Of course, this method requires a certain level of proficiency in the Water Guiding Technique, allowing the water waves to change into any shape and move freely under his control.
Currently, he can only control the well water to conjure a few Water Dragons, and has not yet reached the stage of free movement.
However, this method is undoubtedly the best given the current circumstances.
“I’ll just have to practice while getting rid of the insects.”
Xia Jingxing, following his plan, quickly chanted the Water Guiding spell, and the water in the well, under his control, flew up like a Water Dragon.
He attempted to control the water flow to circle around him once, then a second time… Controlling it was indeed quite difficult at first, but as he practiced more, the water flow became easily controllable, though only for a short period.
He immediately went to the rice seedlings, controlling the water flow to quickly penetrate the entire plant, and the flying insects attached to the surface of the rice seedlings were immediately carried away by the water.
Xia Jingxing controlled the water flow, washing three or four plants at a time, then five or six, then seven or eight, and soon he mastered the pattern of control.
He directly controlled the water flow to wash over the rows.
Repeating this, he spent half an hour removing all the flying insects from the entire Spiritual Field.
Looking at the white insects floating in the wooden bucket, he was very satisfied.
He then went to the second acre of five-fragrance rice.
The situation of this acre of five-fragrance rice was slightly better, with fewer flying insects, but still many rice seedlings had been gnawed.
“Wuwuwu, hateful insects, they’ve bitten my little leaves into a thousand holes, it hurts so much!”
“They’re going to eat me all up!”
“It’s so uncomfortable!”
Upon hearing this, Xia Jingxing began to control the water flow, and with a ‘whoosh’ sound, the flying insects attached to the rice seedlings were immediately carried away.
It only took a little over a quarter of an hour to deal with the flying insects in this Spiritual Field.
Then, he went to the adjacent green vine leaf field.
【Name: green vine leaf
Innate Attribute: Spiritual Qi Perception (4%)】
【Cannot be absorbed】
green vine leaf is one of the main ingredients for Medicinal Pills cultivated during the Middle Stage of Qi Refinement. Once mature, its fruit resembles a leaf, often appearing emerald green, hence its name.
The plant's leaves are larger than ordinary Spirit Medicine, with a reticulated venation.
This acre of green vine leaf grew very well, but unfortunately, there were also some tiny white flying insects on its leaves.
“Although the source has been destroyed, these stragglers still have the potential to harm the young seedlings. I need to find a way to repel them.”
He heard about a type of Spirit Medicine for repelling insects, which, when sprinkled on the soil, could harm spirit insects and thus achieve the effect of repelling them.
“I need to go to the market to purchase some another day.”
Thinking this, he began to clean the few flying insects attached to the green vine leaf... Five days passed in a flash.
Xia Jingxing took time every day to check the growth status of the Spirit Medicine.
The five-fragrance rice had grown another three inches, and the previously gnawed wounds had also healed.
Over the past few days of observation, he found that the flying insects had almost disappeared.
Several small frog Yao Beasts had also appeared in his Medicine Field.
Based on the croaking sounds, he also saw several frog egg masses in the small puddle next to the well.
Xia Jingxing was not surprised by the arrival of the frog Yao Beasts; after he planted Spirit Medicine in the Spiritual Field, it attracted many spirit insects, and it was only a matter of time before their natural predators, the frogs, would find their way there, drawn by the scent of food.
At Chen Shi (7-9 AM) this day.
Xia Jingxing grabbed a handful of ghost face grass and fed it to the Medicine Seeking Badger, then went to the pigsty to feed bamboo shoots to the Hog Badger and collect manure.
Just as he looked towards the distant Spiritual Field, he froze in place.
His expression went blank for a moment, and his heart was extremely tense, fearing an outside attack.
As far as his eyes could see, most of the neat green expanse was gone.
He subconsciously took out the Xuanhuang Sword and immediately rushed to the Spiritual Field, only to see that a large area of the Spiritual Field had been destroyed.
Large patches of five-fragrance rice seedlings had collapsed, but fortunately, they had only collapsed and were not extensively damaged, so there was still a chance for salvage.
The other Spirit Medicine fields were not so optimistic.
The polygonatum root Spirit Medicine seedlings had grown relatively lush, so they suffered the most damage; almost half of the acre had been gnawed away.
Pulled out from the soil by their roots, fine debris could still be seen on the Spiritual Field.
The originally neat and uniform Spiritual Field had become pitted and uneven.
One-third of the Cinnabar Root and other Spirit Medicine had been gnawed away, with only one-third remaining intact.
He came to the polygonatum root Spiritual Field and had just picked up a polygonatum root that had fallen to the ground.
Then he heard the polygonatum root weakly say, “Don’t eat me! I haven’t grown up yet!”
The surviving polygonatum root said with a trembling voice, “So many companions have died, will I be next?”
“It hurts so much! I’m going to be trampled to death!”
“The sharp-fanged, clawed fellow suddenly rushed over and bit me, several leaves were torn off!”
“I’m about to lose my footing!”
At this stage, only the roots of polygonatum root Spirit Medicine had a tiny bit of medicinal effect and could not yet be used as medicine, but for those Yao Beasts, they were a rare delicacy.
“So it wasn’t an outside enemy attack!” Hearing the inner thoughts of these spiritual plants, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
However, a hint of regret flashed in his eyes; he hadn't expected to suffer such great losses the first time he planted Spirit Medicine.
“My guard was still too low; I should have set up a Formation.”
His expression gradually became serious, his brows furrowed deeply as he pondered how to remedy the situation.
“I must go to the market to purchase a low-level defensive Formation for the Spiritual Field. Also, I need to buy a new protective Spiritual Artifact.”
Since it was his first time planting Spirit Medicine, he had only hastily crammed some basic knowledge for spiritual plant masters at the time.
Typically, a lower-grade Spiritual Field like Banzhu Mountain would not have a Formation set up. It mainly cultivated spiritual rice and low-grade Spirit Medicine, which are not very popular with Yao Beasts.
The value of the harvested Spirit Medicine would not outweigh the cost of setting up a Formation, making it a losing proposition.
For example, the two acres of five-fragrance rice he planted were only trampled down, not gnawed away.
He had indeed underestimated the attractiveness of medicinal Spirit Medicine to Yao Beasts.
He quickly propped up the fallen polygonatum root and reburied it in the soil.
The already damaged surrounding plants were directly buried in the soil to serve as nutrients.
In the end, only about thirty plants survived, with about ten slightly damaged. Even if they were repaired later, the final selling price would not compare to those that were completely intact.
“Fortunately, there are still some Spirit Seeds left, otherwise, I would have truly lost a fortune.” He took out the polygonatum root Spirit Seeds and quickly sowed them in the original plant locations.
He continued to clean up the remnants of the Spirit Medicine and replant, soon arriving at the blood coagulation grass Spiritual Field.
The blood coagulation grass situation was much better; only a few plants near the edge had been gnawed, about twenty or so.
Seeing the black manure residue at the base of the blood coagulation grass, he immediately understood everything.
Hog Badgers are considered relatively strong Yao Beasts in Banzhu Mountain. These medicine-stealing Yao Beasts are vigilant and, upon sensing the scent of the Hog Badger's secretions, dared not cause trouble.
Thus, his acre of blood coagulation grass was saved by pig manure.
The blood coagulation grass seedlings near the edge conveyed their feelings of Rebirth after a catastrophe: “I almost died! The Yao Beast’s mouth was already right in front of me. I didn’t expect it to turn and leave!”
“It’s a pity about my companions next to me; we were just chatting yesterday.”
Xia Jingxing heard many of the blood coagulation grass’s inner thoughts; those at the edge were terrified, while those closer to the center were mostly just scared.
“These Yao Beasts have had a taste of sweetness; they will definitely come again. Tonight, I probably won't be able to sleep.”
He gradually began to consider the idea of waiting by the stump for a rabbit at night.
He also wanted to see what kind of Yao Beast was so bold as to come out and steal his Spirit Medicine.