Half a day later.
Qi Ping personally escorted Old Man Zhou to the Hongyun Merchant Guild. Only after seeing him reunite with Wang Shan and Fatty Zhou did he truly put his mind at ease. In these times, a loose cultivator's life was as cheap as grass; the secular world was far safer.
Now that his worries were gone, he could devote himself entirely to herb cultivation and his Ring-cutter legion.
'Qingshi County is dangerous, but if I am cautious, I can turn this into a resource-gathering opportunity. With a large army of Ring-cutters, I can face both insects and marauders.'
'My advantage lies in insect taming and explosive growth through herbs. The Ring-cutters are fast and can relay information from a distance. In any situation, I can send a portion of the swarm as an advance guard to scout before deciding whether to fight or flee.'
If he could win, he would fight. If not, he would run.
'As long as I prepare suitable escape routes, I will be even more secure.'
Though he preferred a peaceful life, he would not hesitate to be ruthless given the current circumstances. If the situation forced his hand, then he would slaughter his way through.
'I just need to reach Druid Level 3 as soon as possible...' Qi Ping thought with anticipation.
Once a Druid reached Level 3, they gained the skill: Wild Shape!
[Wild Shape: You can transform into an animal and gain its supernatural powers.]
For Qi Ping, the first transformation he desired was that of his first Animal Companion: the Golden Marrow Bee. As his Ring-cutter army took shape and the swarm's numbers increased, transforming into a bee would make him indistinguishable from the others in terms of aura, appearance, and soul signature.
In such a state, even if he encountered a Foundation Establishment cultivator, he would have the confidence to escape. He could simply disperse the swarm across the entire Cloud-Mist Mountain Range and hide among them. No matter how many experts there were, catching a single bee among thousands was nearly impossible. This was the ultimate survival tool.
There was another reason for this choice: Wild Shape had a restriction. One could only transform into forms they were intimately familiar with, and the energy required could not exceed their own total capacity.
Qi Ping was familiar with the Black Little Bees, Golden Marrow Bees, and their variants. He was not familiar with, say, a Qilin. Even if he were, he couldn't transform into one because the energy gap would be too vast.
While the Ring-cutters were higher in rank than Qi Ping, their physical size was tiny compared to a human, making the transformation relatively easy to achieve.
'I'm not far from Level 3...'
[Druid Level: Lv2 (83/200)]
'Only 117 experience points left. In a month or so, I can reach Level 3!'
'If I can cultivate another century-old Blood Ginseng and a fifty-year-old Streaming Light Grass, I can level up even faster.'
When he had successfully cultivated the High-speed Ring-cutter, Balanced, and Pot-bellied drones, he had gained a staggering 47 experience points. Therefore, once the Ring-cutter mass production was finished, he could refine more mutation potions and trigger more evolutions while growing the herbs. This "double-dipping" of experience could push him to Level 3 in less than a month!
Once he had Wild Shape, his survivability would skyrocket. As long as he didn't do something foolish like provoking a Tier-2 powerhouse, even the three great families wouldn't be able to take his life.
Confidence surged within him. He just had to weather this dangerous initial period.
'First step: focus entirely on herbs and mass-producing Ring-cutters.'
'Second step: use mutation potions to hit Level 3 and master the Ring-cutter transformation.'
'Third step: seek out Manager Gao for information on spirit beasts. With Wild Shape and a Ring-cutter legion as my backing, I won't have to fear being targeted if I buy high-potential beasts.'
His future Animal Companions had to either possess high potential or rare talents that could aid his cultivation. If the right beast appeared, he might even consider contracting two at once.
On his way back from escorting Old Man Zhou, he visited Sister Nan and informed her about the locusts. She fell silent, but her resolve to stay remained unshaken. Qi Ping knew she was a smart woman; if she chose this path, she must have a reason she couldn't leave. He wouldn't pry. If he could help her later, he would.
He also asked if her Crisis Warning had triggered. The answer was no. This allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief; it meant there was likely no massive invasion coming for now. Small-scale attacks could be handled by the bees. He urged her to tell him the moment her talent gave a warning, which she promised to do.
Back on the mountain, his spiritual energy had recovered. He went straight to the herb plot. Every extra plant meant a higher cap for his bee army. Once he had enough basic herbs, he would pivot back to century-old specimens to farm experience.
With Level 2 Plant Growth, the speed of accumulation had increased drastically, and the difficulty of raising high-age plants had decreased. In the following days, Qi Ping went all out. Aside from necessary rest, he spent every waking moment frantically growing Blood Ginseng. His exhaustion was immense, but a strong sense of purpose and crisis kept him upright.
His harvests were extraordinary! Blood Ginseng was produced at a frantic pace, either being brewed into honey or stored for when the Pot-bellied army was ready. Even his Druid experience was climbing at two or three times its normal rate!
[Druid Class EXP +1]
[Druid Class EXP +1]
[Druid Class EXP +1]
...
Every notification filled him with a sense of satisfaction. However, this state only lasted three days before he was greeted by a group of unwelcome guests far stronger than the locusts: Blood-Armor Mole Crickets!
"Damn it... these insects finding this place is definitely not a coincidence!"
Qi Ping couldn't be sure before, but the direction these mole crickets were coming from was, once again, straight toward the Blood Ginseng plot!