THE YILING MATRIARCH

Chapter 2 : Disturbing the peace with a smile

Mo Village was, normally, a relatively quiet and peaceful place.

With the settlement not as large as other villages, violence and crime was almost unheard of, and was therefore a place of undisturbed peace- that is, until now. For In the span of one month, some kind of ghoulish spirit had made its way near their little home, and so far it had taken the lives of three unsuspecting innocents in that time period.

The first to be attacked had been an older man who had been tending to his cows. At first the townsfolk had believed a wild animal had wandered in to kill one of the cattle and the old man had been dragged off instead. The second was a woman walking home late from gathering water from the river, and many had simply thought she had fallen into the water and drowned. The third person to be taken was a rich man who had thought the presence had simply been a bandit breaking into his home, but this had been the one to alarm the townsfolk, as the man's body had been found brutally mutilated as if by a spirit rather than a human being.

Even though not much time had passed for anything too devastating, the latest individual who had been killed was enough to rally the townspeople to hire a team of demon-hunters from a distinguished Cultivation sect. Many who had heard the news were still buzzing, and many more had witnessed six figures dressed in white garments earlier that morning flying in the direction of the Mo family's estate on their spiritual swords.

Despite the buzzing over the news and the killings however, the streets were not at full activity since many were still asleep as it was not even the hour of the Dragon, but none could've imagined the ruckus that they would hear. Through the main square of the town, Mo Ziyuan and his serving attendant as they were chased through the sleepy little town by none other than the crazy elder child of the Mo Family, Mo Xiemei, who was riding on the back of a donkey like some sort of wild child and was chasing the two teens down the street as she held a bottle of wine in one hand despite the time.

Many on-lookers who knew the young woman's situation watched with pity in their eyes, knowing her madness came from her rough up-bringing by her own relatives that drove her insane, while others were annoyed that such a crazed woman was disturbing their peaceful evening. Watching until the up-kicked dust drifted into the distance, the market square returned to its undisturbed peace as if nothing had happened.

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Inside the Mo family's main gathering hall, an older woman whose previous beauty could still be seen past wisely given wrinkles was dressed in finery as she entertained a guest party of eight young men with compliments of their prowess and handsome youth. "I've heard the disciples of the Lan Clan of Gusu are great heroes, and here you are. Each one of you is so handsome, high-spirited, bright and brave. You all truly must be the cream of the crop!" The leader of the group, a young man wearing pure white robes and a white headband around his forehead slowly sipped the cup of water placed before him with effortless grace and a humble smile on his face.

This young man, Lan Yuan, his courtesy name being Sizhui, however was not comfortable with such high praise as of yet since he nor his peers had done anything. Hoping to direct the conversation away from the current topic, he set down the fine china and spoke in his best polite tone taught to him by his elders. "Madam Mo, you have told us that the ghostly plight you have been experiencing is a recent occurrence, am I correct?" The older woman nodded her head enthusiastically, setting to explain the situation and mentioning that only a few times had the undead creatures ventured into the village, resulting in other demon-hunters to come take care of the problem once the sun fell to the earth. She had heard them referring to the action as something that didn't make total sense to her, so the young man explained. "Madam Mo, Cultivators enjoy traveling while hunting demons, as they most often appear at night, thus calling it Night Hunting."