Chapter 42: Breeding Elixir and Fish Scales (Seeking Followers! Seeking Collections!)

The Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen's cultivation base actually increased very quickly; upon careful calculation, it seemed faster than Yunhe's cultivator body and demon beast body.

Of course, mainly because Yunhe almost daily hunted black ring wasps to feed it.

With the Source Refining Method, occasionally there were also black ring wasp queen and bee queen jelly as extra meals.

Equivalent to constantly taking pills to cultivate.

Later on, it wouldn't be that fast.

After this breakthrough, the Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen will certainly demand higher-quality food; ordinary black ring wasps will no longer benefit it much, and even the black ring wasp queen will have greatly reduced effect.

The most precious part of the gold thread black shell scorpion meat was probably also eaten by it, and that unknown medicine lump was the opportunity it needed.

The thought ends here.

Yunhe took from his storage bag the corpse of the black ring wasp queen he had just killed that day, a first-stage middle specimen.

Let's eat it all together.

Saying that, he threw it toward the bee swarm.

Buzz—

The queen bee transmitted a feeling of joy.

Yunhe chuckled lightly and no longer paid attention to the Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen's breakthrough.

Once enough accumulation is reached, a breakthrough will naturally proceed smoothly.

After all, it's only from first-stage early to first-stage middle, with no major bottleneck.

However, Yunhe estimated that the Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen's potential limit might be first-stage late.

It's hard to reach second stage.

After all, insect intelligence awakens extremely slowly, it's hard to cultivate demon beast techniques, it's not an innate aberrant species, and without suitable techniques, relying solely on eating and naturally absorbing spiritual qi makes it hard to break racial shackles.

Thus insect tamers have the saying of 'selecting the excellent'.

By continually selecting the excellent from offspring, improving the race's essence, constantly adjusting and cultivating, then adjusting again, an excellent spirit insect swarm can be bred.

Withdrawing his gaze, Yunhe once again focused his attention on the bones on the ground.

None?

He searched the ground for a long time; even the dug-up soil piled up a chi high, yet he still couldn't find the storage bag of the bones' owner.

He thought, likely killed by an enemy, the storage bag had been taken.

Sitting on the ground, Yunhe didn't feel disappointed either.

This is normal in the cultivation world.

Sorry for bothering, senior.

He rose, patted the dust from his body, and gave a respectful bow.

He prepared to bury the corpse in the soil.

The deceased is paramount; meeting counts as fate, and he did what he could.

Saying that, he placed piece after piece of bone into the pit.

Gleaming white bones were stacked in the pit.

Huh?

When Yunhe was about to put the arm bone back, he suddenly froze.

'Is it an illusion?'

How come this bone segment feels a bit off in weight?

He then took the symmetrical bone and gave it a toss.

'They really are different!'

He could clearly feel the weight difference between the two bones.

'Cat grease?'

He immediately examined the heavier piece closely.

Indeed, on the heavier bone he found a barely noticeable seam.

One might think it was from injury, bone fracture, or bone aging.

After some effort, Yunhe pulled from the seam an extremely thin sheet of gold foil, which he tentatively called 'gold foil'.

Although it looks thin, it is actually heavy; it must be some special metal.

Carefully unfolding the gold foil, he discovered densely engraved tiny characters on it.

The first few characters were slightly larger.

'Breeding Elixir'.

It's actually a single formula!

Yunhe suppressed his delight and continued reading.

As he read, Yunhe's expression grew strange; his initial delight turned into a complex mix of astonishment and regret.

Exhale—

After finishing, Yunhe exhaled lightly and showed a helpless smile.

It turns out to be a formula for breeding spirit beasts.

According to the formula, this 'Breeding Elixir' is a pill specially made for demon beasts to eat, which can advance their cultivation.

Moreover, if taken long-term, this pill likely enhances demon beasts' tendons and bones and improves their bloodlines.

The formula is absolutely a good formula.

That even a at least Foundation Establishment great cultivator would be so cautious, enduring pain to hide it in his arm bone, suggests the elixir, once refined, truly has the effects described.

If it can be refined, whether fed to the Red Pattern Spirit Bee or to the demon beast body of the Yao Shou Shijie, it will undoubtedly bring great benefit.

But the problem is

He can't do alchemy!

His talisman dao has just begun; surely he wouldn't go study alchemy?

After all, a person's energy is limited; it's impossible to simultaneously handle cultivation, talisman making, alchemy and other tasks that consume huge amounts of mental power within limited time.

Actually it's not impossible to do them together, but it requires taking a large amount of time originally devoted to cultivation.

This way, with his already poor aptitude, his cultivation progress will inevitably keep dropping.

Moreover, most importantly, the material and resource demands for alchemy and talisman making are on completely different levels.

Which outstanding alchemist isn't built up from vast amounts of spiritual plants and herbs?

He let out a soft sigh and carefully put away the gold leaf.

"Maybe later there will be a chance to study it, after all my lifespan is much longer than an ordinary cultivator's; if my cultivation and talisman dao are both stuck, taking up the dao of pills isn't a bad choice. But for now, I should focus on raising my cultivation."

As long as his cultivation rises, the demon beast body's lifespan can let him live longer.

Living long enough makes nothing impossible.

After placing the arm bone in the earth pit, Yunhe proceeded to examine the other bones one by one.

Unexpectedly, he actually found another clue.

"This senior is ruthless enough."

Yunhe, holding a leg bone, smacked his lips and sighed.

Not only did he stuff gold leaf into the arm bone, he also stuffed something into the leg bone the same way.

But this time, the thing dug out from the leg bone's crack, Yunhe couldn't understand.

It was a gray, unnamed metal piece about two fingers long and wide.

It bore no characters and could not be infused with spiritual power, seeming really just an ordinary metal piece.

But Yunhe tried to bend it and found the metal piece wouldn't budge.

He pondered for a while but still couldn't figure it out.

"Something that one would hide even while enduring the pain of a nurturing pill must not be simple."

With that thought, Yunhe placed it in the corner of his storage bag.

He'll study it later when he gets the chance.

After checking all the bones, Yunhe finally buried them.

He made a deep, respectful bow.

"Thank you, senior."

Only then did he look again at the Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen.

"In that case, the lump the bee queen just ate is very likely the nurturing pill; no wonder it became the breakthrough's catalyst."

I just don't know how long this pill has been stored, nor how much potency remains after being kneaded into a lump.

After waiting a moment, Yunhe felt the demon beast power on the Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen suddenly surge.

Obviously the breakthrough succeeded.

But possibly due to short-term weakness after the breakthrough, the Red Pattern Spirit Bee Queen fell into a drowsy sleep.

Yunhe then stored it in his spirit insect bag.

Immediately after, he formed hand seals.

The swarm of Red Pattern Spirit Bees scattered throughout the cave.

Another part flew out of the cave to give warnings farther away.

Only after all the Red Pattern Spirit Bees had calmed did he slowly close his eyes.

Yunhe wanted to go check on the demon beast body.

But because the cultivator body's current environment is dangerous, he just went to have a look.

For now, the demon beast body's side is still very peaceful and safe.

Besides his daily cultivation, he either studies talisman dao or plays with his two little followers.

But now that the cultivator body has broken through to the fifth layer of Qi refinement, the demon beast body's cultivation should be able to make further progress in a short time.

By then, having entered the Turtle Breath Body Forging Technique and Earth Escape Technique, plus having prepared a preliminary scale of Three Yang Heavy Water, he intends to explore in the direction the black fish mentioned.

About an hour passed.

Yunhe opened his eyes.

The demon beast body's side was indeed still calm, with little disturbance; after briefly giving instructions to the black fish and loach, he returned.

After all, in the deep mountains where demon beasts roam, safety can never be fully guaranteed at any moment.

But after waking, Yunhe's eyes showed a hint of doubt.

"How come after my cultivation increased, coming and going feels more free?"

Before, he had to wait until he fell asleep or entered meditation before he could reach the demon beast body.

But as his cultivation rose, he felt that even without sleeping, as long as he wished and calmed his mind, he could awaken within the demon beast body.

Actually, he had this feeling already when he broke through to the fourth layer of Qi refinement.

But because he wasn't in a hurry, the feeling wasn't obvious.

This time, the cultivator body's environment was dangerous; he hurried back and forth, making the before-and-after change very pronounced.

"Is it an illusion?"

"No!"

And this kind of "cognition".

It made him suddenly feel an extremely strong premonition.

Or rather, intuition.

"Try it!"

Suppressing the faint excitement welling up in his heart, Yunhe closed his eyes again.

But this time, after closing them, he soon opened them again.

Moreover, his entire mental state instantly became extremely exhausted.

Like an ordinary person who hasn't slept for a day and night, that weariness one can still endure but is visibly apparent.

But Yunhe's eyes were unusually bright.

In his eyes lay a calmness he had never known, and an ecstasy difficult to restrain.

He held his breath, tightly staring at his clenched fist.

Slowly opened.

At first glance it seemed unchanged, but a closer look revealed a fish scale smaller than a little‑finger nail in the center of his palm.

Under the moonlight streaming through the opening.

Shimmering with a faint light.

(End of chapter)