Wait… I’m a Druid in a Cultivation World?! - Chapter 47

After consuming the honey, the Golden Marrow Bees gradually regained their vitality.

As for the First-Generation High-Speed Cutter Bees, since they hadn’t suffered any depletion of their Beast Heart energy—only enduring prolonged combat, which drained their stamina—they recovered quickly after a short rest.

This secretly relieved Qi Ping.

Currently, fewer than two hundred Golden Marrow Bees remained at full strength, drastically reducing the hive’s overall combat power. However, as long as the First-Generation High-Speed Cutter Bee was still around, Qi Ping had at least one small trump card up his sleeve.

The First-Generation High-Speed Cutter Bee’s recent performance was more than enough to prove its formidable strength.

With only one day left, Qi Ping spent it with extreme caution, repeatedly instructing the Golden Marrow Bees and Black Dwarf Bees to monitor every inch of the mountain, leaving no corner unchecked.

The final day passed in a state of restless anxiety for Qi Ping.

To ease his worry and tension, he could only bury himself in work, immersing his thoughts in comprehending the Plant Growth skill. Although Plant Growth was technically a skill, the underlying principle of accelerating plant growth was a real phenomenon in the cultivation world. Improving this skill required Qi Ping to genuinely grasp the laws governing it, and this meditative state of understanding the rules helped soothe his nerves.

The closer one gets to success, the more terrifying the thought of failure becomes.

Failing at this stage would be the most regretful—if it had happened earlier or midway, it would have been easier to accept.

Fortunately, after a full day… nothing unexpected occurred.

This not only allowed Qi Ping to breathe a huge sigh of relief but also filled him with immense gratitude.

He had finally made it to this moment.

“The High-Speed Cutter Bees are fully formed!”

As Qi Ping gazed at the newly emerged High-Speed Cutter Bees—their wings sharp as blades—an overwhelming sense of joy surged within him, accompanied by the sweet satisfaction of enduring hardship to reach this point.

Today, thirty-two mature High-Speed Cutter Bees had emerged. Over the next week, roughly thirty more would mature each day.

Starting from the second week, that number would increase to over fifty per day. This was because Qi Ping had only begun mass-producing Cutter Bees in the second week of their breeding cycle—before that, he had also raised a number of Big-Bellied Bees and Balanced Bees.

Every single High-Speed Cutter Bee before him now exuded a powerful and dangerous aura!

Though they seemed slightly weaker than the First-Generation High-Speed Cutter Bee, the difference was minimal since they were only the second generation. Their combat prowess was nearly identical, effectively replicating the original’s strength.

This was precisely why Qi Ping had been so determined to protect the First-Generation High-Speed Cutter Bee.

“With thirty-two second-generation High-Speed Cutter Bees and one even stronger first-generation, I no longer have to worry about demonic insect attacks for now.”

“Given the previous strength of the demonic insects, this number of Cutter Bees, supplemented by some Golden Marrow Bees, should be more than enough to easily eliminate any invaders.”

“Now, I’ll have the other Golden Marrow Bees train the Cutter Bees in combat formations. Fighting in formation is far more effective than chaotic, disorganized attacks.”

“Finally… I can focus on cultivating spirit herbs!”

This was what made Qi Ping happiest. Being able to peacefully grow spirit herbs and steadily improve his strength—what could be better?

Over this period, he had only slept during brief breaks to recover his mental energy. The relentless overuse of [Plant Growth] had left him utterly exhausted. If he weren’t a cultivator, he would have long since died from overwork!

Living like this for a short time was tolerable—even somewhat thrilling, like grinding in a game. But prolonged strain like this was pure torture.

If it went on any longer, Qi Ping suspected that even as a cultivator, he’d collapse and perish.

The only reason he had endured this long was his sheer will to survive and his burning desire to grow stronger.

Beside the blood ginseng cultivation site, Qi Ping carefully inspected the contents of his storage pouch, occasionally exchanging words with the large golden bee beside him…

“We’ve stockpiled quite a bit of blood ginseng. Even if I keep mass-producing bees, we have enough to last at least half a month.”

“So next, I’ll cultivate a fifty-year-old Glowgrass, refine the Bloodline Mutation Elixir to evolve the bee swarm, and raise my Druid level to Tier 3.”

Having reached this stage, Qi Ping felt much more at ease. The process of growing spirit herbs gradually returned to a sustainable, non-harmful routine.

When refining the Bloodline Mutation Elixir, Qi Ping needed to be in peak condition.

In his current exhausted state, the chance of failure would exceed fifty percent.

And if he failed, even if he worked day and night, it would take nearly half a month to gather the required ingredients again.

That was absolutely unacceptable. Wasting that much time under these circumstances would have irreversible consequences—potentially even costing him his life!

It was worth mentioning that the other common herbs needed for the elixir had been gathered by the Golden Marrow Bees, saving him a great deal of effort. This was one of the benefits of having contracted bees as his animal companions.

“Good job!”

Taking the last common herb from a Golden Marrow Bee’s legs, Qi Ping couldn’t help but praise it.

“Buzz… (Glad you’re happy, Boss!)”

With the final ingredient secured, Qi Ping lay down on the grass under the guard of the High-Speed Cutter Bees and immediately fell asleep. He hadn’t had a proper rest in nearly half a month.

Even on the cold, hard ground, sleep claimed him almost instantly.

However, his slumber was far from peaceful. He dreamed of endless swarms of demonic insects and elusive rogue cultivators. Behind them, Foundation Establishment and even Golden Core experts slaughtered indiscriminately, heedless of the lives of ordinary rogue cultivators in the Azure Sky Domain. Mountains of corpses and rivers of blood filled the land—Old Man Zhou, Sister Nan, Wang Shan, Fatty Zhou, Skinny Li Peng… even Boss Gao and Meng Shanshan—all lay dead in pools of blood, their faces twisted in agony.

The sheer despair and the deaths of his companions jolted Qi Ping awake in a cold sweat.

“Hah…”

Realizing it was just a nightmare, he slowly relaxed.

“Have I been too tense lately? Why would I dream something like that…?”

“At least my mental energy has mostly recovered. I should focus on cultivating the Glowgrass—getting it to fifty years is the priority!”

Without delay, Qi Ping activated [Plant Growth], channeling the energy that accelerated plant development into the Glowgrass.

Watching the herb visibly grow before his eyes, Qi Ping’s heart gradually settled.

Everything else was secondary. Steadily accumulating resources and strengthening himself was what Qi Ping truly wanted.

By tending his fields diligently and amassing power bit by bit, he too could one day become a long-lived, mighty cultivator!

Over the next week, demonic insects continued to attack every three days. But under the coordinated assault of the battle-trained High-Speed Cutter Bees, none could pose a threat. Instead, Qi Ping harvested more demonic insect corpses, bolstering his confidence in purchasing higher-tier spirit beasts.

One week later…

As Qi Ping infused the Glowgrass with [Plant Growth], dark golden streaks of light shimmered across its leaves—the Glowgrass was complete!

At last, all the ingredients for the Bloodline Mutation Elixir were ready.

“Now, it’s time to see how powerful this evolved talent will be…”

[Shared Talent: Brewing Artisan] → [Shared Talent: Master Brewer]