Chapter 61

Bad news continued to pour in. The mountain village of Shanman, which was the first to suffer from the locust plague in Huashan Town, was caught off guard, and the spirit fields were almost completely barren, with a total crop failure already a certainty. Other villages, after the strenuous efforts of all the cultivators, could at most preserve two-tenths of their harvest.

Just as Yang Tian had received the urgent sword talisman from Liu Zhen, the locust swarm had already entered Tuliang Village, the southernmost part of Huangtu Town bordering Huashan Town, and was only twenty to thirty li away from Tuqiu Village.

Another red urgent sword talisman, carrying a heart-stirring sword whistle, fell into Yang Tian's hands: "A large-scale locust swarm has also appeared in Huangsha Town, which is close to Qiwu Mountain."

Zhang Tiejian asked, "Huangsha Town? There's a locust plague there too?"

Yang Tian said solemnly, "Not only in Huangsha Town, but also in Jinyu County, which borders our county, has experienced a large-scale locust plague. Because the area where Jinyu County borders Qiwu Mountain is narrow, the locust plague has even spread to Mengyu County."

"Three counties are affected!" Zhang Tiejian was stunned, not knowing what to say.

While Yang Tian and others were still discussing in the hall yesterday morning, Yang Junshan had already run out to gather several of his companions. Besides Su Baozhang, Yang Junping, Yang Qianhai, and Yang Baoliang, who were his close associates, there were also Ge Erxi, Huang Mingsheng, Su Min, Li Jierong, and five or six other children of Yang Junshan's tenant farmers, including the little tail, Yang Junxin.

Yang Junshan first divided the nearly thirty pounds of yellow-brown powder among them, giving each three pounds to sprinkle on their own spirit fields or the spirit fields they rented from Yang Junshan. The remaining six pounds of powder, he first had Yang Junping take one pound to sprinkle in their backyard vegetable garden with his sister, and then he and Su Baozhang hurried to the largest spirit field in Tuqiu Village, which was one mu and three tenths, personally cultivated by Yang Tian and his wife, and sprinkled all five pounds of powder into the nearly mature spirit field.

Yang Junshan had already experimented with the powder he brought back, finding that although it was pungent and unpleasant, it was non-toxic and could be washed off food with water.

After dealing with the powder, Yang Junshan and Su Baozhang rushed to the three-tenths of medium-grade spirit field at the foot of West Mountain. Yang Qianhai and Yang Baoliang had already driven the two pack animals and a cart to arrive there, and the other companions would also arrive after finishing sprinkling the powder.

Although this three-tenths of medium-grade spirit field was not planted with spirit grains or spirit herbs, its rich spiritual energy would inevitably attract locusts to lay eggs underground. Next year, when the eggs hatched, they would not only absorb the spiritual energy stored in the spirit field but also devour the crops planted there, and even cause a small-scale locust plague.

This three-tenths of medium-grade spirit field was one of the most important foundations for the Yang family's future, and could not afford any mistakes. Yang Junshan intended to use his last means to protect this spirit field, gathering the strength of his companions to try to prevent the locusts from invading.

While Yang Junshan and Su Baozhang were sprinkling the powder in the spirit field, Xu Lei brought his fiancée Xu Jing and several Xu family disciples, and Zhang Huzi brought several companions to their respective two-tenths of medium-grade spirit fields.

The martial realm cultivators of these three families had already rushed to the south of the village to lead the defense against the locust plague, but their children still arrived at the medium-grade spirit fields first to make some protective preparations, showing the importance each family placed on the medium-grade spirit fields.

However, unlike Yang Junshan, who was sprinkling powder, the Xu family laid long pieces of fabric on the spirit fields, embroidered with various talisman patterns using spirit cotton thread, forming large trigger talismans. Once the locusts landed on the talismans, they would trigger the talismans' attacks, killing the locusts in the air.

However, Yang Junshan knew this method was not feasible. Once the locust plague broke through the southern defenses and rushed towards the spirit fields, the locusts would come in waves. Even if the large talismans could kill the locusts for a while, they would soon be covered by the locusts' bodies and unable to trigger. Moreover, the talismans' spiritual energy was limited and could not trigger indefinitely.

Zhang Huzi, on the other hand, laid three large nets in the spirit field, made with spirit materials. Once the locusts fell into the nets, they could not fly away. However, like the Xu family's large talismans, once the nets were full of locusts, they would be useless.

While Yang Junshan was watching the other two families set up their defenses, Xu Lei and Zhang Huzi were also watching Yang Junshan and his companions, but they were puzzled by their actions.

Yang Junshan and his companions unloaded various tools from the cart pulled by the large pack animal, including nine one-foot circular stone discs, each with a central groove, various wooden tools, bundles of spirit cotton thread, and a large and a small roller.

"What are they doing?" Zhang Huzi asked Xu Lei, who was equally puzzled.

Xu Lei shook his head, not knowing. Xu Jing, standing beside him, hesitated and said, "It looks like they are setting up an array!"

"An array?" Zhang Huzi exclaimed, "Yang Junshan knows how to set up an array? What a joke! Even if you really enter Hantian Sect in the future, you might not learn that. How can he set up an array?"

Xu Jing's face turned cold, and Xu Lei's expression also darkened. Zhang Huzi suddenly felt a chill, remembering how he had been defeated by this girl a few days ago, and thus remained silent.

Xu Jing now looked at Yang Junshan with surprise and curiosity, as if intrigued by the mysteries surrounding him. Xu Lei, on the other hand, lowered his head, his expression constantly changing, as if deep in thought.

Yang Junshan, watching Xu Jing and Xu Lei from a distance, saw one standing tall and confident, and the other lost in thought, exuding a sense of inferiority. The contrast between the two made Yang Junshan feel sorry for Xu Lei.

Yang Junshan directed everyone to arrange the nine circular stone discs in a square in the spirit field, with each disc assigned to a young cultivator. Then, Yang Junshan began to set up the array alone.

The array Yang Junshan was setting up was a common simple array used in his previous life to deal with locust plagues. After the first locust plague, spirit farmers suffered significant losses due to the sudden attack. Later, with the great changes in the world, the locust plagues became more frequent, but the damage they caused became smaller. This was because the locust plague was the weakest of the demonic disasters, and people quickly found ways to counter it. This simple array was the most straightforward and effective method.

As Yang Junshan worked alone, the young cultivators watched in confusion. It was only after learning from Su Baozhang that Yang Junshan was setting up an array that they exclaimed in disbelief: The young master of the village actually knows how to set up an array!

Just as Yang Junshan connected eight of the nine stone discs with various simple array tools, Xu Jing's face suddenly changed. She turned her head in different directions, listening carefully, and finally turned towards the south of the village, shouting, "They're here!"

"What's here?"

Zhang Huzi asked casually. Yang Junshan glanced deeply at Xu Jing's left ear, then stood up and looked towards the south of the village. The sky was empty, showing nothing.

"Nothing!" the young cultivators murmured.

Unexpectedly, just as they finished speaking, a line of gray-brown clouds slowly rose on the horizon. The clouds continued to rise and change shape, and in just a short while, they had covered half of the southern sky of the village.

The locust plague had finally arrived!

Yang Junshan quickly threw eight bags to Su Baozhang and the other eight young cultivators, shouting, "Each of you is responsible for one of the eight outer stone discs. The bags contain jade coins and stone coins. Place the jade coins in the central groove of the stone disc and the stone coins in the five small grooves around it. Each of you is responsible for protecting the jade and stone coins from being dug up by the locusts. If the jade coin in the groove is damaged, replace it immediately."

Everyone agreed. When a young cultivator opened the bag, he found at least three or four jade coins and dozens of stone coins, making him feel somewhat at a loss, as he had never seen so much money before.

The gray-brown clouds drew closer, and the darkening sky made everyone feel increasingly oppressed. Finally, everyone could see that the gray-brown clouds were actually endless swarms of locusts.

Many of the young cultivators were seeing this apocalyptic scene for the first time, standing in the spirit field, staring in shock. Only Yang Junshan was not interested, as he had experienced such scenes many times in his previous life, even larger ones. At this moment, all his attention was focused on setting up the array, and he silently lamented that his cultivation was still too weak, otherwise setting up the array would not be so troublesome.

The locust swarm finally reached Tuqiu Village. The gray mass of locusts, like a collapsing mountain, crashed down on the village. The few young girls in the spirit field, except for Xu Jing, all let out cries of alarm, and Yang Junxin, the youngest, hid behind her brother, tightly hugging his leg.

At this moment, four brilliant beams of light rose from four different directions in the south of the village, followed by hundreds of different spells forming a dense spell defense net in the sky. The locust swarm, which had been advancing like a mountain, was suddenly halted, and countless locusts were buried under the defense net, significantly slowing the swarm's advance.

"Great!" The young cultivators in the spirit field cheered and jumped in joy.

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