Chapter 340: 333 Accelerated Growth of the Green Demon Bee_1
Seeing that Zhang Banzui had angered Auntie Flower, the others did not dare to let Zhang Banzui tell their fortunes anymore.
After all, Qin Niu was holding a joyous event. If Zhang Banzui were to blurt out something ominous again, it would completely spoil the festive atmosphere. It could even possibly irritate Qin Niu, their host.
A good while later, Zhang Banzui had eaten his fill.
He did have his principles, washing his bowl and putting it back where it belonged.
Then, he picked up two jars of fine wine and staggered out.
“Good fortune or disaster, if it’s disaster, you can’t escape! People laugh at me for being insane, I laugh at people for not seeing through…”
Muttering to himself, he wandered off.
“Auntie Flower, will you and your daughter come into the city tomorrow? My girl mentioned there’s a pharmacy in the city hiring, offering a salary of two Silver Money a month. Work well, and there’s extra rewards. On holidays, they even give fish, meat, and shoes. I heard that if you stay for three years, the salary can increase to at least three Silver Money a month. Such opportunities are rare.”
“You go ahead! My daughter needs to stay home these next few days to help me with work,” Auntie Flower replied, although in her heart, she took Zhang Banzui’s words to heart and was reluctant to let her daughter go to the city.
Two Silver Money a month was a decent job for a girl already.
Working in a pharmacy was also somewhat respectable.
They could even learn some medical knowledge there.
“Hey, you don’t really believe what Zhang Banzui said, do you? Don’t listen to his nonsense. Everyone knows Auntie Flower has a good heart; how could your family possibly encounter disaster? It’s only blessings. Pharmacies rarely hire people, and this time they wanted to fill positions because a couple of guys left. Miss this chance, and there won’t be another shop waiting.”
Auntie Liu from the Liu Family continued to urge Auntie Flower.
Thanks to Auntie Flower’s successful match-making for Qin Niu, all the villagers knew about her close relationship with Qin Niu. Grateful for her kindness, Qin Niu would certainly look after Auntie Flower should she need help in the future.
Because of this relationship, Auntie Flower’s status in the village had soared.
Auntie Liu, wanting to be on good terms with Auntie Flower, was selling her this favor by introducing a good job for Auntie Flower’s daughter in the city.
“Thank you, dear sister. My daughter indeed needs to help me with work at home these days. I’m grateful for your kind offer. I’m done eating, and my daughter hasn’t had her dinner at home yet. I need to take some food to her, so please excuse me,” Auntie Flower said as she carried a bowl of food out of the Qin Residence.
In the village, when there was a good occasion, if one was on good terms with the host family, it was common to take some food back home for the family, and the host family usually wouldn’t mind.
Auntie Flower taking some food from Qin Niu’s place was something Qin Niu certainly wouldn’t mind.
…
After finishing his meal, Qin Niu went to check on the Green Demon Bees as usual.
“Growing so fast! They’ve actually molted.”
The larval stage should be the most vulnerable stage in a Green Demon Bee’s life.
At this time, its body was covered with a layer of fuzz, and it was very soft. If it encountered a natural predator, it would be easily killed.
Normally, hornets needed to molt about twice during the larval stage before they could start pupating.
Having been feeding the Green Demon Bee for so long, it finally completed its first molt.
One could see that its exoskeleton’s color had clearly darkened somewhat.
Compared with before, its body had also grown significantly larger.
Qin Niu had a sudden idea; since the Green Demon Bee needed Worker Bees to feed it anyway, why not feed it the corpses of some Corpse Bee generals?
As soon as he thought of it, he did it.
He directly took the corpse of one Corpse Bee general, then a Steel-winged Wild Bee general, and had the War Bees eat them before feeding the Green Demon Bee.
After cultivating the Green Demon Bee, Qin Niu went to the backyard to check on the Red-eyed Golden Toad.
He saw the Ice Lotus in the pond of the backyard trying hard to display its beautiful petals. Within the pond, cold air rose and met with the warm air, creating mist. The whole pond seemed shrouded in fog, full of artistic conception.
It was still summer now, the hottest time of the year.
Yet, beside the lotus pond, Qin Niu felt pleasantly cool. This Ice Lotus had a natural cooling effect.
Approaching the corner of the backyard, where the Golden Toad’s nest was located,
he saw that the Golden Toad was still curled up, squatting motionless inside its burrow.
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Based on Qin Niu’s experience from cultivating beast pets twice, after consuming Ancient Banyan Tree Blood, they required at least a month to complete their evolution.
The Diamond Ink Turtle and Green Ox both took a long time to finish evolving.
The Red-eyed Golden Toad was originally Grade Seven, and its evolution time would probably be even longer.
One could faintly see threads of electric sparks, like silken threads, flashing across the surface of the Golden Toad’s body.
He hoped it could advance to Grade Eight in one fell swoop, at which point, Qin Niu would gain another powerful ally.
At present, only the Green Ox was capable of helping him against formidable enemies.
The other pets, including the War Bees and termites, were still lacking somewhat.
The next day, he got up early and headed for the mountain.
Now entering and leaving the mountain was much easier than before, he did not go to the Ant Nest but directly entered the maze within the Ancient Banyan Tree.
He sat under the tree with his eyes closed, cultivating.
With his continuous hard work, the Everlasting Spring Technique showed signs of breakthrough, and unconsciously, he had reached the peak of the Initial Stage of the Innate Realm, where he could advance to the middle stage at any moment.
Even in the Innate Realm, advancing even a minor realm was exceedingly difficult.
Qin Niu managed to reach the peak of the Initial Stage of the Innate Realm in such a short period without taking elixirs, relying solely on rigorous cultivation, which apart from his excellent talent, could not be separated from the help of the Ancient Banyan Tree.
Cultivating under the tree, at a speed dozens of times faster, allowed him to endure one day of intense cultivation, which was equivalent to over a month of hard work outside.
Besides the approaching breakthrough in the power of his Everlasting Spring Technique, his proficiency in the Medicine King Sutra also unknowingly reached the ninth layer of the Acquired Realm.
This speed was nothing short of miraculous.
He was very satisfied.
He aimed to elevate his proficiency in the Medicine King Sutra to the Innate Realm within the month.
Once he achieved this, both of his Cultivation Techniques would reach the Innate Realm, and his combat strength would surely see a substantial increase. His ability to identify plants and herbs was also expected to improve greatly.
As his proficiency in the Medicine King Sutra grew, he began to sense that this technique might be inherently created for alchemy.
Because the medicinal cauldron within his body was not suited for combat.
After cultivating the Medicine King Sutra, one could sense the medicinal essence of a plant, the amount of energy, the type of energy, which probably were just its supplementary functions.
Its true capability was most likely in assisting with alchemy.
On the days when Qin Niu had free time, he would read books and had already made some progress. He also gained a lot of insights from his previous conversation with the mute Bei Bing.
A day went by in the blink of an eye.
When he returned home to check on the Green Demon Bee, he was shocked to discover that it had shed another layer of skin.
And its size had obviously increased significantly.
The first shedding took nearly a month to complete, but now it only took a day to finish the second shedding. Was it because it had already shed once and its growth rate had accelerated?
Or was it because it had consumed the bodies of two Bee Generals?
No matter the reason, it was good news for Qin Niu.
He took out another Corpse Bee General’s body and the body of a Steel-winged Bee General to feed to the Green Demon Bee.
He hoped it would pupate soon.
Once the Green Demon Bee molted into an adult bee, Qin Niu would be able to witness its combat strength.
If Steel-winged Wild Bees were that fierce, he believed the Green Demon Bee could not possibly be much weaker.
“Hmm?”
He furrowed his brows.
Because he sensed that the termite colony seemed to be exhibiting some abnormalities.
The termites were one of his foundations and could not afford any mishaps.
The Qifeng Mountain Range was filled with many mysterious entities.
During his last patrol in the mountains, not only did he find that huge python, he also heard the cries of a Demon Bird.
Now the only thing that could harm the termites was probably a demon.
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