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

Where there is plunder, there will be resistance.

Unfortunately, this is a world of cultivators, where absolute strength can crush any resistance.

The sects control more than 90% of the resources in the cultivation world.

It is simply impossible for independent cultivators to surpass a sect with less than 10% of the remaining resources.

During the recruitment of rogue cultivators, those from the Heavenly Demon Sect's territory caused the most trouble, yet they were still almost completely wiped out under the thunderous strikes of the Heavenly Demon Sect's Golden Core elders.

In addition, regarding the resistance groups in the areas under the jurisdiction of Xuan Yang Sect and Yu Shen Palace, the two sects simply issued recruitment orders and bribed the leaders of these groups, quickly gaining control of the resistance groups.

The lower-level cultivators probably never understand, even until their deaths, who they are working for, or whose words are the truth.

The recruitment of independent cultivators is in its third month.

The Demon Wolf Legion has grown to 23,000 members.

These rogue cultivators were then successfully sold by Chen An and Yu Peiyao in exchange for resources.

Yu Lanhua received orders from her sect to go to other battle groups, taking three thousand people with her.

Lu Nian then left, taking two thousand people with him.

Of the remaining 18,000 people, 10,000 were transferred away by the Yu family.

The Shangguan family transferred 5,000 people away.

The two Foundation Establishment cultivators who had recently joined, Zhang Kui and Zhang Qingtian, were unable to find any Golden Core seniors in the team, so they chose to leave the team with their family members and join other teams of the Xuan Yang Sect.

Within just three days, the entire Demon Wolf Legion was reduced to only three thousand people, and most of the remaining members were independent cultivators.

Chen An now had access to a large amount of resources, and from this moment on, he possessed real power.

Fortunately, the vice-captains and some squad leaders chose to stay.

The elite demon-hunting team also preserved the lifeblood of fifty people.

Foundation Establishment cultivators Liu Hao and Zheng Ping stayed behind as agreed upon with the Foundation Establishment Pill.

Ye Hongyi could have left; she could have gone with the Yu family or gone to find Yu Lanhua. But in the end, she chose not to leave and stayed with the group.

It was only then that Chen An noticed that Ye Hongyi's favorability towards him had somehow increased to fifty-three.

Ye Hongyi stood on the observation platform. Below the platform were countless empty houses. After a large number of independent cultivators left, weeds grew in the courtyards.

Ye Hongyi stared blankly at it; she had been standing there for a long time.

She didn't know when it started, but she felt like she had joined the group. The exchange meetings every three days were very beneficial to her, allowing her to learn about the cultivation world from various angles.

Ye Hongyi felt that she was no longer a rogue cultivator, but a member of this group.

Yu Lanhua, Lu Nian, and two other Foundation Establishment cultivators from the Zhang family whom she hadn't spent much time with all left, which suddenly brought her back to her senses.

Ye Hongyi asked Chen An, "Fellow Daoist Chen, aren't you angry?"

Chen An asked, "What are you angry about?"

Ye Hongyi said, "Fellow Daoist Chen originally had more than 23,000 men under his command, but now 20,000 have been taken away, leaving only 3,000, and more than half of them are old and weak. Doesn't Fellow Daoist Chen feel regret?"

This is typical of a rogue cultivator: they believe that what they have in their hands is theirs, and anyone who dares to take something from them is considered an enemy.

Chen An could understand Ye Hongyi's thoughts. She was born into a family of rogue cultivators, experienced the destruction of her family, and later went to the Heavenly Demon Sect to live as a refugee.

She is very strong, but she is ultimately just a girl in her early twenties.

During the formation of the Demon Hunting Team, Ye Hongyi did a lot for the team and made many sacrifices. Now that war is about to break out, most of the members of the Demon Hunting Team have left.

Yu Lanhua and Lu Nian, the two Foundation Establishment cultivators with the highest cultivation levels, do not belong to the Demon Wolf Hunting Team.

Ye Hongyi asked Chen An if he was angry, but it was more accurate to say that she herself was angry and wanted to get an answer from Chen An.

Chen An replied, "There's nothing to be angry about. The reason why rogue cultivators are willing to join the demon-hunting team is because of the reputation of the Golden Core family or the reputation of the elite demon-hunting team. It has nothing to do with me."

"Fellow Daoist Ye, do you perhaps think that now that I've become the captain of the demon-hunting team, everything in the team belongs to me?"

"I broke through to the Foundation Establishment stage less than a year ago, and I originally had nothing. Now everything is already very good."

"As for Fellow Daoist Ye, you have successfully escaped a life-or-death calamity. Shouldn't you be happy?"

Ye Hongyi was stunned. She had been in the demon-hunting team for almost half a year, and her life had been smooth sailing ever since, which made her think that she should be high and mighty and order her subordinates around.

She almost forgot her original intention: not to gain more power, but to survive and become stronger.

"Yes, I should be happy."

Everything a cultivator in a sect belongs to the sect, including the lives of its disciples, which can be decided at will by the sect's higher-ups.

If the disciples behave well, they are given a piece of candy; if they behave poorly, they are given a beating; if a disciple is rebellious, he is beaten to death with a beating.

Just as the world of rogue cultivators has no shortage of rogue cultivators, sects also have no shortage of disciples; they are simply recruiting those at the bottom who can be exploited.

Before Chen An planned to leave the sect to become a rogue cultivator, he would not have shown any rebelliousness. Moreover, now that he is an exploiter who has obtained a lot of resources, there is no reason for him to rebel.

The wind picked up, and Ye Hongyi's red outfit fluttered in the wind like flames, reigniting the fighting spirit in her previously dim eyes.

Ye Hongyi's favorability rating has increased to 55.

Chen An seized the opportunity, thinking that Ye Hongyi's mindset had wavered and that he could further increase her favorability. So he continued, "If your heart is free, the world is free; if your heart is imprisoned, the world is full of restrictions."

"Why do you think so much, Fellow Daoist Ye? Focus on improving your cultivation. When you are strong enough, if you have any displeasure in your heart, just cut it off."

"Our current unhappiness stems from our lack of strength; others cannot hear our voices and do not care about our thoughts."

Ye Hongyi turned around, stared into Chen An's eyes, and said seriously, "You are right. I should be glad that I did not join the Xuan Yang Sect. Otherwise, someone like me would be easily seen through by those big shots."

"If I had no one to rely on in the sect, I might not have understood why I died until the very end."

"Was my disguise really that fake?"

Chen An said softly, "It's alright. It's enough for a rogue cultivator, but not quite enough for a sect cultivator."

There is no mutual trust among independent cultivators; all that matters is the exchange of benefits.

It's different among cultivators in a sect. In a sect, one needs to join some small groups to gain trust, and one needs to gain the trust of elders and seniors. Sometimes, one also needs to trust others.

If a crisis of trust arises within a sect, then that disciple's life may not be as good as that of an independent cultivator.

Ye Hongyi's behavior could easily lead to a crisis of trust.

For example, disciples who reveal their opportunities will definitely be targeted until they fully reveal their opportunities, or until they have enough cultivation to protect them.

Ye Hongyi reached the Foundation Establishment stage before she was thirty years old. It is estimated that many people have investigated her. Her Heavenly Spiritual Root talent could not have been hidden, otherwise there would be no way to explain how she could break through to the Foundation Establishment stage so quickly and possess such great strength.

So what if you have a Heavenly Spiritual Root? If you're unwilling to marry into a Golden Core family, you'll never receive any resources from the sect.

If Ye Hongyi hadn't been with the Yu family's group at the moment, many people would have approached her, making various promises to force her to comply.

"Chen An, let's become Daoist partners. I think we're a good match. Only by following someone like you can my talent go further."

"Otherwise, I might really die. I'm terrified of dying."

The wind stopped, and it was very quiet all around. There were no birds chirping or insects chirping.

A quarter of an hour later, shouts from afar broke the silence, followed by a commotion. It turned out that the new elite demon-hunting team had returned from their demon hunt, and the demon hunters were cheering and jumping for joy all the way, clearly having made a great haul.

Since the news of the war arrived, they had not laughed happily for a long time.

Chen An said, "Let's take a concubine. I can't become your Daoist partner. You should know my situation. I'm already tied to the interests of the Yu family, and there's no way to separate us."

"If we were to become Daoist partners, certain members of the Yu family would be displeased, and we might both die."

Ye Hongyi agreed, "Alright, anyway, everyone in the group thinks I'm your concubine, so this is just to confirm my status as a concubine."

After saying that, Ye Hongyi imitated Wang Qian and threw herself into Chen An's arms. However, the moment their bodies touched, she trembled and instinctively felt a sense of resistance.

Chen An reached out and gently patted Ye Hongyi's back, comforting her as if she were a child.