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Chapter 16 Locusts

The darkness outside the window was about to fade away, and the various strange noises in the mountains and forests gradually subsided.

Xu Yuan was extremely wary of everything in the village.

Under the "Wang Ming" (Watching the Fate) system, the villagers' "fates" turned out to be strange and bizarre, not like human "fates"!
The old mountain runner's level was also unclear, which showed that the other party's level was much higher than Xu Yuan's and could no longer be seen.

The villagers may not be human, but they are not evil either.

At least they are different "people" from those outside the mountain - apart from anything else, Xu Yuan has never seen any villagers in the town, as if they can never leave Guiwu Mountain in this life.

Materials such as ironware and salt can only be imported from outside the mountains.

Xu Yuan originally wanted to use Wangxiang Village to get rid of Wu Haishan and others, but he stayed in the village for one more day and his plan was delayed. This was not good!

Whether it is Mr. Qiao or the Saint Lady, this day is enough for them to catch up.

Xu Yuan shook his head secretly. He needed to plan carefully how to escape after daybreak.

"What a pity," Xu Yuan thought to himself with regret, "The preparation time was too short, and there was nothing good to buy. Otherwise, I could have hired an old mountain runner to escort me."

There were no chickens in the village. After daybreak, the villagers all went out to do their "farm work".

Xu Yuan said goodbye to Jiao Erbo and left the village carrying a big bag of yesterday's harvest.

Among the mountain products collected yesterday, there were still many that were not suitable for bait, so Xu Yuan took them all with him.

At least he had to be carried out of the village, otherwise the hatchet hanging over his head would fall down.

The young men went to the fields, Xu Yuan left the village, and at noon the idle old men and women in the village slowly gathered under the huge dead tree.

Daily ritual: Meet under the tree.

Exchange gossip about family matters.

In this respect, villages in the mountains and outside the mountains are the same.

Zhang San's father grabbed a good position today: half a broken millstone.

He squatted on it, constantly filling and refilling the pipe, but it seemed like he never filled it properly.

He waited until everyone was present before he lit a match Xu Yuan had given him. He took a long drag, blew out smoke rings, and said, "It works great."

Everyone's faces were filled with envy, but they were actually thinking: What are you showing off!

But I was also really envious. Matches were not cheap to transport to the mountains, and ordinary people would not be willing to exchange a box.

……

Xu Yuan carried half a bag of mountain products and walked out of the village for about five miles. He dug a hole on the side of the road and buried the bag.

There was a big tree by the side of the road, with a hanged ghost hanging on the tree, staring at Xu Yuan with its eyes wide open and its tongue sticking out.

This place is easy to remember and recognize.

After Xu Yuan buried it, he moved a large stone on top of it.

The pockets were filled with mountain products that Xu Yuan couldn't "eat" at the moment.

Xu Yuan didn’t recognize most of the things inside.

But Xu Yuan guessed that there must be a lot of good things inside!
I can’t take it with me this time because I need to travel light next time, but I can’t waste it, so I’ll leave it here and come back to get it.

Those merchants make huge profits by trading in the mountains, relying on these things that ordinary people cannot recognize.

After burying it, Xu Yuan looked around carefully again to strengthen his memory of the terrain features before leaving.

On that big tree, the old mountaineer squatted on the branch where the hanged man was hanging.

He was still wearing the cloak made of feathers, and the feathers that had been cut off yesterday had grown back.

The hanged man said, "He's a child who knows how to cherish things."

The old hermit nodded. "When he comes to get his things, remember to let me know." "You want to..."

The old hermit interrupted him: "We need to observe further."

People in the mountains don't like to see things being wasted. If Xu Yuan had thrown away these mountain products casually, he would be dead now.

……

The path in the mountain winds around, goes along the bottom of the slope, passes two peaks, and exits through a pass.

When Xu Yuan walked out of the pass, he saw a strange rock in the shape of a bear's head sticking out from the hillside on the left.

Xu Yuan has always been very vigilant, because these stones in the mountains can also "change shape".

Fortunately, the stone was very quiet. Xu Yuan quickly slipped over and looked back. The stone was still motionless, so he breathed a sigh of relief.

Turning around and continuing forward, if you want to bypass Qihetai Town, return to the official road, and then rush back to the county town, you still need to walk fifty or sixty miles of mountain roads.

And you can’t tell what kind of weird things you might encounter along the way.

Xu Yuan took a deep breath and took big steps... Suddenly he heard the sound of sawing wood coming from the grass on the side.

Xu Yuan's expression immediately became serious. He didn't listen or look, but walked quickly with his eyes fixed on the front.

In Guiwu Mountain, don’t be “curious” and go to check it out - that would be your own initiative to set foot on the road to the underworld!

The sound of sawing wood was not loud, and the weeds on the roadside were very lush. This kind of grass could not be seen outside the mountains. It was more than one meter tall, with long and wide leaves, slightly curled, and dark red serrations on the edges.

Not to mention hares and the like, even if wild boars or tigers were hiding in there, they would be completely invisible.

Although Xu Yuan was not curious, he took two steps forward and saw it even though he didn't want to see it.

A half-zhang-wide gap was exposed in the grass. Something had cut the weeds into pieces the size of copper coins, which were scattered on the ground.

A body lay on its back on the broken grass.

Several locusts more than three feet long were lying on the corpse, using their strong hind legs to saw off pieces of flesh from the corpse!
The locust's hind legs have sharp teeth, which are a natural dismemberment saw!
The sound of sawing wood that Xu Yuan heard was the sound of sawing the bones in the hind legs.

They put the sawed-off body parts into their mouths. Several locusts were covered with blood and broken meat. They felt very uncomfortable because of the sticky feeling. From time to time, they spread their wings and shook them, scattering blood and broken meat everywhere.

Not far from the corpse, a backpack was tilted and scattered, and the various goods inside fell out.

He was also a merchant, but unfortunately he met with misfortune before he even reached the village.

There were no fatal wounds on the corpse. These monsters preferred fresh, lively food. They chased the poor merchant, repeatedly sawing off pieces of flesh from him until he collapsed from excessive blood loss...

Xu Yuan's whole body tensed up, and he walked over lightly without looking around.

However, the slight airflow still alerted the locusts. They stopped suddenly, and the two whip-like tentacles on their huge heads pointed in the direction of Xu Yuan, and the huge hard-shelled eyes stared at Xu Yuan coldly!
Xu Yuan ran away.

Pulling-

The huge locust flapped its wings and flew up, chasing after Xu Yuan.

The fastest one was above Xu Yuan in the blink of an eye and swooped down. Its sharp short legs grabbed Xu Yuan's head like iron claws. As long as it was caught, it would definitely cut his head off his neck.

Xu Yuan raised his head suddenly, huh——

The "fire in the belly" gushed out violently, and the locust immediately turned into a huge fireball, making a strange scream and falling into the grass on the side of the road.

Several other locusts were still chasing after him. Xu Yuan suppressed the "fire in his stomach" and spat out a pill with a thought.

The pill was only the size of a thumb, but it was obtained by Xu Yuan last night by "baiting" the villagers with various minerals they traded.

It is heavier and more condensed than the one Xu Yuan condensed after eating gold and silver.

call out--

The pill was as fast as lightning and passed through the head of a locust.

(End of this chapter)