At the crack of dawn, Qin Fang was already on his way, having left Wanshui City.

He carried a coil of rope he’d bought the day before, along with chunks of meat he intended to use to fish for the bees.

He didn’t bring Xile with him. He had made food for Xile and left it to watch the house.

He had never walked from Wanshui to Li Family Ao before... but that didn’t matter. He knew the general direction. Besides, Old Ox Back had a unique shape; once he was in the mountains, he should be able to find it without issue if he looked carefully.

As he journeyed over mountains and through valleys, the sky gradually brightened. It was a bright, sunny day, and the early morning light was already brilliant.

As sunlight flooded the landscape, Qin Fang narrowed his eyes and spotted a mountain peak in the distance...

’That must be Old Ox Back.’

He sprinted in that direction.

He still felt a twinge of pain in his ribs as he ran, but it wasn’t severe... As long as he avoided overly strenuous movements, it wouldn’t be much of a problem.

’The bones probably haven’t healed completely yet.’

But it didn’t affect him too much anymore.

After nearly another hour, he successfully reached the foot of Old Ox Back.

’Let’s see... The journey from Wanshui took four hours... but I wasted some time looking for the path. Now that I know the way, it should only take about two hours in the future.’

It wasn’t as close as the Fishermen’s territory.

But it wasn’t too far, either.

However, he had no plans to return to the Fishermen’s territory for now... He had lived there for more than half a year and become a familiar face. Many people knew him as ’Master Qin’ of the Fishermen’s Gang.

’If there are still people from that Mysterious Power there, wouldn’t I be walking right into a trap?’

’...I wonder how those gang members are doing now.’

’The rumors obviously wouldn’t mention small fries like them...’

With a sigh, Qin Fang headed straight up the mountain.

He followed the familiar path with ease and soon arrived before the cave. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

He examined the area carefully, then let out a soft sigh of relief...

The camouflage he had arranged to conceal the Wild Boar King’s tracks showed no signs of being disturbed.

The bark he had smeared with mud was starting to recover.

The saplings he had casually planted in the ground had taken root and were now thriving.

Now, any sign that the Wild Boar King had been here was completely gone.

Even the small opening the Wild Boar King had plowed through the thorns was now almost completely choked with overgrown branches.

Of course, Qin Fang didn’t need to squeeze through the thorns; he could easily bypass it by moving through the trees.

After confirming he was alone, Qin Fang glanced at the cave again, but after a moment’s thought, he decided not to enter...

’There are tens of thousands of Giant Bees in there. If I make a sound and get trapped inside, I’ll be royally screwed...’

’Although, I really do want to see that Treasure Plant again...’

’I haven’t forgotten that the greatest treasure here isn’t the Giant Bees.’

’It’s the Treasure Plant in the cave!’

He took a roundabout path to the summit, where he took out his supplies.

One item in particular, a tightly sealed small Porcelain Bottle, was carefully protected, wrapped in countless layers of leather.

Inside... was the Poison Gland!

The last time he had fished for the bees, he had relied on the Pig King Meat.

He was out of Pig King Meat now... but that was fine. He had something even better.

Bee Venom!

The Poison Gland still contained a little less than half its Bee Venom... After all, he had barely used it except for that one time he killed Wang Hu.

Who knew how old the pheromones in the Pig King Meat were.

But the pheromones in this Bee Venom were as fresh as could be...

On the leeward side of Old Ox Back’s summit, he first opened the bottle. Using a small brush, he dabbed a minuscule amount of Bee Venom, then quickly resealed the bottle. He then brushed the venom onto the piece of meat already tied to his rope.

He peeked over the edge, and only let out a sigh of relief when he confirmed that no Giant Bees had flown up...

’Looks like the range of the Bee Venom’s pheromones is limited.’

On second thought, he could have figured that out last time. The previous Giant Bee had attacked the meat the moment it exited the cave, but that had only caused some agitation among the bees still inside.

When Qin Fang had quickly raised the meat, the Giant Bees inside had settled down.

’It must have injected a large amount of its venom back then.’

’Yet it never truly attracted the whole swarm...’

This was undoubtedly good news for Qin Fang.

His preparations complete, he took one of his Darts in his right hand...

This was the last of his Darts; the others had been expended one after another in his recent fights.

Especially during the battle with that monster—the final handful of Iron Nails he had thrown had included several of his Darts.

But now that Qin Fang had reached the realm of Anjin, even a wood splinter in his hands possessed immense killing power... The difference between Darts and Iron Nails was no longer that significant for him.

With all his preparations in place, Qin Fang took a slow breath and began to lower the chunk of meat, starting his bee-fishing!

He lowered it very slowly, afraid that too much movement would alert too many of the Giant Bees.

Finally, the meat reached the cave entrance, dangling from the rope.

Qin Fang saw a blur, and in the next instant, three Giant Bees shot out and plunged their stingers into the chunk of meat!

Qin Fang was stunned.

’Wait, what? There was only one last time. How are there three of them now?!’

But he snapped out of it and quickly began hauling the meat back up...

He then saw a few more Giant Bees emerge from the cave and circle the entrance for a moment before flying back inside...

Qin Fang breathed a silent sigh of relief. But as he looked at the three Giant Bees—their stingers buried in the meat and already starting to gnaw on it—his scalp tingled with dread.

’...But even three is going to be a huge pain!!!’

A conflicted look crossed his face...

He certainly had the requisite throwing technique; launching three Iron Nails at once would be no trouble for him.