They followed the crevice all the way down. By the time they reached the bottom, Draven didn't need to say a word—the queen bee gave her wings a slight flutter, and the swarm immediately understood which direction to go, moving in perfect unison behind her.

  The deeper they went, the narrower the rift became, until it ended in a passage barely three meters wide.

  The terrain here looked increasingly like it had been cleaved open by a razor-sharp blade. Jagged stone walls pressed tightly on either side, radiating a chilling and oppressive presence.

  On one side of the rocky wall, about a man's height up, was a narrow entrance—just wide enough for an adult to squeeze through. The inside was pitch-dark, with only a faint sliver of light leaking out from within.

  Naturally, Draven had no intention of crawling in himself. He told Liliana to place the queen bee at the edge of the entrance. From there, everything was up to the queen and her swarm.

  The old queen was dead, and so the Violet Carpenter Bees would naturally submit to the new ruler. All Draven and the others had to do now was wait quietly for the result.

  Waiting, as always, was boring. Draven called Liliana over to help gather the glowing plants around the crevice. Viola had specifically instructed him to collect as many samples as possible to take back for research.

  Viola was particularly interested in these bioluminescent plants, and Draven saw no reason to refuse. Gathering them was easy work—something he could do without effort.

  They also didn't overlook the blue flowers growing from the petrified bones. Though they were just flowers, their luminescence made them a rare find and valuable for auxiliary research into soul energy.

  Draven was reluctant to leave behind any of the flora growing in the rift. They collected a sizable amount—enough to keep Viola busy for quite some time.

  Just as they were wrapping up, a sharp, commanding call echoed from the queen bee near the entrance.

  A sweet smile appeared on Liliana's face. She clenched a little fist and gave Draven a triumphant gesture.

  Then, with a playful wiggle of her hips, a massive brown bear emerged from the edge of the cliff, stomping heavily onto the rocky floor.

  Draven picked the queen bee up from the entrance, giving the bear enough room to work. With its powerful claws, the bear dug into the cliff wall like it was slicing through tofu—chunks of stone crumbled away with ease.

  Before long, a much larger entrance opened up in the cliff face, following the path previously carved out by the Violet Carpenter Bees and leading deeper inside.

  The space within was far more spacious than the old nest on the hillside—at least four or five times the size.

  Draven grinned broadly as he gazed at the immense nest.

  This meant the number of Violet Carpenter Bees in the Black Flag Territory had just multiplied severalfold!

  The increase in honey production—and the reinforced defense of Village No. 2—were now fully secured.

  At the mouth of the nest, the queen began issuing commands. The restless stinger bees crawled across the hive in a frenzy. Though they seemed tense, not a single one dared to attack Draven or the others.

  Draven instructed Liliana to relay orders to the swarm through the queen, gradually leading them out of the hive.

  After a deafening wave of buzzing, the cave finally settled into silence.

  Once the swarm had fully withdrawn, Draven discovered several freshly built royal cells deep within the hive.

  Clearly, had they arrived any later, this group of stinger bees would've soon produced a new queen of their own.

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  He chuckled softly to himself, but didn't rush to dismantle the hive. After all, something was still bothering him.

  If this new queen had emerged from the old hive, then why had the rest of the swarm remained in such a harsh and hostile environment?

  The deceased former queen had at least been a mid-tier advanced magical insect—she should have possessed enough intelligence not to let her colony remain trapped in a place like this.

  Unless… there was something important hidden here.

  With that thought, Draven called Liliana over and the two of them began a careful search.

  Draven knew clearly that there had to be something hidden in this cave— the reason the Violet Carpenter Bees were unwilling to leave. Perhaps it was a treasure, or something extremely important to them.

  Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Liliana suddenly exclaiming with surprise. Liliana's eyes were sharp, and sure enough, she had discovered something unusual behind the hive.

  Draven stepped closer to take a look, and immediately his eyes lit up as he examined it carefully.

  Deep within the hive was embedded a white stone with a faint jade-like sheen— smooth and finely grained, very conspicuous.

  This was definitely not in line with the usual habits of bees building nests; typically, such smooth stones would not be mixed into a hive.

  Draven reached out cautiously, tore open the hive around the stone, and pulled it out with some force.

  In his palm lay a bird's nest that looked as if it were carved from white jade, resting quietly.

  The nest was small in size, exquisitely crafted, with a faint glow on its surface as if it contained some mysterious power.

  Draven felt the energy fluctuations emanating from the nest and couldn't help but feel quietly pleased.

  He speculated it might be similar to the kind of magical tower Sylvia had left behind— a kind of magical structure capable of storing special power.

  Sylvia had told him that these magical buildings each possessed unique abilities and should not be underestimated.

  Holding the bird's nest in his hand, Liliana tiptoed over, and together they observed it, trying to figure out its purpose.

  However, no matter how much they examined and probed, they couldn't discern its true function.

  As time passed by the seconds, Liliana suddenly suggested,"Why don't we try the most universal method—blood-binding?"

  Draven thought for a moment and agreed it made sense. After all, Liliana was the one who had discovered it, so it was fair to let her try.

  He handed the nest over to her. Liliana cheered excitedly, squeezing a drop of fresh blood from her fingertip and carefully dripping it onto the nest.

  The moment the blood seeped in, the entire nest suddenly emitted a dazzling light.

  Draven's eyes widened as he watched the transformation in astonishment. Indeed, Liliana had guessed right!

  The pure white nest shimmered with radiance as if completing a binding ritual.

  Then, to Draven's disbelief, Liliana proudly waved the nest, and the massive hive, several meters in diameter, vanished into thin air!

  Draven was stunned, his excitement instantly erupting.

  He had really been worried about how to transport such a large hive, but it turned out the Violet Carpenter Bees had gifted them this spatial treasure.

  Draven hurried over to the beaming Liliana, eager to ask about the origin of the nest.

  Liliana toyed with the palm-sized nest, looking very proud.

  She pointed to her cheek, as if asking Draven for a kiss.

  Without hesitation, Draven obliged and planted a heavy kiss on her cheek, which made Liliana even more delighted as she began to explain.

  It turned out that after the blood-binding, Liliana discovered that the nest was actually a Divine Power Insect Nest.

  The Divine Power Insect Nest contained a vast space inside, capable not only of housing magical insects but also accelerating their growth and reproduction.

  Of course, all of this depended on the nest storing enough divine power.

  However, the Divine Power Insect Nest they held had lost most of its divine power, now retaining only the basic storage function.

  Furthermore, each Divine Power Insect Nest could only store one type of magical insect. Draven was both surprised and a bit disappointed upon hearing this.

  He immediately thought of the group of Gold-Devouring Demon Ants.

  But his disappointment was quickly replaced by hope, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

  Divine Power Insect Nests could not appear out of nowhere— they must be related to the pile of bones at the bottom of the fissure.

  Since one Divine Power Insect Nest existed, why couldn't there be a second one?

  Draven shared this speculation with Liliana, whose eyes immediately gleamed with excitement as well.

  They hurried out of the hive. Using the Divine Power Insect Nest's power, Liliana easily stored all the bee swarms inside.

  Then she transformed into that huge brown bear, all fours on the ground, excitedly rushing toward the center area atop the cliff.

  The petrified bones beneath her sharp bear claws crumbled like fragile dry grass, easily unearthed.

  Draven cheered her on from the side, reminding her to be careful not to damage the Divine Power Insect Nest.

  However, when all the bones were dug out and piled into a tall heap, they found nothing.

  Liliana, still in her giant bear form, crawled out of the pit, looking dejected and thoroughly disappointed, her original eagerness for treasure completely gone.

  "Looks like we were too greedy. If there really was treasure here, those magical insects would have found it long ago."

  Suddenly, he remembered something and his eyes lit up.

  "The hive is fully explored. Next, we still haven't searched the anthill."