Wait… I’m a Druid in a Cultivation World?! - Chapter 64

After confirming the woman in blue had truly left, Qi Ping began pondering his future development plans.

He now faced two main problems:

The first was the escalating chaos in the Qingtian Domain. Even a ninth-level Qi Refinement disciple from the Qingyuan Sect like the woman in blue had been severely injured, and even a Foundation Establishment cultivator from the Murong family had died from demonic insect poison.

The second was the question of how much patience the woman in blue had left. That black-robed bandit cultivator must have been carrying something extremely important. If this continued, it was possible she would mobilize forces for a large-scale search, leading to the exposure of the blood ginseng growing site.

Qi Ping needed to prepare countermeasures for both issues.

“First and foremost, the Li Fire Crow must be nurtured back to strength as soon as possible!” he resolved.

“The Li Fire Crow was originally at the first-order perfection stage. So, as long as there are enough fire-attribute spirit materials, reaching the second order might be uncertain, but restoring it to first-order perfection should happen quickly. This would provide the greatest combat power boost in the shortest time.”

The Li Fire Crow possessed a trace of Golden Crow bloodline, and its innate spirit fire, the Li Fire Flame, was highly potent, making it a natural bane to most insect-type spirit beasts and demonic insects.

The advantages of most spirit insects and demonic insects lay in high physical defense, high physical damage, high toxicity, and vast numbers. Attacks like high-intensity spiritual assaults, lightning, and flames tended to be highly effective against them.

The Li Fire Crow also had strong poison resistance, as most venoms couldn’t withstand the scorching heat of the Li Fire Flame.

With demonic insects running rampant now, and the secret beneath the blood ginseng site being related to them, nurturing the Li Fire Crow back to strength at this juncture offered many benefits and was absolutely necessary.

Once the Li Fire Crow regained its first-order perfection strength, combined with the Golden Marrow Bee swarm, Qi Ping could basically move unhindered within the Qi Refinement stage. If he encountered other Qi Refinement cultivators and the Golden Marrow Bees were countered, the Li Fire Crow would serve as his ace in the hole.

“Besides the Li Fire Crow, regarding the bee swarm: the High-Speed Cutter Bees already number one thousand. Around five hundred each of the Armored Ink Bees, Venomous Bees, and Balanced Bees should be sufficient. They should be ready in about a month.”

Qi Ping tentatively set these numbers as the limit for his swarm. Any more, and the nectar and spirit materials on this mountain peak wouldn’t be enough to sustain them. This was already stretching it, with the mature bees primarily feeding on ordinary Golden Marrow honey, and they were already competing with the small black bees for ordinary nectar.

This swarm size was the limit for this location. To cultivate more bees, Qi Ping would need a larger area with more spirit land to plant more flowers and spirit herbs to ensure the bees’ food supply.

The high-quality spirit herbs he cultivated using his plant growth ability were already barely sufficient for himself and his spirit beasts. If the bees’ daily rations also required him to cultivate spirit plants using this ability, it would significantly hinder his own cultivation speed and the growth of his animal companions.

Therefore, under these circumstances, obtaining a larger area with more spirit land was imperative.

Currently, almost all spirit land in the entire Qingtian Domain was either controlled by the Qingyuan Sect or held by various cultivation families. Truly ownerless spirit land didn’t exist. This situation was similar across most human-controlled regions. Spirit land, being the most core resource, had rarely been ownerless since ancient times. Even if some was found, it would quickly be divided up by the ruling powers upon discovery.

So, for Qi Ping to acquire more spirit land, he either had to buy it or rent it.

The spirit stones required to purchase spirit land were over a hundred times the cost of renting, putting it far beyond Qi Ping’s consideration. Thus, his best path forward was to pay a large sum to rent a larger mountain peak in the Cloudy Mist Mountains’ Yi Sector (乙区, second zone), one with more spirit land.

Within the four sectors of the Cloudy Mist Mountains—Jia (甲, first), Yi (乙, second), Bing (丙, third), and Ding (丁, fourth)—small parts of the Ding Sector had spiritual energy concentration approaching low-grade first-order spirit land, suitable for raising a small number of barely-ranked spirit beasts, like the small black bees, Spirit-black Ducks for consumption, Golden Feather Chickens, etc. The Ding Sector had the most plots and was the choice for most rogue cultivators.

The Bing Sector had certain areas of definite first-order spirit land, and more areas close to it, suitable for relatively larger-scale planting and breeding operations. It was typically occupied by wealthier rogue cultivators or some collateral disciples of the three major families.

The Yi Sector, compared to Bing, added mid-grade first-order spirit land, though low-grade first-order land was also present. The overall spiritual energy concentration of the plots was much higher. However, the rent in the Yi Sector was prohibitively expensive, manageable only by very wealthy rogue cultivators and family disciples.

This was also why Qi Ping had stubbornly held onto the blood ginseng site—it was like paying Ding Sector rent but enjoying the benefits of Yi Sector mid-grade first-order spirit land! Aside from the small size and lower overall spiritual energy concentration (which limited the bee population), it was a steal.

If he were in the Yi Sector, with enough space to plant spirit herbs and flowers, natural cultivation could not only satisfy the bees’ food needs but also produce large quantities of honey for sale, earning Qi Ping more spirit stones.

This was one reason he was now considering exploring the secret beneath the blood ginseng site—this place had already limited the overall development of his bee swarm. It couldn’t generate income anymore and could only maintain the swarm’s consumption.

Therefore, to expand the swarm and generate profits, renting a better piece of spirit land was also imperative.

As for the Jia Sector, it contained high-grade first-order spirit land, directly administered by the Qingyuan Sect. Tenants were usually rogue cultivators at Qi Refinement perfection or even Foundation Establishment stage, or elder-level members of the three major families. The top ten plots, enhanced by spirit gathering arrays, even reached second-order spirit land level. Unless one was a core figure in Greenstone County or a Qingyuan Sect disciple, having spirit stones might not even be enough to rent one.

The location of the inheritance cave dwelling Sister Nan provided for Qi Ping was on Peak Number Seven in the Jia Sector.

The rent in the Jia Sector was very high, and entry was difficult, which was why Qi Ping was currently considering the Yi Sector instead.

“I hope whatever is beneath the blood ginseng site is something that can continue to provide spiritual energy even after I move to the Yi Sector. That way, I might still be able to cultivate high-grade first-order spirit herbs there!”

Of course, this was just a hope. What it actually was remained unknown. It could also be extremely dangerous, offering no benefits at all.

If not for necessity, Qi Ping would truly prefer it to be just a simple spirit land, allowing him to develop peacefully, rather than risk digging something up out of curiosity and ending up with nothing.

But now, pressured by circumstances—the woman in blue might not give him much time, and the bee swarm needed larger spirit land to expand—he had to act.

“Let’s tentatively decide this then!” he planned. “Restore the Li Fire Crow to first-order perfection, then excavate the underground secret. Afterwards, relocate to a larger, more spirit-energy-rich plot in the Yi Sector, initiate large-scale cultivation of fast-growing flowers, then expand the bee swarm scale to brew honey and earn spirit stones.”

“Next, I’ll focus on cultivating the Fire Spirit Grass. I’ll also attempt to research a honey version of the Fire Spirit Body Tempering Pill and experiment with honey blends to most perfectly extract the fire-attribute efficacy of the Fire Spirit Grass.”

“The Li Fire Crow will consume both for rapid recovery. I will use the former for body tempering and the latter for Qi refinement.”