It was the source of that buzzing sound.

But that wasn’t the point.

The point was...

Who the hell has ever seen a bee as big as a damn bowl?!

Qin Fang’s scalp tingled with fear, and he subconsciously looked up again.

And his heart nearly stopped!

It was only then that he discovered... the entire beehive was absolutely massive, covering almost the entire ceiling of the cavern ahead. It was layered and stacked from bottom to top, with a diameter that had to be dozens of meters!

What kind of bees were these?!

Qin Fang didn’t even dare to breathe.

After all, just one or two ordinary hornets were enough to be lethal!

And as for these unknown, bowl-sized bees... one only had to look at the faintly blue-glowing Poison Needle on their tails, nearly as large as the Iron Nail in his hand.

That told him everything.

If he got stung by one of those things...

He’d most likely ascend to the heavens on the spot...

This...

Qin Fang’s brow furrowed involuntarily.

The Treasure Plant was right in front of him, but it was surrounded by such a terrifying, massive beehive.

What was he supposed to do?

He didn’t even dare to move now. If he startled these Giant Bees...

...it would undoubtedly mean certain death!

After hesitating for a long while, Qin Fang decisively chose to leave first and think later.

These things... it was like having a minefield hanging over his head. It was too unnerving.

He retreated slowly, trying his best not to make a single sound.

Only after backing out past the first gentle slope and reaching the second did he finally let out a long breath.

His expression flickered incessantly.

...The Wild Boar King must have come here. That Treasure Plant had to be the reason it grew so enormous.

However, the Treasure Plant was intact, which meant the Wild Boar King hadn’t eaten it.

So how did it get so big?

Could it be...

"The air?"

Qin Fang was stunned.

He took a deep breath of the surrounding air, the cloyingly sweet scent filling his lungs.

...But he didn’t feel anything different.

What was going on?

Qin Fang couldn’t figure it out no matter how hard he thought.

The Treasure Plant really did exist, but the Wild Boar King definitely hadn’t eaten it.

And yet, the Wild Boar King had indeed grown abnormally large, and eating its meat had increased his proficiency by a great deal.

So what in the world was going on?

...Even though Qin Fang considered himself fairly intelligent, he couldn’t make sense of it.

After a moment of hesitation, he finally decided to leave the cave for now and figure things out later.

The Treasure Plant was here; it wasn’t going anywhere. He needed to go outside and take a look... perhaps he could find other answers in the Wild Boar King’s living area.

Also... how exactly did the Wild Boar King fall from the cliff?

Mulling this over, Qin Fang made his way out of the cave.

Since he was already familiar with the path and his eyes had fully adjusted, it only took him about ten minutes to see daylight.

Breathing fresh air again, Qin Fang let out a long sigh of relief.

Then he subconsciously glanced back at the cave, a glint in his eyes.

What was inside was definitely a Treasure, but it clearly wasn’t something he could get his hands on right now.

Those Giant Bees looked terrifying, and Qin Fang had no desire to provoke them.

’Wait a minute...’

’Giant Bees?’

’Those Giant Bees obviously exist because of the Treasure Plant... and their bodies are astonishingly large.’

’The Wild Boar King weighed over a thousand jin and was also astonishingly large.’

’And the Wild Boar King had been in this cave before... I know how to hide my tracks, but does the Wild Boar King... also know how to move stealthily?’

’If the Wild Boar King had made some huge commotion, wouldn’t the Giant Bees have attacked it?’

’The Wild Boar King may have been tough and thick-skinned, but it was ultimately still a mortal creature. Could it withstand the Giant Bees’ venom?’

’Bee... Venom...’

Qin Fang blinked, his eyes flashing rapidly.

’Bee Venom is a poison... but it can also be used as medicine.’

’The premise is that you have to be able to withstand the toxicity...’

’What if... this boar had withstood the toxicity?’

’In that case, would the poison be gone, leaving only the medicinal properties?’

’The size of the Giant Bees is clearly abnormal. It’s highly likely they’ve consumed something like the nectar of that Treasure Plant... which means it’s very possible that their Bee Venom contains some of the Treasure Plant’s medicinal power?’

’The Wild Boar King... did it get stung by the bees so many times that it absorbed a trace of the Treasure Plant’s medicinal power through the Bee Venom? And is that what made its body grow so huge?’

Qin Fang’s brow was tightly furrowed...

He mulled it over carefully.

’This seems... like a plausible line of reasoning?’

’But it still doesn’t explain how the Wild Boar King fell to the foot of the cliff. Unless it suddenly went crazy...’

Go crazy?

He blinked, recalling the environment inside the cave...

Not far from where the Treasure Plant was, there was a ventilation opening—it should be the one he’d seen from the cliff face.

And that opening was certainly large enough.

...If the Wild Boar King really had gone crazy, charged into the cave to try and eat the Treasure Plant, it would have naturally startled the Giant Bees above.

If the startled Giant Bees launched a group attack on it, then even if it was tough and thick-skinned, or even if it was already immune to the Bee Venom, it probably couldn’t have withstood it...

In that moment, fleeing in a blind panic, the Wild Boar King could have charged out of that ventilation opening and fallen to its death...

...That seems to make sense, doesn’t it?

Qin Fang mused.

’It seems to add up.’

However... this was all just his speculation.

Maybe he was spot on, or maybe he was a million miles off.

Then Qin Fang took a deep breath.

’First, I’ll search the area and see if there’s anything else unusual... If I can’t find any other possible reason for the Wild Boar King’s mutation, then the probability of my theory being correct becomes very high.’

With that thought, Qin Fang began to search the vicinity.

He wanted to see if there was anything out of the ordinary nearby.

The Wild Boar King was clearly a very territorial creature. In the area where it frequently roamed, many large trees had their bark rubbed off, which made it easy for Qin Fang to determine its general range of activity.

After over an hour, Qin Fang let out a soft sigh.

It seemed there were no other special places here.

The only special things were the Treasure Plant and the Giant Bees in that cave.

’There’s no way I can go for the Treasure Plant... that’s the Giant Bees’ nest. If I startle them, I don’t have enough lives to lose.’

’Maybe... I can start with the Giant Bees?’

A glint appeared in his eyes.

He looked around the area but didn’t see any signs of Giant Bee activity.

But that didn’t mean the Giant Bees never left the cavern.

Qin Fang definitely couldn’t handle a swarm of Giant Bees.

But if it was a single, lone Giant Bee... with his Great Success level Hidden Weapon Technique, there should be a chance he could take one down!

...But how exactly would he do it?

Qin Fang frowned, gazing at the cavern as he sank into deep thought.