I've already reached the Nascent Soul stage, and you're saying I didn't time travel?

Chapter 152 Tears of a Hundred Flowers

In the afternoon, as soon as the live stream started, a flood of excited comments poured in:

Is there any way to find the origin and transmission route of the disease?

"I wear a gas mask and protective clothing every day now, so I shouldn't get infected, right?"

"Huh? What about going to the toilet and eating? What about finding a girlfriend? What about having children?"

"What a joke! The land and island have been in the water for so long, isn't it too late to start taking precautions now?"

"After discovering so many spiritual plants and resources on the mainland islands, I did have some hope for the fusion of the floating continent and Earth. But no one ever said that there would be such a terrifying disease on the floating continent! If people get infected, who can stand it? Humanity's extinction is just a hair's breadth away!"

"Save your breath. Even without disease or disaster, the mere existence of the floating continent means that human extinction is still on the verge of collapse."

"Do you think the Myriad Transformations Mysterious Nether Palace might have appeared to suppress disease and disaster?"

"Even if it is, it's useless. We can't even make contact with the Heavenly Palace. What if it's just a projection? We'd still have to go to the floating continent, which would mean going deep into the heart of the disaster again?"

"Everyone can be a little more optimistic. Maybe diseases and disasters have long been eradicated. After all, that was two hundred years ago. What infectious disease can persist for two hundred years?"

"Is it possible that the humans on the floating continent were wiped out by a disease, but now that they've encountered us, the humans of Earth, the virus has been revived?"

"In any case, now we can only look to the gods for their exploration on the floating continent. Currently, each family has spiritual objects that can cure the disease. I don't believe that their research on the disease is limited to this. There must be more clues that have not yet been discovered. Perhaps they have already created an antidote to cure the entire disease!"

"Please, God Qi, save the child!"

"Find the calming pill quickly!"

"Even the Dew of Ecstasy will do!"

"Yin Yang Kui would also work, at least it would find a cure for [Lizard Disease]. I would rather have [Osteopathy] than [Lizard Disease]."

……

Despite the persistent pleas from netizens, Qi Xuan opened a small jade box in front of the camera, revealing ten tiny spiritual plants, each about the length of an index finger, inside.

These ten spiritual plants are all of the same type, with black stems and white flower heads. The flower heads are composed of countless small flowers forming a head-like inflorescence, resembling sunflowers.

“That’s right, this is the Yin-Yang Sunflower that I found in the Zhang family. It’s a spiritual object specifically used to treat the Lizard Disease.”

Qi Xuan said with a hint of excitement:

"After the live stream ended this morning, I didn't rest. Before officially exploring the North Courtyard, I wandered around the other houses nearby and collected a lot of things and information. It's a pity that I didn't find the Condensed Dew, but I did find ten Yin-Yang Sunflowers in total."

"Although ten plants are not a lot, according to the recorded method of use, even in the later stages of the [Lizard Disease], one plant can suppress the disease for at least seven days. As for the early stages, the Yin Yang Sunflower can suppress the disease for even longer, with one plant even lasting for a year."

"Theoretically speaking, based on the progression of the [Lizard Disease], if I start using Yin Yang Kui immediately at the onset of the disease, the Yin Yang Kui stored here can guarantee that I will not have a relapse for at least ten years."

"Of course, this is the best-case scenario. It is possible that after actually contracting the disease, the condition may suddenly progress rapidly. There are similar cases in the Zhang family, including those Qi cultivators who contracted the disease later on. Their conditions often progressed rapidly. I suspect that they may have been constantly infected, so even if they took medicine, they still ingested a large amount of virus from the outside world every day, which greatly reduced the effectiveness of the medicine."

"However, the transmission methods of [Lizard Disease] and [Osteopathy] are still unknown. It seems that they have never done any research in this area, or perhaps they discovered them a long time ago but could not solve them and could only let them be."

"But that's alright. Once we enter the North Campus, we should be able to discover more research related to [Lizardism]."

Qi Xuan put away the Yin-Yang Sunflower and rode Sunday, which had come from the foot of the mountain, toward the Zhang family's house.

Upon seeing this, netizens began to discuss it amongst themselves:

Have similar spiritual plants been seen on the mainland islands?

"I don't think so?"

"Maybe we just haven't noticed yet?"

"Currently, apart from a few dangerous areas and the Misty Forest where the four-armed people live, the rest of the island has been explored. It's impossible that the Yin-Yang Sunflower happens to be in those places, right?"

"I think the Yin-Yang Sunflower is much more delicate than the Netherworld Cicada Elixir. The Netherworld Cicada itself is extremely aggressive and has a strong reproductive capacity. Apart from human factors, it has few rivals in nature."

However, the Yin-Yang Sunflower, as Qi Shen mentioned, has natural enemies like root-eating insects, so it clearly needs careful care and would likely have difficulty surviving in its natural growth process.

"Sigh, why doesn't everyone learn from the cultivation method of the Netherworld Cicada Elixir? If a certain creature could become the vessel for a spiritual object, then such a vast island wouldn't be unable to preserve even a single Yin-Yang Sunflower."

"Come on, isn't the disaster caused by the Ghost Cicada small? At least tens of millions of people have died or been injured worldwide. If this happens a few more times, humanity will be wiped out before the disease even breaks out."

"A blessing in disguise is a curse in disguise. The cicada is a crisis, but it also brings many opportunities. Even disregarding its specific medicinal effects, the cicada elixir is a precious medicine that can greatly increase the cultivation speed of a Grandmaster. Before long, the first Grandmaster will be born on our Blue Star."

"I remember that after Qi Shen announced the information about the [Lizard Disease], the price of cicada nests worldwide plummeted, right?"

"It has indeed fallen sharply, basically from 230 million to around 80 million, a drop of about two-thirds. If it weren't for the support of the Grandmaster's use, it would probably have fallen even further."

"As more cicada nests entered the market, the downward trend was unstoppable. Even if they were useful to Grandmasters, feeding the cicadas every day would cost a lot of money, so the price of cicada nests was destined to fall further."

"Wouldn't the big companies that bought the cicada nests earlier suffer huge losses?"

"There's nothing we can do about losing money. It was a gamble, and they just lost. If they switch to making Grandmaster-level medicines or further study the properties of spiritual liquids, they might be able to recover their losses in the future."

As for new drug launches, it's basically difficult to make money from them. Not to mention that the disease outbreak hasn't occurred yet, even if it did, [osteophyte disease] might just be one of hundreds of diseases.

If you spend thousands of dollars on medicine to prevent and treat osteophyte disease, wouldn't all the preventative medications add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in the future? There's no need to worry so much, especially since the price of Youchanling Liquid will be far more than a thousand dollars after it's launched.

For the general public, it's best to buy medicine only when you're diagnosed with an illness. As for preventative stockpiling of medication, unless a universally applicable drug like a "sedative" is developed, that's essentially no longer a viable option.

"Sigh, when will we find the Mind-Stabilizing Pill?"

"Let's keep up with the God's exploration progress; we might find it at the Zhang family's place."

……

While netizens were discussing it, Qi Xuan wasn't idle either.

As he rode his Sunday bike forward, he said to the camera:

"While searching other houses, I also found letters, jade slips, family orders and other fragmented information, which gave me a rough idea of ​​the Zhang family's later fate."

"Just as I predicted, the Zhang family, together with the Yuchi family and other families, went to attack the Sun family, but they found nothing."

The vast Sun family estate, apart from its protective array which was still operational, had long been emptied out, with even the family's golden mulberry trees dug up and taken away.

No one knows where they went. Neither detection nor tracking methods have been effective, clearly indicating that they had taken ample precautions beforehand.

In addition, they also placed precious Spirit-Eroding Powder in various important locations within the family, including the clan lands, spirit fields, and council hall. Any cultivator who comes into contact with the Spirit-Eroding Powder will inevitably have their internal energy corrupted; in severe cases, it may even damage their foundation or cause their cultivation level to drop.

"Before they knew it, the families that launched the joint attack fell into the trap, with the Zhang family being the most severely poisoned."

"The Zhang family dared not delay and immediately retreated to their family's residence, but they were ambushed by the Han family on the way."

That's right, it's the Han family that previously joined forces with the Zhang family to besiege the Zhao family.

This ambush not only dealt a heavy blow to the Zhang family on the spot, but also caused the Han family to seize their precious treasure.

The remaining manpower managed to retreat back to the family with great difficulty, but only one-fifth of the original number remained. Even the family's top experts were reduced to only two, both of whom were seriously injured.

After this battle, the Zhang family completely declined and never regained its former glory.

Because their attacks in various places offended many people, in order to avoid being attacked by various families, they chose to activate the clan protection formation and close their doors to the mountains.

During the mountain closure, it was decided to use the "Centennial Dream" technique to put the entire family into a deep sleep, hoping to weather this difficult period.

In reality, making this decision comes at a huge cost. Although the century-long dream can put people to sleep, it cannot prevent the onset of the disease. If timely treatment is not received and the prepared medicine is insufficient, they will die silently.

More importantly, many people can only last a few decades at most, and after that, they will die of old age without anyone else killing them.

Therefore, they reduced the dosage, limiting it to once every twenty years, allowing the patient to awaken once every twenty years. This was both to monitor the outside world and to ensure the rotation of duties and the continuation of the family line.

"It's a pity that during the first twenty-year dormancy period, the family was completely destroyed and has fallen to its current state."

"Judging from the current situation of the Zhang family, many people were killed by the clansmen who fell ill. To be honest, I don't know exactly how this internal strife broke out or what the specific circumstances were. We haven't found any relevant records from any side. We can only hope to find some clues in the North Courtyard."

"Speaking of the North Campus, we've arrived."

Qi Xuan got off Sunday and pushed open the half-covered, dilapidated door.

The layout of the North Courtyard was not significantly different from the other courtyards, but it appeared more desolate and empty, as if few people frequented the area. Of course, after the family's internal strife, it was also a scene of devastation.

The ground was covered with bloodstains and tattered clothing, and there were also many broken corpses, though far fewer than in other places.

This is not because there were few people at the scene, but because too many were eaten.

It is evident that a large number of lizards attacked the area at the time of the incident. Considering that this is a core area for research on the disease, it is not surprising that many patients were held there.

"Hopefully, the experimental site and facilities have not been damaged too much."

Qi Xuan pushed open the broken door with its spirit patterns.

A musty, rotten smell immediately hit me, like fermented, stinky meat in a can.

Once the situation inside was clear, viewers in the live stream couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Inside this dark, spacious house, the traces of battle were far more horrifying than in the courtyard. Bloodstains were everywhere, along with broken screens, scattered weapons, and many fragmented bones on the ground.

However, all of this pales in comparison to the dozen or so heavy laboratory tables in the room.

Based on the situation at the scene, everyone was able to piece together what the layout was like before the disaster.

A dozen or so laboratory tables are lined up in a row, separated by screens. The screens are covered with all sorts of instruments, and many patients probably undergo various experiments here on weekdays.

On one of the experimental tables, there was even a lizard with its limbs locked, its body meticulously dissected in many places, and its eyeballs removed, leaving only dark eye sockets exposed.

Two hundred years later, netizens can almost still hear the mournful screams echoing in this place; just thinking about it is enough to send chills down their spines.

Qi Xuan strode to the experimental table and carefully observed the lizard being dissected.

This was the first time he had observed this monster up close.

Although two hundred years have passed, his organs have decayed and disappeared, and his skin and flesh are extremely shriveled, like a mummy, but you can still barely see the condition inside his body.

The most obvious difference is the mutated skeleton. The skull is longer and thinner than that of a normal person, and the hands and feet are transformed into wider and sharper claws. The spine is more prominent, and a tail with distinct joints extends downwards.

Seeing this scene, Qi Xuan inexplicably recalled the onset of [osteophyte disease].

It seems that both osteophyte disease and lizard disease involve bone abnormalities during the onset of the disease.

Is this a disease that specifically attacks the human skeleton?

If we inhibit bone degeneration, can we cure it?

For example, if one transfers their consciousness into a certain mollusk, could they avoid developing the disease?

Although this conjecture is somewhat bizarre, it is not impossible for cultivators to accomplish it.

However, in addition to the physical mutations, the mental pollution should not be ignored either, otherwise they would not have gone mad and attacked other humans in a frenzy.

After a general search of the scene, no useful loot was found, but some intelligence was gained.

This spacious building, known as the outer area of ​​the North Courtyard, was responsible for drug trials for mild cases and the dissection of some dead lizards.

As for critically ill patients, patients in the Foundation Establishment stage, and even materials with higher research value, they are all tested in three underground laboratories.

Qi Xuan quickly found the entrances to the three underground laboratories.

Two of them have already been captured.

Saying it was breached might not be quite accurate, because in one of them, the lizards clearly charged out from the inside.

"Could this be the source of all the disasters?"

Qi Xuan went down to look for it, but the scene was a mess, with bottles, jars and various instruments scattered all over the ground, and he couldn't find anything.

The second underground laboratory was similar, but contained more broken bones.

The third, and most important, building was headed by the head of the North Academy.

The door was locked.

It was no ordinary door, but a special stone door engraved with numerous spiritual patterns and refined.

The stone door was covered in scratches. Although the spirit runes had failed, the stone itself was made of a special material and was extremely heavy. It was estimated that even a Foundation Establishment cultivator would have difficulty opening it.

Fortunately, there was a keyhole in the door.

With a "let's give it a try" attitude, Qi Xuan inserted the brass-colored key.

I tried to turn it hard, but it wouldn't turn.

Then, the bronze key was inserted, and with a gentle twist, a soft, rattling sound was heard.

The heavy stone door slowly slid open to one side.

Before Qi Xuan's smile could even spread, he came face to face with a hazy figure inside.

The other person seemed to only then notice his presence, staring blankly at him.

In an instant, [Spiritual Perception] suddenly erupted with an extremely strong sense of crisis.

Netizens were so shocked they almost jumped out of their seats.

"Fuck me!"

Without saying a word, Qi Xuan took off running.

The hazy figure was clearly faster, rushing forward in the blink of an eye, its withered, stiff cheeks almost touching his face, and its right hand pressing directly against his chest.

With a loud bang, Qi Xuan was sent flying out of the house like a cannonball, smashing through a bunch of screens, wooden walls and other messy things along the way.

He had no time to mourn the five bird feathers that had suddenly vanished from the Hundred Feathers Universe Diagram. He suddenly activated [Void Self], and a figure identical to him immediately darted away to the right, while he himself fled to the left.

A success rate of 50%.

Unfortunately, this time, fate was not on his side.

The hazy figure chased directly towards his true form, closing in on him in almost two breaths.

I can't shake them off!
You can't shake them off at all!
Do I have to use a small teleportation spell?!

At the last moment of the crisis, he gritted his teeth and threw a drop of water backward.

"Bang" sound.

Qi Xuan was still struck by a palm.

But this palm strike only consumed four feathers.

At the same time, the hazy figure that had been chasing him earlier began to change rapidly.

The parts of his body that were splashed with water immediately corroded a large hole, and then, like a piece of burning paper, the hole quickly spread outwards. In the blink of an eye, his entire body was corroded away, leaving only his tattered clothes lying on the ground.

Tears of a Hundred Flowers.

A second-grade spiritual item, a highly poisonous substance.

Even the body of a Foundation Establishment cultivator can be completely corroded.

This is one of the very few treasures he drew that can be used to kill Foundation Establishment cultivators.

Now that it's being used here, Qi Xuan doesn't feel it's a waste.

Because if he uses a teleportation talisman to leave this place, although he will be far away from danger, the secret he is about to discover will be sealed away forever.

He could no longer access the Zhang family's research materials, nor could he possibly uncover the truth about the illness.

Brushing the dust off his clothes, Qi Xuan strode toward the last underground laboratory.

Surely the underground laboratory at the head of the institute couldn't be completely empty?
(End of this chapter)