Cultivation begins with forming a bond with a spirit bee.

Upon arriving at the hive, the worker bees were no longer as wary and gathered around as usual; instead, they scattered and appeared quite busy.

Qu Ye opened the beehive and saw the queen bee enjoying the pollen of the spirit flower in the center chamber.

He wasn't in a hurry because the book on spirit training had mentioned such a situation.

Once the queen bee's rank is stable, she will instinctively absorb a large amount of spiritual energy to produce stronger worker bees to protect herself.

Soon, the queen bee had eaten enough pollen, slowly turned her body, and crawled toward a cleaned nest cell.

As its abdomen slightly contracts, milky-white eggs are quickly left at the bottom of the nest.

About the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, a dozen or so worker bee eggs were neatly arranged.

These worker bee eggs absorb the faint spiritual energy in the air, forming a very shallow layer of spiritual light on their surface, and they can hatch in just one day.

They can grow into adult worker bees within three days.

Qu Ye naturally wouldn't be foolish enough to wait three days; he had many things to do, and time was precious.

Moreover, checking how much the worker bee's strength has improved is very simple; just compare the current aura inside the egg with the previous one.

That will give you a rough result.

Qu Ye then stepped forward, probed the worker bee egg with his divine sense, and carefully sensed the aura inside.

"Not bad, it's improved by about 30% compared to before."

After a short while, Qu Ye finished his inspection, withdrew his divine sense, and nodded in satisfaction.

A 30% increase in the strength of a single worker bee is not much, but if it is extended to the entire bee colony, the colony will likely be able to face other mid-stage Qi Refining cultivators without any fear.

At this moment, the queen bee trembled all over, as if she was trying her best to prepare something.

"What happened?"

Qu Ye was a little curious, so he stopped what he was doing and started watching again.

After trembling for a while, the queen bee slowly squeezed out a new bee egg from her abdomen.

However, this bee egg was nearly twice the size of the previous one, and its color was also slightly different, being white with a hint of yellow, and with faint patterns on its surface.

After laying the last bee egg, the queen bee appeared somewhat weak and stood there blankly.

Qu Ye quickly took out some medicinal powder and placed it in front of the queen bee.

While the queen bee was enjoying the medicinal powder, he gently picked up the new bee egg and took it into his hand, quite surprised.

"The Record of Spirit Taming doesn't mention this situation... but that's normal, the record is incomplete."

He silently sensed the aura of the bee egg and discovered that there was actually a subtle spiritual energy brewing inside.

These are typical characteristics of an entry-level demonic beast!

"Could this be a low-grade first-tier worker bee? Wait, if that's the case, it shouldn't be called a worker bee, it should be called a guardian bee."

Thinking of this, a flash of inspiration suddenly crossed Qu Ye's mind.

He had always been very curious about how the Jade Spirit Bee Queen appeared and reproduced.

How does the Hou family consistently provide new queen bees?

The fact that the queen bee died so suddenly without making any move to continue the colony is clearly abnormal.

But apart from powerful families like the Hou family, almost no one cares about how the Jade Spirit Bee Queen reproduces; everyone is only concerned with the Spirit Essence.

"So, could the queen bee's reproduction be related to this guardian bee?"

Qu Ye couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation.

Once this is understood, one may no longer need to worry about the bee colony becoming extinct after the queen dies.

After thinking it over, Qu Ye gently placed the bee eggs down and then took out a large amount of medicinal powder and sprinkled it into the hive so that the queen bee could be replenished in time.

Since this ectopic egg was laid by the queen bee herself, its subsequent changes will mostly depend on the care of the hive and the queen bee. It might not be a good thing for her to interfere rashly.

After doing this, he instructed some of the worker bees to stand guard nearby, and then left the forest.

……

"Next, let's find a place to test the illusionary killing formation."

Qu Ye walked around the foot of the mountain and headed towards a shrub-covered wasteland near the back of the mountain.

That place was lush with vegetation, desolate and deserted, and often frequented by ordinary people and wild animals, making it perfect for testing formations.

In the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, Qu Ye arrived at his destination and released several worker bees to guard the surroundings, preventing anyone from accidentally intruding.

He then took out the array plate and array flags and arranged them according to specific nodes.

After a short while, once the array flags were set up, Qu Ye took out three spirit stones and placed them on the array plate.

A spiritual light emanated from the surface of the array plate. Instantly, spiritual energy flowed, and a very faint mist spread out, enveloping an area of ​​thirty feet in radius.

"It seems the setup was successful."

Qu Ye rode the Cold Pattern Sword into the air and used his divine sense to search around. He only found a wild boar eating a python in the bushes.

This wild boar was quite large, with its shoulder height reaching almost to Qu Ye's waist. Although it was not a demonic beast, it was still tough and thick-skinned. If an ordinary hunter were to encounter it, he would most likely suffer a great loss.

With a wave of his right hand, the wild boar, which was enjoying its meal, suddenly felt a sharp pain. Turning its head, it saw a worker bee tearing at the flesh on its rear end.

The wild boar got angry. It was eating peacefully, why did it suddenly bite its rear end?

So it stopped eating the python, roared, and chased after the worker bees.

At this moment, the wild boar had no time to distinguish between what was real and what was not, and charged recklessly, stepping straight into the formation's range.

The next instant, the illusionary killing formation suddenly trembled.

The array patterns that had been lying in ambush in all directions began to glow slightly, and thick fog rolled up from the ground, instantly enveloping the entire open space.

The wild boar, which had been so aggressive, became noticeably sluggish once it entered the area, grunting and circling around as if it had suddenly lost its way.

It was charging forward, but in Qu Ye's eyes, it was just circling around in a small area, even crashing into the same rock several times, with blood seeping from its nose.

"The cloaking effect is pretty good, how about trying the killer move?"

Qu Ye's eyes brightened slightly, and he immediately raised his hand to form a hand seal, sending a stream of magical power into the array plate.

In an instant, the fog in the formation thickened by three times, and several wisps of sharp energy, barely visible to the naked eye, quietly condensed from within the fog, then transformed into invisible fog blades that slashed towards the wild boar.

laugh!laugh!laugh!

With a few soft thuds, several wounds were slashed open on the wild boar's back, sides, and legs, and blood splattered out.

This was because Qu Ye deliberately avoided the crucial point.

The wild boar, in pain and enraged, charged wildly through the ranks, kicking up mud and snapping a piece of dead wood with its tusks.

The more you struggle, the harder it becomes to discern your direction.

The fog obscured its vision, and the formation disturbed its mind. It tried to break out several times, but each time it veered off course, either crashing into rocks or turning back to the center.

In just over ten breaths, the wounds deepened and the blood dripped down the mane, and the fierce aura gradually weakened.

Qu Ye stared intently, silently calculating in his mind.

"If an opponent is in the early stages of Qi Refining and falls into this formation, they will almost certainly die."

"Even a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator would likely not fare well if they entered without any precautions."

Just thinking about this made him frown slightly.

When the killing intent was unleashed just now, the spirit stones in the array plate were consumed much faster.

If it's just about trapping the enemy, the formation can last for a long time, but once it turns into an offensive attack, it probably won't last much longer.

Inside the formation, the wild boar was already covered in wounds, its movements becoming increasingly slow. Finally, its legs gave way, and it collapsed heavily to the ground, twitching a few times before falling completely silent.

The fog slowly dissipated, leaving only a faint smell of blood.

Qu Ye slowly stepped forward, put away the wild boar meat, and took it back to feed the iron-clawed crab.

"But it doesn't matter, I don't lack these mist blades as a means of attack."

"Once this formation is activated, the thick fog disperses, providing the bee swarm with a natural means of concealment."

"When the enemy is trapped by the maze and attacked by the swarm of bees, I will stay in the shadows and wait for them to be distracted before taking their lives with the Cold Pattern Sword and the Sharp Gold Thorn."