Section 31: The Power of Anger

He patted the two idiots, then kicked the driver who was burying his head in the ground like an ostrich, and shouted to continue on the road.

Sun Simiao sprinkled a handful of yellow powder into the medicine basket, and the locusts in the basket stopped moving in an instant. He sighed and said, “It’s all medicine, don’t waste it.” After that, he put the basket on his back and walked with Yun Ye to Chang’an.

Liu Xian suddenly roared, startling countless locusts. He unsheathed his treasured sword at his waist, and a dense curtain of light flashed past him. Countless locusts were cut in half by the sword and fell to the ground. The coachman lifted his foot and stepped down hard. The locusts that were tangled together at his feet immediately turned into a pile of green meat.

Seeing the three’s boring behavior, Yun Ye shook his head and drove the locusts away from the tree next to him. He broke off a branch, the leaves of which had long been eaten, leaving only the branches, which were thin and dense like brooms.

He stopped Liu Xian’s madness, and put the branch in his hand to show him that this thing was faster than a knife at killing locusts.

Liu Xian was a little lost, his gums bleeding and staining his teeth red. With his hideous face, his mouth opened and closed like the mouth of a cannibal demon from hell.

The coachman desperately tried to kill the locusts with the branch, as if to prove his own cowardice.

Lao Sun dusted off his sleeves and took the lead, stepping forward in large strides, stepping on the locusts all over the ground.

Passing by a village, he did not find anyone killing locusts, only an incense table full of various pastries and offerings of pigs and cattle. The old teacher at the head of the kneeling crowd was trembling with emotion as he read a moving letter to the locust god. The blood on his forehead showed that the old teacher had used the most sincere etiquette.

But this did not prevent the locusts from munching on the crops in the village, and some even jumped onto the sacrificial table and nibbled on the green fruit in the offerings.

Yun Ye was a little hungry. He had run for a long time and hadn’t eaten a bite. Ignoring the peasants kneeling on the ground, he walked to the altar in two or three steps, grabbed a pastry on the altar, and took a bite. Not bad, not bad, not greasy, and faintly fragrant with osmanthus.

“Master Sun, the dim sum here is really good. You should try it too.” Yun Ye loudly invited his companion to enjoy the delicacy.

Lao Sun was not at all polite. He first grabbed a wine bottle and drank a lot, then tore off a piece of roasted pork and chewed it, making a slurping sound in his mouth.

Liu Xian laughed and held up the pig’s head, finding a good place to bite into it. He buried his head in the pig’s head and wouldn’t get up. The coachman took a timid bite of the sour fruit, his teeth showing from the sourness.

The old gentleman’s eyes were nearly popping out of his head, and he pointed at them, shaking and unable to speak. A man in a green shirt jumped up and was about to scold, but Liu Xian, who was chewing on the pig’s head, kicked him into the crowd.

“How dare you! Who are you? How dare you be rude to the locust god?” The old man finally said a complete sentence.

Yun Ye nudged the old man, “This is the time for you to step in.”

“I am Sun Simiao, passing by your village today to collect herbs. I saw the delicious food and wine and couldn’t resist, so I ate in a bad manner. Forgive me.”

The name of a person is like the shadow of a tree. Old Sun’s words left the villagers speechless. The name of the “Medicine King” was not given in vain. In the hearts of the villagers, he was not much different from a fairy.

Immediately, a villager who had seen Lao Sun came forward and bowed, saying that he wanted to thank the immortal for saving his mother the last time.

“You are all living people. If you don’t go to the fields to catch locusts, how can you beg them to run away by kneeling and bowing your head?” Sun Simiao asked the villagers.

The old gentleman in front of him said, “Mr. Sun, you are a highly accomplished man, why are you so disrespectful to the gods? We should pray to heaven for forgiveness, how dare we kill indiscriminately?

“I have killed countless locusts for medicine all my life, but now I have a big appetite and I can live another 70 or 80 years. How come there is no plague from the god of locusts? The man next to him is the famous Lord of Lantian, who has eaten countless locusts in his life. How come he has not been struck by the god of locusts, even though he is young and has been appointed as a minister? The general over there just killed countless locusts, but now he is as light as a swallow and has boundless strength? Even the coachman has killed many locusts, but he is still fine now. It can be seen that the locust god is a coward who bullies the weak. You are strong, so he is weak. You have bowed your heads for a long time, but have the locusts died off? You have broken your head, so you can’t say you are not pious. Since it’s useless, let these food and drink go into the stomachs of the old man and others, save some strength, and kill more locusts and save more grain, so that a disaster victim can live one more day.”

That’s a good idea! Yun Ye praised in his heart, although he described himself as a pica patient, but he forgave him for the sake of Lao Sun’s hard work.

“But,” the old gentleman had just taken a step forward to speak, when he heard a crunching sound under his feet. Two locusts that had been mating in a trance were killed.

His face turned red and he couldn’t speak. He had become a murderer himself.

“Uncle Nine, which child on our farm hasn’t caught locusts for fun? Even I didn’t escape the plague when I was young. I haven’t seen anything wrong with it. Let’s listen to the immortal Sun and catch all the locusts in the fields. I heard that the government will collect three jin for one coin. Who doesn’t catch a hundred or so jin a day? It’s better to exchange some copper coins for food than to starve to death.”

“That’s insightful!” Yun Ye praised with a raised thumb. “I am the owner of Yun’s farm. My family buys a large amount of locusts. You don’t have to rush to send them. First, drown the locusts you catch, then dry them in the sun, and send them to my house. I will give you food in exchange. I will not cheat the young and old.”

Before Uncle Nine could say anything, the people on the farm left in a flurry, calling out to their children and grandchildren to tie up sacks and nets, and everyone was busy with their own work.

Liu Xian moved his head away from the pig’s head and said to Yun Ye, “I was already desperate when I saw the locusts flying over, but now I think there is still hope.” The image was not elegant, but the tone was unusually sincere.

“I have no supernatural powers, I’m just an ordinary person, I just know more. There have always been many passionate men in the Guanzhong region. Since ancient times, the Guanzhong region has produced great generals. The First Emperor of Qin relied on them to conquer the six states. Our dynasty also relied on them to restore order in troubled times. Your Majesty relied on them to eliminate the six barbarian tribes and make our Great Tang the most powerful nation in the world, with all the other nations coming to pay tribute. Would such men be the kind of people who would just nod their heads and say yes? When he is angry, even heaven will hate him for being so weak, and even the earth will hate him for being so spineless. Seeing the locusts destroying the grain they had worked so hard to grow, he had already been filled with anger. I was just letting them vent it. In the face of such anger, even if there were a real locust god, he would have to retreat three miles and not dare to fight against its spear.

The peasants rushed out of the village and headed for their own homes. Even the elderly Uncle Nine, carrying a broken fishing net, was shouting that he wanted to kill all the locusts.

“Is this the power of anger?” Liu Xian asked himself.