Pest removal was not an easy task.
They were aggressive as well. If pushed too far, they would bite. Their tiny claws could flay flesh and tear skin, and some spirit insects even carried deadly venom.
Therefore, cultivators had to be careful when removing pests, killing the insects without alerting them.
Zhou Changwang planted his feet, held his breath, controlled the spiritual power within him, and condensed his spell.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
A full seven breaths later.
The spell took shape, and he swiftly pointed forward!
Without a sound, a streak of golden light flashed and vanished.
An Azure-Armored Beetle stiffened, then toppled to the ground.
Geng Metal Finger +1
At the same time, a vast amount of cultivation experience related to the Geng Metal Finger surfaced in Zhou Changwang's mind.
It was as though, in that instant, he had practiced the Geng Metal Finger hundreds upon thousands of times.
Having experienced this before, he immediately understood.
The Geng Metal Finger had advanced.
It had risen directly from the Initiation stage to the Mastery level.
His gaze fell upon the Attribute Panel.
Sure enough, under the spells section, the value behind Geng Metal Finger had changed from Initiation to Mastery.
Geng Metal Finger (Mastery 1/200).
It had upgraded.
Zhou Changwang clenched his fist, his heart surging with excitement.
It might only be a spell at the Mastery level.
But in truth, not many spirit farmers could cultivate the Geng Metal Finger to this extent.
There was no other reason—only the restrictions of aptitude and comprehension.
Among them, aptitude referred to one's Spirit Root.
Not every spirit farmer possessed a Metal-Attribute Spirit Root. Most who became spirit farmers primarily had water, wood, or earth Spirit Roots, and cultivated corresponding attribute techniques, such as the Water Spirit Formula, Evergreen Formula, and Thick Earth Formula... At most, they might possess other attributes like metal or fire among their Spirit Roots, but those were not their primary cultivation techniques and provided no corresponding enhancement or strengthening effects.
Thus, an ordinary spirit farmer who could cultivate the Geng Metal Finger to Initiation was already considered quite decent.
Not to mention that they also needed sufficient comprehension to gain special insights into the spell and deepen their mastery without end.
As for Zhou Changwang, although his aptitude was poor, he possessed all five elements, each relatively balanced. He cultivated the Five Elements Formula, and his spiritual power carried multiple attributes, allowing him to cultivate spells of any attribute.
Of course, there was nothing particularly remarkable about his comprehension either. It was utterly ordinary; he was no genius.
But he had the Attribute Panel.
Every time he practiced, he could make progress.
More importantly, he could ignore bottlenecks. As long as his experience was full, he could naturally break through and reach the next realm of spell mastery, without worrying about his realm falling back.
After all, whether practicing martial arts or cultivating immortality, there was a saying: skip practice for a day and your hands and feet grow sluggish; neglect diligence for a year and your realm regresses.
"These are the two traits of my Attribute Panel.
Heaven Rewards Diligence and One Proof, Eternal Proof!"
By now, Zhou Changwang had thoroughly uncovered the traits of his Attribute Panel.
However, although his spell realm had improved, he forcibly held himself back from immediately casting the Mastery-level Geng Metal Finger to test its power.
After all, spiritual power was precious and could not be wasted.
So he carefully searched through the Spirit Field again. Several minutes later, he finally discovered another spirit insect.
A Burrowing Cicada!
He was not sure whether this Burrowing Cicada was the one he had seen before, but after several encounters, he knew that Burrowing Cicadas were exceedingly vigilant. Though he had spotted it several times before, it had always escaped before he could cast his spell.
This time, having raised the Geng Metal Finger to the Mastery level, he naturally wanted to try killing it.
Zhou Changwang cautiously approached. Only when he was more than one zhang away did he stop, then controlled the circulation of spiritual power within him and swiftly condensed one rune structure after another.
One breath, two breaths, three breaths...
Perhaps because the spell had advanced, his casting speed was noticeably faster.
In only five breaths, he completed all the rune structures, and the spell took shape.
Geng Metal Finger +1
At the same time, the Burrowing Cicada that had been gnawing at the roots of the Spirit Grain seemed to sense something. It immediately stopped moving and was about to burrow into the ground at high speed, when a flash of golden light pierced through its head. The remaining force did not diminish, boring directly into the earth and leaving a small pit more than seven cun deep.
The Burrowing Cicada naturally fell to the ground as well, utterly lifeless.
"Success."
Joy appeared on Zhou Changwang's face.
He could not help but marvel inwardly. The Mastery-level Geng Metal Finger truly possessed extraordinary power.
Not only was its casting speed faster, reduced from the original seven breaths to five, its power had also increased by more than double.
And most importantly, its casting range.
It had expanded from roughly one zhang to more than two zhang.
It could be said that it had improved in every respect.
"Besides, the spiritual power required to cast it does not seem to have increased much—only slightly, almost to the point of being negligible.
"If I use only 'cultivation mode' to cast the Geng Metal Finger, it can even inflict killing power comparable to the 'casting mode' of the Initiation stage."
Zhou Changwang quickly made another discovery, and he was overjoyed.
He knew perfectly well what this meant.
First, it saved spiritual power.
Second, with the total amount of spiritual power unchanged, the number of spirit insects he could kill would directly double.
"Aiya, it really will not do to refuse to admit I'm old.
This has exhausted me..."
Old Xu rubbed his aching waist and walked step by step to Zhou Changwang's side. He sat down on the field ridge as well. "Changwang, how was today's harvest?
There are more and more spirit insects in this Spirit Field.
If this goes on, in a few days, I'll probably have to ask the people from the Spirit Plant Hall to help clear them out."
"Not bad. Nine spirit insects."
Zhou Changwang answered, paying no attention to his complaints.
He knew that all of this ultimately stemmed from the spirit insects in Xu Zhong's Spirit Field across the river.
Although the spirit plant masters from the Spirit Plant Hall had cleared them out, Xu Zhong had been unwilling to spend Spirit Stones to hire them again after only one day.
Now, the flourishing spectacle of spirit insects blanketing his Spirit Field had returned. It had even begun affecting the growth of the Spirit Grain there. Many stalks and leaves had visibly begun to yellow and wither. A reduction in spirit rice yield was inevitable.
If it was not dealt with soon, the entire harvest might even be lost.
And since their Spirit Fields were relatively close together, it was entirely normal for spirit insects to migrate over.
That was why, even though they removed spirit insects every day, the insects in their Spirit Field continued to increase day by day.
"So many? Let me see."
Hearing this, Old Xu was somewhat astonished. He hurriedly rummaged through the cloth bag Zhou Changwang used to hold spirit insects, peering inside. His eyes immediately widened in surprise. "There are actually three Burrowing Cicadas too?
"These spirit insects are incredibly alert. Even I only manage to catch one once in a while. Most of the time, they flee before I can even get close.
"You need to cast a spell from at least one and a half zhang away for it to work against these things."
As he spoke, he seemed to recall something and hurriedly asked, "Changwang, your Geng Metal Finger, could it be..."
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