Too many of them.

The entire Peach Garden was overrun by large green bugs.

Due to their overwhelming numbers, the bugs piled on top of each other, the ones at the bottom crushed into a thin layer of green insect skin.

White, turbid liquid was squeezed out of their bodies, corroding vast patches of soil, continuously emitting green smoke.

The smoke was also highly toxic, causing the leaves of the Flat Peach Tree to wither and turn yellow upon contact.

In the blink of an eye, a Flat Peach Tree was corroded and wilted.

At that moment, a pale white light descended from the sky, landing on the Flat Peach Tree. In the next second, the tree, teetering on the brink of death, was forcibly pulled back from the edge.

"Lingzhen, there’s another one over there!"

"Understood!"

Li Lingzhen bit her lip, her gaze firm as she swiftly hurried to the next location.

As soon as she left, those large green bugs regrouped into a tide, planning to surge deeper into the Peach Garden.

At this moment, a swirling black hole of Endless Devouring appeared ahead.

In an instant, a large number of green bugs were swallowed by the black hole, leaving not even a trace.

Then, the Xuanyuan Sword, Fu Xi Zither, Nuwa Stone, Kunlun Mirror, and Shennong Cauldron, five Divine Soldiers, appeared sequentially in flashes of light.

Instantly purifying a region.

"Where is the next severely affected area, mark it on the virtual map for me."

Han Zhan, his right hand on the earpiece, spoke faster.

At this point, he was like a firefighter, rushing to wherever the situation was dire.

But Han Zhan was only one person, there were always times when he couldn’t be everywhere at once.

The other Contracted Spirit Girls, due to the limitations of their cultivation, couldn’t perform at their full potential.

"No, there are just too many, we can’t clear them all!" Youwei’s breathless voice came through the communicator, "Lingzhen, I need emergency assistance here!"

"Same here! The older the Flat Peaches, the stronger the bugs that fall from them, and there are too many, new bugs keep falling from the Flat Peaches!"

"I... I... I’m scared! Help!" A voice with a sobbing tone came over the communicator.

There was no need to guess, other than Gongyang Jin, no one else would be that timid.

"Ugh!" Jiang Lingling’s exhausted voice also came through the communicator.

Every area was in a desperate battle, with more places about to fall.

Finally, a Flat Peach Tree was completely knocked over by a large green bug, its massive mandibles opening and attaching to the fallen tree’s trunk.

Voluminous white mist was sucked out from the trunk and into the green bug.

The Flat Peach Tree, along with its Flat Peaches, shriveled and dried up.

At that moment, Han Zhan, Li Lingzhen, and Nuannuan were all in other locations, unable to provide aid in time.

"Hmph!"

The sharp humph of the Queen Mother of the West arrived on cue.

Whether it was an illusion or not, there seemed to be a tone of urgency in that voice, as if afraid to miss a single word.

Han Zhan and the others were unsurprisingly scolded as useless, then a Celestial Thunder struck Shang Siteng.

The latter promptly turned to ashes, then scattered into nothingness.

All they could do was watch, as the scene before them went dark again.

Fruit World, reset.

As they opened their eyes again, everyone was back to their state on the second day during daylight.

The fatigue from staying up all night chopping trees hit them anew.

"It’s no use, we can’t hold them back." Xia Youwei shook her head, "Each of these worms has Tier Six power, while our Realms are only unlocked to Tier Five."

There was already a disparity in cultivation, and their numbers were overwhelmingly larger.

How could they possibly fight this?

"The key problem is, they are born from the Flat Peaches, it’s impossible to stop them at the source."

They could rid of the bugs, but if they annihilated all the Flat Peaches on the trees to get rid of them, the Queen Mother of the West wouldn’t forgive them even before the bugs could do anything.

It seemed like an unsolvable stalemate.

Even Han Zhan, usually full of ideas, was temporarily at a loss with this problem.

At this time, unexpectedly, Gongyang Jin stood up.

"I... I might have... found these bugs’ weakness..."

With this statement, everyone’s eyes turned to her, tinged with disbelief.

...

The scene returned to earlier,

while the large green bugs were rampaging in the Peach Garden.

In front of Gongyang Jin at the Flat Peach Tree, one large green bug after another emerged from the Flat Peaches, falling down, their massive, terrifying bodies started writhing, scaring Gongyang Jin into a pale state.

"I... I... I’m scared! Help!"

Gongyang Jin’s voice even carried a sob.

Fortunately, the Xuanyuan Sword shielded her, the Unstoppable Sword Qi deflecting many of their attacks, preventing Gongyang Jin from being overwhelmed by the Insect Tide.

Transformed into a timid mushroom, Gongyang Jin had no intention of fighting these large bugs; without a second thought, she ran towards the central area of the Peach Garden.

There, the Flat Peach Trees were fewer, making it the seemingly safest place in the entire garden.

But quickly, Gongyang Jin realized she was wrong.

Though the central area’s Flat Peach Trees were fewer, the Flat Peaches on these trees were all the highest grade, nine-thousand-year-old Flat Peaches.

The bugs falling from them were much more numerous than on other trees!

In just a few breaths, the central area was filled with countless green bugs.

Gongyang Jin had nowhere to retreat, cornered by a small stream.

But just when she thought she would be devoured by these bugs, she found they suddenly stopped at the stream.

Back to the present.

After listening to Gongyang Jin’s account, Han Zhan pondered for a moment, "So, what you’re saying is, these large green bugs chased you to the stream but didn’t go any further?"

"Yes, so I suspect, maybe there’s something in the stream they fear, or something that restrains them." Gongyang Jin nodded.

"Perhaps the answer isn’t that complicated." After considering, Han Zhan proposed a potential solution. "These large green bugs, their true nemesis might just be water."

"Water? That’s impossible, when they fell from the Flat Peach Trees, my irrigation system was still working. If they feared water, how could they have become such an overwhelming threat?" Shang Siteng shook her head.

"Maybe, the water Ah Zhan refers to isn’t the water used in the irrigation system." Nuannuan spoke second.

"Exactly, we’ve all overlooked something." Han Zhan nodded, providing his explanation, "The rules emphasize that the only water for irrigation is Jasper Pool Water."

Thinking differently, what would happen if water other than Jasper Pool Water was used to irrigate the Flat Peach Trees?

Would the trees wither? Would the peaches rot? Would the task fail?

But what if non-Jasper Pool Water was used to deal with those bugs emerging from the Flat Peaches?

"Since it’s a rule, there’s no such thing as an unsolvable problem. Every rule has its corresponding solution."

"So I suspect, non-Jasper Pool Water is the best way to handle these bugs!"