Chapter Four: The Spirit Locust and the Azure Beetle

“I just heard from Old He that he found spirit locusts in Xu Zhong’s spirit field.

These spirit locusts are no ordinary pests. They are extremely destructive to spirit fields, especially fond of devouring spirit rice. Once they appear, they usually arrive in swarms. Able to fly and leap with ease, if they show up in one field, it won’t be long before they spread to others.

You must conduct a thorough inspection later—don’t let the spirit grain suffer.

Especially at this time of year, the spirit rice seedlings are beginning to flower and bear grain, which attracts countless spirit insects. One misstep and the harvest could be lost,” Old Xu urged anxiously.

Zhou Changwang nodded earnestly.

He knew that once the spirit rice ripened, insects would flock to feast on it, and if not dealt with, all these months of hard labor might be ruined in an instant.

As for Xu Zhong, Zhou was familiar with him—a fellow cultivator who had apprenticed in the Spirit Plant Hall, though Xu Zhong was a few years older and left the Hall earlier. By now, Xu Zhong had been renting and cultivating his own spirit field for three years.

But unlike the diligent spirit farmers, Xu Zhong was often absent for days, leaving his field overgrown with weeds and plagued by pests. The appearance of spirit locusts there was hardly surprising.

Unfortunately, Xu Zhong’s rented field was close to Zhou’s, separated only by a small stream, so precautions were indeed necessary.

With these thoughts, Zhou Changwang returned to his field and began carefully inspecting the spirit rice plants.

Each stalk was budding with tiny white flowers; some of the faster-growing stalks already bore spirit rice grains, though these were still shriveled and would need another ten days or so to ripen fully. Yet the anticipation of the coming harvest filled him with joy.

He scanned the spirit rice, examining each plant one by one.

Suddenly, Zhou’s eyes narrowed.

A spirit insect, the size of a baby’s fist and clad in a green carapace, came into view.

“A green carapace beetle!”

Zhou muttered to himself.

Though not as devastating as the spirit locusts, green carapace beetles would still gnaw on the stalks and leaves, hindering the growth of the rice. They too had to be eradicated.

He held his breath, quietly circulating his spiritual energy, and quickly began tracing intricate runes in the air.

The process was slow, and what little mental energy he had just regained was rapidly consumed.

One breath… two breaths… three…

Only after seven breaths did the spell finally take shape.

Metallic Finger!

He pointed forward.

“Go!”

A flash of golden light shot out.

With a soft thud, the green beetle’s head was pierced clean through, and its body dropped stiffly to the ground.

“As expected of an attack spell—the power of Metallic Finger is truly astonishing,” Zhou exclaimed with delight.

The green carapace beetle’s shell was notoriously tough—ordinary blades could barely scratch it. Yet the Metallic Finger pierced it effortlessly, a testament to its might.

For the first time, Zhou truly felt the change in himself.

The Cleaning Spell and Minor Rainfall Spell were wondrous, but they were only supportive techniques. Metallic Finger, however, was a genuine offensive spell, far surpassing any sword or blade.

“Indeed, force and strength—that is a man’s romance!” Zhou mused, hurrying forward to retrieve the beetle.

The green carapace beetle was a spirit insect; its shell, ground into powder, was a useful medicinal ingredient, and its flesh was rich in spiritual energy, which could aid cultivation. Though it was only the size of a baby’s fist, the energy it contained was comparable to half a catty of spirit rice. Naturally, Zhou was loath to waste it.

He continued his inspection.

“As I thought—with the rice about to bear grain, there are noticeably more spirit insects in the field.”

Soon, Zhou spotted a second green beetle.

He repeated his method.

The second beetle was also slain.

Then a third.

Zhou was not yet fully proficient with Metallic Finger; he missed his mark with the third, only grazing the beetle at first and needing a second strike to finish it off.

Nevertheless, his proficiency did not diminish.

Metallic Finger proficiency +2.

In this way, after combing through all three acres, Zhou had slain a total of four spirit insects, all green carapace beetles. There was also a burrowing cicada; but as soon as he spotted it, it sensed him and vanished underground, leaving Zhou no choice but to give up.

Metallic Finger (Beginner 13+5/100).

Glancing at his status panel, Zhou finally climbed out of the spirit field.

By now, his spiritual energy was once again depleted.

But he was so utterly exhausted that he couldn’t even meditate to recover—he could only grit his teeth and endure.

“How did it go?” Old Xu approached with a smile.

“Four green carapace beetles,” Zhou replied. “Fortunately, no spirit locusts.”

“Four green beetles are worth about two catties of spirit rice—not a bad haul. As for spirit locusts, it’s best that there were none. If they swarm, we wouldn’t be able to handle it ourselves; we’d have to call people from the Spirit Plant Hall, and hiring them costs three lower-grade spirit stones each time—quite expensive.”

Old Xu’s face twisted with pain at the memory, clearly having paid that price before.

After all, no matter how careful spirit farmers are, during the grain-bearing season, they can’t avoid insects coming to feed. The better the field is tended, the more insects it attracts. If pests become a plague, their spiritual energy alone isn’t enough to clear them all; that’s when the Spirit Plant Hall must be called in.

Zhou nodded.

Inwardly, he wondered if he could use the proficiency panel to avoid such crises.

He was painfully aware of his poverty.

He had already searched his room thoroughly; aside from some gold and silver coins for basic necessities, there was not a single spirit stone to his name.

When the time came, if he couldn’t pay, he would have to watch his spirit field fall to ruin.

The Spirit Plant Hall was no charity—it cared only for its own profit. Whether a field was saved or lost, the farmer bore the risk. If he couldn’t pay, he would become a contract farmer—no longer a free man.

“Metallic Finger is a deadly weapon against spirit insects; I must raise its level quickly. But my real flaw is my lack of cultivation and insufficient spiritual energy.

Casting spells requires spiritual energy. Even if I were fully charged, I could only cast ten or so Metallic Fingers at most. Meditation would only restore half of that, so about fifteen spells per day... It would take seven or eight days at least to raise the proficiency. Not to mention I have to use the Minor Rainfall Spell for the field, and sometimes the Growth Spell for slow-growing rice…”

The thought made Zhou’s head ache.

“Maybe I can try casting spells without fully activating them, or control the amount of energy I use to reduce the cost each time?”

It was worth a try, but he would have to experiment to know for sure.

“By the way, has your father returned yet? Come to think of it, he’s been in the mountains for half a month now,” Old Xu asked, changing the subject.

“He has been gone quite a while this time,” Zhou replied, a trace of worry clouding his face.