Immortal Venerable of the Beast Race

They had also killed late-stage first-order Demon Insects before, but none of those had been as formidable as this.

No wonder Ye Yutang's first reaction upon seeing the Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes was to run away, rather than exterminate the two of them.

This was after all the Purple Patterned Fire Centipede, ranked nine hundred and fifty-fifth; Spirit Insects with a ranking even higher must possess even more powerful Divine Skills.

The two Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes flapped their wings gently and chased after Xu Lei and his group of eight.

Before they got close, they each opened their massive jaws and spewed out more than twenty bowl-sized red fireballs, hurtling directly toward Xu Lei and the others.

Ye Yuqing raised her right hand, and two green-light-flashing Talismans flew out.

With two muffled sounds, the two green Talismans burst open, transforming into more than twenty foot-long green Wind Blades that shattered the red fireballs, sending shockwaves rolling.

A blue-light-flashing Talisman flew towards them, less than thirty feet away from the two Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes.

The two Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes each spewed out a thick red flame aimed directly at the blue Talisman.

The blue Talisman exploded, turning into a huge blue light sphere that enveloped the two Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes.

"Run fast, the Monster Trapping Talisman is just a first-order Talisman, it won't hold them for long,"

Ye Yutang urged.

Once Xu Lei incanted his spell, the Green Cloud Boat suddenly emitted a bright green light and accelerated.

Three days later, they safely returned to the marketplace.

This time it had indeed been dangerous, but the rewards were substantial.

They sold the Monster Beasts' bodies, the beehive, dozens of White Jade Bees, and even sold the Snow Cloud Fox to the Chen Family, along with the news about the Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes.

Information was also a kind of Cultivation Resource; if they couldn't kill the Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes, the Chen Family could.

In total, they gained three thousand Spirit Stones, a considerable sum.

The eight of them went to Qingzhu Courtyard. Xu Lei took out three thousand Spirit Stones and said, "I'll take seven hundred; Fairy Ye, Taoist Friend Sun, each of you five hundred; Taoist Friend Shen, two hundred Spirit Stones each for you."

"Taoist Friend Xu, you're taking seven hundred, and we're only getting two hundred—that seems too little, doesn't it?"

Xu Wen frowned as he spoke, understanding that as the team leader Xu Lei might receive more, but the difference was too great.

"Yes! We all risk our necks hunting Monster Beasts; you can take a bit more, but what we're getting is far too little."

Qin Qing added, as no one would consider money superfluous.

"Fairy Ye, what do you think?"

Xu Lei looked towards Ye Yutang.

"I've got no objections."

Ye Yutang was participating in the hunt to break through a bottleneck; getting five hundred Spirit Stones each was already a significant amount for them.

"What about you, Taoist Friend Shen?"

Xu Lei looked at Shen Long.

"No objections here either,"

Shen Long said calmly.

In the Cultivation Realm, strength dictated everything; earning two hundred Spirit Stones from a single trip to the mountains was satisfying enough for him.

Xu Lei turned to Xu Wen and Qin Qing, saying, "How much do you want?"

"Three hundred! Each of you four just need to give up one hundred, and that will suffice."

Xu Wen said.

"I can give you three hundred, but find someone else to team up with next time, don't come to me; I can't cater to you,"

Xu Lei said with a cold face.

"We spent Spirit Stones to buy that information; otherwise, could we have captured the Snow Cloud Fox? Without Taoist Friend Xu and Fairy Ye, we might have ended up dead at the hands of the Purple Patterned Fire Centipedes,"

Sun Yang said.

After a moment's hesitation, Qin Qing said, "Never mind, let it be two hundred; call on me again next time we form a team!"

The power of an individual is limited. Xu Lei might have been a bit greedy, but the intelligence he provided had indeed been accurate.

Xu Wen and Xu Wu exchanged a glance, then nodded.

"We were presumptuous. Two hundred it is then! Taoist Friend Xu, don't forget to include us in the next demon hunt!"

Xu Wen said politely.

"You said it yourselves, not me forcing you. I did demand a bit more, but investigating information costs spirit stones. Sometimes, when purchasing false information with spirit stones, there's nothing to do but chalk it up to bad luck."

Xu Lei snorted coldly, talking about his own difficulties.

"Alright, let's put this matter to rest and distribute the spirit stones!"

Sun Yang smoothed things over.

After dividing up the spirit stones, they had a brief chat and left one after another, with only Sun Yang and Xu Lei remaining.

"Taoist Friend Xu, we owe you big time for bringing Fairy Ye into the fold. Without them, our gains wouldn't have been so considerable."

Sun Yang said excitedly.

"It wasn't me who invited them; they wanted to join us themselves. They must come from notable backgrounds, and they're not weak. Don't provoke them."

Xu Lei said, remembering something and adding, "Who would've thought Xu Wen and Xu Wu would be thorns in our sides. If I had known, I wouldn't have invited them."

"They are merely at the fifth level of Qi Refinement. If they cause more trouble, we won't include them in going to the mountains anymore. What surprised me was Shen Long didn't get involved."

Sun Yang commented.

If Shen Long had also been dissatisfied with the allocation, settling the matter would have been difficult. There were plenty of cases where monster hunting teams disbanded over distribution issues. Finding new teammates would mean spending a considerable amount of time and energy on both the search and on team coordination.

"He's well-fed and his family isn't starving; there's no need for him to clash with us. Unlike Qin Qing, who still has a seven-year-old grandson to provide for. He even tried to borrow spirit stones from me last time, thankfully I didn't lend them to him."

Xu Lei analyzed, his tone shifting, "We made quite a haul this time. We can rest a while now and strive to maximize our strength as much as possible."

Sun Yang nodded in agreement.

After leaving Qingzhu Courtyard, Shen Long didn't get far before being caught up to by Qin Qing, who handed him fifteen spirit stones.

"Taoist Friend Qin, what do you mean by this?"

Shen Long asked.

"Here are the ten spirit stones back, and the extra five are for buying the insect eggs from you. Is that acceptable?"

Qin Qing said politely.

With two hundred spirit stones in his possession now, he felt quite confident.

Giving away the insect eggs that Qin Tianhe spent thirty spirit stones on for nothing to Shen Long would be a loss, so Qin Qing offered five stones to buy them back. In his calculations, Shen Long still profited.

"I've already sold them."

Shen Long refused, only accepting the ten spirit stones.

He couldn't possibly reveal to Qin Qing that he had already hatched the eggs. Qin Tianhe had failed to hatch them, while Shen Long had done it with ease. Attributing it to mere luck would be hard to believe.

He wouldn't expose the existence of the Spirit Control Tower over five spirit stones, now that he had over four hundred of them and was raising an Iron Tail Scorpion without issues.

"You sold them?"

Qin Qing was dubious and visibly disappointed.

Thinking of Qin Tianhe, he brightened up and strode toward his residence.

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

Upon returning home, Shen Long activated the soundproofing array, brought out the Spirit Control Tower, and infused it with mana.

An overpowering suction emerged, and Shen Long was drawn into the Spirit Control Tower, appearing beside a pond.

The Iron Tail Scorpion lay motionless at the edge of the pond.

Shen Long teased the Iron Tail Scorpion a bit to make sure it wasn't dead.

He mulled it over and decided to raise the Iron Tail Scorpion. It was not easy to detect hidden underground. Its downside was its somewhat weak attack, not quite on par with the Strange Bugs on the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect List.

The Jade Slip that listed the Heaven and Earth Exotic Insect List also included instructions on how to imbue Spirit Insects with restrictions for control and combat against enemies.

The Iron Tail Scorpion was merely at the initial stage of the first order and hadn't eaten since it was hatched, making it quite weak. Shen Long easily placed restrictions within it.