Eternal Life: Hundredfold Rewards-Chapter 38 - 37: Successfully Secured, a Skeleton

Chapter 38: Chapter 37: Successfully Secured, a Skeleton
Seeing Qi Chuan agree, a hint of joy appeared on Qi Chan’Er’s fair little face.
"Shall we set off now?" She asked, slightly excited.
Qi Chuan nodded; having agreed, he naturally wouldn’t waste any time.
Thus, the two of them used the Floating Technique to leave the Little Stone Island, heading out of the Black Swamp, and soon emerged from it.
Beyond the Black Swamp lay a towering forest.
The two ventured through this forest, heading deeper into the Cloud-Rising Mountain Range.
Throughout their journey, they were cautious, concealing their tracks to avoid encounters with demon beasts. Occasionally, when unavoidable, they encountered a couple of Tier One Lower Grade Demon Beasts and directly dispatched them with minimal disturbance.
With such caution, no unexpected incidents occurred during the journey.
After some time, the two finally arrived outside a hidden valley.
Here was a rocky terrain; Qi Chuan’s body was nearly transparent, hidden behind a large boulder, with a tall, dense forest at his back.
His gaze pierced through the rocky terrain in front, spotting the valley entrance, which was very narrow. Around it, dense branches stretched over, almost completely covering the valley entrance, making it hard to discover.
Peering through a small remaining gap, one could vaguely see a jade light emanating from within the valley, likely the fabled Ginseng Spirit Fruit.
"There used to be some Red Jade Snake Grass on this rocky ground, but I picked it a month ago. If not for it, I wouldn’t have discovered this hidden valley. I carefully went inside once, but seeing the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees from afar, I retreated immediately."
Beside him, Qi Chan’Er also used the Invisibility Technique, her body seemingly transparent, her expression somewhat fearful.
At that time, she was completely unprepared and lacked the Blood of the Corpse Centipede. If she had run into the swarm of Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees, her fate might have been to leave no bones behind.
Then, Qi Chan’Er pointed to a spot not far away.
Following her gaze, Qi Chuan indeed saw some traces of previous picking among some rocks, along with a few very young Red Jade Snake Grass plants.
"Let’s scout the situation first," Qi Chuan said.
Then the two cautiously approached the valley entrance, taking a peek inside. Sure enough, within the small valley, on a mound, grew a tree entirely verdant, its branches and leaves seemingly emanating jade light. Amid those top branches, one could faintly see several white jade-colored fruits filled with Spiritual Qi, covered with long, ginseng-like roots.
This must be the Ginseng Spirit Fruit.
Then Qi Chuan shifted his gaze slightly downward, his pupils involuntarily shrinking, for he saw a huge demon bee nest, the size of a large vat, hanging under a giant branch of the Ginseng Spirit Tree. It was home to hundreds of demon bees, each about palm-sized, their bodies a mix of pure black and dark red.
Buzz.
Those demon bees’ compound eyes flickered with a scarlet light, their wings slightly vibrating, producing a hair-raising, subtle buzzing in the air.
"Indeed, it’s hundreds of Tier One Lower Grade Demon Beasts," Qi Chuan nodded slightly at the scene.
He could sense that the aura of these Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees wasn’t very strong and ranked among the weaker Tier One Lower Grade Demon Beasts. Even the queen bee, the size of a human head, seemed to fall within the Tier One Lower Grade, although slightly stronger than the worker bees.
Then Qi Chuan scanned various spots within the small valley; from this angle, it was almost clear at a glance. There were no other demon beasts inside, but some spots shimmered with Spiritual Light, indicating a few valuable Spirit Grass plants.
If possible later, they could pick some.
"How about it?" Nearby, Qi Chan’Er looked at Qi Chuan.
Qi Chuan didn’t hesitate anymore and nodded slightly: "Let’s do it."
With that said, he moved, appearing about twenty steps away from the valley entrance, then fully utilized the Invisibility Technique. Instantly, he became completely transparent, his presence seemingly weakened.
Seeing this, Qi Chan’Er was momentarily stunned, because even she felt that Qi Chuan’s presence was now very vague and difficult to sense.
If she hadn’t witnessed Qi Chuan hiding, she would’ve instinctively thought no one was there.
"His Invisibility Technique is so advanced?"
"Oh, I almost forgot, he’s a prodigy in magic. In just four years, he brought the Fireball Technique to the Great Success Level. With some focus on the Invisibility Technique, his improvement wouldn’t be minimal either."
After a moment’s pause, Qi Chan’Er slapped her forehead and realized it.
Then she took out that bottle of Blood of the Corpse Centipede, ready to lure the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees.
Not far away, Qi Chuan watched her actions with a calm expression.
Right now, his Invisibility Technique was still at the Entry Level, not reaching Minor Success. However, it was indeed deeper than typical Entry Level skills.
This was also because Qi Chuan felt that compared to other commonly used Qi Refining Magic, the Invisibility Technique was quite useful in most situations, so in the past few months, he devoted more time to it whenever he had some free time, resulting in this improvement.
With more diligent practice for some time, reaching the Minor Success Level shouldn’t be a problem.
Because of this, he felt more confident about the upcoming action, as some simple-minded Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees were unlikely to notice him when he used the Invisibility Technique.
Under Qi Chuan’s gaze, Qi Chan’Er applied the Blood of the Corpse Centipede onto her Golden Halo.
Although the Blood of the Corpse Centipede had some corrosive power, it couldn’t corrode an Upper Grade Magical Artifact.
After applying it, Qi Chan’Er, who had used the Invisibility Technique, abruptly retreated to keep a distance from the Golden Halo.
In the Qi Refining Realm, it’s impossible to control a Magical Artifact from too far away, but the control range wasn’t too small either. Therefore, if she kept a distance while the Blood of the Corpse Centipede attracted them, the chances of the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees discovering the invisible Qi Chan’Er should be small.
Then, Qi Chan’Er controlled the Golden Halo to fly into the valley from the entrance.
Moreover, she formed a hand seal with both hands, causing a faint golden light to emanate from the Golden Halo. Under the illumination of this faint golden light, the scent of the Blood of the Corpse Centipede dispersed rapidly, permeating almost the entire valley.
This method of manipulating the Golden Halo was somewhat different from the normal Magical Combat, something Qi Chuan’s dagger Magical Artifact couldn’t achieve.
Buzz.
As the decaying, bloody scent spread throughout the valley, a buzzing sound came from under the Ginseng Spirit Tree.
Soon, the giant jar-like Demon Bee Nest shook, and a small black cloud, consisting of hundreds of palm-sized Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees, rose up, surging toward the Golden Halo stained with the Blood of the Corpse Centipede.
However, under Qi Chan’Er’s control, the Golden Halo flew backward out of the valley entrance.
The Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees followed closely, rushing out from the valley entrance as well.
At this moment, the crimson light in the compound eyes of these Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees was even stronger than before. All they saw was the Blood of the Corpse Centipede on the Golden Halo, completely unaware of the invisible Qi Chuan and Qi Chan’Er.
Seeing the successful luring of the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees, Qi Chan’Er immediately used the Invisibility Technique, cautiously trailing behind the bees, preparing to draw them further away to give Qi Chuan time to enter the valley and pick the Ginseng Spirit Fruit.
As the bee swarm, the Golden Halo, and Qi Chan’Er moved further away, Qi Chuan, who had been silently hiding not far from the valley entrance, finally made his move.
He stepped into the valley entrance, observed the Demon Bee Nest under the Ginseng Spirit Tree, confirming that there were indeed only a few Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees left, and then quickly surveyed the entire small valley before swiftly heading to the Ginseng Spirit Tree.
Soon, he arrived beneath the verdant tree.
Buzz buzz.
Sensing an intruder, the few remaining Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees from the giant jar-like Demon Bee Nest took flight, glaring viciously at Qi Chuan, their black and red tail ends armed with poisonous stingers ready to strike at any moment.
Whoosh whoosh.
However, a gray shadow flashed past, slicing the few Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees in half, sending them plummeting down. In the face of an Upper Grade Magical Artifact, these weak Tier One Lower Grade Demon Beasts stood no chance.
"Even the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees from the nest went out; it seems the Blood of the Corpse Centipede is indeed powerfully enticing to them," Qi Chuan mused.
Originally, he was prepared to fight dozens of remaining Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees, but he only encountered a handful, saving him a lot of trouble.
Shaking his head, Qi Chuan leapt into the air, landing atop the tree, where he saw several Ginseng Spirit Fruits of white jade color, with long fine roots, hidden among some branches.
Nodding slightly, Qi Chuan took out several Jade Boxes, found six Ginseng Spirit Fruits, cut them off with his dagger, and placed them into the boxes.
After storing the Jade Boxes, Qi Chuan was about to leave, but as he turned, he froze for a moment, because he found that not far away, under some green branches, there was a tree hole.
The tree hole was not small, and there seemed to be something inside, resembling a human figure.
"Is there someone here?"
A chill crept into Qi Chuan’s heart, but he instinctively felt it was impossible. This was, after all, the old nest of the Bloodthirsty Spirit Bees; even a Qi Refining Late Stage cultivator couldn’t ignore hundreds of such bees.
Hesitating slightly, Qi Chuan cautiously approached the tree hole, ready to escape at any moment. Yet, as he got closer, seeing the human-like figure, his eyes widened in surprise, momentarily halting his steps.
"This is..."
In the tree hole sat a person.
However, it was not a living person.
To be precise, it was a skeleton.