First Battle

Zhou Changwang naturally could not keep casting spells while trading blade strikes with someone.

But merely twisting aside to dodge would not affect his use of the Geng Metal Finger spell.

Squeak squeak squeak...

The Spirit Locust King shrieked madly. After a brief pause, it turned again and lunged at Zhou Changwang.

Its two blade-like forelegs flashed with a cold gleam beneath the sunlight.

Moreover, with its shrieking, it was as though the surrounding spirit insects had heard a summons. They were rapidly stirred into motion and rushed this way...

A Bug King could naturally summon swarms of insects.

Zhou Changwang remained calm, continuously watching the Spirit Locust King's movements as he formed the rune structure.

Seeing this, he abruptly twisted aside to evade it once more.

Then, the finally completed Geng Metal Finger shot forth swiftly under his control.

Geng Metal Finger +3

Sshk!

It struck directly at the Spirit Locust King's neck, separating its head from its body.

Even with its tenacious vitality, at the instant its head was severed, it still slashed its forelegs forward with all its strength. Two tiny blade glows formed, slicing through the air and cutting down the weeds in the Spirit Field, but they no longer posed any threat.

As for the spirit insects it had summoned, the moment it died, they scattered once more and hid themselves within the Spirit Field again.

"At last, it's been dealt with.

"This Bug King was indeed far more troublesome than ordinary spirit insects."

Only after confirming that it was dead did Zhou Changwang toss it into his cloth bag.

Looking at its body, which was as large as four or five ordinary Spirit Locusts combined, a trace of satisfaction appeared on his face.

However, when his gaze fell upon the Attribute Panel, he was immediately surprised.

"The Geng Metal Finger's proficiency is wrong."

After comparing before and after, he discovered that the Geng Metal Finger he had cast had gained three points of proficiency.

Three points was not much.

Yet that meant his spell cultivation could be "rapidly mastered."

After all, one spell gave three points, two gave six... Once the numbers piled up, it could save him a great deal of time and spiritual power.

"But what was the reason?"

Zhou Changwang pondered it and quickly understood.

Battle!

Because of battle!

Indeed, compared with his previous step-by-step casting—even when removing insects, he merely condensed the spell, aimed at the target, simple and direct—casting in battle was far more difficult. While ensuring that the spell formed smoothly, he also had to aim at the target while moving.

"This will be rather difficult to turn into a routine."

Zhou Changwang shook his head helplessly.

Just then, Xu Zhong returned from afar with lunch.

Zhou Changwang took the opportunity to stop removing insects and returned to the ridge between the fields.

"Spirit Rice, Blackhorn Savage Bull meat stir-fried with Red Spirit Flowers... Fellow Daoist Xu, this is quite a feast."

Zhou Changwang looked at the lunch Xu Zhong had brought and spoke with surprise.

There was no need to mention the Spirit Rice. One Low-Grade Spirit Stone bought eleven jin of it. The Single-Horned Savage Ox was a demon beast; although it was only the lowest rank and a domesticated demon beast at that, its flesh was still extremely expensive. One Low-Grade Spirit Stone could only buy three to five jin. Red Spirit Flowers were also considered spirit materials and could be used in medicinal meals, costing fifteen Spirit Fragments per jin...

In other words, this meal was worth forty or fifty Spirit Fragments, nearly half a Spirit Stone.

"Fellow Daoist Zhou has gone to such trouble to help me remove the insects, so naturally I cannot be stingy."

Xu Zhong said with a smile. He also took Zhou Changwang's cloth bag and looked at its contents. Then he fixed his eyes on it, sprang up in shock, and cried out, "Th-this-this... is this a Bug King? A Spirit Locust Bug King?"

He truly was stunned.

He had thought Zhou Changwang's methods of removing insects were formidable. He had personally witnessed how cleanly and efficiently Zhou Changwang had acted earlier, and he had been greatly encouraged, believing that the crisis in his Spirit Field would surely be resolved.

That was also why he had given Zhou Changwang that bottle of Vitality Pills to restore his spiritual power, and why he had deliberately brought Spirit Rice and carefully stir-fried Blackhorn Savage Bull meat with Red Spirit Flowers for lunch.

Yet he had never expected Zhou Changwang to bring him such a tremendous surprise.

He had slain a Bug King.

This undoubtedly showed that Zhou Changwang's insect-removal methods were even better than he had imagined.

"This Spirit Locust Bug King is worth ten times as much as an ordinary spirit insect. Killing one will count as killing ten.

"Together with the other spirit insects, how about I give you another two Low-Grade Spirit Stones?"

Xu Zhong quickly calculated the price, then spoke.

He had already anticipated that his five mu of Spirit Fields would certainly suffer reduced yields. Fortunately, even if the harvest was cut in half, what remained would be enough for him to repay Spirit Plant Hall's loan. Thus, he could afford to be rather generous.

"That won't be necessary.

"One Spirit Locust King can count as five ordinary spirit insects."

Zhou Changwang waved his hand.

As the saying went, taking from someone made one's hand short, eating from someone made one's mouth soft. He had already accepted a bottle of Vitality Pills from Xu Zhong, and now he had eaten the man's Spirit Rice as well. Naturally, he was embarrassed to take too much advantage.

"So be it."

Xu Zhong could only nod at those words.

The Spirit Rice and Blackhorn Savage Bull meat entered his stomach, and threads of spiritual energy drifted and lingered within him. His whole body felt warm and comfortable, making him want nothing more than to rest properly and sleep lazily for a while.

However, Zhou Changwang could not bear to waste that spiritual energy. He hurriedly sat cross-legged and began circulating the Five Elements Formula, absorbing and refining the spiritual power within his body.

One cycle, two cycles, three cycles...

Five Elements Formula +3

Cultivation +1

When he opened his eyes.

His spiritual power had once again returned to Perfection, and even his cultivation had improved somewhat.

At this time, Old Xu had also returned after eating lunch at home. From far away, he called out to ask about the results of the insect removal.

When he saw that Spirit Locust King, his eyes widened, and he cried out in surprise again and again.

The afternoon passed amid his insect removal and his use of Vitality Pills to recover.

The results were extremely gratifying as well!

Over the entire day, he harvested one Bug King and forty-seven Spirit Locusts from Xu Zhong's Spirit Field.

And as promised, Xu Zhong handed him five Low-Grade Spirit Stones in turn.

Of course, aside from Xu Zhong's Spirit Field, he naturally did not forget his own three mu of land. After his routine insect removal, he also harvested six spirit insects.

"Today has truly been a fruitful day."

Zhou Changwang touched the five Spirit Stones in his chest, then turned his gaze toward the cloth bag filled with spirit insects.

The cloth bag was actually made of decent material, sewn from the shed skin of some snake-type demon beast. It had good elasticity, but it was now visibly bulging and rather heavy.

"If no traveling merchants come to the spirit lands to purchase them tomorrow, I'll have to make another trip to the Rogue Cultivator Market myself."

Zhou Changwang carefully set the cloth bag in the corner of his room, then took out a small wooden box.

When he opened the box, three black seeds the size of little fingernails lay quietly within.

These three black seeds were gifts from Chen Yushu, the spirit plant cultivator he knew, when he had gone out early to buy Spirit Rice.