Chapter 118: Chapter 113 Testing the Power of Ghost Ants_i

Translator: 549690339

“Little bees, all of you, come over here!”

Qin Niu issued the command to them again.

After a moment, a delicate little bee slowly crawled out of the hive. Its wings were not yet fully feathered and were still somewhat wrinkled and damp.

Its wings trembled nonstop.

“Seems like we’ll have to wait a bit longer.”

He finally understood why, after giving the order, several worker bees that had just emerged from their pupae didn’t come over.

Having recently emerged from their cocoons, their bodies were not yet fully hardened; not to mention flying, even crawling was somewhat difficult for them.

“Alright, go back in for now! I’ll come check on you later!”

Qin Niu, accompanied by Fourth, went directly into the area of the Ancient Banyan Tree.

Besides Fourth, he also brought along two other termites: a Grade Three Tiger Striped Iron Armor Ghost Ant and a newly cultured Grade Two Green Scale Giant Ant.

He wanted to see if these two termites could lead him out of the maze of the Ancient Banyan Tree.

Sitting under the Ancient Banyan Tree to cultivate and setting out the Banyan Tree Blood was an understatement.

He had no choice, for his Treasured Sword was particularly fond of Banyan Tree Blood.

It needed to be nourished with a large amount of Banyan Tree Blood every day. As he diligently cultivated, his cultivation level continued to rise steadily. Unbeknownst to him, he had reached the Fivefold mortal realm, and according to the current rate of improvement, there was no bottleneck in sight.

The Medicine King Sutra, like crossing a moat at each stage, he had also studied when he had some free time in the past two days.

But due to limited knowledge, he couldn’t figure out what the problem was. “It’s said that one shouldn’t bite off more than one can chew, but 1’11 try practicing it anyway.”

Qin Niu subconsciously took out the Medicine King Sutra from his bosom and then started to cultivate according to the methods described within.

This Cultivation Technique, upon successful cultivation, would grant a special ability to sense the energy levels and medicinal properties within herbs. It was a very practical ability.

While walking through the mountains, this special ability would allow him to easily find herbs that might be very precious.

The initial cultivation of the Medicine King Sutra was not smooth.

After multiple attempts, all ended in failure.

He decided to go back home and ask Xiao Qing for advice before trying again next time.

Cultivating until the afternoon but before dusk, he ended his session prematurely and took the Banyan Tree Blood he had obtained and headed outside.

Trying to let the Grade Two Green Scale Giant Worker Ant lead the way, it kept stopping and starting and simply couldn’t find a way out.

He then tried letting the Grade Three Tiger Striped Iron Armor Ghost Ant lead the way, which did slightly better, but still got lost within the maze of this Ancient Banyan Tree.

Even though Qin Niu now had a Fivefold mortal cultivation, when faced with the Ancient Banyan Tree, he still felt as insignificant as a grain of millet. It always seemed so unfathomable.

Despite having taken its Banyan Tree Blood so many times, it seemed to have caused it no substantial harm.

Its leaves remained verdant and lush.

In the end, Fourth successfully led him out of the maze of the Ancient Banyan Tree.

Fourth was already a Grade Three termite, and after drinking the Thousand Eyes Tree Blood, its evolution seemed somewhat different from other termites.

Other termites would show signs of their heads growing larger, with two antennae twisted together like twists of dough, combining into one.

Whether it was because Fourth’s one antenna had broken off, or it was inherently special was unclear.

The bases of its two antennae became enlarged and thickened, essentially forming two pedestals.

The antennae became slightly thicker, with no other changes.

Its head also grew a little bigger.

After Qin Niu emerged, he looked up at the sky.

He could still see a trace of the sun, which had yet to completely descend behind the mountain.

He had deliberately left some time to nurture the bees that had successfully emerged from their cocoons.

These days, he was always keeping an eye on the beehive, worried that hornets might come.

In fact, in the wild, they were impossible to guard against.

Just yesterday, he had seen a large hornet flying overhead like a bomber through the sky.

It might not yet have discovered the beehive on the pine tree.

For the time being, there were no signs of enemies invading the beehive.

“Hmm?”

Just as Qin Niu was about to call out the Ant Queen, along with a few worker ants to feed it and soldier ants to protect it,

He discovered a jumping spider lying not far from the ant nest.

Its body was roughly as thick as an adult’s little finger.

With its eight long, slender legs and venomous fangs, it looked utterly terrifying.

Judging by its well-built body, it must be extremely agile.

It was unclear whether it had discovered this termite nest or was merely passing by and taking a rest under the pine tree.

Termites have many natural enemies.

For example, the irascible red ants, which, upon discovering a termite nest, would immediately march in with their troops to attack.

There were also ground beetles, various omnivorous insects, frogs, and so on; all of them were natural enemies of termites.

And because they had so many predators, termites usually sealed off their nests.

They would either hide inside large trees to gnaw on the wood or burrow into the depths of the earth to gnaw on various tree roots and grass roots.

When lacking food, they would also cannibalize their kind.

Including ant eggs.

Seeing this jumping spider, Qin Niu couldn’t help but reveal a hint of delight, taking the opportunity to test the combat strength of the special termites.

He called out the two Striped Phantom Ants.

“Kill that jumping spider!” Qin Niu commanded them.

Perhaps the jumping spider was of a higher bloodline rank; the ants’ antennae detected a whiff of the spider and showed obvious unrest.

It was as if cats were naturally superior to mice, inherently creating a bloodline level suppression.

Under normal circumstances, termites are merely food in the presence of jumping spiders.

In terms of slaughtering ants or termites, the jumping spiders are only average. There is a creature similar to scorpions, named the Sunset Spider, that is truly strong.

One alone could annihilate an entire colony of ants.

Its combat power is abnormally strong.

Under Qin Niu’s command, two Striped Phantom Ants simultaneously pointed the tips of their antennae at a jumping spider not far away.

The jumping spider, upon discovering its prey, was equally excited.

It was approaching the two termites stealthily, like a cat.

Qin Niu watched without blinking.

If these two Striped Phantom Ants couldn’t win, or were even killed, the loss was within his tolerance.

Suddenly, the jumping spider pounced toward one of the Striped Phantom Ants, its speed as fast as lightning.

The Striped Phantom Ant, aware of its opponent’s strength, directly entered a berserk state.

It desperately raised its forelimbs and head to confront the enemy.

Just when Qin Niu was expecting a great battle, the jumping spider suddenly fell to the ground in pain and rolled around chaotically as if it were drunk.

The two Striped Phantom Ants took the opportunity to pounce and tear it apart with fierce bites.

They viciously shredded the jumping spider, which was several times larger than themselves. This scene was extremely bloody, yet Qin Niu understood that the fight was unequal.

The jumping spider likely suffered a psychic wave attack, causing it to roll about in agony, essentially becoming a fish on the chopping board for the two termites to slaughter.

“Long-range attack abilities really are perverted! They easily granted them the ability to slay enemies beyond their level,” Qin Niu exclaimed, yet he also felt some concern.

Psychic wave attacks are not fail-proof and might become ineffective against powerful opponents.

The greatest advantage of termites is certainly not solo combat but group battles.

The Ant Queen’s most terrifying ability is its rapid troop production.

A strong ordinary Termite Ant Queen can lay five hundred million eggs in its lifetime.

Although the one Qin Niu was raising was initially weaker, through artificial breeding, it could become stronger and stronger.

Its ability to rapidly produce troops should also become increasingly formidable.

Currently, the cultivation of the Worker Ants and Soldier Ants is, theoretically, about accumulating experience for the future cultivation of the Ant Queen.

Because there is only one Ant Queen, it is the core existence of the entire ant colony.

It’s impossible to experiment with it from the start.

Except for Fourth, who cannot be replicated, all other varieties of ants in the current colony can be replicated.

The body of this jumping spider cannot be wasted.

Qin Niu released Fourth and called out the Worker Ants from the temporary Ant Nest, instructing them to feed on the spider and then feed the Ant Queen.

Currently, the probability of the Ant Queen producing offspring with the strength attribute is 2%, while the chance of producing offspring with venom attributes is 5%, and even though a significant amount of bear meat and poisonous insects were fed to her, these two capabilities of the Ant Queen seemed to have reached their limits and remained unchanged.

In the end, Qin Niu’s knowledge and experience in cultivating termites were too limited.

Very few people keep termites as pets.

Because termites are too weak.

Keeping them is far less cost-effective than keeping a bumblebee, centipede, or spider.

Raising a venomous insect can easily be converted into combat power, creating benefits for the owner.

But what can raising termites do?

Gnawing on wood?

The initial idea Qin Niu had for raising them was simple; he was attracted to their ability to gnaw on wood.

He wanted them to help clear the weeds in the field.

Because in his acre of poor land, other than weeds thriving, crops barely grew.

He was almost driven mad by weeding every day.

Later, by a stroke of luck, he stumbled into the maze of the Ancient Banyan Tree and accidentally discovered the various uses of Banyan Tree Blood. This allowed him to rapidly make his fortune and his power increased day by day.

The rise of every powerful individual involves all kinds of adventures and opportunities.

This is a natural law.

Those who cannot encounter adventures are destined to be mediocre.

Or if supported by a strong family, one can also rise rapidly and become a powerhouse.

For instance, the noble young master Qin Niu met for the first time at the Supreme Sea shopping for cultivation techniques, although only about ten years old, had super terrifying strength because of his powerful family.

If it must be said, being born into a powerful family, having good parents, is also a kind of adventure or opportunity.

He looked up at the beehive above his head.

“Little bees, come to me!” he called using Bee Language.

Not a single one of the older bees from the swarm paid him any attention.

But the first batch of young bees produced by the Queen Bee all flew over to him.

Upon counting, there were a total of ten.

Each one was a fresh, tender new bee.

Since they were not yet capable of flying for long periods, they circled above Qin Niu’s head a few times then affectionately landed on him to rest.

“I need to take some honey down,” he said.

He climbed the tree, took some honey, then mixed in a little of the freshly extracted Banyan Tree Blood. He began to experiment with the first Worker Bee.

“Eat up!” he encouraged.

Since it was his first time using Banyan Tree Blood to cultivate bees, he had no idea what to expect.

Logically speaking, Ancient Banyan Tree Blood was a universal treasure, and almost all creatures that consumed it could evolve.

Even, if he dared to take the risk, he could try eating some himself.

But he had no such thoughts.

Getting stronger was enticing, but if after eating it he turned into a monster, that would be too horrible.

Better to use the Banyan Tree Blood to cultivate pets.

The first Worker Bee had no idea that its master had spiked its honey, and it gleefully consumed every drop..