Believing he had found the secret to placate the Little Madman, Shen Yi seized the opportunity to lavish praise on the elegant spiritual flower perched gracefully on the cliff.

He declared it the most beautiful flower he had ever seen, praised its two slender, lively sepals, and admired its elegant petals, which curled inward like wind chimes—restrained and refined.

While piling on compliments, Shen Yi stole glances at the Little Madman’s reactions. The delicate face had lost its earlier murderous glare but remained stern and icy, showing no sign of pleasure. The fingers resting on him idly stroked the fur on his belly.

Shen Yi’s gaze drifted downward, noticing its ears were tinged pink. Had they been that red before? Did this mean his flower-praising strategy was working?

Just moments ago, it had been ready to strangle him, but now, simply because he praised its flower, it spared his life. It seemed to really adore this plant.

“But what I love most is its color,” Shen Yi decided to strike while the iron was hot, laying on increasingly shameless praise with dramatic rhythm, as if delivering an exaggerated poetic recitation. “Look at these green blossoms hanging from the branch—so noble and elegant, so refreshingly unique compared to the gaudy flowers all over the forest…”

As Shen Yi rambled on, the hand stroking his back suddenly stilled. An ethereal voice, completely neutral, murmured, “You think red flowers are garish?”

“…”

Shen Yi paused, sneaking a look at the Little Madman’s expressionless face. He couldn’t quite read its thoughts—did it enjoy hearing red flowers disparaged to elevate the green one, or would this provoke its anger?

After a moment of hesitation, Shen Yi carefully replied, “Red flowers are beautiful too, of course…”

The hand on his back tightened abruptly, pulling painfully at the skin beneath his fur. Shen Yi caught on. “But since green is my favorite color, I prefer this green flower. I’ve seen too many brightly colored blooms, so they don’t interest me as much.”

The Little Madman said nothing, continuing to play with the fur on his belly. Its beautiful emerald-green eyes narrowed slightly, a flicker of pleasure shining within—Shen Yi caught it and finally figured things out.

This Little Madman loved green flowers itself, so it enjoyed hearing others praise green flowers while looking down on other colors.

It was bossy and really childish, but also easy to please.

As Shen Yi pondered, his mind was racing. Since the Little Madman had bothered to revive him, it probably wouldn’t strangle him out of nowhere again, right?

The thread tied around his belly was of some weird material. When coiled around him, it showed hints of green, but now, floating alone in the air, it turned transparent.

Thin as spider silk, light as a feather—a casual glance would never notice such a fine thread, which explained why he hadn’t detected it earlier.

Shen Yi pretended to casually tug at the thread connected to his belly, using his spiritual energy to examine it closely. Yet he couldn’t find where the thread ended or even where it was attached to his body. It seemed like it was all one piece, offering no chance to untie it.

Couldn’t be untied, couldn’t be bitten through, and he couldn’t win in a fight.

The thread was tied at the junction of his chest and abdomen; a slight pull could slice him in two. Life and death depended entirely on the Little Madman’s mood.

Shen Yi anxiously twitched his antennae, regretting his earlier recklessness. He couldn’t understand why he had been so foolishly bold to walk right into the trap, knowing full well that the little spirit in the flower was no pushover.

He must have lost his mind.

If he couldn’t return, what would become of his crew?

While Shen Yi worried about his grim future, Xi Ye was quite pleased with this well-spoken bee with good taste—though a little too chubby, requiring both hands to hold comfortably. But given the pleasant texture, being chubby wasn’t so bad.

It casually grabbed the bee’s left antenna and gave it a stroke, asking, “Remember it?”

“What?” Shen Yi shivered like he’d been zapped, not daring to struggle for fear this temperamental Little Madman might snap his antenna off.

“My aura.” Bees store long-term memories in their left antennae. Though Xi Ye had no concept of pets, its actions clearly indicated it intended to keep Shen Yi as one. Its tone was domineering, full of condescension. “I permit you to stay in my territory.”

Shen Yi was almost amused by such dramatic speech, but given his circumstances, he couldn’t bring himself to laugh. Since escape was impossible for now, survival was the priority. “You won’t kill me anymore?”

“As long as you behave.”

That was as good as saying nothing. Shen Yi wanted to press for a firmer guarantee, but Xi Ye cut him off. “Was it you who came yesterday too?”

“Yes.” Since he had already admitted to stealing the flower dew before, there was no point hiding it. Shen Yi admitted freely.

“How did you get into the flower?”

Recalling how his followers couldn’t approach the flower last time, Shen Yi grew more certain that he must possess some unique trait when Xi Ye asked this.

It might be due to the mutation from that mission reward, but explaining would be troublesome. Shen Yi had no intention of revealing it and acted clueless, as he genuinely didn’t know why he could enter. “I just crawled in.” Shen Yi waved his legs in a crawling motion, feigning ignorance. “Maybe because I’m a bee? Entering flowers is a bee’s innate Talent.”

Xi Ye snorted in disbelief and continued interrogating, “When did you awaken your spirituality?”

Ordinary insects had short lifespans; it had never seen a spiritually awakened bug. This bee was definitely unusual.

“What’s spirituality?”

Xi Ye narrowed its eyes, studying the seemingly obedient bee resting in its palm. Spiritually awakened beings should naturally understand. “It’s wisdom. Awakening spirituality grants intelligence, enabling communication and active cultivation.”

“Cultivation?!” Shen Yi perked up, his antennae standing at attention. Beings in this world really knew how to cultivate!

As he pondered how to dig deeper about cultivation, the Little Madman lifted him by the thread around his waist.

“Spiritually awakened beings instinctively know how to cultivate,” Xi Ye remarked, its cold gaze sweeping over this plump, lying bee. “You don’t know how to cultivate?”

“I was born with intelligence and the ability to communicate, but I don’t know how to cultivate.” There was no harm in admitting this. Hoping to learn about cultivation from the Little Madman, Shen Yi asked tentatively, “Can you teach me?”

“Born with it?” Xi Ye frowned, pulling him closer for a thorough inspection from head to tail, even pinching out the stinger on his rear. Aside from being larger than average, it found nothing remarkable.

But how could a bee be born with spirituality?

Only spirits, born from gathering fragments of the world’s spirituality, possessed innate spiritual awareness.

Other beings acquired it later through lucky breaks, gradually developing spirituality influenced by the world’s spiritual energy.

Xi Ye pressed further, “What did you do when you came yesterday? Why couldn’t I sense your presence? Can you conceal yourself?”

After a brief hesitation, Shen Yi replied, “It’s likely one of my Talents. I can conceal my form by covering myself with spiritual energy.”

If spiritual energy could be projected outward, it should also be capable of attack, though it would consume more energy. Shen Yi hadn’t tested it and didn’t know its destructive potential.

Since the Little Madman wasn’t going to kill him yet and he needed to inquire about cultivation, getting along and cozying up was essential for now.

So, he temporarily dismissed the idea of testing a spiritual energy sneak attack. If he tried and failed, the Little Madman might get pissed off and kill him outright.

“Spiritual energy?”

Xi Ye had never heard such a strange term and pressed further. It seemed the Little Bee’s “spiritual energy” resembled spirituality—the higher a being’s spirituality, the faster they cultivated, and with increased spirituality came heightened danger perception.

But spirituality was intangible; it had never heard of spirituality being projected outward.

This must be the bee’s peculiarity. Xi Ye instructed Shen Yi to project his spiritual energy for inspection.

“Spiritual energy can’t be seen.” Shen Yi wanted to save it as his ace in the hole and was reluctant to demonstrate. “Besides, my spiritual energy can only cover myself.”

Xi Ye narrowed its eyes, extending an index finger. “Use what you call spiritual energy to cover my fingertip. If you can’t do it, I’ll crush you.”

As it spoke, Shen Yi felt the thread around his waist tighten—a clear warning. He clenched his jaw, knowing full well the Little Madman wasn’t joking. It would truly strangle him!

Seeing that he couldn’t talk his way out of it, he had no choice but to release his spiritual energy and comply. To align with his earlier words and avoid making Little Madman think he was fooling it, Shen Yi put on a troubled expression: “I’ve never tried using spiritual energy to envelop something else. I’ll do my best to try…”

Xi Ye got impatient with his chatter and shook his finger, threatening once more: “Fail, and you die.”

“…”

This impossible bastard.

Even a bee has to bend when under the eaves. Shen Yi had no choice but to stiffen his antennae, putting on an act of trying with all his might. Finally, with great difficulty and clumsiness, he separated a strand of spiritual energy and slowly enveloped the bastard’s slender, pale, translucent fingertip.

A bean-sized area on Xi Ye’s fingertip vanished, as if a section had been sliced off, yet he could still feel that his fingertip was perfectly intact.

The concealment effect was even stronger than that of Mist-Concealing Flowers. Xi Ye stared intently at the plump bee, its emerald eyes blazing with a predatory gleam, as if it wanted to devour Shen Yi alive.

Unfortunately, devouring a spiritual being could only enhance one’s spiritual level—it couldn’t inherit their talents. Otherwise, it would have devoured this bee right away, and this concealment ability would be its.

Although devouring a spiritual being carried the risk of backlash, compared to this concealment ability, what did a little backlash matter?

Shen Yi seemed to sense Xi Ye’s killing intent and greed. A sense of danger instantly enveloped his entire body, causing his fuzz to stand on end. He stared fixedly at the predatory Little Madman, instinctively backing away.

“Trying to run?” Xi Ye tugged on the Thousand-Strand Vine attached to the plump bee, its eyes displeased. It pulled the fleeing bee closer, its emerald gaze fixed on Shen Yi like a wild beast from the mountains, its malice and desire to kill laid bare.

Shen Yi froze stiff in Xi Ye’s palm, his mind blank as he faced those clear, emerald eyes.

In a daze, he smelled death again.