The Resplendent Trio—the Blood-Armor, Gold-Armor, and Emerald-Armor bees—had felt extraordinary from the start. He had hoped for at least one or two to survive, but to have all three make it was an unexpected windfall.
After several days of testing and communication with the bees, Qi Ping mapped out their talents. First was the emerald-green bee:
(Species: Pharmacist Bee - Golden Marrow Bee Variant)
(Bloodline: Rank 2 Low-grade)
(Talents: Medicinal Instinct, Brewing Artisan, Honey Enthusiast)
(Medicinal Instinct: Possesses an incredibly sharp intuition for the properties of spirit herbs. Can easily extract and fuse different medicinal essences.)
(Brewing Artisan: A natural genius at brewing honey. Can brew not only pollen but also various spirit herbs, effectively purifying and concentrating their medicinal effects.)
(Honey Enthusiast: Possesses a profound interest in the research of new honey recipes and loves experimenting with different types of spirit honey.)
(Evaluation: A born master of honey-making. Capable of researching honey with astonishing effects! Pharmacist Bee: Leave the heavy burden of honey research to us!)
Of the eight survivors, Qi Ping was most satisfied with the Pharmacist Bee. Though its combat power was subpar, its utility was off the charts! It surpassed the Brewmaster Belly-Bee in every way and lacked the latter's low intelligence. It was actually passionate about research.
"This will save me so much effort. I can leave the formulation of new honey to the Pharmacist Bees. As long as I have enough variety in my spirit herbs, they will surely produce something amazing."
Whether it was honey for cultivation, body tempering, healing, or enhancing the Queen Bee, Qi Ping didn't mind the variety.
The second was the dark-golden bee. Qi Ping initially thought it was a metal-attribute variant, but testing proved it was earth-attribute.
(Species: Earth-Armor Bee - Golden Marrow Bee Variant)
(Bloodline: Rank 2 Low-grade)
(Talents: Earth Element Affinity, Thick Earth Armor, Explosive Tail-Stinger)
(Earth Element Affinity: High affinity for earth-attribute power, allowing it to easily manipulate earth spiritual energy.)
(Thick Earth Armor: The body is covered in a layer of earth-attribute armor, providing high defense and a minor boost to physical strength.)
(Explosive Tail-Stinger: The stinger has evolved into a specialized organ for condensing and launching earth-attribute spikes. These stingers possess armor-piercing capabilities and explode upon impact.)
(Evaluation: Do not underestimate the small stinger of a bee. Infused with elemental power, it can cause significant damage to both physical bodies and spiritual energy.)
Qi Ping tested the Explosive Tail-Stinger personally. It moved with incredible speed and carried a heavy impact. The explosion was troublesome to deal with, and the lingering earth energy made it difficult to clear. One or two weren't an issue, but a swarm of them would be a nightmare for any cultivator.
"The best way to use these is in combination with a formation. If they form a massive earth-attribute battle array, their firepower will be devastating."
A simple earth-attribute formation was well within Qi Ping's current capabilities. While he couldn't create profound, high-level arrays yet, a basic battle formation to link their power would increase their combat effectiveness by thirty percent.
Finally, there was the Blood-Armor Bee, which had appeared in his very first experiment.
(Species: Blood-Armor Bee - Golden Marrow Bee Variant)
(Bloodline: Rank 2 Low-grade)
(Talents: Robust Body, Bloodlust, Blood Armor)
(Robust Body: Physical strength, speed, and defense are greatly enhanced. Possesses decent self-healing capabilities.)
(Bloodlust: Enters a frenzied state when injured, triggering violent biting and energy surges.)
(Blood Armor: A specialized layer of protection that significantly boosts the bee's physical output.)
To be honest, the Blood-Armor Bee slightly disappointed Qi Ping in terms of pure combat utility. At the Foundation Establishment level, melee-focused insects were at a disadvantage compared to ranged attackers.
"Still, their raw strength is impressive. They make for a good vanguard to support the Earth-Armor Bees, making the swarm's tactics more versatile. More importantly, their existence is vital for the Queen Bee's evolution. Once she absorbs their bloodline, her physical stats will reach a new peak."
This was crucial for the future. Boosting the Queen's base stats would not only increase the swarm's overall power but also improve the success rate when she eventually attempted to absorb the Demon Insect King's bloodline.
"In the future, I will prioritize nurturing the Pharmacist, Earth-Armor, Blood-Armor, and Toxic variants as the primary bloodlines. The Scout and Balanced bees can be maintained in smaller numbers."
This combination would maximize the Queen Bee's potential. Overall, Qi Ping was extremely pleased.
"But for now, I'll focus on the Earth-Armor Bees. The others can be kept in smaller groups."
The four Spirit-Source Stone Pillars were nearly depleted after his recent activities. He estimated he only had enough energy left to nurture maybe two or three hundred more Rank 2 bees. The Star-Spirit Wood's gathering ability was limited and couldn't support a massive swarm alongside a large medicinal garden.
Once the pillars were empty, he would either need to find cheap, high-energy materials to make spirit fertilizer or find a Miniature Spirit Vein Essence. Such an item was the core of a small spirit vein. With it, the earth could generate spiritual energy indefinitely. These were usually guarded by major sects with powerful arrays.
Occasionally, however, they appeared on the market. A miniature essence suited for the Qi Refinement level could cost anywhere from thirty thousand to two hundred thousand spirit stones. Qi Ping could afford a low-end one if he sold all his honey and loot, but he had hesitated because they were difficult to nurture and maintain.
However, he had recently realized that the Shepherd of Trees' Tree-Spirit Contract and the Natural Sanctuary skill could be used to accelerate the growth of a spirit vein. As he had completed the swarm evolution, the massive feedback of Druid experience had finally pushed him to Level 6.
At Level 6, he could select a new landmark skill for his Shepherd of Trees path: Natural Sanctuary. He had planned to take this skill for a long time, but only now did he realize how perfectly it synergized with his other abilities.
Chapter 169: Natural Sanctuary (Treant Shepherd Exclusive)
After Qi Ping finished researching the talents and traits of the Tier 2 bee species, he set the Queen Bee to gestate the new brood.
Qi Ping estimated this would take about two months. He expected to raise roughly two hundred Tier 2 Earth-Armored Bees, while the other species would reach about ten to twenty each.
With these Tier 2 bees, plus the ten thousand Tier 1 combat bees, Qi Ping's safety would be much better guaranteed—whether he used the swarm for battle or used Wild Shape to transform into Tier 1 or Tier 2 bees to escape strong foes.
Qi Ping also intended to use this time to research array battle formations suitable for the Earth-Armored Bees, which would further increase the swarm's collective combat power.
Having completed these tasks, Qi Ping finally turned his attention to his upgraded Druid skill options.
[Swarm Metamorphosis complete. Gained 85 Druid class experience points.]
[Druid Level: Lv. 5 (1/1600)] → [Druid Level: Lv. 6 (26/3200)].
[Generating Druid Level 6 skills...]
[Please select your class skills...]
[Beast King Druid (Choose one of two): Slumber, Beast Blood Fervor]
Lv. 1 Slumber: You can unleash a mental attack to put enemies into a dormant state. The higher your mental strength and the lower the enemy's, the better the effect. (Active, Upgradeable)
Lv. 1 Beast Blood Fervor: After casting, burn blood to enter a special state where all attributes significantly increase. Will suffer a period of weakness after the effect ends. (Active, Non-upgradeable)
[Treant Shepherd (Treant Shepherd Exclusive): Natural Sanctuary]
Lv. 1 Natural Sanctuary (Treant Shepherd Exclusive): You can choose a location as your Natural Sanctuary. Once chosen, it requires a one-year cooldown to change the location. (Passive, Upgradeable)
Effect 1: Within the sanctuary's range, allies gain a 10% boost to all attributes. The coverage area increases with level.
Effect 2: Within the sanctuary's range, trees contracted via [Arboreal Covenant] that are not in a dead state can recover rapidly using the sanctuary's power.
Effect 3: Within the sanctuary's range, plant growth speed is increased by 10%.
"The Natural Sanctuary skill is finally here!"
Looking at the options on the panel, a smile Qi Ping couldn't hide surfaced on his face.
He immediately made his choice:
"For Treant Shepherd, I choose Natural Sanctuary!"
"For Beast King Druid, I choose Curse Immunity!"
Although the Treant Shepherd path only had one new option, Qi Ping could still have chosen skills from the previous Jungle Druid path—like the Ravenous Vine skill—so he still had to select it actively.
As for the Beast King Druid options, Slumber and Beast Blood Fervor were both considered very powerful skills in the original game, capable of providing immediate combat strength.
However, in the world of cultivation, they were somewhat lacking.
Beast Blood Fervor could be replaced by spells like the Blood-Burning Art in the cultivation world, making its cost-effectiveness low.
The Slumber skill was better than Beast Blood Fervor; as its level increased, it could grow into a powerful soul spell, but it too could be replaced.
In fact, for a time, it might not even match the Hundred-Eye Demon Domain shared from the Little Flower Demon, and it would waste Qi Ping's time to practice.
Thus, the value was too low. It was better to pick up [Curse Immunity], which he had previously bypassed.
[Curse Immunity: Reduces or grants immunity to most curse damage.]
Since Curse Immunity was passive, it could provide Qi Ping with a constant layer of protection.
"And I remember in the game, there were two mysterious skills that weren't classified as curses but were still resisted by Curse Immunity..."
"Does that mean certain esoteric cultivation methods—like calculating karma and such—might also be resisted if they are detrimental to me?"
Qi Ping wasn't certain about this; after all, skills like karma calculation never appeared in the game, so he didn't know the exact scope of Curse Immunity.
"But regardless, Curse Immunity is much more cost-effective than Slumber or Beast Blood Fervor."
"It might even save my life at a critical moment or help me avoid unnecessary crises..."
[Natural Sanctuary skill selected.]
[Generating Natural Sanctuary status...]
[Sanctuary Owner: Qi Ping]
[Sanctuary Level: Lv. 1 (6/100) (Coverage: 100-meter radius)]
[Sanctuary Effects: 10% boost to all ally attributes; 100% increase in energy recovery for Arboreal Covenant trees; 10% increase in plant growth speed.]
[Arboreal Covenant: Star-Spirit Tree (Spirit Gathering Art)]
[Ingredient Count: Tier 1 Spiritual Ingredients (21 types)]
[Arrays: Illusion-Reality Phantasm Array (High-tier Tier 1), Concealment Array (High-tier Tier 1), Heaven-Fire Meteor Array (High-tier Tier 1), Earthen Rampart Array (Low-tier Tier 1)]
[PS: The more Arboreal Covenant trees within the sanctuary and the stronger they are, the higher the Sanctuary level will be.]
(The data crystallized, presenting a clear picture of his domain.)
"Not bad. This way, the status of my territory is clear at a glance!"
Gazing at the data displayed on the panel, a satisfied smile appeared on Qi Ping's face.
With the Sanctuary status panel, he could monitor his territory at any time.
"A 100-meter radius is enough for now. Converted to area, that's over 30,000 square meters—plenty of room to plant many spirit herbs and trees..."
Meanwhile, the maximum coverage of a high-tier Tier 1 phantasm array was only 10,000 square meters.
Over the past year, Qi Ping had spent a great deal of effort to slowly raise his array mastery to the high-tier Tier 1 level, setting up three high-tier Tier 1 arrays. Among them, the Heaven-Fire Meteor Array was a high-tier offensive array; when activated, it was enough to kill a late-stage Qi Refining cultivator.
Being able to set up arrays of this grade so quickly was naturally thanks to Qi Ping having broken through to Foundation Establishment, as well as his high talent in the Dao of Fire and illusions. Otherwise, it would have been impossible to arrange high-tier Tier 1 arrays in such a short time.
The Earthen Rampart Array, for example, he could currently only set to a low-tier Tier 1 level.
To become a Tier 2 Array Master, Qi Ping knew he was still a long way off; it would likely take many more years.
But Qi Ping wasn't in a hurry. He now possessed a five-hundred-year lifespan!
Spending a century or two to reach the Golden Core stage wouldn't matter; he would still be in his prime. Such a vast amount of time was enough for him to do many things.
The prerequisite, however, was that he could stay hidden here and develop slowly.
To remain here, he needed a continuous supply of Spirit Qi. Relying solely on the Star-Spirit Tree to draw Spirit Qi from the Cloud-Mist Mountains was definitely not enough.
Only by nurturing a powerful Spirit Vein and using arrays to hide it completely within his Sanctuary could Qi Ping have an endless supply of Spirit Qi to hunker down and develop a strong, fortified territory.
Therefore, Qi Ping's core task moving forward was to find a way to obtain a Micro Spirit Vein Essence and then use the [Natural Sanctuary] and [Arboreal Covenant] to nurture it.
The reason these two talents could accelerate the growth of a Spirit Vein was twofold:
First was the method of upgrading Spirit Veins. Things like spirit tree essence, spirit herb essence, spirit beast essence, human essence, and special spiritual objects containing Heaven-Earth power could all accelerate a Spirit Vein's growth.
However, extracting such essence would cause nearly irreversible damage to the spirit trees themselves—a price so high that few would ever do it.
But with the Natural Sanctuary, Qi Ping could extract 10% of a contracted spirit tree's essence every time without affecting its long-term health.
Once the spirit tree recovered using the Natural Sanctuary, Qi Ping could extract from it again.
In this way, the Spirit Vein could be strengthened rapidly!
(A/N: Happy New Year to all readers! Wishing you happiness and wealth in the coming year!)
(End of Chapter)