Chapter 17: Yu Spits Water

The shells of these locusts were extremely hard, no less than the iron armor of the Huangming Army.

Yet under the "Golden Orb," they were still like window paper, bursting at a single poke.

The locust struggled a few times, flew another seven or eight zhang, and finally crashed down headfirst.

Xu Yuan's speed simply could not match those locusts; he was quickly caught up with. The remaining five locusts swarmed down to attack. Xu Yuan spat out a mouthful of fire and manipulated the Golden Orb to fly and shoot. Soon, only one locust remained.

This strange creature finally felt fear, turned its head, and flew toward the distance, but Xu Yuan absolutely could not let it go.

The Golden Orb suddenly accelerated, struck it from behind, and pierced it completely through.

The locust crashed heavily onto the ground.

Yet a thick sense of unease rose in Xu Yuan's heart!

"Run!" Xu Yuan sprinted in long strides, abandoned his original route, and turned onto another small path.

He soon saw a patch of forest. Xu Yuan gritted his teeth and dove into Lin Zi.

If he were in an open place with no cover, the locusts catching up would see him from far away.

But there were also many unknown dangers within the forest. Xu Yuan proceeded cautiously. After walking for more than an hour in the woods, he suddenly heard a buzzing sound from above. He immediately crouched down, using the dense branches to hide his form.

Above the forest, a dense swarm of locusts, like a flying giant beast, blocked out the sky and sun. It took quite a while before they finally flew past!

That number, could it not be tens or even hundreds of thousands?!

Having escaped this calamity, Xu Yuan secretly breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and headed in the opposite direction of the locust swarm.

He had taken only two steps when he suddenly felt something. Turning his head, he saw a fist-sized locust clinging to a tree not far away.

The locust's antennae twitched, and a pair of insect eyes stared coldly at Xu Yuan.

"It's bad!"

Whoosh-whoosh-whoosh...

Xu Yuan heard a dense, noisy sound rising from the forest behind him. Turning back to look, he saw countless fist-sized locusts, like a tide, flooding over the forest and rapidly closing in on him!

Xu Yuan gritted his teeth, turned and ran forward, paying no heed to the other strange creatures in the forest.

The locust tide pursued relentlessly. Xu Yuan heard that scalp-tingling whooshing sound behind him growing closer. Moreover, the locusts had already formed a curved encirclement behind him, rapidly flanking from both sides and forcing Xu Yuan toward the only direction ahead!

"There is greater danger ahead!" Xu Yuan thought of the even more terrifying locust swarm that had flown past earlier.

"Fish die, net breaks!" Xu Yuan's heart turned ruthless. He suddenly stopped, his abdomen heaved violently, and he spat out a mouthful of "Fu Zhong Huo."

Whoosh—

The fierce flames quickly ignited the fallen leaves on the ground and the surrounding trees!

It was early autumn; in Ghost Wushan, rain was extremely abundant. The fallen leaves and trees were very damp. Once the fire started, thick smoke immediately rolled up.

Seeing the fire become uncontrollable, dozens of large trees in the forest trembled, pulled up their roots, twisted them into several thick root-legs, and fled at a running pace.

Almost nothing was immune to "Fu Zhong Huo." The fire spread rapidly. The locust swarm pursuing from behind crashed straight into the great fire and immediately began crackling and popping as they burned.

The locusts in front wanted to retreat, but those behind kept pushing up. The entire locust swarm immediately fell into chaos.

The locusts flapped their wings and took flight, but were then dizzy and confused from the thick smoke.

Xu Yuan dove headfirst into the thick smoke and lost his trace.

Not long before, after that massive giant locust swarm flew over the forest, it seemed to receive some order. It made a large turn a hundred zhang ahead, a vast expanse of dark yellow and black, and circled back to hover above a hillside in front of the forest.

Then, as if the end of the world had arrived, countless giant locusts, three chi long with sharp mandibles and hind legs as strong as saws, crashed down with crackling and popping sounds.

Soon, they densely covered an entire mountain peak!

They were waiting for Xu Yuan to be driven out and walk into their trap, but they did not expect the fire to start so quickly!

Within the thick smoke, countless "juniors" scrambled to flee out.

Many had their wings already ignited. They rushed out in panic, and before long their wings were burned away. They crashed down headfirst and were burned to ash.

The air was filled with a scorched aroma of roasting keratin, but the target had vanished without a trace.

The entire locust swarm became fearful and restless; their innate fear of fire was difficult to overcome.

But that boy set fire to the mountain; he himself could not escape either.

From the deepest part of the locust swarm, a strange accent rang out, sounding like an old woman with a gap-toothed mouth speaking.

"This little thing is a ruthless person."

He would rather we all burn to death than become the blood-food in your mouths!

The voice sounded like it was muttering to itself, yet also like it was discussing with others: "Fortunately, this place is relatively close to that Yu's territory, but it will require a great expenditure of blood."

The fire had already ignited the entire forest, and the flames spread toward the surrounding Shanfeng.

The giant locusts on that mountain peak were already pushing backward against each other, becoming even more restless and uneasy.

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

The whirlpool spun faster and faster. Amidst the roaring and splashing of water, it whipped up a massive water dragon hundreds of zhang long!

The white water dragon soared into the air, flew above the forest, and with a boom exploded into pieces. A heavy rainstorm immediately fell above the forest, instantly extinguishing the great fire within the woods.

Xu Yuan was hiding under a large tree. His clothes had nearly been scorched through by the fire, leaving seven or eight holes. His hair tips were curled together, and several patches of his skin were burned by the flames.

What a wretched state.

Once the fire started, Xu Yuan could not control it either.

He had intended to use the cover of the thick smoke to escape, but he did not expect a sudden heavy rainstorm!

This rain came strangely, and Xu Yuan's heart sank.

The whooshing sound rang out again. Countless locusts leaped into the air and landed in the forest. Many branches, having just passed through the fire, were already burned brittle. When the locusts landed on them, they snapped, and the branches and locusts fell to the ground together.

Yet Xu Yuan had not the slightest thought of mocking them. His expression grew increasingly grim, because countless locusts, large and small, were gathering from all directions and had already tightly encircled him!

The encirclement grew smaller and smaller. The locusts' mandibles constantly opened and closed, emitting a piercing sound like blades grinding together.

Xu Yuan stood in place, gazing coldly at all the strange creatures.

The moment for a fight to the death had arrived; thus, he cast aside all useless emotions.

The locusts halted five feet before Xu Yuan, then a commotion rose from the rear of the swarm; the dense mass of locusts suddenly parted to form a passage.

An aged locust, one zhang tall, lumbered forward from behind.

It stood upright on its hind legs, its middle and front legs clasped behind its back like a human's, and it possessed a slender neck just as a human does.

A locust head the size of a basin perched atop that neck, swaying to and fro as it walked.

It opened its massive mandibles toward Xu Yuan in a sinister manner, from which sprang seven or eight three-foot-long tongue-whiskers, and said, "You have killed a great many of my descendants!"

Xu Yuan offered no reply, nor did he even look at this strange old locust.

Behind the old locust followed a man: Elder Qiao!

There will be another chapter tonight; from today onward, the pace will quicken.

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(End of this chapter)