Chapter 68: 66: Hair Strand

"So..." Zhou Batong took a deep breath, his face thoughtful.

"To secure the family's position, there are only two measures," Ximen Xing said. "The first is to strengthen oneself; the second is to control resources and restrict the development of others."

"Do you mean the Seven Families Alliance?" Zhou Batong's eyes widened.

"Now it can only become the Six Families Alliance," Ximen Xing said. "I don't hope that in the future it will be the Five Families Alliance, or even Four."

Unity in advance and retreat, alliance in attack and defense among the six great families, that is the first step.

The second step is to control the Demon Suppression Tower and consolidate strength.

The third step is to extend one's influence across the entire county, controlling everything from the source, only then can one rest easy."

"What if provoking Li Daoxuan, that monster, angers him? Who will deal with him, and who can?"

Zhou Batong said vehemently, "And then there's the Hong Family.

Their power is the strongest, their ambition the greatest. Hong Jiuxiang is already difficult enough to deal with, and now there's another monster like Hong Dingtian popping up. Cooperating with the Hong Family, isn't that like seeking skin from a tiger?"

"That is exactly why I have come to talk with Brother Zhou,"

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Ximen Xing said with a smile, "Let Hong Jiuxiang and Hong Dingtian deal with Li Daoxuan, so they can both be injured. That way, both problems can be solved."

"Of course, they're not fools, our plan won't be so easily achieved.

It should be so, but Hong Dingtian needs something, and that thing is in the Demon Suppression Tower. Li Daoxuan is unwilling to give it, and the Hong Family is too domineering. Even the previous Deputy Governor in charge of the Demon Suppression Tower was injured by their schemes, as they tried to support their own person to be in control."

"And this, is our opportunity," Ximen Xing said with a smile. "I just don't know if Brother Zhou is willing to lend me a helping hand."

Looking at the ground littered with corpses and bloodstains within the earthen fort, Zhou Batong remained silent for a long while, then finally nodded.

He spoke, uttering just one word, "Good!"

...

...

...

Two days passed in the blink of an eye.

During these two days, Su Heng acted as if nothing had happened and continued to cultivate in seclusion, taking advantage of the time to accumulate attribute points and raise the level of the Taotie Technique.

The Taotie Technique, as a top Cultivation Technique at the core of a great family's heritage, required an enormous number of attribute points to get started.

Luckily, Su Heng had plenty at his disposal now.

There were various precious pills gifted by the Demon Suppression Bureau and the monster flesh found in the Luo Family.

Plus a large amount of Zhouyun fruit and so on.

Su Heng ate the monster flesh as if it were food, rapidly accumulating attribute points.

In just two days, sixty attribute points were gained, finally enabling him to raise the Taotie Technique to the first level.

On a moonlit night, the breeze was gentle, the shadows of the bamboo in the courtyard shook and rustled, and occasionally the clear chirping of orioles was heard.

Su Heng sat cross-legged on the meditation cushion on the wooden viewing platform, draped in a robe that belonged to an elder of the Luo Family.

His spine was straight as a pen, his gaze slightly closed, his expression serene, exuding an ancient demeanor.

His hands rested on the Dantian area below his abdomen, forming the Tai Chi symbol.

With his chest rising and falling.

Su Heng inhaled and exhaled slowly.

He poured all sixty attribute points into the yet-to-be-mastered Taotie Technique, attentively feeling the changes in his body.

A strong tingling sensation first arose in his stomach, followed by violent convulsions.

Acid reflux moved up the esophagus, causing burning pain along the way.

But Su Heng didn't expel the stomach acid; instead, he maintained his meditative posture to avoid disrupting the effects of the Cultivation Technique with significant movement.

The sensation of convulsions and pain soon calmed down due to his robust physical condition, followed by a tingling sensation.

This was a feeling Su Heng was familiar with.

Similar to the growth and multiplication of aberrant tissues within the body's flesh.

The secondary stomach wasn't about creating a new, specialized stomach for storing food in the body.

Rather, it was about transforming a portion of the lower end of the esophagus. This was somewhat similar to the structure of a cow, which can regurgitate and has four stomachs.

Rumen, reticulum, omasum, and abomasum, capable of squeezing every nutrient from the food.

Apart from the abomasum, the other three stomachs are modified esophageal tissues.

As for Su Heng, the secondary stomach formed above the main stomach.

It didn't have digestive ability; instead, it had its own space, capable of storing a large amount of food.

Although it didn't significantly enhance Su Heng's digestive capabilities, it did increase digestion time, which brought many benefits.

First, it would ensure that he was digesting and accumulating attribute points 24 hours a day.

Second, it would increase stamina.

At the moment, Su Heng didn't know the limit of the secondary stomach.

But it would seem, even just getting started, he wouldn't have any problem going for several days and nights without eating or drinking once he was full.

It was not only a matter of improved stamina; the rate of healing injuries and the efficiency of recovery of strength were all set to increase. It was like carrying an extra-large fuel tank, capable of unlimited full throttle.

"Gurgle!"

Along with the slight contractions in his abdomen, a faint sense of hunger emerged.

Su Heng opened his eyes, his face showing a trace of joy. "Success!"



"Let's first test the limit of the secondary stomach," Su Heng shook the bell hanging outside the door, and soon a servant dressed in green brought food to him.

Baihua County had a large population and prosperous commerce.

And Jiangyue Pavilion, as the highest standard of hospitality venue, naturally had servants and chefs on standby twenty-four hours a day.

Whatever you wanted to eat, you could order at any time, and the bill would be charged to the Demon Suppression Bureau.

Braised pig's trotters, Buddha Jumps Over the Wall, Eight Treasure Soup, deer tendon, and various specialties from Guang River were served to Su Heng's room in a continuous stream.

He did not refuse any comers.

Whether it was fruit, meat, or bones, he swallowed them all in one gulp.

Seven or eight young servants shuttled back and forth delivering meals, the kitchen was brightly lit with full fire; they could barely keep up with Su Heng's eating pace.

This was even with Su Heng occasionally eating some long-lived meat and demon materials as nutritional accompaniments.

This meal lasted nearly half an hour.

By the time Su Heng finished,

The seven servants responsible for delivering the food were so tired they couldn't straighten their backs, their clothes soaked with sweat as if they had been fished out of water.

If they hadn't been well-trained, they would have almost collapsed on the ground, gasping for air and unable to get up.

"My lord, you truly have a remarkable capacity," the head butler smacked his lips and gave Su Heng a thumbs-up.

This meal alone consumed nearly five or six hundred pounds of ingredients.

All the porcelain plates and bowls in Jiangyue Pavilion were used up, and towards the end, even the iron pots used by the chefs were brought directly to the table.

All sorts of pots and pans were piled up on and around the table in front of Su Heng, forming a small mountain.

They nearly hid Su Heng's towering figure of over two meters tall.

The young servants had been exhausted just now, and were only beginning to realize what had happened, their gaze towards Su Heng filled with shock and fear.

If it hadn't been for the instructions from the high-ups,

They would have thought Su Heng was some demon in disguise.

Su Heng wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with a white cloth, feeling a bit embarrassed being looked at like this...

He took several gold ingots from his bosom and handed them to the servants, smiling gently, "I appreciate all the trouble you went through. Consider these a token for you to have a drink on me."

"How can we accept this, my lord?" the butler said with a bit of panic, "This is our job to do, we can't accept your money."

Commerce was booming in Baihua County, and expenses were quite high.

But Su Heng was not offering them Silver, it was gold ingots, which was rather frightening.

The butler repeatedly declined, and the other servants wanted to echo his sentiment.

However, the dazzling gold made them gulp down their saliva, their eyes filled with intense longing as they stood there unable to speak.

"If you don't accept it, then you're not giving me face," Su Heng feigned displeasure and forcefully stuffed the gold into their hands.

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It was among the least valuable things in the treasure.

At his level of cultivation, worldly wealth became increasingly insignificant to his eyes.

It was of no use.

Things like demon flesh and blood simply couldn't be bought with money.

The attendants' faces were full of joy, their smiling mouths almost curling at the edges. Their fatigue vanished in an instant as they efficiently cleaned up Su Heng's room.

Once the door was closed, the room returned to tranquility.

Su Heng stood in front of the mirror, undid his robe's hem, and saw that the contour of his abdominal muscles was still visibly defined.

They didn't protrude outward at all despite the large amount of food he had consumed.

He thought to himself, "Marvelous."

By the bright moonlight coming through the window, Su Heng saw a smile on his face in the mirror.

But Su Heng's expression gradually turned grim; he remembered that he hadn't smiled just now.

Outside on the lawn, the chirping of insects was the only sound; otherwise, there was no other noise, and the whole house was eerily quiet and empty.

Looking at the mirror in front of him, Su Heng's eyes narrowed slightly.

He touched his chin, and the figure in the mirror did the same.

Su Heng frowned slightly and reached out to touch the mirror's surface.

Hiss!

The moment the two made contact, a black light suddenly emerged in the mirror, spreading outward, and then it abruptly lunged forward.

Su Heng spread his fingers and exploded the air, catching the incoming object in his hand.

Upon looking closer, it turned out to be a clump of black hair.

The fine and chaotic strands of hair, like living creatures, hissed in Su Heng's hand.

The multitude of strands writhed furiously, attempting to pierce into Su Heng's skin and take root in his body, but they couldn't even break through the surface of his skin.

"Trying to play the ghost with me!"

Su Heng looked up and swallowed the strands of hair in his hand.



Though it looked odd, the feeling of the squirming and screaming in his mouth was somewhat novel.

However, as it slid down the esophagus and into the stomach, the stomach acid rolled over it, and soon there was no more movement.

"This must be a 'shadow servant' created by demons, not a considerable threat," Su Heng surmised.

He stroked his chin but couldn't help but wonder, "When did I come into contact with this thing, and why did it attack me?"