Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion-Chapter 84: Bee Queen’s Advancement
A month later, in the grand hall at the peak of Celestial Gate Mountain, Lechuan sat upon the high seat. Zhao Liangde and the other disciples were arranged on his left and right, quietly waiting for him to speak.
After a moment, Lechuan crushed the jade slip in his hand into dust, then slowly said:
"Withdraw all the disciples from the front lines at Celestial Attraction Mountain. We’ve received a letter from Zongshan. If we suffer any more heavy casualties, they’ll send someone to reprimand us."
Zhao Liangde’s small eyes narrowed, and he asked in a low voice:
"If we withdraw our disciples from Celestial Attraction Mountain, how will we explain it to the Wei Family? They won’t just let this go once we leave."
Lechuan rubbed the bridge of his nose and said wearily:
"We have done more than enough for the Wei Family. We’ve lost a dozen or so disciples. What more could Wei Tong possibly want?"
Seeing that Zhao Liangde was about to speak again, Lechuan added:
"Besides, this is Uncle Huo’s will."
As soon as he said this, all the disciples fell silent. The Uncle Huo that Lechuan mentioned was the Nascent Soul Stage Elder of the Huo Family. Since he had spoken, who would dare to disobey?
The original decision to help the Wei Family and send disciples to support them was also Elder Huo’s. Now that he had chosen to withdraw, Lechuan had no choice but to obey.
The only thing left to discuss was where they should withdraw to.
After some discussion, Lechuan finally made his decision:
"Withdraw to Shandu Mountain. Pull back all the disciples of Beast Taming Mountain, but leave half of the vassal sects behind for Wei Tong. That should serve as an explanation for him."
After he spoke, the hall once again fell into silence. With just a few words, Lechuan had decided the futures—and the very lives—of the disciples on the Celestial Attraction Mountain front.
And as for the lives of the cultivators from the vassal sects, no one even bothered to ask.
....
In a shady spot within the Shandu Camp, Jinbao sat cross-legged on the ground, eating. Several fresh bamboo shoots were placed before it. Jinbao casually picked one up, tore off the tough outer layer, and ate only the most tender tip.
The little bear cub was now over a year old. With its simple and naive look, it was quite endearing.
Under Fang Qingyuan’s care, Jinbao was growing up strong and healthy. It was already a Tier One Lower Grade Spirit Beast. The sight of it rolling around with its two dark eye patches was almost unbearably cute.
After a moment, Jinbao finished the tender tip and smacked its lips. It then looked at the discarded root sections on the ground, a conflicted expression on its bear face, before finally picking them up and chewing on them.
Once it had finished the roots as well, Jinbao started staring blankly at the peels. Fortunately, Fang Qingyuan came over just then, interrupting its contemplation.
Upon seeing Fang Qingyuan, Jinbao excitedly rushed forward and hugged his calf, its entire body clinging to his leg. It took a great deal of effort for Fang Qingyuan to take each step.
Helpless, Fang Qingyuan took a fresh stalk of Purple Bamboo from his Immortal Mansion Space and stuffed it into Jinbao’s paws, finally winning back the freedom of his calf.
Letting Jinbao play outside the tent, Fang Qingyuan went inside, closed his eyes, and immersed his consciousness in the Immortal Mansion Space.
The Immortal Mansion was now a vibrant scene of blooming flowers and buzzing bee swarms. But Fang Qingyuan paid this little mind, heading straight for the Purple Bamboo Forest and into the hive where the Bee Queen resided.
This Golden Jade Scorpion-tailed Bee Queen had become drowsy last year when it was about to advance. It remained in that state for half a year, finally falling into a deep slumber after the new year. Only in the past few days had it shown signs of waking.
The Purple Bamboo Forest now consisted of over a hundred stalks growing intertwined, occupying a large area. Fortunately, as Fang Qingyuan’s cultivation level increased, the space within the Immortal Mansion had also been slowly expanding. Under his influence, the Purple Bamboo did not grow toward the ginseng and Wooden Sunflowers, but instead grew close to the outer barrier of the space.
Within the Purple Bamboo Forest, the Bee Queen’s hive had also become enormous, like a small treehouse suspended between four or five Purple Bamboo stalks.
As a Tier One Lower Grade spirit material, the Purple Bamboo was tough and resilient enough to support the weight of the hive. But if the hive grew any larger, it was hard to say if they would still hold.
Inside the hive, the Bee Queen’s body had grown to about half a meter long. Her skin was like white jade, with a few strands of golden patterns at her segments. She was currently curled up in the darkness of the hive, sleeping sweetly.
Seemingly sensing the arrival of Fang Qingyuan’s spiritual consciousness, the Bee Queen awoke from her slumber. It was only then that Fang Qingyuan discovered the outline of a human face had appeared on the Bee Queen’s head.
The outline was very blurry, and Fang Qingyuan couldn’t make out its specific features. Seeing such a change in the Bee Queen, Fang Qingyuan thought to himself, ’I’ve always heard stories about Human-faced Serpents, but are there human-faced bee pupae now too?’
Suppressing his sarcastic thoughts, Fang Qingyuan reached out and pointed a finger toward the Bee Queen. As his index finger approached, the Bee Queen wriggled its body as if to dodge, but ultimately allowed Fang Qingyuan to do as he pleased.
His index finger touched the Bee Queen’s forehead. Since this was not his physical body, Fang Qingyuan couldn’t feel any specific sensation. He could only draw out a sliver of his spiritual consciousness and probe inside the Bee Queen’s body.
The moment his spiritual consciousness entered the Bee Queen’s body, Fang Qingyuan sensed a weak soul, trembling with unease.
Seeing this, Fang Qingyuan quickly soothed it, conveying his goodwill. After a few breaths, Fang Qingyuan could feel that the Bee Queen was no longer tense.
After a long while, Fang Qingyuan withdrew his spiritual consciousness from the Bee Queen’s body and remained in place, lost in thought.
Through his investigation just now, Fang Qingyuan discovered that after advancing from Tier One Lower Grade to Tier One Middle Grade, the Bee Queen had luckily awakened an Innate Divine Technique.
[Pigeon Poison: A sweet toxin that can effectively dissolve a Body-Protecting Spirit Shield. Those afflicted by this poison will die in blissful peace.]
Seeing this Talent, Fang Qingyuan was overjoyed. With this ability, when the Bee Queen produced new Soldier Bees, she could choose whether or not to add the [Pigeon Poison] effect to them.
If she added it, although the energy consumed to produce the bee eggs would increase, the newly born Soldier Bees’ stingers would possess not only their original potent scorpion venom but also this terrifying new toxin, [Pigeon Poison].
And [Pigeon Poison] could effectively dissolve a Cultivator’s Protective Spirit Shield. According to the *Comprehensive Illustrated Guide to Spirit Beast Innate Divine Techniques* from Beast Taming Mountain, an ordinary Qi Cultivation Cultivator’s Protective Spirit Shield couldn’t withstand an attack from a hundred venomous creatures equipped with the [Pigeon Poison] effect.
Even a shield from a Vajra Talisman wouldn’t last against an attack from three hundred such creatures.
One could say that from now on, the Soldier Bees produced by the Bee Queen would no longer be a negligible support tactic, but a true trump card capable of genuinely threatening Qi Cultivation Cultivators.
At this thought, Fang Qingyuan laughed out loud. As his spiritual form trembled with laughter, a smile also appeared on the Bee Queen’s human-like face.
From the Bee Queen’s perspective, ’Although I don’t know why my Master is so happy, if he’s happy, then I should be happy too.’
But the Bee Queen’s happiness lasted only for a moment. A short while later, Fang Qingyuan gave her an order: lay five hundred eggs. And all five hundred were to be for Soldier Bees carrying the [Pigeon Poison] effect. Instantly, the Bee Queen felt that her future looked very bleak.
Seeing the Bee Queen’s dispirited look, Fang Qingyuan felt he might have been a bit too harsh. The Bee Queen had just successfully advanced, and he was already putting her to work. It was indeed a bit inhumane. So, Fang Qingyuan thought for a moment and said:
"I’ll give you five months. One hundred a month. If you do the math, that’s not so hard, is it?"
In response, the Bee Queen turned her body around, presenting her back to Fang Qingyuan and ignoring him completely.
Seeing this, Fang Qingyuan shook his head and turned to leave. As he went, he also helped himself to over half a pound of Golden Jade Flower Honey.
Only after Fang Qingyuan was gone did the human-like face on the Bee Queen relax. She lay down comfortably and began to ponder whether she should put off making those five hundred Soldier Bees until the very last month and finish them all at once.
But after thinking for a moment, she still couldn’t come up with a plan. So, the Bee Queen stopped fussing over it. When she decided to have some Golden Jade Flower Honey to calm her nerves, she was shocked to find a huge chunk missing. Instantly, the Bee Queen’s body contorted, and she began to roll all over the ground. This time, she was truly angry.
