Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

Hou Youde's Adam's apple bobbed, and his voice was hoarse: "Fellow Daoist Qu, I, Hou Youde, will remember your kindness today."

"You flatter me, Uncle De."

Qu Ye shook his head.

"I just wanted to ask you for some tips on raising horses, but I found you weren't in the yard. I remembered Hu Si's invitation to you yesterday, so I rushed over."

"If Hu Si is in good condition, I'm afraid..."

"No matter what, you saved me in the end."

At this point, Hou Youde suddenly remembered something: "Fellow Daoist Qu, there is a communication talisman in my storage bag, which is used to notify the family in case of emergency."

"I have lost all my magical power. Could you please help me activate it so I can send a message to my family?"

Qu Ye nodded: "Okay."

He took out Hou Youde's storage bag and began searching.

Soon, Qu Ye took out a specially made communication talisman from his storage bag.

"This is it."

Hou Youde took a breath and continued, "As long as this talisman is activated with magic power and a simple message is attached with divine sense, the family will sense it."

"You tell them... something happened at the horse farm, Hu Si set a trap, Zhao Haiqiong is dead, and you must send someone here immediately."

Qu Ye responded, held the communication talisman between his fingers, and slowly infused it with magical power.

The talisman paper quickly glowed with a faint light.

Immediately afterwards, as Hou Youde had instructed, he appended a brief message to it.

The next moment, the talisman hummed and turned to ashes.

The courtyard fell silent again. Hou Youde watched the talisman activate and let out a long breath.

"As soon as the family receives the message, someone will arrive by tonight at the latest."

Qu Ye nodded without saying anything.

Then, Hou Youde raised his head, looked at Qu Ye, and said in a weak but sincere voice:

"Fellow Daoist Qu, my dantian is now ruined, and I have no children. I really don't know how to repay you."

"I happen to have saved up more than forty spirit stones in that storage bag, so I'll give them to you as a token of my appreciation."

"As for magical artifacts, elixirs, and talismans, they are mostly distributed by the clan and need to be returned; I cannot make that decision."

"Uncle De, this..."

Hou Youde waved his hand, interrupting Qu Ye: "Over the years working at the horse farm, I've also accumulated a considerable amount of family wealth."

"Once the family members arrive, I will personally ask them to transfer a portion of my contributions to you."

"At that time, you can go to the Hou family's storeroom and choose a spell, or exchange it for other cultivation items."

"Consider it making up for those spiritual items and magical artifacts."

Contribution points!

Qu Ye's eyes lit up.

He had originally planned to use spirit stones to exchange for an offensive spell, and now that he had contribution points, it solved his immediate problem and saved him some money.

Moreover, spells obtained by exchanging contribution points are said to be more sophisticated than those purchased with spirit stones.

Qu Ye did not refuse and nodded, "In that case, I thank Uncle De in advance."

Hou Youde forced a smile.

"I should be thanking you."

At this point, as if remembering something, he added, "The clan has collected quite a few Qi Refining stage spells. Although they are not particularly profound, they are very practical."

"Your Qi Refining cultivation is at the fourth level. Don't focus your energy on particularly complex spells. Try your best to improve your cultivation level."

"I will consider it carefully, Uncle De."

Qu Ye cupped his hands in greeting.

As the two were talking, Hou Youde's breathing suddenly became erratic, his brows furrowed tightly, and cold sweat beaded on his forehead.

Clearly, the conversation he had just had taken its toll on him.

"Uncle De, stop talking for now, save your energy."

Hou Youde gave a bitter smile: "He really is useless now."

Qu Ye stood up, took out spirit stones from Hou Youde's storage bag, and then returned the storage bag to him.

After doing all this, the two fell silent and waited quietly for the Hou family to arrive.

……

An hour later, a very faint sound suddenly came from the distant sky.

Qu Ye looked up.

Several streaks of light could be seen on the horizon, rushing toward the horse farm.

Hou Youde also saw it and murmured softly, "The family has arrived."

Those beams of light arrived extremely quickly, landing in the horse racing field in just over ten breaths.

There were three people in total.

The leader, dressed in a gray robe, had a calm expression and a long beard. After landing, he glanced around and took in the entire scene in the courtyard.

This person was none other than Hou Fangping, an old acquaintance of Qu Ye.

He saw Qu Ye standing next to Hou Youde, and nodded to Qu Ye as a greeting.

The other two were a middle-aged man and a young man.

Qu Ye didn't recognize the middle-aged cultivator, but he had met the young man once before.

Hou Yanke was taken aback when he saw Qu Ye: "Fellow Daoist Qu, what are you doing here?"

Qu Ye sighed softly, "It's a long story."

Just as Hou Yanke was wondering, Hou Fangping's gaze fell on Hou Youde, who was sitting against the wall, and his face immediately darkened.

"Youde, what's going on?"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Hou Youde gave a wry smile and forced a bow: "Brother Fang Ping..."

When Hou Fangping saw that he couldn't even get up, and then looked at the shattered dantian, his eyes immediately turned cold.

"Who did it?"

"Hu Si".

Hou Youde, his voice hoarse, briefly recounted the events of the night.

From Hu Si's apology banquet to the hidden sleeping potion in the courtyard flower, to Zhao Haiqiong's death and his own dantian being destroyed, to Qu Ye's arrival to stop and chase after Hu Si.

After listening, Hou Fangping turned to Qu Ye: "Xiao Qu, what about Hu Si?"

Qu Ye pointed to the head on the ground: "This junior chased him into the mountains and killed him."

Hou Fangping glanced at Hu Si's unseeing head with a hint of disgust and ordered the middle-aged cultivator to step forward and verify it.

Hou Yanke, standing to the other side, couldn't help but glance at Qu Ye a few more times.

This person had already encountered a cultivator who had undergone a tribulation, and now he's gotten caught up in a battle between three other cultivators at the mid-stage of Qi Refining. He's really having a lot of bad luck.

However, since the opponent was able to kill his opponent twice, he must be no ordinary person. It would be good to befriend him in the future.

The middle-aged cultivator inspected the courtyard for a long time, then walked up to Hou Fangping, clasped his hands in greeting, and reported:

"Uncle Fang Ping, Zhao Haiqiong was beheaded by a sharp weapon, and Uncle Youde's dantian was severely damaged, indeed destroyed by a magical artifact. There are still faint traces of dispersing energy in the courtyard, though they are very faint, they can still be detected."

"Furthermore, these traces of combat are not faked; they should be the result of a fierce battle between the three."

Hou Fangping's face darkened further upon hearing this.

"What a Hu Si!"

"A mere spiritual henchman dared to set a trap and kill someone at the Hou family's horse farm."

After saying that, he went to Hou Youde's side, took out a pill from his storage bag, and made Hou Youde take it.

"Alas, Youde, your dantian is shattered. Even the ancestor couldn't help you. Try to take it easy."

Hou Youde forced a smile: "It's alright, Brother Fang Ping. You've lived enough for so many years."

"By the way, Brother Fang Ping, I have another request."

Hou Fangping nodded: "Tell me, as long as it doesn't harm the family's interests, I will try my best to satisfy you."

"I was able to survive this time thanks to Fellow Daoist Qu Ye. Now that I've been reduced to a cripple, I want to transfer some of my contribution points to him to repay his life-saving grace. What do you think…"

Hou Fangping pondered for a moment: "That's acceptable, but some more important spiritual items or spells cannot be exchanged. Is that acceptable?"

Hou Youde looked at Qu Ye.

Qu Ye nodded: "This junior will follow the steward's arrangements."

He didn't expect to get the Hou family's core magic in exchange; having a sophisticated magic spell was enough.

"In that case, after we finish dealing with things here, you can come back with us, exchange the items, and then leave on your own."

After saying that, Hou Fangping instructed Hou Yanke to collect Zhao Haiqiong's body and Hu Si's head.

During the process of collecting Zhao Haiqiong's body, none of the people mentioned Zhao Haiqiong's storage bag.

Qu Ye understood. Just like last time, the storage bag was assumed to be his spoils of war, and the Hou family would not ask for it back.

A short while later, the sky began to lighten with the pale light of dawn.

After everything was packed up, Hou Fangping was worried that Hou Youde wouldn't be able to withstand the wind pressure, so he chose to personally escort him.

The group then headed towards Cicada's Cry Mountain.