Since possessing the Brewing Artisan talent, Qi Ping could clearly sense that the effects of the Blood Ginseng—both in strengthening the body and enhancing spiritual power—were purified and amplified within the Golden Marrow Honey.
The reason the bees could achieve this was not only because they removed the impurities from the herb, but also because they blended it with other materials like Hundred-Year Pine Oil and Dawn Spirit Dew, which possessed unique properties.
Through the Brewing Artisan talent, the Golden Marrow Bees essentially adopted the strengths of various herbs and avoided their weaknesses. Through clever fusion, they created a honey with optimal results.
"Following this principle, it should be fine to use herbs other than Blood Ginseng as the primary material..."
"The Golden Marrow Bees are basically a miniature version of an alchemist!"
Having gained a deeper understanding of their brewing abilities, Qi Ping looked at the radiant golden bees and praised them from the bottom of his heart. They might be far behind a true alchemist, and their upper limit was likely capped at the Qi Condensation stage, but for Qi Ping, this was already exceptional.
Precious pills—especially those for improving constitution or cultivation—were all outrageously expensive. Even if Qi Ping sold the entire batch of Blood Ginseng he had found, he probably couldn't buy many of them.
Thus, the importance and value of these "little alchemists" could not be overstated.
"However, the bees have their limitations. They can only instinctively brew the honey that is best for their own colony. If there are other spirit herbs or flowers nearby, the effect of the honey will change accordingly."
"So, if I want to brew honey with specific effects, I have to lead them in researching it first..."
This was where Qi Ping's Brewing Artisan talent came into play. With this talent, he could completely understand the principles and steps the bees used, as the talent was shared from them. As long as he took the lead in experimenting with the bees, they could actively produce honey with various special effects. He could even try to find ways to maximize or enhance the effects of a specific herb.
"Maybe I can combine the bees' abilities and my Brewing Artisan talent with some actual alchemy knowledge to develop different kinds of functional honey. Once successful, the Golden Marrow Bees can slowly become my personal alchemists..."
The only trouble was that the inheritance of alchemy knowledge was too precious. Such top-tier techniques in the cultivation world were not things Qi Ping could access right now. For now, all he could do was try to get his hands on some basic knowledge regarding pills and spirit herbs.
Beyond alchemy knowledge, he might face another problem in the future: the bloodline limit of the Golden Marrow Bees, which was currently at the Mid-Rank of the First Order.
This bloodline was strong for Qi Ping now, but it was predictable that it would eventually become a bottleneck for the bees' further breakthroughs. With sufficient resources and the Beast King's Grace skill, it wouldn't be hard for them to reach the Late-Rank of the First Order, but breaking through to the Second Order would be extremely difficult.
If they couldn't reach the Second Order, the effects of their honey would remain stuck at the Qi Condensation level. In that case, their utility would be minimal once Qi Ping reached the Foundation Establishment stage.
Even then, the honey-making ability could be used to earn spirit stones without much fear of being targeted. However, Qi Ping was highly optimistic about the future potential of this ability, so he wanted the bees to keep growing alongside him. They were his first animal partners, and he naturally wanted them to walk the path of cultivation as far as he did.
"I'll have to find a way to improve the colony's bloodline grade later!"
"Buzz... (Boss, why are you looking at us like that?)"
"Buzz... (Is the honey bad?)"
"Buzz... (That can't be right. The Boss's aura clearly got stronger!)"
Seeing Qi Ping staring at them so strangely, the bees' tiny brains struggled to keep up.
"No, the honey is great. I was just thinking about how amazing you all are!" Qi Ping praised the lively little creatures sincerely.
"Buzz... (Oh, Boss, if you keep praising us, we'll get shy!)"
"Buzz... (As long as the Boss likes it!)"
Hearing his praise, some of the Golden Marrow Bees began spinning circles in the air with joy.
After this interlude, Qi Ping slowly began his new life as a cultivator. Raising bees, planting flowers, cultivating, nurturing Blood Ginseng... his rhythm was similar to before.
The big change was that while one hive of Black Little Bees used to be enough, he now had the more advanced Golden Marrow Bees to care for. Consequently, he needed to plant more flowers. He also had to spend significant time and energy nurturing the Blood Ginseng, which was a major drain on his mental and spiritual power.
However, every time he saw notifications like [Druid XP +1] or [Plant Growth Skill XP +1], he felt the effort was worth it. Not only was he reaping the Blood Ginseng, but his Druid level and skill proficiency were growing steadily. This feeling of effort leading directly to results was deeply satisfying—a far cry from his previous situation where hard work yielded almost nothing.
In addition to Druid XP and Plant Growth XP, he occasionally saw [Beast King's Grace XP +1]. This increase occurred because as Qi Ping nurtured more Blood Ginseng, the quality of the honey improved. With a steady supply of high-grade herbs, the overall strength of the Golden Marrow Bee colony was rising. Whether it was individual strength or colony numbers, the bees were flourishing, and they absolutely adored their Boss for it!
Strengthening the colony was their greatest wish, and it was now coming true with Qi Ping's help!
"Buzz... (Boss, your talent is just too powerful!)"
This was what the bees said most often.
However, even though the colony's strength was rising, the growth of Beast King's Grace was incredibly slow compared to the Druid Level XP—more than ten times slower.
...
Compared to Blood Ginseng, nurturing ordinary flowers was much simpler. Since it was spring, the humidity, soil, and spiritual energy of the Cloud-Mist Mountains were all quite good. It was an excellent environment for common flora; seeds generally grew without needing the Plant Growth skill.
The only thing to worry about was the occasional pest. Certain insects, like Flower-Eaters and Compound-Eye Moths, could cause significant damage. Qi Ping was already very proficient at dealing with these ordinary pests, simply manipulating his spiritual energy to kill them upon discovery.
The only danger was a large-scale infestation that might ravage the flowers before he noticed. Such outbreaks were rare; Qi Ping had only seen it once in his five years here. At that time, over half the flowers on the mountain had been devoured, and Old Man Zhou had to work incredibly hard to save just a small portion. The loss was quite heavy.
But now that Qi Ping could communicate with the bees, he had already instructed them to alert him the moment they saw pests and to mobilize the other Golden Marrow Bees to hunt them down.
However, compared to ordinary flowers, nurturing spirit flowers was much more difficult...