Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

To everyone's surprise, Wang Meng shook his head: "Not sure."

Ok?

Qu Ye asked doubtfully, "What do you mean?"

"I found the molted shell of a spirit worm and a few spirit fruit pits in a tree hole."

"I learned a few tricks from an old hunter in my early years, and I know that the shell of the Spirit Worm has fine patterns, like the veins of a leaf, so there's no mistake."

"However, only the insect shell was found; no adult insect was discovered."

After saying that, Wang Meng smiled and looked at Qu Ye, "What, kid Qu, are you interested in this?"

He didn't think of the queen bee as the reason, but assumed that Qu Ye wanted to hunt spirit worms to sell.

After all, the queen bee belongs to the Hou family. Who would use their own spiritual creature to feed another family's demon beast?

Little did they know that Qu Ye could not only control worker bees, but also take the opportunity to experiment with the functions of the animal skin book.

Qu Ye didn't hide anything, smiling shyly, "I am indeed quite interested. Uncle Wang, where is that tree hole you found?"

Wang Meng scratched his head and gestured on the map with his finger: "Look, it's in this old forest. After passing a dry stream, go east for two miles, and there's an old oak forest."

"However, you have never hunted demons before. If you really want to go, I will come to find you at noon tomorrow, and we will go together."

Qu Ye pondered for a moment.

"Is it just the two of us?"

"Hahaha, of course, compared to a group of people scheming against each other, I'd rather go into the mountains alone, even if the profits are less."

Wang Meng laughed heartily.

Qu Ye did not respond immediately, silently assessing the risks of going into the mountains.

First of all, Yumen Market is located in the southwestern hinterland of Yun Kingdom. There are demonic beasts in the mountains outside, but the strength of the demonic beasts is usually not very high, and even those at the late stage of Qi Refining are relatively rare.

Secondly, this trip into the mountains was not a aimless search, but rather a targeted location, so we didn't have to spend too much time there.

Finally, Wang Meng was experienced in hunting demons, had known him for many years, and he himself had many trump cards, so the risks were manageable.

After thinking it over, Qu Ye agreed to the operation.

"That's settled then. We'll meet here again at noon tomorrow. Go back and pack your things; it'll take three or four days to get there and back."

"I'm going back to the market now. Your aunt and Xiaobao are waiting for me to have dinner."

After saying that, Wang Meng strode away.

Qu Ye watched Wang Meng walk away before turning back.

He returned to the horse farm, found Hou Youde, and explained that he would be away for a few days and hoped that Hou could help look after Red Hare.

Hou Youde readily agreed, saying that he happened to have some free time and could help look after the child for a few days without any problem.

After resolving the Red Hare issue, Qu Ye returned to the courtyard, put the Iron Claw Crab into a bucket, and placed it in the Spirit Beast Bag along with most of the worker bees.

After doing all this, he sat cross-legged in the cultivation room, quietly awaiting the arrival of tomorrow.

.........

The next day at noon, Wang Meng was already waiting there.

He changed into clean clothes, with a small storage bag tied around his waist and a hunting bow on his back, but it had no magical power and was obviously an ordinary bow.

Upon seeing Qu Ye, he grinned and asked, "Want to go?"

"Walk."

After a brief exchange of pleasantries, the two walked north along the mountain path.

Wang Meng walked ahead with light steps, telling Qu Ye about the situation in the mountains as he went.

"This forest to the north is deep, and few people go there except for demon hunters."

Wang Meng pushed aside a clump of bushes and stepped aside to let Qu Ye pass. "There are quite a few demonic beasts inside, but most of them are low-grade first-level beasts. You can only occasionally encounter mid-grade ones."

Qu Ye nodded, keeping it in mind.

"I've heard that Yunyang Market, under the jurisdiction of Yunyang Sect, is located next to the Hengduan Mountains, also known as the 'Ten Thousand Mountains,' which are rich in demonic beast resources and even have legendary Golden Core Demon Kings. Unlike Yumen Market..."

When Wang Meng mentioned the interesting stories he had heard in the past, his expression was full of longing.

Golden Core Demon King?

Qu Ye's lips twitched.

Although he couldn't imagine the specific power of the Golden Core, with the Demon King in charge, the Hengduan Mountains were probably comparable to a dragon's den or a tiger's lair.

If the Spirit Worm were located in the Hengduan Mountains, Qu Ye would never go there.

At worst, I can just use a different monster for the experiment; it will just take a little more time.

"If I had the chance, I'd really like to visit Yunyang Market..."

Wang Meng was still sighing deeply.

The two walked for another half hour. The mountain path became narrower and narrower, and the trees on both sides became denser and denser, often reaching tens of meters in height.

Wang Meng slowed his pace and looked around, as if trying to determine the direction.

"This way." He turned into a side road, pushed aside the bushes blocking his way, and continued walking.

The woods were quiet, the ground was covered with a thick layer of dead leaves, which felt soft and gave off a damp, musty smell.

As they walked, the two extended their spiritual senses outwards, wary of any potential dangers they might encounter.

After walking for another half an hour, Wang Meng suddenly stopped, squatted down, and pointed to a mark on the ground.

Qu Ye leaned closer and saw several shallow grooves on the ground, as if something had been dragged there.

"These should be traces of a monster hunt," Wang Meng said in a low voice. "However, the traces are quite old, so we can't tell what kind of monster it was."

He shook his head, stood up, and continued walking forward.

Then, until the sun began to set, apart from a mortal wild rabbit that Qu Ye casually killed with a Gengjin sword technique along the way.

Neither of them encountered a single monster.

Wang Meng looked up at the sky:

"It's too risky tonight. Let's find a place to rest for the night and continue tomorrow."

The two found a flat clearing at the foot of a cliff, with rocks on three sides to block the wind and tree canopies overhead to provide shade.

Wang Meng took out several pieces of dry firewood from his storage bag, piled them together, and lit them with his spiritual fire.

The firelight illuminated the surroundings and dispelled some of the chill.

Wang Meng skinned and gutted the wild rabbit, then roasted it over a fire.

Then, he took out a dark object, crushed it into powder with his magic, and sprinkled it evenly around the camp in the wind.

Seeing Qu Ye's puzzled look, Wang Meng smiled:

"This is the excrement of a late-stage Qi Refining demon beast. It's very cheap and can intimidate demon beasts below the late stage."

After Wang Meng sat down by the fire again, the two remained silent for a while.

The rabbit meat fat dripped into the fire, the dry firewood crackled, and sparks flew into the air before quickly extinguishing the flames.

"Uncle Wang, weren't you worried about encountering danger when you went into the mountains alone before?"

Qu Ye took out two pieces of dried food made from spirit rice from his storage bag and handed one to Wang Meng.

Wang Meng didn't stand on ceremony, took the dry rations, took a bite, and said while chewing, "What's the use of worrying?"

"The income from that shop alone is far from enough to support the daily cultivation of the three of us. Now, your Aunt Chen is running the shop while I hunt demons, and the income is barely enough to get by."

Qu Ye remained silent, ate the dry rations, and took out his water bottle to drink a sip.

Wang Meng was silent for a moment, then turned the rabbit over to prevent it from burning, before speaking earnestly:

"Young Master Qu, do you remember when your Aunt Chen told you to save up spirit stones to find a good wife?"

Qu Ye nodded: "I remember, Uncle Wang."

"Don't listen to her. You're still young. Don't tie yourself down to your family. Focus on yourself, save up some spirit stones to break through and see what higher realms you can reach."

"Don't end up like me, almost fifty, completely losing the will to strive for better, and only able to pin my hopes for 'immortality' on the next generation."

Wang Meng gazed into the distance, his eyes filled with complex emotions.

"Everyone knows that such immortality is an illusion; how can it compare to reaching greater heights oneself?"

Upon hearing this, Qu Ye knew that Wang Meng's words came from the bottom of his heart, and quickly cupped his hands in greeting.

"I have learned a great deal."

Wang Meng waved his hand: "Alright, that's too cheesy. The rabbit meat is almost cooked. Qu, you can have the hind leg."

After saying that, the two picked up the rabbit meat in front of them and ate it with the spirit rice.