Chapter 3 Disaster Strikes!
```
Late at night.
Wang Chen tossed and turned in his bed, unable to fall asleep.
His difficulty in sleeping was not due to a hard bed board, but a restless heart.
Although he had accepted the reality of transmigration and was determined to survive here,
Wang Chen's nerves hadn't thickened to the point where he could be without worries and cares.
Through the memories of his predecessor, he found this world to be anything but peaceful and tranquil, filled with various dangers.
The Cloud Sun Sect had 100,000 Outer Sect Qi Cultivation Disciples, 8,000 Inner Sect members.
Purple Mansion Superiors numbered two hundred, Golden Core True Persons, three!
Their power was formidable.
Logically, such a sect would be a good refuge.
However, most of the sect's cultivation resources were concentrated in the hands of True Persons, Superiors, and their Disciples and relatives.
Outer Sect Disciples were fighting tooth and nail to enter the Inner Sect, and even within the Inner Sect, there was fierce competition and many underlying schemes.
A low-level Outer Sect cultivator like Wang Chen simply couldn't control his own destiny.
Let alone the unattainable Golden Core True Persons, even a speck of dust flicked by a Purple Mansion Superior could fall on his head and weigh like a heavy mountain.
It could easily grind him into dust!
Leaving the sect, in the Outer Domain demons ran rampant, thieves and bandits were everywhere, and the life of a Loose Cultivator was even more dangerous and difficult.
As for the mortal realm, without Spiritual Energy nourishment, without Spirit Valley and Pills,
the Cultivator who stayed amongst Mortals would quickly lose their Cultivation Level.
In the end, they'd degrade to being an ordinary mortal.
Living an even more miserable life!
Wang Chen pondered over and over.
He decided...
...to lay low.
Work hard at farming to maintain a living, slowly unravel the secrets of the Immortal Cultivation panel, and accumulate strength bit by bit.
He didn't seek to become an Immortal or a Saint; it was enough just to be alive.
As he thought about this, Wang Chen's mood gradually calmed, and he unwittingly fell into a deep slumber.
...
"Doggie!"
"Doggie, are you home?"
The shouting from outside the house woke Wang Chen from his sleep.
He rubbed his eyes to find that it was already daylight.
"Doggie! Doggie!"
The persistent calls forced Wang Chen to swiftly put on his coat and get up to open the door.
Outside the small courtyard, enclosed by a bamboo fence, stood an old man dressed in hemp clothes with a face full of wrinkles.
"Old Sun?"
Wang Chen asked groggily, "What's happened?"
The anxious old man was his neighbor, a Spiritual Plant Farmer of the Cloud Sun Sect's Outer Sect.
The old man's surname was Sun, and everyone called him Old Sun.
His Cultivation Level was at the fourth Qi Cultivation layer.
Old Sun's Cultivation Level might not be much,
but he had farmed Spirit Fields his entire life, amassing a wealth of experience.
Currently, he contracted thirty mu of land.
"A big problem has arisen!"
Old Sun shouted urgently, "I just found an Earth Rhinoceros Beetle in the Spirit Fields!"
Earth Rhinoceros Beetle?
Wang Chen's body jerked, and he instinctively tensed up.
The Earth Rhinoceros Beetle wasn't actually a rhinoceros beetle, but a type of beetle that liked to munch on the leaves and ears of Spiritual Rice.
There were many pests in the Spirit Fields, like Grey-Eyed Moths, Green Rice Worms, Leaf-Eating Ants, Long-Horned Snails, and more.
There were corresponding methods to prevent and clear these pests.
But the Earth Rhinoceros Beaetle was the most troublesome of all!
"Doggie, you better go check your own fields quickly,"
Old Sun shouted before turning and leaving, "I need to go ask the Zhang Family for help!"
Earth Rhinoceros Beetles were rare.
However, if a single one was found in the Spirit Fields, there must be a nest or several nests.
Or even a whole swarm!
And the trouble wasn't limited to just Old Sun's household.
```
Thinking of the destructive power of the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle, Wang Chen couldn't help but feel his scalp tingle.
The harvest of the Spiritual Rice that was sown in spring was only a month away.
Now that it had suffered a pest infestation, the yield at the end of summer would inevitably reduce significantly.
If he couldn't deliver the full amount of field rent on time, he would be 100% certain to be driven out of the Outer Sect.
The Steward of Fields, who oversaw the Spirit Fields, didn't care about the reasons; if you failed to complete the task, you had to leave, no personal considerations allowed.
Wang Chen immediately went to his own Spirit Fields.
Yesterday evening he had cast Moving Cloud and Rain-Spreading, and the moistened Spirit Fields were full of life, with plenty of weed sprouts growing again.
These weeds had an extremely strong vitality, with their fine roots delving deep into the ground, making them difficult to remove completely. Even if you dug out the main root, they could still sprout anew, so they had to be diligently dug and shoveled.
At this moment, Wang Chen could no longer be bothered with weeds.
He walked along the field ridges, step by step, thoroughly focused on searching for pests hidden among the rice leaves.
This was not an easy task.
With ten mu of Spirit Fields, the area was neither too large nor too small.
To quickly find an Earth Rhinoceros Beetle the size of an infant's fist among the tens of thousands of half-human-tall stalks of Spiritual Rice.
It required not only experience but also luck!
Having searched back and forth through two mu of Spirit Fields, a fine sweat had formed on Wang Chen's forehead.
His physical strength was not greatly expended, but he was under intense mental stress.
No sign of the Earth Rhinoceros Beetles was naturally a good thing, but the biggest fear was not finding them if they were there!
With unwavering eyes, he scanned every stalk of Spiritual Rice, constantly stimulating his Spiritual Sense to augment his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears.
Spiritual Sense, born of Qi Cultivation, could greatly enhance a cultivator's Perception abilities.
Unfortunately, Spiritual Sense was not Divine Sense, it could only passively receive, and not actively scan outward.
Otherwise, with a sweep of Divine Sense, he could scan dozens or hundreds of mu of Spirit Fields in a breath, and no pest could escape.
That would require cultivation of the Purple Mansion level.
Having searched nearly half of the Spirit Fields with all his might, Wang Chen still had found nothing.
He did not relax because of this, but instead, grew even more tense.
Suddenly, Wang Chen's vision blurred, and the Spirit Fields before him turned into a thick, lush green.
It was as though he could hear the Spiritual Rice around him whispering to him, conveying some kind of message.
One voice was particularly clear.
Wang Chen's attention naturally shifted in that direction.
His gaze sharpened.
Amidst the rich green, he spotted a strikingly black spot.
Wang Chen blinked subconsciously.
His vision instantly cleared, and his gaze locked onto a black beetle perched on the stalk of Spiritual Rice.
An Earth Rhinoceros Beetle!
The Earth Rhinoceros Beetle's appearance closely resembled that of a rhinoceros beetle, with a shiny black body and a curved, sharp horn on its head.
Its claws clung tightly to the rice stalk as it greedily gnawed on the still immature rice ear.
Wang Chen, having spotted his target, held his breath and slowly approached the Spiritual Rice where the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle was located.
The shell of the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle was extremely hard; not even a knife in the hands of mortals could penetrate it.
Moreover, it was very alert. The moment it detected danger, it would immediately burrow into the ground.
And once burrowed, you couldn't dig it out.
Therefore, to kill an Earth Rhinoceros Beetle, one must surprise it with a lethal strike!
Wang Chen stared at his target, silently raising his right arm.
His right hand's thumb, ring finger, and little finger were retracted, while his index and middle fingers were joined to form a sword-like pose.
He aimed his fingers three feet away from the Earth Rhinoceros Beetle.
Mana from his Dantian surged along the meridians of his arm to his sword fingers, with a dazzling golden glow appearing at the tips.
"Quick!"
Wang Chen suddenly let out a swift shout as he thrust forward his sword fingers like lightning.
A fierce beam of energy burst forth from his fingertips.
Geng Metal Finger!
The Earth Rhinoceros Beetle, perched on the stalk, instinctively sensed the danger and loosened its grip, falling toward the ground.
However, as the golden light flashed by, the beetle the size of an infant's fist was cut into two halves!
"Haha!"
Wang Chen laughed loudly after a successful strike.
The relief was immense!
-----------
First update delivered.
PS: During the new book period, updates are tentatively scheduled for two chapters a day, released simultaneously around 9 A.M.