Chapter Thirteen: The Village of the Liu Family

  As soon as Ye Chen and his group entered the village, their eyebrows all furrowed.

  A village street that should have been bustling with people was deserted and desolate, if it weren't for the rows of houses and fields cultivated by villagers outside the village, everyone would have thought they had arrived at a village abandoned for centuries.

  The young man with a long face frowned and turned to look at Ye Chen, saying in a commanding tone: "You go knock on the door and see if anyone is there!"

  Listening to the long-faced youth's words, Ye Chen narrowed his eyes and looked at the long-faced youth, just about to retort when he discovered that the other eight had slowly moved towards him, surrounding him. He was afraid that if he said anything unpleasant, he would end up dead on the spot.

  Ye Chen gave the long-faced youth a cold glance, thinking to himself: "Don't be smug, this time I've come out, and when we go back, only one of us will remain!" He took a deep breath, turned around, and walked towards a nearby house, knocking gently: "Is anyone there? We are disciples of the Lianyun Sect!"

  As Ye Chen's voice rose, the door creaked open a crack, and an old man poked his head out, eyeing Ye Chen warily. He glanced at the people standing behind Ye Chen, taking in their relatively refined features before asking uncertainly, "Are you from the Lianyun Sect, here to execute the bandits?"

  Ye Chen looked at the old man's terrified expression and revealed a kind smile: "Old sir! We are disciples of Lianyun Sect, and we have come to execute the bandits!"

  The old man listened to Ye Chen's words, looked at the crowd again, and saw that everyone standing by nodded in agreement. He smiled with surprise, immediately opened the door and walked out, grabbed Ye Chen's hand excitedly: "We've been waiting for you! If you didn't come, we would have had to leave Liujiavillage where we've lived for many years!"

  The old man then turned around and shouted in the village: "Everyone come out! The people from Lianyun Sect have arrived, our days of suffering are over!"

  As the old man's voice spread, more and more people appeared on the originally desolate street. However, upon closer inspection, most of them were elderly individuals, with young people being scarce, only a few scattered ones standing there.

  Many villagers came out and saw everyone, then they started to make trouble...

  The young man with a long face glanced at Ye Chen, then walked to the front of the crowd, raised his hands and shouted loudly: "Everyone, don't panic! Since we're here, there won't be any more bandits bothering you!"

  Many villagers heard the long-faced young man's words and burst into applause.

  "Great! Lianyun Sect finally has someone!"

  "Ah! Our hard days are finally coming to an end!"

  "Haha, those robbers got what was coming to them!"

  "Right! Kill all those bandits!"

  Listening to the flattering voices of many villagers, the vanity of the young man with a long face was satisfied for a while.

  The old man who had been talking to Ye Chen walked forward, bowed his head respectfully towards the long-faced young man and said: "I am the village chief of this Liu family village, you can call me Village Chief Liu."

  The young man with a long face looked down at the old man and said somewhat impatiently, "Alright, I know. You prepare some rooms and food for us, we'll rest for now, and head into the mountains tomorrow!"

  Liu Village Chief didn't mind the long-faced youth's attitude, after all, there was a huge gap in their status. In Liu Village Chief's heart, this kind of attitude from the long-faced youth was fitting for someone within the sect. Immediately, Liu Village Chief bowed to the long-faced youth and turned to face a young man standing beside him, instructing: "Ah Niu, take these few seniors to rest, and prepare some good wine and dishes!"

  Then he turned to the villagers below and said: "Everyone will disperse for now, tonight, everyone gather to set up a banquet for the high-ranking people of Lianyun Sect!"

  "Good!"

  "Good!"

  .....

  Many villagers nodded in agreement with the village chief's words, their faces filled with happy smiles, and some people even whispered: This time we can finally live a stable life!

  As the crowd dispersed, the young man who had just been instructed by the village chief of Liu's Village also stood up and bowed respectfully to the group with long faces, saying: "Please follow me, esteemed guests!"

  He immediately turned around and led the way to a room on one side, the long-faced young man glanced at Ye Chen standing there motionless, then gestured to the crowd and followed him.

  Ye Chen narrowed his eyes, gazing at the departing long-faced youth for a moment before turning to face the still-standing village chief of Liujiacun and respectfully asked: "Sir, can you tell me about these bandits?"

  Upon hearing this, the village chief of Liu's Village finally came to his senses and remembered the young man who had knocked on the door earlier. He immediately turned around and looked at Ye Chen with a respectful bow, saying: "Sir, you are right, it is only proper!"

  Yechen smiled humbly: "No need to be polite, sir. My name is Yechen, you can just call me Yechen!"

  "Good!" The village chief did not expect Ye Chen to be so easy-going, without any of the airs of a cultivator, giving off a very approachable and familiar feeling. He immediately spoke to Ye Chen, "Ye Chen, why don't you come to my humble abode? We can have some tea while we chat."

  Ye Chen smiled: "Very good!"

  Ye Chen and the village chief of Liujiacun sat facing each other in an ordinary room.

  Ye Chen spoke up first and asked: "Village head, tell me about these bandits!"

  The village chief's face turned gloomy as he heard Ye Chen's question, and he let out a deep sigh before saying: "Alas... this group of bandits suddenly appeared here a month ago. I heard they weren't originally from around here, but were instead chased away from their own territory! As for these bandits, they're truly ruthless. On the day they arrived, they didn't even give us a chance to speak before slaughtering over a dozen of our villagers. Then, they forcibly took our grain and, on their way out, took all the young men and women in our village as hostages. Since then, they've come once a week, each time demanding we exchange grain for the hostages they took. It's been three times now, but we still have over thirty villagers who haven't been returned, and our grain is almost gone. If you hadn't arrived, I don't know what we would have done!"

  Listening to the village chief's words, Ye Chen's eyebrows furrowed tightly and he fell into deep thought, but in his heart, a plan targeting the long-faced youth slowly unfolded.

  A moment later, a sinister smile flashed across Ye Chen's face, only to quickly disappear. He turned his head and nodded slightly at the village chief: "Thank you, Village Chief. Please put your mind at ease, this time I will definitely help you solve the aftermath." At the same time, he also smiled sinisterly in his heart, thinking: "At the same time, I must also solve my own aftermath."

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