Master of Strange Dao

"If you're not sure, just wait here while I go and get Feng Buju out," said King Xiang.

"No, I'm going with you," insisted Yang. "We'll break the seal and then bring him out."

Yang was very adamant.

Yu Ziqing knew that Yang felt that even risking a bit was better than letting outsiders know he could move in and out of the seal at will.

That left them only the path of mitigating the disaster.

After waiting for a little over a two-hour, King Xiang came back from outside.

"I've checked and found no traces of anyone, nor has anyone else come; perhaps I was mistaken, but still, having checked, I feel a bit more at ease," said King Xiang, his expression betraying no intention of having deliberately gone out to avoid.

"Let's go and get Feng Buju out first; after all, there's another sealed place that only he knows about. We can't let him be trapped and die inside," he added.

The three of them once again climbed down the stone wall, arriving in front of the rune on the stone.

Yu Ziqing was the first to extend his hand, placing it on the rune and silently reciting the locust god page from An History Book.

The next moment, his figure disappeared from the spot.

Yang and King Xiang, touching the rune in turn, also vanished from the spot.

In the Void where An History Book resided, the book automatically opened to the page of the locust god.

Yu Ziqing appeared there, looking at the page. He thought for a moment and said,

"Give me the page on Alien Fire."

An History Book automatically turned to the page on Alien Fire. The page fell out and floated into Yu Ziqing's hands.

With a thought from Yu Ziqing, the page transformed into a fiery imprint, marking the palm of his hand.

Despite having been used by Yu Ziqing and deprived of its red pen, An History Book still obediently followed Yu Ziqing's commands, as both Yang and King Xiang had been directly sent in as well.

Yu Ziqing placed a hand on the locust god page, and his figure instantly vanished.

The faint light before his eyes briefly brightened and then darkened again.

Yu Ziqing squinted slightly and looked up at the sky.

The horizon was dim, the light of the Great Sun obscured.

It wasn't because of clouds, but locusts. The locusts swarmed like an endless black cloud, covering the light from the sky, making the land below appear dark.

Apart from the sky where the locusts gathered into clouds, in mid-air, on the ground, locusts swarmed everywhere densely.

Upon the land below, as far as the eye could see, not a hint of green was visible; only stark, bare trees and massive amounts of dead vegetation.

The locusts spared neither herbivorous nor carnivorous fare; the grass on the ground was completely consumed, everything edible and inedible alike was devoured by them.

Yu Ziqing even saw a dark red poisonous plant being gnawed at by the locusts.

Around the poisonous plant, a thick layer of locust corpses had piled up, yet more and more locusts continued their relentless assault, each one nibbling a bite, intent on completely stripping the plant.

In just a dozen or so breaths since Yu Ziqing appeared, the poisonous plant had completely disappeared.

Around the plant, tens of thousands of locust corpses were left.

"Let's first figure out where we are," he said.

The three of them flew across the sky, the land below devoid of any life.

It wasn't long before Yu Ziqing saw them: carcasses, numerous carcasses scattered along the road.

Along with the carcasses, they also found numerous starving ghosts.

The starving ghosts, as if mad, furiously pounced to kill the locusts.

It wasn't long before Yu Ziqing and the others saw Dingwei City.

Dingwei City, at that moment, appeared like a city of the dead, similar to the desolate land outside, showing no signs of greenery.

"Can you contact Feng Buju, or is he not here?" Yu Ziqing asked.

"I've already tried contacting him. I sent out three Communication Flying Swords, all of which got through; he's definitely here. I've told him we're in Dingwei City," replied King Xiang immediately.

"Then let's go into the city first."

According to the records, the one who took action was Nie Shuang, the Prefectural Governor of Dingwei City.

Coming here directly was naturally the most convenient.

At the city gate, there were no guardians left; upon entering the city, a few people were scattered along the road, collapsed, with the guards who watched the gate slumped against the wall.

Yang inspected the vicinity briefly and upon his return, shook his head.

"All the city's defenses have exhausted their power, all completely nullified."

Yang paused for a moment, then continued.

"Moreover, there are hardly any survivors left, nor a scrap of food to be found in the city."

As they were speaking, they saw a person lying by the roadside breathing his last. From his body, a starving ghost emerged, glanced at Yu Ziqing and the others, then charged out of the city to attack the locusts.

Deep hatred, no river could cleanse.

Yu Ziqing went to the county government office, where not a single living person remained.

This was the calamity of the locust god.

The locusts would devour all life in their sight, yet they would not harm a person directly, even though just any child could crush one with their hand or stomp one to death.

But there were too many, billions, not an exaggeration at all.

Ironically, these locusts all carried potent poisons, making them inedible.

Without food, the poultry and birds starved to death, then the livestock perished, and finally, all the people died.

This disaster was more horrifying than any that Yu Ziqing had encountered in the Wilderness.

Because there were too many people here, so many that even if a Divine Dynasty were to supply him with food for relief, it would be impossible to save them all.

Yu Ziqing sighed inwardly; he could least bear and most empathize with death by starvation.

This was only one city, yet the starving ghosts were already too numerous to count; he had no idea how many more had perished from starvation within the seal.

Leaving the others behind, Yu Ziqing went out of the city alone and found a group of starving ghosts. He landed on the ground and shouted loudly.

"Is there any among you still rational?"

After a good while, one starving ghost approached.

"Are you from the court?"

"Half, and you are?"

"A junior officer from Dingwei City, not worth mentioning."

"If given a chance to become another kind of ghost and have something to eat, would you take it?"

"Would that enable me to annihilate all these locusts?"

"No."

"Then never mind."

The Junior Officer dropped this remark and turned away, continuing to attack the locusts.

Yu Ziqing remained silent, noting that some starving ghosts, despite having lost all reason, were still frenziedly, tirelessly attacking the locusts.

Such formidable obsession.

An obsession so strong that, as starving ghosts, they could suppress even the hope of a bite to eat just to continue attacking the locusts.

Yu Ziqing watched the Junior Officer walking away, raised his hand, and asked another question.

"What if there's a way for you to attack these locusts, but it's likely you won't survive, would you want that?"

The steps of the starving ghost Junior Officer halted, and he immediately turned around, looking at Yu Ziqing.

At that moment, those who had completely lost their sanity, the other starving ghosts, also paused their actions, turning their heads toward Yu Ziqing.

"Are you sure this could eradicate these locusts?"

"Not sure, but it's worth a try, though you will likely die."

"Hahaha..." The Junior Officer laughed loudly, pointing first at himself, then at the other starving ghosts: "We are already dead, our only regret is that we died before we could kill all these locusts and the locust god."

Yu Ziqing was momentarily at a loss for words.

Indeed, they had already died, their obsession grown so intense that only the eradication of the locust god remained.

There was nothing more to say.

Besides, allowing them to burn the locusts themselves might indeed be the best choice.