The immortal is beside me

Chapter 37: The Second Year of Zhenguan, Dragon and Insect
Swarms of locusts danced over the dry fields, their flapping wings creating a buzzing sound that inexplicably irritated the ears.

This is a swarm of locusts created by a mutation in the spiritual vein. Not only does their reproductive capacity far exceed that of ordinary locusts, but the insects themselves are also so ferocious that they almost eat people.

Whenever they heard the buzzing sound, the farmers would quickly put down their work and hide to avoid being bitten off by the ferocious insect.

With a rustling sound, the leaves in the rice field were pushed aside, and several Tang soldiers walked out of the field. The leader held a one-foot-long iron cage and handed it to Li Shimin.

"Your Majesty, we have already inspected the locust swarms in the fields and captured several of these strange creatures alive. Please review them."

Li Shimin looked down. The iron cage was covered with gauze. Through the gauze, he could see several locusts flapping their wings inside. Among them, the most eye-catching one was the one in the center.

Ordinary locusts are no bigger than a thumb, but the giant locust in the cage is nearly as long as a palm. There is a gleam in its eyes, and it struggles back and forth in the cage, causing the iron cage to shake.

Li Shimin looked at the giant locust, pondered for a moment, then turned to the official in the long robe behind him and asked, "Mr. Wei, what is this?"

Wei Zheng, who was standing on the side, stepped forward, took the iron cage from his hand, looked at it for a moment, his face slightly gloomy.

"This is the King of the Field Locusts, an evil creature created by heaven and earth. I'm afraid the locust plague here is caused by it."

Li Shimin asked, "How about killing him?"

"Humans possess the aura of the Human Emperor, and locusts also possess their own king aura. Even if this insect is killed, the aura of the Locust King will not be extinguished. A new master will be chosen from among the insects, and a new Locust King will be reborn."

His voice was heavy, but Li Shimin remained unmoved. After hearing what he said, he turned the cage over, reached in without hesitation, and caught the locust king and several small insects in his hands.

"As the ruler of mankind, how can I allow plagues to plague me? Since the locust king has arrived, today I will use my royal aura to suppress his fate."

He stared at the locust king in his hand and said: "People depend on rice for their survival, but you eat it instead of my lungs and intestines."

After hearing what he said, the ministers around him immediately guessed what he was thinking and knelt down.

"Your Majesty, this is not possible!" Even Wei Zheng showed an anxious look. "This is an evil from heaven and earth. Even if Your Majesty has the body of a dragon, if you take it without permission, you will become ill!"

"I suffer for the people, why should I avoid the disease?"

After he finished speaking, he raised his hand and tilted his head back, and actually put the locust king and several small insects into his mouth. He swallowed them alive amid the cheers of his ministers.

This scene fell into the eyes of the two monks at the edge of the field, and both of them couldn't help but show some surprise.

"He used his own dragon energy to suppress the evil locusts' calamity. Such a hero exists among the mortal world. He deserves the title of Human Emperor."

Ye Qiansheng sighed deeply. Beside her, Zhou Wuqing looked at the scene from afar, a look of astonishment on his face.

He had been walking in the human world for hundreds of years and had seen countless emperors. Among them, there were countless arrogant and extravagant ones. Occasionally, there were a few wise rulers, but most of them were just superficial.

He had always thought that the so-called emperors were all black, and this was the first time he had seen a human emperor act like this.

When the people suffer from disasters, why should we avoid them?
He watched the group of people trying to stop the riot. In a blink of an eye, Ye Qiansheng beside him took out a page of Feishu and wrote something on it with his fingers lightly tapping it.

"The Human Emperor devours the evil locusts and uses dragon energy to suppress disasters. Although this won't endanger their lives, if the evil energy of such a large swarm of locusts were borne by one person, I'm afraid it would cause him to become seriously ill."

Ye Qiansheng looked around at the dry land below him and said, "I will send a letter to the Immortal Alliance, asking the sects to send elite soldiers to set up a formation to kill the locusts, and at the same time guide the water monks to bring rain."

"We have to rush from the Immortal Alliance to the inner pass and set up the battle formation. We can't afford to wait."

Before she finished her words, she heard Zhou Wuqing say, "Just call the rainmaker. As for these insects, I can subdue them alone." A flash of fire appeared, and a strong wind blew up his robe. He jumped up, and the whole person stepped on the clouds and went up. In just a few breaths, he jumped onto the green hill at the end of the field.

Zhou Wuqing stood on the top of the mountain, staring at the swarm of locusts that covered the sky in front of him. He raised his hand and a flash of light passed through his palm. A longbow appeared out of thin air and was held in his hand.

He held the bow in front of him, but without taking the arrow, he simply tightened the string with three fingers, raised the bow to the sky, and slowly drew the bow.

The calm wind suddenly began to surge. The fingers that plucked the bowstring drew out a streak of blazing fire, which stretched between bow and string. In a few breaths, it transformed into a long, flaming arrow, carried on the string.

If someone was watching from below at this moment, they would see a dazzling star suddenly light up on the horizon. A vast ocean of spiritual power was continuously condensed in it, and the astonishing heat even caused the surrounding air to be slightly distorted.

At the moment when the brightness of the shining star reached its peak, the fingers holding the bowstring loosened, and the blazing shining star shot out and rushed straight into the clouds.

There was a loud bang like thunder. Li Shimin, who was standing on the ridge of the field, suddenly turned around and saw a flash of fire passing through the clouds, scattering sparks like a drizzle of rain.

The tiny drops of fire fell among the locusts, instantly igniting the insects for miles around, turning them into ashes that scattered across the fields. The people in the fields didn't know why, but they thought it was a display of divine power. They knelt on the ground and bowed repeatedly to the single flame in the sky.

"This celestial phenomenon must be a sign that the heavens have eyes, seeing what Your Majesty has done and sending down blessings to suppress the disaster."

The ministers on both sides bowed their heads in praise, but the emperor remained unmoved. He simply gazed into the distance, his eyes settling on the mountain where the shining star rose, his eyes as if lost in thought.

In the second year of the Zhenguan reign, drought and famine struck the Guannei region, and many people sold their children to get food and clothing. In the Jisi year, the emperor issued an imperial decree to release gold and silk from the imperial treasury to redeem the children and return them to their parents.

There were locusts in the capital. On the day of Xinmao, the emperor entered the garden and saw a few locusts. He picked them up and said to them, "People depend on grain for their survival, but you eat it. I would rather eat my lungs and intestines." He raised his hand to swallow them, but his attendants advised him, "This is a bad thing and may cause illness." The emperor replied, "I suffer this disaster for the people. Why should I avoid illness?" He then swallowed them. That year, there was no locust disaster.

——"Zizhi Tongjian·Tang Ji VIII"

Qin Jiajia flipped through the pages of text in front of her, reading them word by word, imagining the extraordinary undercurrents hidden behind those lines of records.

According to the boss, intensive reading of history books and making associations is also one of the training programs for new employees. This method cultivates the specialists' monastic thinking, so that when they see similar records in their future work, they can associate them with corresponding extraordinary interpretations.

As she flipped through the book, she would occasionally glance at the portrait in the water tank. The figure in the painting was still as ethereal as before, floating in the water as if immersed in the long river of time, adding a sense of nothingness.

At this moment in the office, she was the only one whose eyes were fixed on the painting. The other researchers were busy with their own projects, and the desk inside where "Yuan Tiangang's" belongings were placed attracted the most attention.

The object looked like a chess piece. Although it was a thousand years old, it still showed no sign of decay.

Although she didn't know the details, through observations over the past few days, she could clearly feel that the name "Yuan Tiangang" was highly valued in the Institute of Supernatural Studies, or in the Chinese supernatural system. Once a cultural relic was associated with him, it was almost like gilding.

"Xiao Qin, come over and help me."

While he was lost in thought, Cheng Xiaomeng's voice rang in his ears: "That artifact is definitely related to Yuan Tiangang. Put aside your current work, compile these reports into a single document, and fax it to the address on the business card."

Qin Jiajia responded and took a stack of information from her. On the top business card was an address and the name of the unit corresponding to the address: Institute of Astronomical Observation and Inspection.

"this is"

"Like the Environmental Sanitation Bureau, they're also our partner, but their scope of management is quite specific, so it's a bit complicated to explain in detail. I'll tell you more later."

Cheng Xiaomeng said: "Now you only need to know one thing: the reason why everything Yuan Tiangang has is valuable is because of their existence."

(End of this chapter)