Chapter 761: Thousand-Jin Bottle

Everyone quickly retreated, but one Rongshan disciple stepped forward, holding a treasure vase. He took a willow branch, dipped it in water from the bottle, and sprinkled it forward.

The movement was very subtle, and there weren't many willow leaves. Yet, the sprinkled water droplets rapidly split in the air, dispersing into hundreds and thousands, like a thin mist.

A light golden mist.

Another person made a hand seal to summon wind, which precisely blew the mist towards the swarm of strange cicadas.

Each of these strange cicadas was three feet long, and they inevitably got covered in the mist.

This sequence of moves was very smooth; it was clear the Rongshan disciples were highly skilled.

Then the strangest scene unfolded:

The strange cicadas that got hit by the light golden water droplets, whether flying or jumping, all fell to the ground, unable to move.

They struggled desperately on the ground, but it was as if they were under a paralysis spell, unable to lift their legs or support their bodies.

He Lingchuan watched, raising an eyebrow.

What an array of unique methods!

The aloof youth said, "Quick, kill them!"

Everyone grabbed their weapons and rushed forward, unleashing a barrage of attacks on the temporarily defenseless cicadas.

The youth's vision had mostly recovered. He looked at He Lingchuan and advised, "Heavy weapons work better."

He used his bronze staff to jab the cicadas, aiming directly for their eyes. Each blow burst them with a squelch.

After all, he was injured; he had to rest after killing a few.

Looking at the other Rongshan disciples, they were also using blunt weapons like large hammers and heavy axes. It seemed they were very experienced, knowing that blunt force was far more effective than piercing.

A few others sprayed potions onto the strange cicadas, which quickly corroded them to death with a sizzling sound.

In fact, fire was the most effective.

These creatures were afraid of fire. After a few burns, they started smoking and smelling scorched.

He Lingchuan, holding Fushou, stabbed two of them. He found that their shells were astonishingly hard; ordinary swords and knives couldn't even leave a mark. It was imaginable how desperate ordinary villagers would be when facing such monsters.

The aloof youth stared at Fushou and praised, "A good blade."

Then, he handed He Lingchuan a dark, murky pill, saying, "Antidote."

Just now, He Lingchuan had been stung by the dark shadow on the youth's body. The youth knew very well how poisonous that thing was.

Having been defeated by He Lingchuan, his attitude towards him had improved significantly.

The strong deserved respect.

He Lingchuan took the pill but didn't consume it. He merely nodded at the youth.

Seeing this, the youth didn't insist. He figured He Lingchuan would realize the severity of the poison when it took effect. Anyone stung by it who didn't quickly remove their boots would soon find their feet swollen like balloons, forcing them to cut their boots open.

But after a good while, He Lingchuan was still walking normally, with no sign of collapsing, clutching his foot and wailing.

What the youth didn't know was that He Lingchuan had just used the venom sac gifted by Zhu Erniang to extract the poison from the wound.

Zhu Erniang's venom sac could be used to poison weapons or to extract poison for healing. It was a two-in-one magical artifact.

Dong Rui, however, said, "Save me two samples, and make sure they're different!"

Whenever he saw something new, he felt an irresistible urge to study it.

Zhu Daniang glanced at him, spewed out two spiderwebs, wrapping two strange cicadas like rice dumplings.

It then grabbed a third one itself, and without regard for its resistance, plunged its proboscis in and forcibly sucked.

The strange cicada shrieked in pain.

This scene of bug-eating-bug made the Rongshan people's scalps tingle. They then realized that the spider demon had been merciful earlier; otherwise, their companions would have already become mummified corpses.

In no time, Zhu Daniang had sucked the entire strange cicada dry. But after sampling the taste, she spat out all the liquid:

"Disgusting! What kind of dreadful thing was that?!"

"Where's the deliciousness of cicadas?"

Everyone else: "..."

Zhu Daniang raised a claw and rubbed her eyes, then suddenly said, "More Seventy-Year Cicadas have hatched, probably because they heard their kin screaming."

He Lingchuan immediately said to the aloof youth, "Set fire to it. The farmlands around here are full of cicada eggs."

How long would it take to deal with them nest by nest, relying solely on human effort?

Without delay, the youth didn't hesitate. He instructed his companions to start fires everywhere. Other Rongshan disciples came forward to stop his bleeding and bandage his wounds.

The weather was dry, and the trees were already dead, long deprived of moisture. They caught fire instantly.

The group then summoned strong winds, pushing the fire towards the farmlands.

The entire town, along with the farmlands and forest, was completely burned away in one massive blaze!

The two to three hundred deceased townspeople were also cremated in the process.

He Lingchuan, watching across the flames, saw many strange cicadas leaping out of the farmlands, forced to scatter and flee by the inferno.

The Rongshan disciples stood guard around the perimeter, picking off any stragglers that escaped.

He Lingchuan and Dong Rui also lent a hand.

This whole endeavor took two hours, and night had long since fallen.

Once the fire subsided, the aloof youth finally found He Lingchuan and said, "Let's go, to see Elder Dao."

After fighting side-by-side for so long, everyone's hostility towards He Lingchuan and the others had vanished.

Dong Rui breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. They could finally get down to business.

The youth, however, walked over to Dong Rui and reached out to pet the Ghost Ape.

Dong Rui knew the Ghost Ape had a bad temper. Anyone who approached it, except its beloved master, would get slapped.

Yet, the Ghost Ape seemed to enjoy the youth's petting, even stretching its neck and half-closing its eyes.

How truly strange.

He Lingchuan asked him, "Who brought the Ghost Ape back?"

The aloof youth replied, "I did."

Other Rongshan disciples added, "Senior Brother Qiu isn't close to anyone else, but he gets along very well with this monkey."

"Where was it brought back from?"

"During a patrol to the northeastern border."

Dong Rui interjected, "Why was that mist earlier able to paralyze the strange cicadas?"

"Heavy water. Each droplet weighs a thousand jun," the youth explained, not hiding the secret. "This is heavy water from the Thousand Jun Bottle."

So that treasure bottle was called the "Thousand Jun Bottle," quite a fitting name.

Then why didn't the Rongshan disciples use heavy water against them earlier?

He Lingchuan had traveled with Dong Rui for over two months and had gotten a good grasp of his temperament. Seeing Dong Rui's expression, he knew his question, and immediately said, "We all have protective *qi*, so the mist couldn't reach us."

If it couldn't reach them, naturally it wouldn't have any effect.

Dong Rui let out a long "oh," understanding.

The deeper they went into Rongshan, the fewer dead trees there were by the roadside. Squirrels began to leap in the branches, and night owls hooted.

Wild rabbits slept in tree hollows. Insects and ants crawled beneath the ice and snow. Zhu Daniang once again felt the vibrant life of the entire forest.

Clearly, the Seventy-Year Cicadas had not invaded this area.

On the way, the other Rongshan disciples had already informed the three that these strange cicadas had suddenly invaded the Rongshan territory over two months ago, arriving in overwhelming numbers, devouring everything in their path, be it plants, animals, or humans.

The human villages and towns within Rongshan's domain were severely plagued and suffered immensely. Rongshan had expended great effort to clear these creatures, but had never been able to eradicate them completely.

The cold, stern youth's surname was Qiu, and his given name was Hu (Tiger).

He walked in front, with others following behind, consciously or unconsciously maintaining a certain distance from him.

But He Lingchuan saw others interacting with him normally, and it wasn't exactly discordant.

One could only say that others instinctively felt wary and apprehensive of him, and were unwilling to get close.

The killing aura and ominous energy emanating from him were too intense. He Lingchuan had only ever felt such potent ominous energy from Fu Shanyue.

Could he be another *ba* (drought demon)?

Or some other strange demonic species?