I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 166 - 164: True Wu Earth Locust

Li Xing had a suspect in mind, but she needed to confirm with the Ye Family before drawing any conclusions.

The members of the Ye Family watched Li Xing tampering in the ginseng garden from a distance, each silent as a winter cicada, fearful of making a sound that might disturb Master Li. Now, seeing her approach, Ye Mubai finally spoke up: "Master Li, have you discovered anything?"

"I have clues, but I need to ask Uncle Ye a few questions first."

Ye Mubai was delighted: "I’ll speak freely!"

"The Ye Family encountered a locust plague over twenty years ago, can you tell me the specific circumstances?"

"This..."

The faces of all Ye Family members, Ye Qingting included, turned heavy.

The Wu-Tu locust incident was like a thorn in the hearts of all the Ye Family. In one night, their home was destroyed, thousands of kin died in battle, acres of medicinal fields were destroyed, not to mention that Second Miss had to sacrifice her lifelong happiness for rescue. It was a disaster and a shame they never wanted to revisit.

Ye Mubai was still hesitating when Ye Chun spoke up: "Mubai, what’s the difficulty? Tell Master Li!"

"Yes!" Ye Mubai slowly explained, "Twenty-two years ago, a swarm of Wu-Tu locusts descended on the mountains behind the Ye Family without any warning. Due to the suddenness of the event, the Ye Family didn’t have time to activate the Mountain Protection Array, allowing the locusts to invade, devour the herbs, and attack the clan. Every martial master and talisman master of the Ye Family went full force out to eliminate the locusts."

"Unfortunately, this swarm was enormous and extremely frenzied, their combat power exceeded expectations by far; the Ye Family was no match, and casualties were severe. Thanks to the Cuihuan City Guard Team and reinforcements from other families, the locusts were finally exterminated."

Li Xing frowned; the Wu-Tu locusts only become frenzied in their breeding season, when their combat strength surges.

"Uncle Ye, was the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng damaged back then?"

Ye Mubai’s face showing pain, slowly answered, "No. My wife sacrificed her life using the talisman array to protect the ginseng garden, preventing the locusts from touching the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng."

It was clear now, Li Xing was certain that the living thing Cannibal Infant spoke of was indeed the Wu-Tu locust.

"Ye Family Master, Uncle Ye, everyone, I think I know the reason behind the change in the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng. The ground beneath this ginseng garden contains locust eggs, and they are about to hatch."

Ye Chun and Ye Mubai shouted almost simultaneously: "What—!" "Impossible—!"

Ye Chun’s expression was unprecedentedly serious:

"Mr. Li, back then we also considered the possibility of locust eggs, so we went to great lengths to plow the entire mountain. The land was excavated to twenty meters deep, the soil burned with intense fire and then sun-dried, left exposed for three years before planting herbs again. Even if the locusts laid eggs, they wouldn’t survive."

Ye Mubai nodded in agreement: "Yes, Master Li, the botanical gardens are too important to the Ye Family, so even though locust eggs were just a hypothesis, we still carried out the most thorough emergency measures, ensuring no errors."

If plowing and burning the soil didn’t require immense funds and manpower, Ye Lan wouldn’t have had to marry into the Chu Family and endure grievances.

Facing the skepticism of Ye Chun and Ye Mubai, Li Xing explained, "The Wu-Tu locusts are earth-attributed insect beasts; their eggs can burrow down as deep as twenty meters underground, but who dictated that they can only move vertically? Can’t they move horizontally too?"

"The Ye Family’s plowing, excavating, and burning certainly killed the eggs, but not all of them; some eggs escaped."

"Since the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng is too precious and untouched by the locusts’ damage, you wouldn’t dig the soil in the ginseng garden to burn. Hence, the ginseng garden became a sanctuary for the eggs."

Ye Chun and Ye Mubai fell silent, forced to admit Li Xing’s possibility.

"The soil in the ginseng garden contains Yellow Spring Soil, which isolates spiritual power. Even using the Earth-Exploring Mirror, you can’t see that deep. So for many years, no one discovered locusts underground. Until the eggs are about to hatch, the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng sensed the threat from predators and jumped out of the soil to hide."

Watching Ye Chun and Ye Mubai’s increasingly grim expressions, Li Xing knew they were shaken.

"To find out if I’m right is simple; find the eggs, and the truth will be clear."

According to Li Xing’s hypothesis, to escape the scorching fire, the surviving eggs would all hide under the ginseng garden. But the egg density would be too high, not conducive to development, so after the event calmed down, these eggs would inevitably move to other parts of the medicinal garden.

Ye Chun acted decisively, ordering his men to bring the Earth-Exploring Mirror to search for eggs’ traces throughout the medicinal garden.

In just fifteen minutes, news came from the medicinal garden not far from the ginseng garden, where Earth Pear Fruit was planted, indeed discovering Wu-Tu locust eggs.

Ye Chun couldn’t believe it true, raced to the Earth Pear Garden, snatching the Earth-Exploring Mirror from a clan member to check himself.

When he saw the eggs in the mirror, densely distributed underground, the old man only felt his vision darken and collapsed.

"Family Head—!" "Father—!" "Grandfather—!"

Everyone hurriedly lifted Ye Chun, finding his face ashen. Ye Mubai pried open Ye Chun’s mouth and poured a vial of medicine inside.

When the medicine took effect, Ye Chun slowly revived, first words out of his mouth:

"Mubai, the Ye Family... is finished."

Earth-Exploring Mirror revealed an egg density much greater than Li Xing anticipated.

There’s so many eggs beneath one medicinal garden, how many beneath the entire Medicine Mountain? Once they hatch into insects, how much of the Ye Family’s herbs would remain? If the event of twenty-two years ago repeats, the Ye Family wouldn’t have the capability to plow Medicine Mountain again.

Ye Mubai’s mood was no better than Ye Chun’s. "Father, should we notify Chu Yu, have the Chu Family send help?"

Ye Chun shook his head resolutely: "No, if we do, the Ye Family will owe the Chu Family a favor, and your younger sister will never hope to leave. This time, our Ye Family must rely on ourselves!"

Ye Chun forced himself to stand, sweeping his eyes across everyone, his voice sorrowful as he commanded:

"Lao Hu, transmit my orders, all martial and talisman masters of the Ye Family on standby twenty-four hours. Healing Masters hurry and harvest the herbs, sell them as soon as possible, even at a lower price."

"Additionally, arrange for clan members under sixteen and without Primordial Spirit to temporarily reside in other cities, not returning without my order."

Housekeeper Hu tearfully replied: "Yes, Family Head."

"Mubai, notify the City Lord, make preparations for battle, in case the locusts run out and threaten the city’s people. Have Qingyun, Qingbo, and Qing Xiao notify the other families in Cuihuan City to take precautions early."

Ye Mubai choked up agreeing, he knew his father was ready to fight the Wu-Tu locusts to the end.

This time, even the Nine-Curve Spirit Ginseng wouldn’t be spared, the Ye Family wouldn’t have a chance to recover anymore. Regardless of the battle’s outcome, the Ye Family would suffer fatal blows.

Thinking of a family continuing for a thousand years, about to be destroyed by this generation, Ye Mubai’s heart began to bleed.

Ye Chun: "Qingtian, you—go back to Harssas, leave the family matters to your grandfather and uncle, focus on your studies."

Ye Qingting shook his head: "No, I’m not leaving! Grandfather, it’s too early to give up, surely there’s still a way!"

Ye Chun sighed deeply, saying: "You’re young, haven’t experienced that human-locust war from years past, which is why you can say these things. If there were a sliver of hope, grandfather wouldn’t resort to this. Alright, be good, go back with Mr. Li."

Li Xing? Yes, there’s still Li Xing!

Ye Qingting’s eyes red, pleadingly looking at Li Xing, "Ah Xing, please help us..."

Li Xing nodded readily, "Sure, I’ll start by refining a pill!"