Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

The maggots darted through the tree canopy, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, occasionally spraying acid behind them, seemingly trying to force the two back.

But the two followed closely, dodging the acid while chasing the light green shadow, and the distance between them slowly closed.

The two people and the insect passed through several bushes and crossed a hillside.

Suddenly, the worm made a sharp turn and burrowed into a dense thicket of thorns.

"It went that way!" Wang Meng shouted from behind.

Qu Ye locked his divine sense firmly onto the spirit worm. Without hesitation, his white sword flashed and cleaved through the thorns in front of him.

He rushed through the thicket of thorns, and suddenly the view opened up before him.

Under the cover of night, the spirit insect climbed up a tree trunk, its six legs moving alternately at great speed, and in the blink of an eye it reached the fork in the tree canopy.

Did you think we couldn't reach the top?

Qu Ye did not stop, pointing his sword and sending out a white sword.

He leaped into the air, his toes touching the sword. He poured his magic power into it, and the white sword lifted him up from the ground, soaring straight into the treetop.

In the middle stage of Qi Refining, one can fly briefly with the help of magical artifacts.

The spirit worm sensed the fluctuations in spiritual energy behind it and panicked. It flapped its wings and prepared to take flight again.

However, having been fleeing all the way, and with one of his wings ripped by Wang Meng's iron arrow, he only managed to fly a short distance.

How could we miss such a golden opportunity?

Qu Ye quickly caught up, a flash of golden light in his hand.

bass!

The Gengjin Sword Technique pierced through the branches and leaves, striking the back of the Spirit Insect.

The insect shell shattered, the spirit insect's body stiffened, and it fell from the sky.

Qu Ye leaped off the sword, bending his knees slightly to absorb the force as he landed, and the white sword followed closely behind, falling into his hand.

The spirit worm fell to the ground, its six legs kicking wildly; it was clearly not quite dead yet.

Qu Ye walked over, swung his white sword, and the sword light struck its head.

The spirit worm twitched twice and then stopped moving.

He poked at the insect corpse with the tip of his sword to make sure it was dead before taking out a piece of cloth from his storage bag, wrapping it up, and putting it away.

"The queen bee's promotion is secured."

Qu Ye was secretly excited.

Once the queen bee advances to the mid-tier of the first rank, she can not only experiment with the patterns in the animal hide book, but the worker bees she hatches will also become stronger.

It may seem like only each worker bee becomes a little stronger, but the overall strength of the bee colony will experience a qualitative leap!

Therefore, swarming spirit insects like queen bees have short lifespans and face far greater difficulties in advancement than solitary spirit insects like spirit worms.

He had considered forming a bond with several more female swarms of insects, but quickly realized that was not the right thing to do.

Firstly, there are few spirit insects around the market, and apart from the Hou family's large-scale breeding of jade spirit bees, it is difficult to find suitable spirit insects.

Secondly, he controls spirit insects with his divine sense, and the number he can control is limited. Even if he forms a bond with other spirit insects, he can still only control so many.

It would be better to specialize in Jade Spirit Bees.

After collecting the insect corpses, Wang Meng caught up from behind, grinning, "Good lad, you looked pretty cool just now flying on your sword."

Qu Ye knew Wang Meng was teasing her, smiled shyly, and then spoke seriously:

"Uncle Wang, how many spirit stones is this spirit worm worth?"

Wang Meng was taken aback for a moment, then realized what Qu Ye meant, grinned, and waved his hand.

"We're family, uncle and nephew, there's no need for such formalities. Besides, you didn't ask for spirit stones for that emerald python, so it's a perfect match."

"A different Uncle Wang"

Qu Ye shook his head. "A green python is only worth a few spirit stones."

Moreover, if it weren't for Wang Meng leading the way and that arrow, obtaining the Spirit Worm wouldn't have been so easy.

Unexpectedly, Wang Meng's attitude was very firm, and he refused to accept it no matter what, as if he would turn around and leave if Qu Ye gave it to him.

However, to put Qu Ye at ease, he still discussed with Qu Ye that if he really felt bad, he would take a larger share of the materials from the monsters they hunted on the return trip.

A warm feeling welled up in Qu Ye's heart.

In the world of cultivation, such a bond is a rare thing.

However, he also knew in his heart that the bigger reason was that Wang Meng had given up the idea of ​​Foundation Establishment, otherwise the situation would definitely be different.

After calming down, Qu Ye looked up and around.

"Uncle Wang, which way do we go next?"

Wang Meng took out the paper and examined it carefully.

"It seems we're not too far from Hou's Cicada Mountain. Let's find a place to rest for the night and head back tomorrow."

"OK."

After cleaning up the scene, the two began looking for a place to spend the night.

Next, the two used their magic to leap to the treetops, quickly reaching a high position and looking around.

Wang Meng pointed to a spot with a smile: "Young Qu, look over there."

Qu Ye looked in the direction Wang Meng pointed and found that the location was very well hidden, making it convenient for both reconnaissance and escape.

It is an excellent place to set up camp.

"Uncle Wang has a sharp eye."

Qu Ye nodded.

Immediately after identifying the direction, the two concealed their presence and headed towards that place.

……

Sun Shaoan was very satisfied with the location where the nodes were set up.

This place is deserted, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and most importantly, it is very well hidden, making it difficult for fluctuations from setting up nodes to spread out.

"No wonder it was a place carefully selected by the clan."

He was hiding himself and standing on a stone platform as a lookout, with an open space in front of him.

Another disciple was setting up nodes inside.

Looking at the dark sky, Sun Shaoan couldn't help but relax his vigilance a bit.

It was pitch black, deep in the mountains and forests. Who would come to this godforsaken place at this hour, except for wild animals?

A gentle breeze rustled the leaves.

He had already begun to fantasize about whether the ancestor would bestow a reward if the two of them were the first to complete the node setup.

A few hundred spirit stones are never too many, and a few dozen are never too few.

As he thought about it, a smile appeared on his lips, as if he could see himself punching Hou Zhilan and kicking Yang Fengrui.

Just then, a soft rustling sound came from the distant woods, interrupting his reverie.

"What is it now, a hare or a wild boar?"

Sun Shaoan was somewhat annoyed. Although his spiritual sense range wasn't that far, he still concentrated his mind and stared intently at the grove of trees.

Soon, the sound drew closer, and two men parted the bushes in front of them, appearing in the open space.

?

"Are there still people here?"

Before Sun Shaoan could even react with surprise, his expression hardened, and his hand instinctively reached for the storage bag at his waist.

Although the strength of the two individuals is unclear, since they dared to travel through the deep mountains in the middle of the night, they must not be at the early stage of Qi Refining.

the other side.

Qu Ye and Wang Meng stood at the edge of the open space and immediately sensed a strange fluctuation.

They became alert almost simultaneously, even though they hadn't sensed anything outside.

Wang Meng was the first to react, tugging at Qu Ye's sleeve.

"This isn't the right place, let's go."

Qu Ye nodded slightly, his eyes fixed on the source of the fluctuations opposite him, and slowly retreated.

He didn't care at all whether there was any opportunity there; he had the animal skin book and didn't need to take the risk.

Meanwhile, Sun Shaoan, who was hiding in the shadows, saw the two trying to leave and, remembering Sun Shaofeng's instructions to him, felt a surge of anxiety.

He simply turned his head and quickly said to another disciple:

"Someone has spotted us. Quickly crush the communication bead to notify your uncles. I'll go hold them off."

After receiving a response, Sun Shaoan stopped concealing himself, patted his storage bag, and a magic artifact shaped like a feather fan rose into the air.

"Where do you think you're going!"

He stood on the feather fan, channeled his magic power, and quickly approached Qu Ye and the other person.

"It was definitely a trap!"

Qu Ye instantly sensed the approaching aura and realized that the newcomers were hostile.

After exchanging a glance with Wang Meng, the white sword appeared and instantly took to the air.

Wang Meng also took out a slightly damaged low-grade longsword magic weapon from his storage bag and followed closely behind Qu Ye.

But they soon discovered that the other side was faster than the two of them.

Their hearts sank.

As Qu Ye wielded the White Light Sword, his hand flashed with spiritual light, and a Gengjin Sword Technique suddenly slashed towards the rapidly approaching figure.