Chapter 45

In Miaoxian, the land of the Earth Deity. Xun Yi’s Yin spirit returned, and with a rustle, a pile of cards fell onto his body.

The time inside the library flowed differently from the outside world, roughly at a ratio of ten to one. Xun Yi had been inside for a long time, but only a short while had passed outside.

“What’s the current situation?”

“The Fei beast has retreated into the earth, and with the protection of the Earth Mother’s spell, it’s difficult to find him.” Wen Pan looked at Xun Yi, “Young Master, what’s with you?”

“Oh, I found some methods to deal with the Fei beast in the library.” Xun Yi tidied up the cards, took out one, and with a light wave, a purple-green, sharp-beaked zhen bird perched on his shoulder. “This is the Yunday zhen bird, specifically effective against the Fei beast.”

“Yunday zhen bird?” Wen Pan recalled ancient texts, “Hui Mu knows the clear sky, Yin Xie knows the rain. Is this the legendary poisonous bird that can sense the weather?” Hui Mu is another name for Yunday, capable of summoning a cloudless sky.

“Yeah.” Xun Yi stood up, “Now to deal with the Fei beast. With this zhen bird, it should reduce the consumption of divine power.”

Xun Yi called off the troops immediately after identifying the true identity of the Fei beast, mainly because he was unwilling to further deplete the divine power stored by the City God. Wen Pan took the opportunity to suggest that Xun Yi use his City God status to search the library of the Great Zhou Divine Way. This was the most common tactic during external campaigns. One person’s wisdom is limited, but if he could leverage the wisdom of the entire Heavenly Court library, even a high-ranking foreign deity could be defeated.

...

“So, this time, your Earth Mother Temple has been causing trouble in Qinglong City, actually to deplete the City God’s divine power?”

“That’s right.” The High Priest’s face was grim as he quietly looked at the map on the ground. The shadow representing the Fei beast had disappeared under his protection, making it difficult for the City God’s people to investigate. “The main goal this time was to observe the situation at the City God’s residence and deplete the divine power left by Lord Cao.”

The people from the Evil Spirit Hall were thoughtful: Yes, even if this acting City God has great power, how much divine power has he expended in just a few days?

A mere mortal cannot replenish divine power. Relying solely on the divine power conversion of the City God’s residence, the accumulated power over a few days is far from enough.

“Lord Cao’s divine power storage was already not much after his campaigns on the foreign continent. After these few days of using divine power, there’s not much left in the entire Qinglong City.” The High Priest silently calculated. The entire Miaoxian County was covered by Xun Yi’s “Spring Revival,” temporarily ensuring that the people wouldn’t die from the plague, but the excessive consumption of divine power meant that a violent approach against the Fei beast was impossible.

“So, let’s add more fuel to the fire. Have the Fei beast lay snake eggs in the ground, focusing the City God’s efforts on Miaoxian County.” The High Priest and the people from the Evil Spirit Hall discussed, and the red-robed man with a mask cast a spell to control the Fei beast, laying snake eggs deep in the earth. These plague-infested snake eggs, if they were to erupt in the future, could still cause widespread harm.

...

At the land temple, the long-eared dog-toothed rabbit, which Xun Yi called Dabai, crawled onto Xun Yi’s body, eyeing his cards with a greedy look.

“What, do you want me to extract your essence and refine you into a card?” Xun Yi asked Dabai with a smile, gently stroking the rabbit’s white fur, as if pondering something.

Dabai shuddered, feeling intimidated, but remembering his goal, he flattered, “Young Master, do you have a long-eared rabbit in these cards? If you don’t need it, can you give it to this little beast?”

“Your kin?” Xun Yi used the “Spring Revival” technique, and with a light shake, a group of rabbits appeared beside him. “Why are you asking? Do you want to mate with them? If so, I can help you record it.”

“His intention is probably to use these essences to upgrade himself.” A faint voice suddenly came from his ear, making Xun Yi tremble and look around.

Although Wen Pan and others were present, no one spoke.

“Don’t look, they can’t see me.” A green dragon pattern slowly climbed up Xun Yi’s neck. “I am the soul of a celestial dragon; how could they easily detect me?”

The little green dragon transformed into a tattoo on Xun Yi’s body, and even Wen Pan and others didn’t notice its existence.

The tattoo moved and finally settled on Xun Yi’s arm. “These cards are used by the gods as summoning beasts. Extracting the essence of spirit beasts can help their kin advance in level.”

“Eat kin?” Xun Yi felt some resistance.

“Don’t worry, this is not killing. The essence of life lies in the true spirit. Whether it’s celestial gods, demons, ghosts, mortals, or imperial clans, the consciousness of all living beings comes from the same source, the innate true spirit. The light of the true spirit enters the cycle of rebirth, giving birth to countless living beings. In this life, you might be a human, but in the next, you could be an animal. The soul is merely the fetal membrane enveloping the true spirit. It is not used in reincarnation. When a spirit beast dies, their true spirit is extracted, leaving only the essence fetal membrane sealed in the card. This is how these beast cards are created. Although they possess spirituality, they lack independent consciousness. Also, the soldiers in your City God’s residence are made from the souls of mortals. Do you know where these souls come from?”

“Are these the fetal membranes of our mortal souls?”

“Yes, the true spirit representing memory and inheritance is put into the cycle of rebirth, and the remaining spiritual fetal membrane is used to create celestial soldiers. This is the consistent practice of the Heavenly Court. After reincarnation, the Underworld will create new fetal membranes. Different fetal membranes mean different races. Creatures like these rabbits and foxes only have essence, not soul, so their intelligence is low.”

After the green dragon explained, Xun Yi handed a card to the long-eared dog-toothed rabbit.

Dabai bit the card and swallowed it, the essence slowly digesting in his stomach, and his own spirituality slightly improved.

“This is the cultivation method of our spirit cultivators.” The green dragon seemed to sigh, “Whether it’s scholars, warriors, Taoists, or demons, as long as they can enhance their spirituality and transform into divinity, they can become celestial gods.”

The green dragon chattered on, while Xun Yi and Wen Pan discussed the next steps.

“Wen Pan, I’ll give you the Yunday zhen bird. You and Wu Pan go to slay the Fei beast. There’s a friend watching from a distance, who should be able to help when the time comes.”

“What about you, Young Master?”

“I’ll try to help the county deal with the plague and meet up with the people behind.” Xun Yi said, “After all, human affairs are not for you gods to meddle in.”

Wen Pan nodded and took out a pill, handing it to Xun Yi. “The epidemic is rampant in the city. Although Young Master is protected by the City God’s divine power, it’s hard to prevent erosion. This pill was won from a fellow practitioner in the past and can help Young Master resist the epidemic.”

After discussing, Xun Yi left the land temple with Ma Jingyi and Dabai, heading to the county government office.

On the way, seeing the desolate scene of the earth city, Xun Yi felt a deep sorrow.

“Why don’t we see anyone on the way?” Ma Jingyi, holding the rabbit, looked puzzled. He was worried; this was probably the work of the Evil Spirit Hall. He didn’t expect them to be so ruthless.

“I’ve been in the martial world since I was young, but I’ve never had the heart to slaughter an entire city.” Thinking of the elegant Wen Xiangjun, he couldn’t imagine him being capable of such cruelty. “We’re just spreading faith, right? Why do we have to resort to such extreme measures?” A fringe figure who merely sold evil deity pens began to question his faith.

“After this incident, isolation measures must have been implemented. You won’t see many people out, and even if you do, they’re probably...” Xun Yi’s gaze paused, seeing a hand in a nearby alley.

Then he looked away, unwilling to look back.

Ma Jingyi took a few steps forward and found a corpse, its body blue and purple. He shuddered and quickly followed Xun Yi.

Miaoxian County was not large, and Xun Yi saw many corpses along the way.

Pretending not to see them, he suddenly saw an old woman crawling on the ground. The old woman was lying on the ground, her lips cracked, reaching for a broken tile with a bit of yellow mud water.

Xun Yi quickened his pace, picked up the old woman, and opened his water flask, carefully feeding her water.

“Old lady, are you okay?”

The old woman seemed to have not drunk water for a long time. After drinking, she choked a few times before gradually recovering. Xun Yi could feel the faint life force in her body, maintained by his “Spring Revival” technique.

The old woman seemed to regain some energy, her cloudy eyes looking at Xun Yi, “Stranger? Why are you here at this time?”

“To save people.”

The old woman’s body trembled, sarcastically saying, “Even the people of this city have abandoned us. Is there any hope left? Listen to my advice... this place is not for people like you to step into. Leave before you get infected.”

Xun Yi shook his head, refusing to leave, and instead asked about the current situation in Miaoxian County.

“The county magistrate has taken those not infected to the eastern part of the city and sealed off the entrance, abandoning the others who are infected. We are left to our own devices.”

Xun Yi’s face darkened, but he understood the county magistrate’s intentions. Food and water, based on Miaoxian County’s reserves, were hard to supply. With no timely assistance from Qinglong City, sealing off the area to prevent the epidemic from spreading was a normal measure. Not directly killing the infected was already a sign of the county magistrate’s compassion.

“Young Master!” A sound of hooves came from a distance. Liu Ziming led a team rushing over.

Seeing Xun Yi holding a smelly old woman, Liu Ziming frowned and quickly pulled Xun Yi away, “Young Master, be careful of infection.”

“I’m not afraid. By the way, why did you come so late?” Xun Yi found something to cushion the old woman, wanting to take her with him.

“Upon entering the city, we went to the county government office to see the county magistrate.” Liu Ziming said, “All the living people are in the eastern part of the city. We unloaded the medicine and food there. Not seeing Young Master, I brought a few people to look for you. What are you doing in the southern part of the city?”

“I’m checking things out here. By the way, where are Liu Zhenying’s family?”

“This...” Liu Ziming was silent, not speaking.

“Liu Zhenying? The Liu family?” The old woman’s voice was weak, “Are you looking for them?”

“Do you know?” Xun Yi was delighted and quickly asked.

“Don’t look for them. Liu and his wife died a few days ago and were ordered to be cremated, leaving no remains.” The old woman recalled the situation a few days ago, “Later, Qizi came back and, seeing us infected and abandoned, helped some of the able-bodied people to settle us in the southern part of the city. But...”

Judging from the old woman’s current state, Qizi’s situation was probably not good.

“Where is she now?”

“Go west, turn, and there’s a clinic. Two days ago, she was still with Doctor Zhang, trying to boil medicine and start a fire, but now...”

Not coming for two days, the situation was clear.

Xun Yi, upon hearing this, pulled Liu Ziming and ran over.

Finding the clinic, they saw a female corpse in the courtyard, with two overturned medicine pots beside it. The black-brown medicine had seeped into the soil but was not yet dry, indicating it had not been more than two hours.

Arriving too late! Xun Yi felt a chill, knowing they had come too late. But he still held out hope, what if it wasn’t Liu Zhenying’s sister?

Pushing the female corpse, seeing her face, Xun Yi suddenly covered his mouth and ran to the corner, retching.

Liu Ziming quickly went over to pat his back, while Ma Jingyi, holding Dabai, entered the clinic and saw two doctors, also lifeless.

“Young Master, should we go to the eastern part of the city?”

“No, first check how many people are still alive in the southern part of the city. If we can save them, we should.” Xun Yi wiped his mouth, his gaze determined, “These people can still be saved!”

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