Family Cultivation: Rise of the Wilderness

Chapter 421 Compromise
Wang Su said threateningly, "So, the Li family doesn't want to talk about this business with us?"

Li Xiangming's face also darkened: "I need to correct one point. This batch of spiritual herbs is a collaboration between the Spirit Serpent Merchant Guild and the Shengyi Sect. I hope Elder Wang will stop talking about the Li family all the time. It's not my place, a junior, to make decisions about the Li family doing business with the Shengyi Sect."

Seeing that the two sides were about to start arguing again, Yu Feixuan quickly interjected, "What are you doing? Talk it out."

After a moment of silence, Wang Su slowly said, "One thousand three hundred spirit stones. Your Li family will have the Demon Hunting Guild cease its activities and allow Puyin Mountain to return to its former order."

"I request to pay the spirit stones in full at once."

"Impossible. At most, I'll give you a deposit of five hundred spirit stones. You can only get the rest of the spirit stones when your caravan delivers the spirit herbs to Shengyi Gate intact."

"Ha, what if your sect embezzles my spiritual herbs and refuses to pay the remaining balance? Who can I complain to?"

Are you questioning Shengyimen's credibility?

Wang Su roared angrily, clearly already impatient.

Li Xiangming turned his face away: "If your sect were trustworthy, I would have already received the spirit stones."

"you"

"oops!"

Yu Feixuan's head was throbbing with pain. He pleaded, "Gentlemen, please stop arguing! How about this: Elder Wang will pay five hundred spirit stones to Li Xian as a deposit, and the remaining eight hundred will be kept by Flying Fox Cave. I, Yu Liu, will act as the guarantor. What do you two think?"

Upon hearing this, neither Li Xiangming nor Wang Su said anything more.

Seeing that both parties had accepted, Yu Feixuan hurriedly urged them to expedite the handover of the spiritual herbs.

Li Xiangming received five hundred spirit stones and didn't linger on the matter. He immediately instructed Jiang Liang to arrange for a caravan to set off for Dai Mountain and dispatched the Golden Eye Demon Hunting Team to escort them.

Wang Su witnessed the loading and unloading of the medicinal herbs and the departure of the caravan, so he did not linger and returned to Daishan with Yu Liu.

Before leaving, he specifically sought out Li Xiangming and warned him, "Your Li family must handle the matter of the Demon Hunting Guild properly, or I won't let you off the hook, hmph."

Li Xiangfeng watched his retreating figure, cursed him as an old scoundrel, and then whispered to Li Xiangming, "Master, are we really going to restrict the activities of the Demon Hunting Guild? This move will probably provoke dissatisfaction among many demon hunting groups."

Li Xiangming fell into deep thought. Compared to the Puyin Mountain Guild Hall, Li Xiangfeng, the person in charge, clearly spent far more time and energy on the Demon Hunting Guild.

Wang Su's request for the Li family to restrain the Demon Hunting Guild was indeed well-founded.

While the Li family couldn't control every word and action of the demon-hunting groups, persuading some of the leading demon-hunting groups to abandon their gatherings and stop denouncing the two sects was a piece of cake.

However, this move puts them at odds with the vast majority of demon-hunting cultivators, making it a thankless task.

Li Xiangming didn't want to do this either. He didn't care before, since the demon hunters of Puyin Mountain came and went, and there were always so many of them. They were busy making a living for wealth and status, so why should the Li family stop them?
But now, the Li family is facing a threat from the Qin family. The demon-hunting cultivators of Puyin Mountain may be transformed into the Li family's fighting force. If they are lost again, wouldn't that weaken both sects?
Even if Li Xiangming hadn't specifically mentioned it, Li Xiangfeng could have guessed this. The Demon Hunter Guild's activity over the past few months was undoubtedly due to the covert efforts of the Golden Eye and Divine Wind Demon Hunter Groups.

Besides building up manpower, Li Xiangming also hoped to develop real estate in Monkey Valley and sell cave dwellings to demon-hunting cultivators.

Unlike other commodities, cave dwellings are not like individual items; everyone needs them.

Therefore, in Li Xiangming's eyes, every demon-hunting cultivator is a valuable source of spirit stones, and from any perspective, he does not want to reduce the scale of demon-hunting cultivators in Puyin Mountain.

However, the sales channels for spirit herbs are extremely important. Even if he sells a batch of spirit herbs worth five hundred spirit stones, he still has six batches of spirit herbs of equal value in stockpiles. Compared to the direct profits brought by spirit herbs, other factors suddenly seem insignificant.

It can only be said that Shengyimen struck right at his weak point.

After much deliberation, Li Xiangming slowly said, "Have the Taibai Restaurant remove the negative comments about Shengyi Sect. You should personally communicate with the Guild Hall and have them provide a list of valuable monster materials. Then, break them down and issue them to the Monster Hunting Guild as tasks. Remember, the tasks should be scattered and small, but there should be many of them, so that the monster hunters can focus their energy on the mountains."

Upon hearing this, Li Xiangfeng felt a pang of sadness.

Although the leader did not say it explicitly, it was clear that he intended to shut down the current activities of the Demon Hunting Guild, which would be a heavy blow to the prestige of the Golden Eye and Divine Wind Demon Hunting Groups.

Li Xiangming's words were not yet finished. He continued to instruct, "Xiangfeng, you must keep a close eye on those demon-hunting groups that are close to our Li family. Do not let them go to Daishan."

Currently, the Li family directly controls three demon-hunting teams: Golden Eye, Divine Wind, and Crimson Flame, while Li Xiangming controls the Mad Lion Demon-hunting Team and the Mysterious Cat Demon-hunting Team.

Among them, the Xuanmao Demon Hunting Team was a new demon hunting team secretly established by Long Yang under the direction of Li Xiangming.

Long Yang possesses the cultivation level of the Great Perfection of Qi Refining, and is a disciple of Fairy Shanyun. He is more capable in combat than Zhang Min, Mao Jingze, and others. As soon as he appeared on Puyin Mountain, he became famous.

With the spirit stones specially funded by Li Xiangming, Long Yang quickly built up the Xuanmao Demon Hunting Team in just a few months. Perhaps the Xuanmao Demon Hunting Team is not as numerous as the Mad Lion Demon Hunting Team, but in terms of individual combat strength, it is one of the best in Puyin Mountain.

In addition, Li Xiangming took advantage of Zhao Jindou's disappearance to personally win over Xu Buxiu's vicious dog demon-hunting gang.

In other words, he also has three demon-hunting teams under his command.

But that's not all. Li Xiangfeng and Li Xiangting have been busy these past few years. With the help of the Demon Hunter Guild, they have recruited a total of seventeen promising medium-to-large-sized demon hunter groups.

However, the beast-catching house was not wealthy, and Li Xiangfeng had limited resources at his disposal. To put it bluntly, he hadn't offered enough benefits, which was why he could only keep those demon-hunting teams hanging.

Nevertheless, the Golden Light Demon Hunting Team successfully merged with the Spirit Eye Demon Hunting Team some time ago, which is the result of the Beast Capture Room's efforts over the past few years.

Li Xiangming did not intend to let these efforts go to waste. The Spirit Eye Demon Hunting Team was just the beginning. He wanted to integrate all the demon hunting teams that were close to the Li family.

To achieve this, spirit stones are indispensable.

Every demon-hunting team is a money-devouring beast; demon-hunting cultivators risk their lives, genuinely demanding rewards. This is precisely why Li Xiangming places such importance on monetizing spiritual herbs.

Even before that, he had already embezzled Monkey Valley's funds.

From now on, the Taibai Restaurant, Baishengfang, Chunyilou, and other businesses in the valley will no longer be managed by the Li family, but will be solely under his control. In exchange, he must complete the task assigned by Li Qianxiong: to establish a formidable unofficial force for the Li family to deal with the Qin family's Tongbi Sect.

Li Xiangfeng was aware of the pressure the hall master was under, so he breathed a sigh of relief and replied, "I understand."

Li Xiangming nodded and patted him on the shoulder: "You've worked hard. Don't forget to cultivate in your daily life. You're already at the ninth level of Qi Refining, right? When you reach the Great Perfection realm, I'll give you a big gift."

Big gift?

Li Xiangfeng was filled with curiosity. He knew the hall master's personality very well. Even if hundreds or thousands of spirit stones were placed in front of him, they would not change his expression. What could this great gift be?
After speculating for a moment, Li Xiangfeng simply stopped thinking about it and didn't ask any questions—with his abilities, he couldn't possibly get any information from the hall master no matter how hard he tried.

But without realizing it, his steps as he followed Li Xiangming became a little lighter.

(End of this chapter)