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Qin Zhou and the others didn’t have a smooth journey collecting Fire-Scented Grass. They encountered few aggressive spirit beasts, but instead ran into rivals of the Snowflake Pavilion—the people from Qilin Pavilion.

Unlike the Snowflake Pavilion’s squad clad entirely in silver armor, the Qilin Pavilion wore red robes. A dozen cultivators formed a protective circle around the alchemist at their center.

The moment the two groups met, animosity flared instantly.

“Aren’t you the Snowflake Pavilion squad? Where do you think you’re headed?” The Qilin Pavilion members, relying on their numerical superiority, taunted without restraint. “The day of the spirit beast uprising is almost upon us. Why aren’t you heading home?”

“Do we need to report our movements to our Qilin Pavilion?”

The expressions of the Snowflake Pavilion members darkened.

Qilin Pavilion and Snowflake Pavilion were sworn enemies. Compared to the rivalries among pill merchants, the animosity between these herb-gathering teams ran even deeper.

Snowflake Pavilion wasn’t weak, but Qilin Pavilion simply had more people.

“Of course not. We mean well—this is a concern for your safety.” The Qilin Pavilion member’s tone carried a mocking edge despite the feigned cheerfulness.

“Exactly. We genuinely care about your well-being.”

“By the way, what are you gathering on this trip? If it’s along our route, perhaps we could lend a hand.”

Calling it “help along the way” was generous—not causing trouble was already their mercy.

The Snowflake Pavilion’s guard leader replied in a low voice, “No need for Qilin Pavilion to worry about that. We’re leaving.”

“Leader…” Just leaving like that?

Several Snowflake Pavilion members felt resentful.

“Let’s attend to our business first. Young Master Qin awaits us. If you want to fight, we can schedule it anytime.” The leader’s gaze swept over the faces of the Qilin Pavilion members as he spoke.

“Hah? Fight? With you lot?” The Qilin Pavilion members were about to flare up.

Suddenly, a voice cut him off—

“Liu Rui, I still need to find my Nine-Horned Bee Needle. How much longer are you going to chat?” The young man walking among the Qilin Pavilion group spoke impatiently.

Liu Rui, the Qilin Pavilion captain who had just issued the challenge, darkened inwardly. Clearly, being interrupted by his ‘own people’ left him feeling rather displeased.

“Enough chatter. Finding the Nine-Sting Queen takes priority.” He lifted his gaze, a smile now playing on his lips, concealing that shadow of bitterness with consummate skill.

As the two groups passed each other, Liu Rui sneered coldly, “We’re searching for the Nine-Sting Queen. Surely the Snowflake Pavilion won’t interfere?”

Liu Rui’s subordinate immediately chimed in: “Boss, you’re off base. They wouldn’t dare venture into the inner perimeter. It’s fraught with danger right now.”

Time and again.

“You—” The Snowflake Pavilion member could no longer contain himself.

Just as he was about to erupt, Qin Zhou suddenly reached out and seized the man’s shoulder.

He patted the shoulder lightly twice and said, “We should be heading to find our own things now.”

The Snowflake Pavilion member froze, yet the hand pressing his shoulder held considerable strength.

Wasn’t this Mr. Qin supposed to be a frail alchemist? How could he possess such immense grip strength?

Then Qin Zhou added, “The Nine-Sting Queen is formidable. If you find yourselves unable to defeat her, come find us. We’ll be in the areas where Fire-Scented Grass is commonly found.”

His tone was calm, each word seeming to carry genuine sincerity.

It didn’t sound like mockery; rather, it felt like he was genuinely advising them.

A venomous glint flashed in Liu Rui’s eyes.

The Qilin Pavilion members said nothing more.

They could provoke the Snowflake Pavilion people however they pleased, but they didn’t want to antagonize the alchemists.

The Qilin Pavilion group watched them until they disappeared from sight.

“Let’s go too,” the Qilin Pavilion alchemist said indifferently.

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“Young Master Qin, that was quite the strength,” remarked the Snowflake Pavilion youth, flexing his arm. Qin Zhou’s power was undeniably formidable.

Qin Zhou: “I do some farm work in my spare time.”

Youth: ?

What farm work does an alchemist do?

Everyone assumed he was joking and laughed it off.

“But Young Master Qin sure has a sharp tongue, telling them to bring the Queen Bee to find us. The Nine-Sting Queen is an inner-circle spirit beast—equivalent to a Golden Core cultivator. A Golden Core spirit beast? Not just those from Qilin Pavilion, but even with our group, we might not stand a chance. How dare Qilin Pavilion challenge the Nine-Sting Queen…”

“They must have something special from that alchemist,” the guard captain surmised.

This theory aligned with Qin Zhou’s own thoughts.

“Nine-Bee Stings can be used to refine breakthrough pills for cultivators advancing from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core stages—they’re even essential ingredients for certain elixirs,” Qin Zhou explained, “Nine-Sting Beasts live in colonies, with the queen bee at the center. The strength of the swarm rivals that of a mid-Golden Core human cultivator. However, they are uniquely vulnerable to one type of smoke.”

“What kind of smoke?”

“A toxic smoke produced by burning a poisonous herb called Dry Stone Grass. It possesses an extremely potent paralysis effect. If exposed to the poisonous smoke, even a mid-Golden Core queen bee becomes helpless.”

“They plan to target the queen with this smoke?”

“Uncertain,” Qin Zhou added. “But dry stone grass’ poisonous smoke has a limited duration. Unless the quantity is sufficient to completely paralyze and render the Nine-Sting Queen unconscious, or she escapes before regaining consciousness… Once she awakens, she will fixate on her enemy and plunge into a berserk state.”

After Qin Zhou finished speaking, he noticed the Snowflake Pavilion members had all stopped, staring straight at him.

“…I read it in a book,” Qin Zhou silently explained.

“And after it enters that frenzied state?”

“Its power will instantly break through to the late Golden Core stage. Within the Golden Core realm, it will be unmatched.”

“Sounds incredibly dangerous.”

“The Qilin Pavilion people are bold. With the spirit beast uprising imminent, they still dare to capture the Nine-Sting Queen now.”

“If they don’t capture her now, who knows how long they’ll have to wait? Who can predict what happens during the uprising? The Nine-Sting Queen might get killed by other spirit beasts.”

“True.”

Qin Zhou fell silent after his explanation. The group pressed on toward the territory of the Fire-Scented Grass.

But the guard captain couldn’t help but glance at Qin Zhou several times.

Nine-Sting Bee Needles were materials for breaking through from Foundation Establishment to Golden Core. Even though he was a pill master, he was only at the Qi Cultivation stage. Yet from his words, he seemed intimately familiar with the process of obtaining Nine-Sting Bee Needles. Even… it felt as if he had personally captured a queen bee before.

Could one really learn such detailed knowledge from books?

Who exactly was this Young Master Qin, the person Zhou Laoda had sent them to protect?

 ━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

Before long, Qin Zhou and the others arrived at the territory of the Fire-Scented Grass.

The surrounding area offered almost no moisture. The forest ended here, and the grassland gave way to parched, rocky terrain. From afar, it resembled a desert or Gobi landscape.

This was the cultivation world.

Fixed climatic zones didn’t necessarily produce identical or similar ecosystems. Influenced by spiritual energy, one might discover a Gobi-like expanse even within a dense forest.

In the distance, crimson plants stood growing amidst the cracks of those parched rocks.

This was also Qin Zhou’s first encounter with ‘Fire-Scented Grass’. Though called Fire-Scented Grass, it appeared more like a spirit plant mutated by the Fire Phoenix Feather to adapt to the environment after the ‘Land of Flames’ vanished.

“The territories where Fire-Scented Grass grows are mostly within the Giant Rock Beast’s domain. Once we enter that area, the Giant Rock Beasts will perceive us as intruders. We’ll draw them away, and then Young Master Qin can retrieve the Fire-Scented Grass.”

“Agreed.”

Qin Zhou raised no objection. Giant Rock Beasts were massive yet clumsy spiritual beasts, their cultivation only at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stages. As long as they weren’t surrounded by a pack, stalling them wouldn’t be difficult.

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Meanwhile, advancing from the outer perimeter into the inner layer, Qilin Pavilion’s group successfully located the Nine-Sting Bee’s Hive Nest.

Surprisingly, there were no spiritual energy fluctuations around the bee hive at all.

“What’s going on? Why are there hardly any bee beasts near the hive today?”

“It might be related to the impending uprising. Even tiny creatures like ants are stockpiling food and relocating along this border. The Nine Bee Beasts might have all gone out foraging.”

“Perfect. We’ll just light the poison smoke to stun the queen. Grab the nine bee needles and retreat.” The alchemist spoke calmly. Dry Stone Grass was precious, and even he didn’t have much.

With no extra bee beasts around, the poison smoke he carried would suffice.

“Remember, once the smoke is lit, retrieve the stingers immediately. My smoke lasts only the duration of a joss stick.”

“Understood,” replied the group from Qilin.

The operation proceeded unexpectedly smoothly.

Armed with weapons, they ventured deep into the hive and found the queen bee, immobilized by the toxic smoke, with almost effortless ease.

The Golden Core-stage queen bee was abnormally massive, its body as thick as two adult arms.

Yet now it lay helpless in the nest chamber, eyes tightly shut, utterly incapable of resistance.

“Boss, is this thing really Golden Core-stage?” Some from Qilin Pavilion doubted.

“It should be.”

Liu Rui stepped forward first, holding his sword guarded before him, wary that the queen might feign weakness to lure enemies.

Only when he stood directly before her, even poking her rear with his blade to confirm no reaction, did Liu Rui fully relax.

The incense that the alchemist burned truly had an extraordinary effect on this Nine-Sting Queen.

Without hesitation, Liu Rui executed a graceful sword flourish, extracting the queen’s stinger.

Wiping the blood clean with a cloth, this was the Nine-Bee Stinger.

The most elusive Nine-Bee Stinger of legend—it was nothing special after all.

“That alchemist really knows his stuff. A Golden Core-stage spirit beast, just lying there like it’s ours for the taking.”

Someone countered, “These alchemists? They’re just what we’ve bred. We’re out here on the frontier risking our lives hunting spirit beasts for alchemy materials, while they just sit at home refining pills. And they all act so high and mighty.”

That last remark struck a chord with everyone present.

“But we can’t do anything about their arrogance. They’re our own alchemists. Forget it.”

Liu Rui snorted coldly at this. He couldn’t touch the alchemists of Qilin Pavilion, no matter what. At most, he could secretly sabotage them back home as punishment.

But those from Snowflake Pavilion…

Didn’t that brat boast that if they couldn’t subdue the Queen Bee, he’d bring her to him?

 ━━ 🐈‍⬛ ━━

The alchemist watched the group emerge safely from the hive and breathed a sigh of relief. As long as the Nine Bee Needles were secured, that was all that mattered.

But when he saw what Liu Rui was carrying, his pupils contracted.

“Liu Rui! Have you lost your mind?!”

“What on earth are you doing bringing the Queen Bee out?!”

He’d actually used one of those Spirit-Trapping Beast cages to carry her out!

Liu Rui sneered coldly, “Teaching the Snowflake Pavilion a lesson. Don’t you want to teach that alchemist a lesson, too? He’s only at the Qi Cultivation stage, yet he’s so arrogant in front of you.”

The alchemist paused, lowering his voice. “One wrong move could get someone killed.”

“What’s there to fear? Out here on the frontier, a few people getting killed by spirit beasts is nothing unusual. Don’t you have that smoke stuff? We just dump the queen bee on him and run.”

The alchemist hesitated, unable to decide. “I don’t have much Stone Dry Grass left.”

After all, this was a spirit beast at the Golden Core stage.

“Boss, I know the area where the Fire-Scented Grass grows. If we push hard, they definitely haven’t left yet,” one of them said. The rock beasts were troublesome; they could surely delay them for a while.

“What if we don’t make it in time?” the alchemist asked. “Once my poison smoke wears off, we’re all dead!”

“If we can’t catch up, we’ll evacuate before your smoke burns out,” Liu Rui said, staring intently at his face. “If I were you, I wouldn’t be wasting time here. I hear Snowflake Pavilion is selling large quantities of low-tier precious-grade pills. The pressure from above must be intense. Don’t you harbor any resentment toward Snowflake Pavilion?”

At this, the alchemist paused, then, as if persuaded, gritted his teeth. “We’ll evacuate before the smoke burns out.”

“Agreed. Let’s go.”