Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 137 Contradictions
After a few rounds of drinks, the atmosphere among Ge Yi and his group became increasingly lively, but Lü Mao and the others felt quite uncomfortable.

"Boss Lü, how about it?"

The fourth brother made a gesture, indicating that he was leaving.

Lü Mao nodded and got up to walk towards the vermilion gate of the tavern.

"stop!"

After walking a few steps, Ge Yi's deep voice rang out.

Lu Mao paused, turned his head, and asked in a deep voice, "Does Boss Ge have any further guidance?"

"Don't take advice seriously."

Ge Yi downed the strong liquor in his bowl, wiped his mouth, and grinned, "Lü Mao, you've had quite a haul these past two months, haven't you?"

Lü Mao replied calmly, "It's acceptable."

"Since it's still feasible, why not ship the goods together with everyone else?"

Ge Yi's expression hardened, and he slammed his hand on the table, his gaze piercing, revealing the pressure of a seventh-level Qi Refining cultivator, which made everyone present feel the pressure.

In an instant, all eyes in the tavern were focused on this small space.

Lu Mao remained calm, keeping his restless companions in check while replying, "Boss Ge is probably mistaken. I just delivered a batch of monster materials to our monster-hunting team last month."

Upon hearing this, Ge Yi narrowed his eyes and turned his head: "Wei Fei, is this true?"

Wei Fei was a lean young cultivator. Upon hearing the question, he quickly stood up, his eyes darting around as he stole a glance at Lü Mao: "It is true, but the things Brother Lü handed over were all worthless odds and ends."

These words sparked a great deal of discussion within the museum.

Outside Puyin Mountain, there are many demon-hunting groups. These groups are spontaneously formed by independent cultivators and are mostly inexperienced. However, they also follow some unwritten rules.

Among these, the sale of monster materials is particularly sophisticated.

Typically, the materials obtained by members of the demon-hunting team need to be collected, sold collectively, and then spirit stones are distributed according to each member's contribution.

The reason for doing this is that it is not easy for individual monks to find a suitable buyer on their own.

Imagine how devastating it would be to find that you can't sell the rare materials you've collected after risking your life, and instead they're being coveted by bandits.

The demon-hunting group is different; the larger demon-hunting groups can come into contact with many traveling merchants.

If this one isn't suitable, then move on to the next one; there's always someone to buy it.

But there's another problem: rare materials have no shortage of buyers, but what about ordinary materials?
It should be noted that most of what everyone has are ordinary materials of low value.

If everyone is left to sell on their own, even if they find suitable traveling merchants, they will only sell a portion of the materials that are easy to sell.

The rest will become unsaleable and turn into "waste".

This is an unacceptable loss for the demon-hunting team.

Therefore, the monster hunting group is accustomed to collecting the monster materials collected by its members together and selling them in a package.

What? You want to buy the rare materials inside?

Please buy the rest as well.

Perhaps some small-scale itinerant vendors have to consider the risks involved.

But larger itinerant merchants always compromise.

For them, even with ordinary materials, they can still make a profit as long as they keep the price low, although it's a bit more troublesome.

For demon-hunting groups, this unified practice of selling demon beast materials not only protects the interests of each member but also ensures the maximum utilization of resources, and has gradually become a rule that all demon-hunting groups must abide by.

If Lü Mao really hoarded rare materials, he would undoubtedly have broken the rules. Ge Yi took two steps closer, his eyes flashing with sharpness: "Lü Mao, your actions have caused the overall quality of the monster materials sold by the Demon Hunting Team to decline. Even Zhang Mazi took the opportunity to lower the price, and all of our profits have been reduced by 20%. What else do you have to say?"

Lu Mao's gaze was deep as he countered, "Since Zhang Mazi was trying to lower the price, why did Boss Ge insist on selling to him?"

The fourth brother couldn't help but chime in, "That's right, Zhang Mazi is a notorious vampire, and nobody wants to work with him, but Boss Ge is the only one they want to work with. Isn't there something fishy going on?"

Upon hearing this, the entire room fell silent.

"Zhao Tong, do you even have the right to speak here?"

Ge Yi gave the fourth brother a cold look.

The fourth brother gritted his teeth and didn't dare to reply. Ge Yi was not only the leader of the demon-hunting group, but also a Qi Refining Level 7 cultivator. He himself was only at the Qi Refining Level 5, and he couldn't withstand more than a few moves from the other party.

Seeing that the fourth brother had given in, Ge Yi snorted and said in a more serious tone, "Zhang Mazi was personally chosen by Boss Xie as a partner. The cooperation has been going smoothly for the past two years. What reason do I have to look for someone else?"

“That’s right, Zhang Mazi is a bit ruthless, but he always manages to take our goods and he’s quite reliable. In my opinion, Boss Ge made the right choice.”

At this moment, Wei Fei raised his voice in agreement.

“Zhang Mazi isn’t the only traveling merchant who can take our goods. Our brothers are all doing dangerous work, so they deserve to earn more.”

Lu Mao replied in a deep voice, but before he could finish, Ge Yi interrupted him sternly, "Shut up! I am the leader, and it is my business to choose who to cooperate with. You have violated the rules by privately reselling monster materials. How can you have the face to stay in our monster hunting team? How can you have the face to see Boss Xie?"

Ge Yi was furious and pointed at Lü Mao, giving him a good scolding.

Wei Fei and the others echoed his sentiments, accusing Lü Mao of being treacherous and breaking his promise, and the atmosphere became tense.

Lu Mao's face finally turned ugly. Recalling the harmonious time a few months ago, the stark contrast between their brotherly bond and their current antagonism was striking.

The "Lion" Demon Hunting Team is one of the earliest demon hunting teams to appear in Puyin Mountain. Starting with just a few people, it has gradually developed into a large demon hunting team of more than twenty people by pouring all of Xie Laoda's efforts into it and going through countless life-and-death trials.

However, after the peak comes decline.

During a campaign to exterminate demonic beasts, Xie Laoda was attacked by a butterfly demon and died suddenly and inexplicably. Of the cultivators who followed Xie Laoda, less than one in ten survived.

The sole survivor returned with the devastating news, causing turmoil within the demon-hunting group. However, he brought back Xie Laoda's "last words," which allowed Ge Yi to smoothly take over as the group leader.

Since then, Ge Yi has been determined to take back the men that Xie Laoda had assigned to Lü Mao.

However, Lü Mao did not believe the so-called "last words" and was unwilling to give up his power, and the relationship between the two gradually became strained.

The disagreement over selling materials from monsters, in particular, nearly caused the two to break up.

Lu Mao understood that Ge Yi deliberately chose to hold the conflict at the Monkey Tavern and in front of everyone in order to ruin his reputation and force him to leave the Lion Demon Hunting Group.

Since Ge Yi was so vicious, Lü Mao didn't hold back and replied in a loud voice: "Ge Yi, I won't go into the details of Boss Xie's matter with you, but since you took over as the leader, the Lion Demon Hunting Team has been declining day by day. You are addicted to wine and women and have no ambition. Every time we go into the mountains to hunt demons, I am the one who leads the team."

"The brothers risked their lives to fight for their hard-earned gains, but you sold them off cheaply to Zhang Mazi. Do you think I don't know that you're secretly colluding with Zhang Mazi to profit from it? You pocket the rebates and make a fortune every month, have you ever thought about your brothers?"

"In my opinion, you are even more ruthless than Zhang Mazi. At least Zhang Mazi had a clear price list, but you deceived the demon-hunting team and squeezed the brothers' hard-earned money. How dare you call yourself the team leader?"

As Lü Mao spoke, he became more and more agitated. Months of suppressed emotions erupted, and his indignation was palpable in his words.

The members of the demon-hunting team looked at each other in bewilderment; this was the first time they had ever seen Lü Mao lose his temper.

Lu Mao's words touched the hearts of many people present, and even Ge Yi's side fell into deep thought, their gazes shifting back and forth between the two former right-hand men of Boss Xie.

Ge Yi reacted quickly, immediately rebuking, "Nonsense! Lü Mao, how dare you spread rumors?"

If Lü Mao's words were to get out, not only would the Lion Demon Hunting Group be left without a place to stay, but he would also have nowhere to go in Puyin Mountain.

Eating the blood of one's own people is despicable no matter where one is.

(End of this chapter)