Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Murderous Giant Bees

As the three voices faded, Bai Shengye turned his head at the sound. Between his fingers, he was twirling a small snow-white flower that glimmered with a soft nocturnal light, raising it to his nose for a gentle sniff.

“Hmm, a night-luminous blossom. Its quality is barely above average, but if it had grown on a cliffside, it would be a true treasure. What a shame…”

“Bai Shengye! What are you doing here?” Ling Xiaolei demanded loudly, looking every bit like the self-proclaimed guardian of the forest.

“Doctor…” Shen Zaiguo greeted him shyly.

Bai Shengye tossed the night-luminous flower into the medicine basket slung behind him, slipping his hands into the pockets of his white outer robe.

“Well, what do we have here? So you’re the ones stealing away my little princess every night. Don’t you dare lead her astray.”

“I should be the one saying that! Don’t you corrupt our princess! We’re her true friends,” Ling Xiaolei shot back. “Why are you up so late, picking herbs in the middle of the night? You must be in a poetic mood. The Twilight Forest is dangerous, you know. Want us to protect you?”

Bai Shengye turned away with a scoff. “I’m a prophet, you see. I knew my little princess would be here tonight, so I came to protect her…”

He hadn’t finished when a loud buzzing suddenly sounded overhead.

“What’s that noise?” Bai Shengye jerked his head up, and the others followed suit.

Above Heiyu and the others, a wasp nest half the size of a man swayed gently between the branches, surrounded by a dense cloud of killer hornets, each with an abdomen nearly a foot long, tipped with a razor-sharp venomous stinger.

“Is that a killer giant hornet’s nest?”

Without hesitation, Bai Shengye pinched a silvery herb from his basket, crushed its leaves, and smeared the powder over himself as he muttered, “Do you bring misfortune wherever you go?”

Ling Xiaolei sidestepped with feigned innocence, pointing at Heiyu. “It’s him. He’s the jinx. I’ve got nothing to do with this.”

Seeing how unconcerned they were, Bai Shengye raised his voice in warning, “Killer hornet venom is deadly—one sting and you’re done for! Protect the princess, or I’ll skin the two of you for medicinal broth!”

“What do we do now?” Shen Zaiguo shrank behind Heiyu, clutching his sleeve in terror.

Heiyu conjured his staff and unlocked its first seal, preparing to fight. In moments, more killer hornets swarmed from the hive, their transparent wings beating as they circled the trio.

Standing at a distance, Bai Shengye remained hands in pockets, composed—perhaps thanks to the herbal powder. “I advise you to run. These demon wasps are not to be trifled with—anger them and they’ll pursue you relentlessly until you’re dead. Luckily, I’m protected by herbs. They won’t come near me. Head that way and—”

Before he could finish, Heiyu unleashed a “Darklight Slash,” cleaving the nest in two. Bai Shengye’s hair stood on end as he pointed at Heiyu, trembling. “You—you—you! I told you not to provoke them! Even demon beasts steer clear of killer hornets in this forest, yet you dare destroy their nest? Are you suicidal? Princess, come here at once! Don’t stand with those fools!”

Shen Zaiguo glanced ahead—the space between her and Bai Shengye was already teeming with giant hornets. She stood her ground. “I won’t run. We’re a team, and I want to stay with Brother Heiyu!” Her voice was childish yet resolute.

“Suit yourselves, I’m out of here!” Perhaps the powder was no longer enough to deter the hornets, for Bai Shengye dashed away in a flash.

“Ling Xiaolei, I’ll unlock the second seal to deal with these hornets. Shield Dragonfruit with a barrier, and don’t worry about me.” Heiyu shoved Ling Xiaolei and Shen Zaiguo away as he ran toward the fallen nest, drawing the hornets’ attention.

“What about you?” Ling Xiaolei called, but Heiyu was already gone. She could only raise a barrier to enclose herself and Shen Zaiguo.

With their nest destroyed, the hornets were furious, surging out in a black, swirling mass like a living vortex. The sky darkened with their numbers, and Ling Xiaolei’s legs turned to jelly at the sight. Shen Zaiguo clung to her arm, wide-eyed. If not for the barrier, they would have fled already.

The giant hornets hammered their stingers against the shield with metallic clinks, their wings’ droning almost deafening. Soon, the barrier was shrouded in a swarm so thick it seemed they were submerged in a pitch-black sea, suffocating in the darkness. Sweat seeped from Ling Xiaolei’s grip on her staff.

“If we die here, no one will even recognize our bodies…” she whispered, swallowing hard.

“Don’t scare me…” Shen Zaiguo whimpered, her fear deepening.

Heiyu studied the hornets’ movements, planted his staff, and declared, “Let’s end this with a Dark Storm.”

His training, and the recent battle with Xiaoyu, had honed his mastery of magic and greatly increased his strength.

“Dark Storm—Eternal Night!”

With a surge of dark power, his black robe billowed, and potent energy coursed through him. Two wings unfurled from his back. Suddenly, a torrent of energy roared from his body, a tornado of black mist spiraling upward and spreading over the land, blotting out the sky.

Caught in the whirlwind, the hornets spiraled at breakneck speed, their bodies drawn inexorably into a closed sphere—a doomsday black hole, pure darkness without a trace of light.

Ling Xiaolei and Shen Zaiguo clung to each other inside the barrier, eyes squeezed shut. The hornets’ droning persisted; their armored bodies withstood the storm, and they struggled to break through toward Heiyu.

Heiyu stood at the heart of darkness, staff suspended in air, right palm raised, fingers curved with power. The mark in his palm glowed red. He could feel it: the power of the first seal was at its limit, a dormant beast within him about to awaken and shatter its cage. It was time to break the second seal.

Suddenly, all the darkness in the storm converged toward the vortex’s core, compressing into a black sphere in Heiyu’s palm. Then, with explosive force, it burst outward in a brilliant flash.

A thunderous boom shook the forest. The blast’s white light painted the woods in a fleeting eclipse, and the rushing wind bent the canopy in a single, sweeping direction.