"Fellow Daoist Leo, if I find any spiritual herbs later, can I also exchange them with you for pills?"

  Iris's eyes lit up, and the others looked over too. The spiritual herbs they obtained mostly could only be sold to the various pill workshops in Moonwatch Immortal City, since they couldn't refine pills themselves. Then they'd have to buy pills from those workshops, creating a lot of hassle back and forth. Especially with only a few months left before the major sect recruitments, the number of loose cultivators taking risks increased, making pills in Moonwatch Immortal City scarce. Having spirit stones didn't guarantee getting enough pills.

  Spiritual herbs sometimes got lowballed by unscrupulous workshop managers, but Qi Gathering Pills could be exchanged for at least four low-grade spirit stones anywhere; in Moonwatch Immortal City now, even five.

  "Of course." Leo nodded. The boundary space was still quite empty, and storing some herbs might come in handy later.

  Seeing Morana's successful exchange, the others, after a moment of envy, also perked up.

  "Haha, my luck is here!" As they descended the slope and were about to pass through the bamboo grove, Soren spotted a fist-sized piece of Copper Essence ore and several low-grade spirit stones scattered between some verdant bamboo stalks. Overjoyed, he dashed forward, afraid others might get there first, as any materials found on the way were fair game.

  However, everyone present was a cultivator with sharp eyes. Almost as soon as Soren stepped forward, others followed his direction and saw the scattered items among the green bamboo.

  "Careful, it's a trap!" Kai's face changed as he shouted sharply.

  "Brother Soren, come back!" Pax also yelled.

  Leo's heart jumped. With a whoosh sound from the bamboo grove, several sharpened spirit bamboo poles shot out from the rustling leaves, flying straight at Soren.

  "Brother Soren, be careful!" Pax, who was as close as brothers with Soren, turned pale seeing him in danger. He rushed forward to help, but Kai pulled him back with a flick of his horsetail whisk.

  "What are you doing?" Pax immediately glared angrily at Kai.

  "If we don't go to save Fellow Daoist Soren, he might still have a chance if he can endure. This is clearly a trap. If we also jump in, an injured Fellow Daoist Soren would lose backup and truly be doomed. Look, what's in the bamboo grove?" Kai said grimly, releasing Pax and pointing into the distance.

  Leo and the others looked where Kai pointed. Indeed, figures were moving within the bamboo grove.

  "A few bamboo poles? What can they do?" Soren also sensed the danger but roared defiantly, drawing the spirit blade at his waist. However, he noticed the sharpened bamboo poles seemed slightly off-target, aimed several feet above his head.

  Thud! The bamboo poles seemed to hit something. Then came a buzzing sound.

  "Not good! Azure Bamboo Bees! Everyone, retreat!" Zen, suddenly remembering a type of demon insect in bamboo groves, shouted with a changed expression.

  Kai didn't bother holding Pax back anymore. Swinging his whisk, he turned and sprinted rapidly away from the bamboo grove.

  Bzzz...

  As the struck bamboo swayed, a huge beehive appeared. Fist-sized bees with striped abdomens swarmed out of the nest, most charging towards Soren, the closest.

  This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

  Instantly, Soren's glowing Fire Spirit Shield was almost covered with Azure Bamboo Bees. The fist-sized bees extended the stingers on their tails and frantically stabbed at the shield.

  Aghast, Soren swung his spirit blade, which erupted in flames. Dozens, then hundreds of bees touching the flames were burned to death, falling to the ground with a charred smell. However, the death of their kind drove the remaining bees into a frenzy, attacking Soren even more fiercely. Releasing primal yang fire through the blade consumed spiritual energy heavily. Moments later, a layer of bee corpses littered the ground, but the flames on the blade gradually dwindled.

  "Ah! Help! Save me!" In no time, Soren's panicked voice came from within the shield engulfed by the swarm.

  "Yikes!" Iris, running at the back of the group, also cried out in surprise, casting a "Whirlwind Spell" to blow away dozens of attacking bees.

  Leo was near the front of the group. Only two Azure Bamboo Bees clung to his Diamond Shield, stabbing wildly with their stingers. Leo simply knocked them off with his short sword. Looking back, he saw Soren had collapsed on the ground, rolling and screaming. A chill ran down Leo's spine. The person who designed this trap was truly sinister.

  Fortunately, the bees chased for a distance but gave up as they got farther from the bamboo grove, returning to the forest.

  "Halt!" Kai, leading the front, suddenly raised a hand, his face dark as water. "Friends ahead, show yourselves. You went to a lot of trouble setting this up."

  "As expected of Daoist Kai, the Blood Sand Daoist. Couldn't even trap you like this." On the small hilltop they had just passed, seven or eight Qi Refining cultivators appeared one after another, their cultivation ranging from early to middle stage like theirs. The leader had a short stature and a forehead more prominent than normal, but his voice was deep and powerful.

  Kai sneered, "So it's Big Forehead Freak. I wondered who had the guts to ambush me. Since the feud is already made, why not lay out the terms? Let's have a fight right now."

  "Right! Let's fight them! I don't believe these guys can handle us."

  Having been ambushed for no reason, Sasha was furious. However, Leo sensed Kai's tone didn't really want to clash with the other side. Iris, Zen, Skyler, and the others also seemed uninterested.

  Although Pax was seething with anger, his mind was on Soren, surrounded by the bee swarm, and he had no desire for a life-or-death fight now.

  "Forget it. We won't settle this quickly. I won't waste time here with you. There will be plenty of chances later. Let's go!"

  Big Forehead Freak chuckled, waved his hand, and led his team onto another fork in the path, disappearing from sight in an instant.

  "They've left. Let's charge back and rescue Brother Soren." Pax said anxiously.

  "What's the hurry? We can't be sure they've really left." Zen snorted, clearly unwilling to provoke the enraged bee swarm again now.

  "What do you mean? Brother Soren is in trouble, and you want to stand by and watch? We're a team. If we can't even do this, maybe we should just disband." Pax glared at Zen with reddened eyes.

  "Fellow Daoist Pax, don't be too anxious. First, those people might indeed return. If we hadn't reacted quickly and shaken off the bees without consuming too much energy, Big Forehead Freak wouldn't have let us off easily. Now our strength is intact, he doesn't want a bloody fight that would needlessly drain his energy. Second, that swarm of Azure Bamboo Bees is huge, thousands of them. If we charge back now, not only won't we save Fellow Daoist Soren, we'll worsen the situation and make the enraged swarm even harder to deal with."

  Seeing the team's morale wavering, Kai quickly explained.

  "So we just watch Brother Soren suffer from the swarm?" Pax knew Kai made sense but still argued verbally.

  "Azure Bamboo Demon Bees are wood-element demon insects. Their tail stingers are especially sharp and carry some venom, though not lethal in a short time. Once they calm down, they'll return to their nest. Let's first patrol the area to prevent Big Forehead Freak from causing more trouble. After the swarm calms, we'll rescue Fellow Daoist Soren. Also, I have a few herbs here that can be used to refine Blood-Cleansing Pill. I just don't know if young friend Leo can refine them now. Although the Azure Bamboo Bee venom isn't strong, Fellow Daoist Soren received too many stings. If the venom accumulates in his body for too long, it could indeed become a big problem."

  Kai turned his gaze to Leo.

  "Brother Leo, I beg you. If you can save Brother Soren, I'll do anything for you in the future." Pax looked pleadingly at Leo.

  "Brother Leo, what do you think? Brother Soren is straightforward, though a bit reckless, he's truly someone worth befriending." Sasha also said.

  This Kai fellow, who could make Sasha, with similar cultivation, step back to become second-in-command as leader, indeed had some skill. From the ambush till now, he remained calm. Although Soren recklessly made a big mistake, and Iris, Zen, and the others were unwilling to help, as the leader, if he couldn't provide an effective solution, team members would inevitably become alienated. Now, by directing everyone's attention to him, the only cost to Kai was a few herbs, resolving this crisis while also testing his own capabilities. His scheming was indeed deep. Leo thought to himself, then said calmly.

  "I want to help him too, but I don't have the recipe for Blood-Cleansing Pill. I simply don't know how to refine them."

  "Naturally, I have the recipe prepared since I mentioned Blood-Cleansing Pill." Kai smiled, his right hand reaching into his storage pouch and producing three herbs and a yellow paper with the Blood-Cleansing Pill refining method written on it.

  "Daoist Kai is indeed well-prepared. In that case, I'll give it a try."

  Having seen much deceit and treachery in the cultivation world, Leo actually admired the deep bond between Soren and Pax. Even if Kai hadn't brought it up, he would have helped.

  So Leo didn't refuse further. In fact, he had prepared dozens of antidote pills in the boundary space, including Blood-Cleansing Pill. Some he refined himself, some he bought before departure—all common antidotes for poisons found in the outer Moonwatch Mountain Range. Leo doubted no one else in the team had prepared any; they were just unwilling to take them out.

  Kai spoke so confidently, so Leo wanted to test him. Unexpectedly, Kai was quite prepared. Not being an alchemist yet having both the recipe and prepared herbs was rather intriguing, possibly obtained through killing and looting.

  Upon hearing this, Pax thanked him repeatedly. Soon, the team split into groups. Kai coordinated from the center, Leo handled pill refining, while Sasha and Morana, Iris, and Zen each took a direction to keep watch, preventing other teams from setting more traps.

  A short while later, Pax sneaked into the bamboo grove while the enraged bees returned to their nest and secretly carried out Soren, who had been stung black and blue and had long since fallen unconscious.