You Veil Heaven's Secrets, I Tread the Fields

Quack!!

The little frog jumped from the water onto the flower petals, its belly rising and falling, and croaked twice.

"So..."

Chu Tianshu said, "You didn't see Hongxian, but you saw me first. Is it because the Mountain King's Divine Drum is helpful for you to deal with the current Mountain King?"

Hai Donglai nodded.

Chu Tianshu asked curiously, "Are you also planning to use the Divine Drum for divination?"

"Of course not."

Hai Donglai, "Back then, in our battle, before he was even defeated, I knocked the drum away."

"After his defeat, although I didn't find the drum or his body, I did bring back his monk's hat as a memento."

"From a divination perspective, using a monk's hat to find someone actually increases the chances of success."

"But seven years ago, I took a monk's hat to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and they couldn't figure it out either."

In fact, Hai Donglai to Tubo, found the cenotaph of the Mountain King, and dug it up.

They retrieved all the personal belongings that had been buried with the deceased and handed them over to the Imperial Astronomical Bureau for a ritual.

They still cannot determine the exact location of the mutated Mountain King.

Aside from not seeking help from powerful families, Hai Donglai has tried every possible means over the years.

As for why they didn't look for aristocratic families, ordinary members of such families simply couldn't provide any useful clues from the vast territory.

And the Plain King of the aristocratic families...

When they suddenly encountered the Mountain King and were beaten down to a headless corpse, they might instinctively think of asking the Red Emperor to stand up for them and fight against the Mountain King.

Just like the situation that was maintained for the past ninety years.

Whenever Tubo wanted to ask the Mountain King Divine Monk to do something, the Red Emperor Hai Donglai always step in.

However, if the experts from these top families learn of the mutated Mountain King in advance and are prepared, then they can search for and make contact with him.

That would be a completely different situation; nobody knows what kind of trouble these people might cause.

It's better to keep the good news to ourselves and not let them know in the first place.

Hai Donglai never held any expectations for the lower limits of most aristocratic families.

Chu Tianshu asked in confusion, "Then what do you plan to do?"

Hai Donglai opened his red umbrella, tilted it, and tapped one of the ribs against the railing.

It was as if a pinch of phosphorus powder had been shaken out of the umbrella and landed on the railing.

Chu Tianshu stretched out his finger and dipped it in.

"This is..."

He sensed a faint life force within the powder, and a flash of inspiration struck him.

"Strain?"

Hai Donglai laughed and said, "In your own domain, have you perhaps conducted similar research?"

"The name 'strain' is quite fitting. I call it 'strain powder,' initially because it resembles the powder on mushrooms—great minds think alike."

The sunlight slanted across these fungal powders, giving them a phosphorescent, bluish-white hue.

Chu Tianshu quickly channeled his inner energy to coat the fungal powder, then shook it back onto the railing, leaving not a drop on his fingers.

His strongest impression of fungi is of all kinds of molds.

Especially when he was young, he loved to eat a kind of purple rice bread. He bought a whole box and kept it at home. One time, he accidentally picked up one with damaged packaging.

He almost, almost, stuffed the completely green, mycelium-covered bread into his mouth.

He didn't realize something was wrong until he had bitten through the bread crust, and he used up half a bucket of water rinsing his mouth.

The Ghost Gate Witch Doctor had little knowledge of this area, and he was also reluctant to get involved.

I don't know much about this.

Chu Tianshu clicked his tongue and said, "How did you come up with the idea of researching this?"

Hai Donglai took two steps to the side, leaned his right shoulder against the pillar, and looked up at the sky.

Do you still remember Guan Changling?

More than a hundred years ago, the Inner Guard was divided into two departments, left and right, each with its own commander.

Guan Changling was another commander who was on par with Hai Donglai.

However, this fellow was originally a former official of the princess's household. Feeling that the princess had been wronged, he did not hesitate to collude with foreign countries in order to avenge her.

On the night Chu Tianshu fought Duan Zhong, Guan Changling also died in that temple in Nanzhao.

"I vaguely remember."

Chu Tianshu pondered, "Later I heard you say that he was skilled in using poison?"

Hai Donglai, "To be precise, his Weapon Soul lies in his ability to observe the changes in poisonous substances at the most minute level."

More than a hundred years ago, after Hai Donglai to Chang'an, he confiscated Guan Changling's property and inadvertently obtained Guan Changling's drug-making notes.

The notes mention that Guan Changling actually considered developing a rare poison that kills based on blood ties.

People infected with this poison look like they have a serious illness, and it spreads extremely quickly.

No secondary poisoning is needed; others will also be poisoned, and it only affects those related by blood.

Guan Changling's research goal is that as long as there is a common ancestor within ten generations, this poison can kill the entire clan without harming others.

Even if others unintentionally acted as intermediaries in this chain of poisonings.

This toxin will not have much of an impact on their bodies.

After a period of time, the toxins will be naturally eliminated through the blood circulation of these unrelated individuals.

Hai Donglai strongly suspected that he had developed this poison with the intention of using it on the Li Tang royal family.

Anyway, the princess died unjustly, and the Li Tang royal family deserved to die the most.

However, quite a few members of the Li Clan have been scattered among the common people over the generations, and it is really too difficult to say exactly how many people within ten generations are related by blood.

If Guan Changling had actually developed this thing, then all the people in Chang'an might have unwittingly acted as a medium, and it would have spread to various places, and who knows how many people would have died in the end.

Fortunately, he died in Nanzhao before he could succeed.

After hearing this, Chu Tianshu couldn't help but scratch his forehead with his fingernail.

That guy who didn't leave a deep impression on him back then turned out to be a drug-making maniac?!

Excellent, excellent! Chang'an is truly a place where hidden talents abound; people were already doing this kind of thing a hundred years ago.

"After the Mountain King's transformation, it wandered around various places, but it showed no aggression towards ordinary people, only reacting to the hostility of powerful individuals. It seemed harmless."

Hai Donglai continued, "However, I discovered that in the places he passed through, the species of locusts all underwent subtle changes."

"The locust plagues that have occurred in recent years don't seem to be much different from those of previous years, but they've approached a qualitative change."

"If he continues to influence us like this, even if I find him and successfully kill him..."

"Those mutated locusts will eventually unleash an unprecedented catastrophe, leaving behind endless calamities."

For example, common dragonflies and locusts.

Even if no one hunts them, they should disappear by winter, at most their eggs will remain hidden in the soil to overwinter.

However, some locusts are now active in various places, even during the winter.

Therefore, Hai Donglai remembered Guan Changling's notes.

If we could cultivate a unique poison that specifically kills locusts, it would be harmless to other people and livestock.

Could the spread of this potent poison have led to the extinction of locusts in large numbers?

Even if we can't eradicate all locust species, if we eliminate the most harmful ones, will the people of the Great Tang be free from the suffering of locust plagues in the future?

Thanks to the flourishing of martial arts and the continuous improvement of the Weapon Soul Art.

After Hai Donglai led his men in several attempts, they truly cultivated a kind of Weapon Soul, similar to the Weapon Soul that Guan Changling had cultivated back then.

Based on this, he observed some strange diseases that locusts are prone to, analyzed the subtle factors that cause these diseases, extracted them, and then cultivated and tested them.

"I searched for generations of locust variants, cultivating and enhancing the effectiveness of this fungal powder with each generation."

"But the locusts change first, and my fungal powder changes only after that, so I'm always a step behind."

Hai Donglai gazed at the vast sky, speaking slowly and deliberately, word by word.

His demeanor has changed considerably compared to a hundred years ago; his tone is gentler, and a faint, vibrant smile appears on his face.

Such a person is unlikely to easily change their temperament as they age.

His current demeanor is perhaps more a result of the meticulous work he has done for seven years, traversing mountains and rivers, and cultivating fungal strains in the fields.

"To make the fungal powder surpass the changes of those locusts, it would be best to use the source of the change and cultivate these fungal powders from the source. However, the mutated Mountain King are unpredictable and difficult to find..."

At this point in Hai Donglai, Chu Tianshu finally understood.

Thump!

Chu Tianshu lightly tapped the surface of the black-scaled drum with his finger.

"The Weapon Soul of the Mountain King Divine Drum is, in essence, a product of over a hundred years of nurturing by the Mountain King with his blood and will."

"The Weapon Soul contains the essence of the Mountain King's blood and qi, the source of this mutation. The Mountain King must have studied some kind of tendency before his death, which is why he underwent that change after his death."

"His Weapon Soul grew stronger year by year, clearly harboring that tendency as well!"

By Weapon Soul to cultivate bacterial strains, we can achieve a reversal of the locust plague.

Hai Donglai twirled the red umbrella in his hand and smiled, "Exactly."

Moreover, if the mutant locusts begin to cause large-scale extinctions...

If the extinction occurs too quickly, the mutated Mountain King will likely sense it strongly and trace their origins back.

At that time, Hai Donglai only needs to wait and wait for the opportunity to strike, and he will be able to fight him again.

"Then you can take it."

Chu Tianshu casually tossed the Divine Drum away.

Hai Donglai reached out and caught it, but did not rush to use it. He asked, "You used to have other uses for the Wild Weapon Soul. I heard that after you got the Divine Drum, you often played with it. Is this also useful to you?"

Chu Tianshu waved his hand dismissively and said, "It's alright. It's somewhat helpful for my training, but as my foundation grows stronger, the influence of the drumbeats is clearly diminishing."

"It's a blessing for Guan Changling and this drum to help control locusts."

"But this kind of cultivation takes a lot of time, right? Are you going to stay and watch over it the whole time?"

Hai Donglai weighed the Divine Drum in his hand and said, "No need. I'll start it, and these fungal powders will grow and change on their own."

That's perfect!

Chu Tianshu became happy and clapped his hands, saying, "We can have a good chat about the changes in martial arts over the years!"

"By the way, does your mushroom powder have a name?"

Hai Donglai said, "I'll call it Locust-Exterminating Poison Powder."

"When studying microorganisms, we can't simply name them based on a single use."

Chu Tianshu shook his head slightly, recalling the limited knowledge he had about fungi.

"I think this thing could be called Green Muscardine Fungus?"

Green Muscardine Fungus is a bacterium that easily infects locusts; however, the fact that it is effective against mutated locusts suggests that this strain has been targeted and enhanced for many generations.

"Green General?"

Hai Donglai's brow relaxed, and he chuckled, praising, "Good!"

"This name certainly sounds better than 'bacterial powder,' 'bacterial strain,' or 'poison powder.' Ordinary people in the city will definitely be more likely to accept this prestigious name."

"Haha, if the Locust King comes, Green General will surely charge into battle!"

(End of this chapter)