Having cultivated myself into an immortal, all I want to do is raise female disciples.

"Of course, you don't have to answer."

As he spoke, Yunping casually reached into the air from the side.

What appeared in his hand was a pitch-black spiked club about one meter long.

Sunlight shone down from behind the young man in the white shirt, casting the shadow of the thick, long, black club onto Chen Shuan's face. Staring at the terrifying dark barbs, Chen Shuan couldn't help but gasp, his face filled with horror.

[It's so big... it'll kill you]

Yunping's smile remained as gentle as the warm sun behind him. He silently patted his spiked club and chuckled:

"It's okay if you don't answer, I'm not that petty."

"This thing is a Buddhist treasure, a staff for warding off evil and removing obstacles. It can be used to cleanse people of impurities and evil spirits."

"Little brother—"

He grinned and stood in front of Chen Shuan.

"Your karmic burdens are very heavy."

……

……

After some "friendly" questioning, Yun Ping and the others learned about the general identities of Chen Shuan and his group, as well as the situation at the border of the spiritual vein.

First of all, Chen Shuan and his group of cultivators were actually independent cultivators who were not incorporated into the Immortal Capital. They left their original sects and came to the Immortal Capital, but due to their talents or other reasons, they were not selected by the Immortal Capital and could not return to their original sects, so they became independent cultivators.

But now that they've come all this way, they can't leave easily. Besides, even if they're not from the Immortal Capital and can't go deep into the spiritual veins, they can still enjoy abundant spiritual energy at the edge of the spiritual veins, which most auspicious places can't provide.

Therefore, most independent cultivators choose to set up their cave dwellings on the border of spiritual veins, which, to put it bluntly, is to take advantage of the spiritual energy of the spiritual veins.

Those spirit beasts that managed to escape from the hands of the immortals became their targets for scavenging. These spirit beasts were composed of pure spiritual energy, and killing one and absorbing it completely was equivalent to five or six years of meditation and cultivation.

As time went on, these independent cultivators realized that hunting spirit beasts alone was dangerous, and coupled with their lack of strength, they naturally formed an organization on their own.

[Hunter Alliance]

This group of independent cultivators from various parts of the three heavenly domains spontaneously established a new force.

A group of independent cultivators who freeload on the borders of spiritual veins, with the ultimate goal of scavenging for scraps.

"So, they're poachers..." Ye Yuchan glanced at Chen Shuan in front of her and sighed, "After all, they're rogue cultivators... If they want to survive in a place like this, this is probably the only way."

To some extent, she seemed to understand what Chen Shuan and the others were doing.

After all, we are in the Extreme Heaven Domain... the most turbulent place among the three great heaven domains right now.

"well……"

Chen Shuan spoke weakly.

Everyone's eyes immediately shifted to that direction.

Under the watchful eyes of everyone, he timidly cast his gaze at someone not far away.

"I've wanted to ask this for a while... but I never had the chance... um—"

"Are you Huang Luo?"

Huang Luo, from the Qin School, suddenly twitched at the corner of his mouth.

"Huh? You know me?"

Chen Shuan thought for a moment and nodded: "To be precise... I know your seventh maternal uncle."

……

……

"Grandpa... he's been expelled from the capital?!"

Sitting in the newly started tractor-trailer, Huang Luo sat in a corner, one hand on his forehead, his face ashen.

His mind is in a mess right now.

Qin Shishi sent him here to use his connections in Xiandu to ensure that Yun Ping and the others could enter the Azure Secret Realm safely and without causing any disturbance, which was not a difficult task for him.

Moreover, he had done Qin Shishi a favor, and maybe he could use that as an excuse to invite her down the mountain!

but now……

His seventh maternal uncle was expelled from the Xiandu government, which meant that his only connection in Xiandu was severed.

The story of myself and Senior Sister Qin going down the mountain for a trip...

The long-awaited image in her mind shattered suddenly, and it seemed that Huang Luo's fragile heart also exploded along with it.

Zhang Ruoxue glanced at Huang Luo, who seemed utterly despondent, and blinked: "He seems to have suffered a great blow."

Yunping silently picked up a piece of fruit from the fruit plate and put it in his mouth: "Judging from the fact that he has been repeating the name Qin Shishi since just now... I guess he probably feels that his love history has ended before it even began."

"Oh!" Ye Yuchan's eyes lit up, revealing a knowing look: "I know, it's called a simp again?"

Yunping rolled her eyes at her: "Your remarks seem to be getting more and more outrageous lately."

Upon hearing this, Yu Chan immediately shrank back, indicating that she would not say anything more, and her little eyes began to feign innocence.

The old rogue was too lazy to continue arguing with this idiot, and instead turned his attention to Chen Shuan, who was sitting upright in front of him—his three brothers were fast asleep in a corner of the carriage.

"So Huang Xiaoliu is now the leader of your Hunter Alliance?"

“Yes.” Chen Shuan nodded honestly: “Alliance Leader Huang told us before that he had a very close junior named Huang Luo, and he even showed us a portrait, so I recognized him immediately.”

"How did he get removed from the list of officials in Xiandu?"

"Well... I'm not too sure." Chen Shuan gave a helpless bitter laugh. "Alliance Leader Huang has never mentioned this before, so I guess it's some unpleasant memories."

Yunping narrowed his eyes and didn't ask any further questions.

Meanwhile, Gu Xingzhuo quietly asked, "Teacher, now that Huang Xiaoliu is no longer a resident of Xiandu, is it still necessary for us to go looking for him?"

This is indeed a problem.

Huang Xiaoliu no longer has any connection with Xiandu, so the plan to infiltrate the Azure Secret Realm through Xiandu's internal personnel has been basically rejected, and it seems pointless to go looking for him again.

Before Yun Ping could answer, Chen Shuan cautiously asked in a probing tone, "Um, gentlemen... what do you intend to do with Alliance Leader Huang?"

The one who answered was the silly guy next to him: "Because of certain things, we have to go to the Azure Secret Realm."

"The Azure Secret Realm?!"

Chen Shuan was startled by what he heard. He scanned the crowd with a strange look several times, but then, as if he felt that his unrestrained gaze would provoke displeasure, he immediately lowered his head.

After a brief silence, he seemed to have mustered his courage and continued:

"If that's the case... although Alliance Leader Huang is no longer a cultivator from the Immortal Capital, he... should still be able to help you."

"Oh?" Yunping seemed quite interested. "Why do you say that?"

"Actually... Alliance Leader Huang has helped a few of us brothers go deep into the spiritual veins before, relying on a skill."

"Craftsmanship?" Ye Yuchan seemed to know what that was.

Chen Shuan nodded and said, "To enter the depths of the spiritual vein, one must possess a Celestial Capital Decree. Since Alliance Leader Huang has spent a long time in the Celestial Capital before, therefore..."

"He has the ability to fake a forbidden order in the Immortal Capital that even a restrictive array cannot detect..."

As soon as those words were spoken...

Yunping and Ye Yuchan both showed expressions of sudden realization.

To put it bluntly...

Isn't it just **?!

The scope of services offered by this hunting alliance is quite broad.

28. Vengeful Spirit

With Chen Shuan's directions and the powerful horsepower of the tractor-pulled chicken, the group arrived at the Hunting Alliance that Chen Shuan had mentioned earlier in less than half an hour.

The area where the Hunter Alliance is located is still some distance from the border of the spiritual vein. Strictly speaking, its geographical location is not within the spiritual vein area. This is probably so that when the Immortal Capital comes knocking, they can at least come up with some excuse.

After all, if the headquarters were placed directly within the spiritual vein, there would be no way to deny it then.

It is worth mentioning that Ye Yuchan and the others originally thought that the Hunting Alliance was, after all, a sect formed by a group of independent cultivators. Putting aside the mountain gate and such, it should at least have a few cave dwellings inside. Even if they were simple, they would at least not be too shabby.

But what I didn't expect was...

"This place is clearly a bandit's den..."

After getting off the tractor-trailer, Ye Yuchan was greeted by a scene that was quite different from what she had imagined the Hunter Alliance to be.

The act of setting up a cave dwelling in the dense forest was extremely strange in itself. Moreover, as Ye Yuchan looked around, most of the places that resembled cave dwellings were built with bamboo, wood, or stone. They were surrounded by dense forests on all sides, with not even a single open space for cultivation and martial arts practice. The so-called mountain gate was nothing more than rows of tightly bound bamboo strips laid on the ground, with one end sharpened to serve as a wall.

The nighttime lighting seemed to consist of only the most basic torches—simply placed inside the walls, surrounding the row houses constructed of stone, wood, and vines.

The spiritual energy contained in the soil in all directions was pitifully small. If you looked closely, you would find that there were three or four cultivated spiritual fields near the row of houses, but the spiritual plants planted on those fields were currently suffering from severe malnutrition.

This is what Chen Shuan referred to as the "Hunter Alliance".

This has absolutely nothing to do with the word "alliance"! Aside from that small spirit field, there's practically nothing else that could prove this is a cultivator's sect's cave dwelling!

A den of bandits, a complete and utter den of bandits.

Seeing the astonishment on Ye Yuchan and the others' faces, Chen Shuan scratched his head somewhat embarrassedly and said with a smile, "There's nothing we can do about it. If we made it too formal, like a proper sect, wouldn't it be too conspicuous?"

"According to your logic—after all, our Alliance Leader Huang is involved in forging certificates, so he can't be too conspicuous, right?"

“That’s what they say…” Ye Yuchan glanced around, her lips twitching involuntarily. “This place looks exactly like a bandit’s den…”

"That's exactly the effect we wanted!" Chen Shuan chuckled. "Even you powerful figures with such keen eyesight think this looks like a bandit's den. How could those Immortal Capital cultivators wandering the borders of the spiritual veins possibly see that we're actually just lone cultivators picking up scraps?"

Ye Yuchan couldn't refute his words.

After all, the name "Hunter Alliance" sounds nice, but in reality, they do nothing but poaching and scavenging. It's not exactly honorable, especially since their leader also handles licensing, so they naturally have to keep a low profile.

If they were too ostentatious, they'd probably have been dealt with by the people of Xiandu long ago.

Just then, it seemed that the arrival of the group had attracted the attention of the rogue cultivators within the Hunter Alliance, and a figure suddenly emerged from the bamboo and wooden row house.

With thunderous, furious footsteps, an elderly man with a yellow beard, dressed in an ochre robe, roared angrily, "Chen Shuan! You little brat, what the hell have you done to cause trouble for me again? You went to rob someone again?"

Upon hearing this earth-shattering, furious voice, Chen Shuan immediately shrank back, his face turning deathly pale as he turned his head away.