Chapter 60: The Alienated Spirit-Gnawing Insect
Chapter 60: The Alienated Spirit-Gnawing Insect
Wanbaolou's reputation in the market was impeccable, and Lu Chen was amenable to the suggestion offered by the delicate-looking young girl. He handed over three spirit stones as a deposit and left his identification information.
As per the young girl's words, it would take approximately five to ten days for the other Wanbaolou branches to transport over the required snake demon beast blood. Lu Chen could come to collect the order himself, and then pay the remaining spirit stones according to the quality of the demon beast blood provided.
Soon after, he returned to the courtyard with the Misty Concealment Spirit Formation disc.
Upon his return, the grass puppet remained in the corner of the spirit field, its massive head adorned with a gray grass tumor from which several grayish-black withered grasses extended. These grasses were slowly and meticulously weaving together to form its limbs.
In the short time that Lu Chen had been away, it had only managed to weave two arm segments, with no sign of elbows yet.
Sensing Lu Chen's aura, the puppet's weaving motion paused momentarily as the withered grasses retracted back into the tumor on its head. Its head turned slightly, seemingly offering a welcome gesture to Lu Chen.
Retreating back into his house, Lu Chen retrieved the Misty Concealment Spirit Formation disc.
The disc was grayish-white, adorned with numerous abstruse and cryptic runes. A faint mist emanated from the sides of the runes, swirling above the disc in a lingering fashion.
"A second-rate defensive formation with an additional bewildering function. Even a high-level Qi Refining cultivator would find it challenging to break through this formation."
The formation outside the courtyard had been left by the broker and was considered an invisible benefit that came with Lu Chen's expensive rental of the spirit field. It was a first-rate formation, but its defensive capabilities were only average.
Now, with the replacement of the Misty Concealment Formation, a second-rate defensive measure, Lu Chen felt more reassured, no longer worrying about his spirit plants being coveted by others.
He infused his spiritual power into the formation disc, slowly manipulating it according to a specific pattern.
The numerous runes on the disc lit up, and the faint mist above seemed to be gently blown by the wind, dispersing in all directions.
Immediately afterward, a semi-transparent spiritual energy shield appeared outside the courtyard. Lu Chen meticulously adjusted it to perfectly cover the entire compound.
At the same time, a faint mist emerged from somewhere, quickly enveloping the entire courtyard. If one were to look down at the spirit field from above, they would only see a dense white mist, obscuring both the spiritual plants and the residence. Even probing with spiritual sense would only result in encountering the thick mist.
Lu Chen continuously manipulated the rune patterns with his spiritual sense, causing the mist shrouding the courtyard to move and gather as if controlled by an invisible hand.
"Alright, the second-rate formation is set up. As for the first-rate formation left by the broker, I'll return it to them another day."
Lu Chen stood in the spirit field, gazing out at the courtyard beyond.
Under his control, the spirit field remained unaffected by the mist.
After setting up the formation, Lu Chen rested briefly before beginning to inspect the condition of the spiritual plants in the field.
He gathered his mental focus on the plants, quickly becoming aware of their immediate states.
Whenever he sensed a need, he would cast a Spirit Rain Technique or a Wood Birth Technique, catering to the minutest demands of the plants.
"The rootstock seems a bit heavy, not the kind of heaviness that comes from adding more roots, but as if something is forcefully sucking on the roots."
As he passed through the Blood Jade Ginseng area, Lu Chen suddenly sensed that something was amiss with one of the ginseng plants.
Despite maintaining a safe distance from the other Blood Jade Ginseng plants, this particular one exhibited an unusual state.
Based on the real-time condition of the ginseng, Lu Chen extended his spiritual sense, slowly penetrating into the spirit soil.
With his spiritual sense, Lu Chen discovered that on the rootstock of the Blood Jade Ginseng, which was buried deep in the spirit soil, there was a faint black object attached.
It appeared as if a tumor had grown on the rootstock of the ginseng, and upon further perception, he realized that this faint black tumor was composed of hundreds of tiny insects.
These insects were buried deep in the soil, motionless, absorbing the life force of the Blood Jade Ginseng. If not for the detection of its unusual state, one would likely only discover them after they had burrowed deep into the rootstock.
"They move within the soil and love to gnaw and devour the roots and stems of spirit plants. In the early stages of their gnawing, it's usually difficult to detect their traces."
The means by which the Spirit-Gnawing Insects entered the spirit field were unknown. After all, the previous formation had only been first-rate, offering limited protection. It hadn't been active for all twelve hourly periods of the day, and due to their tiny size, it was extremely difficult to block the insects entirely. Moreover, the fact that they moved within the soil made it even harder to guard against them.
Of course, it was also possible that there were Spirit-Gnawing Insect eggs left deep in the soil that had hatched, and the insects had then found the roots of the Blood Jade Ginseng.
Although Lu Chen had periodically cleaned the spirit field to remove insect eggs, it was challenging to ensure that every single one was eradicated.
He channeled his spiritual power and performed the Earth-Drawing Technique.
Although the experience packets bursting out of the white light group didn't provide as much experience as the Metal-Gold Sword Technique, Lu Chen had still achieved a minor accomplishment in his mastery of this art.
With his exquisite control, the spirit soil moved quietly, without disturbing the Spirit-Gnawing Insects attached to the roots of the Blood Jade Ginseng.
He waited until the root was exposed, and only when stimulated by the light did the insects react.
The dark gray tumor instantly split, transforming into hundreds of tiny black insects. Like a cloud of black mist, they emitted sharp cries as they attacked Lu Chen from all directions.
Lu Chen flicked his left hand, and a thin, long red needle transformed into a phantom, piercing towards the Spirit-Gnawing Insects. It danced wildly among the swarm, leaving behind afterimages of red lines.
After a few moments, the red line needle returned to Lu Chen, skewering hundreds of minuscule Spirit-Gnawing Insects from tip to hilt.
"There's something odd about these Spirit-Gnawing Insects. They're very different from what's recorded in the book. If I recall correctly, they're supposed to have weak offensive capabilities."
"However, the ones in my spirit field can transform into a cloud of black fog and attack in swarms, which is markedly different from normal Spirit-Gnawing Insects."
Lu Chen examined the red needle in his hand. With a flicker of his spiritual power, a deep red flame appeared on the needle's slender body, instantly incinerating the numerous tiny Spirit-Gnawing Insects skewered on it into black ash.
"Based on their mobility, they shouldn't be Spirit-Gnawing Insects that hatched from eggs left in the spirit soil before. Otherwise, I would have discovered their ill intentions towards my spirit plants much earlier."
"That means they must have invaded from the outside, but I can't fathom what could have caused such a significant change in them."
Recalling the recent appearances of aberrant cultivators in the market, Lu Chen felt that something was amiss.
"What did the Wang family stir up in that new secret realm? What did they obtain that has brought this calamity upon the entire market, making it so unsafe?"
Lu Chen immediately thought back to the previous incident where the Wang family cultivators had returned with many loose cultivators. From the discussions he overheard, it seemed that during the process of developing the new secret realm, they had stolen a treasure, attracting some evil entity, which had made the market restless and unsafe for quite some time.
"I hope I'm just overthinking this."
Lu Chen's heart grew heavy as he carefully searched his spirit field for any traces of the aberrant Spirit-Gnawing Insects. Fortunately, he found no further signs of their presence.
Living in such a dangerous and treacherous cultivation world, Lu Chen only wished for a quiet life tending to his spirit plants. Yet, even this modest desire seemed difficult to achieve.
He gazed at the second-rate Sword Grass and the Dark Marrow Herb, which had been growing in his spirit field for almost half a year, and his desire for them to mature quickly became even more fervent.
(End of Chapter)
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