Beast Taming Immortal Clan

Chapter 384 Subduing the Swarm of Bees and the Mutant Thunder Python [Please Subscribe]

Zhou Xindie was left outside to carefully survey the terrain and consider the method of setting up the formation, while Zhou Chun took the jade boxes that sealed the Heavenly Frost Frost Bees and went into the mountain crevice cave alone.

He ventured deeper and soon arrived at the location of the Cold Spring Ice Cave.

Previously, Zhou Chun had placed ten snow crystal insects into this cold spring ice cave to raise, and found that they were able to live very well here.

This gave him great confidence in raising Frostbees in this area.

Upon arriving at the ice cave, Zhou Chun set aside the other jade boxes, picked one out, and gently opened the lid.

As soon as the jade box was opened, the demon bees inside sensed the intense cold outside and began to vibrate their wings, trying to take off.

However, the sealing talisman attached to its body emitted a faint white light, suppressing it inside the box, and no matter how much it flapped its wings, it could not fly.

The Heavenly Frost Frost Bee, a wondrous insect of heaven and earth, possesses all its abilities in the "Heavenly Frost Frost Qi" within its body. In terms of physical constitution alone, neither its teeth nor its strength may be as strong as the "Mysterious Armor Golden Feather".

These Frostbees had their internal cold energy drained by the Moon Toad Pearl during their battle with Zhou Chun, and since they had been sealed and unable to absorb external cold energy to recover, they were naturally unable to break free from the suppression of the sealing talisman.

More importantly, the Frostbee in Zhou Chun's hand was not a mature demon insect, not even an adult; it was just a demon insect in its growth stage.

Zhou Chun stretched out his hand and caught the demon bee, placing it in his hand to examine it.

Golden light flickered on his palm, and no matter how the demon bees opened their mouths to bite, they could not break through that thin layer of golden light.

After carefully observing the demon bee, he frowned and muttered to himself, "Something's not right. The Heavenly Frost Frost Bee recorded on the Strange Insect Ranking has eighteen blue stripes on its body and no black spots on its wings. Why does this demon bee only have sixteen blue stripes and black spots on its wings?"

Could it be that the list of strange insects is wrong?

Zhou Chun frowned, a question arising in his mind.

This is not impossible, after all, the strange insects on the "List of Strange Insects of Heaven and Earth" were only compiled from information collected by the cultivators of the Thousand Spirits Sect, and were not things they had seen with their own eyes.

It is also possible that there are some slight differences in appearance.

But Zhou Chun knew that there was actually another possibility.

That means these demon bees are indeed not Frostbees, but hybrid demon bees produced by the union of Frostbees and other demon bees.

Such things have happened before. The cultivators of the Thousand Spirits Sect once found some demonic insects with the bloodline of rare insects of heaven and earth. Although their strength was not comparable to those demonic insects on the list of rare insects, they were indeed much stronger than ordinary demonic insects.

However, as far as Zhou Chun knew, ice-attribute demon bees were already very rare, and at least within Yang Kingdom, he had not heard of anyone discovering any other ice-attribute demon bees.

Therefore, this possibility seems unlikely.

"Oh, and let's check on that queen bee too!"

Zhou Chun suddenly thought of something, so he immediately put the demon bee back into the jade box and closed it, and took out the jade box that sealed the queen bee.

The queen bee was very powerful, so to prevent her from breaking free of the seal, Zhou Chun affixed several second-tier sealing talismans to her.

After taking out the queen bee, he began to count the blue stripes on her body.

"There are eighteen blue stripes, no doubt about it, the queen bee is indeed a Frostbea bee!"

This result relieved Zhou Chun.

Since the queen bee is a genuine Frostbee, then her offspring must also be Frostbees.

As for why the blue stripes on the backs of those demon bees were two fewer and why there were more black spots on their wings, Zhou Chun guessed that there were only two reasons.

Either they will reappear after they reach adulthood or maturity.

Either their bloodlines have slightly degenerated.

Neither of them is a big problem.

The degeneration of the demon insect's bloodline is not a big deal. In most cases, this happens as a necessary adaptation to the environment.

Given a good living environment, their bloodline can be purified and revert to its ancestral form.

If these Frostbees are allowed to develop naturally in the wild, it may be difficult for those demon bees with degenerated bloodlines to successfully purify their bloodlines again.

But once Zhou Chun subdues them, he will definitely collect all kinds of ice-attribute spiritual materials to feed them, helping them purify their bloodline and advance into true Heavenly Frost Bees.

So after figuring out the situation, Zhou Chun breathed a sigh of relief.

He immediately took action, using solid ice to build a frame above the cold spring, then took out the giant thousand-year-old cold jade and placed it on the frame, so that the beehive could cover the cold spring.

He then took out the young bees and put them into the hive.

There are 34 young bees in total, none of which can fly yet.

This demonstrates the difficulty in breeding the peculiar insect, the Frostbee.

It's important to know that the queen bee of a typical wasp colony can lay hundreds of eggs a day.

After observing the young bees' activities inside the hive and confirming that they were not uncomfortable with the new environment, Zhou Chun began to inscribe the contract array to establish a contractual bond between the young bees and their master.

The infancy of any demon beast or insect is the best stage for forming a contract and recognizing a master.

At this stage, the demonic beasts and insects are like two- or three-year-old children, blank slates, with no sense of resistance whatsoever.

Zhou Chun easily reached an agreement with the thirty-four young bees by using some food as bait.

However, it takes too long for a young bee to grow into an adult, which cannot meet Zhou Chun's short-term needs.

Therefore, after contracting the young bees, he set his sights on the queen bee.

The queen bee is the brain and ruler of the bee colony. Once the queen bee is subdued, the entire bee colony can be used by Zhou Chun.

However, as a mature Frostbee and a third-tier demonic insect, subduing the queen bee is extremely difficult.

Zhou Chun could only try his best.

He placed the queen bee on the ground and with a wave of his hand, removed all the sealing talismans from her body.

As soon as the sealing talisman was removed, the queen bee, which had been lifeless on the ground, immediately flapped its wings and transformed into a white shadow, rushing towards the hive.

Clearly, in their minds, the hive is always the safest place.

Zhou Chun did not stop it and let it land on the beehive.

After the queen bee returned to the hive, she began to absorb the cold air of the place, seemingly wanting to recover her strength first.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately took out another large piece of demon beast meat, chopped it up, and threw the pieces onto the beehive.

The queen bee was quite unceremonious; after smelling the aroma of food, she quickly flew out to eat.

After eating a few bites, it began to take on the work of a worker bee, chopping up food and feeding it to the young bees.

Zhou Chun knew that all of this was actually driven by the queen bee's instincts.

Normally, the worker bees and drones are the ones that guard the safety of the bee colony, while the queen bee only needs to stay in the hive to reproduce.

But now that the worker bees and drones are gone, the queen bee has to take care of the young bees and find food on her own, and even take on the task of protecting the young bees and the hive.

For the queen bee, when her own life is not threatened, her priority is to feed the young bees well so that they can grow into worker bees that can hunt and protect her as soon as possible.

Zhou Chun intended to use this to increase his success rate in capturing the queen bee.

He first fed the queen bee and then gave her time to recover.

Once the queen bee has condensed some "heavenly frost cold air" in her body, he will make a move that threatens the hive, forcing the queen bee to fight him.

The outcome of the battle was self-evident: the queen bee, who had only recovered less than half of her strength, was easily defeated by Zhou Chun.

After defeating the queen bee, Zhou Chun attempted to form a contract with her.

The result, naturally, was failure.

As "punishment," Zhou Chun took two young bees from the hive and arranged for them to be raised separately in another location.

A few days later, after the queen bee had regained some strength, Zhou Chun provoked her to fight him again and won once more.

Then he repeated his previous actions, first making a contract with the queen bee, and then taking away two young bees when the contract failed.

This repeated pulling and tugging repeatedly defeated the queen bee and took away the young bees, causing the queen bee to develop a strong fear of him.

Later on, even after they can smell his scent, they will begin to uneasily hide deep within the hive.

This situation gave Zhou Chun a boost of spirits, and he knew that his plan was about to succeed.

So he slightly changed the rules and waited for more than two months until the queen bee's body was almost full of "Heavenly Frost Cold Qi" before stimulating her to fight him again.

The battle was so intense that the Queen Bee's power successfully triggered the [Moon Toad Pearl]'s automatic protection mechanism.

The queen bee not only had all the cold energy she had painstakingly cultivated drained from her body by the pearl, but she was also knocked unconscious by the strange roar that sounded like a bull's bellow and a frog's croak.

After it woke up, Zhou Chun took the opportunity to form a contract with it, and as expected, he succeeded in subduing it and making it his spirit pet.

Once the queen bee was subdued, things became simple.

With the queen bee in hand, Zhou Chun used her to command the other bees and quickly formed contracts with all the other demon bees as well.

Under the queen bee's command, even the three drones in the colony that had reached maturity could not defy Zhou Chun's contract.

By comparing the mature, adult, and juvenile bees in the colony, Zhou Chun quickly determined one thing.

Those demon bees with only sixteen blue stripes on their bodies are actually demon bees whose bloodline has degenerated.

Once a demon bee reaches maturity, it will purify its bloodline and transform into a true Heavenly Frost Frost Bee.

What pleased Zhou Chun even more was that after communicating with the queen bee, she clearly stated that the current environment was more comfortable and pleasant for her and her colony than the previous one, and that the cold air emanating from the cold spring was also very helpful for them to condense "heavenly frost cold air".

This favorable environment could potentially improve, or even completely stop, the degeneration of the bee colony's bloodline.

So Zhou Chun left the bees in the ice cave and let them go out to forage for food on their own.

With the strength of the bee swarm, even if they encounter a third-tier demon beast, their chances of winning are very high.

Therefore, Zhou Chun was not worried about their safety.

In the future, whenever he needs to use the bee colony, he can simply come and collect it.

This way, the growth of the bee colony is not delayed, and he gains a trump card that others do not know about.

Not long after Zhou Chun subdued the bee swarm, the Zhou family received news of Lu Ran's death.

"These two ritual artifacts were entrusted by the High Priest to Ukuru before his death, who said that Ukuru was a faithful person and hoped that Ukuru would bury his remains in his birthplace!"

Inside the Black Spear Tribe of the Scaled Frog Alien Clan, when Zhou Chun arrived on behalf of the Zhou family to mourn the passing of Lu Ran, the tribe's elder, Ukuru, handed him two relics left behind by Lu Ran.

He was quite familiar with these two relics. One was the "Crimson Dragon Dagger" magic weapon that Lu Ran used to kill the Golden Dragon Hall protector of the Dragon Transformation Sect when he first met Lu Ran. The other was a crimson pearl magic weapon that Lu Ran used during his lifetime.

These magical artifacts used by cultivators are beyond the control of the Scaled Frog alien sorcerers, and it seems that Lu Ran has no intention of bringing them into the tomb.

Now, giving it to Zhou Chun can be seen as bringing an end to the relationship between the two.

As for Lu Ran's final request, Zhou Chun will certainly help him fulfill it.

Lu Ran had already said this before his death: he did not want to be buried in the Scaled Frog Tribe, but wanted to be buried in a mountain city below the ruins of the former Crimson Dragon Hall of the Dragon Transformation Sect.

This alone shows that Lu Ran has always considered himself a human and has little sense of belonging to the Scaled Frog race.

"Fellow Daoist Ukuru, rest assured, I, Zhou, will properly bury Senior Lu's remains."

Zhou Chun accepted the two magical artifacts and solemnly made a guarantee to Ukuru.

The two then exchanged information about future trade between the two tribes, and Zhou Chun took Lu Ran's body and left the Black Spear Tribe.

Several days later, Zhou Chun appeared near the former site of the Crimson Dragon Hall.

Although decades have passed, the Hualong Sect still shows no intention of reopening this site, and a fourth-order demon beast has also appeared on the mountain.

To avoid disturbing the fourth-tier demon beast, Zhou Chun didn't dare to make too much noise. After finding the ruins of the mountain city that Lu Ran had mentioned, he buried its remains there.

"Senior Lu, your last wish has been fulfilled. May you be reborn as a human in your next life and embark on the path of immortality once more!"

Before the newly built grave made of bluestone, Zhou Chun poured several cups of sacred wine on the ground, completing his offering to the deceased.

This is likely the last time the deceased will receive offerings after being laid to rest.

After paying respects to Lu Ran, Zhou Chun returned to his family.

Unexpectedly, as soon as he returned to the gate of Jiufengling Mountain, he suddenly felt a strong sensation.

So he changed his mind and went to his own place first, instead of going to the mountain cave to meet Zhou Mingde.

When he opened the gate to his residence, a huge, silvery-white snake head appeared before him.

"Oh, Bai Bai, you're awake?"

Zhou Chun smiled slightly and was about to reach out to touch the snake's head in front of him.

But suddenly, as if he had discovered something extraordinary, his gaze sharpened and he looked up at the top of the snake's head.

The bulge that had been on the snake's head had disappeared, replaced by a silver horn about a foot long.

First update! Also, I'd like to recommend a friend's new book, "Only When I Passed the Imperial Examination Did I Discover My Wife Was a Holy Mother."

(End of this chapter)