Chapter 6: Black Ring Hornet Nest (Please Collect!)

Shush, shush.

The water arrow darted through the grass, slicing off fresh leaves.

Seeing the bloody, mangled mouse in the grass, Yunhe, whose nerves were somewhat tense, finally relaxed.

Too tense, relax, relax.

He patted his cheeks and took several deep breaths.

There was nothing he could do.

Whether it was the original owner or Yunhe himself, neither had ever fought before.

He had hardly any combat experience.

If one had to say, what he usually dealt with most were probably some birds or snakes and insects that tried to catch the spirit bees when he released them.

The most formidable might be the Black Ring Hornets he's faced these past two days.

So as soon as he reached the edge of the market town's safe zone, his whole demeanor became especially tense.

Looking around at the desolate land completely unlike the market town's jurisdiction, the undulating dark-green mountain range in the distance, having gradually lost sunlight, resembled a sleeping dragon slowly waking.

He hurried to stop his wandering thoughts.

'It's just at the edge of the safe zone; if anything seems wrong, I can return anytime, no need to be so tense.'

'One can't stay holed up in the safe zone forever; sooner or later there will be a day to go out.'

Yunhe's gaze gradually became determined.

A trampled path wound its way into the distant horizon, weeds flourishing on both sides, scattered small trees dotting it, a desolate aura blowing in.

Buzzzz.

The three Red Pattern Spirit Bees circling his side, and the protective charm he gripped in his hand, gave him some confidence.

Gradually, Yunhe adapted to this environment; although he would still be alert to any unusual sounds, at least he was no longer panicked as at the start, and he wouldn't recklessly attack and waste spiritual power.

Sometimes one must push oneself, otherwise one can only forever hide in the comfort zone.

A winding flower snake, a fleeting fat rat, a suddenly jumping unknown insect, a large bird taking flight.

They were all ordinary wild beasts, although much larger than anything Yunhe had seen in his previous life, but he eventually grew accustomed to them.

Walking along the edge, he occasionally looked up at the sunset sloping down from West Mountain.

'Return before the sun completely sets.'

Today, after releasing the bees, he still hadn't encountered the Black Ring Hornets; after some hesitation, he still decided to follow the plan and try to actively seek out traces of the Black Ring Hornets.

Shush.

'Go.'

Yunhe lightly tapped his finger.

A two-pattern Red Pattern Spirit Bee, under his command, swiftly darted toward the direction of the movement.

He could also be said to have gradually gained some experience.

In most cases, when encountering any movement, he could let the Red Pattern Spirit Bees go first to scout.

Red Pattern Spirit Bees possess a faint demonic power, can fly, and are not slow; if it's just an ordinary small beast, even if they can't defeat it, escaping back is not a problem.

If they truly encountered a dangerous creature, it would still serve as a warning.

Although Red Pattern Spirit Bees are precious, no matter how precious they are, they're not as valuable as his own life.

Hiss—

Then he heard a soft sound.

Soon after, he saw the two-pattern Red Pattern Spirit Bee swiftly retreat.

Seeing this, Yunhe's expression slightly changed.

He formed hand seals with both hands.

As spiritual power surged within him, a mass of water appeared out of thin air, condensing into the shape of an arrow.

Water Arrow Technique!

Whoosh—

Hiss hiss!! Hiss hiss!!

The movement in the grass became increasingly obvious, and the sound seemed to carry a hint of painful struggle.

He carefully pushed aside the waist-high, lush grass.

All he saw in the grass was a dark-colored mountain dragon child struck from abdomen to hind leg, as if slashed by a sharp blade, continually struggling on the ground while bright red blood pooled everywhere.

Yunhe's expression eased slightly.

'It's just a mountain dragon child.'

The mountain dragon child is a four-legged snake, also called a stone lizard or stone dragon, and is one of the most common creatures in these deep mountains and old forests.

However.

'There's a fluctuation of demonic power.'

His eyebrows twitched slightly, somewhat surprised.

No wonder his Red Pattern Spirit Bees turned tail and fled.

Buzzzz.

The three Red Pattern Spirit Bees coiled around his side, moving up and down, seeming somewhat restless.

'They're quite eager and excited when facing Black Ring Hornets, yet so afraid of a mere mountain dragon child.'

Gazing at the mountain dragon child, now with little capacity to resist, Yunhe pondered briefly, then formed hand seals again.

'Go.'

Afterward, the three Red Pattern Spirit Bees, under his firm command, lunged at the struggling mountain dragon child.

The sharp mouthparts continually inflicted wounds on the Mountain Dragon, its fine scales unable to block the Red Pattern Spirit Bee's sharp mouthparts and stingers.

The Red Pattern Spirit Bee, which had initially been hesitant and unsure what to do, became ferocious under the stimulation of the hot blood.

Soon, the Mountain Dragon fell silent, leaving only the sound of the three Red Pattern Spirit Bees gnawing.

He cultivated the Red Pattern Spirit Bee not just to deal with Black-ring Hornets; in the future he will surely face other demonic beasts and even cultivators, making this one of his means of coping with enemies.

Therefore, they must be made to adapt to the shift from ordinary spirit bees to Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

Tasting blood is the quickest way.

After a while.

The three Red Pattern Spirit Bees returned to his side.

It was clearly noticeable that, although they still fell far short of the Black-ring Hornet's head-on ferocity, they were also shedding the innocence and helplessness characteristic of spirit bees.

"This is training for you, and also training for me."

Black-ring Hornets feed on flesh, and the Red Pattern Spirit Bee has, to a certain extent, "inherited" this "habit".

However, the demonic power contained in that Mountain Dragon was minuscule, and the benefit it brought to the three Red Pattern Spirit Bees was not great.

He raised his head and looked again at the Western Mountain.

"At most another quarter of an hour, and we must head back."

Continuing forward along the rugged path.

"Let's go back."

Not having found the Black-ring Hornet, Yunhe was not discouraged.

After all, it was just a matter of trying his luck.

If he could encounter one, all the better; if not, he would treat it as training.

"Buzz!"

Suddenly.

The three-striped Red Pattern Spirit Bee's motion paused slightly.

Immediately afterward, the two two-striped Red Pattern Spirit Bees also stopped their wandering.

"Hmm?"

Noticing their change, Yunhe immediately followed their gaze.

He saw.

A Black-ring Hornet the size of a fist, under the darkening night sky, swiftly flew off in a certain direction.

Immediately afterward.

He then saw one after another Black-ring Hornet coming from all directions, converging on the same spot.

"This is."

His pupils contracted sharply.

"A nest!"

"It turns out to be the location of the Black-ring Hornet's nest!"

He had merely wanted to try his luck, but who would have thought that luck would be this "good," directly locking onto the position of the Black-ring Hornet's nest.

From the number of Black-ring Hornets returning to the nest, it was not hard to judge the size of the swarm inside.

Yunhe immediately took control of the Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

He made them sit quietly on his body, making no movement or sound.

If at this moment he attracted the attention of the Black-ring Hornets, causing them to swarm out of the nest, he would hardly be able to escape.

He retreated cautiously, tip-toeing.

Fortunately, the Black-ring Hornets returning to the nest were busy carrying back their spoils and did not notice Yunhe quietly retreating from around their nest.

However, the large swarm was avoided.

But due to their numbers, he inevitably appeared on the flight path of a Black-ring Hornet returning to the nest.

Not daring to create a major disturbance, Yunhe did not try to provoke it, merely continuing to retreat.

However, that Black-ring Hornet may have caught the scent of the spirit bees and spirit honey on his body and gave chase.

"Then it's not my fault."

After retreating a certain distance and ensuring he was far from the nest, Yunhe decisively struck.

He directed the three Red Pattern Spirit Bees to surround and attack, adding his own "Water Arrow Technique" to inflict damage, leaving the Black-ring Hornet almost no chance to resist, and thus easily accomplished the kill.

"Buzz—buzz buzz—"

But perhaps the Black-ring Hornet transmitted some information before dying, for he heard an extremely dense buzzing from afar.

In the already dim environment, a large black cloud rose.

Frightened, he dared not linger, picked up the Black-ring Hornet corpse on the ground, turned and ran.

Fortunately, after running a certain distance into the safe zone, no Black-ring Hornets pursued him further.

"Whoosh—"

Yunhe's face flushed red, his chest heaving violently.

Besides being nervous, he also felt some excitement.

"No wonder they say men are creatures who love adventure."

He harvested one Black-ring Hornet.

But this was no longer the most important gain from this outing.

Most importantly, he had located the nest of this nearby active swarm of Black-ring Hornets!

The number of Black-ring Hornets inside the nest, even if not over a hundred, was still several dozen.

Several dozen, purely used to raise spirit bees via Source Refining Method, and if we temporarily ignore the control limit of Bee Controlling Technique, Yunhe will be able to possess over a hundred Red Pattern Spirit Bees!

At that time, not only will the production speed of Red Pattern Spirit Bee honey greatly increase, but when facing enemies Yunhe will also have an extra killer's mace.

Yunhe believes that no ordinary Qi Refining early-stage cultivator could escape unscathed when facing a siege of over a hundred Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

Although, wanting to capture all these several dozen Black Ring Hornets is somewhat difficult, let alone the fact that there is a queen bee among them.

But like today, lying in wait on the return-to-nest route of the Black Ring Hornets.

As long as there are enough Old Six, one day we'll be able to empty this hive.

Stepping on the last glow of the setting sun, Yunhe walked contentedly toward the shanty town.

Fellow Daoist, want to grab a bite?

On the way back, Yunhe encountered an unfamiliar cultivator.

The other party wore a decent-looking robe, wore a smile all over their face, and bore somewhat the bearing of a cultivator, which Yunhe and those spirit farmers mixing in the shanty town could not match.

However, this place is not far from the edge of the safe zone, and Yunhe still retained some wariness in his heart toward the sudden appearance of an unfamiliar cultivator.

He showed a helpless smile, shook his head, and said:

Where? Just releasing the bees.

After saying that, Yunhe bowed to the other party, didn't engage in further conversation, and simply quickened his steps.

That person also showed no malice or ill intent, merely watching Yunhe's departing back with a smile that held some deep meaning.

Returning home.

Yunhe suppressed the three Red Pattern Spirit Bees' intention to share the Black Ring Hornets, controlling two spirit bees to devour them via Source Refining Method.

For methods such as spirit insects and spirit bees, unless a single spirit insect is exceptionally powerful and gifted, victory does not come from quality but from overwhelming numbers.

Therefore, Yunhe cultivating just one or two Red Pattern Spirit Bees individually yields far less benefit than first raising a small group of Red Pattern Spirit Bees.

This can both exert a certain effect against enemies and harvest more Red Pattern Spirit Bee honey, achieving a virtuous cycle.

After dealing with the Red Pattern Spirit Bees and solving his hunger,

Yunhe then entered the cultivation chamber to carry out tedious cultivation.

Seeking votes, monthly tickets~~ recommendation tickets~~

(End of chapter)