Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 185 Tavern
Every day at noon, the atmosphere at Taibai Restaurant is at its liveliest.

Dozens of diners who weren't in a hurry to go into the mountains gathered here, and suddenly a burst of laughter erupted among them.

The source of the laughter was a young man standing in front of the bar, his face showing a hint of determination and resentment as he pestered a member of the demon-hunting group who was getting a drink from the bar.

"Get out of my way and stop bothering me while I'm drinking."

The man was already impatient. He shoved Yang Yun aside, grabbed the bag, and left.

Yang Yun blushed and shouted, "Wait till I join the Demon Hunting Group, you'll be sorry!"

"Ha ha ha ha."

Another burst of shrill laughter erupted from the surroundings.

"Little guy, with your cultivation level you can't even touch the edge of a demon beast, yet you want to join the demon hunting team?"

A burly man with a full beard laughed and joked.

"Exactly, what if we end up becoming the monsters' dinner before we even manage to kill them?"

A thin young man next to him also joined in the teasing.

Hunting monsters is not a difficult task for experienced monster-hunting teams.

Each team has its own main combat members, while other members are responsible for different tasks such as surveillance, luring, setting traps, and distracting monsters. Everyone works together, and some people can even defeat a monster just by shouting encouragement. Most monster hunting teams will not hunt monsters that are beyond their strength.

Therefore, when recruiting new members, the demon-hunting team often does not only consider the level of cultivation.

After all, logistical tasks such as moving monster corpses and skinning and dismembering them also require manpower, and these trivial tasks cannot always be undertaken by the main force members who have just finished the battle.

Even cultivators at the second level of Qi Refining, like Yang Yun, still have a place in some small demon-hunting groups.

However, in addition to cultivation level, experience in hunting in the mountains is equally important.

An inexperienced novice could ruin a team's carefully planned demon-hunting operation with a momentary oversight or mistake, which is the main reason why no demon-hunting team is willing to accept Yang Yun.

After working hard for half a day, Yang Yun got nothing.

The members of the demon-hunting team did not directly refuse Yang Yun, but they made the scene comical with various jokes and teasing remarks.

Yang Yun's confidence was gradually eroded during this process.

A younger cultivator, seeing that everyone was just having fun with Yang Yun, said with a pang of sympathy, "Kid, if I were you, I would find a job in Changyang Valley to help the Li family take care of their spirit fields. That would be a hundred times better than going into the mountains to hunt demons."

“That makes sense. I heard that the Li family’s service institute is hiring again. If I get injured or disabled someday, I’ll go to that institute to retire.”

"Bah! They want respectable people. How many heads did you cut off when you were young? I heard you even injured some Bailumen people when you came from Dahuang Town. This Pu County is Bailumen's territory. Even the Li family has to listen to Bailumen."

Upon hearing "Bai Lu Men," the person who had spoken earlier changed his expression, lowered his head, silently drank his wine, and stopped participating in the conversation.

Yang Yun's expression was also not good. The vast Puyin Mountain had hundreds of demon-hunting teams, but not one of them wanted him.

Is it really only possible to help the Li family farm?
He wasn't against farming, but he had heard that the Li family was only willing to contract some of the less fertile spiritual fields to the Service Institute, and these fields could only grow spiritual rice that was easy to grow.

After a year of hard work, one can earn about ten spirit stones, and even get some spirit rice that one has grown.

With his Qi Refining Level 2 cultivation, it would be more than enough for his own cultivation if he didn't trade it.

However, he also has a younger sister who possesses spiritual roots. With the combined consumption of the two of them, the spiritual stones he obtains from farming are becoming increasingly scarce.

Joining the demon-hunting team makes a big difference.

According to market rules, cultivators in the early stages of Qi Refining can receive at least one spirit stone as a salary each month.

This alone is comparable to the income from farming.

Needless to say, when a demon beast is actually hunted, the guild leader will definitely distribute the demon beast materials; the more you hunt, the more you get. If you can hunt five or six demon beasts at once, you can earn almost one spirit stone. Even if you only have a harvest for seven or eight days a month, the accumulated spirit stones are quite considerable, much higher than the income from farming.

Of course, Yang Yun did not consider the risks and costs.

Since we are hunting demons, getting injured is inevitable.

Once injured, the spirit stones disappear like water flowing away.

In addition, the maintenance of elixirs, talismans, and magical artifacts all require the support of spirit stones.

Many members of the demon-hunting groups, despite having been in the mountains for many years, are barely managing to maintain their cultivation.

Moreover, members of the demon-hunting team, who spend their lives alongside demonic beasts, often find themselves lost and adrift in the outside world once they leave the team, even if they have accumulated some spirit stones. Without the appreciation of a sect or family, once their spirit stones are exhausted, they can only return to the demon-hunting team to pursue their cultivation path, repeating the same old routine until they die in battle.

The mountains are a paradise for independent cultivators, but also their inescapable fate. However, how could Yang Yun possibly understand any of this now?

Seeing that the demon-hunting team didn't want him, he gritted his teeth and shouted to Li Qiansu behind the bar, "The Li family is also going into the mountains to hunt demons, can you take me with you?"

Li Qiansu was stunned for a moment, completely unexpected that Yang Yun wanted to enter the animal trapping room.

Upon hearing this, the others burst into laughter.

"Is the Li family's animal trapping facility so easy to enter? This kid must have lost his mind."

The burly man with the thick beard shook his head repeatedly.

"I heard that the lowest cultivation level in the Li family's beast-catching facility is at least the fifth level of Qi Refining. Is that true?"

"Of course it's true, and these people are all very young. That pretty boy in charge is only in his early twenties, yet he has already reached the eighth level of Qi Refining. That's terrifying."

"So this is all the inner disciples of the White Dew Sect are capable of?"

Upon hearing this, the thin young man revealed with a mysterious expression, "Bai Shuheng, the senior disciple of the inner sect of Bailu Sect, is over forty years old and has only reached the ninth level of Qi Refining. He can't compare to the genius of the Li family."

Immediately, everyone was shocked.

Some countered, "Bai Shuheng only failed to establish his foundation. He reached the Great Perfection of Qi Refining before the age of thirty. The head of the Li family may not be able to reach the Great Perfection of Qi Refining before the age of thirty."

"That's true. The White Dew Sect also has more than one inner disciple who has already established his foundation. Zhao Sheng is quite famous. It is said that he even won a battle in the martial arts tournament held by the Hengyue Sect."

When the Bailu Sect and the Li family were mentioned, the rogue cultivators became very talkative and eloquent. They quickly began discussing the talented young people of the entire Pu County and even the two prefectures, sometimes belittling someone to the extreme while praising someone else to the extreme.

However, more than 80% of the topics discussed by these independent cultivators were incorrect.

Li Qiansu, who was not far away, found it amusing and turned to the young man in front of him: "Young friend Yang, the beast-catching facility has strict selection criteria and does not recruit cultivators at the second level of Qi Refining."

"I can do odd jobs, and I don't even need to be paid."

Yang Yun's face was full of determination.

Li Qiansu had no choice but to be frank: "Only members of the Li family are allowed to enter the animal trapping room."

Upon hearing this, Yang Yun looked unwilling: "Manager Li promised me that he would help me find a demon-hunting team."

"Who says it's not?"

Li Qiansu replied casually, not taking it seriously.

Just then, a middle-aged, burly man walked in through the door.

There were seven or eight people following behind him.

"It's the Mad Lion Demon Hunting Group."

"Weren't Lü Mao and his gang being hunted down by Ge Yi? How dare they swagger into Monkey Valley?"

"Does Ge Yi dare to make a move in Monkey Valley?"

“Monkey Valley is the Li family’s territory, so Ge ​​Yi naturally wouldn’t dare to act recklessly. But things will be different once we leave here. It remains to be seen whether Ge Yi can react in time.”

"It seems that Lü Mao has gained a few more men under his command."

"In this day and age, anyone who dares to join the Mad Lion Demon Hunting Group must be fearless."

"Look, there's another female cultivator!"

"That bastard Lü Mao, he's actually enjoying a life of luxury in the demon-hunting group."

Many people wore mocking expressions.

Listening to the discussions, Tang Xueyan remained unfazed. As a woman venturing into the cultivation world, she was used to encountering unpleasant things.

Chi Laiyong, however, glared fiercely at those malicious eyes.

"What are you looking at?"

Some people were unconvinced and stood up.

Before Chi Laiyong could speak, Ji Shilun rushed over and slapped the man across the face.

"You...you dare hit me?"

(End of this chapter)