The Bug Hadn't Done Anything to You, Had It?! (Please Vote for This Chapter! Please Keep Reading! Please Recommend It!)

Red!

Not yellow, the color of neutral monsters, and not green, the color of friendly spirit beasts. It was red—the color of hostile monsters!

A hostile creature!

And it had suddenly appeared on the sect map!

Most monsters spawned in the back mountain or inside the Monster Locking Tower.

Something that had appeared in the sky above the sect out of nowhere... surely it would bring some unexpected rewards!

After all, the Golden Autumn Harvest Festival was starting tomorrow.

Maybe this was a warm-up event?

Meanwhile, not far away.

Lu Wu had come to Hundred Herbs Valley to gather some spirit plants, and he noticed the red dot too.

"What manner of demon dares to cause trouble in the sacred grounds of the Righteous Path?!"

Shen Nong looked at the coordinates displayed for the red dot and figured it was in the sky.

He raised his head. The afternoon sun was a little dazzling, so he squinted and stared for a long time, but still couldn't make anything out. All he could see were countless mosquitoes and flies buzzing around.

Which one was it?

"Never mind. They all look about the same. I'll just kill them all."

Meanwhile, the disciple named [Flame Wolf Is Handsome] was also posting an alert in the Sect Channel:

[Flame Wolf Is Handsome: Coordinates (XXX, XXX, XXX). Red Name Monster! Great rewards—hurry and get it!]

[Flame Wolf Is Handsome] realized he was too far away to have a chance at claiming the kill, so he posted the information in the Sect Channel as well.

As for why...

You know how it is!

Elsewhere, Ji was getting ready to head to the Artifact Refining Pavilion and offer himself up to raise his proficiency. He saw the messages in the Sect Channel and the alert on the map, too.

"Impudent demon! Surrender at once!"

The next moment, Ji drew his bow and let an arrow fly. As it shot forward, cold blue flames coiled around it.

As the tiny Spirit Contract Insect flew along, it suddenly saw a flash of light appear in its field of vision without warning.

A beam of light that tore through the sky cleaved up from below!

The tiny insect's rudimentary intelligence didn't even have time to react.

At that very instant, Su Ling'er's heartbeat stopped!

She tried to use their connection to force the insect to dodge, but it was too late!

Right behind the streak of sword light came a flaming giant axe, then a surging wave of fire, several spells, and more than a dozen magic treasures...

Countless attacks rose from the ground, all aimed at those insignificant little... bugs in the sky.

Smack—!

In her mind, the bloodline connection snapped.

A searing pain tore through her soul, and her vision went black.

The Spirit Contract Insect was dead.

More than a dozen powerful spells had blasted it to smithereens.

She could feel how the little bug had come apart beneath the first streak of sword light.

The rest of the attacks had followed close behind, leaving not even a trace of it...

The connection that had borne all her hopes had just snapped.

Why?!

Why had this happened all of a sudden?!

There hadn't been anything unusual before. How could they suddenly go all out to kill a bug that looked so ordinary?!

What had this bug ever done to you?!

"Did you hit it?"

"No. What about you?"

"Me neither! Good grief, so many people fighting over one monster!"

"Can someone say whether they got it? Who got the kill? Tell us—what reward did you get?!"

Shen Nong stared in surprise at the notification on his status panel.

[Game Notification: You have eliminated a major threat to the sect. Sect Contribution Points +200.]

It hadn't dropped anything, but he'd gotten 200 Sect Contribution Points in one go!

That was the equivalent of completing 200 basic daily quests!

He immediately posted what had happened, along with his guess, in the Sect Channel:

[Shen Nong: Brothers! It's real! Killing one gives you 200 Contribution Points! Keep an eye on the sky and look for tiny black bugs, about the size of mosquitoes or flies! Anyway, if you see one, kill it, no matter which one it is!]

[Shen Nong: Be careful not to hit Elder Qian's avatar. If he runs into a bug, it could mess up our chance to grind event Contribution Points.]

[Ji: Should we log out and tell Senior Disciple Brother?]

[Shen Nong: Let's tell him when he logs on. Besides, it only gives Contribution Points. It doesn't drop any treasures or give experience. If that's all it gives, Senior Disciple Brother probably won't bother with it.]

[Lu Wu: How about we catch the bugs first and have Junior Sister kill them one by one when the event starts? Then we'd get double Contribution Points, so each one would be worth 400!]

[Wang Xian: I'm too lazy... I want to stay with the Melancholy Beast...]

[Shi Gandang: That should count as helping, right? They wouldn't give Contribution Points for it. Besides, you'd be catching them and putting them right in front of her to kill one by one. That's way too much of a shortcut. I don't think they'd leave such an obvious loophole.]

[Shen Nong: Then forget it. Anyway, I think this is just a warm-up event. Maybe more will show up once the Golden Autumn Harvest Festival starts. We can have Junior Sister kill them one by one then.]

[Shen Nong: Besides, she looked like she was about to drop from exhaustion when she went back to her room earlier. Let her rest for now.]

[Ji: True. I wonder what Junior Sister's thinking. She hasn't even improved her living conditions. She's already at Qi Refining Great Perfection, but she's still living in that thatched hut.]

[Yan Buyu: That's how it goes... The more hardships you can endure, the more hardships you'll face. Sigh, forget it. It's none of my business.]

Even so, the entire Gui Xi Sect was in an uproar.

As countless disciples went about their daily tasks, they kept glancing at the sect's minimap, determined not to miss a single moving red dot that might bring a windfall of Contribution Points.

In the shadow of the thatched hut.

Su Ling'er's legs gave way, and she slumped down onto the straw.

Her face was pale. Cold sweat had soaked through the red robe on her back, making it cling tightly to her body and outline her slender frame.

Through the fragile bloodline connection, she had clearly "seen" the excitement on the faces of the disciples closest to her.

Their prey had been a swarm of flying bugs no bigger than sesame seeds.

Barely the size of sesame seeds!

The pain of having her blood essence forcibly torn away still burned deep in her soul.

Why?

She couldn't understand.

In the stories she'd read, demonic cultivators acted capriciously and were moody, but even their behavior had to have some reason behind it.

Greed, revenge, lust, or even the simple pleasure of killing.

But this was just a swarm of bugs flying through the sky.

Was it really necessary to bring out more than a dozen spells, sword light, and flaming talismans to kill every last one of those bugs?

She'd believe it if someone told her the Demonic Sect was laying siege to a Righteous Path sect!

Su Ling'er wrapped her arms around her knees and curled herself into a ball on the straw.

Although this thatched hut was in the heart of the sect, it had let her secretly get away with what she'd been doing.

But now she still didn't dare make a move. She didn't even dare breathe too loudly.

Had they discovered her?

Would they come knocking any moment now?

She couldn't tell.

And as far as everyone else knew, she was exhausted, so she was even less willing to step outside the thatched hut.

That also meant she couldn't do anything to defend herself.

All she could do was hope the evil cultivators hadn't discovered her because of that bug.

After all, the bug had been completely obliterated...

It should... be fine, right?