33: The bee colony is beginning to take shape

After eating ten spirit chickens, the black color on the Black Crystal Bee Swarm became even deeper, possessing a metallic heaviness.

The strength of the worker bees was limited by the Black Crystal Bee Queen, stopping at the Peak of the non-ranked stage.

Ten chickens and three bottles of royal jelly every day—over three days, costing a total of 100 Spirit Stones—the Black Crystal Bee Queen finally reached the Qi Refining First Layer, and the swarm grew to one thousand.

The Black Crystal Bee Queen grew larger by a circle, now the size of a palm, with her whole body covered in a layer of black halo, as if crafted from jade.

The strength of the one thousand Black Crystal Bee Swarm varied; ten of them had also reached the Qi Refining First Layer, one hundred were at the Peak of the non-ranked stage, and the rest were ordinary spirit bees.

The swarm was tightly organized, with Advanced individuals leading the low-level ones, and their actions were completely controlled by the Queen.

Now taking shape, if this swarm were to attack with full force, an early-stage Qi Refining Cultivator could basically not stop it, and a Middle Stage Qi Refining Cultivator would also suffer some losses.

'Not bad, truly not bad, it is just that the consumption is a bit high!'

Liu Xuan felt a secret ache in his heart.

One hundred Spirit Stones every three days—even with Liu Xuan's financial resources, he could not hold out.

Moreover, as the number of the swarm increased, this consumption would continue to rise.

The Black Crystal Bee Queen was very picky, only eating royal jelly, occasionally eating some spirit chicken blood, and after breaking through to the Qi Refinement Stage, she wouldn't even eat chicken blood anymore.

'Must let them forage! Otherwise, the Spirit Stones won't be able to hold out.'

...

Spirit Plant Hall.

The courtyard where the spirit farmers lived at the foot of the mountain.

A carriage stopped at the door of an ordinary small courtyard, and a sign hung above the courtyard gate: 'Courtyard No. 3, Bing'.

Liu Xuan got off the carriage and knocked on the door. After a while, a refined young man came out.

"Liu Xuan?"

"Why have you come?"

Ye Xun asked curiously.

Liu Xuan smiled and cupped his hands, saying: "There is a matter that requires Fellow Daoist's assistance."

"Assistance?"

"Brother Liu, are you here to purchase Red Lotus spirit rice again?"

Liu Xuan was a First-Rank Talisman Master and an Inner Sect Disciple, while he, Ye Xun, was just an ordinary, bottom-tier spirit farmer.

In his view, the only thing Liu Xuan would need his help with was buying Red Lotus spirit rice.

"No!" Liu Xuan snapped his fingers at the carriage behind him, and a dense swarm of Black Crystal Bees flew out, emitting a buzzing sound.

"This..."

Ye Xun was frightened into taking two steps back; humans naturally fear creatures like bees.

"Brother Ye, do not panic. They are tamed by me and will not hurt people."

Liu Xuan sent an order to the Black Crystal Bee Queen's Divine Soul, and all the Black Crystal Bees gathered into a cluster, floating quietly behind him.

"When did Brother Liu become a beast tamer?"

Confirming that the swarm really wouldn't hurt anyone, Ye Xun asked curiously.

Liu Xuan ordered the Black Crystal Bee Swarm to return to the carriage and slowly recounted his fabricated reason:

"This matter was also a stroke of luck. When I left the city, I saw an injured queen bee. After I saved her, I used the Beast Taming Technique I bought from the Spirit Plant Hall to communicate with her casually, and she voluntarily recognized me as her master!"

Ye Xun did not doubt him after hearing this, because such things were not isolated cases; Yao Beasts value loyalty, especially regarding life-saving grace.

Some beast tamers even deliberately design situations where the Yao Beast they want to contract falls into a life-and-death crisis, and then they step in to save them—an evil path.

Don't say! The evil path is indeed useful; many contract beasts of beast tamers in the Spirit Plant Hall came about this way.

However, doing this also has drawbacks. Yao Beasts that value loyalty generally have high intelligence; once the matter is exposed, they will backlash against their master.

"Bee-type Yao Beasts generally have low intelligence. Brother Liu being able to encounter a queen bee that knows how to be grateful is truly good luck!"

Insect-type Yao Beasts have high taming value, and bee-type Yao Beasts are even more rare and sought after. A trace of envy rose in Ye Xun's heart.

"Is Brother Liu looking for me this time because you want me to help find spirit fields and medicine gardens suitable for spirit bees to collect nectar?"

The spirit fields and medicine gardens of the Spirit Plant Hall are planted with all kinds of spirit plants and Spirit Medicine.

Different spirit plants require different growth environments, so all spirit fields and medicine gardens are covered by specialized Formations.

Without the permission of the spirit farmer, outsiders cannot enter, and outside creatures cannot enter either.

Ye Xun easily saw through Liu Xuan's intention in finding him.

"Exactly!" Liu Xuan nodded. "Brother Ye, rest assured, I will not let you work in vain. If you help me contact the spirit farmers, I will share half of the remuneration obtained with you."

Ye Xun's eyes lit up, then he said embarrassedly: "Half is too much, thirty percent is enough!"

Yes, spirit bees do not need to pay the spirit farmers to collect nectar, and they can even obtain certain remuneration.

spirit plants are precious; artificial pollination is difficult to achieve the effect of spirit bee pollination. Some spirit farmers even specifically hire beast tamers who raise spirit bees to go and pollinate during the flowering period of the spirit plants.

Spirit bees collect nectar, and spirit farmers increase their yields; this is originally a win-win situation.

But there are very few beast tamers in the Red Pine Sect who raise spirit bees, and demand exceeds supply, so spirit farmers have to spend money to hire beast tamers who raise spirit bees.

It doesn't cost much, just a few gold coins or silver coins, and there is no fixed price; anyway, the spirit farmers won't let themselves suffer a loss.

"Brother Ye, no need to be polite. I said half, it is half. You can negotiate the price yourself."

Liu Xuan's time is very tight every day; he has no energy to handle such miscellaneous matters personally.

There are thousands of spirit farmers in the Spirit Plant Hall, and the spirit plants they grow are different, and the flowering periods are also different. If he were to investigate personally and then negotiate prices one by one, it would be too time-consuming!

Ye Xun is a spirit farmer himself, so it is very appropriate to give him some benefits and leave this matter to him.

At that time, Liu Xuan only needs to go to the spirit fields that Ye Xun has negotiated to let the swarm forage every day.

"Many thanks, Brother Liu!"

Ye Xun bowed solemnly and said gratefully: "Brother Liu, rest assured, I will definitely handle the matter well!"

Last time Liu Xuan bought a large amount of Red Lotus spirit rice, Ye Xun earned some Spirit Stones, and this time it was equivalent to Liu Xuan finding him a good job. Ye Xun was truly grateful.

He came from a humble background and could only barely survive in the Red Pine Sect. Liu Xuan's two helps were not just as simple as some Spirit Stones, but equivalent to giving him a beam of light on his dark Dao path.

"I have a good friend whose Red Lotus spirit rice is just in the flowering period. I will take you there now," Ye Xun said.

"Oh?"

"Good!"

Ye Xun led Liu Xuan to a courtyard in front and then went alone to explain the situation to a simple and honest young man in the courtyard.

The simple and honest young man listened and was half-believing, but still nodded in agreement.

The three set off immediately and arrived at the spirit field area at the foot of the mountain in a short while.

The entire area was shrouded in thick fog; that was the Formation isolating the outside world.

Entering the inside of the Formation, embedded Formations of various colors and types separated the spirit fields one by one, scattered everywhere.

Arriving at a spirit field covered by a pale yellow Formation barrier, the simple and honest young man took out a token, and the Formation barrier opened an entrance.

Entering the interior of the spirit field, Liu Xuan felt that the temperature had increased quite a bit, and the humidity was also higher than the outside, giving a feeling of a tropical rainforest.

Red Lotus spirit rice is not like rice, but more like a lotus flower. Looking around, it was full of bright red flowers, which were very beautiful.

With a Divine Soul command from Liu Xuan, the Black Crystal Bee Swarm flew out of the carriage and swarmed onto the red flowers one by one.