Chapter 97: Decision (Fifth Update!)

Bai Laoyan finished the dried meat, brushed the crumbs from his hands, and asked, "The matter of the Gong you just mentioned?"

"I can swear that once this mission is completed, I will certainly fulfill my promise."

Bai Laoyan said, "Then swear it."

Xu Yuan immediately raised his hand and swore; this old mountain runner was deeply suspicious and would not believe him if he hesitated even slightly.

Bai Laoyan sneered, "Do not think we lack the power to bind your oath; do not forget, this is Ghost Wushan!"

Xu Yuan gave a bitter smile, "I never intended to break my word."

Bai Laoyan nodded, "Among these four, the locust hag is actually the easiest to deal with. She has spawned a vast number of descendants; on the surface, she seems formidable, with her entire family mobilized to blot out the sky.

Yet none of her descendants have truly matured; they rely entirely on their sheer numbers to wear people down.

In fact, she herself took the wrong path. She spawned many descendants at the start and held sway in the mountains for a time, but because she produced so many, all her power was consumed controlling these offspring, leaving her stuck at the Seventh Rank, unable to ascend further.

But if a battle were to break out between monsters, her descendants would swarm forward in a frenzy, yet they could not even bite through the enemy.

However, she has grown so accustomed to commanding her offspring that she cannot change her ways even if she wanted to."

Bai Laoyan had not mentioned another hidden truth: among the villages in the mountains, including Wangxiang Village, the locust hag was hated the most.

The villagers farmed and hunted, but the locust hag's descendants were too numerous, and of course, they needed to eat. Whenever the harvest season arrived, she would lead her offspring to each village to "collect taxes."

If the harvest was good, she demanded four or five tenths; if the harvest was poor, she demanded two or three tenths.

She even understood the principle of not "draining the pond to catch all the fish"! She always kept the villages right at the brink of starvation.

The villagers could not bring themselves to make the final decision to fight her to the death, so they could only swallow their anger and endure.

As for the mountain dwellers' hunting, countless times the game they caught was snatched away by her passing offspring.

Bai Laoyan said, "I can deal with the locust hag, but as for her countless descendants, I only have some folk remedies that can temporarily drive them away.

But in a life-or-death struggle, when the locust hag desperately urges her offspring forward, these folk remedies may not work."

He held out his palm, spreading his five fingers, "There is one more thing we must clarify first: if the locust hag and that man surnamed Qin travel through the night at full speed, there is no way we can catch up to them.

However, the fivefold reward you promised must still be paid."

Yan Lao and the others' faces immediately turned ugly; it turned out the old mountain runner had thought of this point as well.

The sky grew completely dark, and from various places near and far in the mountains, something invisible seemed to be passing by the group led by Lord Qin, some rushing hurriedly, others moving at a leisurely pace.

Even Lord Qin felt several times that he was being watched by something; if those things truly charged forward, he would not be able to escape easily!

Fortunately, these things seemed unwilling to compete with the locust hag; they merely glanced over and left, reluctant to depart.

After traveling a bit further, the locust hag's descendants grew increasingly restless: they wanted to eat humans!

Evil spirits are more ferocious and mad at night; with a group of living humans emitting the fresh scent of flesh and blood right beside them, how could they restrain themselves?

The locust hag suppressed them for a while.

The descendants grew dissatisfied, causing some chaos; the army of the Locust River showed signs of disorder and disintegration.

Suddenly, a piercing scream of despair echoed from the distance!

A faint scent of blood drifted over.

It was likely some unlucky merchant who had not reached the village before nightfall and had been dragged out and eaten by the evil spirits in the mountains!

The locusts became even more chaotic, constantly begging their Great-Grandmother.

The locust hag thought for a moment and made a decision:

As long as Lord Qin was still alive, it would not affect the cooperation.

The others were insignificant.

The locust hag secretly gave some instructions to her descendants: do not make it too obvious.

Thus, a moment later, a deformed ghost hand suddenly shot out from a thicket nearby and grabbed at two of Lord Qin's subordinates—the locust hag made no move to stop it.

The two men screamed as they were dragged into the forest, and the locust hag feigned great anger, "Seeking death!"

A swarm of locusts rushed into the forest after them, as if intending to rescue the men.

But after entering the woods, they did not emerge for a long time.

The locust hag said regretfully, "My descendants did their best."

Lord Qin's eyes turned cold.

A while later, the swarm of locusts crawled back slowly, and a few still had bloodstains around their mouths that they had not wiped clean!

Ceng Si had been secretly on guard all along; having followed this massive horde of evil spirits for the entire journey, he was already terrified, and now he was utterly convinced that tonight these evil spirits would surely be unable to resist eating them!

They would only leave Lord Qin alive.

Ceng Si immediately grabbed Lord Qin, pulled him aside, and pleaded in a low voice, "My lord, save us!

Your humble servant has followed you for a full twenty years!

If I were to die for a great cause, I would have no regrets, but to be buried in vain by the mouths of evil spirits like this, my humble servant is wronged!"

Lord Qin turned to look at his other subordinates again; everyone was terrified and indignant, and who could not understand what was happening?

If Lord Qin did not protect them, the group would likely turn on itself right now.

"We are not moving," Lord Qin said angrily to the locust hag, "We will stop and rest, and invite the spirits of the Ghost Temple to pay respects to our elders!"

In the darkness, a small temple suddenly appeared right beside them.

On the first night of arriving at Qihe Tai Town, when Ceng Si and the others entered the temple, they were trembling with fear; now, however, it was as if they had found a safe haven, and they rushed in one after another.

Lord Qin entered last; just as the locust hag was about to follow, Lord Qin closed the door, "You do not need to come in."

The locust hag snorted coldly, thinking inwardly how petty he was; they had only eaten two of his men, yet they had even left him some face by not eating them right in front of him!

It angrily kicked the temple door, and its insect legs were shaken into pain.

Xu Yuan suddenly felt a stir in his heart, sensing that his second fate pattern, "Eight Directions Injury Sha," had begun to take effect.

Thus, a silent smile formed in his heart: he would surely make it in time!

The "Eight Directions Wounding Calamity" does not affect Lord Qin, but the Locust Hag.

"The reward promised to the senior will definitely be fulfilled!" Xu Yuan answered affirmatively, then added, "Besides, I will deal with the Locust Hag's descendants."

Bai Laoyan glanced sideways at Xu Yuan, clearly disbelieving.

Just a few days ago, you still needed the village's help to get rid of Wu Haishan.

Xu Yuan smiled and said, "I'm not boasting."

Bai Laoyan nodded: "Continue with the Ghost Temple Statue. This monster has over twenty small shrines inside and outside the mountain; after the Huangming people arrived, they were all destroyed.

The last one was in Miao Po Village, and it vanished decades ago as well.

Under its feet are a boy and a girl, both of whom have already turned into evil spirits.

The girl can capture people to play games; unless one wins against her in the game, one can only become her food.

But the rules of the game are set by that little ghost girl, and nine out of ten people cannot win.

The boy has three ghost flames on his head and shoulders: one burns the body, one burns the soul, and one burns the heart! The one that burns the heart is the hardest to deal with; whatever evil thoughts are in the heart, once seen through by the little ghost child, can be ignited, burning the person into an evil spirit."

Yan Lao asked, "What about the Ghost Temple Statue itself?"

"It can establish a temple; those outside cannot enter, and those inside cannot leave!"

It was probably written until ten o'clock at night before finishing; I lay down to rest for a while and fell asleep...

So it was even later.

Additionally, I am soliciting everyone's opinion: what time would be better for updates?

Also, the eternal request for monthly votes!

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(End of this chapter)