Chapter 3: Mutant Spiritual Bees! (Please Collect!)

Yunhe's raised spiritual bees, in a sense, are actually demonic beasts, just low-grade ones.

Compared to other wild beasts like tigers and lions, bees as insects inherently have inferior innate intelligence.

Unless by chance or born as anomalous insects, ordinary bees hardly ever become demonic beasts.

Returning to his dwelling in the shanty area, he closed the door, brought over a bamboo box, and opened the bee door.

Golden-bean-like spiritual bees idly wandered back and forth on the honeycomb.

Seeing the bee door open, the spiritual bees instinctively flapped their wings to fly out, but Yunhe, who had long been ready, sealed his hands and, using the Bee Control Technique, made them obedient.

Afterwards, he moved his fingers, Spiritual Power circulated, and he scooped out a relatively sturdy spiritual bee.

Buzz—

The worker bee hovered before him.

Its golden-yellow body and three pairs of tiny legs, the thorax covered in fuzz, and a pair of nearly transparent wings with clear veins were visible.

At the tip of its abdomen, the retracted stinger was faintly visible.

After controlling the spiritual bee, Yunhe took out the corpse of the black-ring hornet worker bee he had slain yesterday.

"Buzz."

Upon seeing the black-ring hornet, the spiritual bee's movements became noticeably sluggish, and it fearfully leaned toward Yunhe's side.

"Whether you can succeed depends on you, little thing."

Yunhe muttered softly, then sealed his hands again.

Under his control, despite its fear, the spiritual bee slowly flew toward the black-ring hornet corpse on the table.

When the two bees leaned together, the size difference between the black-ring hornet and the spiritual bee became apparent.

The black-ring hornet is fist-sized, while the spiritual bee is at most the thickness of a thumb segment.

"Eat!"

Yunhe, maintaining the hand-seal posture, issued the simplest and crudest command.

"Buzz, buzz, buzz"

The spiritual bee resting on the black-ring hornet hesitated.

Seeing this, Yunhe furrowed his brows, increased his Spiritual Power output, and strengthened his control over the spiritual bee.

Only then did the spiritual bee finally bite down hard on the black-ring hornet's abdomen.

Pfft—

The next second, a stream of sticky, earth-yellow unknown liquid flowed out.

"Eat it all."

"Buzz"

The spiritual bee could only obey.

Soon, the spiritual bee's body became somewhat exaggeratedly full.

Especially the abdomen.

Strands of earth-yellow thread, like meridians, wrapped around it.

However, given the spiritual bee's size, even eating its fill could not consume the entire black-ring hornet.

It frantically moved its legs and wings; its most primal reaction told it.

It couldn't eat any more.

Moreover, the spiritual bee's state grew strange, as if feverish, emitting a hot, restless aura all over.

If anyone touched it then, they would find the spiritual bee's temperature astonishingly high.

Yunhe's expression gradually grew solemn.

Only now came the most crucial step.

Source Refining Method!

Limited by the spiritual bee's intelligence, Yunhe could not directly impart the Source Refining Method to it.

He could only, in the most tedious way, manipulate the spiritual bee with the Bee Control Technique and urge it to attempt using the Source Refining Method.

At first it was quite unfamiliar.

But gradually, both Yunhe and the spiritual bee became practiced and accustomed.

"Gurgle-gurgle-gurgle"

As the Source Refining Method proceeded, faint movements came from the spiritual bee's body.

After a while.

Yunhe released his hand seal, stopping the Spiritual Power output.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead and let out a long breath.

At the same time, the spiritual bee stopped its sucking motion, dazedly turned around, and collapsed on the table into unconsciousness.

"The consumption of Spiritual Power is too great."

He approached the table.

Looking at the black-ring hornet corpse half-eaten and the spiritual bee noticeably larger beside it, Yunhe's expression did not relax.

The Source Refining Method should have taken effect.

But he did not know whether this spiritual bee could wake up again.

He gently lifted it, closed his eyes, and sensed.

"Indeed, there is a faint trace of demonic power fluctuation."

Not much.

Far inferior to that of the black-ring hornet.

The distance to a first-stage early-stage demon beast is even greater—who knows how many.

But this is a change from zero to one, from nothing to something.

"Hope to wake up."

Carefully placing the drowsy spirit bees into his clothing pocket, he shouldered the bamboo box.

Going out to release the bees.

Spirit honey is his only current source of Spirit Stone income; he must persist in releasing the bees daily to strive for more spirit honey.

"Brother Yunhe, why are you out releasing bees so late today?"

"Hahaha—I accidentally overslept."

"Brother Yunhe, you've expanded your bee colonies this year, right?"

"Not really, many spirit bees froze to death in winter; I just hope there's no drop in production this year. Besides, Fellow Dao He, you're doing well."

"Not at all."

"."

Arriving at the designated bee-releasing area, Yunhe first surveyed the perimeter, confirmed there was no sign of the black-ringed hornets, then opened the hive door and released all the spirit bees.

Although one member was missing, it didn't matter to the spirit bees.

Drawing nectar and converting it into spirit honey is their most instinctive work.

After letting the bee swarms move freely within a certain range, he sat cross-legged on the field ridge and began to replenish the spiritual power he had previously expended.

Once his spiritual power had fully recovered, Yunhe resumed practicing his techniques.

Though called practicing techniques, he actually only mastered two in total.

First is the "Bee Control Art" that spirit bee farmers must learn, which can simply control a certain number of spirit bees; it is a low-grade first-tier technique.

Second is the "Water Arrow Technique" used when slaying black-ringed hornets, derived from his cultivation of the Gold Water Element Classic; it is likewise a low-grade first-tier technique and currently his only offensive technique.

In fact, besides the Water Arrow Technique, the Gold Water Element Classic also records a metal-attribute technique, the Metal Control Art.

"However,"

"The Metal Control Art" is a middle-grade first-tier technique; it consumes more spiritual power, and cultivating it requires at least a decent metal-type spiritual artifact, so Yunhe has never been able to use it, and his proficiency remains low.

As for the Water Arrow Technique,

As the turtle turned into a demon beast, its natural affinity for the water element gave him a new insight into the Water Arrow Technique.

The sun was slanting westward.

Another day, just like usual, was about to pass.

He stood up, brushed the dust from his clothes, and Yunhe was about to form a seal to summon the spirit bees back when his expression shifted; he gazed far into the distance.

Buzz—

He saw two small black shadows swiftly rushing toward his direction.

Yunhe's expression changed slightly.

"Two black-ringed hornets?"

His heart sank instantly.

Yesterday there was one, today there are two; it seems the swarm of black-ringed hornets has truly set its sights on his spirit bees.

This extinguished the last sliver of hope he had been holding onto.

"Buzz buzz buzz"

Sensing the aura of the two black-ringed hornets, the surrounding spirit bees instantly became panicked.

Seeing some spirit bees out of his control, Yunhe sighed.

The two black-ringed hornets were still within his capabilities.

Just that.

Even if he dealt with these two today, who knows if a swarm would come tomorrow.

He could handle one, two, or three, but facing a large swarm of black-ringed hornets would leave him only the option to flee.

Not to mention him; even a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, faced with the black-ringed hornet swarm led by their queen, would have only the option to flee.

"Let's just take care of these two first."

Seeing the two aggressive black-ringed hornets drawing nearer, with the spirit bees growing increasingly agitated, Yunhe immediately formed a seal, and his spiritual power swiftly circulated.

However, before he could act, he felt a tremor inside the clothing on his chest.

Huh?

Sensing the anomaly, Yunhe startled.

"This is."

"Buzz, buzz buzz—"

Then he saw, from inside his clothing, a spirit bee the size of half a fist fly out.

Compared to an ordinary spirit bee, its body remained golden.

Only at the tip of its abdomen, around the sting, two rings of dark red patterns had grown, adding a bit of grandeur.

"Success?"

Yunhe's eyes lit up.

No time to think, the two black-ringed hornets were already upon him.

He hesitated no longer; spiritual power flowed with his hand seal, and a water arrow shot forth.

At the same time.

The mutated spirit bee, facing the black-ringed hornet, felt no innate fear and even showed a hint of eagerness, actually charging straight at one of them.

Pfft!!

The water-compressed arrow pierced through one of the low-spiritual-intelligence black-ringed wasps without hesitation, killing it.

The other black-ringed wasp, seeing the mutant spirit bee rush toward it, froze for a moment.

It could sense a food-like aura from the mutant spirit bee.

But it felt somewhat different.

It seemed the other side also regarded it as food?

Given the black-ringed wasp's low spiritual intelligence, it obviously couldn't figure this out.

But its instinctive sense of danger made it extend its slender, jet-black stinger, meeting the dark red stinger revealed by the mutant spirit bee.

Clang!!

Like a collision of metal.

The mutant spirit bee was directly bounced away.

However, the mutant spirit bee displayed a ferocity beyond that of ordinary spirit bees; after being bounced, it didn't retreat but quickly stabilized its form and surged forward again with a flap of its wings.

Fortunately, Yunhe promptly formed a hand seal to stop it.

Do you really think eating half a black-ringed wasp lets you fight a black-ringed wasp?

Taking advantage of the black-ringed wasp being distracted by the mutant spirit bee's ferocity, he again cast Water Arrow Technique and easily killed it.

Dispatching the two black-ringed wasps went surprisingly smoothly.

"Buzz—"

The mutant spirit bee circled the fallen black-ringed wasp on the ground, conveying to Yunhe a sense of eager anticipation.

"Are you addicted to eating it?"

Yunhe's mouth twitched slightly; he recalled the mutant spirit bee, ordering it to stay obediently in his palm as he observed it closely.

"There is indeed a trace of demonic power circulating, but it's very faint. However, the body has become stronger and more aggressive; the stinger and mouthparts are much sharper and sturdier, and the wings are more powerful."

Overall, the spirit bee that had eaten a black-ringed wasp saw its overall abilities improve to some extent.

This result pleased him greatly.

This shows that the Source Refining Method is useful not only for Demon Beast Body but also for spirit bees.

"In other words."

Yunhe looked at the two black-ringed wasp corpses on the ground, his eyes gradually lighting up.

"If I had enough black-ringed wasps, could I cultivate a fully mutant spirit bee swarm?"

He took a deep breath.

"Or even, cultivate a new bee species comparable to demon beasts?"

(End of chapter)