Chapter 17: The Yu Spits Water

These locusts’ exoskeletons were extremely hard, rivaling the iron armor of the Imperial Ming Army.

Yet beneath the Golden Orb, they were as fragile as window paper—pierce them, and they burst.

The locust struggled a few times, flew another eight zhang, then crashed headfirst to the ground.

Xu Yuan’s speed ultimately couldn’t match the locusts; he was soon overtaken, and the remaining five swarmed down upon him. He spat a jet of fire and guided the Golden Orb to strike, soon leaving only one locust alive.

The strange creature finally panicked, turning to flee into the distance—but Xu Yuan would not let it escape.

The Golden Orb suddenly accelerated, piercing clean through its body from behind.

The locust slammed heavily onto the ground.

Yet Xu Yuan’s heart rose with a deep unease.

“Go!” Xu Yuan sprinted forward, abandoning his original path and veering onto a narrow side trail.

Soon he saw a grove; he gritted his teeth and dashed inside.

In an open, exposed area, the locusts would spot him from afar.

But the forest held many unknown dangers; Xu Yuan moved cautiously, walking for over half an hour, when suddenly a buzzing sound came from above—he dropped low, hiding his form beneath thick branches.

Above the trees, a dense swarm of locusts, like a flying monstrous beast, blotted out the sky—it took a long while before they passed.

That number—could it be tens or even hundreds of thousands?!

Xu Yuan escaped this disaster, sighed inwardly, and rose to move in the opposite direction of the swarm.

He had taken only two steps when he felt something—turned his head, and saw a locust the size of a fist crouched on a nearby tree.

Its antennae twitched; its insect eyes stared coldly at Xu Yuan.

“Damn it!”

Rustle-rustle-rustle…

Behind him, the forest erupted in a dense, chaotic noise; when he turned back, countless fist-sized locusts surged like a tidal wave across the trees, racing toward him!

Xu Yuan gritted his teeth, spun and ran forward, ignoring all other strange things in the forest.

The locust tide chased relentlessly; the horrifying rustling behind him grew closer, and the locusts had formed a curved encirclement, swiftly flanking him from both sides, forcing him toward the only path ahead!

“Danger ahead!” Xu Yuan recalled the even more terrifying swarm that had flown past earlier.

“Fish die, net breaks!” Xu Yuan hardened his heart, halted abruptly, his abdomen heaving violently as he spat out a torrent of “Abdominal Fire.”

Whoosh—

Intense flames instantly ignited the fallen leaves and surrounding trees.

It was early autumn; Wushan was drenched in rain, so the leaves and trees were damp—once ignited, thick smoke billowed instantly.

Seeing the fire spiral out of control, dozens of large trees in the forest trembled, uprooted themselves, twisted their roots into thick, leg-like appendages, and fled off on swift strides.

Almost nothing could resist the Abdominal Fire; the flames spread rapidly, and the pursuing locust swarm crashed into the inferno, crackling and sizzling as they burned.

The front-line locusts tried to retreat, but those behind kept surging forward—the entire swarm plunged into chaos.

The locusts took flight, only to be blinded and disoriented by the thick smoke.

Xu Yuan plunged into the smoke and vanished.

Not long ago, the massive swarm had flown past the forest, then received some command—turning sharply a hundred zhang ahead, a vast, dark-yellow mass wheeled back above a hill before the grove.

Then, as if the end of the world had come, countless giant locusts, three chi long, with razor-sharp jaws and hind legs like serrated knives, rained down with a clatter.

Soon they densely blanketed the entire hilltop.

They waited for Xu Yuan to be driven out into their trap—but never expected the fire to spread so swiftly!

From the smoke, countless “younger ones” scrambled out in frantic haste.

Many had already caught fire; they burst out in panic, only to lose their wings to the flames moments later, tumbling down and burning to ash.

The air reeked of charred keratin protein, yet the target was gone.

The entire locust swarm grew restless and terrified—their innate fear of fire was overwhelming.

But that boy set fire to the forest—he couldn’t escape either.

From deep within the swarm, a strange accent spoke, like an old woman with a gap-toothed mouth.

“This little thing is ruthless.”

Better we all burn together than become your bloody food!

The voice sounded like muttering to himself—or perhaps discussing with someone: “Good thing we’re near that yu’s territory—but it’ll cost us dearly.”

The fire had already engulfed the entire forest, flames spreading toward the surrounding peaks.

The giant locusts atop the hill pressed backward, growing increasingly agitated.

Suddenly, a whirlpool appeared in a river eight li away.

The whirlpool spun faster, roaring with a tremendous splash as it lifted a water dragon hundreds of zhang long!

The white water dragon soared into the sky, then exploded with a thunderous crash—torrential rain poured down over the forest, instantly dousing the flames.

Xu Yuan had been hiding beneath a giant tree; his clothes were scorched through with seven or eight holes, his hair curled and charred, his skin blistered from the fire.

He was in a wretched state.

Once the fire started, he lost control of it.

He’d planned to escape using the smoke—but then came this sudden rain!

The rain was unnatural; Xu Yuan’s heart sank.

The rustling sound returned; countless locusts leapt into the air and landed in the forest. Many branches, just charred and brittle, snapped under their weight—branches and locusts tumbled together to the ground.

But Xu Yuan had no room for mockery; his face darkened further, for countless locusts—large and small—were converging from all directions, completely surrounding him.

The encirclement shrank tighter; the locusts’ mandibles snapped open and shut, emitting a grating, blade-like screech.

Xu Yuan stood still, coldly observing all the strange creatures.

The moment of final battle had come—he cast aside all useless emotions.

The locusts halted five chi before Xu Yuan; then a commotion rose from behind the swarm—the dense mass suddenly parted, forming a passage.

A towering, ancient locust, one zhang tall, shuffled slowly forward.

It walked upright, its middle and front legs folded behind it like a human’s; it even bore a slender neck like a man’s.

Its massive insect head sat atop the neck, bobbing as it moved.

It opened its enormous mandibles toward Xu Yuan, spitting out seven or eight three-chi-long tongue-tendrils: “You killed many of my descendants!”

Xu Yuan did not answer. He did not even look at the ancient locust.

Behind the ancient locust walked a man—Master Qiao!

Another chapter tonight; I’m accelerating from today.

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(End of Chapter)