Chapter 58 Judging People's Hearts: I fear the fields strewn with corpses and rivers of blood. ...

"Awooo—"

A strong wind, carrying large raindrops, swept through the dense jungle. Although it was daytime, the sky was pitch black, making it impossible to see anything clearly.

What's making that noise?

Upon hearing the sound, Jiang Yu looked up and saw pairs of green eyes appearing in the distance. The soil on the mountain fell with a "whoosh" due to the violent movement, and a cold, damp smell wafted down.

"It's a wolf."

"Wolves! Everyone run!" Several people standing on higher ground were the first to spot the creatures gathered together. Although they had always lived in Broken Stone Spring, they still kept their distance from these things.

You might only encounter one or two while hunting, and you might be able to catch them with some difficulty, but the constant sounds suggest that there are definitely more than one on the hillside.

The man who had just shouted was strong and muscular. Jiang Yu recognized him; his name was Chen Qing, and a long time ago he was considered a skilled hunter in the Duanshiquan area.

Chen Qing picked up a thick wooden stick and used it to cover the two elderly people and children in the family as they left, but there were far too many wolves, far more than they could have imagined.

Xian Chen was the first to draw his sword, which ran into Jiang Yu's hand. The silver-white sword light flashed across the sky. However, unexpectedly, the wolves running towards the crowd did not seem to notice anything unusual.

"Is...is this really a wolf?"

Its dark gray fur was glossy and smooth. The alpha wolf's front paws were in the air, and when it leaped over, it was as tall as a two-story building.

Upon closer inspection, Jiang Yu noticed that the wolves had tufts of white fur on their heads. The sharp weapons that the men had thrown at them were gently caught by their claws and turned into piles of scrap metal in the blink of an eye.

"It's probably already sentient and about to become a spirit."

Shen Jiuxu was, after all, a tree. He had spent many years on the mountain and had come into contact with these things quite a bit. He pressed Jiang Yu's hand down and said, "I'll do it. There are too many people here. To avoid harming innocent people, you take them to the side first and be careful."

"Okay." Jiang Yu glanced at him. Xian Chen spun around in the air and raised a high wall of spiritual energy to block everyone's view. He then called for people to leave.

But in fact, Jiang Yu didn't need to shout at all. Those who were supposed to run had already disappeared without a trace, leaving only a few elderly people who were either unable to walk or simply too weak. Jiang Yu grabbed their collars and pulled them up.

He was pondering how to send so many people over at once when he suddenly remembered something and took out the paper crane from his sleeve.

The paper cranes, which were originally only the size of a palm, quickly grew larger, and two powerful wings spread out in the air. Jiang Yu sent them up and told the paper cranes to fly elsewhere.

However, the journey to Duanshiquan is difficult, and the area is flooded everywhere. Even the nearest town is hundreds of miles away. Not to mention that the sick are contagious, so even if one wanted to go elsewhere, there is practically nowhere to go.

Jiang Yu could only set up another barrier to temporarily hide those people behind the mountain. He heard several howls behind him and wanted Xian Chen to help Shen Jiuxu, only to find that it had already sneaked off.

The sword flashed, piercing the wolf's chest. Branches sprouted from all directions, surrounding the wolf pack. Hua Bao and Xian Chen exchanged a glance, then turned away with disdain to get back to work.

Dozens of wolves were tied up together. Xian Chen rolled several times in the air, deliberately avoiding the places where the flower buds were tied, and completely pierced through their bodies.

Blood was everywhere, and the overwhelming stench of blood was even noticeable to the people who had been taken away. Tang Ling sniffed a few times and found the smell to be unusually pleasant.

The man who bit him was curled up on the left, all four of his eyes closed. Tang Ling thought he was asleep. At this moment, the resentment from being bitten reached its peak. He stretched out his leg and kicked the man hard.

The man woke up and opened his four eyes.

Blood and malevolent energy surrounded him and Tang Ling as they fought, letting the corpse fluid pour into their mouths and noses, yet they still did not stop.

The two were locked in a fierce fight when Tang Ling punched the man in the face, causing his eye to cave in with a "splat." Jiang Yu then flicked his finger, picked up a pebble, and threw it at both of them.

Tang Ling glanced at it and was so frightened that he immediately deflated. But the person next to him had already lost his mind and was running around in a daze. Jiang Yu felt that his condition seemed to be more serious than before. Looking at the group of people gathered around, his unease grew even stronger.

Unbeknownst to him, a pool of black blood flowed from the man's mouth, his breathing slowed, and he gently collapsed behind Tang Ling.

Jiang Yu's right eyelid twitched a few times. The child still hadn't been found. If more people were infected, Jiang Yu couldn't imagine what would happen. He calculated the time; Lian Quesheng and Dianxing should be arriving soon. Hopefully, they would have a solution by then.

The wolves collapsed to the ground. Shen Jiuxu took a handkerchief and wiped the blood off Xian Chen, patted the hilt of his sword, and said softly, "You've worked hard."

If Xian Chen had a tail, it would probably be wagging high in the sky. The flower bud, seeing this, turned its petals outside; neither the flower nor the sword looked down on the other. Unfortunately, their masters were together, so they could only stay there, disdainfully facing each other.

The howling stopped, Jiang Yu removed the barrier, and Shen Jiuxu walked over. A wolf had scratched his chin, and the blood had just congealed and was still stuck to his face.

He placed Xian Chen on a high rock before standing with Jiang Yu. The two were a considerable distance from the people, and no one could hear what they were saying, but they did notice that they were very close.

Shen Jiuxu rested his head on Jiang Yu's shoulder. He had tied his soft, long hair up with a hair crown to avoid trouble during the fight, making him look very neat.

"Don't you think this rain is a bit strange?"

The rain came so suddenly, and these illnesses appeared immediately after the downpour, which was truly unbelievable. Shen Jiuxu let Jiang Yu's hand touch his face, carefully cleaning the bloodstains off it.

“I’m a little worried because I’ve never seen such strange symptoms before.”

"Quesheng said he brought a lot of medical books on his way here. I wonder if he can find any solutions." Jiang Yu frowned. He hadn't slept for two days, and there were dark circles under his eyes. He looked quite haggard.

"I'm just afraid of... a large-scale outbreak. At that time, I'm afraid there will be corpses everywhere and rivers of blood."

The rain stopped briefly, then started again.

Those people were also tired from walking, so they simply stopped on a small patch of ground that could barely be called flat. The people, who had been exhausted for a day and a night, all sprawled on the ground, no longer caring about cleanliness or the strict separation of men and women. They were already satisfied as long as they found a place to rest.

"What's going on with this weather? Is the rain never going to stop? My child has had a fever for days after getting caught in the rain and still isn't better, but it just keeps raining."

"What's the use of your shouting? If you're so capable, leave here. Look at those disciples from the immortal sects, they can fly away as soon as they want. Who cares about you here!" "You're really heartless. Haven't Young Master Jiang and the other two been staying here all along? Aren't they good enough to you?"

"Pah! Those two are perfectly healthy. They can stay here, give us a few more wrestling matches, and gain a good reputation. Once they see we're completely hopeless, they can just run away. Isn't that great!"

The man had triangular eyes with mostly white showing, and his mouth was downturned. He casually snatched the blanket wrapped around the baby and wiped away the water stains.

He put his legs together, threw the piece of cloth back behind his back with both hands, his posture was peculiar, his eyes were strange, and he laughed at the few people around him for no reason, looking like a madman.

“Those who got sick are still alive and well, aren’t they? If you ask me, if Jiang Yu really wanted to help, he should have killed them, then he wouldn’t have to worry about infection.”

His hand finally reached out again to scratch his back, the sound of sharp nails scraping against flesh irritating everyone's ears. The sound of rain had become commonplace to them, as had the scratching sounds; in any case, almost everyone had been doing this for the past few days.

But the sound grew louder and louder, like someone sharpening a dull, rusty knife on a stone. Blood seeped from the back of the light gray clothes and dripped into the water.

Some people saw it, but dared not warn them. A few more grayish-white feathers floated up from the water and were pressed under the man's clothes, but no one noticed.

The people who were talking just now dared not continue to speak. Their hearts were in their throats. No one wanted to provoke this person whose behavior was extremely strange. They slowly moved away, and soon a small open space was left around the man.

Will Jiang Yu really save us?

“Zhou Yongyin isn’t here. Is he alright? If he can get away with it, why can’t Jiang Yu make us be like him?”

"Don't immortals know how to fly through the clouds? If he just sends us all to those immortal sects and families, wouldn't everything be fine? He just doesn't want to, so what's with all this pretense?"

The man's words left a deep impression on them. People at the scene talked in hushed tones, and occasionally someone would glance out of the corner of their eye at Jiang Yu and Shen Jiuxu, who were cleaning up the water ghosts.

A child was about to speak up for them, but the adult on the right seemed to have seen through his thoughts, covered the child's mouth, and chimed in, "Didn't that cloth seller say he was very powerful? And his Daoist partner even ascended to immortality, so this little favor is definitely nothing to them."

The crowd grew larger and larger. The child, whose mouth was covered, looked at the familiar yet unfamiliar faces, spitting out saliva. His hands and feet jostled and bumped against each other, making him timidly peek at the people they were cursing in the distance.

...

A bolt of lightning struck Tang Ling with a "crack," causing his feathers to bristle like a hedgehog's quills. This sudden turn of events silenced the man who had been talking non-stop, and the scene fell into complete silence.

When everyone thought Tang Ling was going to die, apart from his hair standing straight up in black, he was perfectly fine and was sitting on the ground unharmed.

"Is he not dead?"

"He seems to be alright. Such a huge bomb, and he's still alive." Several people stared wide-eyed, their pupils darting around, as if they had a new idea in mind.

The silence at this moment was eerily quiet.

Just when Jiang Yu and Shen Jiuxu, who were far away, thought that the panic and unease had at least been temporarily brought under control, a sudden burst of shouts came from the southeast.

It was the mother holding her child.

Several bumps appeared on her face, which was flushed. She ran and shouted, "Young Master Jiang, Young Master Jiang, please save him, please save him!"

The child, wrapped in red cloth, had a bluish-purple face and his arms hung limply at his sides. Jiang Yu checked his breathing but found that he was already lifeless.

The child is dead!

How could he already be dead?

He had clearly given him medicine just now; even if it wasn't very effective, this shouldn't have happened. Blood was gushing from the baby's eyes, and suspicion began to creep into his heart. The woman grabbed his clothes, "Young Master Jiang, didn't you used to be able to revive the dead? Please save him!"

Just then, a group of young disciples dressed in blue flew over on their swords. Standing at the front was Dianxing. Seeing that Jiang Yu was unable to leave, he looked at Shen Jiuxu again, "Sect Master Shen."

Dianxing glanced around briefly. "I brought a lot of pills, and several physicians from Shen Wuke's sect also came. Disciples from other sects have also heard the news and are on their way."

The words had barely left her lips when the woman's roar suddenly rang out.

"Isn't all of this because of you? Jiang Yu, you couldn't save them three years ago, and it's the same three years later. You've always just been talking nice things, giving them some pills and then not caring whether they live or die. Isn't that right?"

"Three years ago?"

As Jiang Yu watched her face become increasingly blurry in front of him, his head began to ache. What had he done three years ago?

"So many people trusted you three years ago, but what did you do? You didn't care about anything. No wonder you couldn't ascend in the end. You deserve it."

The woman was so angry that she waved her arms wildly, ignoring the child in her arms. "You're a liar! So many people praise you and trust you every day. I shouldn't have believed you again."

Shen Jiuxu stepped forward and stood in front of Jiang Yu. He put his arm around Jiang Yu and turned to Dianxing, saying, "First, control the situation. Find all the people with fever and four eyes, separate them from the normal people, and send a doctor to take a look."

"yes."

Dianxing led his men there, and Ye Zishan, who was following him, poked Dianxing on the back with a curious look. "Senior Brother Dianxing, what kind of illness is this? It looks so scary."

“I think they look like pheasants. They seem to have become pheasants. I saw a pheasant in Egret Island before. It had a human face, four eyes and two ears. It is said that it cannot survive unless it kills someone.” A disciple of Star Pavilion who came with Dianxing said. Dianxing looked at him in surprise. He did not expect that this disciple, who was usually reserved, had actually seen these things.

What a coincidence!

He actually stumbled upon something so rare!

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Author's note: I admit I am [The Joker][The Joker][The Joker].

The word count is a little too high, but not by much. How embarrassing! I'll try harder tomorrow. (Runs away, covering face)