As Qin Niu passed by Xie Laizi's house at the foot of the mountain, he happened to see Er Dan running out.
Er Dan, being clever, winked at Qin Niu to signal that the task was completed.
Qin Niu gave a slight nod in response.
Xie Laizi, his head full of boils, saw Qin Niu heading up the mountain with a machete and a carrying pole, a flash of surprise in his eyes. Ah Niu really seemed fine.
"Ah Niu, I heard Master Kun visited your home?"
He greeted Qin Niu with a laid-back smile.
Qin Niu didn't speak, just lowered his head and headed into the mountain.
Normally, Ah Niu almost always acted this way.
When others talked to him, he generally paid them no heed.
Xie Laizi wasn't bothered by the lack of response. He locked his door and hurried off in the direction from which Qin Niu came.
Judging by his appearance, he was surely off to Wang Haikun's house to explain.
He knew Wang Haikun's temperament very well, one who could turn hostile in an instant. It wouldn't be surprising if a bowl-sized fist came his way.
Serving a king was like serving a tiger, as it had been since ancient times.
Qin Niu turned to look at Xie Laizi's retreating figure and chuckled. Just wait and watch the show.
After entering the mountain, he went to check on the termite nest he had adopted.
The bear's blood had long been consumed by them.
There were three centipede carcasses left, and now only one large one remained, with more than half of its tail chewed away.
"Wow! There are new members being added!"
Qin Niu noticed a few more young worker ants.
Two stood guard at the entrance, surveying back and forth without working.
They looked noticeably different from ordinary worker ants.
Their mandibles seemed significantly larger, bodies more robust, their six legs powerful and strong. They crawled much faster than other worker ants. Their speed rivaled Fourth's.
Even their heads appeared longer.
"Could these be soldier ants?"
Qin Niu was pleasantly surprised.
In an ant colony, soldier ants were crucial. Their combat ability far exceeded that of worker ants.
Under normal circumstances, after the female's reproductive nuptial flight, the first batch of eggs produced a small number of worker ants, which turned into adults capable of foraging and feeding the ant queen. The second batch would produce a small number of soldier ants.
Because soldier ants greatly improved the overall ant nest's security.
The ant queen Qin Niu subdued had a high intelligence, making her behavior unlike ordinary queens.
The first batch of her eggs, along with the second batch, were all worker ants.
Only in the third batch did soldier ants appear.
Of course, it might also relate to her being physically weaker.
The hatching and nurturing of soldier ants consumed more energy. She might worry that producing soldier ants too early would overburden the colony, hindering its development.
Worker ants represented productivity, while soldier ants represented defense capability.
Like queens and reproductive ants, soldier ants couldn't eat on their own. They were born for battle, solely responsible for defense, protecting the colony and nest.
They depended on worker ants to feed them to survive.
Fourth, along with the worker ants, was diligently following Qin Niu's orders, dismantling the large centipede's carcass and carrying it into the nest as food storage.
"Wow, Fourth's strength seemed to increase a lot!"
Qin Niu noticed Fourth's mandibles crushing the large centipede's body with obvious increased strength. Work efficiency had greatly improved.
Not just that, the other five young worker ants from the second batch also doubled in strength, growing much stronger.
Could this be the change brought by consuming bear blood?
He speculated quietly.
Much bear blood had spilled onto the ground, wasted, which was truly a pity. If used to feed this termite nest, it would surely bring immense surprise.
However, he wasn't in a rush.
Now that he could single-handedly kill a black bear, there would surely be more opportunities to hunt black bears in the future.
At that time, he could collect the bear blood and gradually feed it to the ant colony.
Moreover, as the ant colony grew stronger, they could consume even more bear blood at once.
Now, with just a few worker ants working, their feeding capacity was quite limited.
Seeing the tremendous changes in the ant colony, Qin Niu felt joy in his heart.
With soldier ants now, and having the nest built inside this large camphor tree, the colony's survival capability was at least ten times stronger than before.
He instinctively checked the ant queen's attributes.
Female Milky White Ant (Ant Queen)
Level: Grade Two Isoptera, upgrade experience 198/1000
Lifespan: 4.3 years
Energy: 5861
Skills: Reproduction Tier 1 0.95/10, Feigned Death Tier 1 2/10
Talent: Medium intelligence
Colony: Subpar worker ant 1, lifespan 4 months, special abilities (strength, speed, medium intelligence). Strong worker ant 5, lifespan 3.1 years. Regular worker ant 6, lifespan 3 years. Strong soldier ant 2, lifespan 7 months.
After checking the colony's attributes, Qin Niu was both happy and somewhat concerned.
The queen, Fourth, and the worker ants from the second batch all had their lifespan increased by one month.
The normal lifespan for soldier ants was about six months, so these two should also have an extra month.
Furthermore, Fourth and the worker ants from the second batch, along with the newly transformed soldier ants, all gained a new ability, "strength."
Now it could be concluded that these benefits came from consuming the bear blood.
It seemed that in the future, whenever there was blood food available, more could be fed to them.
The food could be given to the worker ants, which, after eating, would feed it back to the queen, soldier ants, and larvae, benefiting almost the entire colony.
"Maybe later I can get them some bear meat to eat, but I wonder how effective it will be?"
He felt that the blood should be the essence.
The effectiveness of bear meat was likely to be less.
"Powerful Soldier Ants, Powerful Worker Ants! Interesting!"
Their strength was twice that of ordinary Worker Ants and Soldier Ants.
The effect of this bear blood was truly amazing.
...
Qin Niu chopped a load of firewood and returned home.
Faintly, he could still hear Wang Haikun's coarse voice coming from Wang Furen's house. It seemed like the drink had gotten to him!
He just hoped this pest would leave soon.
He still wanted to take some bear meat to feed that nest of Termites.
Qin Niu was chopping wood in his backyard, splitting logs as thick as a man's leg with one swing.
After his Slash Martial Skill slightly improved, its power was indeed formidable.
Occasionally, he could even unleash a strengthened Critical Chop effect.
His proficiency in slashing was gradually improving.
So far, for all his skills, except for his cultivation skill which could be improved by labor, others required tough practice step by step.
Wang Haikun seemed to have drunk enough, and finally, he heard Wang Furen seeing the guest out.
"Haikun, when you come next time, remember to come in for tea! Next door, Ah Niu is just a kid, so don't bully him anymore."
Wang Furen didn't forget to speak well of Ah Niu.
"Uh... I heard he got some game! That kid's nothing but a beggar; eating game will only shorten his life. I'm helping him! Thanks for the hospitality, see you!"
Wang Haikun hiccupped and staggered away.
When Qin Niu came down the mountain, he saw that Xie Laizi's house was still locked.
It's likely Xie Laizi was waiting at Wang Haikun's home for him to return and then explain everything face to face.
In situations like this, Xie Laizi surely didn't dare to make a fuss publicly.
Otherwise, when everyone found out he was Wang Haikun's lackey, they wouldn't treat him kindly.
They might even ostracize him everywhere.
For this reason, every time Xie Laizi went to Wang Haikun's house, it was in secret, fearing to be seen.
In less than the time of a meal, he heard villagers shouting, "Someone's been beaten to death! Beaten to death at Wang Haikun's house!"
Qin Niu was secretly pleased; cunning was indeed useful.
Easily, he toyed with Wang Haikun and Xie Laizi.
Without any effort, he eliminated one of Wang Haikun's spies.
In the future, entering and leaving the mountain forest would be much more convenient.
Otherwise, every time he entered the mountain, he was constantly monitored by Xie Laizi, which made Qin Niu feel unsafe.
Seeing this situation, Wang Haikun was unable to come to Qin Niu's house today to make a surprise attack.
Nevertheless, Qin Niu remained extremely cautious.
He took some bear meat, put it in a small jar, then placed it at the bottom of his backpack, and headed into the mountains.
He fed the Termites with the bear meat.
The big centipede's corpse had already been almost completely dismantled.
With the increase in Worker Ants, their work efficiency significantly improved.
Mainly due to Fourth and those five Powerful Worker Ants, after they absorbed the bear blood, their strength doubled, and they worked faster by more than double.
After feeding the bear meat and observing for a while without issue, Qin Niu then left.
When he carried a basket of humus down the mountain and passed by Xie Laizi's house, he saw many villagers gathered outside.
Xie Laizi was covered in blood, completely disfigured from the beating.
Not dead yet, still clinging to life.
"Master Kun, I am wronged, I really didn't deceive you..."
Xie Laizi repeated the sentence in an extremely weak voice.
"Xie Laizi, you deserve it! Ah Niu honestly farms, all alone, how did he bother you? He carried a few baskets of fertile soil from the mountains to farm, and you had to report to Wang Haikun, saying he got game again."
"Last time, when I caught a deer, just as I got home, Wang Haikun came right after. It must have been this bastard Xie Laizi who reported it."
"I dug up a ginseng in the mountain, and the next day Master Kun came to take it away. I bet Xie Laizi sold me out too. Now that he's been beaten to this point, it's called deserved punishment!"
Villagers criticized and condemned the severely injured Xie Laizi one after another.
What is meant by pushing the wall down, everyone pushing?
This was it.
Xie Laizi's patron—Wang Haikun—wanted to kill him; with the patron gone, the villagers had no sympathy knowing he was Wang Haikun's lackey.
It truly was like Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror, neither inside nor out.
Qin Niu slowed his pace slightly while carrying the humus and observed, then quickly moved on.
In the eyes of the villagers, he was still the silent, simple-minded Ah Niu.
After dumping the humus on the ground, he returned home, locked the door, and peered outside at the commotion.
No one noticed him.
That was the outcome he wanted.
However, he was very clear that Wang Haikun's spies certainly weren't just Xie Laizi. So, he had to be very careful, one misstep could lead to eternal ruin.
He didn't eat the bear meat but instead ate the "chaff" in the pot.
From now on, he would eat this during the day, and at night, when it was quiet, he would eat meat heartily.
Quietly improving his skills.
The next day he'd go to the city, sell the bear skin, and probably be able to get a large batch of essential materials for his cultivation.