Chapter 53

Approaching the back yard, Su Baozhang stepped forward and asked, "What did Lord Muramasa say?"

Yang Junshan waved his hand and said helplessly, "My father doesn't quite believe it!"

"What do you plan to do then?" Su Baozhang asked.

Yang Junshan thought for a moment and said, "Brother Baozhang, I need your help with something!"

Su Baozhang's spirits lifted, and he said, "What is it? Just tell me!"

Yang Junshan took out five jade coins from his bag, then after some thought, added two more. He said, "Brother Baozhang, I'll give you a list in a moment. You need to buy everything on it over the next two days. Remember, memorize the items on the list and buy them separately. Don't let anyone notice."

Seeing Yang Junshan take out seven jade coins, Su Baozhang's face showed surprise. He had never seen so much money in his life and hesitated, "Is this too much? Is it something Lord Muramasa arranged?"

Clearly, Su Baozhang didn't think Yang Junshan should have so many jade coins. Yang Junshan had to explain, "My father knows about this. He entrusted it to me. Just buy the items on the list I give you. And these jade coins might not even be enough."

That night, Yang Junshan held the red-rusted raw stone that An Xia had left him, preparing to open it.

Opening the stone was not an easy task. The red-rusted raw stone was particularly hard due to its iron content, and a slight mistake during the process could damage the spirit jade inside.

However, Yang Junshan had his own special method. He first carved a few simple rune patterns on the surface of the raw stone, then infused his spiritual energy into these runes. As the runes activated, a series of "crack" sounds came from the surface of the raw stone, creating cracks.

Yang Junshan held the raw stone and rubbed it vigorously, actually peeling off a layer of fragmented stone. After opening his spirit orifice, Yang Junshan's strength had increased, which is why he chose this manual method of opening the stone. This method, not relying on other tools, better protected the spirit jade inside.

After rubbing off this layer of fragmented stone, the inside was still a layer of raw stone. Yang Junshan had to carve the runes again and manually open the stone. After repeating this process three times, a layer of misty luster finally appeared after the fragmented stone fell off.

Yang Junshan wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "Not bad, but there won't be much spirit jade left if I continue."

After a night of hard work, Yang Junshan had four more jade coins in his pocket the next day. Watching his parents lead the pack animals to the foot of West Mountain early in the morning, Yang Junshan sighed helplessly. His father clearly didn't take the locust disaster seriously, especially since his mother had advanced to the Martial Realm. His father probably felt confident even if a locust disaster did occur.

Not only were their efforts focused on cultivating the medium-grade spirit fields, but the other two Martial Realm cultivators in the village were likely doing the same. They needed to hurry and cultivate the new spirit fields before the spirit grains matured, and then plant them after the harvest.

Entering his father's room, he saw a long bow made of iron hung on the wall, the same seven-stone iron bow that Yang Tiangang used to use. However, after advancing to the Martial Realm, this bow was rarely taken down.

Taking the long bow in hand, Yang Junshan felt its weight. The iron bow itself weighed about twenty to thirty pounds, and the fine bowstring shimmered, clearly not an ordinary item. Pulling the bow, it slowly opened, and compared to the three-stone carved bow he used before, this one was much stronger.

Next to the long bow, there was a quiver filled with arrows. Yang Junshan took it down and found that all thirty arrows were made of refined iron, with simple runes carved on each shaft and tip. Combined with the seven-stone long bow, they could even penetrate a cultivator's magical shield.

Slung the long bow across his back, Yang Junshan thought, "Father, you kept my jade coins, so I'll take this long bow, and this quiver of refined iron arrows without telling you!"

In the spirit spring cave of the pomegranate forest, Hu Niu had already woken up and was tearing apart the mountain rabbits and wild chickens Yang Junshan left. Although she still looked pale, the fact that she was eating indicated she was recovering well.

Patting Hu Niu's head, Yang Junshan instructed, "I'm going on a long trip for the next two days. You'll have to stay here and recover. I'll leave you enough food. Don't run around while you're injured. Wait for me to come back."

Hu Niu "whined" in protest, even trying to stand up, but her injured body had little strength, so she could only lie on the ground, looking at Yang Junshan with a pained expression.

"Don't worry, I'll take you out to play once you're better!"

Picking up a dozen spirit-imbued pebbles from the ground, Yang Junshan headed south. If his past life's memory was correct, the locust disaster originated from the south and swept through most of Yu Prefecture, reducing the spirit grain yield by half.

Among the five towns and one county of Mengyu, the southernmost was Huashan Town, and the southernmost part of Huashan Town was Shanman Village. Shanman Village was located at the foot of Qiwu Mountain, which was the boundary between Mengyu County and Jinyu County, both part of Yu Prefecture, and also the boundary between Yu Prefecture and Zhang Prefecture.

After the giant locust disaster in his past life, Mengyu and Jinyu counties were the most severely affected in Yu Prefecture. The giant locusts came from the south, but although Zhang Prefecture, which bordered southern Yu Prefecture, was also affected, the area affected was very small. Therefore, Yang Junshan believed that the origin of the giant locust disaster was most likely in Qiwu Mountain.

On his journey south, Yang Junshan saw several grain carts transporting spirit grains to the market in Huashan Town, and empty carts heading to various villages.

When he reached the outskirts of Shanman Village, Yang Junshan saw two grain carts just leaving the village. Curious, he approached a middle-aged man driving one of the carts and asked, "Uncle, where are these spirit grains being sent?"

The driver looked at Yang Junshan warily, but seeing he was just a young boy, he relaxed and said, "You're not from this village, are you?"

Yang Junshan pointed to the long bow on his back and said, "I'm learning to hunt. My father told me that Qiwu Mountain has the most game, so I wanted to go there. But I saw many grain carts heading to the town, and I was curious."

The driver, hearing that Yang Junshan wanted to go to Qiwu Mountain, waved his hand and warned, "Young man, Qiwu Mountain is not like other places. It's high and dense with forests, and it borders Jinyu County and Zhang Prefecture. There are many beasts, and even fierce beasts occasionally appear. Even experienced hunters are cautious when entering Qiwu Mountain. You look young, so you must be just learning to hunt. That's not a place for you."

Yang Junshan blinked and said, "Uncle, you still haven't told me why there are so many grain carts."

The driver laughed and said, "Of course, it's to sell the spirit grains! Someone in town is buying them at a high price. This year's harvest is good, and the spirit grains are growing well. The grain prices will definitely fall after the harvest. So, it's a good time to sell the old grains and make room for the new ones."

Yang Junshan thought for a moment and asked, "Uncle, who is buying the grains in town? Is it the Heaven-Shaking Sect, or the powerful families in the county or prefecture?"

The driver shook his head and said, "I don't know, but they're all strangers. Since the town's overseer has approved their grain purchases, they must be trustworthy."

Yang Junshan "hmm"ed. If even the overseer of Huashan Town knew about this, it must be legitimate. Could it be that the Heaven-Shaking Sect is secretly buying the grains? Thinking about the red-rusted raw stone, Yang Junshan wondered if the Heaven-Shaking Sect needed a large amount of jade coins to buy spirit grains.

However, he quickly dismissed this idea. If the Heaven-Shaking Sect needed to buy spirit grains, they could do so throughout the prefecture. Yang Junshan's hometown, Huatuo Town, had not heard of any high-price grain purchases.

Yang Junshan felt that the people buying the spirit grains in Huashan Town were suspicious. He had seen many grain carts in various villages in Huashan Town, and it seemed that most of the surplus spirit grains from the farmers had been bought.

Thinking about the subsequent locust disaster, where the spirit grains in the fields were eaten before they could be harvested, Yang Junshan saw this grain purchase as a cunning and destructive plan.

Thinking about this, Yang Junshan warned, "Uncle, I've been walking from the north and noticed that locusts are swarming in the wilderness. There might be a locust disaster this year. If you sell so much spirit grain, what will you do if a disaster strikes?"

The driver sneered and said, "You're just a kid. What's so scary about a locust disaster? Every village has a few Martial Realm cultivators. When the disaster comes, they'll work together to eliminate most of the locusts."

This attitude towards the locust disaster was all too familiar to Yang Junshan. Whether it was Yang Tiangang, Su Baozhang, or the others in Tuoqiu Village, their views on the locust disaster were similar to the driver's.

"What if the locust disaster is severe this year, and even the Martial Realm cultivators can't eliminate them all?"

"Can't eliminate them all?" The driver laughed as if he had heard a joke. "Are you saying a group of fierce beasts will fly in?"

But it was indeed a group of fierce beasts. Although the strength of a single giant locust might be far less than that of a mountain rat, a swarm of them could overwhelm anyone.

Yang Junshan tried to warn the driver not to sell the spirit grains too quickly, while the driver tried to warn Yang Junshan not to go deep into Qiwu Mountain. However, neither listened to the other's advice. Those who needed to sell the grains continued to do so, and those who wanted to go to Qiwu Mountain did not stop.