Chapter 112: Chapter 110: Camp Wangjiang County, located in the southeastern corner of the Wei Kingdom, is isolated by the endless Mountain Range, making communication with the Central Plains quite inconvenient. This Mountain Range spans hundreds of miles, densely populated with vegetation and a complex ecosystem, with an infestation of ferocious beasts and wild birds. The number of spirit monsters far exceeds the number in other areas of Wangjiang County combined, thus it is also known as the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range. The presence of various fierce beasts and spirit monsters disrupts the trade routes connecting to the Central Plains and attacks local residents, serving as the greatest source of instability within the county. Therefore, cities in Wangjiang County, such as Tai City, Jiang City, Su City, and Yang City, have established specialized Beast Hunting Bureaus. Their aim is to clear spirit monsters close to the cities to prevent them from growing and causing more severe disasters. Lou Yi put on a mask, transforming into Liu Shu. Before dawn, he set off from the southern gate of Tai City on horseback, galloping all the way. Not until the sun was leaning westward did he reach the foot of an outer mountain range closest to Tai City. At the foot of the mountain, there was a rather large camp. Looking around, there were black and red tents the size of houses, arranged in a scattered order, along with many small wooden huts, totaling perhaps several hundred. People were constantly coming and going, and the scale of the camp was not much different from that of an ordinary small town. Lou Yi had previously learned that this was a Beast Hunting Camp exclusive to Tai City. The Beast Hunter Guards rested, recuperated, exchanged information, and purchased supplies here. As soon as Lou Yi approached the camp, he was engulfed by the clamor of voices coming from all directions. "Maps, the latest Hundred Beasts Mountain Range maps! Covering Gourd Mountain, Little Lonely Mountain, Red Forest Peak, Sky Blue Peak..." "Spirit Monster Illustrated Handbook, the most complete Spirit Monster Illustrated Handbook! Everything you want to know about spirit monsters is here, for just ten taels of silver, ten taels of silver!" "Life-Restoring Pills, limited sale, a maximum of three per person! After taking it, Qi-Blood can be instantly restored; you won’t feel a hint of fatigue even after battling a spirit monster for three days and nights!" The outermost tents of the Beast Hunting Camp were occupied by various merchants, selling an array of bizarre items, all closely related to spirit monsters. Every person who came forward was brimming with Qi-Blood, their eyes bright and spirited, walking with their heads held high and with strength. Through mutual sensing of Secret Blood. Lou Yi could roughly discern their cultivation, finding almost no one below the level of Martial Artists, with more than a few above the level of Minor Circulation. He arrived at the entrance of a tent with frequent comers and goers, where the owner was a short, plump man in gray clothes in his forties or fifties, with a cultivation above that of a Martial Artist, and a kind expression. "Young sir, what do you wish to buy?" "How are the maps priced?" Lou Yi asked. "Depends on which area you’re interested in; the east side around Gourd Mountain is cheaper, while the west side around Little Lonely Mountain is more expensive." "Alright, let me take a look first." Lou Yi entered the tent. He saw rows of simple green bamboo shelves lined with various items, primarily maps and books, along with some spirits, Spirit Monster Jerky, and Elixir Pills. Of course, maps and books were all wrapped with black cloth strips to prevent customers from flipping through them casually, ensuring that the knowledge wouldn’t easily leak out. As for the prices, a book could easily cost several taels of silver, and for maps, there was no upper limit. However, since the target customers were martial artists, there was no worry about being unable to sell them. Lou Yi bought a common Spirit Monster Atlas and a copy of the Essentials for Survival in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, spending more than ten taels of silver. He opened the atlas. The spirit monsters were depicted in black and white ink drawings, accompanied by a small amount of text; the art style was rough, and apart from some distinctive features, how much they resembled the real thing was questionable. It was also Lou Yi’s first time learning the difference between a "spirit" and a "monster". When beasts develop intelligence, they are called spirits; their bodies become more robust, but their appearance doesn’t change much from before. Like the tiger Lou Yi killed in Xinxiang, and the Stone Ape on Sunset Mountain. However, a small number of beasts have intelligence that rivals humans, and their bodies undergo abnormal transformations at the same time. Like growing a third eye or an extra tail, which clearly distinguishes them from their previous forms; these are called monsters. Monsters are much more dangerous than spirits; ordinary martial artists can only flee upon encountering them, while only martial artists of the Great Circle can deal with them calmly. Luckily, monsters are rare, and most people rarely encounter them. After looking through the Spirit Monster Atlas, Lou Yi opened the Essentials for Survival in the Hundred Beasts Mountain Range, where the first page contained only a dozen scarlet words: "Fighting is forbidden in the camp; violators shall be expelled from the Beast Hunting Bureau, and others are at liberty to kill them!" The second page had more explanations, such as the arrangement of Deputy Captains by the Beast Hunting Bureau within the camp to inspect and maintain appropriate order. The following pages mainly introduced survival knowledge. How to prevent poisonous insects, find water sources, handle spirit monster corpses, etc., also avoiding some long-existing forbidden and dead zones in the mountains. Some forbidden zones are so dangerous that even martial artists of the Great Circle would find it difficult to return alive. Lou Yi roughly flipped through, his gaze lingering a moment longer on the handling of spirit monster corpses. Spirit monster bodies are often quite large, and only a small part of the flesh is beneficial to martial artists, making them extremely difficult to process. The safest method is to transport the entire thing back to the city. But the cost is too high, unless it’s an extremely precious beast or there’s a corresponding need, it’s generally not considered. Otherwise, you’d have to hire an experienced beast tamer to process the flesh on-site, select the small amount of spirit meat beneficial to martial artists, and then transport it back to the city at an opportune time. Without a deep background, small teams can’t even afford a beast tamer. ’Looks like I still need to join a team,’ Lou Yi thought. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢 The biggest downside to joining a team is that contribution points cannot be exclusively owned and need to be distributed based on merits. However, Lou Yi’s main goal is the energy produced after the spirit monster’s death and the potential talents he might acquire, making contributions seem less important. With his plan settled, Lou Yi searched through his tent and indeed found a few "Beast Hunting Team Introductions." They were very thin, and the price was outrageous, requiring a full hundred taels of silver. Lou Yi looked at the cover. The update date was last month, making it relatively up-to-date, so he gritted his teeth and bought it. Flipping through the text, he found the introduction extremely brief, but better than nothing. [Changfeng Squad: Captain Wang Changfeng, Great Cycle Martial Artist, good at wielding a spear, currently has over fifteen members in the team, strong in strength, ranking among the top in all teams... Dragon Soul Squad: Captain Xu Shenjian, Full Cycle Martial Artist, remarkable sword technique, rumored to have received the true inheritance of the Xu Family’s ancestor, once killed a peer in ten moves, currently has over twenty members, top-ranked in strength... Giant Team: Captain Giant, nearly ten feet tall, fiery temperament, once punched a Cow Spirit to death... ... Po Jun Team: Captain is extremely mysterious, rarely takes action, team has fewer than five members, one of whom is a divine archer capable of killing from several hundred steps away... ] Leaving the shop, Lou Yi continued walking deeper into the camp. The distance between tents widened, the crowd gradually lessened, but the quality of martial artists he saw continued to rise. Lou Yi even saw several martial artists suspected of being at the Great Cycle Level, who, if placed in the main city, would be the elder class of various factions. When he reached a certain tent, he saw a white cloth banner planted in front of it, fluttering in the wind, with two vigorous black characters, ’Changfeng,’ written on it. Lou Yi knew he had arrived at the residential area of the Beast Hunting Teams. ’Changfeng Squad seems to be quite strong.’ Approaching the tent, Lou Yi called out loudly, "Anyone there?" The tightly shut tent flap opened slightly, and a sleepy, disheveled head poked out: "What’s up?" "Excuse me, is your team still recruiting?" The head slightly opened its eyes, glanced at Lou Yi: "What’s your cultivation level?" "I’ve just broken through to Martial Artist..." Before Lou Yi could finish, the head had already retreated inside, the tent flap sealed shut and didn’t open again. Undeterred, he continued walking and inquired at several more tents. But as soon as they heard he’d just broken through to Martial Artist, they lost interest, not even giving him a chance to spar. Lou Yi was a bit puzzled as to why they didn’t believe someone could fight across realms? Then he arrived at the tent of the ’Hungry Tiger’ team. Two burly men stood at the entrance, wearing sleeveless white short shirts, their muscles menacing, their expressions fierce. "Scram!" The man standing at the entrance preemptively blocked Lou Yi from speaking. "Where did this bumpkin come from, barely a drop of blood, thinking of joining our Hungry Tiger Team? Better go home and drink milk." The other one insulted, a mocking smile on his face. Lou Yi glanced at the two expressionlessly and continued walking inside. His current feeling was somewhat akin to job hunting in his previous life. Some desirable companies set the threshold at 985/211, excluding ordinary university students; even if your actual level wasn’t bad, you had no chance. Helpless indeed... Lou Yi was walking along. "Brother Liu?" An excited voice came from up ahead. The speaker was a handsome young man, with skin even whiter than the average woman’s, dressed in light purple brocade, and wearing a blue square scarf on his head. "Brother Shi?" ...