Chapter 21

"It isn't convenient for me to reveal my family's secrets."

"Yes, yes, I shouldn't have pried. I deserve punishment, hehe." The mayor laughed awkwardly and let the matter pass.

The ground of Axon Town was a complete mess. Scorched Locust corpses lay everywhere, and some of the bungalows had even been half-buried beneath heaps of Locust bodies. Cleaning it all up was not something that could be done in a short while, and the Yi Family could not spare so many hands all at once. Only after the old mayor called out did some able-bodied men gradually come over to help.

Elder Yi Xi strolled onto the bridge leading outside. The stream beneath his feet, once clear, had now turned thick and murky, constantly bubbling. Waves of foul stench could be smelled even from the bridge. Yi Xi lifted his sleeve in disgust to cover his mouth and nose. In his heart, he truly did not want to keep cleaning, but the clan leader's order was to restore Axon Town to its original state as soon as possible. The poor elder could only force down his displeasure and continue directing the garrison and the Yi Family's people into the aftermath work. As for the old mayor, before going onto the bridge, he had already told Yi Xi that he needed to deal with matters in town first, then taken his leave and returned.

"Damn it, just how many of these insects and frogs are there? They've actually blocked up the stream. How long will it take to finish clearing this?" After thinking for a moment, Yi Xi decided not to leave it to others and to handle the river water problem himself.

Yi Xi touched the spatial ring on his left hand, then took out a pair of rings from inside and put them on the index fingers of his left and right hands. There was actually a chain connecting the pair of rings. Yi Xi first clasped his palms together, and the paired rings struck each other with a crisp sound. Then he spread his hands apart, pulling the chain taut, and a small rhombus-shaped magic array appeared between his palms. Yi Xi then sent the magic array down toward the ground and chanted, "Spirits of the earth, answer my summons. Tapulake and Yarachi, appear!"

After Yi Xi finished chanting, the rhombus-shaped magic array on the ground began to lengthen until it almost stretched into a single line, then vanished. Immediately after, an earth giant emerged from the ground. Its entire body was covered in muscles, its lines sharply defined, and a mouse stood on the giant's shoulder.

"Yarachi, there is something here I would like your help with," Yi Xi said unhurriedly.

Yarachi was the name of that mouse, and he was also Yi Xi's contracted summoned beast. The mouse twitched his whiskers, having already received what Yi Xi wanted him to do. Without another word, he slid down from the earth giant's shoulder in a flash, then burrowed into the ground.

"Tapulake." Yi Xi then ordered the earth giant, "Go down from the bridge and step into the stream. Don't step too deep. See whether you can scoop those insects and frogs out of the water." Yi Xi was worried that the toxins on the Poison Frogs had already spread through the water, so he had Tapulake go down and test it first.

The earth Elemental Spirit, rather clumsy in his movements, walked down from the bridge with rough hands and feet and approached the water's edge. The foul stench wafting from the stream did not seem to affect him at all, and without a second thought, he stepped in.

Yi Xi held his breath and watched to see whether Tapulake showed any abnormalities, while the Earth Spirit beneath the bridge had already begun diligently scooping the Locusts from the riverbed by the handful.

More and more insect corpses piled up on the bank, and Tapulake had already dug up the sludge from the bottom of the river as well.

"Tapulake, that's enough." Yi Xi ordered Tapulake to stop. It seemed the method of having the Earth Spirit clear the river channel could work.

With a splash, Tapulake suddenly collapsed without warning into chunks of earth, scattering all over the ground.

Yi Xi was startled. Sure enough, there was poison, and even the earth Elemental Spirit, which had the strongest resistance to toxins, had been corroded and broken down. He had to hurry back and warn the cleanup personnel to be careful.

With a grim face, Yi Xi used his mental power to call Yarachi. "Yarachi, are there any abnormalities underground?"

After a while, Yarachi's somewhat weak response came through. "Master Yi Xi, the underground has also been invaded by toxins. I kept digging until I was at least ten feet below the surface before I found clean soil."

"All right. Thank you for your hard work. Come back quickly too, and be careful not to get poisoned." Yi Xi let out a long breath. What was to be done? Although the Locusts had been cleared out, the entire stretch of land in Axon Town might have been contaminated by toxins. Could that summoner not have used a slightly safer method?

Yi Xi rushed back to the Yi Family at top speed to report his discovery to Yi Tianxing.

"Ugh, my head is so dizzy." Peiganbo, who had been knocked unconscious by Kubaka, only woke up after being out for quite a while. After waking, he discovered that he had already been tightly bound by two Man-Eating Flowers. The Two-Headed Giant Bird and Crystal Lionfish were beside him, and the protective magic array had also been shut down.

"Peiganbo, do you have anything else to say?" There were also two magic barriers around the Man-Eating Flowers restricting Peiganbo's range of movement. Needless to say, they had naturally been set up by Duoduo.

"Tch, what else is there to say? If I win, you all die; if you win, I die." Peiganbo tried to use his strength to break free from the Man-Eating Flowers' restraints, only to discover that both his arms had already been broken. The slightest movement sent sharp pain through him. Since the weapons he took pride in had already been lost, Peiganbo would absolutely not bow his head to humans. Right now, his whole heart was set on death.

"Heh, I thought high-level Magic Beasts would keep their word better than humans. I didn't expect that all crows that can fly are just as black." Vice Dean Luo Lun Hobbs spoke in mockery. When Duoduo heard him, he glared at his elder brother and thought, Of all things you could mention, why did you have to bring up my magic pet? Fortunately, Crow's temper was not as explosive as Thunder Eagle Dahei's; otherwise, Luo Lun would definitely have been attacked by Crow.

"Word?" Peiganbo guessed that Duoduo must have explained to Luo Lun that if he lost the duel, he was willing to become a human's magic pet. Enduring the pain, Peiganbo shouted, "With you