A Mortal's Journey to Immortality: Starting as a Rogue Cultivator

7. Four bottles and jars.

The seal on it looked extraordinary, so Wang Li didn't dare to touch it. He planned to complete his Foundation Establishment first after leaving the forbidden area before trying to open it.

8. This strange, large chest containing many treasures.

How strange is it?

On one hand, the restrictions that Wang Li had broken on the box were slowly recovering over time. It should be noted that Wang Li did not provide any spiritual power support to the box, but it was still restoring its "integrity" and "sealing", like a solar cell that could spontaneously absorb the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to make up for its own losses.

On the other hand, one cannot perceive the existence of the box with divine sense alone; it can only be observed and discovered with the naked eye.

Whether it was due to the special restriction on the box or the material itself, Wang Li's divine sense had penetrated into the box, yet he couldn't perceive it even when it was placed right in front of him. If his eyes hadn't clearly proven that he wasn't seeing things and that these items were real, he would have doubted whether he was trapped in an illusion.

Furthermore, he was certain of one thing: the restrictions on the box were even more effective at isolating divine sense than those on this stone hall.

Perhaps this is also a little trick that ancient cultivators prepared for their successors?

Therefore, for Wang Li at present, the most practical items are undoubtedly the scroll, the talisman, and this box.

The former can track the movements of cultivators from various sects, leaving them with no way to escape; the talisman is a powerful weapon that can take a person's life once unleashed.

……

A quarter of an hour later, seven or eight miles northwest of the ring mountain range, Wang Li looked at the flying sword talisman in his hand, which had dimmed slightly again, with an extremely calm expression.

On the ground, besides the devastation, there was a fire wolf, a giant python, a howling eagle, a storage bag and several spirit beast bags, and a middle-aged disciple of the Spirit Beast Mountain who died peacefully and serenely.

The opponent's spirit beasts—the Fire Wolf, the Giant Python, and the Howling Eagle—have all been cultivated to the upper-tier demon beast level, with the Fire Wolf even having one foot in the top-tier. Add to that a top-tier magic weapon, the Small Hammer, and several other decent upper-tier magic weapons, and their overall strength would definitely place them among the top ranks of the Qi Refining thirteenth level.

Wang Li set his sights on this guy for two reasons: first, because this guy was alone, far from the other cultivators from various sects, but very close to him; second, since he had managed to survive so long alone in the second level of the central area, he must be a fat sheep with considerable cultivation.

Within the forbidden area, killing and robbing are considered perfectly justifiable.

If anyone's to blame, it's that he's not a disciple of Huangfeng Valley.

With a wave of his hand, he stuffed the fire wolf, the giant python, the howling eagle, and even the other party, who was the master, into a fallen spirit beast bag.

The storage bag was emptied, leaving only spirit stones and a few other items that caught the eye.

Then, they bypassed the top-tier demonic beasts blocking their path and headed north.

An hour later, in a small basin more than thirty miles to the north, Wang Li ambushed two disciples of the Giant Sword Sect, killed the guardian beast deep within the stone hall, and took the treasure before leaving.

The reason he targeted these two was because they considered themselves quite capable and actually attempted to breach the stone hall and take away its treasures.

Therefore, if Wang Li didn't seize the opportunity while both sides were weakened and take advantage of the situation, he would feel he was letting down the full-map cheat provided by the scroll. However, after this battle, the flying sword talisman that had rendered it a great service was completely reduced to ashes, having completed its mission and reached the end of its life.

Four hours later, after taking a long detour, Wang finally arrived at a mountain stream dozens of miles to the northeast, only to regretfully find himself only able to collect the bodies of the four. The dead were all disciples of the Hidden Moon Sect, including a man and a woman who were two of the eight elite Qi Refining Stage 13 cultivators sent into the forbidden area.

The other two also possessed a mid-to-high level of Qi Refining Stage 12.

Before entering, Wang Li had already made a note of the two elites in his notebook.

However, they were all killed at that moment.

Judging from the fact that there were only five red dots here an hour ago, and then one more red dot appeared, it should be that someone first fought against four people and did not fall behind, until their companions from the sect came to their aid, and then launched a counterattack against the four people from the Hidden Moon Sect.

Judging from the unresolved traces of the battle at the scene, there were numerous clashes involving top-tier magical artifacts. Even so, the four members of the Hidden Moon Sect were still no match for their opponents.

"Seed level? And not just any ordinary seed level!"

Not many people can be written down in his little notebook.

Even so, they still couldn't take away a rare herb that was at least six hundred years old from the cliff in the mountain stream.

Because on the six-foot-tall sapling, besides a few spiritual fruits, there was also a fallen beehive hanging from it.

A few tiny bees, no bigger than a fingernail, occasionally sneak out for a stroll. They look harmless, but the aura of a lower-level demonic beast is incredibly stimulating. A group of a dozen or so large bees that have just returned from foraging exudes an aura no less powerful than that of a mid-level demonic beast.

Earthly Fruit, Thousand-Star Bee!

The former can be used to refine pills suitable for increasing cultivation during the Foundation Establishment stage, and if the fruit is consumed directly, the first few will have a certain effect on improving physical condition.

The latter are gregarious demonic beasts led by the strongest queen bee, often with a hive of over a thousand. Not only are their overall combat strength formidable, but they can also produce a special kind of honey. This honey, when used in alchemy, can increase the success rate of pill formation and improve the quality of the elixirs.

Wang Li was very interested in the Earthly Fruit; he was even more determined to get the Thousand Star Bee.

No question, grab your weapons and pack up.

Chapter 42 The Last Bloody Moment in the Forbidden Land (1)

If Wang Li had relied on his previous resources and disregarded using the Golden Light Brick Talisman to take everything with him, the cost of taking this Thousand Star Bee colony would have been considerable.

After all, it was a cluster of thousands of demonic beasts, including many large ones of intermediate and upper-level rank.

Even with a large number of talismans in his possession, he would have to use up all his low-level, mid-level, and high-level control talismans to catch these hardworking little bees, and might even need to use two mid-level talismans.

After opening the golden treasure chest and obtaining three special runes, the situation changed.

Most talismans in the outside world are direct offensive weapons, like "a white knife going in and a red knife coming out"; but the guqin talisman he obtained, in addition to its offensive capabilities, is more about controlling opponents. Its techniques are extremely rare, using sound waves, making it a ranged area-of-effect spell. This allows him to effectively control the number of casualties among the Thousand Star Bees.

Sure enough, as soon as the golden guqin talisman was activated, a three-foot-long three-stringed zither floated above Wang Li's head.

As the aura spread, the Thousand Star Beehive not far away immediately began to stir. The large bees that had gone out to collect raw materials from a patch of flowers a short distance away returned to the hive one after another. Before long, hundreds of bees of all sizes formed a formation, turning into a small black cloud, and swarmed straight toward him. They were densely packed and buzzing, and their appearance was quite frightening.

Wang Li narrowed his eyes and poured more magic power into the guqin. The three-foot guqin "grew" to five feet, and the three strings quickly regenerated two more strings.

"Zheng..."

He burned half of his magical power and plucked the first string of the zither, producing the sound of clashing swords. The music was melodious, and within a hundred feet, all the lower-level level bees suddenly stiffened their wings, fainted, and fell to the ground; the middle-level bees that were at the forefront, each about the size of a finger, also staggered and crashed to the ground.

Not only were the large and small bees affected, but even the leaders of each squad in the Thousand Star Bee Swarm were more or less disrupted, and their momentum immediately stalled.

For a moment, it looked like a strange drizzle was falling directly in front of Wang Li. What was originally a small patch of dark clouds was now sparsely dotted with scattered "stars".

Before the swarm could even unleash its power, more than half of it perished.

“Zheng”.

The second sound rang out, this time consuming one-tenth of its full mana. At the same time, the hundred or so mid-level giant bees and seven high-level squad leaders that had been standing firm in mid-air also turned into raindrops and fell to the ground. Only the two small squad leaders, one yellow and one red, with the strongest aura and each about three fingers in size, slunk back to the hive.

Speaking of beehives, they are also a rare and wondrous object in the world of cultivation.

This item possesses inherent spatial properties; it can contain a vast expanse within a mustard seed.

Simply put, a honeycomb the size of a bowl on the outside may contain a complex space of several meters inside.

When Wang Li read this information on a jade slip he found in the storage bag of an elite disciple of Spirit Beast Mountain, he couldn't help but marvel at the wonder of the Creator.

And this is probably one of the main reasons why he took a liking to the Thousand Star Bee.

Furthermore, the Queen Bee of the Thousand Stars can evolve into a level two, level three, or even higher-level demon beast. As the Queen Bee evolves, the other second and third generation worker bees can also acquire better aptitude and raise their own upper limits. Then, they can find better raw materials and, in conjunction with their own innate abilities, build larger hives to produce "hundred flower honey" of superior quality and higher potency.

At that time, a perfect virtuous cycle will be formed.

"Buzzing..."

Hundreds more Thousand Star Bees flew out of the hive, but this time, those that appeared were either very small, like child soldiers, or looked old and were missing limbs. Their quality was significantly lower than the first batch.

"sucker Punch."

"Clang!"

He continued to expend 10% of his mana and moved closer to vibrate the second string again.

Wang Li didn't touch the third string, because each string had a significantly different power output, and he was afraid that if he didn't control it properly, he might damage these hardworking little darlings. Besides, the queen bee was inside the hive, and if the music was too powerful, it could potentially affect the not-so-soundproof mustard seed space and harm the queen bee inside.

After he had collected all the bees, large and small, from outside, he probed the hive with his divine sense:

"what……"

For some reason, Wang Li had the strange feeling that he had been pricked on the head with a needle. He immediately withdrew his divine sense and felt a sharp pain in his head.

The pain was so intense, so deep it pierced to the very marrow of the bone, a pain that was unbearable.

The pain was so intense that he kept his mouth open for a long time afterward, but he couldn't make a sound.

The Queen Bee of a Thousand Stars is actually able to attack divine sense?

Nobody told him that.

A typical example is "suffering from a lack of education".

Fortunately, even as Wang Li was writhing in excruciating pain, he gritted his teeth, his eyes bloodshot, and forced himself to play the third string of the guqin! And it was a powerful, close-range strike aimed directly at the beehive!

Having suffered such a huge loss, the safest approach would be to stimulate all three, four, and five sectors simultaneously.

But his love for the queen bee made it impossible for him to bring himself to harm her.

If he can do this to him now, can't he do the same to his enemies in the future? Also, what does it mean if there are many of them? If the opponent is caught off guard and gets hit, can't he take the opportunity to deliver the final blow?

The more you think and reflect amidst the excruciating pain, the less you'll be willing to use excessive force.

However, while the power of the third string might not kill the queen bee, it was enough to render her and any remaining Thousand Star Bees that might be hiding in the hive powerless.

Although it was just a minor injury from being pricked with an acupuncture needle, Wang Li still suffered a great deal because of the damage to his spiritual consciousness.

It took him more than four hours of rest throughout the night to catch his breath.

"hiss……"

The fifth day arrived quickly. In the early morning, Wang Li took his first breath, a deep, lingering gasp of cool air.

The thought of the queen bee, still unconscious in the spirit beast pouch, filled him with lingering fear.

It was truly perilous at the time: if the queen bee had launched a desperate attack on him the moment she stung him, instead of hesitating and holding the hive, he would most likely have perished in the blood-soaked forbidden zone!

Given Wang Li's condition at the time, he couldn't react in time to the attack from the top-tier demonic beast.

With just one strike, he could be torn to shreds from his mere flesh and blood.

"Whoosh..."

lucky.

But this also served as another wake-up call for him.

"Before the outcome is decided, no, even if the outcome is already decided, or even if I have already defeated the opponent, as long as there is still even a slight variable, I cannot relax in the slightest!"

The lesson was so profound that he couldn't pretend it never happened.

Let's talk about what we gained from destroying this colony of Thousand Star Bees.

not much.

There was a 600-year-old Earth Element Fruit tree, and four Earth Element Fruits that were over 100 years old (there were originally five, but Wang Li ate one last night to try it out). In addition, there was a beehive that had been built for at least 300 years, with an internal space of 3 zhang in length, width and height, and stored enough honey from a hundred flowers to fill more than a dozen small jade bottles.