Chapter 62

Just as the young people in the spirit fields were cheering because the concentrated efforts of all the cultivators from the southern village had managed to suppress the locust swarm, the faces of Yang Tangan and others in the southern village had already turned so grim that they seemed about to drip with water!

"Damn it, something's wrong. This wave of locusts is actually a mix of giant locusts and regular locusts. Weren't we told that every time a locust swarm passes, it's always the giant locusts? How come there are still so many regular locusts?"

Seeing the insect corpses falling from the sky more densely than rain, with half of them being regular locusts, Zhang Tiesmith was so angry that he started cursing.

From the Mountain Barbarian Village in the Wasteland Town to the Earth Ridge Village in the Wasteland Soil Town, the news that had been spreading was that large numbers of giant locusts had suddenly attacked the villages. The spells of the village cultivators were much less effective against the giant locusts compared to regular locusts. After the giant locusts broke into the villages, large numbers of regular locusts followed, making it even harder for the cultivators to defend, and the nearly ripe spirit grains in the spirit fields were ravaged, causing significant losses.

To address this, Yang Tangan had gathered all the cultivators in Earth Mound Village with the Foundation of Immortal Root cultivation level and above, and they had practiced several times in the southern village, aiming to unleash their maximum power in the first strike when the locust swarm arrived, dealing a heavy blow to the giant locusts.

However, they did not expect that the giant locusts would change their strategy. The first wave of locusts attacking the village was a mix of giant locusts and regular locusts, making the scene even more spectacular than before, but the impact was not as strong.

Despite the concentrated efforts of Earth Mound Village, the results were rich, but because the giant locusts were mixed with regular locusts, the damage to the giant locusts was average.

The locust swarm, which had been temporarily cleared by the concentrated efforts of Earth Mound Village, quickly replenished and then surged towards the village like a prehistoric beast, overwhelming it.

"Prepare, release!"

Yang Tangan shouted loudly, his voice resonating through the village. He struck his high-grade magical tool, and countless sparks in the air turned into blazing fireballs, burning the locusts to ashes.

Not far away, Zhang Tiesmith, using his mid-grade magical tool, the Iron Hammer, did not have a powerful area-of-effect attack. Although the Iron Hammer was powerful, it felt like using a hammer to swat flies against the endless locusts, with limited results. However, he aimed his magical tool at the fireballs Yang Tangan had released.

Each time Yang Tangan struck his high-grade magical tool to create a fireball, the fireball would cause significant damage to the locusts, but the locusts could instinctively avoid danger. After paying a price to avoid the fireballs, the fireballs would lose their power. At this moment, Zhang Tiesmith would suddenly strike his magical tool at the fireballs, causing a wave of fire to explode, forming a sea of fire covering over ten zhang, dealing a second wave of damage to the locusts, which was even more effective than the first.

These two former rivals of Earth Mound Village now worked together to form the front line of defense against the locust disaster, and their cooperation was seamless. Under their leadership, the cultivators behind them could calmly release their spells, expanding the results and curbing the initial疯狂冲击 of the locusts.

Because of the frontal resistance in the southern village, the locusts, which were being held back, naturally began to flank to the southeast and southwest, where the spells were not as strong as in the south.

At this point, the giant locusts had become the main force of the locust disaster. In the past, even cultivators at the Foundation of Immortal Root level could rarely leave any locusts alive within the range of their spells when using the power of spell talismans. However, against the giant locusts, even a cultivator at the Immortal Spell level could only kill about two-thirds of the giant locusts within the range of their spells, and the remaining giant locusts would take advantage of the gaps between spell casts to rush into the village.

Zhang Tiesmith shouted, "This won't work; we can't stop the giant locusts from infiltrating the village!"

Yang Tangan's face was as grim as water. He had already noticed that the locusts were gradually tilting towards the southwest, where Han Xiumei was responsible for defense, which was also the weakest link in Earth Mound Village's defense. He did not expect the locusts to detect this weakness so quickly.

This locust disaster was full of strange elements. The giant locusts' unexpected resistance to spells was one thing, but they also knew how to use regular locusts to waste the cultivators' spells and find the weak points in the defenses. For the first time, Yang Tangan felt as if he were facing an intelligent opponent.

"Originally, we didn't expect to stop the giant locust disaster. My goal is just to delay the giant locusts from entering the spirit fields in the village. The ordinary people in the village have already been organized to start harvesting the spirit fields. The longer we delay, the more spirit grains we can harvest, and the smaller our losses will be!"

Yang Tangan shouted in response to Zhang Tiesmith, also explaining to all the cultivators in Earth Mound Village to boost their morale.

"Haha, that's right!" Zhang Tiesmith also laughed loudly. "I've always been a bit不服气 with you, but after this locust disaster, I'll treat you to a drink!"

Yang Tangan also laughed heartily. "It should be me who treats Brother Zhang to a drink!"

Their calm and confident demeanor boosted the morale of the cultivators in Earth Mound Village, which had been increasingly low and anxious due to the constant influx of giant locusts.

At this point, the locusts had already broken through the spell defenses, and Yang Tangan and others could no longer coordinate all the cultivators to form a concentrated attack. They could only hold their positions and fight individually, doing their best to consume the giant locusts attacking Earth Mound Village.

Meanwhile, the ordinary people in Earth Mound Village had been organized to harvest the spirit fields. Although the spirit grains were not yet fully mature, early harvesting might reduce the yield, but with the locusts swarming outside the village, if they all came in, they might not be able to save even the harvested spirit grains.

Small groups of dozens or hundreds of locusts had already entered the village. The regular locusts would attack any vegetation they saw, although the spirit fields were more attractive to them, they often acted on instinct and would chew on ordinary vegetation if they didn't find the spirit fields.

The giant locusts, upon entering the village, quickly found the spirit fields by following the faint spiritual aura of the spirit grains and began to chew on the grain stalks.

The mandibles of the giant locusts were extremely sharp, and their bodies were large. A dozen giant locusts could completely chew through a foot-long spirit grain stalk in just half a cup of tea time, and they would not stop until they had chewed through the entire plant.

However, the ordinary people who were urgently harvesting the spirit grains paid no attention to these small groups of locusts entering the spirit fields. They continued to harvest as quickly as possible, bundling the spirit grains and stacking them on carts, which were then pulled into the village and stored in the houses. They also made sure to lock the doors and windows tightly to prevent the locusts from entering.

In just a short time, more locusts had rushed into the village, following the spiritual aura of the spirit grains to the houses where the spirit grains were stored, covering the ground, walls, and roofs.

The farmers harvesting the spirit fields of Yang Cunzheng, Yang Tieniu, and Yang Qingniu noticed that although more and more locusts were entering the village, fewer locusts were landing on these three spirit fields compared to other spirit fields.

However, a pungent smell often emerged from the spirit grains in these three fields. The farmers harvesting the spirit grains of Yang Tieniu and Yang Qingniu were often choked by the smell, causing tears and snot to stream down their faces. The spirit grains in Yang Cunzheng's field also emitted a pungent smell, but it was much milder, and the farmers there could still manage to continue.

This was because Yang Junshan had spread the powder more evenly in the spirit fields, while Yang Qingniu and Yang Tieniu, who were less convinced of the powder's effectiveness, had not spread it as carefully. Some areas had too much powder, while others had too little. The farmers, being ordinary people without cultivation, often found it unbearable when they encountered areas with a strong concentration of the powder.

While the cultivators at the village entrance, led by Yang Tangan, were resisting the locust swarm, Yang Junshan had completed the final setup of the array in the spirit fields.

Following Yang Junshan's orders, the young people responsible for each stone plate embedded the jade and stone coins in the grooves of the plates. As Yang Junshan completed the final embedding of the jade coin, the nine young people who had started cultivating injected varying amounts of spiritual energy into the stone plates under their feet.

Buzz—

First, the jade coins embedded in the stone plates glowed with spiritual light, then faint rays of light flashed along the spirit cotton threads connecting the plates, activating the entire array. However, everyone standing in the array looked at each other, feeling nothing unusual.

Su Baozhang hesitantly asked, "Brother Junshan, is the array set up successfully?"

Yang Junshan nodded and said, "Yes, it's successful!"

Su Baozhang walked a few steps in the spirit field but still felt no significant difference, so he asked uncertainly, "Really successful?"

Before Yang Junshan could answer, his younger sister, Yang Junxin, who was already annoyed by Su Baozhang's doubt, shouted, "Of course it's successful! I can feel my shoes getting heavier!"

Yang Junshan realized and patted his head, explaining, "This array is a simplified version of a famous spell from the cultivation world. Since it's only for dealing with the locust disaster, its power has been greatly reduced. This array has a vivid nickname called the 'One Jin' array, meaning that whether it's a giant person or a tiny mosquito, once they enter the array, they will all bear an additional one jin of weight!"