First Battle

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

But merely sidestepping would not affect his use of the Geng Metal Finger spell.

Squeak, squeak, squeak...

The Spirit Locust King squealed madly. After a slight pause, it turned again and pounced at Zhou Changwang.

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

Moreover, with its squeals, the surrounding spirit insects seemed to hear its summons and were swiftly stirred into rushing this way...

A bug king could summon swarms of insects by nature.

Zhou Changwang remained calm, keeping watch on the Spirit Locust King's movements even as he formed the rune structure.

Seeing this, he suddenly sidestepped again.

Then, the Geng Metal Finger he had finally formed shot out swiftly under his control.

Geng Metal Finger +3

Whoosh!

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

Even with its tenacious vitality, at the instant its head was severed, it still slashed its foreclaws forward with all its might. Two tiny blade glints formed, cutting through the air and shearing 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 back within the spirit field.

"At last, it's dealt with.

This bug king really was much 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 size, equivalent to four or five ordinary Spirit Locusts put together, a trace of satisfaction appeared on his face.

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

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

After comparing before and after, he discovered that the proficiency of this Geng Metal Finger he had cast had increased by 3 points.

Three points was not much.

Yet this meant that his spell cultivation could be "sped up."

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

"But what's the reason?"

Zhou Changwang pondered it and quickly understood.

Combat!

Because of combat!

Indeed, compared with his previous step-by-step casting—even when eliminating insects, he merely gathered the spell and aimed it at the target, simple and direct—casting during battle was much harder. While ensuring that the spell formed successfully, he also had to aim at the target while moving.

"This makes it rather difficult to turn into a regular practice."

Zhou Changwang shook his head helplessly.

Just then, Xu Zhong returned from afar with lunch.

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

"Spirit Rice, Blackhorn Savage Bull meat stir-fried with Red Spirit Flower... Fellow Daoist Xu, this is quite the lavish spread."

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

Not to mention the Spirit Rice, which cost one Low-Grade Spirit Stone for eleven jin. The Blackhorn Savage Bull was a demon beast. Though it was only the lowest rank and a domesticated demon beast at that, its flesh was still exceedingly expensive. One Low-Grade Spirit Stone could only buy three to five jin. Red Spirit Flower was also a kind of spirit material that could be used in medicinal cuisine, costing fifteen Spirit Fragments per jin...

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

"Since Fellow Daoist Zhou has put so much effort into helping me eliminate insects, I naturally cannot be stingy."

Xu Zhong smiled as he spoke, then casually took Zhou Changwang's cloth bag and looked at the harvest inside. The moment he focused his eyes, he sprang to his feet in shock and cried out, "Th-this-this... Is this a bug king? A Spirit Locust King?"

He was genuinely stunned.

He had considered Zhou Changwang's insect-elimination methods formidable. He had personally witnessed how cleanly and decisively Zhou Changwang had acted earlier, and 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 prepared Spirit Rice for lunch, even carefully stir-frying Blackhorn Savage Bull meat with Red Spirit Flower.

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

He had slain a bug king.

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

"This Spirit Locust King is worth ten times as much as an ordinary spirit insect. Killing one counts as killing ten ordinary insects.

"With the other spirit insects added in, how about I give you another two Low-Grade Spirit Stones?"

Xu Zhong quickly calculated the price and 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 still be enough to repay the loan from the Spirit Plant Hall, so he was able 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 something from another left one beholden, eating another's food left one soft-mouthed. He had already accepted a bottle of Vitality Pills from Xu Zhong and had now eaten his Spirit Rice, so he naturally felt embarrassed to take further advantage.

"So be it."

Xu Zhong could only nod at that.

The Spirit Rice and Blackhorn Savage Bull meat entered his stomach, and threads of spiritual energy drifted and lingered within him, leaving his whole body warm and comfortable. All he wanted was to rest properly and lazily sleep for a while.

But 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 full capacity, 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 elimination.

When he saw the Spirit Locust King, his eyes widened, and he cried out repeatedly in astonishment.

The afternoon passed with him eliminating insects and using Vitality Pills to restore himself.

The results were extremely gratifying as well!

Over the entire day, he harvested one bug king and forty-seven Spirit Locusts in Xu Zhong's spirit field.

As promised, Xu Zhong handed him five Low-Grade Spirit Stones one after another.

Of course, aside from Xu Zhong's spirit field, Zhou Changwang naturally did not forget his own three mu of land. After his routine insect elimination, he harvested another six spirit insects.

"Today has truly been a bountiful day."

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

The cloth bag was of decent material, fashioned from the shed skin of some snake-type demon beast. It had excellent elasticity, but it was now bulging and quite heavy.

"If no traveling merchant comes to the spirit fields to purchase them tomorrow, I'll have no choice but to make another trip to the Rogue Cultivator Market myself."

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

Opening the box, he saw three black seeds the size of little fingernails lying quietly inside.

These three black seeds were the gift given to him by Chen Yushu, the spirit plant master he knew, when he had gone out to buy Spirit Rice that morning.