"Does this thing have a fairly distinct place of origin?" Hou Niao asked, carefully observing his senior brothers' methods.
Xiang Zhiwen shook his head. "There are no particularly fixed geographical limits. Slender-waisted Bees can survive anywhere that isn't bitterly cold, though they especially favor hot, humid environments. So its appearance in relatively dry Yinling shouldn't be down to the Slender-waisted Bees' habits, but those of that Wax Hive."
This touched on a question that was difficult to explain: why would a demon creature that did not particularly like this climate come here? Had it come of its own accord? Or had someone transferred it here?
They needed evidence, not flights of fancy and loose talk. The migration of demon creatures remained an unknown field to humans. No one could say with absolute certainty that this Wax Hive should not have come here. Humans had the right to migrate freely, and so did demon creatures.
Few clues remained. Seven days had passed, after all, and most of the lingering traces had been disturbed by passing creatures. As for the so-called aura left by demon creatures, very little could linger for seven days without dispersing.
Squatting on the ground, Dou Gong kept shaking his head. "An ordinary hive stays in one place, so its scent can't be hidden. But a Wax Hive is different. It's a mobile hive, and since the honeycomb is built inside its body, there's basically no possibility of honey dripping out.
"These footprints look a little suspicious to me. Judging by the toes, they belong to a creature that walks upright on two legs. It was heavy, so it must have been huge. A Giant Ape seems the most likely possibility. That also fits the Slender-waisted Bees' nesting requirements. After all, if the body were too small, the