Chapter 119: Astonishing News

Smaller Golden-Spined Fire Bees quickly froze and fell from the air upon contact with the white cold air, while the larger ones were largely unaffected. They opened their mouths, spitting fireballs that hurtled towards Wang Changsheng.

The Black Bear Puppet stepped forward two paces, wielding its spiked club to shatter the incoming red fireballs. Some fireballs struck its body, engulfing it in flames, but failed to cause any damage. Some red fireballs struck the blue light barrier around Wang Changsheng, transforming into surging flames that enveloped him. However, a dazzling blue light soon flared from within the fire, causing the flames to rapidly flicker and extinguish.

Wang Changsheng vigorously shook the Profound Ice Banner in his hand, producing loud "hissing" sounds as countless white ice needles flew from its surface. The first few dozen Golden-Spined Fire Bees were riddled with these needles and fell from the air. Wang Changsheng raised his right hand, sending three foot-long blue flying daggers soaring. They slashed through the bee swarm, causing dozens of Golden-Spined Fire Bees to fall from the air one after another. Under Wang Changsheng's control, the Giant Python Puppet spouted thick gouts of red flame, incinerating a large number of Golden-Spined Fire Bees.

Soon after, a large number of Golden-Spined Fire Bees emerged from the cave, with an enormous Golden-Spined Fire Bee leading the swarm. This demonic creature had four wings on its back, spanning approximately three meters when unfurled. A pair of golden tusks protruded from its mouth, and its tail spike was about one and a half meters long. Judging by its aura, it was clearly a second-tier, mid-grade demonic insect.

The Bee King flapped its wings, unleashing over a dozen foot-long red flame blades that shot towards Wang Changsheng. Simultaneously, under the Bee King's command, a large number of Golden-Spined Fire Bees swarmed Wang Changsheng. Hundreds of Golden-Spined Fire Bees swarmed Wang Changsheng from multiple directions. Before they even got close, they began spitting red fireballs at him.

Wang Changsheng's expression remained unchanged. With a flick of his finger, an egg-sized yellow spherical bead and a red spherical bead shot forth. Amidst a series of mechanical sounds, the yellow bead transformed into an eight-legged, entirely yellow spider, while the red bead became a giant red crow. The yellow spider opened its mouth and spewed a beam of white light, which materialized into a white spiderweb several meters wide. This impenetrable web ensnared dozens of Golden-Spined Fire Bees that crashed into it, leaving them utterly immobilized, their bodies firmly stuck. The red crow spread its wings and soared into the air. It opened its beak, unleashing over a dozen foot-long red flame blades that reduced dozens of Golden-Spined Fire Bees to ash.

Wang Changsheng violently shook the Profound Ice Banner, sending countless white ice needles sweeping out towards the Golden-Spined Fire Bees. Three blue flying daggers slashed towards the Bee King from different directions. The Giant Bear Puppet opened its mouth and spat dozens of long nails at the Bee King.

The Bee King dared not confront the attack head-on. It opened its mouth to spew a thick gout of red flame and simultaneously flapped its wings, releasing a large volley of red flame blades to meet the incoming attacks. A series of explosions rang out as flames surged. With a strange cry, the red fire crow swooped towards the Bee King, its claws aiming directly for the Bee King's head. The yellow spider sprayed a white spiderweb, attempting to ensnare the Bee King. Meanwhile, the Giant Python Puppet unleashed a thick gout of red flame towards the Bee King. Three blue flying daggers slashed at the Bee King from yet another direction.

For a moment, the Bee King was overwhelmed with dodging, amidst continuous explosions. Thanks to its agile form, it managed to evade these attacks, but the first-tier demonic bees were not so fortunate.

Suddenly, the sky darkened as a black cloud, hundreds of meters in size, appeared on the horizon. The black cloud churned, and pea-sized snowflakes began to fall, causing the surrounding temperature to plummet. Upon closer observation, it became clear that the gigantic black cloud only manifested within the Bee King's active area. This was the Ice Rain Art, a mid-level spell with a wide attack range, unleashed by Wang Changsheng using the Profound Ice Banner.

Initially, the snowfall was light, but as time passed, the flakes grew more numerous, and then hailstones began to fall. The Bee King, preoccupied with dodging attacks from the magical artifacts and puppet beasts, had no time to spare for anything else. Due to its enormous size, several hailstones struck its body, abruptly slowing its movement. Seizing this opportunity, a white spiderweb, several meters wide, enveloped it. The Giant Python Puppet then opened its mouth and spouted a gout of red flame, engulfing the Bee King. The Fire Crow Puppet swooped in, its sharp talons plunging into the flames.

A pained shriek!

Three blue flying daggers plunged into the flames, followed by a muffled thud. Wang Changsheng violently shook the Profound Ice Banner in his hand, sending countless white ice needles shooting forth to pierce through the sea of fire. And that wasn't all. The gigantic black cloud churned violently, releasing hundreds of hailstones that rained down, vying to strike the sea of fire.

The Bee King's body then plummeted from the sea of fire, pinned down by the relentless barrage of hailstones.

"Boom!"

The piled-up hailstones suddenly burst apart, scattering in all directions. The Bee King flew out from the wreckage, its body covered in wounds, bleeding profusely, and its wings tattered. It slowly flew towards the cave. Wang Changsheng sneered. The three blue flying daggers glowed brightly as they shot forward, severing the Bee King's head.

With the Bee King dead, the remaining Golden-Spined Fire Bees were no match for Wang Changsheng; some died, others fled. Wang Changsheng flicked his sleeve, and a palm-sized black gourd flew out. After spinning, it emitted a sheet of black mist that enveloped the Golden-Spined Fire Bees' corpses. Green orbs of light then flew from the corpses and were drawn into the black gourd by the mist. This was the Soul Gathering Gourd, a low-grade magical artifact Wang Changsheng had refined from a Profound Water Gourd. Its primary purpose was to collect the souls of demonic beasts, which were then used to craft puppet beasts. The Golden-Spined Fire Bees' tail stings were excellent materials for refining artifacts, so Wang Changsheng carefully extracted them one by one.

After processing the Golden-Spined Fire Bee corpses, Wang Changsheng strode into the cave. Less than fifteen minutes later, he emerged, summoned his Green-Scaled Horse, and mounted it. The Green-Scaled Horse carried Wang Changsheng high into the sky, disappearing into the horizon shortly after.

Over a month later, Wang Changsheng returned to Qinglian Mountain. As soon as he returned to Qinglian Mountain, Wang Mingyuan informed him of a startling development: half a year prior, numerous ghosts had suddenly emerged in various parts of the Great Song. Caught unprepared, cultivators suffered heavy casualties, and several cultivation families were unfortunate enough to be completely wiped out.

The Four Great Sects of the Great Song had investigated and confirmed that the ghosts originated from a single location. The troubling aspect was that these entities emerged from five different points. Simultaneously, numerous ghosts also appeared in various parts of the Chu Kingdom, and investigations revealed they too came from a single source. Consequently, the cultivation sects of both nations issued conscription orders, mobilizing personnel to enter the ghosts' lairs and exterminate them. These expeditions were to be led by cultivators in the Core Formation stage, with Foundation Establishment cultivators forming the primary combat force and Qi Refinement cultivators serving as auxiliary support. Disobedience to the order would result in the annihilation of the clan.

Naturally, rewards were offered for exterminating these demonic ghosts. However, unlike hunting demonic beasts, this time the Four Great Sects only provided five Foundation Establishment Pills and twenty bottles of Purple Jade Spirit Water as rewards, and the required exchange points were extraordinarily high.

"Originally, Second Uncle was going to lead the expedition," Wang Mingyuan explained, "but the Purple Cloud Sect disciple who delivered the conscription order insisted that *you* must personally lead it. I suspect the Lin family is scheming against us. Your cultivation isn't particularly high, so having you lead the team is clearly a plot to harm you." Wang Mingyuan sighed, a bitter taste in his mouth.