The Zhang Family’s Tier One Top-Grade Spiritual Vein, though not high in tier and unable to support Foundation Establishnt Cultivators’ cultivation, is a Water Attribute Spiritual Vein that can produce a treasure known as Water Cold Stone every ten years.
Water Cold Stone is a crucial material for refining a Tier Two Water Attribute Flying Sword.
After eting with the Zhang Family’s patriarch Zhang Deming, Song Minghui expressed her intentions.
Upon learning that the Cyan Mountain Sect was willing to assist the Zhang Family against the ant infestation, Zhang Deming was very pleased.
The Zhang Family nearly survives on the cultivation of Spirit Fields, and now that the Spirit Fields have been attacked by the ant infestation and almost completely devoured, the entire Zhang Family was furious and eager to exterminate these Marching Ants.
For the continuation of the family, it is critical that resources are never cut off.
The mortal mbers of the Zhang Family are fine, as they have their own worldly industries and will not starve, thus being able to live without worry.
But the cultivators of the Zhang Family are different.
They rely entirely on resources produced by the Zhang Family to cultivate the Way of Immortality, getting so Spirit Stones every year from the family for cultivation, all of which depend on the family.
This year, without the main inco from the Spirit Fields, the Zhang Family has had to use its family reserves to support the cultivation of family cultivators.
Even so, the resources fall far short. This has left Zhang Deming, along with the other sixteen cultivators of the Zhang Family, including the clan leader, struggling to make ends et.
Zhang Deming has been troubled by this for several days, wishing he could act right now to wipe out those damned Marching Ants.
"Since the minor locust plague over a hundred years ago, the Zhang Family barely survived that disaster, only to face its largest ant infestation to date just as we finally managed to thrive to this point."
"Facing such a calamity, it’s unfortunate that our Zhang Family’s foundations are weak, with few cultivators, making it impossible to fully eradicate this ant infestation, allowing it to spread towards Guangde County."
"If we were able, we wouldn’t have sought Elder Xuu’s help, troubling him to worry about us."
"Now that the Cyan Mountain Sect has sent people to assist us, Elder Xuu must have played a role. On behalf of the Zhang Family, I, Zhang Deming, thank the Cyan Mountain Sect for this kindness, and we will surely repay it double in the future!"
"Patriarch Zhang, there’s no need for such formality; assisting you in eradicating the ant infestation is also an effort to protect the peace of Guangde County."
"We should now hurry to pursue the ant infestation, lest they continue wreaking havoc. The sooner we complete this, the sooner a great weight will be lifted from our hearts."
Seeing Zhang Deming’s worried expression, Song Minghui suggested.
"Very well."
Zhang Deming nodded, ready to set out.
He was not at the Zhang Family estate but on top of a city wall in Guangde County.
anwhile, the Spirit Fields at the Zhang Family estate had been devoured, leaving nothing of interest to attract the Marching Ant Horde.
The ant horde was now heading towards Guangde County; their progress was not quick, but they had steadily reached the outskirts of Guangde County over the past two days.
The Zhang Family had been tracking the ant horde’s movents, chasing them and striking to clear them, thus maintaining clear information about their location.
Zhang Deming, along with Song Minghui and the other five, headed straight for a temporary nest where the ant horde was located.
Unlike locusts, Marching Ants do not remain in a constant state of movent.
They have a very distinct trait.
They like to build temporary nests to rest.
This also reduces the difficulty of the eradication work.
Once the temporary nest is located, eliminating the horde in one fell swoop won’t be too difficult.
For this reason, Zhang Deming had devised a good plan to deal with the ant horde easily.
However, the strength of the Zhang Family’s cultivators was sowhat insufficient.
He needed the help of several late-stage Qi Cultivators.
Coincidentally, Song Minghui and others were a tily aid.
"Everyone, please follow ."
The news of the Marching Ant infestation had just started spreading.
To avoid alarming the residents of the city, this news was only circulating within the cultivator community.
Currently, only the Cyan Mountain Sect was involved in assisting the Zhang Family.
Even so, it was enough to deal with the Marching Ant horde.
With the family cultivators tracking the horde’s movents around the clock, everyone quickly reached the ant horde’s nesting location.
The nest was built on a small hill and was relatively easy to find.
The main requirent for Marching Ants to build a nest is that the soil contains Water Attribute Spiritual Qi. This area is near Guangde County’s Array Spiritual Vein, filled with both Water and Wood Attribute Spiritual Qi.
The Marching Ants are very small, each about the size of a thumb. However, with the vast number of ants, the nest was built on a large scale, fully capable of accommodating cultivators inside.
"Clan Leader!"
Upon seeing Zhang Deming arrive, the Zhang Family cultivators stationed here imdiately ca forward to report the ant horde situation to Zhang Deming.
Seeing Song Minghui and the others, they couldn’t help but glance over, guessing they might be the fellow cultivators here to assist.
Zhang Deming exchanged a few words with the clan cultivators before briefing Song Minghui and the others on the state of the ant horde.
"There are over five hundred thousand Marching Ants, and most are now within this nest."
"Our Zhang Family cultivators are not skilled enough to clear out the horde; we need the assistance of esteed fellow cultivators."
Zhang Deming smiled wryly and pointed out the exact location of the ant nest.
"To completely eradicate the ant horde, we also need the Zhang Family’s help. I wonder if Patriarch Zhang has any good strategies for destroying this nest?"
This ti it was Zhang Nianchuan who spoke.
Zhang Nianchuan and Song Minghui were the highest cultivated among the group of five.
Song Minghui often assud command due to her seniority, so Lin Han, Chu Qin, and the others naturally followed her lead.
However, when Zhang Nianchuan took the lead, he was equally capable of leadership.
"Since everyone is here, why don’t we try to trap them in a ’fish in a barrel’ situation, using poison smoke or fire attack to eliminate the ant horde in one sweep!"
Zhang Deming proposed his plan.
For dealing with large numbers of insect swarms, poison smoke and fire attacks are very effective strategies.
As with past locust eradications, using Fire Attribute Magic can cause massive damage to insect swarms.
If cultivators attempted to slay each insect individually with swords, they might exhaust their magical power before even exterminating half of the swarm.
"I think this thod is feasible; let’s proceed with it."
Song Minghui decided imdiately.
Zhang Deming wasted no more ti and gathered ten Zhang Family cultivators to assist in dealing with the ant horde.
They began moving toward the entrance of the ant nest.
Zhang Deming was cautious, instructing all cultivators to be aware of their surroundings and to eliminate any lone Marching Ants they might encounter imdiately.
Marching Ants are communal pests; if any lone ant detects an enemy, it imdiately returns to the nest to report to the Ant Queen.
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