12dz Chapter 105 Mole cricket
Chapter 105 Mole cricket
Shen Qing put the empty pottery jar into his storage bag and glanced at the sky.
The sun was already setting in the west. If we went down the mountain now, we would reach the county town around dusk. After fetching the spiritual water, we could hurry back and should be able to return to the mountains before nightfall.
Shen Qing did not delay, and drew his Qingyun Sword from its sheath, hovering it beneath his feet.
Soaring through the air on a sword, Qingyun Mountain gradually shrank behind them, with rolling forests stretching out beneath their feet.
It was dusk when they arrived in Qinghe County. Shen Qing sheathed his sword outside the city, walked into the city, and headed straight for Qingyunfang.
Shen Qing walked slowly closer and pushed open the door to enter.
Three figures emerged at the sound; they were Zhao Shoucheng, Lin Shouwei, and Chen Shouxin, who were left behind in the courtyard.
Upon seeing that the visitor was Shen Qing, the three were overjoyed and quickly stepped forward, bowing respectfully: "Disciple greets Master!"
Shen Qing nodded slightly, his gaze sweeping over the three of them: "It has been half a year since you left the mountain. Is everything alright? Have you been diligently cultivating in the secret chamber on time?"
Zhao Shoucheng stepped forward, bowed, and replied, "Master, everything in the market is fine. The three of us have been diligently practicing our Qi cultivation every day without ever slacking off, but we have not yet stepped into the secret chamber."
Shen Qing raised an eyebrow slightly, somewhat surprised: "Why not go into the secret chamber? The secret chamber gathers spiritual energy, which is most suitable for you to meditate and improve. It would be a real pity to waste your time."
The perceptive Lin Shouwei spoke softly, explaining the reason: "Master, we know that you often need to use the spiritual dew and spiritual water nurtured by the spiritual vein in the secret chamber. The spiritual vein in the secret chamber is quite fragile. If the three of us rashly enter to cultivate and absorb spiritual energy, we may disturb the energy of the spiritual vein and disrupt the nurturing rhythm of the spiritual dew and spiritual water."
Chen Shouxin quickly added, "Our cultivation is too low to take any risks. Rather than seeking quick results and delaying Master's important matters, we should focus on building a solid foundation. As long as it doesn't hinder Master's needs, it's alright for us to progress slowly."
When the words were spoken, all three of them looked calm and composed, without a trace of resentment or complaint, only sincerity.
Shen Qing stood there, his heart trembling slightly upon hearing this.
He had only been concerned about the spirit field and had not specifically instructed his disciples on this matter. He never expected that the three of them would be so perceptive.
They did not seek to quickly improve their cultivation, and were willing to put aside excellent cultivation opportunities, just to protect the spiritual veins of the secret chamber and save themselves a little trouble.
Looking at the three people in front of him, Shen Qing was deeply moved, and then said softly, "You are very kind."
In the secret chamber, Shen Qing sat cross-legged in front of the Spirit Eye. He first used his divine sense to probe the depths of the Spirit Eye to confirm that the circulation of the spiritual veins was not damaged before turning his gaze to the Spirit Pool.
Upon seeing this, a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
The pool had been replenished with about half of its original volume of spiritual water, much more than expected.
A thin layer of spiritual dew began to condense on the stone wall again. Although it was not as thick as last time, it was nearly 30% faster than Shen Qing had estimated.
Shen Qing thought for a moment and understood that when he took the spiritual dew, he did not damage the spiritual energy circulation of the spiritual eye itself.
For the past two months, Zhao Shoucheng and others have not entered the secret chamber to cultivate, which has given the spiritual eye a complete period of nurturing.
The spiritual energy in the spiritual veins does not need to be diverted to supply cultivators; it is all condensed into spiritual dew and spiritual water, so the recovery speed is naturally faster than expected.
"This is an unexpected delight." Shen Qing took out the pottery jar and carefully collected the spiritual water and spiritual dew.
This time he only took 80%, leaving 20% to maintain the spiritual energy concentration in the secret chamber. There's plenty of time in the future, and taking it slow and steady is the right approach.
By the time the spiritual water and dew were collected, it was already completely dark.
Shen Qing flew back to Qingyun Mountain on his sword, arriving at the spirit field behind the mountain close to 9 PM.
The night wind swept through the valley, rustling the thatched roof of the shed.
Under the moonlight, the leaves of the Linggu plant shimmered faintly.
As usual, Shen Qing used his divine sense to survey the field and, after confirming that there was nothing unusual, sat down cross-legged under the shade of the pavilion.
The next morning, at the beginning of the hour of Mao (5-7 AM).
Shen Qing opened his eyes on time, got up and walked out of the shaded pavilion to begin his daily field patrol.
In the southeast corner of the spirit field, Shen Qing felt his divine sense being gently "tripped" by something.
That slight fluctuation was extremely faint, mixed in with the pulse of the earth's energy, like a loach turning over in the mud, disappearing in an instant.
Shen Qing paused in his steps.
wrong.
After tending to the spiritual field for the past two months, he knew every inch of it by heart, and was also very familiar with the flow path of the earth's vein energy and the distribution range of the spiritual grain roots.
These things had already formed a picture in his mind, and anything that did not belong to this picture would arouse his vigilance.
That slight fluctuation just now was neither earth energy, nor inanimate objects, nor any kind of ordinary insect he had ever seen.
Shen Qing calmly withdrew his divine sense and continued walking along the ridge of the field, pretending not to have noticed anything unusual.
But his attention was now entirely focused on the area in the southeast corner.
Divine senses surrounded it from all directions, penetrating the soil from different angles.
These fine threads of divine sense probed downwards inch by inch, penetrating the loose surface soil, piercing through the shallow layer where the spiritual grain roots were distributed, and going all the way down to half a foot below.
There, there was a faint, earthy-yellow aura.
It curled up in a very narrow crack in the soil, its spiritual energy almost completely assimilated with the surrounding soil.
If Shen Qing's divine sense hadn't been tempered by the Immortal Linglong, making it several times more acute than that of an ordinary Foundation Establishment cultivator, he would have simply regarded it as an ordinary piece of soil and stone even if he had swept it over.
Mole crickets!
Shen Qing's pupils contracted slightly. He remembered the illustrations in the Thick Earth Sect's cultivation method clearly: mole cricket, a first-order spirit insect, shaped like a cricket but yellowish-brown in color, with a body length of no more than an inch. It likes to gnaw on the roots and stems of spirit objects and has the innate ability to escape into the earth, making it difficult for ordinary cultivators to detect.
Shen Qing did not rush to act. The mole cricket was still lying dormant deep in the soil and had not yet begun to eat on a large scale.
If you act rashly and disturb it, causing it to burrow deeper into the earth, it will be difficult to catch it again.
Shen Qing walked slowly to the southeast corner, sat cross-legged on the edge of the field, and closed his eyes to regulate his breathing.
However, his divine sense had already slowly seeped into the soil from all four directions around where the mole cricket was, sealing off all possible escape routes for it.
Just as the divine senses were about to encircle it, the mole cricket seemed to sense something.
A flash of light appeared around it, and its entire body suddenly burrowed deeper into the soil.
Shen Qing felt that the mole cricket was incredibly fast. It didn't use its claws to dig in the soil; instead, it emitted a layer of earth-elemental spiritual power, pushing aside the soil in front of it. Its whole body moved through the mud like a loach, encountering almost no resistance.
Shen Qing's divine sense followed behind it, and several times it barely touched the edge of the carapace on its hind legs, but it twisted and broke free each time.
It burrowed deeper and deeper, from half a foot deep to a foot deep, and then from a foot deep to even deeper.
The lower layer of the spirit field was mortal soil that had not yet fully transformed. The soil was hard and compacted, but the mole cricket moved through it as if it were nothing.
Shen Qing took a deep breath and stopped using his divine sense to chase after it. Instead, he suddenly condensed his divine sense into a large net, which closed in from above, below, left, and right at the same time.
This method is brutal and extremely energy-consuming. The farther the consciousness leaves the body, the faster it is consumed, especially when it penetrates deep into the soil, where every inch consumes mental energy exponentially.
But the effect was also significant; the mole cricket's escape speed suddenly slowed down.
The soil around it was sealed off by Shen Qing's divine sense, and no matter which direction it tried to burrow, it would run into Shen Qing's divine sense.
It began to spin wildly in place, its body flashing with spiritual light.