Chapter 139 – Anopheles
Chapter 139 – Tattooed Worm
Soon, the three gathered together.
“I’ve observed some of the growth of those Water Swamp Spirit Peaches, and from the looks of it, there’s no abnormality whatsoever.”
The ordinary looking Yan Ping said in a deep voice.
“Indeed, it doesn’t look like it suffered from pests at all.”
Lu Xuan nodded and agreed.
“Are there any protective formations set up outside the Zhang Family Spiritual Plantation?”
Senior Sister Yao inquired to Zhang Yutang.
“This …… is not very realistic.”
The white-haired old man shook his head.
“This swamp is planted with several hundred Water Swamp Spirit Peaches, covering dozens of acres of land, and the low-grade grade protective formations are completely unable to cover such a large area of the Spirit Plantation.”
“For high grade formations, with the Zhang Family’s financial power and strength, there is no way to get that level of formation.”
“Adding to the fact that the Water Swamp Spirit Peach grows in such a special environment, the marshes and lakes are connected in all directions, completely unable to block the invasion of all types of foreign bugs.”
“Therefore, the Spirit Plant Garden is just a simple arrangement of some organ formations to block the intrusion of cultivators or water beasts, and on weekdays, there are still Zhang Clan cultivators patrolling the area.”
“This is the protective measures for the Water Ze Spirit Peach.”
Hearing these words from the white-haired old man, Lu Xuan’s trio nodded in understanding.
“Does the Zhang Clan have any readily available Alien Insects that are still alive on hand?”
Lu Xuan asked Zhang Yutang.
The old man called over a middle-aged cultivator behind him who was at the middle stage of Qi Practicing, inquired a few words, and shook his head in denial.
“The foreign bugs that were found were all resolved on the spot, no living ones were left behind.”
“If you, Fellow Daoist Lu, want to capture a live foreign bug, you can let Cheng Ning lead you to try it out in the Spirit Plant Garden.
He often comes over to play in the Spirit Plant Garden and has a better understanding of which area is most likely to have foreign bugs.”
“That would be troublesome.”
Lu Xuan and Senior Sister Yao both said a word before entering the depths of the Peach Forest under the guidance of a clean-cut teenager.
“Senior Lu, are we going to catch a live foreign insect now?”
On the way, a hint of curiosity appeared on Zhang Chengning’s clear face.
“That’s right, we won’t be able to find out anything from the Water Ze Spirit Peach, so it’s best to catch a living foreign insect and see if we can learn something.”
Lu Xuan said to the teenager in a gentle tone.
Of course, his main purpose was not this, capturing the foreign insect was to grasp the detailed state of the foreign insect through rearing, so that he could react against it.
“There should be a high possibility that this area is harboring that kind of strange insect.”
The clean-cut teenager, Zhang Chengnin, said as he brought Lu Xuan deeper into the peach forest, pointing ahead.
Lu Xuan nodded as he heard this and quietly walked to a Water Swamp Spirit Peach.
The leaves on top of the Spirit Peach gently swayed as if water waves were rippling.
His Spiritual Sense gently extended, searching the Spirit Peach’s branches and leaves in detail.
For a long time, no movement occurred.
Lu Xuan only had to change his target, shifting his attention to another Water Swamp Spirit Peach.
Suddenly, a branch of the Spirit Peach attacked Lu Xuan like a poisonous snake, and having prepared for this, his spiritual energy worked, and a wooden vine-like turquoise spiritual energy trapped the branch of the Spirit Peach.
“So it looks like this, no wonder it’s almost undetectable.”
The strange insect in front of him kept struggling, from the appearance, it was generally the same as the Water Ze Spirit Peach branch, when attached to the Spirit Peach Tree, it was as if the two were fused into one, therefore it was extremely difficult to detect, only when it tried to attack could the strange insect figure be clearly seen.
A red light flashed, fixing the strange insect’s body on the Spirit Peach branch. “Which part of the Spirit Peach will these strange insects devour?”
Lu Xuan asked the clean-cut youngster.
“Ah, I remember that on the Spirit Peach Tree where the strange worms were found, the branches were hollow, so they should devour the Spirit Peach branches.”
“Good.”
Lu Xuan chipped off a small section of the Water Swamp Spirit Peach branch and placed it near the mouth of the strange insect.
The strange insect had regained its composure after struggling for a while under the effect of the Red Thread Needle, and the pattern on its body quietly changed, if not for the Red Thread Needle remaining intact, it was likely to think that the strange insect had escaped.
“Elder Lu, what is the purpose of feeding this strange insect Spirit Peach branches?”
“Knowing the enemy and knowing yourself is the only way to win a hundred battles, only by understanding the strange insect’s living habits, its state, is it possible to make the correct response.”
Lu Xuan casually replied back, gazing unseeingly at the small Spirit Peach branch placed in front of the strange insect’s mouth.
Soon, the Spirit Peach branch disappeared from his eyes bit by bit, and the strange insect’s figure remained extremely well hidden.
However, Lu Xuan no longer cared about this ability of its.
His mind coalesced around the strange insect, and all of a sudden, a thought flashed through his mind.
[Mimic Tattooed Insect, Grade 1 Foreign Insect, low reproduction ability, eggs parasitize on spiritual plants, hatching out larvae feed on the branches and leaves of the spiritual plants, will slowly mimic the form of the spiritual plants it parasitizes as it grows, extremely difficult to detect].
“It will mimic the form of the host spirit plant during its growth? It’s a bit interesting.”
Lu Xuan tsked in his heart, marveling at the strangeness of this Mimic Pattern Insect.
“Parasitized on a Water Swamp Spirit Peach, it will take the shape of a Spirit Peach’s branch when it grows up, and if it were parasitized on any other Spirit Plant, I think it would grow into the shape of the corresponding Spirit Plant.”
“In the true sense of the word, it slowly turns into your shape.”
Lu Xuan took the half-dead mimic worm and returned to the crowd under the guidance of the clear-cut youngster.
Senior Sister Yao and Yan Ping, as well as a group of cultivators from the Zhang Clan were gathered around, discussing something in whispers.
On the damp ground, there were several Mimicry Insects, which, at first glance, appeared to be several branches of a watery Spirit Peach.
“Senior Brother Lu, you’re back? Did you find anything?”
“Just caught a strange worm, nothing else is new.”
Lu Xuan concealed the information he had been informed of and did not tell the two Senior Sister Yao directly.
“We caught a few together as well, and it took a lot of effort.”
“These strange insects are indeed very stealthy, so it’s hard to get to the root of the problem.”
“The main problem now is to confirm the species of the weird bugs and learn its detailed information so that we can get a way to easily find them or exterminate them.”
The beautiful woman said calmly.
Lu Xuan and Yan Ping both nodded in agreement.
“These strange insects seem to be able to disguise themselves as spiritual plants, perhaps a breakthrough can be found from here.”
Lu Xuan suddenly spoke out.
Even though he had already grasped the species of Mimic Bugs and how they survived, he still hadn’t learned how to solve the Mimic Bugs.
He was not in a hurry to inform Senior Sister Yao about the Mimic Bugs, with such a large scale infestation in the Zhang Clan, the problem didn’t seem to be as simple as it appeared.
“Mimicry worms have a low reproduction ability, and it is reasonably difficult to gather a large number of eggs, and there is clearly a large number of Mimicry worms in this Water Swamp Spirit Peach area.”
“Then, are so many anthropomorphic worms naturally occurring, or are they artificially caused?”
Lu Xuan thought secretly from the sidelines, as for solving the problem of the insect pests, he still had to start with the Water Zephyr Spirit Peaches that were being parasitized by the Mimic Bugs.
“Find a chance to dig up a parasitized Spirit Peach tree to see what the exact problem is and how to solve it.”
(End of chapter)