A little over half a day later.
Qi Ping personally escorted Old Zhou to the Hongyun Merchant Guild, and only after ensuring he met up with Wang Shan and Zhou Pangzi did he finally put his mind at ease.
In the current situation, Loose Cultivators were as cheap as weeds, and returning to the mortal world was much safer.
From now on, with no more worries, Qi Ping could fully focus on cultivating Spirit Medicine and nurturing his High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee army.
"Although Qing Shi County will be dangerous next, as long as I'm careful and protect myself, with a large High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee army, whether it's dealing with Demon Insects or robber cultivators, it might not be a bad opportunity to acquire resources."
"My current advantage is insect manipulation and the ability to rapidly increase my forces by cultivating Spirit Medicine. The High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bees are fast and can transmit information over long distances, so in any situation, I can send a portion of the Bee Swarm as a vanguard to scout, and then decide whether to fight or flee."
Fight if you can win, run if you can't!
"Then, if I prepare suitable escape routes, I can be even more stable."
Although Qi Ping preferred a stable, farming life, facing the current situation, he naturally wouldn't show any mercy.
Since circumstances forced his hand, then killing was the way!
"If only I could reach Druid Level three quickly…" A glimmer of hope arose in Qi Ping's heart.
Once his Druid Level reached three, he would gain the skill Wilderness Transformation!
"Wilderness Transformation: You can transform into an animal and gain the extraordinary power of the transformed animal."
For Qi Ping, the first transformation he desired was the Gold Marrow Bee, his first Animal Companion.
Because with the formation of the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee and the increasing number of the Bee Swarm, after Qi Ping transformed into a Bee, he would be indistinguishable from other Bees in terms of aura, appearance, and Divine Soul.
In such circumstances, even if he encountered a Foundation Establishment Cultivator, Qi Ping would have the confidence to escape.
Because if he encountered an irresistible danger, Qi Ping could choose to disperse the Bee Swarm throughout the Cloud Mist Mountain Range, and he himself would transform and blend in.
At that point, let alone one Foundation Establishment Cultivator, even four or five Foundation Establishment Cultivators wouldn't be able to catch him.
This was why Qi Ping wanted to choose to transform into a Bee—it offered powerful self-preservation capabilities!
Besides that, there was another reason: Wilderness Transformation had a limitation.
That is, the form of Wilderness Transformation could only be a form he was completely familiar with, and this form could not exceed his total energy.
Not to mention that the only animal forms Qi Ping was currently familiar with were the Black Little Bee, Gold Marrow Bee, and their mutated Bee species; even if Qi Ping were familiar with the Qilin's form, he wouldn't be able to successfully transform.
Because the energy and strength difference between them was too great; the strength of the transformation target could not exceed Qi Ping's own strength by too much, otherwise, successful transformation would be impossible.
Although the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee was much higher in Realm than Qi Ping, because its size was too small compared to Qi Ping, Wilderness Transformation into a High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee posed no difficulty for Qi Ping.
"It's not far from Level three…"
"Druid Level: lv2 (83/200)."
"I still need 117 points of Level experience to reach Level three. At the latest, in a little over a month, I can advance to a Level three Druid!"
"In fact, if I just Cultivate another hundred-year blood ginseng and fifty-year flowing light grass, my leveling speed can be even faster."
Because last time, after Qi Ping successfully cultivated the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee, Equilibrium Bees, and Big Belly Bee, he actually gained 47 points of Druid experience!
So, as soon as the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee's rapid increase in numbers was complete, he could Cultivate Spirit Medicine to increase his Level experience while also making bloodline mutation potion to make the Gold Marrow Bee undergo another metamorphosis.
This would allow Qi Ping to gain double experience for the same action, and perhaps he wouldn't even need a month to officially reach Level three!
Once he gained Wilderness Transformation, Qi Ping's self-preservation ability would rapidly increase. At that time, as long as he didn't foolishly provoke those super powerhouses, even the Three Great Families probably wouldn't be able to take his life!
Thinking about gaining the Wilderness Transformation skill soon, Qi Ping's confidence in the future couldn't help but grow stronger.
He just needed to get through this most dangerous period now.
"Next, the first step is to fully Cultivate Spirit Medicine and rapidly increase the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee population."
"The second step is to use the bloodline mutation potion to quickly raise my Druid Level to three, acquire the Wilderness Transformation skill, and complete the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee transformation."
"For the third step, I can then safely go to Boss Gao to inquire about Spirit Beasts. With the Wilderness Transformation skill and the High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bee army as trump cards, even if I'm targeted for purchasing better Spirit Beasts, I'll have means to deal with it. The potential of my future Animal Companions will also become more important."
It should be said that Animal Companions either need to have high potential or rare Talent that greatly assists Qi Ping's Cultivation, making them worth gambling on.
In fact, if suitable, contracting two Animal Companions at once might not be impossible, if he could encounter suitable Spirit Beasts.
Qi Ping estimated that as long as he completed these three steps, even if Qing Shi County became even more chaotic, he would have the capital to establish himself.
On the way back after seeing Old Zhou off, Qi Ping made a detour to find Nan Jie and informed her about the Blood Pattern Locust.
After Nan Jie heard the news, she fell silent for a moment, but it still didn't shake her resolve to stay.
Qi Ping felt that Nan Jie was a smart person. Since she acted this way, there must be a reason she couldn't leave, so Qi Ping didn't say much about it.
In the future, if he was able, he would just help her out conveniently.
At the same time, Qi Ping also asked Nan Jie if her crisis premonition Talent had sensed anything, and the answer he received was no.
This made Qi Ping secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Since it didn't even affect Nan Jie, there shouldn't be a large-scale Demon Insect attack for now.
For small-scale attacks, the Gold Marrow Bee should be sufficient to deal with them.
At the same time, Qi Ping finally reminded Nan Jie that if her crisis warning Talent gave any warning, she must tell him immediately. Nan Jie naturally agreed to this point.
When Qi Ping returned to the mountain again, his Mental Energy had recovered quite a bit, so he immediately went straight to the Blood Ginseng Growing Area to Cultivate blood ginseng.
Now, for resources like blood ginseng, Qi Ping cultivated as much as he could, as this would determine the upper limit of his rapid increase in forces.
Once he had accumulated a good amount of blood ginseng, he would then turn to cultivating hundred-year blood ginseng and fifty-year flowing light grass, continuing to mutate the Gold Marrow Bee to accelerate the acquisition of Druid experience.
Qi Ping's current [Plant Growth] skill had increased to Level two, which not only greatly increased the speed of accumulating Spirit Medicine but also reduced the difficulty of cultivating high-year Spirit Medicine.
So, in the time that followed, Qi Ping completely pushed himself. Apart from necessary rest to accelerate Mental Energy recovery and Spirit Energy recovery, all other time was spent frantically cultivating blood ginseng!
Even when extremely mentally exhausted, Qi Ping didn't dare to relax in the slightest. A strong belief and a strong sense of crisis supported him.
In such an extreme state, Qi Ping's gains were truly extraordinary!
Not only was blood ginseng produced at an extremely fast rate, continuously being brewed into honey by the Gold Marrow Bee or temporarily collected to be brewed after the Big Belly Bee army was cultivated.
Even Qi Ping's Druid Level experience was gained at two to three times the usual speed!
"Druid Level Experience +1."
"Druid Level Experience +1."
"Druid Level Experience +1."
...
Every time Qi Ping saw this experience message, a great sense of satisfaction would rise in his heart.
However, this state only lasted for three days before Qi Ping encountered an uninvited guest even stronger than the Blood Pattern Locust: the Blood Armor Gū!
"Damn it… It's absolutely no coincidence that Demon Insects found this place!"
Last time Qi Ping couldn't be sure, but now, the direction of this group of Blood Armor Gū was again straight towards the Blood Ginseng Growing Area!
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