Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

For the Hou family today, the undercurrents in the market and the family's losses are not insignificant.

However, compared to her foundation building, they are ultimately just minor details.

As long as she successfully takes that step, the Hou family will be able to face any storms without fear.

At that time, both the Sun family and other explorers from other markets will return to their previous peaceful state.

Hou Yuankui looked at her and said slowly, "I will also have people keep an eye on these unusual movements and make some arrangements."

"Your most important task now is not to be distracted by these things, but to guard your mind and prepare for foundation building with peace of mind."

"Starting tomorrow, you will come to the spiritual chamber in the back mountain to cultivate and accelerate your accumulation speed."

Hou Zhilan was tempted, but still somewhat worried: "But Ancestor, if I come to the back mountain, you…"

Hou Yuankui shook his head.

"It's alright. I'm a dying man, so whether I have a second-tier spiritual vein or not is irrelevant. If it weren't for the need to stabilize my life force, I could have let you come directly to this stone hall to cultivate."

At this point, Hou Yuankui's sleeves fluttered slightly, and a jade box flew out silently, landing in front of Hou Zhilan.

The jade box remained unopened, but the unique, lingering aura emanating from it was enough to explain what it was.

Hou Zhilan stared intently at the jade box, her usually cold face showing emotion for the first time, and her breathing slowed down slightly.

Hou Yuankui's tone was solemn:

"I have personally examined this Foundation Establishment Pill that I bought at a premium of three thousand spirit stones."

"The medicinal power is pure, and the pill is full-bodied. It is indeed a genuine Foundation Establishment Pill, which can increase the probability of Foundation Establishment by 25%."

"You have three spiritual roots, which gives you a 40% success rate. Add the Wood Seed and the Earth Fire Profound Fiend, and you have a 75% chance. That's already quite a high probability."

Even the most composed Ren Houzhilan couldn't help but feel a surge of excitement upon hearing these remarks.

"Thank you, Ancestor! Zhilan will certainly live up to the family's expectations!"

But remembering the Earth Fire Mystic Fiend, she still asked:

"But Ancestor, that Earth Fire Profound Fiend was auctioned by Heavenly Fragrance Pavilion. Could there be a problem?"

Hou Yuankui pondered for a few moments, then shook his head: "I examined the Earth Fire Profound Fiend before and found nothing unusual."

"Moreover, according to common sense, Gongsun Jin has no reason to side with the Sun family."

Why?

"It's very simple," Hou Yuankui said calmly. "Gongsun Jin is not a fool. If he colludes with the Sun family, the market structure will inevitably change once the Hou family falls."

"Once the Sun family has absorbed the spiritual land and their strength has greatly increased, who will they eliminate next?"

"Therefore, I am more inclined to believe that he will sit back and observe the situation, at most profiting from it, rather than getting involved himself."

Hou Zhilan suddenly realized, and most of her concerns were relieved.

Indeed, from both an interest perspective and the perspective of Tianxiang Pavilion, Gongsun Jin had no reason to deal with the Hou family.

"Any other questions?"

Hou Zhilan shook her head: "Reporting to Ancestor, Zhilan has no other questions."

"Then let's make preparations and move to the back mountain tomorrow."

"Remember, it's better to be slow and deliberate than to rush headlong into a fight. As long as the foundation is solid, it's better to take more time than to rashly charge through."

Hou Zhilan bowed and said, "Zhilan understands. I'll take my leave now."

After saying this, she put away the jade box and slowly walked out of the stone hall.

Silence fell upon the hall once again.

……

Time flies, and four months have passed in the blink of an eye.

In the sweltering summer heat, wild animals in the mountains are listless and fast asleep in the shade.

On this day, in Yumen Market, Ziyun Ward.

Qu Ye, his face now changed, stepped out of the Ziyunfang gate and straightened his clothes.

He recalled the experience of selling spiritual items at Ziyunfang earlier, and began to make plans in his mind.

"This time, we sold thirty-six spirit essences, kept one bottle of bee spirit jelly for our own use, and sold one and a half bottles, for a total of forty-five spirit stones."

"However, the Enhancing Essence Pills were out of stock, so I bought four more, and also purchased some medicinal powder and spirit rice, which cost me twenty-one spirit stones."

"If I add this to my previous savings, I will have ninety-two spirit stones."

In just a few months, Qu Ye's assets once again broke through the 90 mark.

Moreover, his cultivation progress was also quite fast during these four months.

The Golden Shield Technique has steadily reached the minor mastery stage, with significant improvements in casting speed and shield thickness.

The sharp metal spike has also successfully entered the basics, and its power is quite impressive. It is not far from becoming a minor master.

Logically speaking, this progress should be enough to put his mind at ease for a long time.

But for some reason, he felt that the atmosphere in the market was becoming increasingly strange, and he felt uneasy.

First, when he bought the spirit rice, he found that the price of the spirit rice had increased by a full 50%.

Don't think that half a percent is too little.

It should be noted that the price of spirit rice, a necessity for the survival of low-level cultivators, is extremely stable in the Jade Gate Market, with only slight fluctuations.

He subtly inquired with the owner of the rice shop and managed to get information out of him that the rice from the Hou family's area had been damaged by pests, resulting in a reduced yield.

Qu Ye has been here for several years now. Although he has never cultivated spirit fields, he has heard a lot of tips and tricks from Old Liu.

It's true that Lingtian is most afraid of insect infestations, but it's also the place where they take the most precautions.

The cultivators who guard the spirit fields patrol daily. If it's just ordinary spirit insects causing trouble, they might ruin a few plants at most, but it's extremely difficult for them to truly affect the harvest of the entire spirit field.

Besides, isn't it a bit too coincidental that only the Hou family's sacred fields were affected by pests?

Furthermore, there are more people in the market than before.

Every time he sold spiritual essence, he would disguise himself as a rogue cultivator and enter the market. He would carefully observe the crowd before and after to prevent anyone from following him.

This time, he keenly noticed that there were many more people than before, and the number of independent cultivators queuing at the entrance of the market was also increasing.

These anomalies, taken individually, are not particularly noteworthy.

Even if ordinary cultivators at the lower levels saw it, they would mostly just treat it as a temporary fluctuation and wouldn't think about it deeply.

But Qu Ye is different.

He knew that something big was bound to happen between the Sun and Hou families.

Under these circumstances, these changes take on a completely different meaning when observed.

"No, we need to start preparing for our escape route now."

Qu Ye paused slightly, but his expression remained unchanged, and he walked in another direction.

Although it is unknown how the two sides will clash, it should be some time before he can prepare his escape route.

Qu Ye was heading in the direction of North Street.

He changed his appearance back in a secluded spot, skillfully navigated several alleys, and stopped in front of a general store.

Upon entering the shop, there was not a single customer.

Wang Meng was looking down at his abacus when he heard a noise. He looked up and was first taken aback, then a look of surprise appeared on his face.

"Young Master Qu?"

"Uncle Wang."

Qu Ye greeted him.

"Where are Aunt Chen and Xiao Bao? I can't see them."

Wang Meng put down his abacus, welcomed Qu Ye into the inner room, and smiled: "The two of them went to buy pills. As you know, Xiao Bao's aptitude is not good, so he needs to use Qi-boosting pills to improve his speed."

"Did something happen today?"

Qu Ye nodded: "That's right, Uncle Wang. Aunt Chen and the others aren't here, so I have something to tell you."

Wang Meng looked at Qu Ye and saw that although his expression was no different from usual, there seemed to be some thought between his brows, and the smile on his face faded a little.

He glanced outside, walked out, and casually pulled the shop door inward a little, leaving it half-closed.

"What's going on?" Wang Meng asked in a low voice.

Seeing his expression, Qu Ye understood that Wang Meng himself had probably already realized something.

He didn't ask directly, but simply asked, "How's business lately, Uncle Wang?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Meng thought for a moment.

"It's about the same as before." He paused for a moment, then added, "But lately, something's not quite right."

Qu Ye looked at Wang Meng.

Wang Meng stopped trying to hide it and lowered his voice even further: "Most of the people who come to my shop are poor, independent cultivators. They're usually very shrewd; they can argue with your Aunt Chen for an entire afternoon over half a spirit stone."

"But for some reason lately, some independent cultivators never haggle when buying things, as if they don't care about those few spirit stones. They even specifically buy things like hemostatic powder and talisman skin."

"I've been running this shop for so many years, and this is the first time I've encountered such a situation."