Master of Strange Dao

With their contact with the young girl, a wisp of black energy slipped into their bodies, waiting to take root and grow, continuing to expand.

Yu Ziqing began his investigation from this household, extending outward to inspect the entire Dinghai City, examining each family.

He started from the east of the city.

The household under his feet was certainly not the initial starting point.

After three two-hour intervals, Yu Ziqing stood with a stern face on the roof of a medical hall, observing the patients lying inside. All of them exhibited symptoms of diarrhea, and to an extent where they had become severely dehydrated.

The physicians at the medical hall seemed quite experienced, as they had prepared separate wards for the patients, preventing others from coming into contact with them.

Everything the patients had touched, be it clothing or any other item, was all burned.

However, the effect of these measures was minimal.

He had found at least a dozen households with patients showing symptoms that he could recognize at a glance, even without direct contact.

From the mildest cases to the most severe, he mapped out a diagram. The center was located precisely at this medical hall.

Yu Ziqing stepped into the medical hall and directly approached the physician.

"I advise you to seal this place immediately, the illness has already spread."

Yu Ziqing entered the ward, approached the critically ill patients, and gestured with his hand to collect strands of black energy continually. He forcibly drew it out and fed it to the Earth Toad.

Yet as he extracted the illness, suddenly one of the patients ceased to breathe.

The other patients did not immediately recover either.

They were already critically ill, simply removing the sickness could not save them. It merely gave them a spark of vitality, turning certain death into a slim chance of survival.

The physician behind him could not see Yu Ziqing extracting the disease energy, nor did he accuse Yu Ziqing of harming a patient. He began to inspect the other patients.

A moment later, the physician approached and offered a bow.

"I am from the Xianyi Sect. May I know who you are?"

"I am merely an ordinary physician, one who expels devils and upholds justice. You should promptly report to the local authority; there is a Devil wreaking havoc with the disease energy. I see you have handled things methodically. How do you not know that such methods can hardly keep it under control?"

The physician let out a bitter laugh.

"My abilities and skills are limited, yet I cannot ignore them and turn them away."

"I understand fully that it is difficult for me to save them. I have done everything I could for their ailments. But if I were to refuse them, they would die outside, and the situation would then become even more uncontrollable."

"When I noticed an increase in patients, I had already reported it."

Yu Ziqing sighed internally, uncertain of what to say.

"Where did the initial patient come from?"

"From the east of the city, Liu Family Village. The county officials should have already gone there and sealed it off."

Yu Ziqing's figure flickered and disappeared from the spot.

The physician glanced at the few critically ill people who were still alive.

"You are lucky to have encountered a demon-exorcising guardian who helped extract the disease energy. You must not give up. Think of your families, if you perish, who would take care of them without a breadwinner in the house? Hold on."

The physician arranged for others to give those patients water and some food, and continued to monitor them.

Yu Ziqing had already rushed out of the city, heading toward the city's outskirts.

A hundred miles away, a small mountain village had already been sealed off.

When Yu Ziqing arrived, he caught sight of a man attempting to break through. In the Yin God's perspective, his body was almost entirely infiltrated by the disease energy. The only reason he hadn't died was because the disease energy appeared to have some consciousness, choosing not to extinguish his Life Fire.

Before Yu Ziqing reached him, a cultivator intercepted him.

"You're from above, discovering disease energy rampant here. There might be a Devil."

Not far away, a man dressed in an official robe looked back at Yu Ziqing and immediately waved his hand to let Yu Ziqing pass through.

"I am the County Magistrate here, Mu Shouchang. You have come for the Devil, correct?"

"Indeed."

"Everyone here has been infected, and there is no medicine that can cure them. They can only be sealed."

"Let me try…"

Yu Ziqing always felt there was something peculiar about the way the County Magistrate looked at him.

After he spoke, the County Magistrate directly ordered a small gap in the seal, allowing Yu Ziqing to enter.

Yu Ziqing's sense of unease grew stronger.

Extracting the disease energy and feeding it to the Earth Toad proceeded smoothly.

However, this time, it seemed even the Earth Toad could not digest it all. After swallowing it, it had to distribute some to the other four smaller ones.

After purging the disease energy from the village, most of the people had already died.

Those people were essentially dead; their Vitality Fire, like flickering flames dropped into the ocean, might not have been extinguished by the surrounding water, yet it was futile.

When Yu Ziqing extracted the disease energy, their Vitality Fire also faded away.

When Yu Ziqing exited the village, Mu Shouchang held the Big Seal, his eyes watching Yu Ziqing with an intricately layered gaze.

He could confirm that indeed, Yu Ziqing had neutralized the Devil's power here, and also confirmed that Yu Ziqing himself remained unaffected.

When Yu Ziqing approached him, he slowly began to speak.

"The Divine Dynasty, has it finally found a solution?"

Hearing these words, Yu Ziqing trembled slightly, somewhat surprised as he looked at Mu Shouchang.

At that moment, Yu Ziqing understood why Mu Shouchang trusted him so much.

From the very first glance, Mu Shouchang knew Yu Ziqing was an outsider.

Mu Shouchang even knew exactly where they were now.