The Journey of Immortal Cultivation-Chapter 539 - 310 The Great Plague Begins_2

If the Fu Yu Tripod were used, this Junyang Grass Juice could be prepared in just dozens of breaths, but now using a fire stove extends the time to half an hour. She was not in a hurry, releasing an alchemy fire of pale purple color, slowly roasting the bottom of the cauldron—the cauldron was after all made of yellow clay, if heated too intensely, she was afraid the cauldron itself would melt. Under the covering of her Divine Thought, she could see the Junyang Grass inside gradually wilting, changing color, and if all went well, the juice should be produced after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea.

Fu Yunzhang saw her self-composure and then said, "To my knowledge, over twenty days ago, an epidemic started to spread in Bing State. At that time, everyone didn’t take it seriously, thinking it was just a minor sickness. Who would have thought that in less than ten days, the spread suddenly accelerated, and in this short period of time, many cities in the southern, eastern, and western regions of the Southern Continent simultaneously broke out, with over six hundred thousand people infected. As we speak now, who knows how many more have been infected with the disease."

Six hundred thousand! The Southern Continent is extremely vast and its population is at least ten times that of Earth, so six hundred thousand might not seem like a lot at first glance, but the epidemic has only spread for twenty days! Hearing this alarming number, Ning Xiaoxian couldn’t help but sit up straight: "What are the symptoms shown by the infected patients? Have you seen them yourself?"

"I have seen them," Fu Yunzhang stated seriously, "At first, it is just feeling cold and feverish, similar to symptoms of a cold, which is why it wasn’t taken very seriously. After three days, the head starts to experience severe pain, and body temperature soars. Another three days, the patient coughs incessantly, too weak to eat, and blood-streaked sputum appears. In the following days, the whole body, especially the joints, starts to hurt more and more. I’ve seen someone infected for fifteen days whose knees even protruded outward, in such pain as to wish for death."

"Has anyone died?"

Fu Yunzhang shook his head: "Not as of now."

She furrowed her brows. This was too strange—she wasn’t wickedly hoping for deaths, but among the infected there must be many children and elderly, the two groups with the weakest resistance, especially newborn babies who are incredibly frail. Now over twenty days had passed, yet all are sick but none dead, not a single fatality, it was just too bizarre. And this disease seems to mutate in multiples of three days. Who knows what symptoms it would present in the end.

Unfortunately, she didn’t have the luxury to create an avatar now; otherwise, such a widespread epidemic would indeed be worth investigating thoroughly.

"Is there any other peculiar aspect?"

After thinking for a while, Fu Yunzhang said: "Since its emergence in Bing State, the epidemics in other cities seem to have broken out simultaneously, and the affected cities are all heavily populated ones. The largest number of patients is in Central Capital of Central Province. By the time I got the news, there were already one hundred fifty thousand infected!"

"That’s impossible!" Ning Xiaoxian shook her head, "No matter how vicious an epidemic is, it needs time to spread and a path of transmission. If it were transmitted by mortals carrying the virus, then there should be a clear path of transmission, how can it suddenly break out in several large cities with no apparent connection to each other?"

Fu Yunzhang pondered and said, "Virus? That word is quite descriptive. However, it is true that the situation is very strange."

"..." Ning Xiaoxian, what on earth are you saying with these modern terms, "Have any Immortal Sects responded to this?"

Fu Yunzhang sighed: "Of course there is a response. Don’t think that cultivators usually disregard mortals, but saving tens of thousands of beings, such great Merit, is something no one wants to give up. Furthermore, the Mortal World is the foundation stone for the world of us higher beings, cultivators. If there is too much turmoil, the Immortal Sects will also be affected. As far as I know, all the major Immortal Sects have already sent people into the Mortal World to start healing."

Cultivators mostly ignore mortals because helping one or two people, one or two villages, earns them very low Merit, not worth their effort, which is the so-called "no gain without getting up early." However, this type of great Merit is something even cold cultivators don’t want to miss out on. The deeper the sins committed by a person, the more fearful the Heavenly Tribulation they face; on the other hand, the more Merit a person acquires, the less pressure they have when they Crossing Tribulation. Nangong Zhen, the Guangcheng Palace Master, perished during his Sixth Layer Heaven Tribulation; how could others not wish to lessen the severity of their own tribulations?

He looked at Ning Xiaoxian curiously, "The Xuanji Sect is a major in alchemy. Logically, the number of people they have sent should be the most. Seeing Miss Tan’s pure alchemy skills, you are obviously a highly regarded Inner Sect Disciple, so it is very strange that they didn’t send you down to the lower realm, and odd for you not to have heard about it."

This man was not a simple believer either, worthy of a bandit leader. She needed to be more careful in his presence. Fortunately, she had already trained herself to keep a steady composure, and she immediately answered, "Indeed, some senior members from my sect have led junior brothers and sisters into the world, but they have not yet returned to the mountain, and everyone is anxious to hear the situation from the outside." From the Immortal Sects she had interacted with, they strictly control information within the sect—disciples are either naïve and cute or arrogantly conceited, mostly due to their longstanding isolation from the outside world. So her response was actually not problematic.

She changed the subject, "Master Fu, is there someone you care about who has been infected?"

Fu Yunzhang was taken aback, about to ask "How did you know?", but then he laughed off the question, "Indeed, you are very perceptive, Miss Tan. Someone in my family is infected, and I am very anxious, it’s embarrassing that you had to see that."

Family? Hearing this word surprised her. A cultivator who had reached the Void Refining Stage must be at least several hundred years old, do they still have "family" alive in the world? (To be continued. If you like this work, welcome to vote for a recommendation ticket and monthly ticket on Qidian. Your support is my greatest motivation. Mobile users please visit m.qidian.com to read.)