Start from Wusheng

Chapter 1167 The Blood Locust Plague

As Zhou You's first wife, Hua Youxing's words carried more weight than those of the Zhou family couple.

Qi Qingdi called her "Master's Wife," and Lian Zixiu, out of respect for her mother, had to treat her politely.

So, with Hua Youxing's help, the two powerful warriors agreed to escort Zhou Xin to the capital.

After all, Zhou You is now the pinnacle of martial arts, a figure revered by all those who practice boxing and martial arts.

Within the small territory of Beixuan Prefecture, Qiangwu holds a significant position, but that doesn't mean the two of them don't want to pursue progress.

Qi Qingdi and Lian Zixiu were both in their prime, and the Strong Martial Realm was originally their bottleneck, but Zhou You's deeds completely inspired their fighting spirit.

Both hailing from the Northern Xuan Prefecture, Zhou You is now a high-ranking member of the Heavenly Sect, demonstrating the importance of opportunities to venture out into the world.

They also wanted to go to the capital to seek an opportunity to further their studies.

The journey through the six northern states was unimpeded, but outside the northern regions, the situation became much more complicated.

Swarms of locusts dominated the clouds, completely obscuring the sky and creating a gloomy atmosphere in all directions.

Even more bizarrely, these locusts were entirely blood-red, wriggling like a sea of ​​blood hanging in the sky, stretching as far as the eye could see.

Wherever it went, the grass and trees were devoured, the people suffocated to death, and the land was littered with desolation and death.

Every now and then, punches and kicks would produce explosive sounds that echoed in all directions.

But faced with hundreds of millions of blood locusts, it was ultimately futile, merely creating a small ripple before submerging and returning to calm.

The world was completely silent, save for the silent, creeping crimson.

"Uncles, is this the scene everywhere outside the North?"

Zhou Xin was terrified. He had a comfortable life in Beixuan Prefecture and had never even left the local state, thinking that everything was peaceful there.

Just outside the northern lands, a magnificent scene unfolded beside the river: countless crimson locusts, like messengers of doom, destroyed all life and existence in sight, swirling and howling back and forth...

Lian Zixiu shook his head. He had been practicing martial arts and running his business in Beixuan Prefecture and had never been to such a far place before.

Qi Qingdi, on the other hand, had traveled to the capital with Zhou You and had been there once before, but he had not encountered the scene before him.

“Young master, my master once said that a great calamity must end, and this is probably an unusual phenomenon caused by a calamity demon.”

"We can't stay any longer; we must leave this place as soon as possible."

With the help of the water, the boat accelerated in an instant, shooting across the river like an arrow, splitting the calm surface into two waves that rose outwards.

"what!"

Suddenly, a scream rang out from the shore. It turned out that a group of martial artists had rushed over from the land, trying to escape to Heshang to avoid the locust plague.

This large family, consisting of men and women, with their families in tow, clearly belonged to a martial arts school, but members were fleeing with their relatives.

Seeing the boat on the river, they grasped at it as a lifeline and unleashed all their skills. Waves of fist wind swept past, and blood-red locusts fell like raindrops, instantly melting into liquid and seeping into the soil upon hitting the ground.

Lianzi Xiu stared at the land and saw that the gaps between the soil particles were filled with countless insect eggs.

The insect eggs absorbed the liquid from the melting corpses of the blood locusts, rapidly expanded, and burst open. One by one, tender newborn locusts emerged from the soil and merged into the blood-red clouds to join the siege of the living.

The elderly, the weak, the sick, and the disabled were constantly being swept up by the blood locusts, either suffocating to death or being crushed into tattered sacks.

When they reached the riverbank, only a well-dressed middle-aged man was left carrying the terrified girl on his shoulder.

The little girl, only four or five years old, clutched a dirty cloth tiger, her face covered in dust, too frightened to even cry. The strong man, possessing the strength of a mid-level martial artist, punched out air, causing the blood locusts to die upon contact. They were large, but their sheer number was overwhelming, seemingly endless, constantly biting and charging, draining his already dwindling life force.

Finally, he collapsed helplessly on the riverbank, his fingertips dipping into the icy water, but he had no strength left to move forward.

"Daughter, hurry, go get the family heirloom your mother gave you to pay the boat fare!"

As soon as he finished speaking, blood locusts flooded his body, burrowing into his five senses and seven orifices, covering his back, neck, and head.

"Rescue!"

Lian Zixiu and Qi Qingdi exchanged a glance, and then Zhou Xin said, "Uncles, let's bring that child onto the boat!"

Lian Zixiu nodded, flicked her fingers in quick succession, and all ten fingers possessed the power of a poisonous dragon. They roared and spun together, blasting a large hole covering ten acres in the clouds filled with Xu Xuehuang.

This was no ordinary event; the blood-red blanket covering the middle-aged man shattered instantly.

The whirlpool created by the energy carried the little girl and landed smoothly on the bow of the boat, even taking the cloth tiger with it.

The girl stared blankly at the stranger, then suddenly her eyes reddened, and she vomited while crying, spitting out a blood-red locust from her throat.

She wiped her tears with her dirty cloth tiger, took a piece of raw jade from her neck, and presented it to Zhou Xin with a forced smile.

"Young Master, this is the most valuable thing in our family. Don't abandon me."

So, on his journey, Zhou Xin took in his first personal maid, named Bu Yatou.

She was so frightened that she couldn't remember anything except that she lived in a large mansion with many uncles and elders who practiced martial arts every day.

Red worms suddenly appeared, the mansion was destroyed, and the uncles and aunts I knew fled with my mother and aunts.

People kept dying along the way, until finally everyone else was dead, leaving only her.

The little girl couldn't remember her surname or given name. When asked her nickname or pet name, she probably remembered her deceased relatives and burst into tears.

Zhou Xin named her "Bu Yatou" (Cloth Girl) after the cloth tiger she was clinging to tightly.

In fact, the locust plague, as the first natural disaster after Lian Feihong ascended the throne, caused turmoil in all directions.

This natural disaster affected six or seven states, and even some locusts were scattered into the territory of the eight states of Zhili.

The fields are barren and the land is parched. If this is not stopped, tens of millions of people will starve to death next year.

A grim situation is looming ahead.

Dongfang Daqian of Feiyun Prefecture, however, benefited from the misfortune and gained a hard-won chance to catch his breath. He spread rumors that Lian Feihong was unworthy of his position and that his reliance on the villain Zhou You had brought disaster upon him.

But Lian Feihong was no pushover either. With the approval of Jiuding and a legitimate status, he launched a tit-for-tat propaganda war.

The capital declared that the calamity was a warning, because there were villains lurking in the shadows, eyeing the sacred artifacts of the state, which would destabilize the country.

Who is the little man?
Naturally, it was the Dongfang Daqian gang, who had been entrenched in Feiyun Prefecture and refused to submit. Their crimes were heinous, and killing them could quell the blood locust plague.

The two sides engaged in a war of words, but secretly they both knew that there was an 80% chance that this locust plague originated from a celestial entity.

That's right, the Queen of Enchantress did not cause any trouble during the sacrificial ceremony, but she was not absent either; she was just late.

Not long after Lian Feihong ascended the throne, she immediately presented a great gift. The calamity that caused the blood locust plague must have originated from her.

In any case, the disaster has already taken hold, and only by pooling the power of the entire nation can it be quelled.

(End of this chapter)