Beast Taming: I Have an Immortal Mansion-Chapter 42: Breaking the Cocoon and Entering the Soul

On the nurturing Array, a tiny crack abruptly split open at the top of the grayish-white cocoon.

The nearly inaudible cracking sound made Fang Qingyuan subconsciously hold his breath, afraid he might startle the little creature before him.

This Bee Queen cocoon had been nurtured in the sect for half a year and was only released for disciples to choose when it was on the verge of hatching. Fang Qingyuan had possessed it for half a month.

It was quite the coincidence. By the looks of it, the Golden Jade Scorpion-tailed Bee Queen was going to emerge from its cocoon today.

After a while, as the crack at the top of the grayish-white cocoon widened, a Bee Queen with a plump abdomen and a snow-white body slowly crawled out.

The newborn Golden Jade Scorpion-tailed Bee Queen was about the size of a baby’s fist. Its body was snow-white, adorned with faint golden stripes. By Fang Qingyuan’s standards, it was a beautiful insect.

As soon as the Bee Queen emerged, Fang Qingyuan used the previously prepared Array to forcefully form a contract with it.

As Fang Qingyuan felt a slight dizziness, a sliver of his divine soul was imprinted onto the newborn Bee Queen’s soul, thus completing his control over it.

This was the Divine Soul Possession Technique. Beast Taming Mountain had many methods for controlling Spirit Beasts, but when it came to sheer understanding and control, the Cultivation Technique Fang Qingyuan used was undoubtedly one of the finest.

By imprinting a sliver of one’s divine soul onto a Spirit Beast’s soul, virtually none of the beast’s thoughts or intentions could be hidden from its Master. It was an extremely domineering method.

Of course, a Spirit Beast was a living creature that would instinctively resist, so this method could only be used to form contracts with those of low intelligence.

Otherwise, the emotions and desires transmitted from a highly intelligent Spirit Beast would flood back into the Master’s divine soul.

If a Master failed to properly manage these emotions over a long period, their personality could change drastically in a mild case. In a severe one, they could suffer cultivation deviation and descend into madness.

Therefore, while the method was effective, it had to be used judiciously. One needed to flexibly apply various Beast Taming Techniques depending on the specific Spirit Beast they intended to contract.

Having just been contracted by Fang Qingyuan immediately after emerging from its cocoon, the Golden Jade Scorpion-tailed Bee Queen was now spiritually drained. Fang Qingyuan sensed its emotional state through its soul and quickly retrieved a small bowl of Golden Jade Flower Nectar from his storage bag, placing it before the Bee Queen.

Sensing the sweet fragrance of the nectar in the air, the young Bee Queen wriggled its body over to the Golden Jade Flower Nectar and began to feast heartily.

As he watched the Bee Queen eat the Flower Nectar, Fang Qingyuan began to ponder, ’Should the first brood the Bee Queen is about to produce be entirely converted into Worker Bees?’ 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

In a natural environment, a proper Bee Queen’s offspring would surely have a full range of roles, including Worker Bees to gather nectar and Soldier Bees to guard the hive.

’But I’m planning to take it into my Immortal Mansion Space. You can’t even find a flea in there right now, so creating Soldier Bees would be a total waste of resources.’

A beehive is an incredibly cruel microcosm of society. Any offspring of the Golden Jade Scorpion-tailed Bee Queen that failed to provide value would be ruthlessly eliminated and recycled.

’Rather than let the Bee Queen act on instinct, I should have it follow my will. That’s how I’ll maximize my own gains.’

With this in mind, Fang Qingyuan waited for the Bee Queen to finish the serving of Golden Jade Flower Nectar—a portion as large as its own body. Then, he cradled it in his palm and whispered:

"Take one last look at this world, because you won’t be seeing it again for a long time."

The Bee Queen listened dumbly to Fang Qingyuan’s words, not understanding their meaning. A moment later, it felt the world spin around it. When it opened its eyes again, it found itself in a field of flowers.

This was Fang Qingyuan’s Immortal Mansion Space. His divine soul projection was as indistinct as ever. He placed the Bee Queen inside a hive woven from several stalks of Spiritual Bamboo and issued the command to lay eggs.

These were the same ten stalks of Spiritual Bamboo that Fang Qingyuan had transplanted earlier. In addition to them, he also spotted some small bamboo shoots.

’Bamboo grows quickly by nature,’ Fang Qingyuan mused. ’It won’t be long before these young shoots become new Spiritual Bamboo as well.’

Receiving the command from Fang Qingyuan, its Master, the Bee Queen curled up in the dark hive and slowly began to lay larvae, one by one. The larvae immediately became pupae upon being laid, and after a few days, they would transform into industrious Worker Bees.

Fang Qingyuan had no intention of ever letting this Bee Queen leave the Immortal Mansion Space. Over the past few days, he had transplanted a variety of seasonal flowers into the space, and now a small plot of land was covered with them.

However, these were all mundane, unranked plant varieties, which Fang Qingyuan intended as a temporary food source for the Bee Queen.

Once the Bee Queen’s hive reached a certain size, Fang Qingyuan would replace these mundane plants with Tier One Spirit Plants.

With Tier One Spirit Plants, the Bee Queen would be able to produce Golden Jade Spirit Honey, which would become yet another source of Spirit Stone income for Fang Qingyuan.

’Maybe I should learn about cultivating Spirit Plants and become a Spirit Plant Cultivator. Otherwise, the Immortal Mansion Space will just be a chaotic mess without any proper planning.’

Fang Qingyuan temporarily set this thought aside. After observing the Bee Queen’s situation for a while, he left the small bamboo grove and went to another area within the Immortal Mansion Space.

The soil here was still a deep, dark black, and piled upon it were many pieces of Spirit Wood and other spirit materials.

While transplanting the flowers, Fang Qingyuan had discovered something. Although the black soil in the Immortal Mansion Space didn’t possess the heaven-defying ability to accelerate growth, it did ensure that all the plants grew extremely well.

The Spiritual Bamboo was a special case, but the flowers on the small plot he’d planted for the Bee Queen were a different story. They were a mix of many varieties, each with its own unique growing requirements. Despite this, all of them were thriving in the Immortal Mansion Space, showing no signs of wilting.

This was a significant advantage. Because of it, Fang Qingyuan was planning to transplant some Spirit Plants with extremely demanding growing conditions into the space. ’If even those can survive,’ he thought, ’I’ll be able to make a fortune.’

However, Fang Qingyuan put that idea on hold for now. He had more important matters to attend to.

Over the past three months, while transporting mortals for the sect, Fang Qingyuan had made a habit of purchasing spirit materials every half-month. He would then add them to the Immortal Mansion Space, burying them beneath the black soil.

He had done this six or seven times now. As the spirit materials were absorbed by the Immortal Mansion Space, Fang Qingyuan could clearly feel his cultivation speed quickening over the past few days.

Although the acceleration wasn’t as pronounced as the effects of a Yellow Bud Pill, Fang Qingyuan estimated it was still about one-fifth as potent.

After all, a Yellow Bud Pill could only temporarily boost a Cultivator’s Spirit Root sensitivity. The improvement Fang Qingyuan was feeling, however, seemed to be permanent.

After briefly tidying up the spirit materials and Spirit Wood on the Black Land, Fang Qingyuan withdrew from the Immortal Mansion Space. He then took out the Magical Artifact used for measuring one’s Spirit Root and began his ritual of testing it once every three days.