Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

As he was speaking, he heard shouts from outside the door.

Wang Meng gestured for Qu Ye to wait a moment, then stood up and left for the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea. He didn't return and sit down until he had seen the customer off.

"Actually, I've been wanting to come see you for the past few days."

"But I'm afraid I'm overthinking it, and I feel there's no need to."

He looked at Qu Ye with a somewhat probing expression.

"Young Master Qu, do you think it could be related to that person from that day?"

He spoke vaguely, but Qu Ye knew immediately that Wang Meng was still worried about the Sun family disciple.

After that day, Wang Meng didn't show it on the surface, but he had a knot in his heart, which led him to give up going into the mountains to hunt demons.

Now that these subtle changes have occurred in the market, the already suppressed unease has naturally become even heavier.

Qu Ye remained silent for a moment, then nodded.

"I think Uncle Wang should make preparations as soon as possible."

Wang Meng's eyelids twitched slightly upon hearing this, but he was not surprised.

Clearly, he already had this idea in mind.

But having thoughts is one thing; actually making a decision is not so easy.

He gave a wry smile: "These past few days, I've been thinking about whether or not to leave."

"But you know, a shop isn't something you can just abandon. Besides, if we take your Aunt Chen and Xiao Bao with us and get lost, it won't be as simple as just losing a few spirit stones."

Upon hearing this, Qu Ye stopped beating around the bush, took out a folded piece of animal skin from his pocket, and gently placed it on the table.

"Uncle Wang, this is a route map from Yumen Market to Qingxi Market."

"I've marked out where we can rest along the way and where there might be danger."

Wang Meng was taken aback, then looked down at the map: "You even prepared this?"

"It's just better to be prepared."

Qu Ye paused, then added, "If Uncle Wang already has this idea in mind, then let's not delay any longer."

"If we leave now, we'll only lose some of our assets. But if we wait until something goes wrong and then we want to leave, it might be too late."

Wang Meng didn't reply, but just looked down at the map in his hand.

After a long pause, he muttered under his breath, "How come this is so much better than mine?"

Qu Ye smiled and recalled the map of the mountain route drawn by Wang Meng.

After looking at the map, Wang Meng raised his head, seemingly having made a decision, and looked at Qu Ye: "These past few days I've been unsure of what to do, always thinking I'd wait and see. But your visit today has dashed my hopes."

"I'll discuss it with your Aunt Chen tonight. We'll get rid of what we can in the shop in the next two days. If we can't get rid of it, we'll just sell it off cheaply."

"I was planning to find a trade for Xiaobao to learn, but thankfully I haven't saved enough for the apprenticeship fee. By the way, this is half of the materials from that red-tailed scorpion."

As he spoke, he took out some materials from demonic beasts.

Seeing that Wang Meng had made up his mind, Qu Ye breathed a slight sigh of relief, knowing that if he didn't accept the money, Wang Meng would definitely feel guilty.

So he accepted the half portion of the Red-tailed Scorpion materials without hesitation.

He then patted his storage bag, revealing ten spirit stones, a talisman, and a bottle of pills.

"Uncle Wang, take these. The talisman is a mid-grade entangling talisman, and the pill is a Qi-boosting pill. Give them to Xiao Bao."

Wang Meng waved his hand: "What are you doing... How can I take your things? You keep them!"

Seeing that Wang Meng wouldn't accept it, Qu Ye had no choice but to use the ultimate move she had learned in her previous life, forcibly stuffing it into Wang Meng's hand while saying:

"This is for Xiaobao, not for you, Uncle Wang, you should keep it..."

"And Uncle Wang, I accepted everything you just gave me."

A warm feeling welled up in Wang Meng's heart. Seeing that he couldn't refuse Qu Ye, he had no choice but to accept it and looked at Qu Ye.

"So what do you say, kid Qu?"

"I'll stay a little longer; I still have my spiritual contract with the Hou family."

Wang Meng's brows furrowed immediately.

Just as she was about to say something, she realized that Qu Ye was no longer the clueless young man he used to be, so she softened her tone.

"Fine, as long as you know what you're doing."

Qu Ye smiled.

"Don't worry. Uncle Wang, remember to write to let us know you've arrived safely in Qingxi Town."

"Who knows, I might come back to rely on you guys again after a while."

Wang Meng patted him on the shoulder: "You rascal, what are you saying? If you want to come, your Uncle Wang would be more than happy to oblige."

After saying that, the two chatted for a few more minutes before Qu Ye got up to take his leave.

Before leaving, Wang Meng called out to Qu Ye.

"Wait."

Qu Ye turned around: "What's wrong, Uncle Wang?"

Wang Meng gave Qu Ye a deep look, hesitated, his lips moved slightly, but in the end he didn't say anything.

"It's okay, go ahead, take care of yourself."

Qu Ye responded and left the grocery store.

The streets outside were still bustling with people, and the sounds of vendors hawking their wares filled the air, as if nothing had changed from the past.

He advised Wang Meng to leave, partly because he didn't want the other man to be in danger, but also because he had no other considerations.

If the other party can establish themselves in Qingxi Market, it will save me a lot of trouble when I leave Yumen Market in the future.

After thinking it over, he glanced back at the grocery store and disappeared into the crowd.

……

Back at the horse farm, Qu Ye stood by the fence, put his finger to his lips, and let out a crisp whistle.

A flowing flame rushed towards them.

It was Red Hare.

During this period, Red Hare's skeleton grew taller and larger, and the unique red cloud patterns on its hooves gradually appeared.

Qu Ye opened the fence, swayed slightly, and sat steadily on Red Hare's back.

"Red Hare, run!"

At Qu Ye's command, Red Hare raised its head and let out a long neigh, then took a step and galloped towards the back mountain.

Ever since Red Hare grew cloud patterns, the old spirit wood fence has become increasingly unable to contain it.

Having no other choice, Qu Ye had to frequently release it, riding it around to unleash its boundless energy.

Fortunately, Red Hare relied heavily on Qu Ye and never showed any sign of running away.

As Qu Ye felt the scenery rushing past his eyes, the unease in his heart subsided.

Soon, the man and his horse arrived at the woods behind the mountain.

Having spent so much time together, Red Hare had long since grown accustomed to the Jade Spirit Bees. After stopping, it exhaled a stream of hot air from its mouth, causing a worker bee to flutter up and down.

Seeing Red Hare having so much fun, Qu Ye patted its head helplessly, turned around, and walked towards the beehive.

Unlike usual, a distinct sound was mixed in with the buzzing around the hive.

Qu Ye extended his divine sense and quickly connected with the owner of the sound.

This is a jade spirit bee with a colorful body, radiating the fluctuations of a first-grade low-level spiritual energy.

It was a size larger than a regular worker bee, with more ferocious mouthparts, the ends of which were rows of tiny barbs that gleamed with a subtle light.

It is incredibly sharp, and once it pierces an enemy's body, it can tear out a large piece of flesh.

Qu Ye controlled the bee to fly in front of him, and after examining it, he was somewhat disappointed.

"I still can't figure it out."

Three months ago, after a month of incubation, this bee finally hatched.

It was born a mature form, with a stable aura at the lower level of the first rank.

Qu Ye was quite interested after discovering it. While flipping through the records of spirit taming, he tried to figure out the relationship between this guard bee and the queen bee's reproduction.

Unfortunately, there has been no progress whatsoever.

Qu Ye sighed and released the link.

"The only option is to try and get information out of the Hou family disciples."

After thinking it over, he took out the medicinal powder, fed it to the bees, mounted Red Hare, locked Red Hare back in the horse farm, and returned to the courtyard.

Just as he was about to feed the iron-clawed crabs as usual, he suddenly felt the breath in the pool weaken.

"What happened?"

Qu Ye cautiously moved to the edge of the pool and probed into it with his divine sense.

The iron-clawed crab lay on its eight legs, quietly nestled in its favorite crevice, its breath faint.