The Strange Baleful Qi

South of Vermilion Ridge lay a continuous range of sheer cliffs.

Feng Xu rode Bai Hao through the mountains, passing quite a few dried-up animal carcasses along the way.

"Shouldn't we deal with this Baleful Qi first?"

Bai Hao had seen Feng Xu refine Baleful Qi into his body before. Seeing the Baleful Qi lingering on corpses throughout the forest, he felt faintly worried.

"The priority is finding the hive first. Once we deal with the swarm, we can handle these dried corpses."

They did not know the hive's exact location, nor did they know how wide the disaster had spread. The animals were scattered around, making them difficult to deal with all at once.

Besides, if they did not eliminate the culprit, this place would never know peace.

Bai Hao stopped, lifted his head to sniff the air, then changed direction and continued running.

The man and wolf arrived at the edge of a cliff.

Spring plowing had only recently ended, and the mountains were heavy with moisture. Mist blanketed the entire forest.

Feng Xu looked at the hives covering the distant cliff face and broke out in goosebumps.

Bai Hao beside him was no better off.

He too saw the drained corpses. At the sight of so many densely packed bloodsucking Poison Bees, his limbs trembled faintly.

Feng Xu suddenly slapped Bai Hao on the head, frightening Bai Hao so badly that he nearly cried out.

"Scaredy-cat. They haven't even noticed you, so why are you this terrified?"

Bai Hao looked at Feng Xu with a wronged expression. Anyone would be shaken by a sight like this.

The cliff before them was over a thousand zhang high and stretched for twenty li, its face crawling with Poison Bees.

"With a swarm this large, how much food must they consume every day? We have to deal with them quickly, or there will be barely any living creatures left in the entire Eastern Great Wilderness."

Feng Xu mounted Bai Hao and headed back.

"If you ask me, we should just move. I heard the plains below the mountain rarely suffer from swarm attacks. We could relocate there."

"You're just a coward. Once the creatures here have been mostly eaten, they'll naturally head down the mountain. Relocating a tribe is no small matter. How can we move just because we feel like it?"

Those who traveled on the ground could never outrun those who flew in the sky.

If they kept running away, where could they possibly flee to in the end?

After returning to Vermilion Ridge, Feng Xu told Feng Sui about the hive.

Feng Sui's brow furrowed even more tightly. He took several warriors and went with Feng Xu to investigate.

When they saw the hives nearly covering the entire cliff face, everyone's expressions turned incomparably grim. Several warriors' legs went weak with fright, and they collapsed onto the ground.

Bai Hao raised his brows.

See? It wasn't that he was cowardly. Everyone was like this.

"With a swarm of this scale, what are we supposed to do?"

Feng Sui let out a long sigh. This situation was even more difficult than the Late Mysterious Immortal Pig Demon from before.

The Pig Demon had been strong, but it had only been one demon. The Poison Bees were weak, but their numbers were enormous.

Killing one Poison Bee was easy, but facing such a vast swarm left them with almost no means of resistance.

"You all go check the surrounding tribes and help them fend off the swarms as much as possible. I'll stay nearby and observe the swarm's habits to see if I can find a solution."

Feng Xu spoke calmly, as though he were discussing something insignificant.

Bai Hao's pupils suddenly shrank as he stared at Feng Xu in disbelief.

Brother, are you seriously doing this without asking me first?

"No. This place is too dangerous. I can't rest easy leaving you alone."

Feng Sui disagreed as well.

"More people would only make this harder. I know what I'm doing."

Feng Xu cultivated the Nine-Turn Origin Art and had already completed the first turn. His physical defense was even somewhat stronger than that of the Late Mysterious Immortal Pig Demon.

As long as Feng Xu did not recklessly charge into the swarm, it would be difficult for them to cause him any effective harm.

"All right, then. Be careful. Don't force yourself."

"Don't worry. I value my life."

Feng Xu smiled faintly and watched Feng Sui and the others leave.

"Come on, scaredy-cat. Let's get to work."

Feng Xu swung himself onto Bai Hao's back and shook the reins.

He first observed from mountain peaks around the area from every angle, then went below to watch from there.

Feng Xu spent three days gaining a rough understanding of the swarm and locating the queen bees.

This was a massive swarm made up of dozens of smaller swarms.

The worker bees cleaned, built hives, tended to the queens and larvae, and took turns going out to forage. They fed on both fresh blood and flower nectar.

The drones lined up to mate with dozens of queens, while the queens laid eggs frantically.

For three straight days, the entire swarm worked without stopping, nearly driven mad. Not only the workers, but even several generations of queen bees had died from exhaustion.

These Poison Bees had no cultivation, but their stingers and mouthparts could pierce the defenses of a Late Earth Immortal.

Those stung or bitten by them would also be left with a trace of Baleful Qi, which grew stronger by drawing on the target's aura.

Baleful Qi could assimilate the vitality of living beings. This process was called contamination or erosion.

The amount of Baleful Qi that each newly born Poison Bee could be assimilated by was extremely limited, but as it passed down generation after generation, the Baleful Qi accumulated ever deeper.

"The entire swarm has been controlled by Baleful Qi. They work frantically, and even if they feel pain, they won't stop. This Baleful Qi is strange—it exploits the swarm's numbers through constant reproduction."

No matter how vicious normal Baleful Qi was, it merely became impossible to remove once it attached itself to something, driving the target mad or causing its death.

But the Baleful Qi within this swarm seemed like a whole, a whole with intelligence.

The entire swarm had become puppets of the Baleful Qi.

"Can Baleful Qi really control a swarm to this extent? Could this Baleful Qi have developed intelligence?"

Bai Hao replied softly.

"Yes, that's very possible."

Feng Xu nodded.

"Then what are we still fighting for? Let's get out of here. I've never even heard of Baleful Qi with intelligence. This is far too strange."

Feng Xu did not notice Bai Hao's fear. Only when he tried to sit on Bai Hao's back did he realize that Bai Hao was too scared to move.

Left with no choice, he carried Bai Hao away.

As they were about to leave the valley, they spotted a figure in the distance sneaking toward the hive.

"This is ridiculous. Why did that kid come here too?"

It was Lin Feng. Somehow, he had slipped out of school and even found this place.

Feng Xu set Bai Hao down and carefully moved toward Lin Feng.

Even the slightest disturbance could alert the swarm, so Feng Xu could only slow his steps.

When Lin Feng sensed movement behind him, he instinctively turned to strike back, but Feng Xu instantly restrained him and covered his mouth.

After recognizing Feng Xu's face, Lin Feng relaxed and stopped struggling.

Feng Xu pointed at the cliff nearby and made a silencing gesture.

Lin Feng looked up, and his face turned as white as paper. He instinctively cried out.

"Ah!"

In that instant, Feng Xu reacted first. He hurriedly hoisted Lin Feng over his shoulder and ran.

The swarm at the foot of the mountain stirred and flew after the two of them.

Bai Hao, who had just breathed a sigh of relief upon seeing them return, suddenly spotted a small black cloud behind them. He froze for half a beat before turning and fleeing the next moment.

"Bai Hao, catch him!"

Feng Xu flung Lin Feng onto Bai Hao's back and began accelerating.

Lin Feng came to his senses as well. Though annoyed with himself, he clutched the reins tightly, slowly moved closer to Feng Xu, and pulled him onto Bai Hao's back.

"There's a deep pool ahead. Hurry, jump into the water."

Bai Hao leaped into the pool, and the two men and the wolf swam underwater.

The swarm hovered over the water's surface and only left after a quarter of an hour.

"Cough, cough."

Bai Hao emerged from the water, coughing nonstop. Lin Feng was in better shape, merely taking several deep breaths.

"How did you find this place?"

By the pool, Feng Xu patted Bai Hao's back to help him catch his breath.

"You've been gone for several days. I was worried something had happened to you, so I followed the direction the swarm left in last time."

"Ridiculous. Is this any place for a kid to come?"

"Aren't we about the same age?"

Knowing he was in the wrong, Lin Feng muttered softly to the side.

Feng Xu rolled his eyes at him, then noticed a cave in the mountain ahead.

When they entered the cave, they found that there was another world within.

This place seemed to have once been a cave residence, with a stone bed, stone table, and stone stools.

It was just covered in a thick layer of dust.

The space was vast, over a hundred zhang across and ten zhang high.

Glowing plants growing throughout the cave provided the light.

There was also a small pool inside, the same color as the one outside.

As though recalling something, Feng Xu jumped into the pool.

Lin Feng and Bai Hao waited for quite some time before seeing Feng Xu enter from the cave entrance.

"This pool is connected to the one outside. It only takes a moment to travel back and forth."

Feng Xu looked at Lin Feng and gave a crooked smile.

"Lin Feng, dare to play big?"