Chapter 7: Catching Insects

The sect has no pesticide similar to insecticide; all worms must be caught manually by the disciples. Many worms like to eat spirit grass, but most cause only limited damage to the spirit grass—only one kind of worm is especially harmful.

This is a kind of worm called the Moon Insect; it emerges from underground before sunrise, climbs onto the stamens of spirit grass, and sucks the grass's essence.

It is a worm that cultivators both love and hate; after they suck the stamens, the spirit grass's medicinal potency drops, which means the quality of pills declines and the success rate of pill refining also falls.

Normally, everyone in the Pill Room should dislike it, but in fact they do not, because this worm is a rare delicacy for cultivators. Since it is small, it is seldom eaten directly and is usually used as a seasoning; even as just a seasoning, it can make a pot of ordinary food taste better than immortal fare.

Not only do low-level cultivators like it; in the eyes of high-level cultivators, its popularity is extraordinary. This leads to a strange result: the Moon Insect can help the Pill Room obtain more spirit stones than ordinary pills. Moreover, the Moon Insect is a specialty of the Hidden Cloud Sect; sects that have dealings with the Hidden Cloud Sect are very interested in these worms, and through them the Hidden Cloud Sect has gained considerable benefits. It is a pity, however, that the Moon Insect cannot be domesticated, so mass production is impossible.

For the elders and stewards of the Pill Room, their views on the Moon Insect are truly complex. Nevertheless, pills are the foundation of the sect's survival; the Moon Insect is merely an extra harvest, and the sect could never sacrifice herb quality just to raise these worms.

The Moon Insect appears each day for only a short time—within half an hour before sunrise—and it does not appear on overcast rainy days.

The disciples can hand in mature spirit grass for sect tasks, or they can hand in Moon Insects; it depends on the Herb Garden disciples' own choice. Everyone prefers catching Moon Insects because the task is simpler and the yield greater.

Now the Herb Garden has developed a bad phenomenon: disciples, in order to secure a steady supply of Moon Insects, have begun to cultivate them intentionally—for example, planting more spirit grass that the worms like, especially varieties with huge petals. As a result, the quantity and quality of spirit grass in the Herb Garden have been declining year by year.

"The spirit grass quality is declining—don't the people in the Pill Refining Room complain?" Wei Yuning couldn't help but ask.

At that moment, Maniu was leading Wei Yuning through a Heavenly Star Herb Garden, searching for worms. The Moon Insect is very cunning; at the slightest stir of wind or grass, it will spring from the stamens, fall to the ground, and quickly burrow underground. As the sky grew brighter, Maniu had not caught a single worm, but he was not discouraged—this was to be expected.

"I heard from Xiao Fei that the decision was made by the sect's senior elders; they don't care about the quality of pills taken by ordinary disciples. Besides, the Pill Refining Room isn't lacking good pills, and they can't be bothered to make a fuss about this!" Maniu said.

"Oh, I see!" Wei Yuning nodded in understanding, but inside he couldn't help sighing, "Laziness in governance is a universal human malady; the world of cultivation is no exception."

"Wait, there's a Moon Insect in that grass's flower!" After crossing an irrigation channel, Wei Yuning immediately stopped and whispered to Maniu.

"How do you know?" Maniu widened his eyes and stared, seeing nothing unusual at all.

This is a spirit grass whose flowers resemble peonies, with thick stalks like a small tree, petals layered heavily, far larger than earthly peony petals; the whole flower displays an extremely gorgeous red, its surface seeming to be shrouded in a thin mist.

"Just a feeling!" Wei Yuning brought his face close to Maniu's, shook his hand, and said mysteriously.

He certainly couldn't say he had smelled the Moon Insect's scent. Earlier they had already lost two of these worms; this strange worm has a strong spiritual aura and an intoxicating floral fragrance, and this was the third time—there was no way he could be mistaken.

"Alright, I'll believe you once! This is the Spirit Grass Poison Queen, very precious—don't ruin its flowers." Maniu said.

The disciples of the Herb Garden have long been catching Moon Insects, and they have already invented a simple tool: the common net bag found on Earth. Of course, Moon Insects differ from ordinary butterflies and dragonflies; a regular net bag cannot hold them at all, and even hard rock is as fragile as tofu to them.

The material for the net bag comes from a kind of silkworm—the Golden Silkworm produced by the Spirit Beast House—whose silk is extremely tough, making it ideal for catching Moon Insects.

Such tools are few; the entire Herb Garden has only five, which the disciples take turns using. Because raising Golden Silkworms is difficult and their silk is very precious, its best use is to make high‑level protective robes for the Artifact Forging Room. These five were obtained through special channels by certain elders who love fine food.

Maniu was just about to approach and catch it when Wei Yuning tugged his arm, handing him a thin wooden stick and two vines. Maniu understood, and the two quickly lengthened the net bag's handle, then stood in place and extended the net toward the flower.

The hunt went smoothly; when the net bag fully covered the flower, something leapt into the waiting net and struggled fiercely. The net was deep, slick, and soft, so the prey could not gain leverage, and the two were not at all worried that it would escape.

When the two brought the net bag up close, Maniu leaned in to look, and his expression instantly turned strange: "Is this really a Moon Insect?"