Spider Puppet
Translator: Cinder Translations
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Song Wen closely examined the spider puppet.
The spider was covered with intricate and mysterious patterns.
"This item must be quite valuable, right?"
Zhu Yin smiled and replied, "Fellow Daoist has a keen eye. I spent a total of ten high-grade spiritual stones to acquire it."
"Ten high-grade spiritual stones! Daoist, you really spared no expense," Song Wen said.
"As long as it can solve the Bloodthirsty Bees, this amount of spiritual stones is nothing," Zhu Yin said generously.
Then, she changed the subject. "Allow me to rest for half a day. After that, we will head to the Bloodthirsty Bee nest. What do you think, Daoist?"
"Everything will be according to your arrangements," Song Wen answered.
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When Song Wen and Zhu Yin arrived at the mountain range where the Bloodthirsty Bees were located, they discovered something unusual.
In a valley between the mountains, there was a hole that had been dug. The hole was about three feet in diameter, vertical, and led deep underground.
Zhu Yin frowned and asked, "Who dug this vertical hole?"
Song Wen suggested, "Could it have been Ji Qing?"
Zhu Yin's face showed a flash of realization. "It should be him. Only a Golden Core cultivator could dig such a hole without fearing the threat of the Bloodthirsty Bees. On Sheep Island, besides the two of us, he is the only Golden Core cultivator."
Song Wen asked, "But why would Ji Qing do this? Is it also to eliminate the Bloodthirsty Bees?"
Zhu Yin sneered, "He wouldn't be so kind! He must have other intentions."
Song Wen wondered, "Could there be other treasures in the Bloodthirsty Bee nest that he's after?"
Zhu Yin thought for a moment and speculated uncertainly, "Perhaps he's after the Blood King Honey produced by the third-tier Bee Queen?"
Song Wen asked, "Blood King Honey! What's so special about it? Is it different from the Blood King Honey produced by the second-tier Bee Queen?"
Zhu Yin shook her head. "I don't know either. The second-tier Blood King Honey only helps to recover vitality. But aside from the third-tier Blood King Honey, I can't think of any other treasure in the Bloodthirsty Bee nest that could attract Ji Qing."
Song Wen said, "For us, this is good news. With Ji Qing's help, eliminating the Bloodthirsty Bees will be much easier. He might even have already killed the Bee Queen."
Zhu Yin replied, "Daoist, you're mistaken. If the Bee Queen had really died, the remaining Bloodthirsty Bees would have lost control and gone berserk. But the mountains here are calm and peaceful, so the Bee Queen must still be alive."
Song Wen nodded, agreeing with Zhu Yin's analysis. Then, he suddenly thought of a possibility and asked, "Why would Ji Qing choose to dig this vertical hole here? Could it be that he has some method to accurately locate the Bee Queen's position?"
Zhu Yin was slightly stunned at the suggestion.
The depth of this vertical hole was several dozen miles, and digging it would have been time-consuming and labor-intensive. Ji Qing couldn't have done it without a clear target.
"I'm afraid, as Fellow Daoist said, Ji Qing does indeed have a way to locate the Bee Queen's position," Zhu Yin said.
Her gaze swept over the mountains, and then she suddenly shouted aloud.
"Ji Qing, come out."
"Can you locate the exact position of the Bee Queen?"
Her voice echoed through the mountains, but there was no response, as if Ji Qing had already left.
After calling out several times and still seeing no sign of Ji Qing, Zhu Yin could only give up in frustration.
"Fellow Daoist, what should we do now? Should we follow the previous plan to concoct the Demon Attractant Incense and reduce the number of lower-level Bloodthirsty Bees, or should we go into the vertical hole and investigate first?" Song Wen asked.
Zhu Yin pondered for a moment before saying, "Let's first enter the vertical hole and understand the situation inside before making any decisions."
After speaking, she lowered her altitude and descended into the vertical hole first.
Song Wen followed Zhu Yin at a distance of about a hundred feet and entered the vertical hole as well.
The two of them descended smoothly, reaching the bottom of the vertical hole without any trouble.
This was a large cavern, with the stone walls covered in numerous caves. The caves varied in size, some as small as a fist, while the largest one was about two feet in diameter.
These caves were the internal tunnels of the Bloodthirsty Bees' nest, complex and intertwined.
"This should have been the Bee Queen's nest. How come there isn't a single Bloodthirsty Bee?" Zhu Yin asked, surprised.
"It must have been disturbed by Ji Qing, causing the Bee Queen to abandon this nest," Song Wen replied.
Zhu Yin said, "That seems to be the only possibility."
The Bloodthirsty Bees occupied a mountain range that spanned thousands of miles. Abandoning a few mountaintops wouldn't harm their living space.
After searching around and finding nothing, they reached the ground.
After a brief discussion, the two decided to proceed with their original plan.
Song Wen found a cave to begin crafting the Demon Attractant Incense.
Zhu Yin then began to investigate the situation with the Bloodthirsty Bees.
Three days later, Song Wen, holding the freshly crafted Demon Attractant Incense, found Zhu Yin.
"Daoist, your powder arrived just in time. I've found the traces of the Bloodthirsty Bees," Zhu Yin said.
She took the Demon Attractant Incense from Song Wen's hands and flew to a mountainside a few dozen miles away.
On the mountainside, there was a crack in the rock. The crack was wide on the outside and narrowed inside, leading to a bowl-sized hole deep within.
"For some reason, the Bloodthirsty Bees have rarely been active lately. But this morning, I saw a few of them coming in and out of this hole," Zhu Yin said.
As she spoke, she took out the spider puppet.
She placed the Demon Attractant Incense into a jade box and secured it to the spider's back.
The spider leapt into the crack and swiftly crawled through, entering the hole.
Since the spider was a puppet, it couldn't move autonomously like a spirit beast or insect. It had to be controlled by Zhu Yin's spiritual sense.
To allow the puppet to go deeper underground, Zhu Yin moved to the base of the mountain.
A moment later, Zhu Yin suddenly spoke.
"The spider puppet has reached about seven or eight miles underground, but my spiritual sense isn't strong enough to extend further."
The tunnels in the bee nest were interconnected, and the layers of rock blocked the spiritual sense. Reaching seven or eight miles underground was the limit of Zhu Yin's spiritual range.
"That's deep enough. Find a branch tunnel and release the Demon Attractant Incense," Song Wen said.
Under Zhu Yin's control, the spider puppet removed the jade box from its back, opened it, and released the Demon Attractant Incense inside.
Afterward, the spider quickly moved its legs, rushing toward the exit.
After several breaths, the spider puppet appeared in the crack near the entrance and jumped into Zhu Yin's waiting hands.
The metal body of the spider had some wear and tear, covered in a layer of blood-red sticky fluid.
It was clear that inside the bee nest, it had encountered many Bloodthirsty Bees and had gone through a brutal battle.
As soon as the spider puppet flew out of the crack, dozens of Bloodthirsty Bees followed, all of which were swiftly killed by Zhu Yin.
Zhu Yin used her spiritual sense to monitor the activity in the nest. As time passed, a smile gradually appeared at the corners of her mouth, clearly satisfied with what was happening in the bee nest.
"Extreme Yin Daoist, I'll need you to make two more batches of Demon Attractant Incense."
(End of the Chapter)
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