Nine Evolutions of the True Spirit
chapter-164

Deep in a nameless mountain forest, there was a place where many flowers were blooming. In the middle of this sea of flowers, a swarm of bees, the size of a fist, were dancing in the flowers, and the buzzing sound could be heard for miles.

Not far from the sea of flowers, hid several Hai Yan Sect cultivators, quietly watching the bees.

A middle-aged man, at the head of the group, asked one of the cultivators on his side, “Is everything ready?”

After receiving confirmation, the middle-aged cultivator sent a signal. In the distance, several roars could be heard. Five monster bears were lured to the scene. Having been starved for a long time, they were immediately attracted to the scent of the honey.

The monster bears were only in the Blood Refining Realm and Early Blood Condensation Realm, and mostly acted based on their natural instincts. They rampantly made their way to the towering trees in the depths of the sea of flowers.

A few moments later, miserable cries could be heard from the monster bears. The cries got louder as the monster bears fled fearfully away from the sea of flowers, with a swarm of bees chasing behind them furiously even when the bears had left the forest.

When the middle-aged cultivator saw that the swarm had been successfully lured away, he hastily led the Hai Yan disciples to silently, and quickly, head into the sea of flowers.

In the depths of the sea of flowers, the remaining Amethyst Bees saw the Hai Yan cultivators sneaking towards the hive, and were agitated. Whilst producing loud buzzing sounds, the Amethyst Bees formed a wall and swarmed towards the Hai Yan cultivators.

Under the instruction of the middle-aged cultivator, the five Hai Yan cultivators formed a simple array formation and summoned their high-grade mystic instruments. Their mystic instruments formed a dome of light that protected them inside.

Then, the cultivators fused their aegis energies together with the protective light dome through the array formation, forming a layer of blazing fire on the surface of the light dome.

The swarm of Amethyst Bees attacked the light dome furiously.

Tiny wind blades were released from their wings, and poisonous needles were ejected from their tails. The attacks rained down nonstop on the Hai Yan Sect’s light dome. The blazing fire on the surface of the light dome flickered underneath the relentless attacks.

The middle-aged cultivator knew that they were temporarily safe under the protection of the light dome, and said urgently, “Quickly. The swarm that stayed behind has just sent out a distress signal, it won’t take long for the other swarm that was chasing the monster bears to return.”

The middle-aged cultivator and two others, each summoned a delicate top-grade mystic instrument attacking the hive, leaving a trail of cracks. Amethyst Bee Honey flowed out from these cracks, and a fragrance several times stronger than before, immediately diffused into the surroundings.

The three of them took out a jade bottle each, and cast a simple spell controlling the Amethyst Bee Honey to flow into the bottle.

One of the cultivators looked towards the hive at the crown of the tree above them and said, “Wouldn’t the Amethyst Bee Honey in that hive be of a higher quality? If only there was the legendary Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly.”

After he finished speaking, he immediately cast his top-grade mystic instrument to scratch the top of the highest hive.

The middle-aged cultivator was terrified, and shouted, “No!”

But it was too late.

The cultivator’s mystic instrument had already cut through the top of the hive, and a stream of purple honey, which was even more viscous and fragrant than the previous honey, flowed out from the hive.

The middle-aged cultivator looked frightened and said to the cultivators around him, “Run!”

After that, he ignored the confused looks of the other cultivators and took the lead in fleeing.

Finally, some of the cultivators realized something was wrong and were about to retreat, but it was already too late.

After the cultivator had cut through the high hive, the swarm attacking the light dome suddenly paused, before charging towards the top of the hive.

Then, as if the swarm had received an order, the Amethyst Bees turned around and rushed down towards the Hai Yan cultivators who were still dazed by the sudden change.

This time, instead of using wind spells and tail needles to attack, the Amethyst Bees directly crashed into the Hai Yan Sect’s light dome. The moment they hit the light domes, the Amethyst Bees exploded, causing the entire shield to shake violently.

This was a kamikaze attack!

Although the bees were only in the Early Blood Refining Realm, and their suicidal attacks weren’t too powerful individually, with dozens or hundreds of Amethyst Bees exploding together, the total power of the attack was not simple addition.

After the lead cultivator fled, the remaining seven Hai Yan cultivators only managed to retreat a few feet backwards before the light dome shattered from the self-detonation of thousands of Amethyst Bees

The seven cultivators could only let out a few cries before their voices were drowned out by the buzzing sounds of the bee swarm.

Just as the Hai Yan Sect cultivators were enveloped by the swarm, a thin veil was uncovered mid-air, just a small distance above the swarm. A thin figure emerged from the veil and reached down towards the top of the hive that was previously cut open by the Hai Yan Sect cultivator.

The cultivator took out a jade bottle and collected the pure purple royal jelly inside it. He extended his right hand, which was wearing a glove mystic instrument and touched the hive, as if to find something. The skinny cultivator’s face was happy, and he quickly put whatever he had grabbed in a jade box.

Suddenly, dozens of wind blades flew out from the top of the hive. These wind blades were much stronger, at the level of the Blood Condensation Realm, with two of them even in the Mid Blood Condensation Realm.

The skinny cultivator was startled and hurriedly put away the jade bottle and fled towards the woods.

A strange buzzing sound came from inside of the hive, and the swarm of bees behind suddenly turned around and frantically pursued the direction the skinny cultivator had escaped in. The bees chased into the woods, but quickly lost track of the skinny cultivator.

After the Amethyst Bee swarm returned to the hive, a several foot long veil appeared out of thin air in the middle of a large tree, revealing the skinny cultivator wrapped inside.

The skinny cultivator patted his chest while muttering, “Lucky. Lucky. It’s all thanks to this Green Veil that I begged Big Brother to give me before coming, otherwise I would have been in trouble.”

“Ho, is that how you did it? You cunning brat. We, the Hai Yan Sect, are the ones who distracted the swarm, while you took advantage of the situation to get the most precious Amethyst Bee Royal Jelly. My poor martial siblings died for nothing.”

A gloomy voice suddenly said behind the skinny cultivator.

The cultivator’s expression changed drastically, and he summoned six mystic instruments in the air to protect himself. He then turned around and asked in a stern voice, “Who is it?”

The Hai Yan Sect’s middle-aged cultivator moved out from behind a huge tree, and the skinny cultivator scoffed, “It’s you? Hmph, you were quick to leave your martial siblings behind and flee on your own. What makes you think you are qualified to condemn me?”

The middle-aged cultivator laughed coldly, “I had already warned them beforehand, but they were still greedy. Besides, I ordered them to flee when I escaped.”

The skinny cultivator sneered, “Such callousness. And yet, they call you one of the North Ocean 18 Warriors.”

The middle-aged cultivator’s face changed and his arcane energy surged, he said in a dark voice, “Do you recognize me?”

The skinny cultivator was on guard, but said, “Hai Yan Sect’s Ninth Layer Blood Condensation Realm, Peng Chang-Qing, one of the North Ocean 18 Warriors.”

As soon as the skinny cultivator’s voice fell, Peng Chang-Qing had already slashed out three flaming swords towards the skinny cultivator while saying fiercely, “Then I can’t let you live to tell the tale!”

The skinny cultivator’s six mystic instruments suddenly merged into three, a sword, a shield and scissors.

The weapons then spread out and clashed with the three flaming swords, while the skinny cultivator shot from the trees.

The three flaming swords slipped past the skinny cultivator’s three mystic instruments, and reached the skinny cultivator’s back in an instant, and exploded.

The skinny cultivator was caught unaware and barely avoided the attack. Whilst he wasn’t severely injured, his face was pale and his heart was palpitating.

At this moment, he understood the strength of the North Ocean 18 Warriors.

Fortunately, the skinny cultivator was in the Eighth Layer Blood Condensation Realm, and was also a talent with a prestigious background. So whilst he was in a disadvantageous position, Peng Chang-Qing still couldn’t defeat him in a short time.

The skinny cultivator knew that he was no match for Peng Chang-Qing, so he tried to find an opportunity to escape. Peng Chang-Qing laughed sternly, “What’s the matter, looking to escape? It’s not that easy!”

Peng Chang-Qing raised his hands and 36 flaming swords surrounded the skinny cultivator from all sides.

Peng Chang-Qing opened his mouth and blew. The 36 flaming swords suddenly rose, forming a huge ball of flame that enveloped the skinny cultivator in the center.

The skinny cultivator’s face turned pale and he crushed a jade talisman in his hand. A whirlwind immediately formed and dispersed the flame ball.

Peng Chang-Qing smirked, “Hehe, I see you still have an Enlightened Master’s talisman treasure. However, just one talisman treasure isn’t enough to save your life!”

Peng Chang-Qing closed his hands and four fires appeared around him. The four fires were of different colors and of varying temperatures. The fires were obviously four types of life fire that he had condensed.

As Peng Chang-Qing burst out with his arcane energy, each of the four fires spat out a flame, intertwining together to form a four-colored flame rope in the air, which whipped towards the skinny cultivator.

The skinny cultivator tried to dodge, but the flaming rope wouldn’t let him go, and was about to wrap around the skinny cultivator and burn him into ashes.

At that moment, even the skinny cultivator had given up and was anticipating his death, when suddenly, a blue water rope lashed out from the woods and wrapped around Peng Chang-Qing’s flaming rope.

But the water rope was not as powerful as Peng Chang-Qing’s flaming rope, since the flaming rope was formed from four types of life fire.

However, the water rope was seemingly endless and was supported by a majestic arcane energy; it refused to dry up no matter how many times it clashed with Peng Chang-Qing’s flaming rope.

To describe the situation, Peng Chang-Qing’s flaming rope was like an erupting volcano, whilst the water rope was the vast ocean that smothered the volcano. No matter how powerful the volcano was, it would still be conquered by the ocean.

Eventually, the two ropes dried and extinguished each other in a final collision.

Peng Chang-Qing shouted to the woods, “I am Hai Yan Sect’s Peng Chang-Qing. Who is there?”

The mysterious cultivator in the woods did not answer immediately. A while later, the voice asked with some hesitation, “Are you Brother Ai Shu-Tao?”