Chapter 118: Killing Intent

  Huang Ye Town is one of the towns under the jurisdiction of Yu Shui City. The main pillar industry of this town is agriculture, and the farmland owned by Xia's family in this town accounts for almost half of all the farmland in Huang Ye Town. If there are wild beasts invading Huang Ye Town, then Xia's manor will inevitably suffer great losses.

  The town mayor of Huang Ye Town, also a member of the Xia family, is named Xia Hou Sheng. His personal strength can only exert about 60% of his martial power. However, this person has a sharp mind and has managed the Xia family's industries in Huang Ye Town with great order, earning him the appreciation of several senior members of the Xia family. In Huang Ye Town, Xia Hou Sheng has been serving as town mayor for fourteen years.

  This time the beast invasion made Xiahou Sheng uneasy, and he couldn't sleep well until the beast was driven away. For several days in a row, the losses suffered by the Xia family's manor were not small, and if this continued, this year's harvest would likely be greatly affected.

  "Mayor... Mayor..."

  In the town hall of Huang Ye Town, a black-clad guard with a sword at his waist made a rustling sound as he quickly ran in from outside, shouting "Town Head" loudly.

  "What's going on? All this commotion! Has the beast attacked again?" Xiahou Sheng, who was pacing back and forth in the hall, heard the urgent cries of the guards and impatiently waved his hand to scold them.

  The guard seemed to have only heard half of it and excitedly shouted loudly: "No! Yu Shui City... the town head, someone from Yu Shui City has arrived!"

  "What?" Xiahou Sheng's eyes widened, and he took a step forward, grabbing the shoulder of the black-clad guard. "What did you say? Has someone from the clan arrived? Who is it? Which elder? Is it the Grand Elder?"

  Xiahou Sheng had reported the incident of Huang Ye Town being attacked by beasts to the Xia family elder council three days ago, but there was no response. If there was still no news coming, Xiahou Sheng felt that he might go mad.

  Xiahou Sheng has a medium build, with slightly drooping cheeks and some red spots on the bridge of his nose. His forehead is shiny. He uses a pair of Lei Gong hammers as his weapon, but he has neglected martial arts training for many years, being completely absorbed in his duties as town mayor.

  "Town Master, I don't know which elder it is from our family, but I saw about a hundred swift horses, and the people on them are wearing the Summer Family's guard uniforms!" The black-clad guard's eyes lit up as he slightly bowed his head, his voice filled with excitement. "Town Master, let's hurry out to greet them! Our family members will arrive soon!"

  "Right, right! Hurry up and go out to welcome!" Xiahou Sheng's eyes shone brightly as he repeatedly said "right", then adjusted his magnificent Magistrate attire and hastily rushed towards the main gate of the town hall. Before he even exited the sturdy purple gate that was four or five meters wide, he heard the sound of horse hooves rapidly approaching from outside.

  "Ta-da-da~"

  At least hundreds of mounts!

  Xiahou Sheng's figure flashed, one foot stepped out of the main gate, and saw a cloud of dust flying in the distance, with dense figures of people and horses approaching and gradually slowing down.

  The town hall is not in the center of the town, but on the edge of the town! So when Xia Yan and others arrived, they did not attract the attention of the townspeople.

  "It is..." Xiahou Sheng furrowed his brow.

  Xiahou Sheng carefully observed the person leading, but was shocked to discover that the leader seemed to be a young man wearing white clothes, holding a small long sword.

  Now, Xia Yan is still using the long sword given by Bai Tui. Although there is now a Bishi Heart, a rare mineral, for the time being, no blacksmith can be found to make weapons with it.

  It's worth noting that the hardness of Bishui Zhixin is dozens or even hundreds of times higher than ordinary high-quality steel, and ordinary blacksmiths simply don't have this ability.

  "Why isn't it an elder within the family?" Xia Hou Sheng furrowed his brow, becoming perplexed.

  Arriving at the town hall, Xia Yan dismounted his horse and walked towards Xia Hou Sheng. Seeing the attire on Xia Hou Sheng's body, Xia Yan knew that he was indeed the town head Xia Hou Sheng.

  Cupping his fist, Xia Yan smiled and said: "I am Xia Yan, the executor of the Xia family, who has come to exterminate the beasts under the orders of the clan leader. Are you Xia Hou Sheng, the town mayor?"

  Xiahou Sheng was slightly stunned, then suddenly woke up, hurriedly squeezed out a smile and said in a welcoming tone: "It's Xia Yan, haha, please come in. Everyone, follow me to the town hall! It's been a hard journey!"

  Xia Yan's current position is the Executor of the Xia Family.

  In fact, Xia Yan is still a junior of Xia Hou Sheng, but Xia Hou Sheng's status in the Xia family is far superior to that of Xia Yan, and their blood relationship is also very distant, so Xia Yan did not speak with the tone of addressing an elder.

  "Thanks for your trouble!" Xia Yan said with a smile to Xia Hou Sheng.

  Xia Yan could naturally see the hidden things in Xia Hou's facial expression, and Xia Hou saw that Xia Yan was young and had already developed a slight disdain for him. Although it wasn't openly displayed, Xia Yan could clearly feel from his words and actions that Xia Hou didn't have much respect for him. If it were an elder of the Xia family who came today, Xia Hou would never be like this.

  It's not that Xiahou Sheng is to blame, but Xia Yan is really too young. The beasts that attacked Huangye Town this time are not ordinary beasts. If they were, the guards left in Huangye Town would have been able to deal with them and there would be no need to ask for help from Yushui City.

  Xia Yan shook his head, a cold smile spreading across his lips, and didn't say much.

  About a hundred people entered the town hall, and after hastily eating dinner under Xia Hou's arrangement, everyone went to rest. Waiting for dawn the next day, they would go to clear out the wild beasts. Of course, if the wild beasts attacked the manor at night, the crowd would naturally go to meet them.

  Xia Yan called over several people from the town hall, including Xia Hou Sheng, to understand the situation about the beast attack on Huang Ye Town.

  This time, the beasts that attacked Huang Ye Town were over a hundred in number, including many extremely ferocious species. The most troublesome one was the Shadow Wolf. The Shadow Wolf was incredibly fast and came and went like the wind, and it was also very cunning and cruel. In the past few days, eight guards had already been killed or injured by the Shadow Wolf, but they still couldn't kill or capture it!

  "I don't know, Xia Yan, is there a good way to deal with these beasts?"

  In the hall, a person from the town government looked at Xia Yan with a strange and suspicious gaze, asking.

  Adding Xia Yan, there are five people sitting here now. Except for Xia Hou Sheng, the other three are also staff members of the town government office. However, none of these people are from the Xia family. Among these five people, only Xia Yan is the youngest, and the others are all over thirty years old.

  The person who asked Xia Yan questions obviously didn't take him seriously.

  At the age of fifteen, Xia Yan had just come of age and was indeed not to be underestimated. At least, before Xia Yan showed his strength, the vast majority of people would not think that Xia Yan was a strong man.

  "The best way to solve the problem..." Xia Yan smiled slightly, his eyes flashing, and after a brief moment of contemplation, he continued slowly: "That is, to kill or drive away these wild beasts."

  Xia Yan's eyes flickered and saw that four people including Xia Hou Sheng were all frowning together.

  Xia Yan knew that these people must have felt that their words were in vain.

  "The southeastern part of Huang Ye Town is a deep mountain called Hei Feng Mountain, with vast forests and numerous wild beasts. Every few years, there will be an incident of wild beast attacks. This time's wild beast probably also came from Hei Feng Mountain." Xia Yan didn't wait for others to speak, grasped the hilt of his sword again, and opened his mouth to say.

  "That's right, the beast that attacked Huang Ye Town this time is indeed the beast from Hei Feng Mountain! Hei Feng Mountain covers hundreds of miles, with a treacherous terrain and countless beasts within. This time, the beasts that came to attack are numerous and all of them are extremely powerful species. It's very difficult to repel them!" Xia Hou Sheng furrowed his brow and looked at Xia Yan, although he was somewhat disdainful in his heart, but still spoke honestly.

  Xia Yan nodded slightly, glanced at everyone, and clapped his palm, making a crisp sound: "Everyone!"

  "You all should have a clear idea of where the beasts usually hide around the town over the past few days. Now, you just need to draw out these hidden areas and hand them over to me. I'll lead people to drive away these beasts tomorrow!" Xia Yan said, taking out the white paper and brush that had been prepared in advance. "By the way, the location of that Phantom Wolf must be accurate!"

  Being able to kill or drive away the Phantom Wolves is the key. As long as this group of beasts doesn't have a leader, they will quickly disperse and flee.

  "What?"

  "Huh?"

  Several people who heard Xia Yan's words were stunned and looked at him in surprise.

  "Hmph, big talk is cheap!" After a moment, the man with an air of mystery glanced at Xia Yan and said in a low voice.

  Although Xia Yan is the steward of the Xia family, he really doesn't give Xia Yan much face! In his opinion, perhaps he thinks that even if he offends Xia Yan, Xia Yan can't do anything to him.

  Xia Yan furrowed her brow and glanced at him without saying a word.

  Xiahou Sheng looked at the eccentric man with dissatisfaction and scolded, "If you speak nonsense again, you will be punished with a stick." Then, he turned to Xia Yan with a sarcastic smile and said, "Xia Yan, please don't take offense. That... we have drawn a map of the distribution of wild beasts, do you really have confidence in driving them away?"

  In Xiahou Sheng's heart, he had already thoroughly regarded Xia Yan as that kind of person who talks big but doesn't leave any leeway. However, Xia Yan was after all the emissary sent by the main branch of the Xia family, so Xiahou Sheng naturally didn't dare to openly offend him.

  "Hmph, you little brat. Whatever you say, we'll do it, let's see how you end up in the end. Anyway, even if things get messy, it has nothing to do with me. If the clan leader wants to blame someone, they can't put it on my head." Xiahou Sheng thought to himself, looking at Xia Yan with disdain while still keeping a smile on his face.

  Xia Yan didn't bother to respond and said directly, "Alright, time is pressing, everyone just bear with it for now! As for whether we can repel the beasts, I also don't have full confidence."

  He pointed to the white paper spread out, Xia Yan's eyes flashed, took a deep breath and said: "Everyone wants to draw with all their heart, draw more details, as well as the approximate number of wild beasts, must be clear. If someone provides incorrect information, don't blame me for being ruthless when the time comes!"

  Suddenly, Xia Yan, who was originally as ordinary as a person, became murderous and stern. His gaze swept across Xia Hou Sheng and several others, causing them to tremble all over, with a sense of horror emerging in their hearts.

  "It's fortunate that you haven't become arrogant to the point of thinking you're the best in the world!" Xiahou Sheng recovered from his shock and secretly muttered a sentence, then smiled and said, "Xia Yan, let me go first. That Phantom Wolf appeared at the north side of the Xia family estate yesterday!"

  As he spoke, Xiahou Sheng picked up his brush and began to draw quickly. Soon, the entire terrain of Huang Ye Town appeared on the white paper.