In Search of Bees

After leaving the Guardian Hall, Chu Liang did not head straight back to Silver Sword Peak.

Today was Liu Xiaoyu’s first day on the mountain, and they were building her a house. For an ordinary little wooden cottage like that, Mount Shu had disciples assigned specifically to such work. As long as one spent a few sword coins, three or five people would come over and have it finished in no time.

But there would still be some noise during the process, so Chu Liang took his flying sword out of the mountain and came to the banks of the Brocade Flower River instead.

The moment he landed, he saw scattered pedestrians along the riverbank, bright blossoms and green willows, a scene of vivid spring beauty.

Chu Liang stood there in a daze for a moment, then did not step forward.

What was going on?

Where were his venom bees?

Those ugly little things that could fly, had nasty tempers, and came with poison—where had his dear little favorites gone?

He walked up and down the river for a while, still unwilling to give up. In the end, he even asked around among the passersby, and only after confirming that the venom bees had not appeared here for many days did he turn back in dejection.

Had he thought it was only a brief parting, when in fact it was a final farewell from which they would never meet again?

What one cannot keep is what leaves one loneliest of all...

Now that the venom bees were truly gone, who knew when he would ever again find such a booming business as selling fruit tea?

Come to think of it, by past experience, rewards given by monsters of the same kind and origin seemed to be identical. If that was the case, did it mean that if he wanted another reward, he only needed to kill another beast of the same type?

That should only hold true for low-level monsters.

Little wretches like lantern fiends and venom bees naturally tended to be very similar. But as they grew, differences would surely emerge.

Take that giant lizard last time: if it had had a littermate, they might have looked exactly the same when young. But after growing into fourth-realm or fifth-realm beasts, they would inevitably differ. Killing one might grant a Blood-Red Name Sword, while killing the other would very likely not yield a second sword of the same kind.

But...

If it were a fiend like the human-faced ape, whose cultivation was still not all that high, then the similarity between individuals should be great, right?

He thought that if he killed another human-faced ape, there might be a chance of drawing two Circulation Puppets... or perhaps, if he killed a few more, he could line up a whole row of big-headed dolls and have them working at full power to help him cultivate.

Just imagining that scene was enough to make his blood stir.

It was a pity that fiends like the human-faced ape were rather rare. They were not the sort of thing one could simply ask about and find; if he wanted to run into one again, he would have to rely on fate.

All the way back, Chu Liang kept mulling over these thoughts until he returned to Silver Sword Peak.

The little wooden house for Liu Xiaoyu had already been finished, not far from Chu Liang’s own place, on the hill just around the bend. He went over to take a look and saw his master and Liu Xiaoyu chatting.

When Chu Liang walked in, Phoenix Princess wore a pained expression. “I was just listening to Xiaoyu tell me about her past. The little thing really did have it rough.”

“It’s actually not that bad...” Liu Xiaoyu did not seem unhappy at all. “My sister, the rest of my clan, and I lived beneath the water. It was quite carefree, really. If not for meeting that number-one evil bastard, our lives wouldn’t have had any troubles at all...”

“The Brocade Flower River where you live is right at the foot of Mount Shu,” Phoenix Princess said. “The bastard you’re talking about—could he have been a Mount Shu disciple? Can you recognize him? I can help you avenge this later.”

“Yes!” Liu Xiaoyu nodded emphatically. “If I see him again, I’ll definitely recognize him!”

“Good.” Phoenix Princess also said angrily, “I wonder which peak’s disciple would be so idle as to go around killing venom bees for fun...”

“Huh?” Chu Liang, who had been listening silently at the side, suddenly looked up.

“You didn’t know?” Phoenix Princess said. “Xiaoyu just told me that before, her sister summoned some venom bees to protect the clan. And then some cultivator with an extremely hideous, twisted face would go every day to kill those venom bees.”

“Who in their right mind would kill those things for no reason?” she continued. “It had to be some disciple from Mount Shu.”

“...” Chu Liang blinked calmly, then slowly said, “I’m only guessing, just guessing... Is there a possibility that those venom bees harmed the nearby common people, and that cultivator was simply entrusted to exterminate the demons...”

“In the middle of nowhere, if there are venom bees, just don’t go there,” Phoenix Princess retorted. “If you ask me, that person was probably just a pervert.”

“Right!” Liu Xiaoyu nodded again.

“Purely as a bystander, let me be frank...” Chu Liang said. “I still don’t think he was necessarily that bad...”

After chatting for a while, Phoenix Princess went back to her own quarters, and Chu Liang secretly pulled Liu Xiaoyu over.

“Xiaoyu, do you know where your sister summoned those venom bees from?” he asked directly.

“Mm... from a very dense valley upstream...” The little girl thought for a moment, then tilted her head. “Why?”

“Nothing, I’m just curious.” Chu Liang smiled. “I don’t know what those venom bees look like...”

“The little venom bees are very cute,” Liu Xiaoyu said with certainty.

“I thought so too.” Chu Liang nodded.

After finding out the location, he said no more.

The next day, he left Silver Sword Peak and once again headed for the Brocade Flower River, seeking the little treasured venom bees he had been thinking of day and night.

Arriving at the usual landing place, he then flew upstream along the river. After some time, he noticed the waterway gradually veering off and cutting into the mountains, while the surrounding terrain became increasingly concealed and narrow.

The road was blocked by trees, rocks, and hills, so Chu Liang began to carve a path with his flying sword. Since it was a route that followed the water upstream all the way, it was not the sort of path anyone on land could easily find.

After quite a while longer, he finally saw the lush valley that Liu Xiaoyu had described.

Trees grew thickly here, an expanse of deep green. It was indeed a valley untouched by human feet. There were no birds, beasts, insects, or butterflies in the valley—only venom bees swarming and buzzing in chaotic flight, their numbers astonishingly large.

So this really was their lair.

The moment Chu Liang entered, several venom bees immediately charged at him with a furious buzz, intent on punishing this uninvited guest.

His flying sword swept once, and the few bees at the forefront were cut down.

With a boom, the surrounding venom bees scattered in all directions, avoiding him.

All around him were the little cuties he had longed for for so long, fluttering through the air. Yet Chu Liang did not rush to chase them, because he faintly saw that in the depths of the valley there seemed to be a concealed cave entrance. Most of the venom bees were coming and going from within it.

Chu Liang could not help feeling curious, faintly sensing something strange inside that cave. He flew forward, clearing the way with his Hundred-Sword Technique, blocking the violent venom bees that tried to attack him, and forced his way into the cave.

The cave was deep and its passage long. He pressed straight onward, still not reaching the end for a while. The smell in his nose was a sharp, acrid stench, not the sweetness he had imagined.

Moving slowly ahead, at the deepest point of the cave, he finally saw the bees’ hive.

It was actually an almost entirely covered golden skeleton!

Countless venom bees clung to it, thick as a swarm, seemingly gnawing at the bones—or perhaps using it as their nest.

Chu Liang finally understood where these venom bees had come from. It was by feeding on this skeleton that they had acquired the spiritual nature to become demons!

A dark cave, savage venom bees, and a golden skeleton—the whole scene was chilling to the bone.

Just as he was secretly alarmed by it, he heard a deep, booming buzz ahead, followed immediately by a strange cry of “Yaa—”

Bang—

A giant bee, huge in size, shoved aside the smaller venom bees and burrowed out from beneath the skeleton.

The queen bee!