Wait… I’m a Druid in a Cultivation World?! - Chapter 118

“Let’s see, with the support of my knowledge of spiritual herbs and the alchemist’s notes, what percentage of the Firefly Pill’s efficacy can this Firefly Honey recipe, modeled after the pill formula, achieve?”

Qi Ping was very eager to see if his skills in designing honey recipes had improved with his newfound pill knowledge.

The previous Blazing Spirit Honey, based on the Blazing Spirit Body Tempering Pill recipe, retained just over fifty percent, but less than sixty percent, of the original pill’s efficacy.

Pursuing this level of efficacy wasn’t just about cultivation efficiency; it sometimes related to the upper limit of tempering effects.

The reasons pills are so precious in the cultivation world include:

The efficacy of a pill can far exceed that of the raw spiritual herbs, sometimes even reaching several times the effect of the herbs themselves.
Pills can purify the chaotic and useless properties of the herbs, making them easier for cultivators to absorb directly. For example, they might only retain the body-enhancing properties of the Firefly Flower.
Pills can neutralize highly toxic or violent properties, transforming them into something cultivators can safely absorb.

For instance, the Soul-Ferrying Flower can enhance the soul, but it contains terrifying resentment. The consequences of directly refining it are unthinkable. Only when fused with the Buddha’s Heart Lotus and refined into the Buddha’s Heart Soul-Ferrying Pill does it become safe to consume.

Not only does the Buddha’s Heart Soul-Ferrying Pill inherit the soul-enhancing effect of the Soul-Ferrying Flower, it also gains the wisdom-boosting property of the Buddha’s Heart Lotus, and might even trigger a moment of enlightenment.

This is the true charm of pill concoction, one of the Four Great Arts of cultivation.

So, while the last batch of Blazing Spirit Honey seemed to retain about sixty percent of the pill’s efficacy—something that could be compensated for by consuming one or two extra servings—it still fell significantly short in terms of upper potential.

This is especially true for pills with special effects, which might completely fail to manifest if the efficacy isn’t high enough.

However, honey brewed by bees has one incomparable advantage over pills:

No Pill Toxicity!

This effect is the key reason why Qi Ping can refine large quantities of honey. As long as he solves the issues of spiritual power instability and an unstable foundation, he can consume honey without limit!

This is an unparalleled advantage.

It’s important to know that most pills generate some level of pill toxicity during the refining process. If this toxicity accumulates excessively, it creates hidden dangers in one’s cultivation, requiring significant time and effort to purge.

Therefore, even those with abundant spirit stones who can buy many pills cannot use them without restriction. Otherwise, it wouldn’t accelerate cultivation but rather destroy one’s future prospects.

This is one reason why Qi Ping is so dedicated to researching honey recipes.

With his Druid plant-growing abilities, he naturally has access to large quantities of spiritual herbs. By developing the best honey recipes, he can essentially consume them in large quantities without limit, while also saving the immense time required for pill concoction. This freed-up time can then be dedicated to cultivation and comprehending the Fire Dao Intent.

One must remember that pill concoction is an extremely energy-consuming task. Many alchemists have average combat prowess precisely because pill-related matters consume fifty, sixty percent… or even more of their energy and focus.

But Qi Ping’s ultimate goal is to pursue the Dao of immortality and longevity, to reach a state where no one in the world can threaten him. This inherently conflicts with a skill like pill concoction that demands so much dedicated effort.

Therefore, if he can continue to develop his bees, having them effectively “refine pills” for him, it represents the best possible path forward.

Compared to the path of an alchemist, the Array Dao involves studying and borrowing the power of heaven and earth, its laws and principles. Druidism and cultivation are similar in this regard; they share a fundamental resemblance and are more suitable for Qi Ping.

Furthermore, the powerful combat and support capabilities that Array Masters possess through their formations—such as defensive arrays and spirit-gathering arrays—are a perfect match for a Druid focused on building and protecting his home.

“Let’s start by testing the honey made from directly replicating the Firefly Pill formula…”

Qi Ping first tried the most straightforward combination.

However, the final result was somewhat disappointing.

“It actually only reached a little over fifty percent of the normal efficacy? Even worse than the previous Blazing Spirit Body Tempering Honey.”

“As expected, when the production method differs, the formula must also be adjusted accordingly. Simply following the original steps rarely leads to satisfactory results.”

“It seems that in the future, if I want to create the most suitable honey recipe, I’ll need to combine knowledge of spiritual herbs and pill concoction with the specific honey-brewing characteristics of the bee species…”

But the second recipe soon gave Qi Ping a pleasant surprise!

“Approximately sixty-seven percent efficacy!”

“Excellent! After adjusting two of the spiritual herbs based on knowledge of herb neutralization and pill-concoction experience, the effect is indeed significantly enhanced!”

This success filled Qi Ping with great hope.

“There are eight recipes left. I hope one with even better efficacy appears!”

With this sense of anticipation, Qi Ping eagerly proceeded to test them carefully.

“Third recipe, sixty-one percent efficacy. Not bad!”
“Fourth recipe, only thirty percent efficacy? Too poor!”
“Fifth recipe, ten percent efficacy? But there seems to be a special side effect… a burning sensation in the lower abdomen…”

After testing all eight, the highest efficacy remained the second recipe, achieving sixty-seven percent of the Firefly Pill’s effect.

“Although slightly disappointing, this is actually quite good!”

“After all, I’ve only just started learning about pills, and I’m limited by the scarcity of spiritual herbs. Reaching this level is already very commendable!”

“In the future, as my pill knowledge increases and my herb collection becomes more abundant, I can gradually improve the effectiveness of the honey recipes!”

“This is a pretty good start!”

Overall, this round of experiments had met Qi Ping’s psychological expectations.

After confirming the recipe with sixty-seven percent efficacy, Qi Ping immediately arranged for the large-scale production of Firefly Honey.

Improving his physical strength needed to be prioritized.

Once his physical body was strong enough, Qi Ping could be even more unrestrained in raising his cultivation, and the upper limit of his Explosive Flame Movement Technique would also be higher.

This type of movement technique places high demands on the physical body, but the advantage is its high ceiling—especially for someone like Qi Ping.

Just as Qi Ping was busy cultivating large quantities of spiritual herbs, something happened that excited him greatly.

The number of combat bees in the swarm had reached ten thousand!

Four thousand High-Speed Cutter Bees!
Two thousand Dark Armor Bees!
Two thousand Venomous Bees!
Two thousand Balanced Bees!

Furthermore, thanks to the Queen Bee’s advancement and improvement, the combat strength of all subsequently bred bees had increased by nearly twenty to thirty percent due to the overall enhancement of their physique!

They were already stronger than the first generation of mutant bees.

“The Queen Bee truly is the combat core of the swarm. Her enhancement has led to a significant qualitative change in the swarm’s overall combat power!”

With this Queen Bee, the future of Qi Ping’s bee swarm looked incredibly promising!

As Qi Ping gazed at the ten thousand bees in the mountain forest, each only slightly smaller than a human fist, a deeply satisfied smile spread across his face.