The Old Queen was truly old. She had been old even when the World Tree died. She had been old when the World Tree emerged, binding all Creation under its branches. Even before that, the Old Queen still remembered the last Primordial Fiends, before they were all hunted out and dismantled for precious cultivation resources.
But unlike other cultivators, be they beasts or demons, and even humans, the Old Queen was only a bee. A queen bee, with immense control over other bees, especially those of her natural line, but still only a bee. Her cultivation was slow, and gains took uncountable years to appear. Even her precious honey took a year to form a single drop, and that was with the aid of World Tree branch she had hid away.
And all that effort was now gone and wasted.
That lazy human, who knew only to pillage and steal, the damned cricket!
At first, she misunderstood the nature of the threat, thinking it yet another attempt at territory grab by some greedy sect, but then more and more strange things appeared.
The other Mind, controlling ants with the same ease she controlled bees, but young and with a lower cultivation.
The Dangerous One, skipping timelines and avoiding all her traps with confusing ease.
The Sharp Man, skillful with his sword, but ultimately powerless in a true fight. The Old Queen had killed dozens just like him before, until humans gave up on trying to steal her territory.
The young tiger, brave to think he could survive her venom. He would learn that even a Body Of Laws did not stop her tried and tested sting.
Even the hard suits weren't really a problem, until they appeared in large numbers. A dozen of those suits were still mere annoyances. As for those ships and army formations, they did counter lower realm bees, but would be useless against her true self.
So, she waited, secure in the knowledge that the heart of her domain was safe, and her precious and hard-earned honey was not under threat.
But then, this child, managed to imprison her! And then he obviously stole both the Tree Branch and her reserves of honey!
She knew that, because soon after, her daughters left to guard the branch were also imprisoned in this void space.
It was so unfair!
Just as the Old Queen was mulling over the unfathomable defeat, the cricket himself appeared inside the prison and placed a bowl of honey as an offering, then nodded and faded away.
Unfortunately, bees do not have eyelids, so the Old Queen could only stare, not blink in surprise.
Was the damn human trying to bribe her? With her own honey?
Anger filled her mind, making the weaker daughters fly away in panic.
Reigning herself under control, the Old Queen collected the honey, then looked around in suspicion. Only a few thousands years of honey, but enough for the moment. She ingested a single drop, them allowed herself to become calm again. Anger would serve no purpose but to alienate her own family. Sending a few calming thoughts, she collected the daughters and had them forming into a protective shape.
It wasn't much as a defense, but it was possible the damned cricket wasn't the actual threat.
The next day, the cricket returned and brought another bowl of honey, and several herbs and flowers planted into floating wooden vat.
Some of the plants were obviously collected from her private domain, while others were new and exquisite. There was even an Immortal Peach Flower!
Another branch of the World Tree? Most likely.
Her honey could evolve again, by extracting the essence of the peach flower. Even her Flower Dao might grow again!
The next day, the human returned once more.
"Old Queen, I'm sure you know about the Mercy Seat. They are sending a hundred of their Authorities to attack us, and they will have to pass through here." the young man said in a clear voice, then vanished before she could decide to attack. Another bowl of honey floated in his place.
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However, the man had become much stronger in the past days, even reaching the third body layer. Undoubtedly, by using her honey to accelerate his own growth. He wasn't even close to her ninth layer, but one who only consumed the precious honey would eventually reach her level. She had stored honey for millions of Chaos Cycles, and only had three bowls to show for her efforts.
She raged inside, but kept her composure. The Mercy Seat was dangerous as well.
Whatever the damned cricket had done to provoke their attack, he was clever enough to hide behind her strength, possibly placing this prison dimension as a gate for his real location.
But only a hundred of their Authorities were still not a match for her power. Just like her daughters, the Authorities being under the control of another made them weaker in spirit and less able to cultivate properly, if at all. Also, the Throne of Heavens lacked access to her honey, so they couldn't even improve their bodies.
The next day, a confused human appeared in her prison, covered in defense screens and human spells.
"Where is this? Answer me, beast!" the human shouted, seemingly outraged.
The Old Queen moved, and flicked her sting forward. The death scream was quite rewarding. However, instead of being allowed to consume her kill, the dead cultivator was replaced with a another living one, and a new honey bowl appeared beside her small hoard. "Who..."
Another death.
As expected, these puppets of the Mercy Seat were easy to kill, and they even rewarded her with another bowl of priceless honey.
Faster and faster, more so-called Nobles appeared and died inside the Violet Realm, then got collected and replaced with new ones.
In total, it took the Old Queen 5 minutes to murder 91 of these Authorities, before the influx of attackers ended.
She returned beside her larger hoard and ate another drop of honey to recover the spent energy.
Then one by one, she called her remaining Silver Realm daughters to eat a bowl of honey each, just enough to push them into Copper Realm and a higher safety.
Even if slightly exploited by their captor, the Bee Hive had to survive. And if her feelings had any equal in the universe, there would be more and more people hating the damned cricket, thus sending more sacrifices to die in this prison. And she would gain more of her honey back.
It wasn't perfect, but for now the arrangement will work. Revenge would have to wait.
The next day, the human returned with a tray of food and another bowl of honey. However, the human had grown immensely, already reaching the fifth body layer, while also doubling his strength.
Ah, he did say there were a hundred incoming attackers. He must have killed the missing nine Throne Authorities. Not especially impressive, but considering his young age, not too shabby.
"Good news, Old Queen! My restaurant survived this unprovoked attack, and now I can resume my normal job as a cook. Here are some of my creations. The ones with a cloud are meant for your daughters." the blonde cricket explained in a mild voice, then vanished just before she decided to try her sting.
Sniffing cautiously, the Bee Queen analyzed the strange meal and the steaming teapot and the cold wine bottle. Her own honey featured prominently among the ingredients, but it wasn't the only rare or special feature.
Deciding to risk it, she had one of the weaker Golden daughters eat a cloud pancake, then watched in amazement as the bee Ascended instantly into Silver Realm, then climbed in cultivation until the peak of Silver Realm.
Five more cloud pancakes remained on the tray, as well as the unknown tea and wine.
Her faceted eyes glinted with mild hope. While this wasn't her own Flower Dao which rewarded her with the priceless Dao Honey, the cricket did seem to have his own mastery. Perhaps something could be arranged, next time. She didn't need to attack him immediately. It also didn't work, so it was quite pointless. A bit of cooperation, until she managed to escape...