The armor was the prized possession of Huang which he got as a reward from the Emerald Amethyst Hall. The fire energy armor was made of Qilin Steel and Fire element crystal embedded throughout the armor's inner hide. The armor also worked while consuming Fire element stones, and Li Meng had to start putting in more and more the deeper he went.
"How many do I need to consume for the trip?"
"I estimate around a thousand pieces at the very least will be required." Li Meng's face twitched when he heard the overall estimate. A thousand Firestones was a high price to pay. Fortunately, Li Xuanfa had prepared a lot of Firestone for this trip. He had around 700 fire stones in his rings. Which lessens the burden on Li Meng.
"300 fire element stones are to be spent at the very least. "
"We have a very valuable treasure in depth. I think it is worth it." Keeper commented. He knew that whatever lay at the end of the marked area, was a valuable resource. The evidence was the Netherworld-Brazed steel plate.
Li Meng didn't complain any further and rushed into the depths of the Misty-Ridge. Eventually, they managed to pass through the inner region and the number of cultivators' insight grew less. The only ones who were present here were extremely powerful Qi King cultivators, and everyone was warry of each other,
The surprising fact was that there was no conflict in the region since everyone knew that the other person is a powerful cultivator to have made it here. No one wanted to become a scapegoat for others to profit from. Another astounding scene was the fact that frost lilies were visible all around the area.
Li Meng thought that frost lilies were a precious herb, but the view in front of him completely blew his mind. Every single healing herb he had in mind was most likely present around the region. He began to pick up a lot of the herbs, and the area was so vast that he didn't interfere in anyone's hunting ground.
After an incense stick or two, the number of frost lilies, snake plants, ice-dew flowers, and snow lavender had reached a humongous amount. Li Meng decided to stop here and proceed to a deeper region. His objective was to collect as many healing herbs as he could find since he needed them for the experiment he was going to conduct on the avatar.
The four listed herbs were quite potent, but Li Meng had heard that there were even rare herbs in the depths of Misty-Ridge. A warning came with the data though. From this point onward he was going to face creatures who lived within the Misty-Valley. Having avoided any confrontation until now made Li meng a bit confident in his luck, but the thing took a different turn after another incense stick of time.
It happened when he was collecting a flower called the winter hyacinth. He could feel that the ground was filled with a small tremor which grew in intensity as time passed by. Something was making its way towards him. Li Meng initially decided to hide and watch from the sidelines, but the Keeper reported that he could easily take care of the enemy.
Turns out, it was a hive of winter bees that lived within the Misty-Ridge. When Li Meng got a view of them, his face turned pale. Every bee within the attacking force was a Qi King-level beast. He could even spot beats at the advanced Qi King level.
"How dare you fool me?"
"I am doing this for your ow3n benefit. If I am not wrong, these bees must have a hive nearby. We need to collect the honey within it. It might be the best cultivation resource you have found. Its healing properties would also be at the very top. This is the best medicine which could help you in the experiment."
"Are you out of your mind? How will I beat this group of bees?"
"Just direct the towards the other cultivators around the region. Let them take care of the bees. Whatever is left, you should be able to take care of." Li Meng loved the idea, but it meant that they were going to deflect from the pre-decided path. In the end, LI meng decided on the whole idea.
Li Meng attacked the swarm to gather their attention and once they began to come for him, he ran towards the direction of other cultivators. Misty-Ridge was always filled with Mist and it was very difficult to have a clear vision. Hence many cultivators were not even able to locate the swarm until it was too close to them.
A small war took place in the region, as the cultivators around the area began to hunt the bees down. Li Meng had changed both his face and location so many times, that there shouldn't be any evidence regarding his involvement in the matter. He then followed a group of bees back to their hive. The bees were pouring into the region of battle, the hive was essentially left unattained.
Li Meng slowly climbed into the huge hive and made his way through the complex path with the help of the Keeper's instructions. They slowly made their way into the inner region when he first spotted the worker bees.
"Careful. Do not attract their attention We need to carefully collect the Honey and leave this place. You can't risk being trapped in the middle of the hive." Li Meng proceeded with caution and finally managed to make it to the region where the honey was located. He thanked fate that the Queen bee wasn't present in the region.
Li Meng slowly started to collect the honey within the Crimso world artifact. 1 incense stick went by and so did two and three. After around 10 incense sticks in time, the Keeper instructed Li Meng to stop. The honey collected was a huge chunk of what was present in the hive and the bees will begin to notice it quite soon.
It was at this time that Li Meng heard a weird growl coming from one of the passages.
"Dodge back" The keeper instructed. Li Meng followed and soon enough a huge figure came into view of Li meng.
"Forst bee queen." Li Meng cursed his luck to have encountered the queen in the inner region. It was an indication of trouble for him. He began to attack the queen, which she managed to dodge, noticing that it was a fluke to help him rush into one of the passages. He was trying to escape the hive.
The frost bee queen began to signal the worker bees and followed Li Meng into the passage.
