A sinister buzzing echoed throughout the surroundings.
The bees gave Ling Hua no chance to think before they descended upon him with murderous intent.
One of them lunged toward his leg, its stinger aimed directly at his flesh. Ling Hua barely managed to dodge it at the very last moment, but suddenly, a burning sting pierced his back.
His blood seemed to freeze in his veins, and he could no longer comprehend what had happened.
He crashed heavily onto the ground, his eyelids refusing to open as though they had been forged from lead. An eerie coldness spread through his limbs, and he could feel his soul preparing to leave his frail body and ascend toward the heavens.
He was like a fish thrown onto a butcher's chopping board, stripped of every possible means of escape.
Ling Hua began to surrender to the dizziness of death and the freezing sensation sweeping through him. He sank into a sea of dark sensations, as though he were falling into the depths of an endless lake with no bottom.
But...
At the very last moment, a spark of hope suddenly ignited in his mind.
He remembered the talisman he had purchased from the Golden Talisman Tower...
The 《Blessing of Endurance》 Talisman.
Ling Hua squeezed out what little remained of his willpower and commanded his paralyzed hand to move.
It did not respond.
He tried again.
And again.
But nothing happened.
The last trace of hope in Ling Hua's heart was almost completely extinguished.
At that moment, the image of his crying mother appeared in his mind as she received the news of his tragic death.
How could he leave her alone in this terrifying world, a world of which he had yet to discover even one percent?
A world filled with dangers at every turn?
That thought became the final push his soul needed.
Ling Hua clenched his teeth as he endured the agony of death. At last, his unresponsive hand slowly obeyed his will.
Using the tips of his fingers, he pulled out the talisman and injected two strands of Qi into it.
With every inch the Qi traveled through his meridians, he felt as though fiery needles were tearing through his veins.
Finally, the energy reached the talisman.
A faint light illuminated its surface, and a warm aura immediately enveloped Ling Hua's entire body.
The moment the warmth released by the 《Blessing of Endurance》 spread through Ling Hua's body, a warm vitality seeped into his veins, forcing back the vicious bee venom that had nearly extinguished his life.
The terrifying coldness gradually disappeared, and the blood once again surged warmly through his arteries.
Ling Hua suddenly opened his eyes.
His senses had returned.
He slowly rose to his feet, tightening his fists as he remained alert to any possible danger.
He had barely straightened his body when furious buzzing roared throughout the forest.
The bees had noticed that he had regained his ability to move.
The swarm descended upon him once again!
But this time, Ling Hua was no longer easy prey.
He cast a quick and careful glance at his attackers.
He quickly realized that there were only four spiritual bees within the swarm. Their semi-crystalline bodies and faint silver radiance clearly distinguished them from the rest.
The others were merely ordinary bees and posed no real threat.
This confirmed that the hive was still in its early stages of development.
Ling Hua gathered Qi into his limbs. With measured movements and swift evasions, he avoided the attacks of the spiritual bees.
He moved like air between their poisonous stingers until an opportunity finally presented itself.
He struck with an arrow wrapped in Qi, sharp as a sword, splitting the first spiritual bee in two.
Before the others could comprehend what had happened, Ling Hua twisted through the air and released a concentrated burst of energy that pierced directly through the chest of the second spiritual bee.
Both corpses fell lifelessly onto the ground.
But during that brief moment of relaxation, the hive suddenly shook violently.
And from deep within the branches...
The queen emerged.
She was several times larger than the defending bees. Her body was covered in glittering silver dust, and she radiated a powerful aura equivalent to the first stage of Qi Purification.
She gave Ling Hua not even a moment to react.
She shot toward him at astonishing speed, dragging a trail of spiritual energy behind her, intending to kill him with a single strike.
A fierce battle erupted between them.
Qi arrows clashed with the sharp cries of buzzing wings.
Ling Hua rolled across the ground and continuously created distance between them. He relied on the talisman to absorb the queen's attacks while carefully observing her flight patterns.
At the peak of their confrontation, the queen opened her defenses to deliver a fatal thrust with her stinger.
Ling Hua stepped backward.
In the blink of an eye, he activated the 《Pine Tree Arrow》 Talisman Art, pouring every remaining trace of his Qi into a single swift green arrow!
The arrow shot forward like a split meteor...
"Bang!"
The sharpened tip of the arrow stopped merely one millimeter from the queen's forehead, directly between her spiritual eyes.
It had pierced through her invisible defenses and trembled in the air with deadly steadiness.
The queen froze in midair.
Ling Hua's rapid breathing echoed throughout the forest as he spoke in a stern voice that allowed no room for negotiation.
"You have two choices, and there is no third... surrender now, or I'll put this arrow through your head!"
Silence descended for several seconds.
The queen hovered motionlessly in the air, her gleaming eyes sensing the threat to her life in Ling Hua's tone even though she could not understand his words.
The entire swarm also fell silent, watching the fate of their hive.
Finally, the queen lowered her wings.
She slowly descended until her feet touched the ground, then released a low buzzing sound.
It was a clear command to her bees.
Do not attack.
Retreat.
Ling Hua wasted not a second.
He made a small cut on his thumb and brought a drop of blood close to the queen's head.
Using his fingers, he drew complicated patterns and intricate seals of control through the air and across her forehead.
The patterns glowed with a dark crimson light before being absorbed into the queen's forehead and disappearing.
Ling Hua looked at her and spoke in a calm yet ominous tone.
"Now, your fate lies in the palm of my will... If even the slightest thought of attacking or betraying me enters your mind, a single thought from me will be enough to stop your heart on the spot."
Ling Hua breathed a sigh of relief.
He then pulled the communication talisman from his belt and injected Qi into it.
The talisman flashed with a purple radiance, sending an urgent distress signal to Elder Tian Mu.
Back in the spacious cultivation hall on the mountain, Elder Tian Mu was swiftly moving through the corridors when her talisman suddenly picked up the signal.
Her heart jolted.
Without hesitation, she immediately flew toward the source of the signal at the speed of the wind.
Along the way, she was shocked by the scenes of destruction and the corpses of masked attackers scattered throughout the corridors.
She quickly joined Ling Hua's guards.
With several swift strikes from her enormous green vine, she eliminated the remaining masked attackers.
After a brief investigation amid the bloodied corpses, the severity of the conspiracy became clear.
The attack had specifically targeted Ling Hua.
Fear and panic seized Elder Tian Mu's heart as she immediately shot toward the depths of the forest like a meteor.
Terrible and horrifying possibilities flooded her mind as she imagined what might have happened to Ling Hua.
She charged into the dark forest while shouting his name.
But she suddenly froze at the terrifying sight before her!
The corpse of the masked man Ling Hua had killed lay in a pool of blood.
And in the center of the clearing where the battle had taken place, a dense swarm of spiritual bees surrounded something with an almost terrifying reverence.
At first glance, Elder Tian Mu thought Ling Hua had fallen victim to the ferocious bees and had been killed among them.
She immediately raised her hand, preparing to summon her enormous vine technique and annihilate the entire swarm.
But at the very last moment...
A calm voice came from the heart of the silver vortex.
"Don't worry, Elder. I'm fine."
The silver swarm parted neatly down the middle.
The scene beneath it was revealed.
Ling Hua was sitting on his knees in a meditative state before the trunk of a strange tree.
The tree was rooted deep within the dark forest floor and radiated a faint purple glow.
Elder Tian Mu's eyes widened in absolute astonishment.
A muffled cry escaped her lips.
"T-The Spiritual Insect Tree?!"
Ling Hua looked at her in confusion, his eyes silently asking for an explanation.
Elder Tian Mu immediately began explaining, her voice filled with a mixture of shock and amazement.
"It's extremely rare, Ling Hua! This tree feeds on spiritual insects and secretes a spiritual liquid that helps insects undergo mutations and evolve into spiritual insects, such as the 《Silver Cloud Bees》.
"You were incredibly lucky. This swarm only completed its transformation about a month ago. That's why there were so few spiritual bees among them, and why they weren't strong enough to kill you!"
Ling Hua smiled intelligently.
"I managed to completely subdue the queen and the entire swarm. I wanted to move the tree with me and bring it back to our mountain, but I didn't know how to transport a living organism of this size without damaging its spiritual roots. That's why I summoned you."
Elder Tian Mu breathed a sigh of relief and nodded in appreciation of his careful decision.
Then she spoke seriously.
"I didn't bring a Spiritual Jade Box large enough to transport it safely. We must move it to the mountain as quickly as possible and replant it before its roots dry out!"
Elder Tian Mu descended to the ground and cast a precise green technique.
The green energy carefully enveloped the roots, gathering them together without damaging their spiritual fibers.
She then lifted the tree with a levitation technique.
The two of them immediately set off toward the Sui family's mountain at astonishing speed, followed closely by the entire swarm of silver bees under the command of their queen.
They soon arrived at Ling Hua's residence.
With Elder Tian Mu's assistance, they selected a fertile patch of land beside his personal spiritual field.
Elder Tian Mu carefully planted the tree and firmly anchored its roots within the Qi-rich soil.
Meanwhile, the hive settled safely among the branches of the ancient tree.
The moment the bees settled into their new home, a remarkable phenomenon unfolded across the field!
The ordinary bees immediately flew toward the flowers of the nearby spiritual rice, busily collecting nectar.
Meanwhile, the spiritual defending bees charged forward like tiny knights.
They attacked a Thorny Shield Beetle that had been feeding on the crops.
With a swift strike of its silver stinger, the spiritual bee killed the Thorny Shield Beetle.
It then carried the corpse away with its powerful legs and flew toward the spiritual tree.
The bee dropped the corpse into a hollow spiritual funnel located within the tree's main branch.
Only moments later, the funnel absorbed the corpse.
Then, from the tips of the branches surrounding the hive, pure droplets of thick, sticky spiritual liquid began to emerge, releasing a pleasant fragrance into the air.
The silver queen emerged proudly from her resting state.
She approached the spiritual droplets and began feeding upon them.
Thus began a new era of prosperity for Ling Hua's spiritual field...
And a new era of growth for the Silver Cloud Bee hive.
Meanwhile, the Red Agate Crabs that Ling Hua had released into the stream were already wandering through it enthusiastically, eagerly exploring their new home.