Chapter 173: Spirit Insect

Ever since Seventh Senior Sister and Eldest Senior Brother left, Xu Chen had rarely gone to the Medicine Garden; Thirteenth Senior Sister Zhao Xuan was also preparing to begin Foundation Establishment, so she also rarely came to the Medicine Garden.

Fortunately, ever since the two Golden Toads had eaten one Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill each, they had fallen into a deep sleep, which saved Xu Chen a lot of worry.

The two Golden Toads spent all day lying among the grape vines under the Soul Returning Wood, huddled together without moving. At first, Xu Chen was a bit worried, but after checking them several times, he discovered that the aura of the two Golden Toads was actually growing slowly, and their skin color had even become more vibrant.

This added quite a few pleasant surprises to his busy life.

In other words, with the help of the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill, the bloodlines of the two Golden Toads seemed to be slowly strengthening; once they woke up from their dormancy, the medicinal effects would likely be even stronger.

Xiao Huli loved the aura of the Medicine Garden very much. Apart from running back home to sleep with Xu Chen at night, it spent almost all its time in the Medicine Garden during the day. Of course, it also shouldered the task of helping to look after the two Golden Toads, watching them like a hawk every day, which made things much easier for Xu Chen.

This day, Xu Chen returned from the Danyuan after refining several batches of Gathering Qi Pills, carrying a scent of pill dust and smoke. When he arrived in front of the small hut, thinking he hadn't properly looked at the Medicine Garden for a few days, he turned his Flying Sword and landed in the Medicine Garden.

"Wuya~"

Xiaobai dashed out from the Medicine Garden in high spirits, barking excitedly around his feet, and bit his Daoist robe to pull him toward the location of the Soul Returning Wood.

"Alright, alright, I know you've been watching the two Golden Toads well; this is your reward!"

Xu Chen smiled, bent down to stroke Xiaobai's soft fur, and then tossed it a Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill.

Xiaobai jumped high to swallow the Spirit Pill in one gulp, then continued to drag him along with "wuya wuya" sounds. Thus, Xu Chen curiously followed it to the base of the Soul Returning Wood and discovered that the two Golden Toads had actually woken up.

"Gugua~"

Seeing Xu Chen, the two Golden Toads actually crawled out together, calling excitedly.

Xu Chen was pleasantly surprised but also a bit strange, because today he felt the color of the two Golden Toads had suddenly become much more moist, as if they had changed a layer of skin. His heart stirred, and he probed his Divine Sense into the dense grape leaves, only to discover that where the two Golden Toads had been nesting, there were indeed two golden, shimmering toad molts.

"My goodness, they actually molted!"

Xu Chen was overjoyed and hurriedly pushed aside the green, purple-veined grape leaves to grab the two toad molts.

They felt wet and soft in his hand; they must have been shed not long ago, and they were still emitting a faint spiritual glow.

The toad molts looked quite complete overall, except that the color on the four feet was not golden, but bore red and green patterns.

But he compared them to the two Golden Toads that had molted and found that their four feet seemed to have turned completely golden.

At this, Xu Chen became even happier.

This meant that the Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pill had indeed caused the two Golden Toads, which had begun to degenerate, to undergo a major mutation, starting to evolve into true Seven-Star Golden Toads.

"Gugua~ Gugua~"

The two Golden Toads crawled in front of Xu Chen, emitting deafening croaks.

Xu Chen took out a Jade Bottle and tossed out two Taiyuan Soul-Entering Pills. He saw two long, phantom tongue shadows flash by, and the two Spirit Pills disappeared in the blink of an eye.

However, after eating the Spirit Pills, the two Golden Toads didn't seem satisfied, nor did they look like they were going to nest and nap as they had before; they seemed even more restless, still staring at him with wide eyes and croaking.

Xu Chen hesitated for a moment, put away the Jade Bottle, and stood up.

At the Jade Palace of the Jade Clarity Hall, that old Daoist responsible for raising Golden Toads had said that although Golden Toads needed to be fed special Spirit Pills daily to maintain their spirituality, their staple food was still Spirit Insects and specially prepared feed.

Xu Chen felt a bit depressed. Spirit Pills were easy; he could refine seven or eight batches a day now, enough to stuff the two Golden Toads to death, but food containing Spirit Qi was hard to find; it had to be at the Demon Beast level.

Although there were many venomous snakes and insects containing Spirit Qi in the Southern Border region, it was not easy to go out and specifically look for them every day, and over time, it would be a huge burden.

Moreover, the sun had already set, so even if he wanted to go look, it wouldn't be convenient; after all, snakes and insects hibernated deep in tree holes and mud at night, and whether he could find any was an unknown.

Just as he looked up at the sky, Xiaobai darted into the colorful plant thicket. Before long, it came out with a thumb-sized, chubby, large insect covered in intertwined green and red patterns in its mouth.

"What is this thing?"

Looking at the large insect still struggling stubbornly in Xiaobai's mouth, Xu Chen was given a big fright.

"Wuya~" Xiaobai dropped the insect on the ground, and the two Golden Toads actually lunged at it simultaneously. Their two large tongues each wrapped around one end of the insect and began to tug. Soon, the large insect was pulled into two halves, and the two Golden Toads each swallowed half, then licked their mouths with an unsatisfied expression, looking at Xiaobai with anticipation.

"Wuya~ wuya~" Xiaobai jumped up and kept barking at the place it had just come from.

Xu Chen released his Divine Sense to envelop the entire Medicine Garden, but he discovered nothing. Just as he was wondering where Xiaobai had caught the insect, his Divine Sense suddenly stalled slightly, instantly focusing on the leaf of a plant that resembled rice, and at the same time, an expression of extreme shock appeared on his face.

A chubby, large insect, almost identical to the one Xiaobai had just caught, was lying on a leaf. The leaf had already been gnawed into a palm-sized hole. Although it wasn't large compared to the massive leaf, he was stunned.

Because within his Divine Sense, he actually couldn't feel the existence of this insect, yet he could truly see it. What made him even stranger was that this type of insect, like these strange, colorful plants, didn't look like something from this world at all; he couldn't feel the slightest bit of Spirit Qi, yet faint spiritual light could be seen flowing within its body.

And after he saw this insect clearly, he carefully searched the vicinity with his Divine Sense, which shocked him even more, because there were quite a few of these insects; almost every plant resembling rice had one. Not only were there many holes gnawed into the leaves, but at the base of one leaf, there was even one spinning silk and forming a cocoon.

Xu Chen took two steps in one and dived into the plant thicket, which was now over a person's height, and soon arrived beside this cocoon-spinning insect.

This one was a bit different from the others; not only was its body a circle larger, but its head was purplish-red, and its whole body was covered in dark green fine patterns, which actually looked like scales, appearing incredibly eerie.

At this moment, this large insect was shaking its head back and forth, spitting out purple fine silk, and was in the process of wrapping its own body inside.

Xu Chen's Divine Sense landed on the insect and the fine silk, and the expression on his face slowly became even more surprised.

This fine silk carried a strange fluctuation of Spirit Qi, and inside, there was green spiritual light flickering and moving.

According to his knowledge of various Spirit Materials and spiritual objects, this fine silk was likely no lower than a Second-Tier Spirit Material.

In other words, these insects of unknown breed were not only pests destroying these plants but also a type of high-grade Spirit Insect, and the silk they spat out was also a decent Spirit Material.

There were many insects in the natural world that spat silk, but Spirit Insects were very rare, especially breeds capable of spitting silk. As far as Xu Chen knew, the only one he had seen that could spit silk was the Black Spider Soul Beast, but that was not a native product of the mortal realm, but came from the netherworld.

Of course, in the spiritual object data and some spiritual object rankings compiled in the Immortal World, there still existed Spirit Insects and Demon Insects like Ice Silkworms, Fire Silkworms, and Blood-Shatter Poison Spiders, but the living environments of these insects were very treacherous, and they were all highly toxic; he had only heard of them and had never actually seen them.

The silk of these very rare insects was highly valuable and excellent for making magic robes or flexible Magic Treasures, and it was deeply loved by female cultivators; for instance, some female cultivators liked to use these fine silks to weave into cloth and refine them into close-fitting clothing or ornaments.

It was just that the quantity in existence was rare, and it was not easy to gather enough for a single piece; unless one was a cultivator with formidable strength and abundant wealth, one simply couldn't afford it.

Xu Chen was momentarily conflicted.

He had always wanted to see what these strange plants were after raising them to maturity.

But the appearance of these insects posed a great threat to the growth of the plants.

If it hadn't been for the little fox catching an insect today, he wouldn't have discovered this development for a long time.

But if these insects spat enough silk, collecting it in the future might allow him to make a decent magic robe.

However, these were clearly all pests; if he let them continue to breed and grow, he estimated that before long, these rice-like plants would likely be completely ruined.

What to do?

Xu Chen thought it over and felt that for now, the plants should still be the priority. Thus, after searching for a while, he caught two more insects to feed the Seven-Star Golden Toads, but he specifically left the large insect that was spinning silk and forming a cocoon.

He also wanted to see what kind of strange thing this insect would turn into after it emerged from its cocoon.

According to the common logic of the natural world, it should certainly be a flying Scaled Insect like a moth or a butterfly.

Since the beginning of heaven and earth, countless species have been born one after another; excluding innate species such as gods and demons, all other acquired flesh-and-blood beings belong to the insect category, divided into the five types: Naked Insect, Scaled Insect, Furred Insect, Feathered Insect, and Armored Insect.

Naked Insect refers to creatures that are bare, without fur, shells, or feathers, and humans are the leaders of the Naked Insects.

Scaled Insect refers to those covered in scales; snakes, lizards, moths, butterflies, and other creatures with scales or scaly wings are all included, and the dragon is the leader of the Scaled Insects.

The remaining categories are, respectively, beasts covered in fur, birds covered in feathers, and Armored Insects with shells.

There is no distinction of high or low status in the bloodlines of the Five Insects; each has breeds with formidable strength, and all can give birth to powerful beings that roam the heavens and earth.

For example, the legendary Four Sacred Beasts—Azure Dragon, Vermilion Bird, White Tiger, and Black Tortoise—belong respectively to the leaders of the Scaled Insects, Feathered Insects, Furred Insects, and Armored Insects; compared to humans, who are praised as the leaders of all spirits, their strength is even more formidable, and they are born with the aura to suppress heaven and earth.

Of course, the Armored Insect gnawing on the Medicine Garden before him certainly falls far short of the level of the legendary sacred beasts, but like these plants, it must come from some unknown world, perhaps a species from those Grotto-Heavens above the legendary Nine Heavens, so it is naturally worth Xu Chen paying close attention and observing it.

Moreover, these Spirit Insects that suddenly appeared in the Medicine Garden also allowed Xu Chen to suddenly solve a big problem, which is that it seems he does not need to worry about food for the Seven-Star Golden Toad for the time being.

(End of this chapter)