Suddenly, a massive head emerged from the beehive, its size comparable to several Spiritual Bees.
This was the Bee King, also emanating a Foundation Establishment Middle Stage aura.
The moment he appeared, the morale of the entire Spiritual Bee swarm surged.
The Spiritual Bees at the forefront turned around and launched an attack on the Devouring Gold Ants from the rear, defending the beehive and the Bee King.
The Bee King and the Ant Queen stared at each other, their eyes filled with overwhelming Killing Intent.
Azure Phoenix, standing beside Qian Duoduo, chuckled silently.
Qian Duoduo and Yu Yixiang also smiled.
The three of them seemed to smell the fragrance of golden honey.
After the Bee King revealed himself, the dying Spiritual Bees, when committing suicide, directly detonated their bodies, injuring the Devouring Gold Ants while simultaneously spraying mucus onto them to hinder their advance.
Even some larvae in the beehive were launched as projectiles.
While Spiritual Bees were dying in large numbers, the Devouring Gold Ants were also diminishing at an astonishing rate.
An incense stick later, only a few thousand Devouring Gold Ants and Spiritual Bees remained on the battlefield.
The Ant Queen also rushed under the beehive, beckoning to the Bee King with her forelegs, issuing a challenge.
The Bee King immediately charged out of the beehive, a four-inch long stinger flashing with cold light, thrusting towards the Ant Queen.
His entire body was dazzling golden, covered in inch-long fuzz, like a mighty Body Cultivator.
The battle between the Ant Queen and the Bee King was a fiery spectacle.
The Ant Queen's mandibles and the Bee King's stinger were their best Magic Treasures, used for both offense and defense.
From time to time, venom was sprayed from the Ant Queen's mouth and the Bee King's tail.
A moment of inattention could result in being hit.
Suddenly, the Ant Queen seized an opening, bit down on the Bee King's left wing, and tore it off with force, leaving the Bee King with only one wing.
The Bee King fell onto his back, landing heavily on the ground with a thud.
Just as the Ant Queen was about to step forward to deliver a fatal bite, the Bee King's tail suddenly spurted a large stream of venom.
The Ant Queen sidestepped, dodging the venom.
"Bang!" The Bee King shot out the stinger from his tail.
The Ant Queen never expected the Bee King to be so desperate.
In her opinion, with wings, the Bee King could escape at any time if he couldn't win.
It was only when his wing was torn off that the Bee King had no choice but to fight with his life.
With a "hiss," the stinger pierced the Ant Queen's chest.
The Ant Queen charged forward furiously, her two mandibles biting into the Bee King's abdomen.
As the Bee King and the Ant Queen delivered their mutually unavoidable, fatal blows, the battlefield seemed to come to a standstill.
A breath later, the Devouring Gold Ants and Spiritual Bees began to tear at each other one-on-one.
The battle was too tragic!
Qian Duoduo, Yu Yixiang, and Azure Phoenix watched from the tent, their hands and feet growing cold.
After a long while, the battlefield quieted down.
"Let's go out," Azure Phoenix said using her Spiritual Awareness, "Nothing can threaten us now."
They arrived in front of the beehive; the Bee King and the Ant Queen were still locked in a stare, one biting, the other stinging.
"They're still alive," Yu Yixiang suddenly said.
Both the Bee King and the Ant Queen still had a breath left, but neither wanted to die immediately.
"Can they be saved?" Qian Duoduo asked Azure Phoenix.
Both the Bee King and the Ant Queen were warriors; if they were in the Refining Spirit Sect, they would undoubtedly be as outstanding as Dugu Yunshan.
Most importantly, Qian Duoduo saw a level of exquisite command in the Ant Queen and Bee King that he had never witnessed before.
Qian Duoduo felt that it would be a great pity for the Ant Queen and the Bee King, being so intelligent, courageous, and skilled in battle, to die just like that.
Azure Phoenix shook her head, "One has a rotten abdomen, and the other has a rotten chest; they can't be saved."
Qian Duoduo carefully examined the Bee King and the Ant Queen, studying them as if they were experimental materials, "What if we combine them? Could they live?"
"Combine? How?" Yu Yixiang asked.
"Use the Ant Queen's head, the Bee King's chest, and the Ant Queen's abdomen, combined together," Qian Duoduo fantasized.
"Impossible," Azure Phoenix shook her head, "It has never happened before."
"What if it succeeds?" Once the thought was spoken, it was like a seed planted, determined to sprout.
"The probability of success is almost zero.
Besides, they are mortal enemies; who would be willing to share a body with the other?" Yu Yixiang also didn't believe it.
"There's no loss if it doesn't succeed.
No, I must try it."
After speaking, Qian Duoduo took the Bee King and the Ant Queen into the tent, "Senior Sister, please bring me some golden honey and royal jelly."
Azure Phoenix and Yu Yixiang shook their heads at Qian Duoduo's stubbornness but said nothing.
Azure Phoenix and Yu Yixiang headed straight for the Ant Mound to retrieve the golden honey.
Entering the tent, Qian Duoduo placed the Bee King and the Ant Queen into the cauldron again, and with a release from his palm, Spiritual Qi continuously poured into the cauldron for the Bee King and the Ant Queen to absorb.
"I know you can understand what I'm saying," Qian Duoduo said to the Ant Queen and Bee King in the cauldron, "I have a way for both of you to survive, provided you both agree."
The eyes of the Ant Queen and the Bee King looked at Qian Duoduo, containing a glimmer of hope.
Even ants have a desire to live.
"I can perform a combination of your two bodies, using your intact parts to form a new body.
However, after the combination, your various parts must not fight.
Or rather, you can engage in a new competition: to see whose body part develops better."
As Qian Duoduo was speaking, Liu Boli suddenly appeared.
With a wave of his hand, two misty substances entered his hand, which he then brought into the Golden Toad.
"If you two have made up your minds, I will merge your Souls together.
Afterward, you will be both the Ant Queen and the Bee King; neither has lost, neither has won.
If you don't agree, then accept the outcome of mutual destruction, where your Souls dissipate, and both sides are defeated."
These two misty substances were the Souls of the Ant Queen and the Bee King, roughly similar in shape to their bodies, thin like a sheet of paper.
As battle beasts equivalent to the Foundation Establishment Middle Stage, their Souls already possessed considerable spiritual intelligence.
Liu Boli's words were like a red-hot profound iron, piercing the hearts of the Ant Queen and the Bee King.
Both the Ant Queen and the Bee King let out a silent roar.
That was unwillingness, refusing to admit defeat.
"You are both strong; I won't say more.
I'll give you three breaths of time." Liu Boli closed his eyes.
Just one breath later, "Okay," the Ant Queen and the Bee King said to Liu Boli using their Spiritual Awareness.
Liu Boli opened his eyes and nodded, "During the Soul fusion, do not resist."
Both the Ant Queen and the Bee King nodded, becoming peaceful.
In the face of Liu Boli's formidable strength as a Heavenly Human Cultivator, they were very submissive.
Liu Boli moved his fingers, arranging a black and white Formation.
The Formation was like two perfect fish, one black and one white, connected head to tail.
The black fish had white eyes.
The white fish had black eyes.
Between black and white, it continuously transformed and flowed, the Formation like a bright star, imprinted within the Golden Toad.
Liu Boli pointed at the Ant Queen and the Bee King respectively, and their Souls flew up, one entering the black eye, the other entering the white eye.
The Formation rotated, and the Souls of the Ant Queen and the Bee King gradually melted, and in the very center of the Formation, a new, more powerful Soul slowly took shape.
This new Soul had a massive head with two strong mandibles, a robust abdomen, and a clearly visible stinger at its tail.
The Formation flashed with a purple light and stopped rotating; the original Souls of the Ant Queen and the Bee King had completely disappeared.
However, the eyes of the new Soul were still closed.
Soul fusion, was it successful or not?
Qian Duoduo was so nervous he dared not avert his eyes.