"You ran into those man-eating strange cicadas on your way here, didn't you?" Elder Dao sighed. "Those wretched things have been frantically invading Mount Rong's territory. Our disciples have been fighting hard to hold them back, but they simply cannot be wiped out. Qiu Hu swore an oath to eradicate every last one of them."
He Lingchuan's brow twitched. "What happened?"
Just then, someone knocked gently on the door outside to deliver a report.
Sect Master Xue had other matters to attend to; after giving He Lingchuan a polite word of farewell, he took his leave first.
The two men left in the hall resumed their conversation.
"Qiu Hu was only three years old when he was brought to Mount Rong. Elder Zhao placed him with a family in Bai Village to raise him. To him, his only true kin were Elder Zhao and his foster parents." Elder Dao sighed. "Elder Zhao has already passed away, and two months ago, Bai Village was overrun by the strange cicadas. Not a single soul survived. Qiu Hu's foster parents were also..."
Devoured by the strange cicadas as well.
"By the time he rushed over, the village was a scene of utter devastation. Right then and there in Bai Village, he swore his oath."
He Lingchuan pondered for a good while before asking, "If I can eliminate this scourge of strange cicadas, Qiu Hu will follow me?"
Elder Dao straightened up at once. "Young Master He, you have a way?"
"I've only just arrived in your esteemed lands; how can I say for sure right now?" It was only his second day here.
"That boy Qiu Hu repays every kindness and avenges every grudge." Realizing he had been too hasty, Elder Dao said earnestly, "If you want him to temper his nature and serve under you obediently without causing trouble, you must bind him with benevolence. To put it bluntly, this is an excellent opportunity."
The implication was plain: Qiu Hu would only follow He Lingchuan wholeheartedly if He Lingchuan helped him get his revenge.
"I will do my utmost," He Lingchuan agreed without hesitation. "By the way, I heard these strange cicadas came from the northeast?"
"The earliest reports came from villagers on Mount Rong's northeastern border. They must have crossed into our territory there, leaving not a blade of grass alive in their wake." Elder Dao thought for a moment. "However, according to our sect's observations, over the past two months, the growth rate of these monstrosities has actually slowed down."
He Lingchuan frowned. "That still counts as slow?"
From birth to adulthood to devouring humans had taken those strange cicadas a mere few dozen breaths!
"Two months ago, right after devouring people, they would immediately burrow into the ground to breed. Our Mount Rong disciples observed that from laying eggs to nymphs bursting from the soil took less than ten breaths!" Even as experienced and knowledgeable as Elder Dao was, he found it absurd. "What living creature reproduces at such a speed?!"
If they could keep reproducing at such a horrifying rate indefinitely, the consequences would be unthinkable—in less than half a year, the entire world would be overrun.
He Lingchuan remarked, "This is likely the result of a mutation. My companion identified them as seventy-year cicadas. Normally, their eggs and nymphs must remain underground for seventy full years before maturing and surfacing. Furthermore, seventy-year cicadas are herbivores and nowhere near that size."
For the seventy-year cicada's growth to suddenly swing from the slowest to the fastest, and for its nature to change so completely that it devoured people—something bizarre had to be at work behind this.
Elder Dao continued, "Yet over these past two months, their reproduction rate has visibly slowed. From egg-laying to nymphs breaking through the earth now takes six to ten hours."
"That means whatever factor induced their mutation is rapidly losing its effect."
Mutation... mutation... What did that word evoke?
Elder Dao gave a bitter smile. "For the past two months, our Mount Rong disciples have been purging the strange cicadas everywhere. Even as we speak, they are rushing all about. Alas, there is still no way to eradicate them. Wherever these monsters go, neither man nor beast survives, fields and trees wither, and the people of Mount Rong live in terror. No one has the heart to farm, and outside merchants dare not even visit."
The frozen ground of early spring had not yet thawed; if the cicada scourge continued to rage, the coming spring plowing would be doomed.
"I have the general picture now." He Lingchuan abruptly shifted topics. "By the way, I heard the Mount Rong Sect is a creditor of the Yuan Kingdom, and that the kingdom has borrowed quite a sum from you?"
This piece of news had been shared with him by Li Qingge. When he first heard it, he had found it surprising yet perfectly logical.
In truth, this was also why he had chosen Mount Rong to lend him strength.
This sudden turn caught Elder Dao off guard; he blinked in surprise before gathering his thoughts. "Uh, yes, that is true. Over the past thirty or forty years, Mount Rong and the Yuan Kingdom have maintained friendly ties as good neighbors, and Mount Rong disciples have even served as officials in the Yuan court. Alas, the Yuan Kingdom has been plagued by endless natural disasters and internal strife in recent years, repeatedly borrowing from us. Last year, before confronting the Governor of Xunzhou, they borrowed another two million taels of silver from our sect, along with grain."
"How much do they owe in total?"
"Ah, my junior brother handled that matter, so I don't know the exact figure. But it must be at least twenty million taels."
Twenty million taels—the Yuan Kingdom's total debt to the Mount Rong Sect. And He Lingchuan believed that, given the Yuan Kingdom's habits, Mount Rong was hardly the only entity they had borrowed from.
Just how much foreign debt had this country accumulated?
"Have they repaid any of it?" No wonder the Yuan royal court had suddenly managed to raise money and grain before the Battle of the Han River to support Zhao Pan's army.
The Mount Rong Sect was certainly wealthy.
"Not a bit," Elder Dao waved his hand dismissively. "Fighting a war on the western front and quelling rebellions in the south, the Yuan Kingdom has repeatedly sent envoys to beg for loans. This time they even prepared some collateral, but the sect master turned them down."
"Collateral?"
"The Yuan Kingdom apparently wanted to pledge mines, pastures, and docks as collateral, saying we could take possession if they defaulted." Elder Dao frowned. "From what I see, our sect has little interest."
He Lingchuan sighed inwardly. Needing foreign loans just to fight their wars—the Yuan Kingdom was truly bled dry of wealth and people.
"Young Master He, why do you ask..." Elder Dao trailed off, suddenly remembering that He Lingchuan was headed for the Yuan Kingdom next. "Is there a connection?"
"I am from the Yuan Kingdom."
Elder Dao paused, giving him a thorough once-over.
"What is it?"
"If the Yuan Kingdom can still produce a man of your caliber, Young Master He, it seems its fortunes are not yet entirely spent."
"The homeland is rotting away. Alas." He Lingchuan stood up. "My two companions have both studied monsters and strange beasts. Let me discuss this with them."
...
Zhu Daniang had wandered off somewhere unknown, but He Lingchuan found Dong Rui at a teahouse at the foot of the mountain.
Ever since he had a presentable face and could step out in public, this man had been having a marvelous time sipping tea and listening to storytellers, even throwing tips around generously. The ghost ape sat beside him munching on fruit. In the dead of winter, it wasn't easy for humans to get their hands on a pear, let alone a monkey.
Yet the ghost ape finished one off in two or three bites before reaching for another.
The other patrons gave the monkey a couple of curious glances, but seeing that it was clean and well-behaved, they went back to their tea. What was so unusual about a wealthy gentleman carrying a caged bird or walking a monkey? The whole point was flaunting what you had that others didn't.
Up front, the storyteller was keeping up with current events, narrating the recent cicada plague. But he understood that while playing up the horror, he had to inject a little hope; otherwise, if the listeners in the teahouse saw only bleak despair, feeling as though their own doom was imminent, would they still tip him?
Thus he sang lavish praises of the Mount Rong Sect disciples' fearless bravery, describing how they sliced through the bugs like chopping vegetables, embellishing the recent skirmishes into thrilling epics.
He Lingchuan walked up, grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the table, and began cracking them. "You seem to be rolling in money."
Chapter 755