Yefutidaolu

Chapter 138 Cicada Monkey

autumn.

Gao Jian had never seen autumn so clearly before.

The water, the air, and the light all create a depressing atmosphere that makes people feel uncomfortable.

Gao Jian saw that occasionally a large ball of black dust would appear in the sky and be blown up by the wind.

Looking closely, they were groups of insect corpses, like dust blown up by the wind.

The insect corpses fell on their hands, bodies, and even hair.

They were constantly pushed and bounced by Gao Jian.

Because they could no longer fly, they all died in the murderous autumn wind, and the sky and the rock walls were littered with their tiny corpses.

In the past, life was still beating in these bodies, but now they are like dust.

Gao Jian brushed these black little things off his hair and clothes with a headache.

Zou Shu, with an expression of indifference, drew his sword, swung the sword, and rolled up the dust like a broom, sweeping it into the cold river.

"There are so many insects. Are there any alive now? These ones look like they just died." Gao Jian said.

Zou Shu said: "There are none outside, but if you go into a relatively warm cave, you can see them. There is still some earth energy in the cave that can warm the place, and these insects huddle inside. However, if the wind is strong and blows into the cave, many corpses will be blown out."

"It seems that this place is more lively than I thought." Gao Jian sighed as he walked among the dead branches and leaves.

Life is really tenacious. Even in such a place, it still tries its best to find vitality.

"These are just average. You haven't seen the truly amazing ones yet." Zou Shu said with a smile.

However, as soon as he finished speaking, he heard movement underground.

The ground beneath their feet, the soil surface was violently undulating and flowing!

Suddenly, a huge arthropod creature burst out!

This strange arthropod is as long as two or three people, with a thorny and well-developed mouthpart, a yellow-white carapace, a significantly enlarged forehead with tentacles on it, a pronotum, and tibias of the forelegs that look like sickles with barbs!
This monster came towards the two with greedy hunger!

Gao Jian retreated fiercely, but he did not attack because he was seriously injured. All the joints in his body were broken, so he could not move.

However, Zou Shu was still there, so there was no need for him to take action.

Zou Shu is a warrior of the fourth realm.

"A Hundred Beasts of the Wilderness!" Zou Shu called out the name of his own move in a very pretentious manner.

This was totally unnecessary. Gao Jian never shouted that he was going to make any moves. He just kept fighting and made sneak attacks from time to time.

But Zou Shu suddenly shouted at this time, which was quite cool.

As his voice sounded, the long sword from his waist flew out!

The martial arts internal energy in the sea of qi attached to the sword body, and the majestic sword intent manifested, like a group of beasts galloping, pouring out one after another!

At first it was cattle and sheep, and then it seemed like the sword energy of a realm.

Then there is the jackal, which is at the second level.

Next are the lions and tigers, which should be the sword energy of the third realm.

Afterwards, dozens of Xiru rushed out!
The 玃如 is a natural monster that looks like a deer with a white tail, horse feet, human hands and four horns.

This should be the sword energy of the fourth realm.

The sword energy transformed into various beasts and rushed forward, without any flaws or gaps, boundless and endless! In a blink of an eye, there were hundreds of waves, and the surroundings suddenly showed endless sword winds, scraping bones and gnawing hearts, fantastic and magnificent!
Gao Jian watched from the side, marveling at the scene.

It turns out that after a warrior opens his qi sea, he can use his internal energy from martial arts to do this kind of thing.

He had always relied on his physical body to kill others before, but he had never seen such brilliant sword energy from a warrior.

Do I need to find an opportunity to open the Qi Hai?

While he was thinking, he saw the insect being crushed to death by the sword energy and turned into mud on the ground.

Zou Shu gently withdrew his hand, and the long sword was sheathed with a sound of "clang". He turned around, and the mutton-fat jade pendant on his body rotated and swayed, looking a little dazzling.

Looking at his appearance, Gao Jian couldn't help laughing.

It’s true. This guy is really interesting. He wants to show off all the time.

It seems that he is still the young man who was proud of his job in the county government.

Zou Shu pointed at the dead body of the insect and said, "Brother Gao, take a look at what that thing is."

Gao Jian hadn't paid attention at first, but when he heard what the other party said, he walked over to take a look: "Okay, let me take a look."

Then he walked over and found...

Isn’t this thing a cicada monkey?

"Cicada? Cicada larvae? So big?!" Gao Jian raised his voice.

Zou Shu nodded: "That's why I brought you here. You know that cicadas live underground, right?"

"Yes." Gao Jian understood.

The larvae of cicadas, also known as "cicada monkeys", will hide underground. Their larvae live in hiding underground for a very long time.

There are one-year cicadas, three-year cicadas, and seventeen-year cicadas. This means that their larvae will even live underground for seventeen years before crawling out and turning into adults.

However, the cicada monkey in front of me...is a little too big.

How long has this been alive?

"This is a hundred-year-old cicada." Zou Shu introduced: "This is something unique to this ancient battlefield."

"Cicadas lay eggs underground, which hatch underground. After living there for a while, they crawl out. But this place happens to be the place of Yin energy during the autumnal equinox. The heaven and earth are stagnant, so they can't transform into adults."

“But they can’t die either, because they live underground, just like those little bugs just now, and can absorb the earth’s energy. In this case, even the seventeen-year cicada is considered small.

"Among the monsters in this area, there are many hundred-year-old cicadas, and even thousand-year-old cicadas! The most powerful one I've seen so far is a three-thousand-year-old cicada!"

"Three thousand years ago, the sky and the earth were connected, the gods disappeared without a trace, and the heaven and earth froze. The three thousand year old cicada has lived from that time to the present. It has become a powerful figure, but it was trapped by us and hid inside and refused to come out."

Listening to what the other party said, Gao Jian nodded slightly: "Oh... the thing you said that can bury the Zuo family here is this three thousand year old cicada?"

Zou Shu laughed loudly, as if he had heard a joke: "Haha! How is it possible? You and I can touch a three thousand year old cicada? And there is only one such thing."

Then, he came close to Gao Jian and said in a low voice: "What I found is a 1,500-year-old cicada, which has been nurtured underground for 1,500 years and has the strength to reach the sixth realm.

"Oh? But in that case, wouldn't the two of us be delivering the food?" Gao Jian spread his hands.

"Follow me and you will know." Zou Shu said.

At the same time, at this moment, on the top of the Zuo family’s mountain.

On this mountain peak, a deputy general of the Demon Suppression Division was sitting here.

The deputy general of the Demon Suppression Division is usually even half a level higher than the general. He is responsible for the actual command of other captains. The captains command flag officers at all levels, and finally the ordinary soldiers are ranked in order.

Deputy general refers to the deputy general of Sima of the Demon Suppression Division.

However... in reality, the status of the Ya general is much higher than that of the deputy general.

Although the rank of Yajiang was the same as that of Xiaowei, he was a seventh-rank official in front of the prime minister. In actual command, the deputy general's command power was far inferior to that of Yajiang.

Before yesterday, there were four deputy generals and one tooth general in the Demon-Exterminating Guard of the Demon-Suppression Division.

The only general was named Gou Lei, Sima's nephew. He was extremely capable and very popular. Everyone was convinced and had no objection to him being the general.

However, generally speaking, there should be two positions for the Yajiang.

The deputy generals usually try their best to find ways to get the position of the chief general.

For example, the old deputy general, Bai Xingzhi, who helped Gao Jian yesterday.

Bai Xingzhi's mentality is still quite conflicted. He has always set the goal of becoming a general, hoping to become a direct descendant of Sima. In this way, no matter Sima is promoted to another place or returns to Yuezhou, he will be equivalent to being affiliated with the Gou family.

For a warrior like Bai Xingzhi who does not come from a noble family, this is almost the best way out.

however……

New teeth will appear.

To be fair, the new Yajiang was actually quite convincing. Although when he first arrived, everyone was quite unconvinced and felt that he was only in the third realm and was not qualified to be a Yajiang, let alone a captain.

However, when the opponent confronted the Bingqi Faxiang twice and he remained standing, the voices of opposition became much smaller.

Cultivation can be developed through practice.

But some people, even after practicing for their entire lives, cannot reach the level of confronting the military energy and Dharma.

Therefore, Bai Xingzhi also knew that there was nothing wrong with Sima’s choice.

The man called Gao Jian is indeed qualified to convince the crowd and is also qualified to be the general. The mutual intimidation they showed when they just met was enough to convince everyone.

only……

Just a little lost.

With this feeling of loss, Bai Xingzhi unexpectedly received an invitation from the Zuo family this morning, inviting him to come over for tea.

Clearly, Bai Xingzhi killed the Zuo family's assassin last night, but today, Zuo An still invited Bai Xingzhi to the top of the mountain, as if what happened yesterday did not cause any grudge between them.

Bai Xingzhi was a little curious about what the Zuo family was thinking, so he came.

As soon as he sat down, he laughed sarcastically and said, "Hey, this is really a mess."

Bai Xingzhi looked around and saw ruins all around. Although they had tried their best to clean up, it was still difficult to rebuild the original buildings in one night.

Therefore, after cleaning up the garbage, waste, and damaged houses, the remaining parts are still a bit messy.

"I'm sorry to have embarrassed you, General Bai, but these are the traces left by Sima himself. After all, Sima is one of the strongest warriors in Cangzhou, so it's not a loss of face." Zuo An sat on the other side of the table, pouring tea for Bai Xingzhi.

"Yes, by the way, why did you suddenly come to me so early in the morning? Do you want me to see how miserable you are?" Bai Xingzhi didn't drink his tea, but stared at Zuo An and asked.

Zuo An stroked his beard, looking very old: "Alas, General Bai, what you said is true. You and I share the same suffering, why are you making such sarcastic remarks to each other?"

"We share the same suffering? Your Zuo family is rich and powerful, do you still need me to sympathize with you? Am I worthy of sharing the same suffering as the Zuo family?" Bai Xingzhi said with a smile.

"That's for sure. We all have the same problem. Gao Jian is a real troublemaker." Zuo An said.

"Zuo'an, what do you mean by slandering my general here?" Bai Xingzhi picked up the tea but still didn't drink it.

Zuo An said casually, "He is the general of the Gou family, not yours. You don't think that the Demon Suppression Division and the Sima family are one family, do you? He is a temporary official and cannot be a Sima for life. He will eventually return to the Gou family, and then he will have nothing to do with Cangzhou."

These words seemed to have touched Bai Xingzhi's pain point. Bai Xingzhi did not say anything, but started drinking tea.

"You see, we are in the same boat." Zuo An began to fiddle with the teapot.

"Other people's gains are not my losses, so what is there to be jealous of?" Bai Xingzhi replied.

"I didn't say you were jealous. I just said we are in the same boat. Are you saying that my Zuo family is jealous of your wise advice?" Zuo An said.

These words choked Bai Xingzhi, making him a little angry and embarrassed, so he put down the teacup and said, "If that's all I say, I'm afraid the Zuo family won't get what they want."

"Although Gao Jian is young, he is destined to have a bright future. The surname Gao is not a big surname, and he has no foundation in Cangzhou. He is not from a noble family, and he has to rely on his own ability to climb up. I lost, and I am not narrow-minded enough to use you to deal with my own people."

"No matter what, the Demon Suppression Division is not the Gou family, but now he is the Sima of the Demon Suppression Division, and he and I are comrades-in-arms. You want to start with me. Do you look down on me?"

Seeing Bai Xingzhi's reaction, Zuo An waved his hands repeatedly: "Well, of course that's not the way to put it. I really think we are in the same boat."

"General Bai, there are only four things in this world: we dislike the poor, we fear the rich, we hate the rich, and we laugh at the poor. You are not from a noble family, and although you are gifted, you have suffered a lot since you were a child, right? I know that your hostility towards me probably comes from this."

Bai Xingzhi didn't say anything, just listened to Zuo An.

However, what Zuo An said is not wrong.

He is no longer young. Unlike young generals like Gao Jian, his beard is all white. Calculating his age, he is over a hundred years old.

For a warrior, this age is quite old.

Although according to common sense, warriors with good bodies should live longer.

But in reality, warriors generally have short lives.

In the martial arts training system, there are very few ways to open the vital gate. In addition, martial artists often have to strengthen their bodies, so they will get injured if they are not careful.

For example, when it comes to strengthening your qi and blood, many times you don't know the difference between 'just right' and 'hurting your body'. Many people can hurt their knees just by running.

All of this can only be avoided with the guidance of seniors and sufficient resources.

Moreover, warriors have to rush to the front in battle, and they usually have many hidden injuries on their bodies, so they age very quickly.

Only those warriors who come from aristocratic families, have treasures to nourish them, famous teachers to guide them, sufficient medicines, and do not need to fight with others desperately, can bring into play the advantage of the warriors' 'good health' and live longer than other sects.

And for someone like Bai Xingzhi...

His life is not that good.

He did not refute Zuo An's words.

(End of this chapter)