Tumor Sword Immortal

Chapter 217 Plague
In Dongzhou, "甲" is often used to replace "village". Zhao Jia means Zhao Village.

The origins are quite ancient. In the early years, wars broke out frequently in various countries of Dongzhou, and refugees and thieves rose up everywhere. So, ten households were organized into a "jia" (甲), and one person was elected as the "jia head". The jia head was in charge of the security of the ten households, and one person would patrol every night to prevent thieves.

Although it was later banned, the name has become a common practice among the people, and even when the word "village" is used in writing, it is often referred to as "Zhaojia Village".

Han Youzhi was born in Leyang and grew up cultivating in Shuzhou, which was at the opposite end of the world from Maizhou. Naturally, he couldn't understand the Dongzhou dialect, so he could only move his feet and stand behind Pei Xia again.

Even after nearly ten years, Pei Xia was still fluent in the Dongzhou dialect and replied smoothly, "We are wanderers from the martial arts world who have come here, and we don't know much about this place. We apologize."

The woman nodded and didn't linger. She turned her horse around and was about to leave when she suddenly remembered something. She turned to Pei Xia and said, "We are law enforcement cultivators from the Golden Bell Sect. We recently received a message that there are suspected demons causing trouble near Zhao Jia. If you two discover anything, please be sure to inform Zhao Jia Village. Thank you very much."

After saying this, the woman in yellow robes led her two companions and rode away along the dirt road in the forest.

Han Youzhi looked in the direction they left and craned her neck: "What did they say?"

Pei Xia gave a brief translation, which surprised Han Youzhi: "Sect cultivators, do they care about local demons causing trouble?"

Pei Xia nodded: "The Twelve Kingdoms have few military strategists. Even in countries that do not promote cultivators, they mostly rely on local sects to maintain the stability of cultivation forces within their borders. In some extreme cases, they even allocate a portion of county and district taxes as sect revenue."

This is a scene that would never be seen in powerful dynasties like the Da Ling and the Northern Yi.

“Oh,” Han Youzhi nodded, “That’s why the Golden Bell Sect specifically sent cultivators to solve the problem.”

The woman in yellow robes just now had a very deep aura; she should have reached the Opening Mansion Realm, and in the sect, she would probably be an inner sect elder.

From this perspective, the so-called "demonic activity" is no small matter.

"Let's have it as a snack too."

Pei Xia gave a reminder, and then, leading Lu Li and Han Youzhi, they continued walking towards the village following the hoofprints they had just seen.

As they ventured deeper into the forest, traces of villagers' farming activities gradually came into view. Pei Xia glanced around and noticed some unusual details.

For example, the weeds sprouting in the fields, the old tire tracks on the road... If it weren't for Huang Shang from the Golden Bell Gate reminding him, Pei Xia probably wouldn't have noticed these things.

It was almost noon when the three of them reached the entrance of the village.

From afar, you can see three horses tied to trees outside the village, and a young man in yellow standing at the village entrance, as if on guard.

This was one of the three cultivators from the Golden Bell Sect. Pei Xia greeted him with a fist salute from afar: "Senior brother, what brings you here? Has something happened in the village?"

The young man looked at Pei Xia and politely returned the greeting, but he stood at the crossroads without making any move: "Without my master's permission, I cannot inform you. Please forgive me."

They said they'd rest in the village, but judging from the situation, at least someone has died.

Just as they were considering whether to proceed or retreat, a figure flashed through the village, and it was the woman in the yellow dress who came out again, saying anxiously, "Junior Nephew Sun, come and help too. This plague can't penetrate the protective energy, so just protect your mouth and nose..."

She looked up and saw Pei Xia and the other two outside the village, and her delicate eyebrows furrowed slightly.

She had only met him briefly before and couldn't trust him. Given the current situation in the village, she really had no intention of verifying the identity and origin of outsiders.

He was about to speak up and persuade them to leave, but Pei Xia spoke first.

“Senior, we also have the cultivation of the Zhen Gang Realm. If you need more manpower, we can help.”

As Pei Xia spoke, a slightly transparent golden aura appeared on his palm—he even combined several pieces of aura together to avoid arousing suspicion due to their fine density.

The woman was taken aback at first, then examined the auras of Pei Xia and the others. Although they were not strong, they did indeed possess spiritual power.

Alright, let them help first. If anything goes wrong, I can kill them at any time, given their cultivation levels.

"Alright, you can come along too." Following the woman in yellow, Pei Xia and the others entered the village. Sure enough, the atmosphere of ruin was even stronger here, with a faint stench permeating the air.

As the woman led the way, she briefly introduced herself: "My name is Song Huan, an elder of the Golden Bell Sect. I was originally leading this team down the mountain to investigate the situation, but..."

As she spoke, she walked to a large hall in the village and stepped aside.

Dozens of straw mats were laid out in the spacious guest room, with men and women lying on them.

They appeared extremely thin, with sunken eyes, purple lips, and frequent coughing, suggesting a very serious illness.

“The local government sent an urgent report a few days ago, saying that there was an epidemic, but it was spreading rapidly. In case of any unforeseen circumstances, they asked the sect to send someone to take a look. Unexpectedly, by the time we arrived, it was already like this.”

As Song Huan spoke, she quickly walked to the side of a child, drew a wisp of spiritual energy from her fingertip, and carefully integrated it into the child's body: "I've brought everyone who's still alive in the whole village. These are the only ones left."

Judging from the number of houses Pei Xia saw along the way, these were the only ones left, meaning that over a hundred people had probably died.

Song Huan looked at Pei Xia and Han Youzhi, then glanced at Lu Li, and reminded them, "Remember to protect your children. Come, I'll teach you how to use spiritual power to nourish their bodies."

There was a small verbal misunderstanding.

Pei Xia didn't care, and neither did Han Youzhi.

That's the good thing about Lao Han. Although he doesn't have much experience in the underworld and can be unreliable sometimes, he never gets bogged down in trivialities or neglects important matters when it's time to be serious.

Song Huan's so-called method of nourishing the body is not particularly sophisticated. It simply avoids the fragile meridians of mortals, uses spiritual energy as gently as possible, and helps alleviate their pain through the more resilient muscles and bones.

Han Youzhi learned it in one glance, and then turned around and went with Song Huan's two apprentices to help other infected villagers.

Pei Xia hesitated for a moment, but after a brief pause, she followed along to help the patient.

With three more people helping, the groans and drowsy murmurs in the air gradually decreased, and the patients' conditions seemed to be slowly stabilizing.

But Pei Xia examined it closely for a long time, pursed her lips, and said softly, "Senior, I am quite knowledgeable in pharmacology. In my opinion, the villagers' symptoms do not seem to be a common epidemic."

Song Huan wiped the fine sweat from her forehead and looked at him: "What do you mean?"

“It’s poison,” Pei Xia said.

Song Huan's expression darkened slightly.

In fact, she had similar thoughts, but her judgment was not based on pharmacology or experience, but on intelligence.

Three similar villages have recently been affected by the epidemic, with villagers dying in a very short time.

Strangely, this epidemic came and went quickly; once infected, all the patients would die, and then the epidemic would recede.

Therefore, when the government learned that an outbreak had occurred in Zhaojia, it immediately notified Jinlingmen.

This really looks like the work of a spiritual practitioner.

In the past, Jinlingmen could only investigate afterward without finding anything, but this time Song Huan finally caught up.

She was about to instruct Pei Xia and the others to stay in the village in case of unforeseen circumstances, while she went to search the surrounding area.

But then Pei Xia spoke up, saying, "To be honest, I also know a little about detoxification."

(End of this chapter)