Chapter 41

A carriage creaked along the official road.

Inside the carriage, Xun Yi leaned back, using silk to cushion the jolts of the carriage. On his left sat Aunt Xue, and on his right were Ma Jingyi and a cage containing a dog-toothed rabbit.

Bai Fu, transformed into a three-inch-tall figure, stood on Xun Yi’s shoulder: “Why did you bring him along, Young Master?”

Ma Jingyi was a follower of the evil deity. Who knew if he would cause trouble at this critical moment?

“Intuition tells me that bringing them will be helpful for this epidemic.”

Them?

Bai Fu looked at the rabbit trembling in the corner of the cage.

“Just this coward?” Bai Fu shook his head and looked at the documents in Xun Yi’s hand.

Xun Yi had spent much effort to obtain the first-hand intelligence from Governor Li and was now quietly reviewing the records of the past few days.

“Miao County is finished; it won’t recover for years.” Looking at the death estimates, the epidemic had already claimed a thousand lives, with many more infected.

Miao County was known as a city of two thousand households, with a population of about ten thousand. With one-tenth of the population dead and many more critically ill, if rescue efforts were delayed, the entire city might be wiped out.

“Moreover, the source of the epidemic is unclear.” Xun Yi flipped through the documents, smiling bitterly: “Although we have consulted famous doctors, the time required to prepare the medicine...”

“This epidemic erupted suddenly and is related to the divine path.” Aunt Xue’s fingers moved as if performing calculations, but the situation was hazy, and the divine will could not be discerned.

“Don’t worry, Young Master. Since it involves the divine path, the divine path will have a legitimate reason to intervene. If we can obtain the immortal elixir, the disaster can be easily resolved.”

Bai Fu also said: “Matters of the divine path are considered natural disasters, different from human-caused disasters. Not only can the divine path take action, but the qi practitioners of the Great Zhou and the Fangxian Dao can also help.”

“The Fangxian Dao specializes in the study of elixirs and is most skilled in healing and resolving disasters.” Aunt Xue comforted Xun Yi: “Young Master Liu may not be in danger.”

“I’m not worried about him being in danger. Qizi returned to the county a few days ago, saying her parents were unwell and she came back to check. Now, thinking about it, I fear—” Xun Yi couldn’t bear to continue. According to the documents, Liu Zhenying’s parents were likely among the first to be infected. Could Liu Yingqi, that girl, have escaped?

“Let’s do our best and leave the rest to fate. Ming and the others are already preparing the herbs and clean water, and Governor Li has invited several practitioners from the city. We don’t know if we can arrive in time.”

With heavy hearts, they arrived at the borders of Miao County.

The sky over Miao County was filled with a heavy, eerie wind, and the air was permeated with an indescribable strangeness.

Aunt Xue’s face changed, and she quickly poured medicine onto a handkerchief for Xun Yi to cover his nose and mouth.

“Young Master, you are a mortal; you must not breathe the air of Miao County easily.”

The medicine on the handkerchief was concocted using the secret techniques of the celestial fox. Xun Yi tied the handkerchief around his nose and mouth and had Ma Jingyi do the same. He cautiously looked out the window.

Visible to the naked eye, a large number of animal carcasses lay in the fields on both sides, and many small demons with sharp horns and wings were playing in the fields.

“They are plague demons.” Aunt Xue flicked her finger, knocking out the driver and having Ma Jingyi take over. Aunt Xue stood on top of the carriage, and the surrounding plague demons, sensing the presence of strangers, screeched and attacked her.

Aunt Xue’s right hand emitted a white glow, which she released with a swoosh, killing the plague demons with the white-browed divine needle in her hand.

After death, the plague demons turned into pus and seeped into the earth, flowing into the deeper layers along the spiritual veins.

“These plague demons cannot be killed.” Bai Fu also stood up and said to Aunt Xue: “Killing these plague demons will cause the plague to penetrate deeper into the earth, polluting the spiritual veins. We would become accomplices.”

Aunt Xue and Bai Fu, relying on their magical powers, stood on top of the carriage, repelling the surrounding plague demons without killing them, and then entered Miao County.

Miao County was a subordinate county of Qinglong City. Due to its small population and limited land, it had the name of a county but not the substance. Therefore, it only had a land god and no city god. The person in charge was a sword cultivator from decades ago, who was worshipped by the locals after his death and gradually evolved from a village to a county over the years.

“If another ten years pass, this place might become independent and give birth to a city god.” Bai Fu stood at the entrance of the land temple, looking up at the dim divine light: “Unfortunately, with this incident, it will be difficult for Yan to advance to a city god.”

They entered the land temple, which, though not as grand as the temples in Qinglong City, had been expanded and built over the years, showing the respect of the locals.

However, around the steps and wooden pillars, there were still some bloodstains that had not been washed away.

Aunt Xue’s expression changed, and she activated the celestial fox’s spiritual eyes, tracing back the events of the past few days. She saw many people dying of blood vomiting at the entrance of the land temple.

“These people were likely infected with the plague and came to the land temple to seek help from the land god?” Unfortunately, the land god never responded, so these people died at the temple entrance, their resentment dispersing the divine power of the land temple, making it as dead and silent as a ghost city.

Xun Yi couldn’t help but shiver, entering the main hall of the land temple and seeing the statue of the land god. It had no spiritual energy and lacked the mysterious divine power of the temples in Qinglong City.

“Has someone sealed this land temple?” Aunt Xue was surprised and flicked her finger. A yellow paper appeared on the forehead of the land god statue, emitting the power of the earth to suppress the statue and isolate the land god’s divine domain from the outside world.

The yellow paper was inscribed with divine script that Xun Yi couldn’t understand, but it seemed familiar.

The yellow earth platform in the forbidden area of the city god’s residence?

Not the script used to seal the platform, but the ancient script inscribed on the platform itself.

“What is this?” Bai Fu reached out, gathering ghostly energy into a sharp spike and stabbing the yellow paper.

The surface of the yellow paper shimmered, and dragons and snakes danced, a yellow dragon roaring and biting through the spike, then menacing Aunt Xue and the others.

“Dragon script and snake seal, the earth’s divine script?” Aunt Xue muttered, and Bai Fu’s face stiffened, thinking of some ominous possibilities.

The divine path used many types of script, such as the dragon script of the dragon deity, the phoenix script of the phoenix, and the Yanhuang divine script left by the ancient historian Cang Jie. The city god’s path, being close to mortals, sometimes used human script but also used the unique script of the divine path.

In general, to integrate the civilizations of various races, the first script used by the Heavenly Court was the cloud and thunder script passed down from the Yuan Emperor era.

Thunder and clouds are celestial phenomena, and this script was derived from them. Passed down through generations of emperors, it had been refined and simplified, making the divine script extremely powerful.

However, the deities who did not submit to the Heavenly Court, such as the evil and demon deities suppressed by the emperors, used other scripts.

For example, the black gold script of the Dongyi deity race and the green script of the Nanli deity race. Among them, the script system using dragon script and snake seal seemed to belong to only one group.

“Didn’t those ladies submit to the Heavenly Court long ago?”

“But only a few of them submitted to the Heavenly Court and joined the system. The others still aspire to restore the ancient glory.” Aunt Xue’s back revealed the celestial fox’s manifestation, and her white, fluffy claws grabbed the yellow paper, causing dragons and snakes to dance against the fox claws.

Aunt Xue increased her strength and forcibly tore the yellow paper, which disintegrated and disappeared into the earth.

“This is a divine script written by a mother earth priest. These people have not progressed; they are still using the legacy of the shamanic era.” Aunt Xue broke the seal and waited for the statue’s own light to recover.

However, after waiting for a while, the statue showed no signs of movement.

“What is Yan doing? We’ve already broken the seal for him.” Bai Fu was secretly angry and asked Xun Yi for help, using the city god’s power to forcibly open the land god’s domain.

Xun Yi, unable to help, looked around the land temple. The murals depicted two sword cultivators in battle, one holding a wooden sword with lush vegetation around him, defeating the other holding an iron sword.

Bai Fu told him: “Young Master, use the city god’s seal to strike the statue. Since he won’t come out to meet us, we’ll go in ourselves!”

The land god’s domain was attached to the four layers of the Qinglong City god’s realm. If Xun Yi wished, he could easily strip the land god of Miao County of his divine power.

He clenched his left hand, and the seal on his hand glowed. He jumped up and slapped the statue, and a golden light flashed, causing everyone to disappear from the land temple.

When they opened their eyes again, they found themselves in a space shrouded in yellow mist. The ground was yellow earth, and in front of them was a temple identical to the one outside.

“Human and divine realms influence each other. The land god’s power is attached to the temple. If the temple in the human world is destroyed, this divine domain will dissipate over time.” Bai Fu explained and went to knock on the door.

But there was no response inside. Just as Bai Fu was about to force his way in, Aunt Xue stopped him: “Be careful, it might be a trap. Call the civil and military judges and others, and we’ll go in together.”

The most significant characteristic of a divine lord is not combat power but the ability to unify all subordinate deities. This is the privilege of a city god.

Xun Yi closed his eyes and mentally called the civil and military judges from Qinglong City. A divine array spread out under his feet, expanding a hundred feet, and after a burst of brilliant light, the civil and military judges led numerous divine soldiers to this place.

The military judge saw the door tightly closed, kicked it open, and cursed: “Old Yan, what’s going on with your place! The city god himself has come, and you don’t even come out to greet—”

As soon as he entered, he saw a dozen plague demons tearing at the land god, who was lying in the courtyard. The land god’s yellow divine light was almost gone, and only the black aura of the plague god enveloped him, gradually converting his divine power into the power of the plague god.

“Wretches, get lost!” The military judge’s face darkened, and he swung his sword, killing all the plague demons and rushing to help his old friend.

“It won’t work. The military judge’s divine power is different from the land god’s. Young Master, you control the city god’s seal and can unify all our divine powers. Use your divine power to help him.” The civil judge instructed Xun Yi to save the land god.

Xun Yi gathered his divine power in his palm, gently placed it on the land god, and the divine power purified the plague power from the land god’s body, gradually awakening him.

Seeing his old friend awaken, the military judge angrily asked the land god of Miao County: “What happened? Why didn’t you send any message?”

The land god of Miao County’s face was ashen, and Xun Yi helped him sit up.

Seeing everyone, the land god of Miao County began to recount what had happened.

“Ten days ago, a strange beast appeared in Miao County. The beast emitted black mist, controlling the power of the plague, and turned several of my attendants into plague demons. Later, I confronted it, but it seemed to have help and turned my hundred divine soldiers into plague demons.”

“Are the plague demons causing trouble in Miao County your divine soldiers?” Xun Yi’s expression was somewhat awkward. They had seen many plague demons on the way, and the ones the military judge had just killed...

His gaze fell on the plague demon corpses in the courtyard, which, due to the divine domain, had not yet turned into pus. The land god of Miao County was silent; these plague demons were once his direct subordinates.

“All were turned into plague demons, and only I escaped. I intended to send a message to Qinglong City, but I was stopped by men in priestly robes. They sealed the divine domain and released the plague demons, likely planning to turn me into a plague god and pin the blame on me.”