In early spring, the birds were singing and the flowers were blooming.
This was the best season for bees. There was plenty of honey for bee breeding and honey collection.
At this moment, on Peak No. 007 in the Ding District of the Yunwu Mountains, there stood a lush ancient pine. The warm sunlight sprinkled gently on it, reflecting a golden color.
On its lowest branch, there was a beehive made of pine wood. The box was not short—about five feet tall.
A group of bees was flying around the beehive in a restless manner, as if they were in trouble.
This scene happened to be seen by a handsome boy who had just walked under the pine tree.
The boy wore a straw hat on his head, and his face was a little dark—probably because he had been exposed to the sun for too long.
"Huh... what's wrong with this box of bees?"
The boy in the straw hat looked at the messy bees with some surprise.
His name was Qi Ping, a beekeeper in the Yunwu Mountains, and this box of bees belonged to him.
"Did they get attacked by golden hornets?" Qi Ping guessed.
There was a group of first-level golden hornets nearby, which loved to feed on bees. They would attack his precious bees from time to time, which was a constant headache for him.
But after Qi Ping carefully checked, he did not find any trace of hornets.
"It seems there are no traces of hornets? Strange..."
Qi Ping checked carefully again, but still found nothing.
Logically, even if the hornets had completed the attack and left, there should be traces left at the scene, and the bees should have returned to normal by now.
"Something is wrong... what happened?"
After Qi Ping's careful observation, he found that the flight trajectory of the bees was abnormally messy—unlike their usual behavior when scouting an enemy.
It was too messy—chaotic and without any pattern.
"Could the swarm of bees be preparing to escape?"
Thinking of this, Qi Ping's expression suddenly changed.
The bees' messy and irritable flying posture was likely a sign of an impending escape.
This was not okay!
This group of bees was one of Qi Ping's few assets. If he lost a swarm, his already poor life would become even harder.
So, to avoid this situation, Qi Ping hurriedly opened the beehive, clipped the queen bee's wings, and placed a queen excluder to prevent her from escaping.
However, this was only a temporary solution, and he had to find out the reason why the colony was agitated or preparing to escape.
"The reasons why bees escape are generally because their survival is threatened—such as insufficient nectar sources, interference from natural enemies, overheating of the beehive..."
Based on the beekeeping knowledge he had learned over the past two or three years, the beekeeper Qi Ping checked carefully.
"The temperature of the beehive is normal..."
So the possibility of overheating could be ruled out.
"Although many first-level flowers have withered, there are still plenty of ordinary ones. It shouldn't be due to a lack of nectar sources..."
This species of bee was the most common first-level black bee. The colony was much weaker than even a first-level Qi Refining cultivator, and their nectar requirements were low—ordinary flowers could satisfy them.
Especially since it was still spring, with many flowers in bloom in the Yunwu Mountains, nectar shortage wasn't likely.
"The number of hornets recently hasn't been high, so that shouldn't be the cause either..."
"Could it be bee mites or nest worms?"
Thinking of this, Qi Ping carefully opened the hive again and checked it thoroughly.
Under normal circumstances, beehives couldn't be opened too often—doing so would affect the bees' lives and honey collection, and might even trigger an escape. But now, he had no choice.
However, Qi Ping found no signs of bee mites or nest worms.
"The honeycombs are full, and the honey supply is sufficient. That's not the issue either..."
Over the next half an hour, Qi Ping thoroughly checked inside and out, but still couldn't find the source of the bees' restlessness.
"Strange. What's the problem?" Qi Ping was a little distressed.
After another half hour, Qi Ping still had no clue.
At this point, he could only blame himself for not learning his skills well enough.
"Alas... it seems my skills still aren't good enough..."
"Let's ask that stinky old man to take a look!"
Sighing, Qi Ping went down the mountain to seek help.
...
The old man in question was Old Man Zhou, from whom Qi Ping had inherited his beekeeping skills.
Five years ago, Qi Ping had transmigrated from Blue Star into the body of a seriously injured beggar.
Just when Qi Ping was about to die again, he was discovered and saved by Old Man Zhou, who was passing by.
After healing Qi Ping, Old Man Zhou taught him the immortal cultivation methods he had learned.
Over the following years, and after careful observation, Old Man Zhou eventually passed down all of his beekeeping knowledge to Qi Ping.
Qi Ping had once asked Old Man Zhou why he chose him as a successor.
Old Man Zhou said:
"Because you have the lowest quality wood spirit root."
"Because of this? You just took advantage of my low talent?"
"What else?"
"What's good about low talent? I don't even have hope of reaching the late stage of Qi Refining. I'll be useless for life!"
"What's the point of being successful? Once you become powerful, you'll never come back to see me. No one will buy me wine when I'm old!"
"How could you be that heartless?"
"Who knows..."
...
Later, Qi Ping learned that Old Man Zhou had once taken in a disciple with extraordinary talent.
But one day, that disciple joined a powerful sect and never came back. He never sent any messages either.
Occasionally, news would reach Qingshi County about the fame and glory this disciple had achieved.
As for the rest, Qi Ping didn't know.
He only knew that Old Man Zhou had become a grumpy, lazy old man who didn't care much about the world anymore.
Aside from drinking and reading travel notes, his biggest hobby was sleeping.
In Old Man Zhou's own words: he didn't have many days left, and wanted to enjoy the last leisure of life.
As soon as Qi Ping entered the yard, he saw the white-haired old man, in casual clothes and with a kind face, snoring on a recliner made of purple bamboo.
On the rosewood table nearby was a plate of fresh fruit and a pot of sake with a fruity aroma.
"Old Zhou, wake up! Something's happened!" Qi Ping shouted in his ear.
He called him "Old Zhou" because it sounded more casual—calling him "Master" made him uncomfortable.
"Something happened? What could possibly happen?"
Old Zhou mumbled as he woke up, looking relaxed and comfortable, as though he had just had a great nap.
When Qi Ping said something had happened, he didn't look concerned at all, as if even the sky falling wouldn't faze him.
"There's something wrong with the hive on the pine tree. The bees are agitated and seem like they're going to escape."
"Escape? At this time of year, it's usually natural enemies or nest worms. You can handle that..."
"By the way, after you pay the spiritual stone rent with honey, keep the rest for yourself. Stop giving it all to me..."
Saying that, Old Man Zhou lay down again, ready to go back to sleep.
Seeing this, Qi Ping quickly said,
"But I've checked everything thoroughly! Hornets, mites, nest worms, nectar supply... everything seems normal!"
Qi Ping's words finally caught Old Zhou's attention. He had been raising bees for half his life—yet this was a situation he'd never seen?
"You didn't miss anything? Are you sure you checked everything?"
"I checked four or five times!" Qi Ping said helplessly.
"Interesting... Then I'll go take a look."
...
A moment later, under the lush ancient pine—
Old Man Zhou stood in front of the beehive, his brows wrinkled into a giant 川 character, muttering:
"It shouldn't be... it shouldn't be..."
"What's the problem?"
He had raised bees for half his life and had never seen anything like this.
Half an hour passed.
His neatly combed white hair had been ruffled into a tangled mess by his own hands.
Soon after, he hurried down the mountain to check the classics.
This scene was quite novel to Qi Ping.
It was rare to see this old man in such a rush—very few things in the world interested him anymore.
Even when Qi Ping gave him a bag of spirit stones, he had waved it away, saying, "Too much wealth brings disaster."
"Old Man Zhou, who's been raising bees for half his life, can't figure it out... This is really bad!"
Qi Ping felt uneasy. With no solution in sight, it was he who would suffer.
He was a low-grade wood spirit root cultivator at the first level of Qi Refining, with no talent or skills. If he lost this hive, he'd probably starve.
With this box of first-level black bees, while the spiritual stones earned couldn't buy cultivation resources or offer hopes of immortality, at least he could survive comfortably.
Save for a few years, marry some gentle, plump, beautiful, well-mannered mortal women, build a big house—
That would be a life worth living.
Qi Ping had long accepted that without a golden finger, the second or third level of Qi Refining would be his peak.
In that case, inheriting Old Zhou's business, peacefully raising bees, and marrying a few wives was the best path forward.
Compared to going on adventures (99.999% chance of death, 0.001% chance of glory), Qi Ping was happy to stay on this quiet peak in the Yunwu Mountains and live a cozy life like Old Zhou.
"Oh heavens, are you really going to destroy my only livelihood?" Qi Ping felt disheartened.
If this went on, the bees wouldn't even collect honey—then how would he earn anything? He wouldn't even be able to pay rent to the Qingyuan Sect.
The Yunwu Mountains were part of Qingyuan Sect territory, and renting this hill cost a lot of spiritual stones each year.
Just as Qi Ping was drowning in worry—
A voice suddenly rang in his mind, startling him:
[DND game magic modified version loaded successfully...]
[Loading time: five years, three months, seven days, seven hours, twenty-one minutes, and thirty-six seconds. Please give a good review~]
[Please choose your profession...]
On a light screen in Qi Ping's mind, twelve profession templates appeared:
Barbarian, Bard, Priest, Druid, Warrior, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Wanderer, Blood Warlock, Warlock, Mage...
(End of this chapter)