A Clash of Wits
Translator: Cinder Translations
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A week later.
Zhu Yin summoned a rodent-like spirit beast from her beast pouch.
The beast was about a foot long, with a long tail. Its eyes were very lively, constantly scanning its surroundings, clearly showing that the rat spirit had a high level of intelligence.
"This is the Swift Shadow Rat I found temporarily. It's at the later stage of the 2nd rank. Its power is a bit weaker, but its intelligence is high, and its speed is fast. It's perfect for exploring the bee nest," Zhu Yin said to Song Wen.
In these past seven days, Song Wen had crafted two more batches of Demon Attractant Incense, which were delivered deep into the bee nest by the spider puppet.
A large number of Bloodthirsty Bees were attracted by the Demon Attractant Incense, resulting in brutal fights in the narrow tunnels of the nest, causing countless Bloodthirsty Bees to perish.
With the significant reduction in the number of Bloodthirsty Bees, Zhu Yin decided to send her spirit beast into the bee nest to locate the Bee Queen.
The Swift Shadow Rat scurried into a hole and quickly disappeared from view.
Song Wen and Zhu Yin, using their spiritual senses, tracked the rat's movements.
Perhaps because the Bloodthirsty Bees near the surface had been sufficiently cleared out, the Swift Shadow Rat moved smoothly through the tunnels, encountering only a few scattered Bloodthirsty Bees, which it easily killed.
The Swift Shadow Rat soon reached the depths of the underground, beyond the range of Song Wen and Zhu Yin's spiritual senses.
"Zhu Yin, I've been crafting for days, consuming quite a bit of mental energy. I'm going to rest in the temporary cave for a bit," Song Wen said.
Zhu Yin nodded, "Go ahead, I'll stay here and keep an eye on things."
Song Wen flew off and headed to a temporary cave nearby.
As he entered the cave, two Shadow Gu quietly landed on the ground.
They burrowed into the thick leaves on the ground and swiftly crawled toward a bee nest entrance.
Once inside the nest, the Shadow Gu split up, moving in different directions toward the deeper underground.
Several hours later.
Song Wen made contact with one of the Shadow Gu, which appeared at the foot of a mountain about forty miles away.
The shadow Gu sent back the message: about two hundred miles to the east, deep underground, there was a massive cave where many 2nd rank Bloodthirsty Bees gathered. This was suspected to be the Bee Queen's lair.
The cave contained an overwhelming number of Bloodthirsty Bees, and their strength was formidable, so the shadow Gu didn't dare enter.
Song Wen recalled the shadow Gu and waited in the temporary cave, but the other one still hadn't returned.
Three days later.
Zhu Yin suddenly arrived outside the cave, "Ji Yin, the Swift Shadow Rat has returned. It's found what is likely the Bee Queen's lair."
"Really? That's great!" Song Wen exclaimed as he exited the cave with a look of surprise.
"Let's hurry. The Swift Shadow Rat will lead us to the location of the Bee Queen's lair," Zhu Yin said.
The Swift Shadow Rat darted through the forest, heading east, with Song Wen and Zhu Yin flying just above the ground to follow.
Before long, they arrived at a valley.
The Swift Shadow Rat stopped in a depression and began hopping excitedly.
Zhu Yin said, "The Bee Queen's lair should be deep underground here."
Song Wen silently estimated the distance. The valley was about 130 miles from the temporary cave.
The locations indicated by the Swift Shadow Rat and the shadow Gu seemed to align. Therefore, it was highly likely that the Bee Queen's lair was deep underground in this spot.
"Fellow Daoist, what do you plan to do? If we dig directly down, it will surely alarm the Bee Queen, causing her to relocate her nest. The final result will be the same as what happened to Ji Qing before — a waste of effort, like a basket trying to fetch water."
"I do have a countermeasure for this, but I'm not very confident," Zhu Yin said, furrowing her brow.
Song Wen asked, "I wonder what solution you have?"
Zhu Yin replied, "The Bee Queen is enormous, so ordinary tunnels can't accommodate her. In the nest that Ji Qing dug out, there was a particularly large tunnel, over two feet in height. That one is likely the passage for the Bee Queen to move through. As long as we block this large tunnel, the Bee Queen will be trapped inside her nest.
However, once we start digging, the Bee Queen will surely be alarmed. She won't just sit there and wait for her doom — she'll definitely send the Bloodthirsty Bees to dig a new exit. We must reach her nest before she manages to dig a new passage."
Song Wen asked, "How do you plan to block those large tunnels?"
Zhu Yin flipped her hand, and a ball the size of an egg appeared in her palm.
The ball was snow-white and emitted a chilling aura.
"This is an ice pearl made from the cold springs of the Snowy Region. Once shattered, it will release a massive amount of cold air, quickly solidifying into hard ice. I plan to have the Swift Shadow Rat carry the ice pearl into the underground depths and seal off the large passage of the Bee Queen's nest."
Song Wen pondered for a moment before voicing his concern.
"Fellow Daoist, we don't fully understand the situation inside the Bee Queen's nest. What if there's more than one large passage? In that case, we may end up failing."
Zhu Yin said, "That's exactly what I'm worried about, which is why I said I'm not very confident. But right now, there's no better solution. We can only try."
Just as Song Wen was about to speak, a sudden movement caught his attention. He sensed someone rapidly approaching.
He spoke calmly, "For now, we have no choice but to follow your plan, Zhu Yin."
Before he could finish his sentence, a figure swiftly flew toward them, brushing the treetops.
"Zhu Yin, let me lend you a hand."
It was Ji Qing.
"Ji Qing, it's you again. It seems you've been hiding in the shadows, spying on me and Ji Yin," Zhu Yin said coldly.
"I just arrived and happened to overhear your conversation with Ji Yin," Ji Qing replied.
Song Wen and Zhu Yin obviously didn't believe his words.
Just as Zhu Yin was about to take action, Ji Qing had arrived at the perfect moment. It seemed too much of a coincidence. The only possibility was that Ji Qing had been there all along, hiding once he noticed Song Wen and Zhu Yin's arrival.
"Ji Qing, it seems you really do have a way of determining the Bee Queen's location. What kind of secret technique is it? Could you show me?"
"It's just a secret technique for detecting high-level demonic beasts. It's nothing special," Ji Qing said dismissively.
"A technique for detecting high-level demonic beasts? That's something I've never heard of," Zhu Yin said skeptically, her tone filled with doubt.
Ji Qing responded, "Zhu Yin, let's not focus on the secret technique for now. The important thing is to kill the third-rank Bee Queen."
"Ji Qing, killing the Bee Queen is a matter for my Sheep Island. You don't need to worry about it," Zhu Yin coldly rejected his offer.
"Zhu Yin, I'm offering to help you. Why push me away so forcefully?" Ji Qing said.
Zhu Yin retorted, "If you don't tell me why you're here, I won't let you touch the Bee Queen."
"Junior Sister, aren't you afraid that if the Bee Queen escapes and the Bloodthirsty Bees go rampant, it will lead to the deaths of many innocent people, eventually angering the demonic sects?" Ji Qing's voice turned cold.
"Whether I get punished by the Master or not is none of your business."
Zhu Yin was determined to uncover Ji Qing's purpose for being there. She would not allow him to take action until she had the answers.
(End of the Chapter)
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