A Mortal’s Immortal Gourd
Chapter 63: The Pill Was Found Again

The sun was setting in the west, and the battlefield was piled high with locust corpses. This fierce battle had lasted the entire day.  

At this moment, refugees were using brooms to sweep up the insect bodies, carefully separating out the larger mutated locusts.  

From these past days of experience, everyone knew that the mutated locust corpses were extremely valuable. Besides tasting better, they could also strengthen the body and increase vitality.  

This time, the extermination team had harvested more than a hundred mutated locusts.  

After this battle, the locust plague in Daqing Township had been completely eradicated.  

While the gains were huge, the extermination team lost over a hundred people, more than three hundred fled, leaving just over seven hundred survivors, all bearing injuries.  

Among his subordinates, three martial scholars were under his command; one had died, and the other two suffered wounds ranging from moderate to severe, with many cuts tearing the flesh.  

At this moment, Ergouzi held the corpse of the large Locust King in his hands.  

Two giant geese stood beside him, their heads close, eyes drooling as they gazed at the Locust King’s corpse.  

But as proud geese, they would never flatter Ergouzi or beg; they certainly wouldn’t wag their tails like dogs. They just watched with eager eyes.  

This Locust King was over one foot long. Its pair of hind legs were serrated and razor-sharp, ferocious enough to have broken Ergouzi’s Hundred-Jin Heavy Sword.  

His sword was made primarily from refined copper, its quality far superior to ordinary blades, yet it shattered from a single strike by the Locust King.  

Inside the Locust King’s sliced-open belly were golden yellow eggs, looking delicious just by sight.  

Ergouzi’s spiritual sense detected a strong energy within its body—it had likely transformed into the legendary Locust Demon.  

“Do you want to eat this?”  

The two geese immediately lifted their noble heads and nodded upon hearing their master’s question.  

“I’ll give it to you in a few days. It’s for your own good.”  

Ergouzi said as he put away the locust corpse.  

These two geese had performed great feats alongside him recently, especially in today’s battle, leaving them scarred and featherless in many places.  

Feeding them was natural, but such a fine specimen should at least be stored in a gourd to enhance its quality before feeding.  

The geese didn’t understand his meaning. They proudly turned their heads aside, as if to say, “We don’t care about eating it.”  

“Captain Zhang, this time we harvested a total of 156 mutated locusts. How should we divide them?”  

Scholar Zhao looked at the huge pile of locust corpses and asked Ergouzi.  

They had long tasted the difference—these locusts were not only delicious but contained special energy that could boost vitality and strengthen internal true qi, highly beneficial for martial artists.  

“Let’s stick to the usual. The mutated large locusts will be evenly divided into seven shares, one for each person, and the rest will be the extermination team’s rations.”  

In previous battles, Ergouzi always divided the large locusts into seven parts—five for the team members and two shares for the geese.  

As for why the geese got two shares, no one complained, because everyone saw that the geese contributed more effort than anyone else.  

“Scholar Sun has died. Does he still get a share?”  

“Of course. No one who dies in battle should have their share cut.”  

Ergouzi answered matter-of-factly.  

He had only known how to chop firewood and feed pigs before meeting Master Li Banxian. No one had taught him how to handle people.  

Since entering Zhengwu Hall’s library, it was like discovering a new world, learning many things no one had ever taught him before.  

He read many military books in this time, which emphasized that the most important thing in leading troops to battle was rewards and punishments.  

Those who performed well, even the humblest among them, must be rewarded.  

Those who erred, even if powerful, must be punished.  

This maintained authority and ensured orders were followed.  

He hadn’t understood any of this before and had never led a large force in battle, so he faithfully copied what the books said.  

After several days, he felt the books were right; at least no major troubles occurred.  

Scholar Zhao, Scholar Qian, and the constables coveted Scholar Sun’s share, but with Ergouzi’s distribution, they had nothing to complain about.  

Though they gained no extra benefit, at least they wouldn’t suffer losses.  

That night, the extermination team celebrated on the spot with a full meal.  

After this battle, their extermination team’s mission was complete.  

These refugees had fought alongside Ergouzi for days, from starving and staggering to now eating full meals every time, tasting sweetness.  

Everyone eagerly hoped to continue with the team to exterminate more locusts.  

Ergouzi left rations for the extermination team to stay in Daqing Township awaiting orders; the rest went back to the county office to report.  

What to do next was up to the county magistrate’s decision.  

On the way back, passing other villages, they found that locust swarms were still numerous and not suppressed.  

The wandering villagers, after being sent back by soldiers, no longer went out to farm.  

Farming was meaningless now. The crops barely surviving after desperate watering at the beginning of the year had all been eaten by locusts.  

They dug up tree bark and roots, caught a few solitary locusts—meat and vegetables each day—and managed to survive.  

When they passed through a place called Xingwang Township, they happened upon an extermination team in battle.  

The battle scene was intense, with the locusts overwhelmingly dominant.  

The locust swarm’s wings fluttered, producing a rustling sound as they chased the extermination team, forcing them to scatter and flee, crying out in pain.  

One martial scholar was quite skilled, performing lightness skills, moving agilely and flexibly, constantly changing directions while running, appearing smooth and natural.  

However, the large swarm of locusts tightly chasing him were equally fast.  

“Help!”  

This martial scholar saw Ergouzi’s group and shouted loudly for help.  

Ergouzi had some impression of this person—he was among the most active in the county office’s main hall that day, very talkative, so he stood out.  

The two giant geese saw the locust swarm and, without Ergouzi’s orders, charged in.  

Their wings flapped in the air, sweeping locusts down like raindrops.  

These two geese had been eating around ten mutated locusts daily recently, growing especially strong.  

Now they were much stronger than the geese remaining up in the mountains.  

Before Ergouzi could act, the locust swarm chasing the martial scholar had already been wiped out by the two geese.  

They continued to attack other locusts.  

The martial scholar who had narrowly escaped death came to his senses and realized that the swarm that had just made them cry out in pain was completely eliminated by the two geese.  

After the battle, the geese picked up the mutated locusts on the ground with their beaks but did not eat immediately; instead, they brought them to Ergouzi.  

Ergouzi took the mutated locusts and pulled out a dozen more from his bag to feed the geese.  

“Thank you!”  

The rescued martial scholar was still shaken, cupping his hands in thanks to Ergouzi.  

“May I ask your honorable surname and name, brother?”  

Ergouzi regretted not meeting this friend earlier, considering the number of acquaintances he had.  

“My surname is Zhang. These are Scholar Zhao and Scholar Qian. You probably already know them.”  

The group chatted briefly here.  

It turned out that the extermination team assigned to Xingwang Township was unlucky—the first day they arrived, many recruited refugees died or fled, leaving only a few dozen.  

They kept recruiting, but casualties and desertions continued.  

Within a few days, they encountered a particularly large locust swarm, killing two martial scholars on the team.  

Because of frequent deaths, recruiting was difficult.  

The refugees only wanted food and had no intention of risking their lives.  

When he heard that Ergouzi’s team had completed their mission and was returning to the county office to report, he looked both surprised and envious, sighing at his own bad luck.  

When Ergouzi returned outside the county town, he found a large number of refugees had gathered again, even more than last time.  

Some were locals from Anchan County, others wanderers from elsewhere, impossible to stop completely.  

The porridge stalls at the city gates were removed, guards with weapons blocked entry to the city, forbidding refugees from entering.  

The four entered the county office, and the county magistrate was very surprised to hear they had exterminated the locusts in Daqing Township, personally receiving them.  

“I sent out twenty extermination teams. Only your team eliminated the locust swarm first.”  

“You did very well! I will reward you heavily. I hope you will continue to work hard and achieve more merits. In the future, I will commend you all together.”  

The county magistrate was in a good mood, awarding Ergouzi ten Peiyuan Gutben Pills, and five each for Scholar Zhao and the others.  

He also increased their extermination team’s rations from two dou per day to four dou.  

Then he ordered them to continue leading the team from Daqing Township to help exterminate locusts in other villages.  

After leaving the county office, Ergouzi went to Sima Yi’s Huichun Hall.  

Huichun Hall was unusually quiet today; Sima Yi sat behind the counter, looking haggard.  

Though still young, his white hair had increased significantly.  

“You escaped back too?”  

Sima Yi was surprised to see Ergouzi.  

“Escaped back? I’m here to report to the county magistrate.”  

This answer confused Ergouzi as well.  

“Report?”  

Sima Yi was equally puzzled.  

They talked at length to understand each other’s meaning.  

From Sima Yi, Ergouzi learned that many of the twenty extermination teams sent out earlier had disbanded.  

The remaining ones were struggling, fighting hard.  

Some hid and did nothing, unwilling to provoke the large locust swarms.  

Some martial scholars from good families simply escaped back to the county, quitting altogether.  

So Sima Yi assumed Ergouzi had escaped back as well when he saw him return.  

Ergouzi recalled the last battle—most teams truly could not resist.  

“But besides you, a few other teams performed very well.”  

“But those teams had the backing of several prominent families in the county.”  

“This includes my cousin Sima Hong’s team. The family fully supported them, providing people and rations, focusing on training their family disciples.”  

Ergouzi asked Sima Yi about the county’s situation.  

After they recruited many refugees into extermination teams last time, soldiers sent all refugees outside the city back to their hometowns.  

But with extermination teams struggling, many refugees escaped back within days.  

The county office banned Sima Yi’s porridge stall to pressure the refugees to join extermination teams.  

Hungry refugees naturally became willing to catch locusts.  

Meanwhile, local prominent families embezzled seventy to eighty percent of the disaster relief grain allocated by the court.  

Sima Yi blushed when saying this because his own family, the Sima clan, was involved.  

He had begged his uncle for some grain to feed the poor but was soon banned by the county office.  

The city seemed to have no food, but many families hoarded grain they couldn’t finish for years.  

Everyone tacitly sold only small amounts to inflate prices for greater profit.  

Ergouzi was not surprised by this insider info; the wealthy merchants of Sanchazi Town had always done this.  

After bidding farewell to Sima Yi, Ergouzi went to the black market.  

The antidote pill he ordered finally arrived.  

However, because Blood Marrow Pills had plummeted in price, the five he originally prepared could no longer be exchanged for one antidote pill.  

He had to pay an additional 100 taels of refined silver to make up the difference and get the antidote pill.  

The antidote pill was jade green, looking like a piece of jade, smooth and glossy.  

It smelled of herbs and plants.  

Though unsure of the exact scent, his internal corpse poison was already cleared, so he wouldn’t need it for now.  

Hopefully, he would never need it again in his life.  

He pocketed the antidote pill.  

Looking at the rows of medicine cabinets in Hongfu Hall, he asked,  

“Is there any other pill here?”  

“You’re lucky. Hongfu Hall did receive another pill.”  

The shopkeeper smiled proudly upon hearing this.  

“You’ve probably heard that the prefecture government once rewarded a pill, but the county magistrate’s concubine lost it.  

The unlucky person who lost the pill had to exchange two barren mountains with the magistrate for it.”  

Ergouzi, hearing this familiar story, wanted to tell him that unlucky person was himself.  

“Was this pill found again?”  

“Yes. It was found at home while sweeping the floor a couple of days ago. What a coincidence, right?”  

The shopkeeper seemed extremely proud of this story.  

Ergouzi, however, was honest and not stupid; he naturally knew what was going on.  

“What’s the price for this pill?”  

If the price wasn’t too high, he still wanted to buy it back.  

“This precious pill has many interested parties, so it can’t be sold directly.”  

“In five days, it will be auctioned at Hongfu Pavilion. Highest bidder wins.”  

“If you’re interested, you can participate in the auction in five days.”  

“All right.”  

Ergouzi silently left Hongfu Pavilion, unsure whether to feel happy or troubled.  

Finally, he had a chance to buy back his pill.  

To afford the price in five days, he sold a sack of red dates on the black market for 2,600 taels of silver.  

He sold five dou of Cat Tooth Rice disguised as Moon Crescent Spirit Rice for 5,000 taels.  

He sold a batch of Peiyuan Gutben Pills for 1,000 taels.  

He also sold some mutated locust corpses for 2,000 taels...