Chapter 1

Warm, moist spring breeze swept over the hazy mountain stream, blowing away the thin morning mist.

Buzz—

In the pouring warm sunlight, a diligent spirit bee the size of a golden bean darted out of the hive, vibrating its wings thin as cicada wings, bathed in the sun, and dove straight into the flower thicket.

A faint, fresh fragrance, soft as silk threads, twined around the mountain stream, bursting with the refreshing breath of spring.

Suddenly, amidst the vibrant flower thicket, a wasp the size of a fist, its body encircled with rings of black markings, shot through swiftly; the strong wind from its wings crushed the flower buds, bent the grass, and sent morning dew droplets scattering.

Pff!!

A water arrow shot out suddenly, piercing the speeding wasp; its broken wings drifted down slowly.

"Just as spring began, the black-ringed wasps have come."

Amidst the rustling of grass half a person's height, a youth wearing thick hemp clothes and carrying a bamboo box stepped out, furrowing his brow.

The youth had a high, straight nose bridge, shallow eye sockets, regular features, a clear and gentle voice, and his steps were not slow at all.

He carefully picked up the still-twitching black-ringed wasp on the ground, observing its size and the distinct yellow-black bands on its body, Yunhe's expression grew increasingly grave.

"Not freezing this swarm of black-ringed wasps to death over winter has really become a problem."

In his hand, the worker wasp's abdomen was full, its markings shimmering, its wings strong—at a glance it was clearly extremely dangerous and highly aggressive.

Black-ringed wasps are a highly dangerous wasp species, feeding on meat, weak wasps, and honey.

Even the black-ringed wasp queen is a genuine demonic beast, possessing the ability to command the entire black-ringed wasp swarm.

Moreover, finding a single black-ringed wasp worker means there must be a black-ringed wasp nest nearby, housing a queen.

For Yunhe, a spirit bee farmer who makes a living by raising spirit bees to gather spirit honey, this is nothing short of a disaster.

He first discovered black-ringed wasps last autumn; they already caused considerable loss to his spirit bees, leading to a shortfall in spirit honey.

He had thought that after a winter, even if that damned swarm of black-ringed wasps wasn't completely frozen to death, at least its numbers would have greatly diminished.

But now it seems the swarm may not only have avoided significant loss, but actually grown stronger.

Gazing at the dozens of spirit bees foraging for honey among the thickets, Yunhe felt a wave of helplessness.

With his tiny scale of spirit bees, they'll probably be wiped out soon, right?

By then, not only will there be a spirit honey shortage, but whether he can survive the next winter will be a question.

"We must think of a way to get rid of this black-ringed wasp swarm."

The warm spring sunlight shone on his body, yet Yunhe felt a hint of chill.

He couldn't help but shiver.

With his current cultivation base of second-layer Qi Refining, how could he handle at least a first-tier demonic beast, the black-ringed wasp queen?

Not to mention the queen; even a few more ordinary black-ringed wasps might overwhelm him.

"Cultivation—how difficult it is."

Thoughts surged in his mind, and he couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic for his previous life.

Yunhe is a transmigrator.

Half a year ago, he was still a near-thirty office slave working hard to pay his mortgage, too afraid to find a partner or have much social life.

He had thought life couldn't get any worse than it was back then.

Until an accident inexplicably brought him to this world.

A world filled with cultivators.

Here, some can roam the heavens, some can live for hundreds or thousands of years, some can burn mountains and boil seas.

But none of that has anything to do with him.

He is merely a weak spirit bee farmer.

With only a second-layer Qi Refining cultivation base, he has no choice but to accept a lowly status in the cultivation world.

Backed by the safety zone demarcated by the Riverside Market, each year relying on the spirit honey harvest, after subtracting the heavy taxes, he reaps four or five low-grade Spirit Stones, barely sustaining his cultivation.

"'To deal with the black-ringed wasps, at least mid Qi Refining cultivation would be needed, right?'"

Yunhe thought to himself.

Then came even more helplessness.

Not to mention mid Qi Refining, even when he might break through to third-layer Qi Refining is a problem.

"All I can hope is that the black-ringed wasp swarm has a bigger target and doesn't fixate on my tiny swarm of a few dozen spirit bees."

Yunhe muttered that while forming hand seals with both hands.

Faint spiritual power circulated as the basic "Bee Control Art" was enacted; the wavering spirit bees seemed pulled by some command, flying toward the flower thicket Yunhe guided them to.

If that truly fails, he can only choose to relocate his spirit beekeeping.

Although that would require a tremendous cost.

Because each spirit bee farmer's permitted beekeeping area is planned by the market overseers, if he wanted to change locations, the expenses for greasing palms up and down could drain the Spirit Stones he had painstakingly saved over the years.

It might even not be enough.

"Fellow Daoist Yunhe, beekeeping?"

At that moment, a middle-aged cultivator resembling an old farmer, carrying a hoe, walked over the field ridge, saw Yunhe, and greeted him with a smile.

"Yes."

Seeing the arrival, Yunhe squeezed out a smile.

This is his neighbor Pan Hongxiu, a forty-year-old middle-aged cultivator with third-layer Qi Refining cultivation base, a spirit bee farmer.

"Master Liuyun of the market said this year will be a bountiful harvest; then you should leave some honey residue for us."

Pan Hongxiu couldn't see through his forced smile.

Yunhe took a slight breath to calm himself, saying, "Fellow Daoist Pan, just sell us your aged spirit rice at a lower price."

"Hahaha—sure, sure."

Watching the neighbor gradually walk away along the field ridge, carrying a hoe and humming an unknown tune.

If they don't speak, who could know that they are so-called cultivators rather than farmers working in the fields?

He let out a quiet sigh.

It would be great if he were a spiritual farmer.

At least I don't have to worry too much about the black-ring hornet's harassment.

Although he possesses dual water and metal spiritual roots, he lacks the wood spiritual root required of a spiritual farmer.

The sky grew dim.

Yunhe, who had been basking in the sun all day among the thickets, finally let out a breath of relief.

After dealing with the queen of that black-ring hornet, no second queen appeared.

He formed hand seals with both hands.

The spiritual bees fluttering among the flowers flew in an orderly manner into the bamboo box behind him.

Stepping in the evening glow, Yunhe returned inside the protective grand formation of the market town.

This is truly a safe place.

In a corner of the market town lies a cluttered shantytown of haphazardly built houses, which is where these low-level cultivators reside.

Here, because it falls within the coverage of the market town's grand formation, a substantial rent must be paid each year.

After greeting a few familiar neighbors, Yunhe returned to his dwelling.

Though not small in footprint, the house has rooms, a kitchen, a cultivation chamber, and so on, all complete, and even outside the fence, many vegetables are planted.

After simply cooking a meal of brown rice mixed with aged spiritual rice and settling his internal organs, Yunhe entered the cultivation chamber to begin his daily practice.

After three hours, Yunhe slowly opened his eyes, the spiritual light in his pupils faintly receding.

He felt the faint growth of spiritual power within his body.

According to this rate of spiritual power growth, it will likely take at least two or three more years to reach the third layer of Qi Refining.

Although the Gold Water Element Classic sounds impressive, it's actually a commonplace cultivation technique; its only advantage might be that it suits my gold and water dual spiritual roots.

With the four essentials of cultivation—wealth, partner, method, and place—he lacks them all, so it would be miraculous if his progress were fast.

However, he soon lifted his spirits.

Almost there, the opportunity is coming soon.

Thinking of this, he didn't even bother returning to his bedroom, but directly took off his shoes and lay down on the cultivation couch to fall asleep.

Soon Yunhe fell into a deep slumber.

When he opened his eyes again, his field of vision had undergone a tremendous change.

In an endless vast lake somewhere unknown.

A turtle the size of a washbasin pushed aside the black mud, extending its nostrils to the water surface and slowly exhaling bubbles.

In the depths of its seemingly dull eyes, a flash of lively spirit gleamed.

The turtle retracted its head, cautiously glanced at the piled-up mud before it, and quietly let out a sigh of relief.

Indeed, this turtle is Yunhe himself!

Whenever he falls into deep sleep, his spirit awakens within this turtle's body.

At first Yunhe thought he was dreaming, but later he realized it was all real.

He not only possesses a human body, but also a turtle's body.

Just as he wondered whether this amounted to having a controllable incarnation outside his body, he astonishingly discovered that the spiritual power of both bodies is shared as well!

However, this sharing requires a certain amount of time.

Perhaps because as a human cultivator he trains spiritual power, while as a turtle he trains monster power, so the conversion takes time.

It could also be that the distance between the two bodies is too great.

In short.

He spent half a year before finally transforming from an ordinary turtle into a first-stage early demon beast with faint monster power, equivalent to a cultivator at the second layer of Qi Refining.

Demon beasts adhere even more strictly to the law of the jungle and survival of the fittest than human cultivators do.

Yunhe extended his claw and gently stirred the mud before him.

Faintly, he could see that among the piled-up mud, a lotus-seed-pod-sized, dark green plant was buried.

On its dark green roots, intertwined were faint golden lines.

Spiritual plant!

Although I don't know what kind of spiritual plant this is or its grade,

but Yunhe knew it was about to mature.

He had stumbled upon it by chance a month ago when passing through here.

Since then, it has buried itself in the mud and dwelled in the surrounding mire, never leaving, waiting for it to fully mature.

He had a feeling that if he could eat this lotus-seed-pod-like spiritual plant, it would bring him considerable benefits.

If his idea is correct and the two bodies' cultivation can be shared, then an increase in monster power could drive the spiritual power of the other body, possibly allowing him to break through to the third layer of Qi Refining soon.

At the latest, it should fully mature by tomorrow.

Gurgle—

Just as Yunhe patiently waited, feeling a hint of anticipation, the surrounding water suddenly surged.

The surging water dispersed the mud that had been wrapping the spiritual plant.

Oh no!

Seeing this, Yunhe's heart tightened.

They hurriedly moved their claws, trying to pile up the scattered mud again, but to little effect.

Suddenly.

Yunhe's scales quivered, and a strong sense of danger welled up.

He could no longer bother to protect the spiritual plant.

His limbs and head suddenly retracted into his turtle shell.

The next second.

A half‑meter‑long golden carp, panicked, swam over.

Controlling the rapid flow, it dispersed the silt.

Unintentionally, it also noticed the spiritual plant about to mature, and its fish eyes brightened.

With a flick of its tail, its mouth slightly opened, it gulped down the spiritual plant Yunhe had been waiting for.

For a moment, demonic power surged over its body.

At the same time, the golden carp that had stopped also noticed Yunhe hiding in the mud.

One fish, one turtle, their gazes met.

He had waited a whole month, only to have his peach plucked at the end?

If Yunhe couldn't clearly feel that he was no match for this carp, he would have lunged at it.

However, before the contempt in the golden carp's eyes faded, it panicked again and looked back the way it came.

All he saw was.

A black giant python whose demonic power was not weaker than the carp's came chasing.

But soon, the golden carp felt the demonic power surging within, its eyes steadied, and it grew confident.

It actively swam toward the black snake.

The next moment.

The golden carp and the black giant python produced a fierce collision in this water.

It only brought suffering to Yunhe.

Not only was his peach taken, but now he is in the center of the two monsters' struggle.

The only thing worth being glad about is probably that he is too weak, thus failing to attract the two monsters' attention.

New author, new book—please, readers, click to collect~~

(End of chapter)