Dispute

They had killed late-stage first-rank insect monsters before, but none of those had been this formidable.

It was no wonder that Ye Yutang's first reaction upon seeing the Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes was to flee rather than attempt to exterminate them.

And this was only the Purple-Striped Fire Centipede, ranked nine hundred and fifty-fifth; spirit insects ranked even higher must surely possess even more terrifying innate abilities.

The two Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes flapped their wings lightly, giving chase to Xu Lei and his group of eight.

Before they even closed the distance, they opened their blood-red maws and each spat out over twenty crimson fireballs the size of bowls, hurtling straight toward Xu Lei and the others.

Ye Yuqing raised her right hand, and two talismans flickering with cyan light flew out.

With two muffled thuds, the cyan talismans burst open, transforming into over twenty cyan wind blades a foot long that shattered the crimson fireballs, sending waves of air rolling outward.

A talisman flickering with blue light shot forward, closing to within ten feet of the two Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes.

The two Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes each spat out a thick stream of crimson flame, aiming directly at the blue talisman.

The blue talisman burst, transforming into a massive blue sphere of light that encased the two Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes.

"Run! The Demon-Trapping Talisman is only a first-rank talisman; it won't hold them for long."

Ye Yutang urged.

Xu Lei channeled his magic formula, and the Azure Cloud Boat erupted with cyan light, accelerating its speed.

Three days later, they returned safely to the marketplace.

This trip had truly been dangerous, but the harvest was not insignificant.

They sold the monster carcasses, the honeycomb, and dozens of White Jade Bees, and sold the Snow Cloud Fox to the Chen Clan, along with the information regarding the Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes.

Information was also a form of cultivation resource; they could not kill the Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes, but the Chen Clan could.

They received a total of three thousand spirit stones, which was a massive sum of wealth.

The eight of them arrived at the Green Bamboo Courtyard, and Xu Lei took out the three thousand spirit stones, saying, "I will take seven hundred, the two Fairy Ye sisters and Fellow Daoist Sun will each take five hundred, and Fellow Daoist Shen, you all will receive two hundred spirit stones each."

"Fellow Daoist Xu, you take seven hundred while we only get two hundred? That's far too little!"

Xu Wen frowned as he spoke. Xu Lei was the team leader, so it was understandable for him to take a larger share, but the gap between them was far too wide.

"That's right! Everyone risked their lives to hunt these monsters. You can take a larger share, but what we're getting is just too little."

Qin Qing chimed in; no one ever complained about having too much money.

"Fairy Ye, what do you think?"

Xu Lei looked toward Ye Yutang.

"I have no objections."

Ye Yutang had participated in the hunt to break through her bottleneck, and receiving five hundred spirit stones each was a significant amount.

"Fellow Daoist Shen, what about you?"

Xu Lei looked toward Shen Long.

"I have no objections either."

Shen Long said calmly.

In the world of cultivation, strength dictated everything. He was quite satisfied with earning two hundred spirit stones for a single trip into the mountains.

Xu Lei looked at Xu Wen and Qin Qing and asked, "How much do you want?"

"Three hundred! If the four of you each contribute one hundred, that would be enough."

Xu Wen said.

"I can give you three hundred, but from now on, find someone else to team up with; don't come to me. I can't afford to cater to you."

Xu Lei said with a cold face.

"We spent spirit stones to buy that information; otherwise, would we have been able to catch the Snow Cloud Fox? Without Fellow Daoist Xu and Fairy Ye, we might have died at the hands of those Purple-Striped Fire Centipedes."

Sun Yang said.

Qin Qing hesitated for a moment before saying, "Forget it, two hundred is two hundred. Just make sure to call me for the next hunt!"

An individual's power was limited. Xu Lei might be a bit greedy, but the intelligence he provided was indeed accurate.

Xu Wen and Xu Wu exchanged a glance and nodded.

"It was our rashness. Two hundred is fine! Fellow Daoist Xu, please do call us for the next monster hunt!"

Xu Wen said politely.

"This is what you said, not me forcing you. I did take a larger share, but I have to spend spirit stones to gather information. Sometimes, when I spend stones to buy fake news, I just have to accept the bad luck."

Xu Lei snorted, speaking of his own hardships.

"Alright, let's put this behind us and divide the spirit stones!"

Sun Yang mediated.

The group divided the spirit stones and chatted for a while before leaving one by one, leaving only Sun Yang and Xu Lei behind.

"Fellow Daoist Xu, it's a good thing you invited the Fairy Ye sisters to join us. Without them, our harvest wouldn't have been this great."

Sun Yang said excitedly.

"I didn't invite them to join; they wanted to join themselves. They must have a background and aren't weak, so don't provoke them."

Xu Lei said, and remembering something, he added, "I didn't expect Xu Wen and Xu Wu to be such troublemakers. If I had known, I wouldn't have invited them."

"They are only at the fifth level of Qi Refining. If they cause any more trouble, we won't take them into the mountains with us. What I didn't expect was that Shen Long didn't get involved."

Sun Yang said.

If Shen Long were also dissatisfied with the distribution plan, this matter would be difficult to resolve. There are many examples of monster hunting teams breaking up due to distribution issues, and finding new teammates takes a lot of time and energy, not to mention the need to build chemistry all over again.

"He has no family to support, so there's no need for him to go against us. Unlike Qin Qing, who is still raising a seven-year-old grandson, he even tried to borrow spirit stones from me last time. It's a good thing I didn't lend them to him."

Xu Lei analyzed, then his tone shifted as he said, "We've had a good harvest this time, so we can rest for a while and improve our strength as much as possible."

Sun Yang nodded and agreed.

Shen Long left Green Bamboo Courtyard, and before he had gone very far, Qin Qing chased after him and handed Shen Long fifteen spirit stones.

"Fellow Daoist Qin, what is the meaning of this?"

Shen Long asked.

"Ten spirit stones are to pay you back, and the extra five are to buy back the insect egg from you. Is that alright?"

Qin Qing said politely.

He was now carrying two hundred spirit stones, so he felt quite confident.

The insect egg that Qin Tianhe had spent thirty spirit stones to buy would be a huge loss if just given to Shen Long like that. Qin Qing wanted to buy it back for five spirit stones; all things considered, Shen Long would still be making a profit.

"I've already sold it."

Shen Long refused, only accepting the ten spirit stones.

He couldn't tell Qin Qing that he had already hatched the insect egg. Qin Tianhe had never been able to hatch it, and for Shen Long to hatch it so easily—claiming it was just good luck would be hard for anyone to believe.

He wouldn't expose the existence of the Spirit Control Tower for the sake of five spirit stones. He now had over four hundred spirit stones, so he could afford to raise the Iron Tail Scorpion.

"Sold it?"

Qin Qing was half-doubting, his face full of disappointment.

He thought of Qin Tianhe, his face beaming with joy, and strode toward his residence.

He could now buy medicinal pills for Qin Tianhe, which would speed up his cultivation.

Shen Long returned to his residence, activated the Soundproofing Array, took out the Spirit Control Tower, and injected his mana.

A terrifying suction force emerged, and Shen Long was pulled into the Spirit Control Tower, appearing beside the pool.

The Iron Tail Scorpion lay at the edge of the pool, motionless.

Shen Long teased the Iron Tail Scorpion, confirming that it was still alive.

After much thought, he decided to raise this Iron Tail Scorpion. The Iron Tail Scorpion could hide underground and was not easily discovered, though its disadvantage was that its attacks were a bit weak, incomparable to the exotic insects on the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect Ranking.

The jade slip recording the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect Ranking included instructions on how to plant restrictions on spirit insects to control them in battle.

The Iron Tail Scorpion was only at the early stage of the first rank and had not eaten since hatching, so it was quite weak. Shen Long found it very easy to plant the restriction.