Chapter 72.1 Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip Chip~
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Li Jinyu and the black cat didn’t know that two influential men from the capital had been chasing them and heading towards Mount Yuan.
After passing through the water-rich area of Qingshui Prefecture, they continued northeast, and the rivers and lakes gradually became scarce.
Their horse carriage traveled without feeling a single drop of rain along the way.
The further they went, the land became drier, and the rivers alongside the road had lower water levels.
They even struggled to find places for the horses to drink.
Every time Li Jinyu took a rest, he would slip away to nearby fields to observe the peasants’ farming.
The severe drought made the wheat seedlings in the fields look wilted and weak.
The farmers had to travel long distances to fetch water from the remaining rivers or seek experienced elders to determine where there was still underground water and dig wells.
They barely managed to maintain the crops’ growth under such challenging circumstances.
Li Jinyu’s expression turned serious as he watched, filled with worry every day.
The black cat lay inside the carriage, looking listless as it watched Li Jinyu restlessly pacing back and forth. It weakly said, “Stop it. What can you do to help now?”
Li Jinyu paused and stared at the black cat. “Can you make it rain?”
Powerful demons could control the weather, could they not?
The black cat rolled its eyes and replied, “Although I know the magic, I can’t use it now. I’ve only recently regained a bit of my power, and it’s useless.”
Li Jinyu immediately felt disappointed and hung his ears low.
After a while, he suddenly became hopeful again. “Can you find underground water, then?”
There weren’t many people who could accurately locate underground water. Many villages could only dig wells blindly, wasting their time and effort.
The black cat looked at him in surprise and said, “What do you think I am?”
It was just an ordinary cat demon, not a magical geological instrument!
Li Jinyu scratched his head with his hind leg, feeling somewhat annoyed. “But doing nothing like this is really bothersome.”
When they had once wandered into a village in Qingshui Prefecture, he could assist the villagers in driving away the oppressive tax officials. But now, facing a severe drought, he felt helpless.
“We’re just ordinary little demons. Can we really fight against the forces of nature?”
“You didn’t think that way when you wanted to kill Huo Caiyu and seize the fate of the Di Dynasty.”
“Is it the same thing?” The black cat rolled its eyes. “If this drought could be attributed to someone, I would gladly accompany you to eliminate them.”
Before Li Jinyu could say more, he heard the black cat impatiently say, “The only thing we can do now is to hurry to Mount Yuan, replenish your spiritual power, and then return to the capital city. How long will it take if you keep stopping along the way?”
Though he knew the black cat was right, Li Jinyu scratched his ear and gritted his teeth. “Then let’s go quickly.”
However, after traveling for less than two days, Li Jinyu suddenly called a halt. “Wait!”
“What’s wrong now?”
“Just a moment ago, I suddenly felt a fearful sensation in my chest,” the little hamster said, clutching its chest and staring out the window. “Is something about to happen?”
As if proving Li Jinyu’s words, both ordinary little demons heard a faint and rapid sound piercing through their ears.
It seemed as if a large group of winged creatures were slowly flying closer from a distance.
Li Jinyu and the black cat exchanged a quick glance, their pupils shrinking instantly as they both thought of the same possibility.
A swarm of locusts!
They couldn’t wait any longer and rushed out of the carriage, focusing their gaze on the sky ahead.
In the far-off horizon, indistinct black dots started to appear. In a blink of an eye, those dots grew significantly larger. After a short wait, a vast swarm of locusts swept over the land!
“Locust plague!”
Li Jinyu initially tried to retreat back into the carriage, but quickly stood up again.
There were many farmlands along the roadside, and if they allowed the swarm of locusts to pass, those farmlands would be completely destroyed.
Li Jinyu’s thoughts raced, gathering his courage. He used the spiritual power he had recently accumulated and charged bravely into the swarm of locusts.
The fierce appearance and menacing mouthparts of the locusts frightened him, causing his face to pale.
Even though locusts only consumed plants, they were as terrifying as his worst nightmare.
But now was not the time to be scared.
Spiritual power surged around Li Jinyu as he created sparks in the air, making a crackling sound as the locusts in flight were burned.
The air filled with the smell of burning protein.
Seeing Li Jinyu rushing forward so directly, the black cat cursed quietly and jumped up, intercepting the unexpected swarm of locusts.
The two demons almost depleted all of their spiritual power, barely managing to eliminate the entire swarm of locusts.
The ground was scattered with charred locust corpses. Li Jinyu and the black cat rested on top of the carriage, breathing heavily and motionless, having no spiritual power left.
“This means we won’t even have the ability to go to the village and buy food while in human form,” the black cat said with no energy, rolling over to expose its belly to the sky and grumbled, “Can’t you be more careful?”
“The locusts… are they all gone?” Li Jinyu struggled to look around and breathed a sigh of relief. “At least we don’t have to worry about the locust plague.”
“You’re being too optimistic,” the black cat ruthlessly dampened his spirits. “How many locusts were there really? According to the county records, a true locust plague would be beyond my capabilities even ten times over.”
Li Jinyu was taken aback. “But why were there so few this time?”
“Maybe the locusts were just starting to grow?” the black cat speculated, furrowing its brow. “And these locusts look different from the ones I saw in the county records.”
Hearing this, Li Jinyu immediately forgot about resting and addressed the obedient horses in front of the carriage. “Let’s move forward!”
After the horses had run for a while, he suddenly shouted to stop and jumped down from the carriage.
The black cat was surprised and looked up. “What’s wrong?”
“I sense something over there,” Li Jinyu said, his ears alert as he focused his gaze in that direction. He cautiously added, “I’ll go take a look.”
Trusting his inner instincts, Li Jinyu took a detour and eventually stopped at an empty field.
The soil in this field had an unusual dark red color, devoid of any grass, with clearly visible tree roots showing signs of being nibbled on.
The most noticeable thing was a dead body lying in the middle of the field.
This person wore clothes resembling those from the Central Plains, but their face didn’t match Central Plains lineage. They lay on their back, limbs sprawled, with a large, disturbingly bloody pattern on their abdomen.
Li Jinyu stared in a daze at the lifeless body.
The corpse emitted a strong sense of foreboding and malice, causing the earlier unsettling feeling in his heart.
Judging from the person’s appearance, they seemed to be from the Jiao Kingdom.
He cautiously approached, suppressing fear and disgust, carefully examining the Jiao Kingdom individual. He noticed the multitude of wounds on their bleeding abdomen, as if someone had repeatedly stabbed it, or…
It seemed that numerous insects had once emerged from their abdomen.
Li Jinyu’s heart turned cold in an instant.
Suddenly, he thought of the inexplicable locusts that appeared just now.
Did those locusts… have anything to do with this Jiao Kingdom corpse?
………
Li Jinyu returned to the carriage with doubts and briefly described what he had seen to the the black cat.
The the black cat furrowed its brow, “I’m not sure what’s going on. Did you keep the body?”
“I sensed an evil presence from that person… I was afraid of any danger, so I decided to set it on fire,” Li Jinyu honestly explained, “Are the locusts connected to that person?”
The black cat shook its head, “Based on my observation, those locusts seemed like ordinary insects, nothing unusual except for their peculiar color.”
“But they felt extremely malevolent to me. So disgusting,” Li Jinyu scratched his ear, “Why do we perceive them differently?”
The black cat glanced at the hamster in front of it, fell into silence for a moment, and speculated, “Perhaps it has something to do with you being the Great Di Emperor.”
“Huh?”
“Your connection to the fate of the Di Dynasty means that if those locusts are indeed the work of the Jiao Kingdom, it could have an adverse effect on the destiny of the Di Dynasty, which would manifest as resistance and rejection towards you.”
Li Jinyu didn’t expect it to be true. “Is there any solution?”
“Even if there is a solution, we can’t use it now. What can you do at this moment?” the black cat deflated him. “Besides, the concept of destiny is intangible, and I only have superficial knowledge. Just wait for the Di Dynasty’s army to conquer the Jiao Kingdom’s palace.”
“The current locust plague can’t be delayed that long,” Li Jinyu clenched his teeth. “If these locusts are caused by the Jiao Kingdom, the usual methods of prevention and control may not be effective. We need to quickly gather spiritual power at the Mount Yuan.”
The sudden appearance of the Jiao Kingdom corpse filled Li Jinyu with a strong sense of danger, urging the black cat to depart swiftly.
From then on, they traveled tirelessly on horseback every day.
If it weren’t for concerns about overburdening the horses pulling the carriage, Li Jinyu even considered traveling non-stop day and night.
Along the way, they encountered a few locust swarms, but the scale was small.
But the first time they used up their spiritual power, the two demons were unable to completely kill these locusts. They could only watch helplessly as the locusts flew towards the fertile fields.
Although there weren’t many locusts at the moment, the terrifying thing about a locust plague was their ability to quickly gather in large numbers, forming a swarm that covered the sky.
Li Jinyu felt such intense sorrow that he could hardly sleep at night.
Every time they encountered a locust plague, they could find a corpse of a person from the Jiao Kingdom nearby, further confirming Li Jinyu’s suspicions.
These locusts were indeed connected to the Jiao Kingdom.
Their only option was to burn those strange corpses and swiftly make their way to Mount Yuan.
As they traveled, the surrounding farmland gradually diminished, and the terrain became uneven, transitioning from plains to mountains.
They reached the northeastern border of the Great Di.
From a distance, Li Jinyu could already see Mount Yuan.
However, the journey was exhausting, and they continued for several more days before finally coming to a stop at the foot of Mthe mountain.
Mount Yuan used to be the place where the previous dynasty performed rituals, but during the Di Dynasty, it had been mostly abandoned. As a result, the place was overrun with weeds, and the once bright blue stone brick road had deteriorated.
Walking on the deserted official road, the trees on both sides were lush, and birds flew freely in the mountains.
Li Jinyu and the the black cat got off the carriage and looked up at the towering mountain range at the northeastern border of the Di Dynasty.
They had a deeper connection with nature than most people, allowing them to see the faint divine light swirling around the dark tower atop the highest peak.
“There isn’t much of the former dynasty’s fortune left…” the the black cat estimated and shook its head. “Let’s move quickly.”
The mountain road leading to the carriage was already partly damaged, so they had to climb up on their own.
Mount Yuan was the highest mountain range within the Di Dynasty’s territory. With years of neglect, navigating the mountain paths had become even more challenging.
Li Jinyu, despite his speed as a small hamster, soon realized that his short legs couldn’t keep up. He quickly came to a halt and said, “This won’t work, it’s too slow.”
Without hesitation, the the black cat responded, “I won’t carry you.”
“You’re not much faster than me, and you can’t fly…” Li Jinyu’s eyes lit up as he focused on several mountain sparrows perched on a nearby tree.
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