I offered sacrifices to the gods

Jinyang Temple, General Affairs Hall.

"Master, is it your intention that Guo Sheng was once again assigned to eliminate insects in the ginkgo forest?"

Elder Wu was in charge of allocating the disciples' affairs in the temple and managing all the resources and spiritual products under the Jin Yang Temple. His power was considerable, and with one order, the entire Yu Kingdom court had to cooperate.

Hearing his disciple approach and ask his question, Elder Wu didn't even glance at him, casually replying, "So what if it is?"

His personal disciple said with concern:

"I don't know where Guo Sheng got his insect master inheritance from, it's really strange. I'm worried that he will lose control of his swarm of spirit insects again."

"That might damage the fruit trees in the forest. Maybe I should go down the mountain myself and supervise."

Upon hearing this, a rare smile appeared on Elder Wu's usually stern and serious face.

"I know you've long coveted that insect-controlling inheritance, but now is not the time."

"That Guo Sheng is still somewhat useful, but until then, you should hold off for now."

Upon hearing this, a hint of joy flashed in Elder Wu's eyes, and he said gratefully, "Thank you, Master. Since you have already made plans, then I will not worry about it anymore."

"This disciple takes his leave."

Elder Wu waved his hand casually, his gaze falling on the disciple identity tokens hanging from the ceiling.

At a glance, there were more than a thousand tokens, which is the number of disciples that Jinyang Temple has recruited over the past two hundred years.

However, now, the entire Jin Yang Temple has fewer than three hundred disciples in total.

His gaze was fixed on the token engraved with Lin Mo's name, and his eyes gradually turned cold.

...

In the ginkgo forest, Lin Mo, who had just glanced at Guo Sheng unintentionally, opened his mouth in shock, as if he could fit a fist inside.

What did he see?

The body of Senior Brother Guo, who was expelling insects, became riddled with holes, and from those dark holes, spirit insects were crawling out.

From the countless holes in his flesh, spirit insects kept crawling out and then crawling all over his body.

Lin Mo almost vomited; the disgusting scene was so bizarre that it deeply shocked him.

"What's going on? Why does Senior Brother Guo have so many spirit insects on him..."

Realizing something was wrong, he slowly took a step back, but this very step seemed to provoke the swarm of insects.

Buzz! Buzz!

Seven or eight common insect species, including the devil moth, the six-winged moth, and the fire bee, have completely spiraled out of control.

The countless spirit insects went berserk, swarming towards the surrounding spirit fruit trees and gnawing at them relentlessly.

A small number of spirit insects rushed towards Lin Mo, seemingly treating him as food as well.

"Oh no, oh no, so many spirit trees have been eaten, this is a disaster, I wonder if this will implicate me."

Lin Mo's expression was somewhat grim, because due to the "Spirit Wood Refining Technique," he could clearly sense that the vitality of those spirit trees was rapidly fading away.

As for the swarms of spirit insects that flew in front of him, they were also a considerable problem. He had only just learned the insect-repelling technique, so how could he possibly deal with so many spirit insects?

Just as he was thinking this, a sudden, burning pain shot through his calf.

It was a crimson, crystal-clear fire jade bee!

He was stung, and the poison spread from the wound.

Insect repellent!

At this point, there's no time to worry about anything else; we can only try anything as a last resort.

Lin Mo endured the burning pain in his calf and cast an insect repelling spell with one hand.

It worked; the few spirit insects that had just approached him were immediately repelled.

But soon other spirit insects pounced on them, and they were extremely aggressive.

Deworming techniques! Deworming techniques! Deworming techniques!

After casting the insect-repelling spell repeatedly, Lin Mo's spiritual energy was depleted by 20%.

"This is really troublesome. This insect-repelling spell can only stun the spirit insects and cannot cause any real damage."

Lin Mo cursed under his breath. The insects that had been stunned soon rose from the ground again and launched another attack.

However, he lived a relatively peaceful life in the palace for many years, so he did not learn any powerful magic.

boom!

There was no other way but to wear them.

With a cultivation level at the mid-stage of the Spirit Guidance Realm, one's physical body far surpasses that of ordinary people. By mobilizing one's qi and blood to accumulate in the legs, a single stomp, while not enough to directly kill a spirit insect, can render it unable to move.

Insect repellent! Bang! Insect repellent! Bang!

After repeated attempts, Lin Mo finally managed to break free from the swarm of insects that had been entangled with him.

However, he paid a price for this, with several wounds on his body from the stings of the spirit insects, each one causing him excruciating pain.

"Fortunately, they are all common pests found in orchards. Although they are slightly poisonous, they are not fatal." Lin Mo gritted his teeth, in unbearable pain.

After saying that, Lin Mo looked around the ginkgo forest, and his lips twitched involuntarily.

Several spirit trees have already suffered, and a severe punishment is likely inevitable after this incident.

As for that Senior Brother Guo, it's unknown whether he's alive or dead. But given what's happened, even if he's still alive, it's probably no different from being dead.

"I just don't know what punishment I'll receive. Even if I'm not the main culprit, I probably won't be able to escape responsibility."

With this thought in mind, he looked at the few spirit fruit trees in the forest, a look of madness flashing in his eyes.

"Since we've already taken the lead, let's go all the way. We've already got someone else to take the blame, so let's just drain the life force from a few more spirit trees in one go."

"Afterwards, I'll blame it all on these out-of-control spirit insects, and no one should suspect me."

After making his decision, Lin Mo hardened his heart, sat down cross-legged, and once again activated the "Spirit Wood Meridian Refining Technique".

Under the bites of the spirit insects, the green pillars of light representing the vitality of the spirit tree thinned at a visible speed.

It's better to benefit yourself than to let those damned bugs get away with it!

hum!

A wisp of emerald green light was drawn in and surged toward Lin Mo's body.

In an instant, his flesh and blood were covered with a thin layer of green light, and rich spiritual wood essence filled his body.

This pleasant and comfortable feeling made him feel almost ethereal, and the wounds from the insect bites on his body seemed insignificant.

Soon, the few spirit trees closest to him lost a lot of withered leaves, and even the small white fruits on the trees dried up and shriveled.

The once vibrant spirit tree withered completely, and the spirit insects hanging on it all flew away to find their next target.

Lin Mo was also unable to eat anymore. The spiritual essence contained in these spiritual trees was too vast, and he could not refine it in a short time.

Cultivating the Blood-Moving Scripture!

Nourished by the essence of the spiritual wood, his blood and qi became incredibly vigorous in an instant.

Now was the perfect time to practice the Blood Transporting Scripture. Lin Mo mobilized the surging blood and qi within his body and circulated it according to the methods described in the scripture.

With the help of the spirit wood essence, he was able to reconnect his blood and qi with remarkable ease this time.

Under the circulation of Qi and blood, an internal Qi and blood stump was actually formed in several specific meridians of his body!

Life is endless and inexhaustible.

I've successfully mastered the basics of "Moving the Blood Sutra"!

Lin Mo opened his eyes, his pupils revealing a deep joy. He felt as if he had inexhaustible strength.

As expected of a third-grade body-refining inheritance, such changes have already occurred at the very beginning.

If the spirit insects were to attack again, he felt he could easily swat them to death.

"Unfortunately, we've reached our limit on the amount of spirit wood essence we can absorb this time; we can't accommodate any more."

"However, with such a big incident happening here, someone should come to handle it soon."

As if to confirm his guess, two whooshing sounds came from the horizon.

Two cultivators dressed in dark blue Daoist robes arrived riding magical artifacts. Upon seeing the scene below, they were shocked: "How can there be so many spirit insects?!"

"Don't just stand there, hurry up and get rid of these spirit insects, or these spirit trees will all suffer."

The two disciples quickly made their move, effortlessly casting insect-repelling spells and unleashing a wide-ranging burst of spiritual energy.

boom!

The spirit insects that were rampaging through the orchard fell to the ground in large numbers, all of them stunned.

Immediately afterwards, a blazing flame swept down.

These flames seemed to be sentient, as they did not affect the spirit trees in the forest at all, but precisely killed the spirit insects on the ground.

"The life flame of the Candle Illumination Realm is truly extraordinary." Lin Mo, who was sitting on the ground in a disheveled state, swallowed hard.

With the help of two disciples at the Candle Illumination Realm, the rampant swarm of spirit insects was quickly wiped out, leaving only the charred corpses of the insects.

There was still a faint smell of burning in the air.

"Fortunately, several orchards have been cordoned off, so only the ginkgo orchard has been affected so far, and the losses are not too great." One of them breathed a sigh of relief.

The other person angrily said, "It's that Guo Sheng again. I remember he was the one who caused the insect plague last year, back in the Crimson Jade Forest."

Just then, Guo Sheng slowly woke up, and the holes in his body had disappeared without him noticing.

"Oh no... How did it get out of control again? This shouldn't be happening... This shouldn't be happening."

Looking at the mostly destroyed ginkgo forest around him, Guo Sheng's face turned deathly pale, and he felt dizzy.

The disaster this has caused is likely beyond repair.

"You two, come back to the mountain gate with me to face your punishment!"

...