Apotheosis

"Why is it not normal that there's a queen bee?" Zen asked, bewildered by what he just heard.

The Collapsing Mountain warrior curled his lips before answering, "Our prophet said that there's only one queen bee and it is located in the farthest depths of the Sacred Spring Mountain."

"If there is only one queen bee, then why is there one here?"

The Collapsing Mountain warrior looked at the hive and noticed the two large eyes looking out towards them. His lips visibly trembled at the sight. "If there is a queen bee here, then the queen bee at the bottom of the mountain must have died! Something grave might have happened! We should leave right now!"

Zen was not familiar with the Sacred Spring Mountain and there were many secrets that the Collapsing Mountain race hid from the public. Zen never heard of this supposed prophet before, and the only person he knew that led the race was Chapman.

He wasn't really willing to leave. If he left now, then he would most probably have to spend another year in the Collapsing Mountain race.

"How do we leave?" he asked.

The Collapsing Mountain warrior scratched his head. He had totally forgotten that the only path they could take was the one in front of them.

If only they had more strength to resist the gravitational force of this place and fly, then they'd be able to return by the route they came in. Unfortunately, it wasn't going to be that easy given their current strength level.

The two of them stood in discussion, trying to think of a strategy in getting out. In the end though, they realized that there really was no other way. The two of them simply gritted teeth and continued forward.

Given their current situation, the Collapsing Mountain warrior no longer held any hostility towards Zen. He even told the young foreigner his name: Teigan and he had just turned 30 this year.

The thing was, the way the Collapsing Mountain race calculated age was not accurate. Daytime was not something that was fixed in the Divine Refinement Forbidden Land. Sometimes, the day lasted as long as dozens of hours, sometimes only three or four hours. The Divine Refinement Forbidden Land's calendar was way different from in the universe Zen came from.

Teigan walked in front. Despite his huge bulk, he had an extraordinary talent of controlling his strength. He was able to shrink every muscle in his body to help him move as light as a cat.

Zen had once again hid his aura. He stared at the scattered barbarian bees before following Teigan quietly.

"Buzz buzz buzz..."

A number of barbarian bees flew around the beehive. The large eyes inside the hive still stared at them following their every move. The queen bee was the greatest threat out of all the bees and they had to be careful. If they irritated it, then the entire hoard of barbarian bees would attack them with no hesitation.

The two reached the beehive soon enough. The eyes still stared at them and continued exerting invisible pressure.

Just as they were about to walk past, Teigan suddenly stopped. Zen frowned. Was he perhaps too nervous?

"Move!"

he told Teigan, giving him a push.

However, there w

ant alert of the creatures in the Divine Refinement Forbidden Land ever since he was chased by the Formless Sky Python. This led him to greatly overestimate the power of these barbarian bees.

Their stinging power was terrifying but, at the end of the day, they were still bees. This type of creature was characterized by their large quantity, fast speed, great agility, and extreme poison. However, their defensive power was still ordinary.

Zen felt overjoyed as he used his sword radiance to instantly kill dozens of the barbarian bees!

"Come over and help!" he shouted over to Teigan.

However, he didn't expect the warrior to simply keep pushing forward. "I haven't practiced any martial art! How the hell am I going to help you?!"

The only thing the Collapsing Mountain race could rely on was their terrifying strength but the use of their power remained extremely primitive. Teigan couldn't really do anything to help Zen in any way.

He could only rely on himself!

The sword radiance Zen summoned served as a net that caught the oncoming barbarian bees and sliced them in half.

"Buzz buzz buzz buzz buzz!"

A large number of bees fell with each strike. The halved bodies of the barbarian bees were all that was left in their wake and many of the ones that still chased after them had grown quite wary of Zen's sword.

"Whoosh!"

A sharp whistle rang out as a ray of black radiance shot straight towards Zen.

Just as it was about to hit him, Zen suddenly placed his sword horizontally in front of his chest.

The black radiance nailed itself onto Zen's sword! In a blink of an eye, the first-rank divine weapon that had accompanied him for so many years turned into a useless pile of molten metal that he had no choice but to throw away.

His face immediately darkened, not because he felt sad about the sword, but because he saw that the beehive had completely ruptured. An enormous black thing floated by the cave wall where a pair of huge, compound eyes glistened. It was the queen bee!

The black radiance, aimed at Zen just now, had been shot out by the queen bee.