These locusts had shells as hard as iron armor, no less sturdy than that of the Imperial Ming Army.
But beneath the Gold Pellet, they were still like paper windows—one poke was enough to punch right through.
The locust struggled a few times, flew another seven or eight zhang, then finally plunged to the ground.
Xu Yuan was ultimately slower than the locusts. They soon caught up, and the five remaining locusts swooped down to attack him. Xu Yuan spat out a mouthful of fire and sent the Gold Pellet shooting through the air. Before long, only one locust remained.
At last, the monster was afraid. It turned and flew into the distance, but Xu Yuan absolutely couldn't let it escape.
The Gold Pellet suddenly accelerated and pierced straight through it from behind.
The locust crashed heavily to the ground.
But a deep sense of unease rose in Xu Yuan's heart!
"Go!" Xu Yuan sprinted off, abandoning his original route and turning onto another narrow path.
Soon, he came upon a stretch of woods. Gritting his teeth, Xu Yuan plunged into the trees.
If he was caught in the open, with nowhere to hide, the locusts could spot him from far away as they gave chase.
But the woods held plenty of inexplicable dangers, too. Xu Yuan picked his way through cautiously. He had been walking for more than half an hour when a buzzing came from overhead. He hurriedly crouched down, using the dense branches to hide himself.
Above the woods, a densely packed swarm of locusts blotted out the sky, like a flying Giant Beast. It took quite a while for them to pass!
There had to be tens of thousands, even a million of them?!
Xu Yuan had escaped this disaster. He secretly breathed a sigh of relief, stood up, and headed in the opposite direction from the swarm.
He had only taken two steps when a sudden instinct made him turn around. On a tree not far away, a fist-sized locust was clinging to the trunk.
Its antennae swayed as its cold, compound eyes fixed on Xu Yuan.
"This is bad!"
Rumble, rustle...
Xu Yuan heard a dense, clamorous noise rising from the woods behind him. When he looked back, he saw countless fist-sized locusts flooding through the trees like a tide, rapidly closing in!
Gritting his teeth, Xu Yuan turned and ran. He no longer cared what other monsters might be lurking in the woods.
The locust swarm pursued relentlessly. Xu Yuan heard that scalp-crawling rustle growing closer behind him. The locusts had already formed an arc around him, rapidly flanking him from both sides and driving him toward the only path ahead!
There's an even greater danger up ahead! Xu Yuan thought of the far more terrifying swarm that had flown past earlier.
If we're going to die, then let's all die together! Xu Yuan steeled himself and stopped abruptly. His belly heaved violently, and he spat out a burst of Inner Fire.
Whoosh—
The fierce flames swiftly ignited the fallen leaves and the surrounding trees!
It was early autumn, and Ghost Witch Mountain saw plenty of rain. The leaves and trees were damp, so the fire immediately sent thick smoke billowing into the air.
As the blaze threatened to rage out of control, dozens of great trees in the woods shuddered and pulled their roots free. They twisted them into several thick, rootlike legs and fled at a rapid stride.
There was almost nothing the Inner Fire couldn't burn. The flames spread rapidly, and the locust swarm pursuing Xu Yuan crashed straight into the blaze, crackling as they burned.
The locusts in front tried to retreat, but those behind kept pushing forward, plunging the entire swarm into chaos.
The locusts beat their wings and took flight, only to be left reeling by the thick smoke.
Xu Yuan plunged into the smoke and vanished without a trace.
Not long before, after the massive swarm of Giant Beasts had flown over the woods, it seemed to have received another command. A hundred zhang ahead, it wheeled in a great arc, turning into a vast, black-and-yellow mass that circled back to the slope in front of the woods.
Then, like the end of the world, countless three-foot-long Giant Beasts came raining down. Their jaws were razor-sharp, and their powerful hind legs were like serrated blades.
Soon, they carpeted an entire hilltop!
They were waiting for Xu Yuan to be driven out so they could catch him in a trap, but they hadn't expected the fire to spread so quickly!
Amid the thick smoke, countless "younger generations" scrambled to escape.
Many came rushing out in panic with their wings already alight. Before long, their wings burned away, and they plunged to the ground, turning to ash in the flames.
The air was filled with the charred, roasted smell of keratin, but their target had vanished.
The entire swarm grew restless and frightened. Their instinctive fear of fire was impossible to overcome.
But that kid had set the mountain ablaze. He couldn't escape either.
From deep within the swarm came a strange voice, its accent peculiar. It sounded like an old woman with a cleft palate, her words leaking through her mouth.
"That little thing's got some nerve."
He'd rather we all burn to death than become your Blood Food!
The voice sounded as though it were muttering to itself, yet also consulting someone nearby. "Good thing we're close to that Water Monster's territory. But this is going to cost us dearly."
The fire had already consumed the entire stretch of woods, and the flames were spreading toward the surrounding mountains.
The Giant Beasts on the hillside were squeezing backward against one another, growing even more restless.
Suddenly, a whirlpool appeared in a river seven or eight li away.
It spun faster and faster. Amid the thunderous rush of water, it lifted a colossal water dragon hundreds of zhang long!
The white water dragon soared into the air and flew over the woods. With a deafening boom, it burst apart, and a torrential downpour fell over the trees, instantly dousing the blaze.
Xu Yuan was sheltering beneath a great tree. His clothes had nearly been scorched through in seven or eight places, his hair tips had curled together, and the flames had burned him in several spots.
He was in a sorry state.
Once the fire started, Xu Yuan couldn't control it.
He had meant to use the smoke as cover to escape, but he hadn't expected a sudden downpour!
The rain had come strangely. Xu Yuan's heart sank.
That rushing, rustling sound rose again. Countless locusts sprang into the air and landed among the trees. Many branches had just been burned and turned brittle; when the locusts landed on them, they snapped, and the branches and locusts crashed to the ground together.
But Xu Yuan had no mind to laugh at them. His face grew grimmer and grimmer as countless locusts, great and small, closed in from every direction, trapping him completely!
The circle tightened. The locusts' jaws kept opening and closing, making a shrill sound like blades scraping together.
Xu Yuan stood where he was, coldly watching all the monsters.
The time for a fight to the death had come. He cast aside every useless emotion.
The locusts stopped five chi in front of Xu Yuan. Then a commotion rippled through the back of the swarm, and the densely packed locusts suddenly parted, opening a passage.
A giant, one-zhang-tall old locust slowly trudged forward from behind them.
It walked upright, with its middle and forelegs clasped behind its back like a human's. It even had a long, slender neck like a human.
Its enormous insect head perched atop its neck, bobbing as it walked.
It bared its massive jaws at Xu Yuan with a sinister grin. Seven or eight foot-long, tongue-like feelers shot from its mouth as it said, "You killed a whole lot of my children and grandchildren!"
Xu Yuan didn't reply. He didn't even look at the strange old locust.
Behind the old locust stood a man: Master Qiao!
Another chapter tonight. Starting today, I'm picking up the pace.
Before you continue