Chapter 34: Wireworms (Please collect and read)
The entrance to the courtyard.

Two lush green pine trees stood there. The pine trees were tall and straight, emitting a faint spiritual power, which made them more spiritual than ordinary trees.

Large and plump pine cones are vaguely visible hanging upside down among the dense pine needles.

Chen An stood under the tree, looking up at the pine cones above his head, a look of satisfaction appearing on his handsome face.

Another year passed, and it was harvest time, with pine cones ripe.

Ordinary first-level spiritual plants are cultivated through generations, and the time it takes to mature is greatly shortened compared to wild spiritual plants. Low-quality spiritual plants usually mature in March, while medium-quality spiritual plants take half a year.

This pine cone was accidentally upgraded to a spiritual plant. Unlike other first-grade low-quality spiritual plants, it had not been carefully bred or specially selected and cultivated, so it naturally only matured once a year.

[Harvest a perfect pine cone and obtain Aoki Isao]

Chen An was only interested in the pine cones of perfect quality. He also had the green wood cores and the essence of jade pine, but his attention was on the skills and he didn't pay too much attention to other gains.

As his insights and experiences of Qingmu Gong emerged in his mind, Chen An's understanding of the skills became more profound, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

After an unknown amount of time, the energy stopped flowing.

Chen An looked up at the empty tree trunk and shook his head slightly disappointed.

Since I failed to help Isao Aoki reach the highest level of accomplishment this time, it looks like I'll have to wait until next year to try again.

However, with many insights, his minor success in Qingmu Gong became smoother and his training speed also improved significantly.

After checking the condition of the two trees, he gave them a soul-enhancing spell, picked up the pine cones on the ground, and turned to leave.

I met Chen Maoxin on the way back.

"Chen An? Why are you wandering around outside instead of taking care of the spiritual plants?"

"I came out to collect some pine cones and fry them when I get home."

Chen An was strolling leisurely in the garden, without any sense of urgency to fight for the spiritual fertilizer.

"It's already this late, and you still have the heart to eat this stuff? We have to work harder and try to get rid of those two old guys!"

I don’t know if it was because he was prejudiced against Chen Lun and the other man, but Chen Maoxin clenched his fists and looked gritting his teeth.

"You can't always be farming and practicing, you have to relax once in a while."

Chen An took out a few high-quality pine cones and handed them over: "Eat some pine nuts. These are from low-grade spiritual plants and can reduce internal heat."

Chen Maoxin rolled his eyes at Chen An in annoyance. He did not reach out to take it, but asked in a deep voice: "Are you sure about this competition?"

"I can't say that I'm sure to win, but at least I have a certainty of winning."

"How much is it?" Chen Maoxin became interested.

"About 50%." Chen An said very conservatively.

"tsk"

Chen Maoxin looked Chen An up and down and walked around him twice.

"What are you doing? You're almost making me dizzy."

"You are a young boy, but you are so arrogant. Chen Lun is better with his Gengjin Sword Finger, and the two of them are about evenly matched in spiritual plant cultivation. How can you be 50% sure?"

Chen Maoxin always says that others are taking advantage of their seniority, but he himself acts like an old-fashioned person.

Chen An shook his head and didn't take it too seriously. He thought the outcome would be clear in the future.

He didn't argue. After chatting with the other party for a few minutes, he planned to leave.

"Don't go yet." Chen Maoxin stopped Chen An.

"How do pine nuts taste? Give me a few to try."

Chen An practiced quietly in the cave for three months.

The spiritual plants in the field are growing well and their cultivation is improving steadily.

That day, Chen Youliang came to visit suddenly.

Chen An opened a corner of the golden lock formation and welcomed the other party in.

"Brother, why are you here?"

They don't have much contact with each other, so they are not very familiar with each other.

But the art of hospitality was also essential, so Chen An specially took out some spiritual tea and brewed it, and the two of them sat on the stone table in front of the cave and drank together.

This is the lowest quality spiritual tea. Some people in the clan grow it. It’s produced right in their home village so the price is naturally not too expensive. You can buy a kilogram of it with just a few spiritual stones.

Chen Youliang took a sip of tea and said with a smile, "Nothing. Last time, my brother helped me get rid of groundworms. I have been busy these days and haven't had time to thank you yet."

As he spoke, he took out a bag of tea and handed it over.

"Purifying tea?"

Chen An smelled the familiar aroma and said the name. He had had a few drinks with the Second Elder before.

Qingxin Tea is a first-grade, top-grade spiritual plant. Only the second elder of the Chen family can grow it, so it is rare.

"It's just a small token of my appreciation, brother, please don't refuse."

"Then I'll take it."

Chen An saw that the other party was sincere, so he accepted it. As members of the same clan, they would meet each other every day, and exchanges of favors were essential.

"Your tea is ordinary, but it tastes quite good, a bit like Qingxin tea."

Chen Youliang drank another cup, looking puzzled.

"I use spring water from the mountain behind me. It tastes better."

In fact, this tea was brewed with rainwater brought down by Chen An using the perfect-level spiritual rain technique.

Whether it is used to cook spiritual rice or make tea, the effect is no worse than some spiritual spring water.

Chen Youliang didn't ask too much, but smiled and said, "It tastes good, can I have another pot?"

"Of course you can. Please wait a moment, brother."

Chen An picked up the teapot and walked into the cave. He had stored a whole jar of tea in the cave for use.

Seeing the other party leave, Chen Youliang smiled contemptuously, waved his hand, and a few yellow dots popped out towards the spiritual field beside him and sank into the soil.

After that, he continued to sip the tea in the cup as if nothing had happened.

After Chen An came back, the two continued to drink tea.

They tacitly agreed not to talk about spiritual plants, but only talked about matters within the clan.

Only after he had finished two pots of tea did Chen Youliang say goodbye and leave.

After leaving Chen An, Chen Youliang did not return home, but came all the way to Chen Lun.

"What are you here for?"

Chen Lun blocked the entrance to the formation and looked at the other party vigilantly.

Chen Youliang smiled slightly and took out a pack of Qingxin tea: "I recently asked the second elder for a few pounds of Qingxin tea. Come and taste it with you."

Glancing at the tea leaves, Chen Lun sneered, "I have something else to do. Let's do it another day."

After saying that, he turned around and returned to the formation.

Chen Youliang's face was as gloomy as water, and he crushed the Qingxin tea in his hand.

"Humph, no matter what method I use, I can beat you!"

Chen Youliang didn't care about Chen Maoxin. The only people he was worried about were Chen An and Chen Lun.

After Chen Youliang left, Chen An packed up the tea set, checked the spiritual plants, and found no abnormalities. He then returned to the cave and continued drawing talismans.

Ever since the Fire Snake Talisman performed its magic last time, he has been keeping it ready in case of any unexpected accidents.

After these days of consumption, the talismans became more and more, but the talisman paper in his hands gradually ran out.

Without a source of talisman paper, Chen An missed the days when Chen Dazhuang was around.

But this journey is extremely dangerous, and I don’t know if that guy can come back alive.

It seems that I have to plant some more mulberry trees next time.

He gained a lot of proficiency in martial arts. Although Qingmu Gong had not been fully upgraded, his movements became smoother and more natural, and the efficiency of absorbing spiritual energy was also slightly higher.

Chen An took a high-quality Qi-nourishing pill and immersed himself in cultivation.

three days later.

Early in the morning, Chen An checked the spiritual plants as usual.

[Tortoiseshell leaf, a first-class medium-quality spiritual plant, is currently in a bad state. There are wireworms growing in the stems, which are sucking the plant's spiritual power. Please remove them as soon as possible.]

Wireworm?
Chen An was very surprised. He was fine yesterday, so how come he got wireworms this morning?

He didn't have time to think about it, and immediately the sword energy turned into a thread, penetrated deep into the stem of the tortoise shell leaf, explored a few times, found the right position, and drove out a golden insect inside.

The insect is golden in color, with a slender body divided into more than a dozen segments.

Wireworms, also known as segmented insects, like to drill into the stems of plants to absorb spiritual energy.

This insect always drills into the stems from the roots underground. There are no insect holes on the surface of the plant, so it is usually difficult to find.

They can even lay eggs. If they are not removed in time, they can become a disaster within a few months.

Chen An's eyes were sharp and sword energy shot out from his fingers, directly strangling the culprit who was harming the spiritual plants into powder, which turned into fertilizer for the spiritual field.

After a round of inspection in the spiritual field, he found that five spiritual plants had been damaged.

Gengjin sword pointed out and didn't let any one go.

After getting rid of the insects, Chen An breathed a sigh of relief. Fortunately, he could check the status of the spiritual plants in real time to prevent any disaster. Otherwise, when the wireworms grew bigger and laid a large number of eggs underground, he would not be able to survive.

Chen An was a little skeptical about the origin of wireworms.

With the formation protecting us, no spiritual insects should be able to invade.

Moreover, he has not had any contact with anyone except Chen Maoxin and Chen Youliang recently.

And the only person who had visited his spiritual field was Chen Youliang!

Chen An was furious: "How dare this old fellow to plot against me? I even made spiritual tea to entertain you. Next time you come, I'll make you some spiritual fat!"

(End of this chapter)