BOOK 2: CHAPTER 469: LINGZHU CURES ILLNESS, QINGYAN PHARMACEUTICALS

Vol 2 Chapter 469: Lingzhu Cures Illness, Qingyan Pharmaceuticals

She was finally going to die.

Fairy Jinfeng had been half awake, half asleep, unable to distinguish between reality and illusion.

Sometimes, her mind was filled with images of her beloved’s eyes left open after collapsing, with countless disgusting, bizarre gu insects crawling out, leaving behind only two pitch-black empty holes.

Whenever she opened her eyes, it felt like she saw herself, sensing a tingling on her belly—no, inside her belly… something was crawling inside.

She dared not think further and closed her eyes again, recalling that field of rice.

In the pitch-black rice field, countless tiny gray dots rose like dust, but they seemed to have eyes, chasing after her.

Fairy Jinfeng could not afford to think of her beloved;

she turned and fled at full speed.

Behind her came the terrified screams of mortals, agonized wails, and most terrifying of all, the final eerie silence.

That mass of gray dots spread rapidly. She did not look back, fleeing for her life, but she could not escape. Gradually, a buzzing sound reached her ears.

She thought she should have died right then and there.

But the newly established Primordial Magnetism Formation of the Jiushan Sect saved her.

Drums sounded atop that black mountain peak, followed by a golden light brightening. Centered on the mountaintop, it spread like a round golden silk carpet radiating in all directions.

The golden light enveloped her, piercing the gray haze behind her like sunlight illuminating shadows.

Then, she saw Jiushan Sect disciples flying toward her before she fainted.

When she woke, she found herself lying in a room. Her acupoints were foggy, not even shining as brightly as a Golden Core normally would;

she knew she had not escaped—her fate was to wait for death.

The door creaked.

She barely opened her eyes and looked toward the doorway.

Her vision was blurry, unable to see the face clearly. Only the sunlight outside cast a golden rim around the visitor.

She fainted again, and before losing consciousness, she heard a familiar voice call out:

“Senior Sister.”

...

“Senior Sister, this batch of gu insects seems different again.”

Zheng Fa’s eyes glinted with silver as he examined Fairy Jinfeng. At this moment, he disregarded gender and inspected her thoroughly inside and out.

Even Senior Sister Zhang, who had not paid much attention before, was now carefully observing Fairy Jinfeng’s condition.

“These gu insects are extremely tiny and easy to kill, but their spread—or rather, reproduction—is extremely rapid,” explained a disciple assigned to watch over the area. “Any living creature they touch will turn into one of these…” 𝑅ÄΝ𝘖ВĚṩ

The disciple paused, then used a phrase characteristic of Jiushan Sect: “automated machine tools.”

“...”

Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang chuckled silently, then asked, “Have samples been collected?”

“They have been preserved.”

Zheng Fa nodded to Senior Sister Zhang, who held the Tranquility Bamboo and swept it over Fairy Jinfeng on the bed.

A blue-green light sprinkled with golden fragments shone on the bed. Fairy Jinfeng’s body trembled as a puff of black gas burst from her nose and ears. Her crescent-shaped frown finally smoothed out.

“Looks like she’s going to be fine.”

“She’s lucky,” Senior Sister Zhang agreed. “The formation is nearby, so the poison isn’t deep. Her cultivation is decent, which is why she’s survived this long.”

Zheng Fa’s expression grew heavy at her words.

The losses suffered by Jiushan Sect this time were not small—though all who died were originally mortals and cultivators from Haori Mountain Sect, Zheng Fa and Senior Sister Zhang still regarded them as Jiushan Sect’s assets.

“How’s the Divine Thunder Fleet?”

“Fairy Xie is meticulous despite her rough demeanor. The Divine Thunder Warships connect to the Primordial Magnetism Formation and react quickly,” Senior Sister Zhang shook her head. “But three squads were lost.”

Three squads meant thirty Divine Thunder Warships and nearly a hundred disciples.

As Senior Sister Zhang said, the loss was not too severe for a vanguard, especially since these disciples had relatively low cultivation.

But it was still one of Jiushan Sect’s rare major losses.

Zheng Fa knew that Jiushan Sect had invested considerable effort into every disciple.

Seeing his grim expression, Senior Sister Zhang asked, “Is it the Gu God?”

“Probably. I went to the frontline to investigate the origin of these gu insects, but found nothing.”

Senior Sister Zhang nodded lightly. “With your strength, if you can’t find anything, it has to be a Dao Fruit level being. That means among the Three Demon Ancestors, at least the Gu God has arrived.”

Zheng Fa said nothing and looked again at Fairy Jinfeng’s condition. Not wanting to disturb her rest, he left with Senior Sister Zhang and the others.

This was a newly built small courtyard in a desolate mountain, isolated from any population to prevent gu insect spread.

After discovering the gu insects, Jiushan Sect immediately established more than twenty “battlefield infirmaries.” He and Senior Sister Zhang visited them all before arriving at a mountain peak at the frontline.

Xie Qingxue, Uncle Pang, and other Jiushan Sect senior members were on the peak, gazing toward Haori Mountain.

“How’s the situation?”

“Getting worse,” Uncle Pang’s face darkened. “That place is basically a nest of insects.”

Zheng Fa looked ahead at a distinct line on the ground.

On this side of the line was Jiushan Sect territory: yellow soil, green grass, and the golden glow of the Primordial Magnetism Formation constantly sweeping across.

Beyond it lay a land of black and gray, stained with blood-red and sickly green. The earth rolled like waves.

“Those are gu insects?”

“All of them...”

Looking at that black tide, Zheng Fa felt his heart chill.

The insect swarm was dense without a single gap, boundless, stretching to the horizon where it formed a boundary line against the sky.

The swarm moved slowly, leaving dark green sticky slime on the ground.

Anyone could see the land opposite was uninhabitable.

Not just uninhabitable for humans, even plants could not survive.

The fate of the mortals and cultivators living there was predictable.

“How effective is the Primordial Magnetism Formation’s defense?”

“Over ninety-nine percent,” Uncle Pang joked bitterly. “The disciples’ favorite task now is cleaning up those insect nests. The alchemy academy disciples say it’s very useful and even sells for some money.”

“Any missed spots?”

“We only just discovered some recently,” Uncle Pang’s eyes sparkled silver. “Look in the air.”

Zheng Fa activated the Void-Piercing Spirit Eye and scanned the air, immediately noticing abnormalities.

Countless white dots floated in the air.

They looked exactly like dust, lifeless and without spiritual energy, but each dragged a thin tail like a white tadpole drifting about.

“What is this...?”

“We think these are gu insect eggs,” said Uncle Pang. “Since they have no spiritual energy, the Primordial Magnetism Formation cannot detect them. But if disciples inhale them, mushrooms like gu insects will sprout on their heads within three to five days. Luckily, these eggs are ignorant and unconscious;

Dust-Clearing Talismans and Disease-Removing Talismans can defend against them.”

Zheng Fa fell silent for a moment, then looked at the elders and asked, “What does everyone think?”

Uncle Pang and Elder Yu exchanged glances before Elder Yu spoke. “Our opinion is to pause. The Divine Thunder Fleet has suffered losses.”

“The main point is, what good is holding that land?” Elder Yu pointed at the insect swarm. “It’s utterly barren, riddled with various plagues.”

This was also Zheng Fa’s thought. Among the Three Demon Ancestors, the Gu God was probably the biggest trouble for Jiushan Sect.

Not for any other reason than Jiushan Sect relied on having many disciples, and the Gu God’s insects multiplied in kind. If one died, a whole area turned bad. This kind of loss did not seem painful for ordinary people, but Jiushan Sect disciples could not afford such waste.

On the other hand, Zheng Fa had to calculate the war’s gains.

That land was already polluted by the insect swarm, with extremely low value to any immortal sect—a pure wasteland.

Add to that the cost of removing the swarm, and it was a losing proposition.

The Gu God had truly taken the scorched earth tactic to the extreme.

“So Master’s idea is to focus on defense?”

“Unless we can find the Gu God.”

That was the more troublesome matter.

If the Gu God appeared, they could try to capture the leader, which might work.

But Zheng Fa had ventured to scout before and had not even caught a hint of the Gu God. He even felt the Gu God was deliberately avoiding him.

“Very strange. This Gu God doesn’t seem to want to attack us,” Xie Qingxue said. “These gu insects are limited in strength. As long as disciples are careful, the damage isn’t great.”

“With the power of a True Immortal Demon Ancestor, there should be more powerful methods.”

Zheng Fa was stunned, then realized: “You mean the Gu God just wants to stall us?”

“Very likely.”

Zheng Fa lightly furrowed his brows. Xie Qingxue’s words opposed passive defense—the Gu God’s purpose in stalling was unknown, but it certainly wasn’t benevolent.

He glanced at the insect swarm. One spotted beetle raised its compound eyes and looked at him.

“That’s Zheng Fa?”

In a city of Haori Mountain, the naked Gu God leaned on a railing, openly ignoring the stares from inside and outside the buildings—because the city was already deserted.

Only a few people from the Three Clans of Lu, Yun, and Luo served her quietly, daring not to meet her gaze.

When she spoke, one Lu Clan member looked up, nodded at the image of Zheng Fa frowning on the light screen, and said, “That villain! Your Majesty, why not…”

“After hiding for so many years, you didn’t expect Xuanwei to have such a talent.”

“Your Majesty...”

“That formation is very strong.” The Gu God’s expression darkened. “I lost many descendants.”

Descendants… the Three Clans members winced.

“Your Majesty, Zheng Fa is the backbone of Jiushan Sect. If we kill him, no matter how strong that formation is, it’s useless!”

The Gu God glanced at him, apparently pleased, and smiled: “You have ideas.”

“I... listen, listen…”

The Lu Clan man clutched his neck and slowly fell to the ground, a brilliant mushroom sprouting from his head.

“Brains with ideas are best for cultivating silk-drying gu.”

The other Three Clans disciples stepped back in shock.

The Gu God continued, “That Zheng Fa is not easy to deal with.”

...”

“They’re afraid.” The Gu God released a green moth from her fingertip. “Every gu insect near him is scared. He must have something that restrains me.”

“What can we do?”

“What can we do?” The Gu God chuckled softly. “I’m blocking them for you, isn’t that good?”

“But…”

“What is Haori Mountain to me?” The Gu God said coldly. “Do you want me to fight and die for you?”

“Your Majesty, this…”

“Remember to bring more people, preferably with cultivation,” the Gu God looked at the gu insect flood in the street. “I lost too many descendants;

I need to raise more.”

The Lu Clan members glanced at the fallen man silently, too afraid to speak, only feeling grief:

Jiushan Sect hadn’t even attacked yet, and Haori Mountain’s population was already emptying.

The Gu God did not care about their opinions. If not for the ancient relic, she wouldn’t care about Haori Mountain at all.

Zheng Fa must have some tricks. If she fought him directly, wouldn’t she be handing bones and fate to others?

Thinking of this, she looked back at Haori Mountain. Once Haori Mountain was dealt with, the Jiushan Sect people would become food for her descendants.

Now, her descendants were enough to deal with him.

...

“Very strange.” Zheng Fa walked down the mountain with Senior Sister Zhang, frowning deeply. “Among the Three Demon Ancestors, only one Gu God came. This is very suspicious.”

“What’s suspicious?”

“If they don’t care about Haori Mountain, the Gu God wouldn’t have come. But if they do care, why send only one and clearly stall for time?”

Senior Sister Zhang understood and asked, “You think they have something more important?”

“Yes, and it’s in Nine Luminaries Heaven.” Zheng Fa nodded. “Otherwise, the Three Demon Ancestors wouldn’t be lingering there so long.”

Nine Luminaries Heaven… must be related to the missing Fusang Wood.

Fusang Wood was a Taiyi-level opportunity, enough to drive the three Demon Ancestors mad. The chance that Nine Luminaries Heaven held another major opportunity was low.

Originally, Zheng Fa wasn’t anxious because the opportunity behind Fusang Wood wouldn’t just disappear.

But now that three Demon Ancestors were watching it, the situation was different.

Thus, exploring Nine Luminaries Heaven became more urgent and necessary.

But besides the dangers in Nine Luminaries Heaven, Jiushan Sect here was not without flaws.

They still had not fully grasped the Gu God’s methods. If Zheng Fa left and something went wrong, he would regret it deeply.

If he was going, he had to arrange things well in Jiushan Sect.

They reached a courtyard halfway down the mountain. They did not enter but called out from outside:

“Qingyan!”

“Master!” Mu Qingyan, Zheng Fa’s second disciple, came out and saluted Zheng Fa.

“May we come in?”

“Yes! It’s already handled.”

They entered a courtyard that served as a pharmaceutical laboratory, filled with petri dishes, beakers, and other equipment.

The gu insects they previously collected had also been sent here for research.

Inside the lab was Elder Xiong, a master of alchemy, surrounded by disciples from the alchemy academy.

His eldest disciple, Gu Chang, came out of a side room and walked toward them.

“Any progress?”

“The special medicine Master mentioned, we have a lead.”

“So fast?”

Elder Xiong laughed. “Fairy Mu’s speed in developing new medicine—after all my years of pill refinement, I’ve never heard of anyone so fast… I admit defeat!”

Mu Qingyan smiled faintly and lowered her head.

Zheng Fa felt proud as well. In truth, Mu Qingyan’s pharmaceutical group had not made huge breakthroughs—after all, the accumulated alchemy knowledge in Xuanwei was not something Jiushan Sect could surpass in just decades.

But in terms of development speed, Mu Qingyan’s modern research system easily outpaced Taishang Dao.

The Gu God had been absent from Xuanwei for a long time, and no sect had medicine to counter gu insects;

Mu Qingyan was starting to prove useful.

This was why Zheng Fa had summoned her here.

Seeing Zheng Fa’s admiring gaze, Mu Qingyan hurriedly said, “Senior Brother’s discovery is much more impressive than mine!”

“Gu Chang, what have you found?”

Gu Chang saluted Zheng Fa before speaking: “I think I’ve figured out how the gu insects transmit information… or rather, how the Gu God controls so many insect swarms.”

Zheng Fa was stunned, then his eyes brightened.

He had never considered this before—he controlled Jiushan Sect disciples like an extension of himself by using the Tongjian.

The Gu God must have her own method to control the gu insects, possibly even more sophisticated. After all, the gu insects were numerous but low in intelligence, making command difficult.

He hadn’t expected Gu Chang to have made a discovery.