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

Under the incredulous gazes of the straw-hatted man and Xing Yifei, the orchid worm's sickle flashed down on the head of the five-colored cicada.

Before the five-colored cicada could react, two holes were poked in it.

Before the cicada could even display any special abilities, its body stiffened and it fell to the ground.

Five-colored droplets began to gush out from the cicada's body.

"My five-colored cicada! Ah! This is impossible!" Xing Yifei cried out in disbelief.

A trickle of blood spilled from his mouth; this was the result of his master turning against him after the spirit insect was killed.

The man in the straw hat cursed, "You idiot! What do you mean by the Demon Transformation stage? That was an extremely powerful first-tier demon insect; even my divine sense couldn't detect it."

Then he called out to Song Chuan opposite him, "Fellow Daoist, I think it's a misunderstanding. Why don't we just drop the matter?"

However, there was no response. The straw-hatted man focused all his attention on his surroundings, fearing that he would be attacked by the strange insect from before.

Little did he know that Song Chuan on the other side was no longer there.

While the two were still in shock, Song Chuan had already used earth magic to teleport beneath them!

Just as the man in the straw hat was about to say something to Song Chuan again, he exclaimed in alarm, "Watch out for the ground!"

However, it was too late. Just as he was about to lift his foot, a hand reached out from the ground, grabbed his ankle, and pulled him hard.

The man in the straw hat stumbled, his magic power dissipating slightly. He flipped the small shield he controlled, and the fire hoe came crashing down on him.

"No……"

He only managed to utter that one word before his head exploded from his head by a hoe.

As the man died, the honey-cutting knife clattered to the ground.

The swarm stirred, and the first-tier demon bees inside turned around, and all the bees followed it as they rushed towards the hive.

Next to Xing Yifei, the ground turned over, and Song Chuan emerged.

"Junior Brother Xing, have you seen this spirit insect clearly?" Song Chuan asked teasingly, looking at the distraught Xing Yifei.

Xing Yifei seemed unable to believe the series of events that had just occurred, and remained completely stunned.

This is a major taboo in battles between cultivators!

At this moment, even if he had the most powerful magical artifacts and talismans, they would be useless, as Song Chuan was standing just a few feet away from him, and the Fire-Cultivating Hoe was still circling around him.

Moreover, Xing Yifei had no way of knowing where the orchid insects were lurking.

With the straw hat man dead, he, a mere fourth-level Qi cultivator, was nothing more than a lamb to the slaughter.

"Senior brother, I know I was wrong. Please give me a chance. My master is Deacon Hu, and he's also my maternal uncle. If you kill me, he will definitely..."

Hearing Xing Yifei's words of pleading and threatening, Song Chuan didn't even glance at him, and turned to walk towards the honey-cutting knife and the Flowing Light Halo.

"Since you like my spirit insect so much, let it send you on your way, so you can rest in peace."

Xing Yifei stared tremblingly at Song Chuan's retreating figure, only to hear a sentence that felt like falling into an ice cave.

He yelled, "Are you crazy? How dare you... hehe... hehe..."

Before he could finish speaking, two holes suddenly appeared on his neck, near the philtrum, and blood gushed out instantly.

He clutched his neck with one hand and pointed at Song Chuan's back with the other. A few breaths later, his head lolled to the side, and he collapsed to the ground, dead beyond any doubt.

Beside him, the orchid insect flickered and headed straight for the corpse of the five-colored cicada.

At this moment, Song Chuan had already put away his honey-cutting knife and the Radiant Ring, and was staring intently at the beehive.

He glanced at the orchid worm, then suddenly realized something and shouted, "Hey! This time won't work!"

He quickly had a sudden inspiration and stopped the orchid insect.

The orchid cricket was seen crawling on the corpse of the five-colored cicada, searching for something.

Song Chuan rushed over immediately and found a worm crystal on the cicada's corpse.

This insect crystal is quite different from that of the iron-needle ant; it is larger and multicolored.

This will definitely fetch a good price!

Song Chuan put the item away, glanced at the orchid worm, coughed lightly, and pointed to the beehive.

The orchid beetle remained motionless, and judging from its mental perception, it had no interest in the first-tier demon bees in the hive.

It seems that the first-tier demon bee did not have an insect crystal inside its body, but this orchid insect should have the ability to sense insect crystals!

After thinking for a moment, Song Chuan quickly walked to Xing Yifei's body and reached out to take his storage bag.

He used his divine sense to remove the restriction on the storage bag, searched through it, and picked out a porcelain bottle.

This should contain elixirs for raising spirit insects.

Sure enough, he opened the porcelain bottle, smelled it, and found a dark green insect feed pill inside, quite different from ordinary insect feed pills.

This fellow is Steward Hu's beloved disciple and relative, and he also possesses rare insects, so the insect-feeding pills he uses are naturally precious.

He flicked the pill with his finger, and the orchid insect flapped its wings and swallowed it whole.

Song Chuan was finally relieved.

The orchid insect had just done a great service, so he couldn't treat it unfairly.

Xing Yifei treasures that colorful cicada so much, it must possess some powerful abilities, and it's uncertain whether I can handle it.

Thankfully, I had this insect feeder pill; otherwise, I would have had to painfully feed it the insect crystals instead.

I just searched Xing Yifei's storage bag and found a book on strange insects, a mid-level defensive magic weapon that looked like tree bark, and more than forty spirit stones.

A cultivator at the fourth level of Qi Refining could have such a high status, of course, thanks to that Deacon Hu.

Song Chuan then moved to the body of the man in the straw hat and looked at the small green shield on the ground. He saw that the surface of the shield was covered with cracks and it was no longer of any use.

Song Chuan picked up his storage bag and began to examine it.

Inside, besides a few talismans, there were some bottles and jars containing spirit honey, and about sixty spirit stones.

And of course, there's that flying artifact from the sect!

This magical artifact is quite useless in combat among Qi Refining cultivators. Unless it's a crushing victory, it requires them to be distracted in controlling it, which is a great disadvantage!

This flying artifact is only used by late-stage Qi Refining cultivators in sects to show off their status and travel.

Song Chuan gathered up the fire-cultivating hoe and the two men's belongings, took out a low-grade first-level fireball talisman (whose owner was unknown), and prepared to burn the two corpses.

"Looks like a big battle has taken place here!" a voice suddenly rang out.

Song Chuan's expression changed slightly, and he turned to look at a dozen feet away.

There stood a young man dressed in a theatrical costume and wearing a veil, looking around.

This person looks like they just stepped off the stage; even their makeup is still on.

The young man had a ring of small figures of various shapes and colors hanging from his waist. The figures were lifelike and dressed in colorful theatrical costumes.

This person's attire was extremely strange, yet he was also at the seventh level of Qi Refining! He seemed even slightly stronger than the man in the straw hat.

Judging from his tone, this person didn't seem to be spying on the battle from the sidelines, but rather happened to pass by and discovered the battlefield.

I wonder what this person's purpose is in showing up!

"Your assessment is correct. These two lowly scoundrels plotted against me, but I dealt with them."

Song Chuan spoke first, "May I ask what brings you here, sir?"

The young man in theatrical costume shook his head and swayed his body, walking with the "figure-eight" gait used on stage, looking both strange and somewhat comical.

He looked around and said in a drawn-out tone, "Fellow Daoist, there's no need to be nervous. I am the Masked Man, I neither kill nor set fires. I just saw this place with flowing light from afar and was curious enough to investigate."

Clay figurine maker!

Song Chuan's heart stirred, and he suddenly remembered a folk craft he had witnessed when he passed through Caozhou City.