Chapter 19: Plague

Wang Sheng had been practicing Inner Core Skill for so long, yet this was the first time he encountered a disease focus that Qi Blood Power couldn't break through.

At this point, the Qi Blood Power had already bypassed the disease focus, continuing forward, planning to return and break through after it had grown stronger.

But he grew interested in this formidable disease focus.

His body, from his own feelings, was undoubtedly healthy, and he had felt no discomfort before he began practicing Inner Core Skill.

But now he had encountered a formidable disease focus.

He wanted to see what this disease focus was, which even the current Qi Blood Power couldn't break through.

"When the Qi Blood Power struck, there was no other sensation. After trying, I found that if it can't break through, it just goes around. This feeling—

is it a 'future illness'?"

Disease focuses encountered by Qi Blood Power fall into three categories: past, present, and future. When Qi Blood Power strikes disease focuses from the past or present, it is generally accompanied by pain or worsening symptoms.

If there is no reaction, then it means it's a future illness, simply speaking, it's a disease focus still in its latent period or one that shows no symptoms, not noticeable now but bound to erupt one day.

Most of these disease focuses are not anything serious, like kidney deficiency and heart fire, which just need early prevention and treatment.

But the problem arises here, as Qi Blood Power of his Martial Artist Level couldn't break through it on the first attempt, signifying not only that the disease focus is latent but also potentially very powerful, not a minor illness. If it erupts, not even a Martial Artist might be able to withstand it.

"What exactly is this disease focus?"

Wang Sheng frantically searched through his memories, trying to find any clues.

But memory gave him no answers.

He immediately entered the state of internal inspection, looking for the place where Qi Blood Power had hit a wall.

"What is this?"

Wang Sheng was scared. In the state of internal inspection, he saw a mass of black blood, wriggling like a meat worm, with ghost-like protrusions occasionally appearing on the surface as if they were evil spirits from hell.

"Am I doomed?"

Seeing the disease focus, Wang Sheng's first impression was that it was terrifying, nauseating, and a bit frightening.

How could such a thing be lurking inside him? No matter how he looked at it, the disease focus was extremely serious.

He fell into thought.

"The state of internal inspection is to see the true nature of the disease focus, what kind of disease focus would have such a nature?"

Cancer?

No, that's not right. If it were cellular disease, it wouldn't be like this. Wang Sheng's Qi Blood Power had also encountered cellular disease focuses, and what he saw in the state of internal inspection was not this scene.

If he ruled out that possibility—

"Poisoning?"

This was actually the first thing Wang Sheng thought of after seeing that scene.

That mass of black substance was just too much like some terrible poison.

However, this made Wang Sheng even more puzzled. He was poisoned?

When had he been poisoned? Who would want to harm him? What was the effect of this poison?

Countless questions swirled in his mind.

Once this idea formed—

Wang Sheng felt that although he couldn't be one hundred percent certain, for some reason, he believed that he had been poisoned.

Don't think intuition is unreliable; after practicing Inner Core Skill, intuition became extremely keen, like a sudden impulse.

After another look at the black stagnation with internal inspection, Wang Sheng exited the state of internal inspection.

After opening his eyes, his complexion was somewhat gloomy.

Anyone who learns they might have been poisoned wouldn't have a pleasant expression on their face.

"The disease is still in its incubation period, and the mutation has not occurred yet, but the person who poisoned me didn't do it just for fun. Sooner or later it will break out, and I must strengthen my Qi-Blood Power before the mutation happens to a level that can break through this disease."

Now there was no more time to slack off.

He planned to take all the time he spent on practicing the Ba Ji Quan and the Plum Flower Step and use it to cultivate the Inner Core Skill and Ba Duan Jin, to quickly improve the strength and the speed of circulation of his Qi-Blood Power. This way he could break through the disease as fast as possible.

With a "time bomb" inside his body, martial techniques and such could be set aside.

As for who poisoned him, that would have to wait until he had dealt with the disease. If the person had attacked him, as long as he wasn't poisoned to death, they would inevitably slip up eventually.

He drank a cup of chrysanthemum tea, forcing himself to calm down. He couldn't let this situation disturb his focus, otherwise it would truly be a greater loss if it affected his cultivation of Ba Duan Jin and the Inner Core Skill.

"Continue cultivating!"

However, just as he stood up planning to continue cultivating Ba Duan Jin to enhance his Qi-Blood Power,

Li Wenguang suddenly came looking for him, an urgent look on his face.

"Uncle Li, calm down, what happened?"

"Come with me, the village chief has something to say."

Although Wang Sheng didn't know what was happening, judging by Li Wenguang's appearance, he followed obediently along. Otherwise, why would Li Wenguang be able to persuade him, a Martial Artist, to come?

On the way to the village chief's house, he finally found out what had happened.

An old man in the village named Zheng Ankang had passed away.

While it may seem insensitive, Wang Sheng thought that birth, aging, sickness, and death were natural parts of life, and death was a very common event. It didn't seem like a big deal.

Besides, Li Wenguang wasn't particularly close to the old man named Zheng Ankang. Logically, he shouldn't have such a look on his face.

Most important, why was it urgency he showed, rather than sadness?

Wang Sheng recalled the old man named Zheng Ankang. He had seen him a few days ago, and he seemed to be in good health, not like someone who would die within a few days.

"Uncle Li, was there something unusual about Old Zheng's death?"

That was the only possibility he could think of.

Li Wenguang's urgently paced steps suddenly stopped, and then he sighed and looked around before saying, "No wonder you became a Martial Artist, your mind is indeed keen. Old Zheng's death is indeed abnormal. He had been very robust, his sudden death... The village chief thought there might be some hidden issue, so he had Old Ji check, do you know what the result was?"

"What was it?"

Li Wenguang's pupils shrank for a moment, and then with a somewhat fearful tone, he uttered four words: "Died of plague!"

"!!!!"

Even though Wang Sheng had become a Martial Artist, hearing those words, he couldn't help but feel a chill in his heart.

Plague?

What did that represent in ancient times?

It was a terrifying disease that could wipe out the population of an entire area. Although the causes could vary, if it couldn't be treated, the solution was usually the same: wait for all those infected in the area to die, and then burn the bodies en masse, eradicating it at the root.

Now Li Wenguang was telling him that someone in the village had died of the plague, no wonder he was so urgent.

Wang Sheng suddenly thought of the disease within his own body — it wasn't due to poisoning, but could it be due to the plague?

Maybe he had already been infected with some contagion, but because of a Martial Artist's robust constitution, the disease was just lurking.

If that were the case, then the situation was even more troublesome. But the trouble was not his; it was the people in the village.

If he, a Martial Artist who seldom left home, could be infected, the village was likely already in dire straits.

Zheng Ankang's death was probably just a prelude, a terrifying prelude.

Yet, the outbreak of the plague wouldn't happen without reason. Qingshan Village was so isolated it might as well be cut off from the world — just how had the plague appeared here?