Changsheng Xiuxian: I can see through everything

Chapter 43: Heavy Armor Cricket (Seeking Follow-up Reading)

The insect spirit essence condensed from the corpses of a hundred poisonous insects every month is enough for the four strange insects and his daily practice.

It's not like he hasn't been to the Shadow Forest before.

But at the edge of the Shadow Forest, it is difficult to capture high-quality exotic insects.

The insect spirit essence condensed from inferior strange insects is not only small in quantity but also of poor quality.

Unless you go deep into the Shadow Forest.

Chen Xuan was born cautious, and even though he had four strange insects, he was unwilling to put himself in danger.

The depths of the Shadow Forest are filled with dangers, including various monsters, beasts, insects, demonic cultivators, and calamity cultivators.

Not to mention that he was in the middle stage of Qi training, even those who were in the foundation building stage had died in it.

He would not go deep into the Shadow Forest unless it was absolutely necessary.

As for the monthly fee of twenty-five spirit stones.

Chen Xuan thought about it in his mind.

By increasing the amount of talismans made and producing more high-quality ones, we can still get through it.

"Brother Chen Xuan, I will try my best to help you lower the price."

"Thank you very much, Master Xu."

Chen Xuan thought about it and took out a large bottle of ant venom essence.

"Mr. Xu, you are an expert. Take a look at how much spirit stones these fire crystal ant venoms are worth."

"Oh, let me see."

Xu Anjing pulled out the cork and smelled the ant venom inside.

“It’s not very toxic.”

"Ant poison has other effects. Mr. Xu, give it a try."

"Uncle Zhong!"

Uncle Zhong took out a golden needle, dipped it in ant venom, and gently inserted it into his wrist.

Soon, the facial muscles twisted in pain and cold sweats broke out.

"This ant venom is very strange. It's not toxic, but it hurts terribly. I'm afraid few people can endure it!"

Uncle Zhong looked at the fire crystal ant venom.

"This poison is quite useful when refined into a magical weapon. This bottle of ant poison is worth fifty spirit stones."

Hearing this, Chen Xuan was delighted.

Fifty spirit stones is not a small amount. It is just enough to offset the cost of poisonous insect corpses for two months.
Xu Anjing gladly accepted it.

……

The next day, the Xu family team packed up their luggage and retreated eastward with their spoils.

After two days of walking, they returned to the Westward Army camp.

What I see is more serious than I imagined.

Three thousand monks, more than a hundred teams, half of them were attacked, and more than a dozen pioneering teams were wiped out.

Even the westward marching camp was attacked by demonic birds and beasts. One of the three foundation-building cultivators was seriously injured, and 20% of the 800 cultivators guarding the camp were killed or wounded.

The foundation-building master surnamed Bai, who was in charge of the affairs, issued an order for all the pioneers to return to the camp for reorganization and wait for news.

During this period, two foundation-building masters led an elite team to explore the burned mountains, but they eventually returned in disgrace.

It is said that the second-level demonic birds and beasts in the mountains united together and attacked the cultivators like crazy when they saw them.

The foundation-building repairs were delayed and they retreated in time, otherwise, they would have lost a lot of manpower.

The land reclamation work came to a standstill.

The monks had nothing to do, so many of them set up stalls in the camp.

Yu Qingsong seized the opportunity and sold the eagle claws, beak and bones to a weapon refining family for a good price.

"Thirty-six spirit stones, this price is quite good!"

Chen Xuan nodded and took out four spirit stones and gave them to Yu Qingsong.

"Thank you for your hard work, Daoist Yu."

"No, no. For such trivial matters, it's always best to ask the Taoist priest for help."

Yu Qingsong was also polite and accepted it with a smile.

He realized that instead of wandering around outside to earn small profits, it would be better to follow Chen Xuan and help him with chores, and he could also earn a lot of spirit stones.

Chen Xuan was not idle either.

There are many good things among the pioneering monks.

After reaching an agreement with Xu Anjing, the purchase volume of poisonous insect corpses increased significantly, and Chen Xuan felt more confident.

Chen Xuan just took a look at the skills, elixirs, magic tools, etc.

Various strange insects are the focus of his attention.

Especially those rare insects with special skills and worth cultivating.

"What is this?" Chen Xuan asked curiously in front of a casual cultivator's stall.

"Heavily Armored Cricket."

"Oh."

It is huge, ten centimeters long, and looks like it is wearing a hideous suit of armor, reflecting a metallic luster.

Its armor is covered with spikes, its limbs are extremely strong and aggressive, and you can tell at first glance that it is a ferocious insect that is not easy to mess with.

"This heavily armored cricket is quite unusual. It can hunt spirit birds. Are you interested, fellow Daoist?"

"so smart?"

As far as Chen Xuan knows, there are not many strange insects that can prey on spiritual birds.

Its iron-backed mantis is one of them.

However, the Ironback Mantis has an extraordinary attack power, and this heavily armored katydid has a strong defense, as you can tell at a glance.

"Just having strong defense doesn't seem to be very useful!"

"Fellow Daoist, don't underestimate this heavily armored cricket. When attacked, it can spray out its own blood, which is highly poisonous. Any living creature that comes into contact with it will die."

"Is it really that powerful?"

"It's so powerful!"

The stall owner said enthusiastically, "If you are sincere, I will give you ten spirit stones!"

A first-grade low-grade demon insect costing ten spirit stones is definitely too expensive.

The heavy-armored cricket's defense and poisonous blood attack made Chen Xuan somewhat tempted.

Isn't this a perfect meat shield?

It is perfect for covering your retreat when escaping.

"Tell me a fair price!"

"Eight spirit stones, no less! This is no ordinary demon insect!"

Chen Xuan shook his head.

"Three spirit stones!"

"No, too little!"

After a heated exchange of words, Chen Xuan finally paid a high price of five spirit stones.

Hope it's worth the money.

Chen Xuan threw the heavy-armored cricket into the Insect King Divine Wood Cauldron and cut some insect spirit essence to feed it.

"Qingqing, there's a new friend, take him with you!"

The psychic green snake was directly handed over to his subordinate Iron-back Mantis for discipline.

The Ironback Mantis was not a good-tempered person. When it saw the heavily armored cricket, it waved its sword and hooked it tightly from time to time.

As expected of the heavily armored cricket, the sharp broadsword was difficult to penetrate and was forced back by a stream of smelly blood sprayed out by the heavily armored cricket.

"Stop fighting! Qingqing, take good care of your friend!"

I wandered around again, but didn't find much.

Time passes day by day.

The evil birds and beasts that had gathered in the burnt mountains lost their habitat and seemed to have finally lost their patience and migrated away.

New orders were issued in the Western Army camp, and the troops continued to advance in a fan-shaped manner in small groups.

Chen Xuan and Yu Qingsong followed the Xu family team and continued forward.

As they went deeper into the wilderness, the march became more and more dangerous. There were often evil birds and beasts lurking in the dark, suddenly rushing out to attack the team.

Fortunately, Uncle Zhong was experienced and had a brave general like Chen Xuan, so the Xu family team escaped without any danger and suffered any casualties.

The most dangerous one was by a lake.

The lake water is emerald green and clear, the lake surface is sparkling, and the breeze blows gently, causing ripples on the lake surface, like thousands of silver ribbons jumping and countless pearls sparkling.

There are no huge waves, but more like a gentle and quiet young woman with a pure beauty.

The scouting team controlled two puppet dogs while scouting the lake.

Suddenly, a tail about twenty or thirty feet long flew out from the originally calm lake surface, forked into two hooks, and instantly hooked the two puppet dogs, rolled them up high, and dragged them into the lake.

The two Xu family members in the scouting team turned pale with fear.

It was Zhong Bo who saw the opportunity quickly and grabbed the two Xu family members with a rope-like magic weapon and pulled them back in an instant.

The next moment, the long-tailed hook emerged from the bottom of the water again, emitting a faint cold light, and headed straight for the two Xu family members, just a hair's breadth away from hooking them.

The same moment.

Chen Xuan grabbed Yu Qingsong, his body flashed, and he flew backwards more than a hundred feet.

The long-tailed hook failed to hook the Xu family member and was very angry.

A huge figure emerged from the water and soared into the air. It was a long, hook-shaped snake.

(End of this chapter)