Chapter 43: Strange Insect, Snake Saliva Spirit Tree

Chapter 43: Chapter 43: Strange Insect, Snake Saliva Spirit Tree

CRACK...

Dong Xing swung his hoe lightly. The Cowgrass, renowned for its toughness, was severed at the root as if it were tofu.

If anyone had seen this, they would have certainly marveled at the sight.

Judging by Dong Xing’s practiced ease and the richness of the golden light, it was clear he had cultivated his "Sharp Metal Art" to the minor success stage.

Dong Xing cleared an acre of his Spirit Field, then leaned on his hoe to rest. Gazing at his own lush, green field, his pride was written all over his face.

Among all the lower-grade Spirit Fields on Miscellaneous Peak, the five acres he had cultivated for over ten years were second to none, whether in terms of Spiritual Qi content or size.

This was the source of his confidence, why he dared to claim he could support the mother and child next door.

Just then, his eyes swept past a stalk of Yellow Seed Spirit Rice, and a black spot the size of a grain of rice caught his eye.

Dong Xing’s brow furrowed. He walked over and lifted the leaf.

Beneath the vibrant green leaf, clusters of tiny black particles were stuck to the surface.

Dong Xing scraped one off with his fingernail and held it up to his eye.

In the sunlight, a nearly invisible little thing writhed within the black dot.

Dong Xing frowned. ’This is...’

He immediately reached out, pulled up the stalk of Yellow Seed Spirit Rice, and snapped it in two.

The sap, which should have been a vibrant green, was now stained a dark brown and emitted a foul, fishy odor.

Dong Xing’s expression turned ugly. A golden light surged from his palm, pouring into the Spirit Rice stalk.

SQUEAK... With a nearly inaudible screech, the golden light emerged, carrying a stiff, slender worm with it.

Seeing the creature in its entirety, Dong Xing’s expression changed drastically. "The Black Blood Moth," he exclaimed.

"Fuck..."

With an ugly look on his face, Dong Xing ran his glowing golden palm over the Spirit Rice, extinguishing the life within the eggs.

He then began to inspect the Yellow Seed Spirit Rice in his Spirit Field, one stalk at a time.

In the blink of an eye, the sun was high in the sky.

Dong Xing strode out of his Spirit Field, his expression anxious as he paced back and forth.

’I have to report this to a Steward. Otherwise, if the Black Blood Moths spread any further, this entire season’s crop of Spirit Rice will be devoured.’

Gritting his teeth, Dong Xing tossed his hoe aside, channeled Spiritual Power to his feet, and sprinted down the main path.

He didn’t even greet Yun Wan as he passed her Spirit Field, running nonstop down the path.

When people greeted him along the way, he ignored them completely, his face grim, and ran straight to the platform where the Spirit Field Hall was located.

Dong Xing rushed into the main hall, grabbed a servant, and said urgently, "Which Steward is on duty in the hall today? Take me to see the Steward, quickly."

Seeing his agitated state, the servant didn’t dare to delay. "Steward Ma is on duty today," he said, leading the way.

A moment later, Dong Xing followed the servant into a room.

Inside, a middle-aged man with a long, thin face and a stern expression was speaking with a gentle and refined-looking young man, not even glancing at the two newcomers.

Dong Xing was incredibly anxious, but after waiting for a while, neither of the two men acknowledged him.

After a moment’s hesitation, he shouted, "Steward, help! Something terrible has happened in the Spirit Fields!"

* * *

The sun began to set, painting half the sky red.

"Hooo..."

Li Changsheng lifted the wooden plow, stopping Xiaohua from re-entering the Spirit Field. He wiped the sweat from his brow, a satisfied smile on his face.

After working nonstop all morning with Xiaohua’s help, he had tilled two acres of the Spirit Field, with only the last three-tenths left to go.

The soil in the two tilled acres was freshly turned, without a single weed in sight.

After a short rest, just as Li Changsheng was about to continue, he saw that the swarm of Red-winged Blood Bamboo had gathered together, circling above the last three-tenths of an acre.

Every so often, a dozen or so of the Red-winged Blood Bamboo would descend, only to fly back up again.

Through his mental connection with them, Li Changsheng could faintly sense that they seemed to have encountered a threat.

’What could it be?’

Li Changsheng’s eyebrows rose slightly, a look of interest in his eyes.

’Whatever can make a swarm of Red-winged Blood Bamboo feel threatened must be no ordinary thing.’

Li Changsheng thought for a moment and decided to go take a look.

Of course, he had to be cautious.

He removed the vine harness from Xiaohua, swung himself onto its back, and channeled his Spiritual Power into its body.

AWOOO...

Xiaohua let out a low roar as its fur softened, becoming like a gel that instantly enveloped its entire body.

As Li Changsheng watched, the gel covering Xiaohua rapidly hardened, forming dark, scale-like armor.

Li Changsheng formed a hand seal for his technique. The Spiritual Qi in his body flowed rapidly into the vein-like patterns of the Golden Turtle Shield as he muttered, "Golden Turtle Shield."

In an instant, a spiritual light shot out from his body, forming three illusory, pale-gold turtle shells, each the size of a human head, which then floated around him protectively.

Looking at the Golden Turtle Shields circling him, Li Changsheng patted Xiaohua’s cool armor, feeling a great sense of security.

"Let’s go, Xiaohua."

He urged Xiaohua into the patch of weeds, heading straight for the spot beneath the swarm of Red-winged Blood Bamboo.

CRUNCH...

After Xiaohua had trampled through the weeds for about ten meters, a small tree, a little over a meter tall, came into view.

The small tree had only a few scattered leaves hanging from its crown; the rest of it was completely bare.

At that moment, Li Changsheng finally got a clear look at the thing that was threatening the Red-winged Blood Bamboo.

It was a creature coiled around the small tree, something that looked like a snake but wasn’t.

It wasn’t a snake because it had no scales. Its body was a glossy, blackish-red, like a magnified earthworm, and it possessed a large mouth full of fangs.

’What kind of creature is this...’

Li Changsheng searched his memories, but there was no record of it in the "Manual of Spirit Insects."

Just then, of the dozen or so Red-winged Blood Bamboo circling the strange creature, one suddenly shot out and charged toward it.

The strange creature reacted quickly. A faint, blackish-red spiritual light spread across its body as it opened its large, serrated mouth and snapped at the Red-winged Blood Bamboo with a speed that defied its size.

The Red-winged Blood Bamboo suddenly swerved, narrowly dodging the attack.

The moment the strange creature was distracted, the other Red-winged Blood Bamboo swiftly descended upon it, plunging their vicious mouthparts downward.

But when their mouthparts struck the creature’s skin, they were instantly repelled, unable to even break through its defenses.

The strange creature twisted its body, turning back to snap at them with its fanged mouth.

The Red-winged Blood Bamboo scattered in all directions, evading its attack.

It was a good thing the Red-winged Blood Bamboo could fly; otherwise, given the creature’s agility, they would have suffered heavy losses.

The arrival of Li Changsheng and Xiaohua had also alerted the strange creature.

The creature lifted the upper half of its body from the small tree it was coiled around. Its "face"—which had no eyes, only a savage, fanged mouth—was aimed directly at him.

Li Changsheng didn’t make a rash move. He let the Red-winged Blood Bamboo continue to harass the creature while his own gaze shifted to the small tree beneath it.

Although the tree wasn’t tall, its branches were twisted and gnarled, as if countless snake tails were coiled together. Its dark brown bark even had a faint, scale-like pattern.

As Li Changsheng looked at it, his brows gradually furrowed. The more he looked, the more he felt he had seen it somewhere before.

With a thought, a book with the title "One Hundred Spiritual Objects" appeared in his hand.

Li Changsheng flipped through the illustrated pages. After turning dozens of pages, a drawing that was an eighty percent match for the small tree before him came into view.

"What was once a Tier One Middle Grade Spirit Wood Seed mutated into the Tier One High-Grade Spirit Wood, the Snake Saliva Spirit Tree, after absorbing the decadent aura generated by the mating of ten thousand snakes gathered by a Snake King."

"Its sap has aphrodisiac properties. Its leaves can accelerate the growth of snake-type Spirit Beasts. Its fruit can help snake-type Spirit Beasts unlock the power of their bloodline and awaken their own Magic."

"It’s actually a Tier One High-Grade Spirit Tree!"

Li Changsheng stared at the small, gnarled and twisted tree, his eyes shining brightly.