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

Song Chuan frowned slightly as he looked at the green honey aphids and iron needle ants.

The green honey aphids are nothing to worry about, and this group of iron needle ants is not the main concern either; there must be another first-order iron needle ant lurking somewhere.

Otherwise, these Iron Needle Ants in the Demon Transformation stage alone would be no match for the Golden-spotted Ground Beetle.

Song Chuan did not rush to disturb them, but quietly observed them.

During this time, the strange insect in his arms poked its head out several times, but Song Chuan pressed it back down each time.

This insect seems to be interested in preying on needle ants, but it's not the right time yet.

A moment later, after the iron ants had finished eating the honeydew, they began to let the green honey aphids defecate.

Some green honey aphids cannot excrete their waste and are directly killed by the needle ant's sting.

"Everywhere is a cruel world," Song Chuan sighed inwardly.

When another batch of honeydew was excreted, the iron ants did not rush to eat it this time. Instead, they used their forelegs to hold the honeydew, spread their wings, and flew to a clearing surrounded by withered grass a few feet away.

A thought struck Song Chuan, and he quietly followed.

There was a hole in the ground, its entrance dark and about the size of a bowl.

A swarm of iron-needle ants carried honeydew inside, and when they flew out again, the honeydew had vanished.

Song Chuan nodded. It seemed that the first-tier demonic insect was right here.

He bent down, scooped up a handful of soil, sprinkled it on himself, made a hand seal and chanted an incantation, then stomped his left foot lightly on the ground, and his whole body fell into the soil.

He sniffed; indeed, the underground area was filled with foul air due to its long abandonment.

However, he could still sense wisps of earth elemental power through the bead.

He fled forward a few feet and then stopped.

"Mid-stage first rank, you sure know how to pick a spot!" Song Chuan sneered.

He had already spotted a tiny iron ant, about the size of a child's arm, feeding on honeydew in the hollowed-out soil ahead.

That was right below the cave entrance, and through the earth elemental energy attracted by the bead, he could discern that it was a ley line.

After a moment's thought, Song Chuan returned to the ground.

After the Iron Needle Ants in the Demon Transformation stage finished delivering the honeydew and flew away, he unhesitatingly formed a magic seal.

He then pointed to the cave entrance and shouted, "Rise!"

From the soil around the cave entrance, one after another slightly curved pillars emerged.

Each one is five or six feet long, made entirely of earth and stone, tapering at the top and thick at the bottom, resembling a bamboo shoot.

It was Song Chuan who comprehended the Earth Spike Technique on his way to Vine Flower Valley!

These spikes formed a circle around the cave entrance, and because they were curved, the spikes above all came together in one place.

Below, the path leads directly to the location of the iron-needle ants underground, forming a veritable cage.

Now that we have discovered this insect, we should catch it off guard, trap it, and then quickly kill it.

Otherwise, this insect can fly, and if you face it head-on, it can be quite troublesome.

The iron-needle ant, which was feasting in its hole, immediately let out a sharp screech.

With a flap of its wings, it burst out of the cave and began to charge and dart about in the small area surrounded by earth spikes.

Song Chuan smiled with satisfaction, but before he could take any further action, the iron needle ant extended its mouthparts and stabbed itself into a ground spike.

A thick, black liquid poured into the earth spike from its mouthparts, instantly corroding it and causing a section to collapse.

The iron-needle ants then used the same method to pierce other ground spikes.

Song Chuan's expression changed slightly; this common spell was really weak!

That won't do; we absolutely cannot wait for it to escape!

He immediately patted his storage bag, and a small black hammer with horns, about five or six inches in size, shot out.

He quickly made a hand seal, and the black horn hammer suddenly spun, turning into a three-foot-long hammer.

With a flash of black light, the Black Horned Hammer hurtled straight toward the Iron Needle Ant.

The iron needle ants, which were still using their mouthparts to corrode the ground spikes, suddenly stopped when they saw the menacing black hammer ant.

It let out a shriek, and its demonic aura suddenly intensified, becoming denser.

The black horn hammer struck downwards, landing first on the demonic energy on its body, as if it had been tipped over.

But immediately afterward, the black horn hammer still struck its back accurately and hard.

Song Chuan's face lit up with joy, but then he raised an eyebrow.

After being struck by the black hammer, the insect's shell on its back cracked in several places, but it shook its body and did not die.

It seems that the demonic aura acted as a barrier, and in addition, this insect had reached the mid-stage of the first rank, making its shell hard.

If it were a low-level magic weapon, it probably wouldn't be able to break through its defenses.

Song Chuan snorted coldly, pointed his finger, and the black horn hammer flipped over, its ram horns pointing downwards, and fell on the iron needle ant again.

The poor iron-needle ant was trapped here, unable to move or dodge, and unable to use its skills. It was then pierced by the black horn hammer's ram horns, which pierced two holes in it. Its body stiffened, and it fell to the ground dead.

Song Chuan waved his hand, and the Black Horned Hammer shot back.

At that moment, the strange insect in his arms suddenly flew out and landed on the iron needle ant's corpse in the blink of an eye.

The strange insect crawled into the iron needle ant's body through the hole, and a few breaths later, it flew back with a black crystal the size of a grain of rice between its forelimbs.

Insect crystals!

This item is only found in first-tier demonic insects; it is their essence.

The strange insect held the insect crystal but did not swallow it immediately, as if waiting for Song Chuan's instructions.

Song Chuan stared at it. It seemed that during the battle with the Great King Corpse Flower, this strange insect had devoured many demonic insects in the Transformation stage. Furthermore, because it had swallowed a certain "Hejin" by the stream earlier, its spirituality had become even stronger.

Moreover, its body grew longer, becoming about an inch larger than its own palm.

Song Chuan nodded, and then swallowed the strange insect whole.

This insect crystal should be worth some spirit stones, but Song Chuan hopes it can help this strange insect quickly complete its demon transformation.

Song Chuan walked to the iron needle ant's corpse and pried off its sharp mandible with his black horn hammer. This thing could be disposed of as a material for refining weapons.

As for the corpse of this first-tier iron needle ant, it will be of great use in soil cultivation later.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound arose, and Song Chuan turned his head to see the swarm of ants in the Demon Transformation stage rushing towards him.

Before he could react, the strange insect on his shoulder flapped its wings and flew towards the ant colony.

Song Chuan narrowed his eyes. "Even if your head is bigger than theirs, can you withstand a swarm attack? There are at least two or three hundred of these ants."

To Song Chuan's surprise, as soon as the insect flew into the air, its body seemed to become ethereal and disappeared.

If Song Chuan hadn't reached the fourth level of Qi Refining and possessed divine sense, he would have been difficult to detect even with the naked eye.

This insect flies extremely fast, as if it instantly travels from one point to another.

Song Chuan was somewhat shocked; this was the first time he had ever witnessed this insect using its innate hunting abilities in its entirety.

If this reaches the first level, wouldn't it be an easy task to kill a cultivator in the early stage of Qi Refining?

Even a mid-stage Qi Refining cultivator, if caught off guard, might fall victim to this attack.

The strange insect swayed and landed in the ant colony.

In just a few breaths, a dozen or so iron-needle ants disappeared.

These iron needle ants, which have reached the demon-transformation stage, are only the size of a thumb. The strange insects devour them as easily as drinking water.

Strangely, these iron-needle ants were completely unaware that there was an outsider in their ranks.

A moment later, the strange insect returned to Song Chuan's shoulder, seemingly having eaten its fill, its belly swollen.

It began to lick its petal-shaped sickle-shaped forelimb.

Song Chuan looked at it, his eyes flickering a few times.

The remaining ants swarmed in, and Song Chuan took out a low-grade first-tier explosive talisman and casually tossed it out.