Spirit Locusts, Azure-Armored Beetles

"Old He just told me that he found Spirit Locusts in Xu Zhong's Spirit Field.

These Spirit Locusts are no ordinary pests. They are extremely harmful to Spirit Fields and especially fond of gnawing on Spirit Rice. Once they appear, they often come in swarms. They can fly and jump well too. If one Spirit Field has them, they'll likely spread to other fields before long.

When you go over later, inspect everything carefully. Don't let the Spirit Grain suffer.

Especially at this time of year, when the Spirit Grain seedlings are beginning to flower and bear Spirit Rice, countless spirit insects will be drawn over.

One careless mistake could affect the harvest."

Old Xu hurriedly said.

Zhou Changwang quickly nodded.

He knew that once Spirit Rice reached maturity, countless spirit insects would come to feast on it. If they were not dealt with, months of hard work could be ruined overnight.

As for Xu Zhong, Zhou Changwang knew him too. He was a cultivator who had apprenticed at the Spirit Plant Hall alongside him. However, Xu Zhong was a few years older and had left the Spirit Plant Hall earlier. By now, he had been renting Spirit Fields for three years.

But unlike other diligent spirit farmers, Xu Zhong fished for three days and dried his nets for two. He often vanished for days at a time. His Spirit Field was overgrown with weeds and plagued by pests, so Spirit Locusts appearing there was perfectly normal.

Still, Xu Zhong's rented Spirit Field was not far from his own, with only a small river channel between them. He truly needed to stay on guard.

Afterward, Zhou Changwang went back down into the Spirit Field and began carefully inspecting the Spirit Grain.

White flowers had already bloomed on stalk after stalk of Spirit Grain. Some of the faster-growing ones had even begun bearing Spirit Rice. Though the grains were still shriveled and would need another ten days to half a month to fill out, the joy of an approaching harvest still made his heart race.

His eyes swept across the Spirit Grain, examining each stalk one by one.

Suddenly, Zhou Changwang's gaze sharpened.

A spirit insect the size of an infant's fist, clad in a blue-green shell, appeared before his eyes.

"Azure-Armored Beetle!"

Zhou Changwang murmured.

Azure-Armored Beetles were less harmful than Spirit Locusts, but they still gnawed on the branches and leaves of Spirit Grain, affecting its growth. Naturally, they had to be eliminated.

He hurriedly held his breath, circulated his spiritual power in silence, and swiftly traced one complex rune after another.

The process was extremely slow, and the little mental strength he had only just recovered was rapidly depleted.

One breath, two breaths, three breaths...

After a full seven breaths, the spell finally took shape.

Geng Metal Finger!

Then he extended a hand and pointed forward.

"Go~!"

A streak of golden light flashed past.

Pfft!

The Azure-Armored Beetle's head was instantly pierced through, and it stiffly fell to the ground.

"As expected of an offensive spell. The power of Geng Metal Finger is truly astonishing."

A look of delight appeared on Zhou Changwang's face.

As a spirit insect, the Azure-Armored Beetle's shell was incredibly tough. Ordinary blades could scarcely leave a mark on it, yet Geng Metal Finger had pierced it with ease. Its power was obvious.

It was also because of this that Zhou Changwang truly felt how different he was now.

Though the Cleansing Art and Minor Spirit Rain Art were wondrous, they were ultimately support spells. Geng Metal Finger, however, was a true spell of slaughter, far surpassing a martial artist's blades and swords.

"Sure enough, slaughter, power, strength—those are a man's romance!"

Zhou Changwang sighed, then hurried forward and picked up the Azure-Armored Beetle.

The Azure-Armored Beetle was a spirit insect. Its shell could be ground into powder for medicine, while its flesh contained spiritual energy that could speed up cultivation. Though it was only the size of an infant's fist, the spiritual energy within it was no less than that of half a jin of Spirit Rice. Naturally, he could not bear to throw it away.

Then Zhou Changwang continued his inspection.

"Sure enough, the fruiting season is almost here. There are noticeably more spirit insects in the Spirit Field."

Zhou Changwang quickly found a second Azure-Armored Beetle.

He repeated the same process.

The second Azure-Armored Beetle was killed as well.

Then came the third.

Zhou Changwang's Geng Metal Finger was not unerring. When killing the third one, his aim slipped and only grazed it. He had to follow up with another strike before he could kill it.

Fortunately, the proficiency did not decrease.

Geng Metal Finger Proficiency +2

After searching all three mu of Spirit Fields, Zhou Changwang had killed four spirit insects in total, all Azure-Armored Beetles. There was also a Burrowing Cicada, but the moment he spotted it, it had already become alert and swiftly burrowed into the ground, vanishing without a trace. Left with no choice, he could only give up.

Geng Metal Finger (Initiation 13+5/100).

After glancing at the panel, Zhou Changwang finally climbed back out of the Spirit Field.

By then, the spiritual power in his body had run dry again.

But he was so exhausted that he could not even sit in meditation to recover. He could only grit his teeth and endure.

"How was it?"

At that moment, Old Xu walked over with a smile.

"Four Azure-Armored Beetles.

Fortunately, I didn't find any Spirit Locusts."

Zhou Changwang replied.

"Four Azure-Armored Beetles are worth two jin of Spirit Rice. That counts as a small gain.

As for Spirit Locusts, it's best if there are none. Once they break out, it won't be something we can handle. We'll have no choice but to ask the Spirit Plant Hall for help. One visit costs three Low-Grade Spirit Stones—far too expensive."

As he spoke, Old Xu's face showed a pained expression. Clearly, he had gone through this kind of experience more than once.

After all, no matter how carefully spirit farmers tended their Spirit Fields, when the fruiting season came, spirit insects would inevitably fly over to gnaw on the crops. The better the fields were cared for, the more spirit insects they attracted. Once the insects became a disaster, their spiritual power would definitely not be enough to clear them all out, so they could only call for people from the Spirit Plant Hall.

Zhou Changwang nodded.

Yet inwardly, he wondered whether he could use the proficiency panel to avert this crisis.

After all, he was truly poor.

He had already searched his room carefully before. Aside from some gold and silver that could buy a few daily necessities, he did not have a single Spirit Stone.

If that time really came and he could not produce the Spirit Stones, he could only watch helplessly as the Spirit Field suffered disaster.

The Spirit Plant Hall was not a charity. It only cared about its own profits. Whether the fields suffered or not was entirely the spirit farmer's burden.

If one could not bear it, one would become a contract farmer and never again have freedom.

"As a weapon for slaughtering spirit insects, I must raise Geng Metal Finger's level as quickly as possible.

However, my greatest weakness is still that my cultivation is too low and my spiritual power insufficient.

Casting spells requires spiritual power. Even if my spiritual power is full, I can only cast around ten Geng Metal Fingers. If I meditate to recover, I can only restore half of it, making fifteen in total... It would take at least seven or eight days to raise the Geng Metal Finger spell.

Not to mention that I still need to cast Spirit Rain Art normally, and some Spirit Grain that grows slowly will also require the Growth Technique..."

Thinking of this, Zhou Changwang felt a headache coming on.

"Perhaps I can try casting without activating it? Or control the amount of spiritual power I feed into it and reduce the expenditure for each casting?"

That was not a bad idea, but whether it would work still had to be tested.

"Right, has your father returned yet? Come to think of it, he's already been in the mountains for half a month this time."

Old Xu said, changing the subject as he asked.

"This time, he has indeed been in the mountains for rather long."

At those words, a trace of worry appeared on Zhou Changwang's face.