"No, no, no, don't come any closer! I already said I'm not going out!" In the dim light, a small gray ball of fluff darted around.

"You have no idea how terrifying the mountain goddess of the desolate mountains is. She destroyed the goddess of fertility in an instant!"

"How could someone like me, who isn't good at attacking, possibly deal with it? I even smelled a demon hunter nearby the other day, how terrifying! That guy must have discovered me, I'm not going out! I don't want to eat children!"

"Are you sure?" Shi Quan walked in, holding a compass.

"If you disobey, I'll turn you into a demonic artifact, trapping you inside forever and subjecting you to constant torment!"

"No, no, don't come any closer! If I eat, I'll be discovered and instantly killed!" The little gray ball of fluff ran away even faster, as if it had installed wheels of fire on its legs.

"Quanzi, I've brought everyone here!" came an old voice from outside the door.

With a slam of an iron gate, a dozen or so children were forced inside.

"Master, Master, where are you? I don't want to become smarter anymore, please let me leave."

"Master, your disciples are frightened! Please come and save us!"

"Master, I don't want to learn anymore, please let us go home!"

"Master Shi, I don't want to become the top scholar anymore. Can I ask my parents to take me back?"

A group of children were just pushed in and realized something was wrong, crying and shouting loudly.

"Shut up!" Shi Quan roared at the group.

"It is your honor to meet the true God of Literature, so why are you crying?"

"Eat them quickly!" Shi Quan turned to look at the black demon again.

"No, I can't! The demon hunters will find out! Don't force me, I... I'll bite!" The little dumpling ran around frantically.

"It's all your fault! You were too slow. Otherwise, my son would have passed the imperial examination long ago and I would have taken him to the capital!" Shi Quan's eyes were red.

His second reason for coming here was, of course, for his eldest son.

The God of Literature is too weak; over the years, he has only produced two top scholars from Shijia Village.

One was my second uncle, and the other was my second uncle's youngest son, Shi Guang.

Only by consuming more humans can these evil spirits become more powerful. However, this guy is far too cowardly and incapable of shouldering great responsibilities!

Shi Quan decisively took out a string of ancient bells and rang them in the direction the gray ball of fur had fled.

The little dumpling, who was just a moment ago lively and energetic, suddenly lost all its strength and could only lie on the ground panting.

"Don't be afraid, we've set up demonic artifacts here to isolate your demonic power. No demon hunter can detect your presence. Hurry up and eat these guys!" he roared.

"Dad, Mom, save me!" A group of children cried out in fear.

"Quanzi, Xiaoguang has returned with his men. Let's go and greet him. This is the first time he's come back to our village since he became the county magistrate!" The thick iron gate was opened, and a man walked out with a joyful expression.

Shi Quan then returned to normal. He gave the gray ball a warning look, straightened his clothes, and then went out, telling someone to lock the door tightly.

"Xiao Guang, it really is you! You've been the magistrate of Huang County for so long and haven't come over. We thought you'd forgotten about us!"

"Shi Guang, you've really made something of yourself! You've become the magistrate of Shi County and brought so many people with you. Don't forget us when you get promoted!"

After Xu Rurong entered Shijia Village, she heard a group of people greeting her.

"Xiao Guang, do you remember who I am?" Shi Quan composed himself and walked over with a smile on his face.

“Of course I remember, you’re my eldest cousin!” Xu Rurong winked at him.

"And who is this one?" Shi Quan pointed to the village head next to him.

“Of course it’s my third uncle. He’s been the village head for so many years, it’s been a very hard job!” Xu Rurong said matter-of-factly.

Next, Shi Quan randomly asked a few more people, and Xu Rurong answered them all correctly without revealing any flaws.

"Cousin, you've only just gotten back, and you've already interrogated me for so long. I feel like my reputation as the top scholar is all fake?"

"That's going too far! It's only been a short time since I left. How could I possibly forget my third uncle, fourth aunt, and seventh aunt?"

"Since you haven't forgotten, why haven't you come to visit Shijia Village for so long?" Shi Quan's expression relaxed slightly.

“Cousin, you have no idea how difficult it is to be a county magistrate. Those guys are making things difficult for me at every turn, leaving me with just an empty shell. If it weren’t for Father’s great cause, I would have quit long ago!” Xu Rurong complained.

"Now that I've taken up the position of county magistrate, I have to show some ability to gain their trust, right? That's why I've been too busy lately and haven't had a chance to come back and visit."

"That's true. You've just taken over as county magistrate, so you're certainly very busy." Shi Quan's voice softened considerably.

"In that case, let's have a good drink together!" Xu Rurong glanced at the direction of the ancestral hall without showing any emotion, then turned back to her smile.

"Okay, let's go have a couple of drinks!" Shi Quan agreed, thinking that the group of children couldn't escape no matter what.

Meanwhile, Xia Yan had already used her wall-penetrating magic to lead a group of people underground to the ancestral hall.

"So there's a building underground in Shijia Village, no wonder we couldn't find it before," someone remarked.

"This is..." Xia Yan looked up and found a group of children huddled in the corner of the room, all of them trembling.

"They definitely want to feed these children to evil spirits, it's absolutely despicable!" Cui Ying slammed her hand on the wall.

When Cui Ying was investigating the Goddess of Fertility, she had already witnessed the tragic scenes of those pregnant women. Now, seeing these children, she wished she could burn the evil spirits that were secretly causing trouble to ashes!

"Wait, Madam Cui, don't be in such a hurry!" Xia Yan quickly said.

"Take a look at this little thing, isn't it that evil spirit?" She pointed to the small gray ball of fur in the corner that was also trembling.

"You, you guys, don't eat me! Waaaaah!" The gray ball shrank even further, wishing it could just disappear into the crack.

The group of people who had sneaked in looked at each other in bewilderment.

This is the cunning and treacherous one from Shijia Village who hid for decades without anyone discovering his evil nature.