Wasteland Territory, Ice Cave.
Years had passed since Zhou Chun last entered the ice cave, and upon sensing his presence, the Bee King of the "Skyfrost Cold Bees" also felt somewhat excited.
After checking the situation of the bee swarm, he revealed a look of surprise and delight.
It turned out that within the bee swarm, two adult Demon Bees had reached maturity, and those juvenile bees had also left the juvenile phase and entered the growth period, ready to join the swarm in hunting.
"It seems my choice was not wrong; this place indeed aids the growth of the 'Skyfrost Cold Bees.'"
Zhou Chun examined those Demon Bees that had left the juvenile phase and looked very satisfied.
As a strange insect from the "Heaven and Earth Strange Insects List," the growth speed of "Skyfrost Cold Bees" was exceptionally slow. Even in an environment very suitable for their growth, it would take hundreds of years, or even longer, to go from the juvenile phase to maturity.
Zhou Chun had possessed these Demon Bees for some years now, and it was only now that those juvenile bees had left the juvenile phase, showing how slow this Demon Insect's growth rate was.
But this was not an intolerable drawback.
Because, compared to the strength and lifespan of a mature "Skyfrost Cold Bee," all these were worthwhile.
A mature "Skyfrost Cold Bee" could live approximately three hundred years. If there were hundreds of mature "Skyfrost Cold Bees" forming a battle swarm, even ordinary Golden Core Stage Cultivators would choose to avoid their chilling breath streams rather than confront them directly.
As long as he took good care of these Demon Bees, even if Zhou Chun were to reach Core Formation in the future, these Demon Bees would become an important means for him in battles.
"By the way, since these Demon Bees arrived, it seems that the Snow Crystal Worms have never appeared again; they haven't been eaten by them, have they?"
Zhou Chun glanced around, looking at the ice walls formed by millennium-old ice, his eyes revealing a contemplative expression.
He had initially raised ten Snow Crystal Worms here, which was a confirmed success.
However, after the Demon Bees took up residence here, he had never seen those Snow Crystal Worms again.
Hence, he had ample reason to suspect that the swarm of Demon Bees had eaten those Snow Crystal Worms.
"Let them be eaten then; after all, those Snow Crystal Worms aren't of any use to me anyway."
Shaking his head, Zhou Chun did not pursue the matter further. He took out several Demon Bees from the Spirit Beast Pouch and placed them into the hive, then gathered a few mature Demon Bees into the Spirit Beast Pouch before leaving the ice cave.
In the two months that followed, Zhou Chun traversed various rivers and lakes within the Wasteland Territory, searching for traces of Third Order Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts.
His search proved fruitful as he indeed found two Third Order Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts.
These two Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts were a Third Order mid-grade One-Horned Dragon Crocodile and a Third Order high-grade Silver-Armored Dragon Fish, both significantly stronger than ordinary counterparts of the same order.
However, under the combined assault from Zhou Chun and Baibai, both Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts were decapitated and jointly slain.
During the process of hunting these two magical beasts, Zhou Chun also discovered something—the chilling breath of the "Skyfrost Cold Bees" and Baibai's Thunder Element Spells were very effective in preventing the Demon Beasts from detonating their cores.
In both battles, the Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts, realizing their inevitable demise, attempted to detonate their core by mustering their mana.
But in both cases, they were paralyzed by the Thunder Element Spells and frozen by the chilling effect, allowing Zhou Chun to slay them before they could detonate their Demon Cores.
This discovery was undoubtedly a welcome surprise for Zhou Chun.
After all, for a Cultivator hunting Third Order or even Fourth Order Magical Beasts, the biggest fear was not about how to defeat or slay the beasts, but how to prevent the explosion of the Demon Core.
A Demon Beast detonating its Demon Core not only served as a powerful self-destructive move but also rendered the Cultivator's efforts in vain.
If it weren't for someone like Zhou Chun who had found a way to prevent the explosion of the Demon Cores, the chance for Purple Mansion Phase Cultivators to retrieve a Demon Core from hunting a Third Order Demon Beast was actually not great.
Many times, even after slaying a Magical Beast, due to its Self-Detonation, the final gain would be significantly reduced.
Thus, in teams of Purple Mansion Phase Cultivators hunting Third Order Magical Beasts, there would often be a Cultivator who practiced either Ice Element or Thunder Element Cultivation Techniques, or prepared similar Magic Artifacts and Talismans, hoping to briefly prevent the Demon Beasts from detonating their Demon Cores at critical moments.
While it was indeed joyful to have slain two Third Order Dragon Descendant Demon Beasts, Zhou Chun had also stirred up a significant problem.
After he had slain the Third Order high-grade Silver-Armored Dragon Fish, just like his previous hunts of Green-Scaled Dragon Fish and One-Horned Dragon Crocodile, he prepared to search their lairs for treasures with Baibai and the Thunder Flood Dragon.
However, just as they found the entrance to that lair, the Thunder Flood Dragon Baibai suddenly sensed the rapidly approaching presence of a Fourth Order Magical Beast.
In that moment, Zhou Chun was shocked; he hastily instructed Baibai to lure the Fourth Order Magical Beast away while he quickly fled to the shore.
This decision undoubtedly saved his life.
The incoming Fourth Order Magical Beast was easily misled by the Thunder Flood Dragon Baibai and did not notice him, the Human Cultivator who had gone ashore.
However, this action had resulted in Baibai being chased by the Fourth Order Magical Beast for over a thousand miles, all the way to the Dragon Abyss Marsh, where the Magical Beast finally ceased chasing.
Afterwards, Baibai, following Zhou Chun's instructions, escaped the danger and returned to Lanzhou via the underground water channels.
When Zhou Chun returned alone to Lanzhou and learned the full story from Baibai, he immediately realized the gravity of the situation.