Starting as a spiritual plant master, may I eventually become the master of all lands.

The supplies I just received from the Salary Hall included spirit stones, three booklets, a light green robe, a disciple token, and a low-level magic weapon called "Earth Cultivation Hoe".

If your cultivation reaches the seventh level of Qi Refining, you can also receive a flying magic weapon!

This is why so many people are eager to join a major sect.

In addition, the spiritual energy here is abundant and there are many spiritual objects, so even if there are endless tasks, people are willing to spend their time here.

The reason Song Chuan didn't enter the garden first was that he was reading "The Collection of Demon Insects" from the three books.

He only had a very basic understanding of the demonic insects in his family, and he didn't know what kind of demonic insects were in the garden, so he needed to know himself and his enemy first.

This book, "Collection of Demonic Insects," is not thick, but it records the general habits of various demonic insects collected in Vine Flower Valley, as well as their various symbiotic relationships with spiritual plants.

Some are destructive in their own way, some complement each other, and some are destructive in childhood but beneficial in adulthood... a wide variety.

"Demon Transformation Stage!" Song Chuan saw this term, which he had never heard of in his family before.

This refers to the preliminary stage before insects, birds, fish, and beasts transform into first-tier demonic beasts.

Just like how a mortal is found to have spiritual roots, he needs a period of time to draw qi into his body before he can become a qi-refining cultivator.

For example, Song Chuan was diagnosed with spiritual roots at the age of eight, and it took him nearly two years to successfully guide the Qi into his body.

The Demon Transformation Stage refers to this phase. The time taken for a demon beast to go through this process varies depending on its species, talent, and opportunities.

Once the transformation into a demon is complete, it becomes a true first-tier demon beast, and may even develop and mutate innate divine abilities!

The strange insect in Song Chuan's arms was in the demon transformation stage.

He continued to peruse the book, and it took him two hours to memorize most of its contents.

This should also be a simplified version, limited to some of the monsters that frequently appear in the Vine Flower Valley.

If you want a more complete collection, you'll probably have to go to "Yuewei Hall," which Cheng Tu mentioned, and borrow books using spirit stones. It's the library of Teng Hua Valley.

However, this booklet was sufficient for low-level disciples like them. The only regret was that Song Chuan did not find any record of the strange insect in his bosom.

The other two books are "Collection Among Flowers," which records rare and exotic flowers and plants, and "Collection of Birds," which describes strange and exotic birds.

Song Chuan planned to read it carefully another day.

Now that he had a general idea of ​​what kind of demonic insects he knew, he could go and explore the garden first.

He opened his divine sense and carefully strolled through the weeds, looking around.

Suddenly, he walked up to a spiritual plant and squatted down.

The roots of this sacred plant are buried deep in the soil, and its leaves are slender and pointed, extending three feet from the ground, like a sword pointing straight to the sky.

Six white, exotic flowers bloom in pairs on the "sword tip" of the three-leaf blade.

The flower is shaped like a swallow, and swallows happen to be monogamous.

Song Chuan recognized this spiritual plant; it was called "Monopolizing Spring".

The largest one looks like it has been alive for decades.

There are also several smaller *Cephalotaxus fortunei* plants nearby, which should all be its "descendants".

The Solitary Spring also exists in the mortal world. Once it grows to over thirty years old, it becomes a spiritual plant and possesses a self-protective ability.

If insects try to eat it, its flowers will actually drive them away like swallows.

If it is not threatened by insects for a long time, this ability will gradually disappear because it is "too safe".

This perfectly confirms what Lü An said: spiritual plants without natural enemies have poor medicinal properties.

Song Chuan continued walking and stopping, when he heard a "creak". He looked down at his feet and saw that it was the shell of an insect.

The carapace was almost the size of his foot, covered with golden stripes like those of a tiger.

He examined it carefully and pondered for a moment.

The Golden-spotted Armored Beast had just successfully transformed into a demon and advanced to the early stage of the first tier before its death.

This insect is adept at crawling, extremely fast, and exceptionally fierce. It does not eat spiritual plants but preys on other insects.

"This kind of demonic insect is quite precious. It should be able to become a helper for spirit plant masters in managing their spirit gardens. It seems that after becoming a first-tier demonic insect, it went unnoticed and was eaten by other demonic insects in the garden," Song Chuan analyzed.

He discovered that the golden-spotted ground beetle had died after its head was pierced by something sharp, and its flesh and blood had been completely sucked away.

He smelled the scent of a residual liquid permeating the carapace; it was this liquid that had been injected into the Golden-spotted Ground Beetle's body, melting its flesh and blood.

This is a common innate ability of some insects.

Song Chuan remained vigilant, so he summoned the Flowing Light Halo, a layer of light shield that surrounded him.

He walked lightly and saw the empty shells of several kinds of insect corpses scattered in the cemetery.

However, they were all at the Demon Transformation stage, and there were no first-tier demon insects like the Golden-spotted Ground Beetle anymore; moreover, they all died in the same way.

Suddenly, his ears twitched as he heard a faint buzzing sound.

He concealed his breathing and followed the sound.

Arriving at a corner of the spirit garden, one sees several withered spirit plants growing there, each one entirely crimson, emitting a faint spiritual light.

Red Flame Orchid! A fire-attribute spirit plant, it looks to be seventy or eighty years old.

On each of these red flame orchids, swarms of small blue insects are inserting their mouthparts into the stem to suck the sap.

Each group of small blue insects was surrounded by dozens of black ants, each about the size of a thumb.

Every now and then, a longer and sharper mouthpart would extend from the mouth of these black ants!

Strangely, the black ant just watched the small blue insect quietly, as if waiting for something.

A few breaths later, an ant landed in the swarm of blue insects and stretched out its forelegs to "stroke" them.

The small blue insect that it touched immediately excreted a "dewdrop" larger than itself from its rear end.

Soon, countless "dewdrops" were released, emitting a faint scent of grass and trees, with a subtle hint of honey.

The ants swooped down and began scrambling to eat the honeydew.

Song Chuan stared at this bizarre scene with a solemn expression, instantly concealing his presence.

The book "Collection of Demonic Insects" mentions that the small blue insects are called "blue honey aphids" and the black ants are called "iron needle ants," and they have a symbiotic relationship.

Luckily, I had read it beforehand!

The honey aphid is a true herbivore and poses a great threat to healthy plants.

However, this insect is the lowest level of insects in the spiritual garden. It has no means of attack or defense, only a powerful reproductive function.

When food is plentiful, they reproduce by opposite sexes; when food is scarce, they reproduce parthenogenetically.

Parthenogenesis means that females can lay eggs without mating.

Furthermore, when they reproduce parthenogenetically, they are already "pregnant" in the "mother's womb" before they are born.

When the number of green honey aphids living on a spiritual plant becomes too large, or when the spiritual plant has little nutrition left, the green honey aphids will reproduce with winged offspring.

They will fly to new spiritual plants, forming the next cycle.

The green honey aphid is food for many carnivorous insects, and the reason it cannot be completely eradicated is that reproduction alone is not enough.

Because they consume the sap of the sacred plant, they secrete a honeydew, which happens to be the iron ant's favorite food.

When they are preyed upon by their natural enemies, they use honeydew to attract needle ants, which then protect them and kill their predators.

"I see," Song Chuan suddenly realized.