“I'm sorry. It's not easy to raise a Legendary Venomous Insect. I'm not able to sell you any right now,” Ye Jiuge refused their request.

She did not want to treat the Legendary Venomous Insects as money-makers. The cute little creatures deserve to be cherished and nurtured.

“Then can I pre-order one? I can wait until you raise them, but I'd like you to sell me one before anyone else. You can set whatever price you want. I won't haggle so long as I can afford it,” Su Xun'er said without hesitation.

Unlike Su Xun'er, Xia Chenxi hesitated. She'd only wanted to buy a Legendary Venomous Insect because it would come in handy during their upcoming mission. She did not think it was worth it if it turned out to be very costly.

“We'll discuss this again when I have raised some!” Ye Jiuge smiled. She neither rejected Su Xun'er's request nor agreed to it.

The Legendary Venomous Insects that she raised might be powerful, but it was not common to keep them.

The norm throughout the whole of the Canglan Continent was to raise and keep Spiritual Beasts instead. She was afraid that the two women would throw away the Legendary Venomous Insects once they came to possess what they deemed to be better Spiritual Beasts in the future.

“Alright, then!” Su Xun'er was a little disappointed, but she did not pester Ye Jiuge any more. She left quietly with Xia Chenxi.

Gong Xifan happened to pa.s.s by. After learning what Su Xun'er and Xia Chenxi had stopped by to do, he asked Ye Jiuge, “Miss, have you ever thought of buying a Spiritual Beast for yourself? People a.s.sociated with the Gong Clan are in the Beastmaster Sect. I can help you if you are interested.”

To him, raising Legendary Venomous Insects was an unorthodox practice. Raising Spiritual Beasts was the way forward.

However, the Lei Kingdom was small, and it did not have any large shops that sold Spiritual Beasts. As a result, the Spiritual Beasts that were sold here were all low-level beasts.

High-level Spiritual Beasts were hard to raise. Besides essential Spiritual Beast pills, they also needed to be fed often with high-grade Demonic Beast meat. This made them extremely expensive.

Also, raising the level of a Spiritual Beast was just as difficult as raising the level of a Spiritual Pract.i.tioner. Hence, only the disciples of big clans and sects were able to gain access to an excellent Spiritual Beast. It was complicated for the average person to get their hands on one.

However, Ye Jiuge was a Spiritual Alchemist. It would not be difficult for her to obtain a good Spiritual Beast.

“There's no need.” Ye Jiuge already had Zi Shang, Mr. and Mrs. Treasure-hunting Scorpion, Mother Legendary Venomous Insect, and Black Fat Rat. She had a lot of animals on her hands and could not take on another even if she wanted to.

“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!” Xiao Tao suddenly jumped on top of Baili Moyun's head and began yelling, “How horrible of you, Master. How can you keep a mistress?”

“What does this little fellow want?” Baili Moyun looked at Ye Jiuge indignantly.

“Xiao Tao is asking if you are keeping a Spiritual Beast.” Ye Jiuge looked at Baili Moyun and Nangong Li.

Both of them were core disciples. They should not have to worry about the resources at their disposal.

“I'm not.” Nangong Li shook his head. He did not have the energy to take care of a Spiritual Beast.

“I'm keeping a clouded leopard. But don't worry, I'll treat you both equally well. I'll always treat Xiao Tao well.” Baili Moyun was completely sincere.

“Chirp! Chirp! Chirp!” Xiao Tao became smug and started shouting once again, “If you dare mistreat me, then I'll just run back to my previous owner!”

Good. Ye Jiuge felt relieved after seeing how astute Xiao Tao was.

“Uncle, Yue Lingjun, and Qiao Shaohua have been gone for quite some time. Should I go and find them?” Gong Honglei did not forget to keep an eye on the pair as he chatted with the others.

“Yes. Go ahead!” Gong Xifan said.

An ominous feeling suddenly arose within Ye Jiuge. She stood up and said, “I'll follow you.”

Luo Tian and Ye Yu wanted to tag along as well, but Ye Jiuge stopped them. “Look after those two,” she instructed.

By 'those two,' Ye Jiuge was referring to w.a.n.g Haoqiang and Lin Yanxi. They might look naïve, but no one could say for sure that they would not play tricks and stir up trouble during this critical time.

Ye Jiuge and Gong Honglei walked almost 500 meters in the direction where Yue Lingjun and Qiao Shaohua had gone, but there was no sign of them.

“Where did they run off to?” Gong Honglei frowned. No one in their right mind would walk too far from the base camp.

However, when he thought about how idiotic Yue Lingjun was, he realized that it was indeed possible for her to do something so stupid.

“You and Little Greenie head over there. We'll split up and search for them,” Ye Jiuge suggested.

A praying mantis might not be able to track a person as well as a Venomous Hunting Insect, but it was still much better at tracking than Gong Honglei.

“Sure.” Gong Honglei summoned Little Greenie, and they headed east together.

Ye Jiuge, meanwhile, went in the opposite direction.

She walked for some distance. After making sure that no one was around, she rolled up her sleeve and called out, “Zi Shang, are you alright?”

The words had only just come out of her mouth when Zi Shang appeared.

Ye Jiuge nearly jumped in shock. She gaped at Zi Shang and asked, “When did you return? What happened to the Demonic Corpse?”

“The Demonic Corpse has been recalled. I came back a long time ago and have been by your side all this while. By the way, you were really adorable when you were whipping those people. Here, let me kiss you.” Zi Shang smiled happily and leaned forward to kiss Ye Jiuge on the cheek. He absolutely loved how Ye Jiuge looked like when she was bullying people.

“Don't be disgusting. Did you see Yue Lingjun and Qiao Shaohua just now?” Ye Jiuge wiped the saliva off her face.

“Yes.” Zi Shang nodded his head and flashed a smile. His pupils narrowed into a thin, vertical line. “Beg me if you want to know!”

“Why should I beg you? I can investigate myself.” Ye Jiuge turned around to leave.

“Little Jiuge, you are no fun at all!” Zi Shang pulled Ye Jiuge to him and kissed her again before saying, “Those two idiots fell into the Bloodthirsty Sect's trap and have been captured.”

“If I remember correctly, you are on our side, right?” Zi Shang had actually watched the people from the Bloodthirsty Sect capture Yue Lingjun and Qiao Shaohua!

“Those two were too annoying. Let them annoy the h.e.l.l out of the Bloodthirsty Sect!” Frankly, if Ye Jiuge had not punished them already, Zi Shang would have personally made a meal out of them.

What Zi Shang had said made so much sense that Ye Jiuge was actually rendered speechless.

Then, Gong Honglei's voice sounded in the distance: “Miss, I found something!”

“I'll head over to take a look. I want you to continue being invisible!” Ye Jiuge cruelly left Zi Shang behind before she picked up the pace and rushed through the forest.

Zi Shang shook his head in disappointment before he became invisible and stayed next to Ye Jiuge.

“Over here.” Gong Honglei beckoned to Ye Jiuge.

“What did you find?” Ye Jiuge made her way over to Gong Honglei.

The patch of land before her was filled with weeds, and she quickly noticed that it was gored with numerous holes. The holes had clearly been created by magic.

“Take a look at this hairpin. Does it belong to Yue Lingjun?” Gong Honglei asked as he fished out a hairpin made out of blue crystal.

“It does.” Ye Jiuge nodded. She had seen Yue Lingjun wearing it before.

“It looks like they have been captured by the Bloodthirsty Sect.” Gong Honglei's face was grave. An unmistakable fishy scent characteristic of the techniques used by the Bloodthirsty Sect could still be smelled coming in the holes.

“Report back to Great Master Gong!” Ye Jiuge felt helpless.

By acting so carelessly, Lue Lingjun had been asking for trouble; but that did not change the fact that she was still a member of the team. Gong Xifan had to be the one to decide their next course of action.

When he learned that Yue Lingjun and Qiao Shaohua had run more than 500 meters away and had been captured by the Bloodthirsty Sect, Gong Xifan was so furious that his insides began aching. “Idiots!”

w.a.n.g Haoqiang said in a peculiar tone, “Ms. Yue would not have run so far away if she had been well-treated before! The blame should be on those who were too harsh and merciless toward her.”

“Senior w.a.n.g, don't talk nonsense.” Lin Yanxi glared at w.a.n.g Haoqiang reproachfully before letting out a sigh. “Don't forget that Ms. Yue is a girl. I wonder what we should say to Patriarch Lingyun now that she is in danger.”

“What are you worried about? Someone's sister is the apple of Patriarch Lingyun's eye! She's not…” Before w.a.n.g Haoqiang could finish his sentence, a whip sliced through the air toward him with a deafening crack.