Translator: Truth
Editor: Dhael Ligerkeys
As pretty as the sea of flowers was, it wasn’t what Yi Yi wanted to show him. She was pointing at the gigantic, bone-white, oval-shaped structure that almost looked like it was forged out of white jade at the center of the sea of flowers.
Lu Ye had mentally prepared himself for anything, but he still couldn’t resist gasping when he saw it. At the center of the seemingly endless sea of flowers was the biggest bee nest he had ever seen in his life! It was like someone had built a massive palace at the center of the valley!
Lu Ye didn’t even know it was possible for such a huge bee nest to exist. More importantly, he saw many bees about two-thirds of a meter long flying around the sea of flowers. His eyes twitched when he noted its size and colorful patterns.
The bees he encountered until now were only two to three inches long at most and nothing special. But this? These bees were definitely large enough to be categorized as Mutants.
What was even more terrifying was its sheer number. There were a lot of them to say the least.
The honey produced by the ordinary bees was already finger-licking delicious. He wondered how amazing the honey these bees could produce would be.
Lu Ye could not help a surge of greed when he thought this.
No wonder people said that deep, ancient forests were some of the best places to hunt for natural treasures. In fact, a lot of cultivators loved exploring the wilderness after reaching a certain cultivation level. Most of the time, they would encounter something immensely valuable such as the bee nest right before his eyes. Sure, he was going to have to bear some risk to harvest the honey in the nest, but as the saying went, one has to give in order to receive.
He fell into thought for a moment before instructing, “Wait for me here. I’m going to take a look alone.”
Yi Yi said immediately, “I’ll come with you.”
“No.”
To be fair, Yi Yi was more suited for such risky endeavors than him. As an apparition, she could just dive underground if she encountered any sort of danger. It was a unique advantage no cultivator possessed.
However, just because she was usually safe didn’t mean she would always be safe. The bee nest before him didn’t look normal, and the valley was filled to the brim with giant bees. Without knowing what kind of dangers might lie ahead of them, he just could not convince himself to allow Yi Yi to take the risk.
On the other hand, his cultivation level was higher than hers. He was also fairly equipped to handle most dangers.
An unhappy Yi Yi puffed up her cheeks in protest, but Lu Ye simply ignored her. He jumped over the edge and activated Invisibility before he even hit the ground.
His body seemed to vanish into thin air just like that. Even his presence was completely concealed.
If Lu Ye hadn’t received Invisibility from the Tree of Glyphs earlier, he would not have dared to take the risk. A blind man could’ve seen that these meter-long Mutant Bees were no joke. It might be a different story if there were only dozens to over a hundred Mutant Bees in the valley, but there were easily thousands upon thousands of them flying all over the sea of flowers.
From above, the sea of flowers looked like layers upon layers of interconnected vegetation. It wasn’t until he landed on the ground that he realized that the plants were much bigger than they looked. Unfortunately, Lu Ye hadn’t studied herbology much and so could not tell if these plants were herbs.
After confirming that Invisibility was still active, Lu Ye soundlessly snuck his way toward the bee nest in the middle. From time to time, a Mutant Bee or two would fly past him. His ears were full of buzzing.
A long time later, he finally arrived at the bee nest. Lu Ye felt incredibly small as he looked up at the massive structure.
There were a lot of holes in the bee nest. Many hard-working Mutant Bees were flying in and out of these entrances.
Lu Ye circled around the nest for a bit until he found a larger hole. However, he barely managed to take a couple of steps before he saw a Mutant Bee crawling straight toward him.
He hurriedly pressed himself against the wall. When the Mutant Bee crawled past him, it suddenly paused and looked in his direction as if it noticed something. When it found nothing, it turned away and continued toward the exit. This would happen many more times as he ventured deeper and deeper into the nest.
Invisibility was turning out even better than he had imagined. These unintelligent Mutant Bees could never imagine that a human would be bold enough to infiltrate their nest.
A while later, Lu Ye exited the passage and entered the interior of the bee nest.
The interior of the bee nest was much bigger than he would have anticipated. It was also filled with the unique scent of bee honey. Lu Ye felt like his mind was clearing up just inhaling the fragrant scent. At the same time, he grew certain that the honey produced in this nest was clearly superior to the ones they had collected earlier.
As it turned out, there were even more bees inside the nest than outside. Lu Ye had to dodge them from time to time while following the scent to its origin. He quickly arrived at the place where the bees stored their honey. Blocks of golden honey that looked as pure as citrine crystals were stored in clumps within the nest. By now, the scent was so strong that he was unconsciously licking his lips.
The honey was guarded by a dozen or so Mutant Bees, but these ones were almost as long as humans were tall and much, much bigger than the ones outside. They crawled back and forth like they were patrolling the area. It was obvious that they were not to be trifled with.
A recess had also caught his attention. The reason he noticed it was because a couple of the human length Mutant Bees were standing guard beside it. When he crept closer and took a look, his expression widened a little in surprise.
The recess was quite small considering the size of everything inside and outside this nest; only the size of a small bowl. Half of it was filled with what looked like amber-colored liquid.
Lu Ye could not tell what it was at first glance, but he had a feeling that it was the royal jelly. ．
If it was, then this half a bowl of liquid was worth far more than all the honey around him.
Now he had found the good stuff, it was time for the fun part of this adventure: the heist.
He thought for a second before grabbing a few Spirit Stones from his Storage Bags and flicking them in every direction.
The unusual disturbance immediately alarmed the patrolling bees. They crawled toward the sources at high speed.
In the blink of an eye, the only ones left in the area were the Mutant Bees tasked to protect the royal jelly.
These Mutant Bees were much more conscientious than their brethren. They probably wouldn’t leave the nest unless they had no other choice.
Left with no other choice, Lu Ye could only channel his Spiritual Power. His Weapon Holder buzzed, and nine flying weapons shot toward the Mutant Bees. They all lost their heads in an instant.
It was impossible to stay hidden after what he just did, but he was beyond caring at this point. He hurriedly scooped up the amber liquid in the recess with his Spiritual Power, threw it into an empty Storage Bag, then ran to the honeycombs and collected as much honey as he could.
The buzzing in his ears grew louder. The Mutant Bees that were drawn away a moment ago had returned, and they were homing in on Lu Ye’s location at high speed.
A moment later, a fiery red light shot out of the bee nest and flew into the sky. It was none other than Lu Ye with his Wings.
Lu Ye looked absolutely horrible right now. He was grimacing in abject pain because a dozen or so bee stings were stuck in his body. Each sting was at least a third of a meter long, so it was as if he had a dozen knives in his body.
Not only that, the bee stings were clearly venomous. Lu Ye could clearly feel himself growing uncoordinated both in the body and the mind.
Most cultivators could only wait for death to take them in this situation. The venom alone wasn’t something a Spirit Creek Realm cultivator could survive, not to mention that an entire swarm of Mutant Bees was chasing behind Lu Ye. In fact, every Mutant Bee in the valley had been alerted to his theft.
On the rock, Ju Jia and Yi Yi could only watch as a massive fog made up of millions or even tens of millions of Mutant Bees chasing after the streak of fiery red aura that was Lu Ye. It was easily one of the most terrifying things they had seen in their life.
Yi Yi panicked and instinctively wanted to chase after Lu Ye. It was at this moment she received a message from Lu Ye that said, “Run!”
Yi Yi stopped in her tracks and beckoned Ju Jia to follow her. They then ran deeper into the forest.
In the sky, Lu Ye was gradually recovering because the Tree of Glyphs was burning away the toxin coursing inside his body. He never once thought that he would die from the venom, though of course it was inevitable that he would experience some adverse reactions during the first few seconds.
By now, the buzzing noises in his ears were loud enough it was like the Mutant Bees were right next to him. He took a look behind himself and was stunned by what he saw.
Kicking a hornet’s—or in this case, a bee’s—nest had never been so literal. A literal cloud of Mutant Bees were chasing after him like they would devour him down to the skeleton for his transgressions.
There wasn’t even time to pull out the bee stings inside his body. Lu Ye channeled his Spiritual Power with all his might, flapped his wings, and shot further up toward the sky.
He broke through the Misty Mountains’ sea of clouds in an instant. Having gotten used to the mountain range’s poor lighting, the harsh sunlight caused him to squint a little.
Suddenly, he heard someone shouting, “Lu Yi Ye!”
Lu Ye turned toward the source of the shout and saw a dozen or so auras flying straight toward him. More were converging on his location after hearing the shout.
The Yi Ye Elimination Front led by Qin Zheng had been chasing after Lu Ye for the past week. Naturally, they had considered the possibility that Lu Ye might escape through the sky. That was why they had people searching the ground and patrolling the sky at all times.
Vision was so much clearer in the sky than it was on the ground. Lu Ye hadn’t even revealed himself for a couple of seconds before he was spotted by a member of the Yi Ye Elimination Front. Like cats who caught the stench of fish, the cultivators immediately began converging on Lu Yi Ye.
Something was puzzling them though. Lu Yi Ye did not look to be in his best condition, and what looked like a dozen or so large needles were sticking out of his body. They wondered what he had encountered prior to flying into the sky.
What was even more puzzling was the fact that Lu Ye was flying straight toward them instead of running away.
“You dare!” the leader of the group yelled before shooting flying weapons at Lu Ye.
Lu Ye was less skilled than Ju Jia in terms of telekinesis, but he wasn’t flying using a flying Spirit Artifact right now. He was using his emergency escape tool, Wings. Naturally, he was faster and nimbler than normal.
Lu Ye easily weaved around the flying weapons attempting to skewer him. At the same time, he got closer and closer to his attackers.
“Watch out!” The leader yelled again. Lu Ye’s skill with his flying weapons was quite infamous at this point, so they did not hesitate to spread out after the young man had gotten close to them. They got ready to handle anything Lu Ye might throw at them.
To their surprise, Lu Ye did not try to attack them. He simply blew past them and continued toward the horizon.