"Currently, over five hundred hundred spirit grass plants are cultivated here. A First-Order Spiritual Land normally matures once per season."
"In places with denser Spiritual Qi, it can mature in a little over two months, while in less dense areas, it takes about four months. Overall, it matures approximately once every three months or so."
Qi Ping was currently calculating the specific carrying capacity of his Spiritual Land.
He took two mature hundred spirit grass plants for the Honeybees to try brewing honey. The test showed that the honey brewed from one hundred spirit grass plant could support fifty Combat Bee Species for one month.
In other words, honey brewed from one hundred hundred spirit grass plants could support five thousand Combat Bee Species for one month; for three months, three hundred plants would be needed.
"However, because over ten thousand ordinary flowers have been planted, and there are also over one hundred Moon Sleep Flowers and Sun Essence Flowers, their combination with the hundred spirit grass makes it no problem to double the hundred spirit grass's carrying capacity."
"That means three hundred hundred spirit grass plants, plus the flowers on the mountain, can support nearly ten thousand Combat Bee Species for three months in an extreme state, which accounts for exactly sixty percent of the hundred spirit grass quantity."
"Then, the other two hundred hundred spirit grass plants, along with the honey brewed from some daily collected dew and Spirit Medicine by the Honeybees, will be pure profit."
"So, how many Bee Species should I Cultivate?"
Qi Ping hesitated about the number of Bee Swarm to Cultivate.
Cultivating more Bee Swarm would result in higher combat power, but less Spirit Stone would be earned.
After much thought, Qi Ping finally made a decision:
Ten thousand!
He wanted to Cultivate ten thousand Combat Bee Species!
Four thousand High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bees!
Two thousand Mo Jia Bees!
Two thousand Poisonous Bees!
Two thousand Equilibrium Bees!
Three thousand Brewer Big Belly Bees!
Eight thousand purely Combat Bee Species, three thousand purely honey-brewing Bee Species, and two thousand Bee Species capable of both combat and honey-brewing!
Ten thousand Combat Bee Species was the number Qi Ping desired; they could normally be responsible for collecting pollen and Spirit Medicine to give to the honey-brewing Bee Species.
Five thousand honey-brewing Bee Species would normally be responsible for brewing honey with all their might. This number was more than enough to brew the Spirit Medicine and nectar from the Twenty-Ninth Spiritual Land.
However, if the Twenty-Eighth Spiritual Land next to it was included, it would be necessary to ensure there were at least five thousand honey-brewing Bee Species to brew the large quantities of hundred spirit grass produced in both lands.
Once the Twenty-Eighth Spiritual Land was acquired, the honey produced from the hundred spirit grass planted there would be pure profit for Qi Ping!
Because the current types of Bee Species Qi Ping had set up totaled over ten thousand, plus the initial one thousand ordinary Gold Marrow Bees, their daily consumption would use up about eighty percent of the Twenty-Ninth Spiritual Land's output.
Therefore, Qi Ping had to possess both the Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth Spiritual Lands simultaneously to maximize the benefits generated by the Bee Swarm!
"It's decided, this is the number! Thirteen thousand First-Order High-level Bee Species!"
Among them, ten thousand Bee Species with powerful combat capabilities!
"I just don't know if ten thousand can slay a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator?"
This doubt arose in Qi Ping's mind.
Among these ten thousand Combat Bee Species, there were High-Speed Ring-Cutting Bees with super-strong Blade Wings, whose speed was no less than that of a Qi Refining Ninth-layer Cultivator, and even surpassed some.
There were also Mo Jia Bees with super-strong physical defense and powerful biting force.
And there were Poisonous Bees with super-strong toxicity!
The Equilibrium Bees' attributes in all aspects were also not bad, and they possessed combat power no less than other First-Order High-level Insects.
"Based on current combat records, whether it was the Qi Refining Seventh-layer Black-Robed Robber who used a sword array, or the Qi Refining Eighth-layer Black-robed Rune Cultivator, neither had much resistance against the Bee Swarm's battle array encirclement. They could only kill dozens to a hundred Bees, and the difference for a Qi Refining Ninth-layer Cultivator wouldn't be particularly large."
"Although the Foundation Establishment Stage is much stronger than the Qi Refinement Stage, it has not yet reached the point where Qi Refining Ninth-layer Cultivators can be ignored. This means that, theoretically, ten thousand Combat Bee Species have a complete chance of slaying an ordinary Foundation Establishment Early Stage Cultivator."
Then, after careful comparison, Qi Ping found that the probability of ten thousand special Combat Bee Species fighting to the death with a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator was not small, but in that case, the Bee Swarm's losses would definitely be immense.
It was even possible that thousands or even tens of thousands of the Bee Swarm could be killed, depending on the strength of that Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator.
And it would take Qi Ping at least several months to Cultivate so many Combat Bee Species.
Therefore, unless fighting a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator could yield huge profits to cover the Bee Swarm's losses, it was best not to engage in conflict, not to mention the risk of failing to kill a powerful Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator.
"But a trump card can be unused, but it absolutely cannot be absent!"
"With ten thousand Combat Bee Species, I can not only have the strength to contend with a Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator, but as long as I want to escape, an ordinary Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivator will absolutely not be able to stop me."
Having made up his mind, Qi Ping then focused his main energy on the blood ginseng.
For the cultivation of Fire Spirit Grass, Qi Ping temporarily only planned to Cultivate enough Fire Ginseng Honey and Fire Spirit Body Tempering Honey for his own use; other energy would temporarily support the Honeybees' rapid expansion.
When the rapid expansion is complete, Qi Ping estimated that he would also reach the Qi Refining Late Stage. As his cultivation improved, his speed in cultivating Spirit Medicine would also be much faster.
Afterward, he could slowly consider the transformation of the Honeybees into Second-Order or Crow's Breakthrough to Second-Order.
But these were not things that could be accomplished in a short time; otherwise, there would not be so few Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators and Second-Order Spirit Beasts in Qing Shi County.
Therefore, increasing the Bee Swarm's quantity was the fastest way for Qi Ping to gain the strength to contend with Foundation Establishment Stage Cultivators within a few months.
The Bee Swarm quantity he had now set was also what Qi Ping considered most suitable for the Twenty-Eighth and Twenty-Ninth territories, ensuring both powerful combat strength and abundant Spirit Stone for Qi Ping.
As for how many Spirit Stone could be earned, it would depend on the Brewer Big Belly Bee's brewing results for the hundred spirit grass.
The sun rose and the moon set, the moon set and the sun rose.
Cultivation knows no years; in the blink of an eye, day after day passed.
The Twenty-Ninth Mountain Peak also changed day by day.
First, all miscellaneous trees on the mountain, except for those Qi Ping instructed to leave, were cleared by the Honeybees and then burned into plant ash by Crow, which was mixed into the soil.
The entire mountain peak, except for those trees and bushes, was soft black-yellow earth, with no trace of green to be seen.
However, it did not appear desolate; instead, it seemed to contain endless hope, like during planting season.
On the black-yellow earth, many Honeybees diligently toiled, weeding, sowing, watering...
Gradually, as the days passed, specks of green began to emerge on the black-yellow earth, covering the entire mountain peak.
Then, from scattered tender shoots, they transformed into lush green seedlings.
Afterward, these seedlings grew rapidly.
Some fast-growing ordinary flowers, nourished by the dense Spiritual Qi, quickly grew luxuriant branches and leaves, and then bloomed into various dazzling flowers.
And Qi Ping, in addition to Cultivating and cultivating Spirit Medicine, also diligently observed and perceived every subtle change on the mountain peak, experiencing the rules of heaven and earth contained within them.
On the twentieth day after entering Mountain Peak Fifteen, Qi Ping finally confirmed that the Black-robed Rune Cultivator he had slain had not brought danger or powerful enemies, and then had the Honeybees retrieve the Storage Pouch.
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