Where Immortals Once Walked

Everyone hurriedly retreated, but one Rongshan disciple stepped forward, holding a precious bottle in both hands. He took a willow leaf, dipped it into the water inside, and flicked it forward.

The movement was very small, and there were not many willow leaves either, yet the droplets scattered into the air and swiftly split apart, turning into hundreds and thousands of tiny beads like a thin mist.

A pale golden mist.

Another person formed a hand seal and summoned wind, just in time to blow the mist toward the swarm of aberrant cicadas.

Each of these aberrant cicadas was a meter long. There was no avoiding the mist as it blew across their heads and faces.

This chain of moves was extremely smooth, clearly something the Rongshan disciples had practiced many times.

Then, the strangest scene appeared.

Every aberrant cicada touched by the pale golden droplets, whether flying or jumping, fell to the ground and could not rise.

They struggled desperately on the ground, but it was as if they had been hit by a paralysis spell. No matter what they did, they could not lift their legs or prop up their bodies.

He Lingchuan’s eyebrows rose at the sight.

Everyone really does have their own tricks.

The fierce young man said, “Quick, kill them!”

The others grabbed their weapons and rushed forward, unleashing a flurry of blows on the aberrant cicadas that temporarily could not fight back.

The young man’s vision had mostly recovered by now. Looking at He Lingchuan, he said to him, “Heavy weapons work better.”

When he used his copper staff to stab the aberrant cicadas, he aimed straight for their eyes. One strike, one wet pop.

Because he was injured, he had to stop and rest after killing a few.

Looking at the other Rongshan disciples, they were also using blunt weapons like great hammers and heavy axes. It seemed they were all either experienced or knowledgeable and knew that crushing strikes worked on the cicadas much better than piercing attacks.

A few others sprayed medicinal liquid onto the aberrant cicadas. With several hissing sounds, the liquid corroded them to death.

In truth, the most effective method was fire.

The cicadas feared fire. After being burned a few times, they began smoking and giving off a charred smell.

He Lingchuan stabbed two of them with Fleeting Life and found that their shells were shockingly hard. If an ordinary sword or saber chopped down on them, it probably would not even leave a mark. One could imagine how desperate the mortals in the villages and towns must have been when attacked by aberrant creatures like these.

The fierce young man stared at Fleeting Life and offered a compliment, “Good saber.” Then he handed He Lingchuan a black pill and said, “Antidote.”

Earlier, He Lingchuan had been stung by the black shadow on his body. The young man knew perfectly well how poisonous that thing was.

After losing to He Lingchuan, his attitude toward him had instead improved considerably.

The strong were worthy of respect.

He Lingchuan accepted the pill but did not eat it. He only nodded to him.

Seeing this, the young man did not insist. Once the poison flared up, this man would naturally understand how serious it was. Anyone stung by that thing had to remove their boot quickly; otherwise, the foot would swell like a ball, and the boot could only be cut open.

But even after a good while, He Lingchuan still walked as usual. There was no sign of him collapsing while clutching his foot and howling in pain.

The young man did not know that He Lingchuan had used the venom gland Zhu Erniang had given him to draw the toxin out of the wound.

Zhu Erniang’s venom gland could both apply poison to weapons and draw poison out for treatment. It was a magical treasure with two uses.

Dong Rui, however, said, “Leave me two samples. Two different kinds!”

Whenever he saw something new, his heart itched unbearably.

Zhu Daniang glanced at him, then sprayed out two streams of spiderweb, wrapping two aberrant cicadas into dumplings.

Then she grabbed a third one herself and, ignoring its refusal, pierced it with her mouthparts and forcefully sucked.

The aberrant cicada cried out loudly in pain.

This scene of one insect eating another made the Rongshan people’s scalps go numb. Only now did they realize that the spider monster had shown mercy earlier. Otherwise, their companion would already have become a dried corpse.

In no time at all, Zhu Daniang sucked the entire aberrant cicada dry. But after tasting it, she spat all the liquid back out.

“Disgusting! What the hell is this thing?” Where’s the fresh deliciousness cicadas are supposed to have?

Everyone else: “...”

Zhu Daniang lifted a claw and wiped one of her eyes, then suddenly said, “More seventy-year cicadas have hatched. Probably because they heard their own kind screaming.”

He Lingchuan immediately said to the fierce young man, “Set fires. The farmland all around is full of cicada eggs.” If we rely on manpower alone, how long is it going to take to deal with them nest by nest?

There was no time to lose. The young man did not hesitate either and directed his companions to start fires everywhere. Other Rongshan disciples came forward to stop his bleeding and bandage him.

The air was dry, and the forest had already withered to death, losing all moisture long ago. It caught fire at the slightest spark.

Everyone then summoned great winds, pushing the flames toward the farmland.

They burned the entire town, fields, and forest clean with one great blaze!

The two or three hundred townspeople who had been killed were cremated along with it.

Through the blaze, He Lingchuan saw many aberrant cicadas jumping out of the fields, fleeing in all directions as the fire forced them out.

The Rongshan disciples guarded the perimeter, picking off any that slipped through the flames.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui also helped.

By the time all this work was done, four hours had passed, and the sky had long since gone dark.

Only after the fire died down did the fierce young man come to find He Lingchuan. “Come. Let’s go see Elder Dao.”

After fighting side by side for so long, everyone’s hostility toward He Lingchuan and his companions had disappeared.

Hearing this, Dong Rui let out a breath of relief. Finally, they could get down to proper business.

But the young man walked to his side and reached out to stroke the ghost ape.

Dong Rui knew the ghost ape’s temper was bad. Except in front of its beloved master, anyone who came near it would earn a slap.

Yet the ghost ape seemed to enjoy the young man’s touch. It even stretched its head forward and half-closed its eyes.

Truly strange.

He Lingchuan asked him, “Who brought the ghost ape back?”

The fierce young man said, “Me.”

One of the other Rongshan disciples added, “Senior Brother Qiu isn’t close to anyone else, but he gets along well with this monkey.”

“Where did you bring it back from?”

“While patrolling the northeastern border.”

Dong Rui cut in, “Why was that mist able to immobilize the aberrant cicadas?”

“Heavy water. Every drop of water is as heavy as a thousand jun[1].” The young man did not hide it. “That was heavy water from the Thousand-Jun Bottle.”

So that precious bottle was called the Thousand-Jun Bottle. The name’s quite fitting.

Hm, but then why hadn’t they used it against us earlier?

After traveling with Dong Rui for over two months, He Lingchuan had already figured out his temperament. One look at Dong Rui’s expression, and he knew what the man was wondering. He immediately said, “We all have protective vigorous qi. The mist wouldn’t be able to touch our bodies.”

If it could not touch their bodies, then of course it would have no effect.

Dong Rui let out a long “oh.” He understood.

* * *

The farther they walked into the depths of Rongshan, the fewer dead trees they saw along the roadside. Squirrels began leaping along the branches, and night owls hooted softly.

Wild rabbits slept in tree hollows, while insects and ants crawled beneath the ice and snow. Once again, Zhu Daniang could feel the thriving vitality of the whole forest.

Clearly, the seventy-year cicadas had not invaded this place.

Along the way, the other Rongshan disciples told the three of them that these aberrant cicadas had suddenly invaded Rongshan territory over two months ago. The moment they arrived, they blotted out the sky and covered the earth, devouring everything—grass, trees, animals, and humans alike.

The human villages and towns within Rongshan territory had suffered terribly from them. Rongshan had also spent great effort clearing these things out, but had never been able to eradicate them completely.

The fierce young man’s surname was Qiu, and his given name was Hu.

He walked in front while the others followed behind, intentionally or not keeping a certain distance from him.

Yet He Lingchuan saw the others conversing with him normally, so it could not be called a lack of harmony.

It could only be said that everyone instinctively feared him and was unwilling to get too close.

The murderous aura and baleful qi around this fellow are far too heavy. He Lingchuan had only ever sensed baleful qi this heavy from Fushan Yue.

Could he be another ba?

Or some other rare, bizarre kind of monster?

1. If taken literally, then this is about 18 metric tons. ☜