Chapter 264: Chapter 262 Liuli Sandi
Translator: 549690339
Upon recognizing Lu Xuan’s unfamiliar face, the dozen or so White Jade Spiders began to fidget and returned to their brawl.
“A bunch of unruly little spiders.”
Lu Xuan sighed. The Bug Whistle could only control these White Jade spiders for a brief time, without Zhong Jing Shan asserting his dominance, the spiders were acting untamed.
His internal spiritual energy surged, sending a hazy layer of spiritual light falling on the White Jade Spiders in the insect room.
The Cleansing Spell from the Clear and Wonderful Spirit Tea could eliminate distracting thoughts and desires, putting one at peace, devoid of all needs and wants.
As the spiritual light descended, all the fighting White Jade Spiders simultaneously ceased, standing still on the spot. Their bodies shimmered with a phosphorescent glow, embodying a look of purity and tranquility.
It would be so much easier if you behaved this way sooner!”
We are all part of the same family. It’s so much better to live in harmony, isn’t it? Why engage in violent fights and create discord?”
Lu Xuan said, his face smeared with a kind smile, and eyes squinted.
He took out some Strange Worms from his storage bag and tossed them into the insect room to feed the massive spiders that boasted bodies as lustrous as white jade.
With a focused mind, information about the White Jade Spiders surfaced from his memories.
[Condensed Jade Spider, a third-grade Demon Insect, moves at exceptional speed, with foot like blades and a flesh body as hard as iron. The White Silk it exudes comprises both strength and toughness, serving as the primary ingredient in crafting many Protective Magical Artifacts.]
[Following the release of silk strands, the Condensed Jade Spider enters a frenzy state for a period, highly aggressive, engaging in battles with its kind.] “So it’s an aftereffect of the silk production.”
Lu Xuan muttered, proceeding with the maintenance of the dozen or so Condensed Jade Spiders.
Originally, these Condensed Jade Spiders were gregarious Demon Insects. Instead of preventing their intermittent fights, Zhong Jing Shan provided each of them with an individual insect room.
Most of the time, they remained at peace, only growing aggressive and violent after producing silk, rendering them with excessive hostility.
Once a Condensed Jade Spider entered a frenzy, leading an attack on its kind, it would incite a counterattack, subsequently causing a massive brawl.
While they were engaged in feeding, Lu Xuan kept dropping a series of Cleansing Spells on their white jade bodies. Only after sensing the tranquility amongst all the Condensed Jade Spiders did he move to the other insect rooms.
The third insect room housed nothing but minor anthills formed from the mixture of black and red fine sand on its broad floor.
Lu Xuan surveyed the inside of the anthills through his spiritual sense and discovered a microcosm within.
Innumerable gullies crisscrossed, akin to a giant network fused together to form an extremely complex underground maze.
The maze pathways were faintly marked with scorch marks.
A whistle from the Bug Whistle prompted a faint rustling sound coming from the deepest end of the underground maze
Soon, countless fist-sized Dark Red Ants crawled out from various tunnels, grouped together and piled up.
Before long, they morphed into a peculiar, two-meter-tall entity, its surface persistently spewing black and red flames.
Known as the Yin Fire Ant, this second-grade Demon Insect possess a degree of flying capability and can spit out a venomous flame that clings to the bone, lingering for a long period.
A single Yin Fire Ant could be easily dealt with, but hundreds or thousands combined could pose a significant challenge.
Zhong Jing Shan maintained such a Yin Fire Ant Tribe for practicing the Insect Shell Technique. It allows one to manipulate the Yin Fire Ants into various forms, especially forging a special armor. The armor boasts a strong defense and can continually replenish Yin Fire Ants.
The charm he gave to Lu Xuan had recorded the simple enactment methods for this Insect Shell Technique.
Staring at the gradually growing pile of numerous Yin Fire Ants in the insect room, Lu Xuan was filled with an overwhelming urge to play.
Following the instructions on the charm, he commanded his spiritual power, casting out a spell.
The strange existence formed by the Yin Fire Ants suddenly changed, taking on the semblance of a human body. Its hands were crossed over its abdomen, its shoulders trembling slightly, causing the upper half of the body to shift. ‘ This shape only lasted for about two and a half breaths before the entire body began to crumble and then collapse with a loud crash.
“It collapsed.”
After all, these were just some basic applications of methods controlling demon insects, and it was Lu Xuan’s first attempt, so even maintaining a humanoid form couldn’t be sustained for very long.
The numerous Yin Fire Ants that fell to the ground were unaffected and continued to crawl around the insect room.
Lu Xuan threw a large piece of dark red spirit ore into the middle of the room. Immediately, all the Yin Fire Ants gathered around. Using tiny flame knives, they cut the dark red spirit ore into countless small pieces, each dragging a piece back into the underground labyrinth.
This spirit ore was left to him by Zhong Jing Shan for feeding the Yin Fire Ant tribe.
Through Lu Xuan’s spiritual sense, he could tell that the numerous Yin Fire Ants had carried all the shattered pieces of ore deep into the labyrinth and then divided it among themselves according to their strength and rank.
After feeding the numerous Yin Fire Ants, Lu Xuan moved onto the next insect room.
Inside were seven or eight strange insects, somewhat similar in appearance to ladybugs. Their shells were a faint white color, marked with seven deep white spots, forming a pattern like the Big Dipper.
These strange insects were known as Seven-star Liuli Bugs – third-tier creatures that, once they’d absorbed enough spiritual power, would produce a peculiar substance named Liuli Sand.
This Liuli Sand could be used to refine several types of rare elixirs, and was quite valuable.
“Well, to put it more simply, it’s basically the Seven-star Liuli Bugs’ droppings.”
Lu Xuan watched as one of the Seven-star Liuli Bugs’ backs flickered with spiritual light. One of the spots on its back became extremely bright. Then, from its tail, it slowly excreted a Liuli bead-like object.
It was bright and sparkling, emitting faint wisps of white vapors, a mixture of heat and intrinsic spiritual light.
Apart from raising these Seven-star Liuli Bugs, Lu Xuan’s job was also to collect the Liuli Sand. He needed to carefully store it to prevent the medicinal power from leaking.
He entered the insect room, used the bug whistle to control the Seven-star Liuli Bugs to stay away from him, then began to pick up the several grains of Liuli Sand inside.
“I admit it, there’s a faint, enchanting fragrance.”
Lu Xuan’s nostrils twitched slightly as he said this.
“Who would have thought, when I joined the Sky Sword Sect, one day I would
find myself out here picking up…”
“No… I mean, picking up Liuli Sand….”
After searching every corner of the insect room, Lu Xuan put all of the Liuli Sand into an Agarwood box.
He carefully used a charm to seal the Agarwood box once all of the Liuli Sand had been put inside.
Despite Liuli Sand being a third-tier treasure and the fact that Lu Xuan was the only one in the insect room, or even the whole insect valley, he had no thoughts of greed.
Although he occasionally took some liberties, such as drawing blood from the Flood Dragon in Thousand Dragon Lake for testing, in general, his moral character was quite upright. He had never stolen other people’s treasures.
Furthermore, Zhong Jing Shan was a True Disciple of the Sky Sword Sect, who certainly had countless treasures and skills. Fluctuations in the production of the Seven-star Liuli Bugs in the insect room were not easy to hide. There was no way Lu Xuan could secretly steal a few grains of Liuli Sand without anyone knowing.
In a sense, all the strange insects in the entire insect valley were his eyes and ears.
Lu Xuan did not need to take the high risk of offending a True Disciple in order to reap such little benefit.
With that time and energy, it would be better off planting one or two more spirit plants. The reward from the resulting light clusters would probably be even more significant than that of the Liuli Sand.