Qingzhu Zhu: I Caught It!

"The reason is not recorded in any of the books I have seen."

Seeing that Qingzhu Zhu's mood was even more depressed, Zhou Qing lifted the curtain of the carriage. At this time, it was getting dark, and they were not far from the Nuoding Soul Hunting Forest. A few fireflies appeared in the trees on both sides.

That's the tail light of an ordinary firefly.

"What a nice view!"

Gazing at the tiny, yellowish specks of emerald green, Qingzhu Zhu let out a heartfelt exclamation of admiration.

Within the family, Qingzhu Zhu lacked nothing, but she had never seen such a scene of fireflies in the forest before.

"However, I do have a guess—"

Zhou Qing smiled slightly.

Common fireflies have a short lifespan: larvae live for several months to a year, while adults live for even shorter periods, from a few days to a few weeks.

Their purpose in life is simply to prolong Life; nothing else matters.

When fireflies become Soul Beast, such as the Light Firefly, their Life form is different from that of ordinary fireflies. They do not die after reproducing in the summer, but can continue to live. However, they need to shed their wings and burrow underground to accumulate power and cultivation for the next reproduction.

"The reason why Light Firefly twinkle on summer nights is perhaps because they are holding a ball all by themselves."

However, when Zhou Qing told Qingzhu Zhu, he thought about the wording and described it in a slightly more romantic way, since Qingzhu Zhu was a six-year-old child in the true sense.

This is the age to listen to fairy tales.

"A ball?" Qingzhu Zhu blinked, full of curiosity. "Are they really dancing?"

"Of course, otherwise why would we need to light the lamps?"

Zhou Qing smiled and said, "Soul Beast, all living beings, are actually just like humans. They also have emotions. However, compared to the complexity of humans, their joys and sorrows are very straightforward and simple. Just like pets such as cats and dogs, if you treat them badly, they will actively distance themselves from you, but if you treat them well, they will actively get close to you, in their own way."

"Similarly, for fireflies, lighting up their lights allows them to hold their own banquets and dances on their special festivals, singing and dancing together, and searching for mates together."

Xiao Wu asked suspiciously, "Really? How come I didn't know? Can insects make sounds from their mouths?"

"Don't ruin the mood, you spoilsport!" Zhou Qing sighed, almost forgetting that Xiao Wu was with him.

"But fireflies don't sing."

It wasn't that Xiao Wu was deliberately ruining the atmosphere; rather, she had lived in the Star Dou Great Forest for so many years and had never seen an insect-type Soul Beast with a cultivation level of over ten thousand years make normal sounds.

They communicate with each other either through their antennae or by the vibrations of their abdomens and wings; unlike most Soul Beast, they do not communicate through their mouths.

Furthermore, her mother had once told her that the worms whose bones grew on the surface of their bodies might have a different origin from the Soul Beast whose bones grew inside their bodies...

"You need to learn to imagine!" Zhou Qing had personally experienced how difficult it was for Hundred-Thousand-Year Soul Beast to become a real human.

"Oh."

Xiao Wu nodded blankly, staring intently at the fireflies outside, trying to figure out if they were actually dancing.

Qingzhu Zhu chuckled, amused by Xiao Wu's appearance...

By the time the carriage reached the outskirts of Nuoding Soul Hunting Forest, it was completely dark.

Zhou Qing led the three to a brightly lit town, found a pharmacy, bought insect repellent powder and four nets, and then bought a palm-sized glass bottle from a nearby shop before heading to the Soul Hunting Forest.

"Why are you carrying a net and a glass bottle?" Xiao Wu waved the net in her hand. "Light Firefly is Soul Beast, isn't she? Can't it break through this net?"

"Insect-type Soul Beast are generally small, especially fireflies. Light Firefly with fifty years of cultivation is only five centimeters long and has little offensive capability. The net can trap it for three minutes, which is enough for us to knock it unconscious," Zhou Qing said.

"So, ordinary people can also catch these kinds of Soul Beast?" Qingzhu Zhu asked curiously.

"Under normal circumstances, it is impossible to catch it."

Zhou Qing shook his head. "The speed and reaction speed of the Light Firefly are too fast for ordinary people to keep up with. However, if an ordinary person is lucky enough to catch Light Firefly, they can crush it. The two things that make Light Firefly under a hundred years old better than ordinary fireflies, besides the fact that their light has a healing effect, are that they will produce Soul Ring after they die."

"Hiss--"

Xiao Wu shuddered. "That joke was so lame!"

"But that's the truth. The race of the Light Firefly is fireflies, and insect-type Soul Beast, before reaching a cultivation level of a hundred years, have little chance of mutual destruction in a head-on collision with ordinary people without relying on poison."

Zhou Qing stated the facts, "Fireflies are not ferocious beasts like tigers or lions; none of their innate skills are focused on attack."

"Just like your Martial Soul, the Soft Bone Rabbit Soft Bone Charm Rabbit, the skills of this kind of Soul Beast are all focused on escape, defense, and control. It wasn't until the ten-thousand-year level that, relying on the talent of the Soft Bone, it mastered the attack skills and was able to cause greater damage to other beasts and Soul Beast with lower cultivation levels."

Xiao Wu puffed out her cheeks. "Hmph, I also have some Soft Technique."

"That's Self-Created Soul Skill, and it doesn't have much to do with the Soft Bone Rabbit itself."

In Zhou Qing's opinion, setting aside the Soul Skill such as Waist String and Soft Bone Lock, the Soft Technique itself must have been a simple method for training the human skeleton created by Xiao Wu's mother during her transformation period, based on the characteristics of her own Martial Soul: Soft Bone, and the human form after transformation. It was definitely not something that the Soft Bone Rabbit itself possessed—the difference between the human body and the animal body is quite significant.

After entering the forest.

The surroundings were completely silent, except for a few green fireflies.

As if Goddess Luck was on their side, after groping their way through the jungle for nearly 500 meters, they encountered a Light Firefly that was more than five centimeters long.

Zhou Qing let Qingzhu Zhu up.

Qingzhu Zhu lived up to expectations. Holding a net, she slowly approached the five-centimeter-long Light Firefly that was pressing down on the three-centimeter-long Light Firefly, and swung it down forcefully, covering both Light Firefly.

Startled, the two Light Firefly flapped their wings, pulled on the net, and soared upwards, but their strength was no match for Qingzhu Zhu Soul Power had reached level nine.

"I caught him!"

Although the net in her hand was swinging wildly under the influence of the two Light Firefly, Qingzhu Zhu showed a happy smile, as if catching the two Light Firefly was a very fulfilling thing.

For a real six-year-old, this is indeed a very happy thing.

Shouting in the forest will attract the attention of other predators, which is not good. However, since Zhu Zhuqing is laughing so happily, I won't lecture her.

Zhou Qing felt that she shouldn't be too strict with a real six-year-old, especially since the child usually had a miserable face when at home.

Let's consider it as igniting a spark of "Innocence" in her otherwise serious childhood.