 88 Fang Family Fortress

89: Chapter 88 Fang Family Fortress 89: Chapter 88 Fang Family Fortress Hou Niao spurred his horse away, feeling a chill on his back.

That yellow weasel demon had posed a very real threat to him—it was the instinct of a sword cultivator, and the courage from the sword was not just about blindly risking his life; more importantly, it was about foreseeing danger!

The so-called courage should be about not fearing the strength or weakness of the opponent.

To delve deeper, when you feel your sword courage surging, it often also means that the enemy you face might be very powerful.

It was the same yellow weasel demon he had encountered for the first time.

When beasts become demons, their realms are entirely different from humans, and Hou Niao didn’t know much about the specifics, only the theoretical major stages.

For example, a demon reaching full maturity with its demon core roughly corresponds to the Golden Core realm of humans, and transforming its horizontal bones corresponds to the Tongxuan realm of humans.

This is speaking generally, as beasts differ from humans, and they certainly shouldn’t be compared directly with soul ghosts.

Compared to the meticulous cultivation of humans, due to reasons of intellectual development, demons seem slower, hence they are inferior in strength; but relying on instinctive cultivation, they compensate in lifespan what they lose in one corner and gain in another.

Wisdom and longevity, which would you choose?

There really isn’t a correct answer, just as asking whether you want to shine brilliantly like a meteor for a moment or live carefree like a pig.

This yellow weasel demon had transformed its horizontal bones, maybe just recently.

In Yinling, it could already be considered a Great Demon, yet it still maintained its usual caution and care, even though its realm was far higher than that of this human.

It didn’t rashly attack; instead, it summoned a group of lesser demons to probe.

So his ruthless attack on the soul ghosts was a statement: you might be of a higher realm than I, but who will fall in real combat is still unknown.

He was also wary of this yellow weasel demon.

Similarly, the yellow weasel demon couldn’t figure him out, just feeling that this man had a very special aura, not to be underestimated lightly.

Fortunately, things didn’t escalate to an uncontrollable situation.

Peace for all was indeed good for all.

Hou Niao was very clear about what the cultivators in Yinling were really guarding against—it wasn’t those myriad lesser demons, but a very small number who had become significant.

Only these Great Demons had the influence and could undertake significant actions, thus upon discovery, they must be completely eradicated!

This yellow weasel had been cautious about potentially provoking retaliation from human cultivators, hence its hesitant behavior.

Of course, it was also due to the inherently cautious nature of the species of yellow weasels.

If it were a wolf demon, it wouldn’t consider so much—it would bite first and ask questions later.

This place was indeed dangerous.

Yet, this had been just his first night in Yinling, and he had already encountered a being capable of inflicting fatal injuries on him, serving as a reminder to him.

Two days later, Hou Niao arrived at a place nestled by mountains and rivers.

The mountain was just a mound, and the water a small stream, but in Yinling, it was still precious.

This was the location of Fang Family’s Castle.

The fortress was built on a mound, surrounded by dozens of watchtowers, with astonishing defensive capabilities; there were hundreds of buildings inside, layer upon layer, reportedly housing nearly ten thousand people, the largest human settlement in the surrounding regions.

The people here were mostly surnamed Fang, a large clan.

The clan leader and the elders were all members of the Fang Family, creating a very stable social structure, which naturally meant that the government’s power was relatively weak and quite exclusive.

Surrounding the fortress were thousands of acres of fertile land; food and livestock were not an issue.

Self-sufficiency was the most common lifestyle of the local people.

Of course, whenever a merchant caravan arrived, it was a grand festival for the villagers of the fortress.

Looking at such a complex of buildings, Hou Niao couldn’t help but marvel at the greatness of humanity—how much manpower and resources did it take to build something so majestic?

Each of the dozens of watchtowers was tens of meters high, with windows serving as shooting holes.

Once the only gate of the fortress was shut, it became an independent kingdom.

Riding his horse up the slope, looking back, he saw villagers of the fortress scattered in the fields, a picture of thriving life; throughout the fields, there were also a dozen safety houses, which were for temporary refuge if they couldn’t escape in time.

No matter what, safety measures had been taken to the extreme, faultless to critique.

But he disliked this place, nicely put it was a castle, crudely put, a prison.

“Halt!

Name, origin, pass, purpose?”

At the entrance of the fortress stood more than twenty fort guards, each robust, clad in studded armor, with curved swords at their waists and long spears, one and a half meters in length, pointed at him; among them, the two leaders wore red bandanas, notably with the cultivation of Energy Induction, one of them speaking.

Fang Family’s Castle had truly deep foundations to have survived here, cultivating some low-rank cultivators from nearly ten thousand clan members seemed not too difficult.

Just this aura alone, clearly those of men who had experienced combat, not the least bit courteous even when facing a cultivator; Hou Niao understood from the descriptions of Jin City that these people had survived a thousand years mainly by themselves, not by the transient Quanzhen disciples.

Towards these brave men, he would not put on any airs of a cultivator.

He dismounted, pulled out a sword talisman, “Quanzhen Hou Niao, here to see the official.”

The crowd revealed a semi-smirking expression, this being the first time Hou Niao saw mortals mocking cultivators, although their manner wasn’t overt, the intent was undeniably clear.

The leading red bandana took the sword talisman and tossed it a few times in his hand, his tone casual,

“A high disciple of Quanzhen, ah, our Fang Family’s Castle is indeed honored to be held in such regard by Quanzhen Sect; the sword talisman is genuine, but we are not certain if there is anything unclean on you, so we need to conduct a check.”

Hou Niao’s heart sank, just from these few sentences he knew the status of Quanzhen Sect here was likely different from other towns; remote from the emperor’s reach, weak cultivation forces, he had anticipated all these, but not to such a dire extent.

However, he did not wish to entangle with these people here, causing a scene would disgrace everyone, he himself needed to stay here for at least three years, there was no hurry.

“If that’s the case, then please proceed with the check.”

He did not wish to explain anything, the other party knew he was a disciple of Quanzhen, and likewise knew he likely carried no alien objects on him, yet they still proceeded in this manner.

Narrow-minded individuals might consider this a humiliation, but he preferred to regard it as a demonstration of earnest responsibility.

He was here to deal with Soul Ghosts, not to confront people.

The two leading red bandanas seemed surprised by his compliance, any other cultivator might have already started cursing.

This might be due to having a good temperament, or perhaps he was just timid.

A man shouted towards the top of the fortress gate, and following his shout, a window some heights above pushed out an ancient mirror, reflecting down upon him…

This was, the Demon Mirror?

The ancient mirror swept back and forth over Hou Niao, of course revealing nothing; one of the red bandanas, having expected just this, smiled slightly,

“Then, who shall guide this Lord Hou?

The paths inside the castle are complicated, we wouldn’t want the lord to get lost and accidentally enter some young maiden’s boudoir, that would be quite inappropriate!”