I Don’t Want To Court Death!

Mission: Blessed-Life had three phases. First, cure people from the Hated Blood Curse; then, convert them to the Blessed Life Church; lastly, take over the Lamp Province. 

 

Curing diseases and expelling curses from people aligned with the Life God’s teachings. Preserving life was the most important lessons. Of course, there was no way Yang Yang would not take this opportunity to once again expand his power while helping people. 

 

Despite the hard work of the Life Magic magi over the last two years, no medical breakthrough for a cure had occurred yet. The best current method was to suppress people’s magical power and place them in special, anti-magical power spell formations to slow the growth of the curse as much as possible. It was a great short-term strategy, but could not be sustained. Eventually, those magus who lacked magical power will die. This was especially true for anyone below the Wisdom King level who would be reduced to the physical state of mortals. 

 

The sophisticated and insidious nature of the Hated Blood Curse was grueling to examine or study on, but Yang Yang was far stronger than he was two years ago and had far greater control over his magical power. Once he develop a cure for the ruthless disease, people would naturally flock to him and give him their faith. The majority of the people in this province were either wealthy businessmen or affluent merchants so earning their faith would be the same as obtaining their resources in the form of offerings. 

 

In fact, if he played his part well, even the House of Lamp would be subservient to him since many of their members, and core members, were infected. Having one of the richest Noble Houses submit to him would place him as one of the most influential individuals on the continent, not including his position in the Ivory Royal House, the Department of Medicine and Health, or the Ivory Royal Institute. 

 

......

 

In one of the hospitals of the Lamp Province, Yang Yang was examining a patient with the curse. This person was unconscious while in an anti-magical power spell formation. The patient’s skin was red and warty all around as if the blood had surfaced from the flesh and laid just underneath the skin. 

 

The right arm was severely swollen while the right leg was bloated and massive. Several bumps with slits were on the person’s face and those slits would open up to reveal an eyeball. Whether those eyeballs were functional or not had yet be determined. It was a grotesque sight of something that was human, but had become more of a monster. 

 

Yang Yang furrowed his eyebrows. “This person is?” 

 

“He is the Patient-Zero of Lamp Province, young sir.” An old, grey-bearded doctor at the Wisdom King level said. “He is also the grandson of the House Lord.” 

 

“I see.” Yang Yang figured that the old house lord wanted him to examine this grandchild so the person could be cured first. He stepped into the anti-magical power spell formation, and the rotten flesh of the patient crawled toward him. The flesh was in the shape of a black serpent that bared its fang at him. 

 

“Oh, young sir! Hurry and come out!” The Wisdom King doctor reached out his hand in an attempt to grabbed Yang Yang. However, the latter continued forward without a slight trace of worry on his face. 

 

“Burn.” 

Golden flames splashed out and incinerated all the crawling flesh. The patient’s body shivered and groaned as the golden flames traveled right back to him from the flesh. Although the patient was not awake, he continued to groan in increasing discomfort. 

 

The old doctor looked in amazement as Yang Yang stood close to the patient. He knew the dangers of the curse more deeply than anyone else in the Lamp Province. “The Hated Blood Curse would control the body to act whether the victim was conscious or not. The spell formation was exactly ten meters in diameter as that was the extent of the curse’s range. Otherwise, it would latch onto the nearest organic matter to absorb that matter and grow into an even bigger mass of flesh!” 

 

Although the old doctor was confused, Yang Yang was secretly even more confused. “Odd. I thought that rotten flesh was something filled with death force, which is why it incinerated so quickly. However, that excessive amount of blood and flesh on this Patient-Zero is still around.” 

 

Yang Yang placed his hand on the patient and directly grabbed a piece of flesh. It was soft to touch, but not rotten; mushy, but a little firm like muscle tissues. He could see the Flame of Purity burning away any impurities in the patient, but the grotesque aspect of the patient’s form lingered. 

 

“This is not like any of the other diseases or curses. This...” It was then to his horrors to see more living mass on the patient. It was not rotten or dark, but rather, actual pieces of flesh that had muscle and bone tissues. When he removed the Flame of Purity, that growth stopped. The flesh that the patient had develop started to slowly rot again. 

 

Yang Yang backed away. “This curse from Blood Demon Magic actually uses life force, not death force!” 

 

He quickly left the spell formation. Though the rotten flesh tried to catch him again, it naturally could not keep up to him in his vigilant state. Yang Yang quickly took another look at the research materials he was given. "Doctor Lamp-Owl, please take me to see a few other patients." 

 

The old doctor led him out of the room and into the room of other patients. Some patients had mild symptoms from quick, strong actions while other patients had serious symptoms from slow, indecisive actions. The latter group were usually the people who were infected by the curse first. Yet, no matter what category they were in, they had the same reaction with the Flame or Purity. 

 

Even when raw life force was injected into them, they had the same reaction, but without the purification. By the end of the day, Yang Yang was sitting in a private laboratory given to him by the House of Lamp. His apostles were sitting around him, waiting for his orders. 

 

"Bone One and Bone Two, I need you both to get me these materials." Yang Yang gave a long piece of paper to them. He looked at Bone Three and said, "I need you to go bring me pieces of flesh from the patients. Get me roughly ten kilograms or rotten flesh and ten kilograms of excessive flesh. Take a strand of the Flame of Purity to help you, but use it sparingly and carefully." 

 

A ring of golden flames surrounded Bone Three and turned into an actual ring on his right middle finger. The Bone Squad quickly took their leave. Yu Fei'er smiled. "And what about me?" 

 

"Senior Sister Yu, it's best if you spend your time cultivating the Jade Spring Magic I had given you. Right now, you can not do much without that Water of the Jade Spring or until I develop the cure. Moreover, the sooner you cultivate that magic, the better your breakthrough will be when you become a Wisdom King. It will change the fundamental aspect of your grimoire into something mightier." 

 

"Yes, yes, yes. That's good." Yu Fei'er stepped in closer toward him. "But... what did I say about calling me Senior Sister Yu? I'm your Jade Emissary now, so you should be calling me something more appropriate, Lord Yang." 

 

Yang Yang gulped, and then sighed. "Senior Sister Fei'er." 

 

"Hm! Good enough!" She hopped away and prepared to leave. "I'll go cultivate soon. But first, let me go around and check on the province. I'll see what I can do with my current Water of the Jade Spring." 

 

"No, do not!" Yang Yang raised his hand and his voice. "If you use the Water of the Jade Spring, the symptoms of the patients will only get worse." 

 

Seeing her confused expression, Yang Yang explained his observation. After explaining, he sat back on his chair. "Right now, the best thing to do is to wait and do many trials. I myself have my own theories, but I'll need those pieces of flesh to experiment with before we can take action. Hmph! The Blood Demons are quite clever with this one. Someone among them, or within the Demonfolk, thought of using life force as the basis for the Hated Blood Curse. Whoever it was, that person must be incredibly well-versed in Life Magic or familiar with the workings of life force to counter it so well." 

 

Yu Fei'er sneezed and grabbed a handkerchief from her interspatial ring. "Aiyah, the weather in the north is really cold. I'll take my leave now, Lord Yang. " 

 

"Hm. Remember to cultivate the Water of the Jade Spring, but otherwise, you can go around. Just make sure you do not use it on these patients." Yang Yang stared at her as she left the laboratory.  He went back and look at his research materials and waited for his requested items to be delivered. 

 

Outside the laboratory, Yu Fei'er took a look at the surroundings before closing her eyes. Snow fell from the sky and landed on the ground. In contrast to the bloody hospitals, the world outside was clear and white. Snowflakes fell on her head and shoulders, but she ignored them. 

 

Then, Yu Fei'er opened her eyes and headed east. The snow fell even harder when she left. Later that day, the House of Lamp warned the capital, and the surrounding cities, that a blizzard will soon arrive and that everyone should prepare for the storm. To the residents of the Lamp Province, blizzards were quite common in the north. Though, no one would have expected the snowstorm this year to be so harsh while they all calmly sat in their homes to avoid the curse.