The chamber where the strange insects are nurtured lies against a smooth green stone wall. To prevent them from escaping, Han Li had set up small spells between each stone chamber, sealing them so they could not breach the walls. In Han Li's estimation, even if the insects were of the highest rank, most of them were still young, and these ordinary spells would be sufficient to confine them. Yet now, the spells in the current chambers had completely vanished, and the stone doors—once solid—were riddled with holes like honeycombs, many of them utterly destroyed. Han Li felt a sudden sense of astonishment. With a thought, his Qu Hu (spirit soul) stepped forward and pushed open the nearest stone door. Inside, there was nothing at all. Han Li exhaled gently, though he had anticipated this—he was deeply disheartened. He surveyed the chamber thoroughly, then slightly turned his head and returned his gaze to the stone doors. Without speaking, he walked over and knelt down halfway to the broken doorway. The state in which the stone gate had been destroyed was remarkably unusual, covered entirely with dense, uniformly sized small holes. Yet what puzzled Han Li was that the interiors of these holes were far from smooth—they were extremely rough, unlike what one would expect from a magical artifact. Frowning slightly, Han Li slowly rose to his feet. He closed his eyes and instantly directed his awareness to the other chambers. As before, they were completely empty—indeed, even the chambers housing rare insects ranked among the top hundred on the Unusual Insect List were no different. This left Han Li somewhat disheartened! Suddenly, his expression brightened, and he opened his eyes. A flash of cold light passed through them as he stepped out of the room and walked toward another chamber. The room was just as empty, yet upon entering, Han Li immediately bent down and picked up an object from the jade stone floor. He placed it gently in his palm and held it up before his face to examine it closely. It was a small insect shell, about the size of a soybean, shimmering with a brilliant silver luster, as if forged entirely of pure silver—exquisitely beautiful. Han Li lightly touched the insect shell with a finger, feeling its surface smooth and remarkably hard. After briefly contemplating, he was certain it was not the shell of any of the rare insects he had been cultivating. With this realization, Han Li's expression grew serious, and he half-closed his eyes. Centering his awareness on these chambers, he began methodically searching the entire estate. He was not going to believe he wouldn't find any clues. A short while later, he made an unexpected discovery in the medicinal garden. Suspended beneath a sturdy flowering tree was a bright, shimmering silver sphere—something not native to the estate. Han Li called out to Qu Hun, his expression grave, and stepped out of the chamber, heading toward the garden. Though the sphere was not large—only about the size of a child's head—the strange, radiant silver glow was particularly striking. Standing at the entrance of the medicinal garden, Han Li gazed at the sphere, silent and attentive. He always felt as though he had heard of this silver sphere before, just that he couldn't quite recall where. Yet it was surely closely related to that silver insect shell! "Insect shell!" A sudden inspiration struck Han Li's mind, as if a memory was returning. He quickly reached into his storage pouch and felt around—there, a green jade scroll appeared in his hand, the very one that recorded the senior cultivators of Yuling Sect's expertise in nurturing insects. With his mind focused, he immediately found the relevant information at the twelfth position on the Unusual Insect Ranks. "Golden-devouring insects, a group of fierce insects ranked twelfth on the Unusual Insect List. They particularly feed on other unusual insects, adept at consuming five metals and the natural spiritual energies of the world. Extremely fierce, resistant to both water and fire. They prefer to gather in spherical formations and dwell beneath spiritual trees. They can be confined by jade trees, and certain spider-type insects mutually overpower one another..." Han Li read over these descriptions several times, his heart filled with both astonishment and delight. He then raised his head and looked once again at the silver sphere. Though the carefully nurtured rare insects have all vanished, if it were one of the rare insects ranked above the "Golden-Backed Darter," he would have been entirely willing. However, according to the jade scroll, the "Gold-Eating Insect" feeds on almost everything except jade and wood, making it quite difficult to capture. Fortunately, he still has two "Blood-Jade Spiders," though their rankings are far below that of the Gold-Eating Insects—they should be able to counter them effectively. As described later in the scroll, the silver-colored Gold-Eating Insect is a young larva, now grown into a first-tier upper-stage white spider, which, in terms of spiritual creature rank, is significantly superior to these Gold-Eating Insects. Nevertheless, before taking any decisive action, he still needs to verify whether these insects truly possess the prowess described in the scroll. With this thought, Qu Hun immediately stepped forward and stood directly in front of Han Li. A glow of blood surged from Qu Hu's body. With a single hand raised and fingers spread, a vast expanse of deep crimson light shot forth, instantly enveloping the silver sphere completely, as if sealed against any outside influence. Yet the sphere remained motionless—like a lifeless object. Seeing this, Han Li rubbed his nose, somewhat disappointed. The cultivator from Yu Ling Sect had praised this creature so highly, yet its response seemed so sluggish. After a brief pause, Han Li instructed Qu Hu to try a series of further tests. Qu Hu then gazed intently at the sphere, a flash of fierce determination in his eyes. With a hand motion, he cast a green spell upon the blood glow surrounding the sphere. Instantly, the glow began to shift from red to purple, and within moments, it surged into a powerful, roaring magical flame. The silver sphere, now subjected to this strange, intense fire, finally began to change. It seemed as though it had been molded from sand, instantly fracturing into scattered specks of silver light, each emitting a resonant hum. Han Li quickly focused his attention and observed closely—what he saw were small flying insects, each about the size of a soybean. Aside from having a pair of visibly sharp fangs, they were otherwise indistinguishable from ordinary beetles. It was hard to see any special qualities in them. Han Li was puzzled! Could it be that these insects were not the golden-devouring beetles at all, and that he had mistaken them for such? But after observing them further, Han Li was stunned. For within Qu Hu's magical flame, these beetles not only showed no signs of being burned to ash—they were actually lively and active, moving about with great vitality. Even more astonishingly, they were rapidly consuming the magical flame, and within moments, the purple flame had diminished by half. Witnessing this scene, Han Li, now fully awake, was overjoyed. He immediately loosened the opening of the leather pouch at his waist, and two beams of white light shot out, landing steadily on the ground—exactly the two "blood-jade spiders," each as large as a head. Han Li issued the command to capture them without hesitation. At the very instant the last ember of magic was devoured by the gold-devouring insects, two streams of milky liquid erupted from the white spider's mouth, instantly transforming into two vast webs—each spanning over a dozen feet—enveloping all the silver-bodied insects within. These webs differed markedly from ordinary ones; their mesh was astonishingly fine, and the silver insects, once enclosed, could not escape through the narrow openings. Sensing imminent danger, the gold-devouring insects immediately transformed into silver arrows, launching themselves with the precision of true crossbow bolts directly toward the webs. "Pffft!" "Pffft!" The two white webs tightly encased the silver arrows, forming compact clusters. Inside, the gold-devouring insects grew frantic, emitting sharp, piercing cries, and began tearing at the strands of the web with increasing vigor—truly showing signs of breaking free. Yet the two white spiders gave them no chance—after a few leaps, they reached the cluster of silk, then continuously sprayed streams of white liquid from their mouths, quickly enveloping them in a massive, compact mass. However, Han Li knew that this web likely wouldn't hold the gold-devouring insects for long. So he swiftly drew out a jade box from his person, carefully packing the soft, silken mass into it, then promptly closed the lid and stored the box within his storage pouch. It should be noted that specialized spirit-animal pouches are typically used to carry enchanted beasts, as ordinary spirit-animal creatures would otherwise suffocate due to lack of airflow within the pouch. In contrast, the rare insects listed on the Unusual Insects Register possess extraordinary vitality and can remain unharmed in storage pouches even without breathing. Otherwise, the cultivator of the Autonomous Spirit Sect would never have carried so many young insects in simple bottles and jars. Of course, if one truly intends to summon and deploy these creatures as combat forces, a dedicated spirit-animal pouch remains the most suitable choice. Not only is it easy to summon spirit beasts, but it's also easier to train them. Most importantly, the spirit beast pouches can shrink large-sized beasts and store them compactly within the pouches. Regular storage bags cannot shrink living creatures for storage. Therefore, even large, unusual insect-type beasts must be kept in specialized spirit beast pouches. Han Li carefully placed the jade box, fearing he might have missed something else, and then thoroughly searched the inner chambers and surrounding areas with his divine awareness. Aside from discovering a dense network of small holes on the floor of the storage room, no other items were found. These holes must be the traces left behind by the gold-devouring insects that had drilled through the ground into his dwelling! Thus, Han Li decided not to stay long in the dwelling and immediately departed, collecting the array tools for the three array techniques from the true and false dwellings, and then soared skyward.