Immortality and cultivation begin at age forty, starting with Foundation Establishment.

The arrival of the Golden Core expert did not disrupt the normal operation of the demon-hunting team.

The demon-hunting operation by the demon-hunting team continues.

After two months of adjustments, the number of members in the elite demon-hunting team was reduced to around 150.

Within two months, the elite demon-hunting team hunted down second-tier demon beasts multiple times, bringing huge benefits to the entire team. At the same time, they cleared the dangers around the base, allowing ordinary members of the team to explore the deeper demon beast mountains.

The demon-hunting team's harvest became increasingly abundant, with rare materials being sent back every few dozen days on average.

The Demon Wolf Hunting Team has officially made a name for itself in Qingyang Market.

Chen An and the other Foundation Establishment cultivators only need to take turns following the elite demon-hunting team to hunt demons to prevent any accidents.

The demon-hunting team no longer needs Foundation Establishment cultivators to venture out and hunt down second-tier demonic beasts.

The elite monster-hunting team's coordination in hunting second-tier monsters became increasingly seamless, and the casualties in each monster hunt were decreasing. On one occasion, only ten people were seriously injured, and no one died.

With the decrease in the number of second-tier monsters in the surrounding area, some ordinary monster hunting teams can now be seen at the rear base of the Demon Wolf Monster Hunting Team.

During this period, Liu Hao successfully entered the Foundation Establishment realm and reported to the Monster Beast Mountain Range.

Wang Rulong remains in seclusion.

Liu Hao's successful Foundation Establishment gave a strong boost to the sect disciples who had previously participated in the demon hunting team, making them understand that following the demon hunting team this time was not just for earning spirit stones and gaining practical combat experience.

If they can gain the approval of Chen An and other Foundation Establishment cultivators, they might even have the opportunity to enter the Foundation Establishment realm.

Deputy Captain Yan Gang had already reserved a Foundation Establishment Pill in advance based on his merits.

Liu Feng and Zhu Zizai regretted not taking charge of forming the elite demon-hunting team, which left them both in a limbo.

However, as vice-captains, they will definitely rank ahead of other sect disciples when the demon-hunting team has quotas for Foundation Establishment Pills in the future.

As for the dozens of squad leaders, unless they personally lead their teams to obtain a great opportunity, they will definitely be ranked after the vice-squad leaders if they want to acquire Foundation Establishment Pills.

The other sect disciples did not consider themselves inferior to the vice-captains or squad leaders. The reason they had been slacking off before was because they could not see any benefits for themselves and therefore did not want to take any risks.

Once they saw the hope of Foundation Establishment, they all began to show off, using the advantages of sect disciples to recruit independent cultivators to explore the Monster Mountain Range.

The independent cultivators were also very excited. They received news that Wang Pu, who had obtained a substandard Foundation Establishment Pill a few months ago, had a son named Wang Jing who was already trying to establish his foundation in Qingyang Market with that pill.

Sect cultivators and independent cultivators alike have a chance to obtain Foundation Establishment Pills.

Where there is hope, there will be people who will fight desperately; where there is people who fight desperately, there will be a continuous stream of resources being extracted from the depths of the Monster Mountain Range.

Just when everything was moving in a positive direction.

The news brought by Senior Jin Dan, Yu Qingchen, shattered the beautiful dream that the demon-hunting team had given everyone.

War is about to begin.

They need to recruit more independent cultivators in Qingyang Market immediately to prepare for future battles.

Yu Lanhua was the first to know the news.

She spread the news to Chen An, Lu Nian, and Yu Peiyao.

According to Yu Qingchen, the expansion of the demon-hunting team should not focus on quality for the time being, but rather on increasing the quantity.

Except for the elite demon-hunting team, which was still hunting demons, all the other demon-hunting teams were assigned to carry out the plan to recruit new demon hunters.

For recruiting a new Qi Refining Level 6 rogue cultivator, the recruiter receives 60 spirit stones; for recruiting a new Qi Refining Level 7 rogue cultivator, the recruiter receives 70 spirit stones, and so on. For recruiting a new Qi Refining Level 12 rogue cultivator, the recruiter receives 120 spirit stones.

If a Foundation Establishment cultivator can be recruited to join the Demon Wolf Hunting Team, the recruiter will receive 10,000 spirit stones.

All independent cultivators who join the demon-hunting team can enjoy the basic benefits of the team and receive a month's worth of cultivation resources in advance.

Within Qingyang City, there are over 200,000 Qi Refining stage cultivators. In addition, the various small towns and families established around Qingyang City bring the total number of Qi Refining stage cultivators to nearly 500,000.

With the generous reward, the recruitment of the demon-hunting team went very smoothly, with one or two thousand rogue cultivators arriving at the Demon Wolf Demon-Hunting Team's base from all directions every day.

At the same time, the Demon Wolf Hunting Team was not the only demon hunting team recruiting independent cultivators; other top-tier demon hunting teams were also recruiting.

Starting on the third day, all the demon-hunting teams in Qingyang Market, as well as all the other forces, began their recruitment plans.

Some clever rogue cultivators noticed something was wrong, but it was too late for them to escape. The Qingyang Sect had set up checkpoints in various places, requiring a large amount of spirit stones to pass through.

At the same time, news also spread that all forces in various regions of the Jin Kingdom were recruiting rogue cultivators.

Unless they can escape from the State of Jin, it doesn't matter where they go.

The fear of war began to spread.

The Xuan Yang Sect's reputation as a righteous sect is still very useful. In times of great turmoil, most rogue cultivators tend to move closer to the Xuan Yang Sect's territory.

Those independent cultivators who had already joined forces were also trying to find out more about the Xuan Yang Sect from the sidelines.

There are occasional rumors of war, but no one knows the specifics of how the war will be fought or who the enemy will be.

The three major sects of Jin Kingdom—the Heavenly Demon Sect, the Jade God Palace, and the Heavenly Demon Sect—all had recruitment plans for rogue cultivators before the Xuan Yang Sect, but the number of rogue cultivators recruited by the two sects was far less than that recruited by the Xuan Yang Sect.

Even every day, independent cultivators spend a large amount of spirit stones to pass through checkpoints to reach the territory of the Xuan Yang Sect.

Some people who had nowhere else to turn also began to band together, joining families, demon-hunting teams, independent cultivator groups, and various forces in the market.

Most of the independent cultivators on the land of Xuan Yang Sect have actually joined Xuan Yang Sect.

In just half a month.

The Demon Wolf Hunting Team has expanded to 15,000 people, with three new Foundation Establishment cultivators added.

One of them was Wang Jing, the son of Wang Pu, who successfully broke through to the Foundation Establishment realm.

The other two were Zhang Kui and Zhang Qingtian, two Foundation Establishment ancestors from the Zhang family, a clan of independent cultivators.

The reason why the two elders of the Zhang family chose Chen An and his demon-hunting team was because the Zhang family had a perception-type magic treasure. They knew that there was a hidden Golden Core stage senior in Chen An and his demon-hunting team.

The Demon Wolf Hunting Team has been officially renamed the Demon Wolf Warband and has been recognized by the sect.

Meanwhile, Chen An, Yu Lanhua, Lu Nian, and Yu Peiyao, as the actual controllers of the Demon Wolf Legion, were rewarded by the sect, and each of them received a large amount of resources.

Lu Nian finally completed the top-grade magic weapon that the Yu family had been working on. Lu Nian named the magic weapon "Burning Heaven Cauldron", a treasure that suited him perfectly.

Chen An sensed a dangerous aura from the Burning Heaven Cauldron. Although this cauldron was only a top-grade magic weapon, the pressure it released under Lu Nian's perfect control was no less than that of a magic treasure.

Magical treasures are stronger than magical implements, but if a cultivator has a magical implement that is perfectly suited to them, it will definitely not be weaker than an ordinary magical treasure.

Just like the Soul-Chasing Nail obtained from the Golden Core storage bag, it is indeed a very powerful magic weapon on the surface, but none of the Foundation Establishment cultivators are willing to pay the price to obtain it.

The Soul-Chasing Nail is suitable for too few people, and Chen An and others are not among them. Forcing its use will at most unleash power surpassing that of a top-grade magic weapon.

For the sake of a slight increase, you'll easily become a sitting duck on the battlefield. It's better to use a magic weapon that suits your own abilities.