Smoothly Securing Them, a Skeleton (Seeking Follow-up Reads)

When Qi Chuan agreed, a flicker of delight immediately appeared on Qi Chan'er's little face.

"Then shall we set out now?" she asked, somewhat excitedly.

Qi Chuan nodded. Since he had agreed, he naturally would not waste any time.

Thus, the two cast the Levitation Technique and left the Small Stone Island, heading beyond the Black Swamp. Before long, they had exited the Black Swamp.

Beyond the Black Swamp lay a towering forest.

The two passed through the forest and headed deeper into the Cloud Rising Mountains.

Along the way, they proceeded cautiously, concealing their tracks and avoiding Demonic Beasts. When encounters could not be avoided and they came across one or two First-grade Low-tier Demonic Beasts, they struck without hesitation and slew them forcefully, causing very little disturbance in the process.

With such caution, no accidents occurred throughout the journey.

After some time, the two finally arrived outside a concealed valley.

This was a stretch of gravel ground. Qi Chuan's body was nearly transparent as he hid behind a rather large Giant Stone, with a dense, towering forest behind him.

His gaze crossed the gravel ground ahead and landed on the valley entrance. It was extremely narrow, surrounded by lush branches that stretched over and nearly blocked the entire opening, making it difficult to discover.

Through the remaining tiny gap, faint Jade Light seemed to radiate from within the valley. That should have been the so-called Spirit Ginseng Fruit.

"There used to be several Red Jade Snake Grass plants on this gravel ground, but I picked them a month ago. If not for them, I would never have discovered this hidden valley. I carefully went inside once, but the moment I spotted the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees from afar, I immediately retreated."

Qi Chan'er, who had likewise cast the Invisibility Technique and appeared translucent, still had lingering fear on her face.

Back then, she had been completely unprepared and had not possessed any Rotten Centipede Blood. Had she run headlong into the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bee swarm, she likely would have been left without even bones.

Qi Chan'er then pointed into the distance.

Following her finger, Qi Chuan indeed saw traces of previous harvesting among the scattered stones, along with several extremely young Red Jade Snake Grass plants.

"Let's inspect the situation first," Qi Chuan said.

The two then carefully approached the valley entrance and glanced inside. Sure enough, within the Small Valley, atop an earthen mound, grew an Emerald Green Big Tree. Its branches and leaves seemed to emit Jade Light, and among the branches at its crown, several white-jade fruits overflowing with Spiritual Qi could vaguely be seen. The fruits were covered in Slender Roots resembling ginseng.

These must have been the Spirit Ginseng Fruits.

Qi Chuan's gaze then shifted slightly downward, and his pupils contracted. Beneath a massive branch at the base of the Spirit Ginseng Tree hung a Demonic Bee Nest as large as a giant vat, upon which clung several hundred Palm-sized Demonic Bees, their bodies patterned in pure black and dark red.

Buzz, buzz.

Scarlet light gleamed in the compound insect eyes of those Demonic Bees as their wings trembled faintly, sending a subtle Buzzing Sound through the air that made one's scalp tingle.

"As expected, several hundred First-grade Low-tier Demonic Beasts." Qi Chuan nodded slightly at the sight.

He could sense that the auras of these Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees were not particularly strong. Even among First-grade Low-tier Demonic Beasts, they were considered weak. Even the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bee Queen, which was as large as a human head, seemed to remain within the category of First-grade Low-tier Demonic Beasts, merely stronger than the other Worker Bees.

Qi Chuan then swept his eyes over the various locations within the Small Valley. From this angle, he could take everything in at a glance. There were no other Demonic Beasts inside, though several places flickered with spiritual light, revealing a few decent Spirit Herbs.

If convenient later, he could gather some of them as well.

"What do you think?" Qi Chan'er asked beside him, looking toward Qi Chuan.

Qi Chuan no longer hesitated and nodded faintly. "Let's do it."

The moment he spoke, his figure flashed, appearing some twenty paces from the valley entrance. He then fully cast the Invisibility Technique. Instantly, not only did his entire body become completely transparent, but even his aura seemed to weaken.

Qi Chan'er was momentarily stunned at the sight, because even she could sense that Qi Chuan's aura there had become extraordinarily indistinct and difficult to perceive.

Had she not personally watched him conceal himself, she would have subconsciously believed there was no one there at all.

"His Invisibility Technique is actually this profound?"

"Right, I nearly forgot. He's a Magic Talent. In merely four years, he cultivated the Fireball Technique to the Perfected Stage. If he had devoted even a little effort to the Invisibility Technique, its improvement would naturally not be small."

After staring blankly for a moment, Qi Chan'er slapped her forehead and came to her senses.

She then took out the bottle of Rotten Centipede Blood, preparing to lure the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees.

Not far away, Qi Chuan watched her movements with a calm expression.

His Invisibility Technique was actually still at the Entry Stage and had not reached Minor Accomplishment. However, compared with an ordinary Entry Stage, it was indeed somewhat more profound.

This was because Qi Chuan felt that, compared to other commonly used Qi Refining spells, the Invisibility Technique was quite useful in most situations. Thus, whenever he had some spare time during these past months, he had invested more time into it, resulting in this improvement.

With further dedicated practice, entering the Minor Accomplishment Stage would not be a problem.

It was also because of this that he had gained another measure of confidence in this operation. Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees with shallow intelligence were unlikely to discover him while he had cast the Invisibility Technique.

Under Qi Chuan's watchful gaze, Qi Chan'er smeared the Rotten Centipede Blood onto her Golden Ring.

Though the Rotten Centipede Blood possessed some corrosive power, it naturally could not corrode a High-grade Magic Tool.

After finishing the application, Qi Chan'er, still under the Invisibility Technique, swiftly retreated and put some distance between herself and the Golden Ring.

At the Qi Refining Realm, one could not control a Magic Tool from too far away, but its range was not overly limited either. Thus, if she trailed it from afar, with the Rotten Centipede Blood drawing their attention, the likelihood of the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees discovering the invisible Qi Chan'er should have been quite low.

Qi Chan'er then controlled the Golden Ring and sent it flying into the valley through its entrance.

At the same time, she formed hand seals with both hands, and faint Golden Light spread from the Golden Ring. Under that pale golden radiance, the scent of Rotten Centipede Blood dispersed at a sharply accelerated rate, filling nearly the entire valley with the smell.

This method of controlling the Golden Ring differed somewhat from ordinary combat. Qi Chuan's Dagger Magic Tool could not accomplish it.

Buzz.

As that rotten, bloody stench spread through the valley, a wave of buzzing immediately rose from beneath the Spirit Ginseng Tree.

Then the giant-vat-sized Demonic Bee Nest shook. What looked like a small black cloud rose into the air as several hundred Palm-sized Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees flapped their wings and charged toward the Golden Ring stained with Rotten Centipede Blood.

However, under Qi Chan'er's control, the Golden Ring flew backward at once, leaving the valley entrance.

The Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees followed close behind, likewise rushing out through the valley entrance.

At this moment, the scarlet light in their insect eyes was even fiercer than before. Their eyes held nothing but the Rotten Centipede Blood on the Golden Ring, and they did not notice the invisible Qi Chuan and Qi Chan'er at all.

Seeing that she had successfully lured out the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees, Qi Chan'er immediately cast the Invisibility Technique and cautiously trailed behind them, intending to lead them farther away and buy Qi Chuan time to enter the valley and pick the Spirit Ginseng Fruits.

Only after the bee swarm, Golden Ring, and Qi Chan'er had gone farther and farther away did Qi Chuan, who had silently concealed himself near the valley entrance all this time, finally move.

He stepped through the valley entrance and inspected the Demonic Bee Nest beneath the Spirit Ginseng Tree. There were indeed very few Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees left there. He then swept his gaze across the entire Small Valley once more before swiftly heading toward the Spirit Ginseng Tree.

Before long, he arrived beneath the Emerald Green Big Tree.

Buzz, buzz.

Sensing that a living creature had intruded, the few remaining Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees on the giant-vat-sized Demonic Bee Nest immediately took flight. With vicious light in their eyes, they flew toward Qi Chuan, the venomous stingers on their black-and-red tails glinting coldly, ready to attack at any moment.

Screech, screech.

However, a Grey Shadow flashed past, and those few Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees were instantly cut into halves and fell to the ground. Before a High-grade Magic Tool, these weaklings among First-grade Low-tier Demonic Beasts naturally had no power to resist.

"Even the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bee Queen went out. It seems the Rotten Centipede Blood's attraction to the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees is truly astonishing," Qi Chuan remarked softly.

Originally, he had prepared himself to fight several dozen remaining Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees. He had not expected there to be only these scattered few, saving him quite a bit of trouble.

Shaking his head, Qi Chuan leaped upward and landed directly atop the tree. There, he saw several white-jade Spirit Ginseng Fruits covered in Slender Roots, hidden among the branches.

Nodding slightly, Qi Chuan took out several Jade Boxes, found the six Spirit Ginseng Fruits one by one, cut them down with his dagger, and placed them into the boxes.

After putting away the Jade Boxes, Qi Chuan was about to leave. However, as he turned around, his eyes froze, for beneath some emerald-green branches in the distance, he discovered a Tree Hole.

The Tree Hole was not small, and something seemed to be inside it. It even resembled a Human Figure.

"There's actually someone here?"

A chill ran through Qi Chuan's heart, but he instinctively felt it was impossible. This was, after all, the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees' nest. Even a Late Qi Refining Stage cultivator could not ignore several hundred Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees.

After a brief hesitation, Qi Chuan carefully approached the Tree Hole, while in truth remaining ready to flee at any moment. Yet when he came within a certain distance and saw the human-shaped object, his eyes widened instantly. His heart was filled with astonishment, but his body came to a halt.

"This is..."

Within the Tree Hole sat a person in meditation.

However, it was not a living person.

More precisely, it was a skeleton.