Chapter 310
Chapter 310
Divine Maiden Xue Yin spoke in a very warm voice. The fragrance from her body grew impossibly rich, spreading like a well-aged wine. Shen Lang held her beautiful face, as exquisite as if carved from jade. A face so perfect would never be seen again in this world. Though frozen in a single moment, impossibly cold, it was still soft to the touch. Shen Lang gently kissed her. The fragrance in the air instantly intensified. The final poison in Divine Maiden Xue Yin was about to take hold. The end had come.
At the same time, the surrounding air suddenly grew heavy and chilling.
"Amitabha. Let mercy be shown."
The greatest master of the State of Jiang, a peak warrior, the leader of its religious world, the High Priest of the Snow Mountain Divine Temple—Ascetic Ku Hai—walked slowly into the courtyard. Even the Old Demon of Snow Mountain, Huang Feng's master, had been defeated by him. The ground cracked wherever his feet touched, and the grass and leaves on either side of his path were all severed and shattered.
At that moment, Shen Lang was holding Divine Maiden Xue Yin, kissing her. The final poison had taken hold, freezing her completely from head to toe. She had lost all ability to move, including the capacity to speak or even shift her gaze.
"Divine Maiden Xue Yin, I have come to make you pay the price for killing our monks!"
With those words, his killing intent soared to the heavens.
***
Ascetic Ku Hai, the greatest master of the State of Jiang, approached. An object slipped from Shen Lang's hand. It was something he intended to use to save his life in a moment of crisis. Divine Maiden Xue Yin lay perfectly still, completely unable to move. Ku Hai asked him.
"Has the final poison taken hold? Can she no longer move at all?"
Shen Lang nodded, and High Priest Ku Hai of the Snow Mountain Divine Temple took another two steps closer. With each step he took, his killing intent thickened, and his gaze grew more ruthless. But suddenly, Xue Yin's body began to turn red. Her skin, which had always been as white as snow, was now the color of blood, like a volcano on the verge of eruption.
Ku Hai stopped in his tracks. Divine Maiden Xue Yin could not speak or move, but she had issued him a warning.
*Ku Hai, if you take one more step, I, Xue Yin, will self-destruct.*
Although Xue Yin couldn't move her body, she could still manipulate the true energy in her core, making self-destruction possible. Self-destruction meant instantly detonating all the internal energy and true energy she had cultivated for decades. While it wouldn't kill Ku Hai, it could severely injure him. As powerful as Ku Hai's martial arts were, surpassing even the Old Demon of Snow Mountain, there was still a gap between him and the likes of Zhong Chuke or Xue Yin. The crucial point was the potent poison from Mount Fudao within Xue Yin's body. If she were to self-destruct, what if that bizarre poison infected him? Therefore, Ku Hai halted his advance. She was a dead woman walking anyway; there was no need to rush or take risks.
Ku Hai said to Shen Lang.
"Young Master Shen Lang."
Shen Lang replied.
"What guidance do you have for me?"
"In the State of Jiang, there can be only one faith, one divine temple."
"The shrine I built is for saving people."
"Let the Snow Mountain Divine Temple save them."
"It is too far."
"Then tear down that sacred temple."
"If I tear it down, I cannot save people."
The conversation had reached an impasse. Ascetic Ku Hai waited for her to die, knowing that once Xue Yin was gone, Shen Lang would fall into his hands. He wanted Shen Lang for one reason: the Jin Clan behind him. With Shen Lang in his grasp, extorting wealth from the Jin Clan would be a simple matter.
Ascetic Ku Hai had his warrior monks to feed and a lavish lifestyle to maintain. But the Snow Mountain Divine Temple neither collected taxes from the people nor farmed, subsisting solely on the annual donations from the populace, so money was always tight. The critical issue was that during the smallpox epidemic of the past few months, the Snow Mountain Divine Temple had received no money. They had closed the temple gates to protect themselves, turning away countless followers and leaving them to die from the infection. This had caused immense harm to the people of Jiang. As a result, this year's donations would surely be much lower than before. For the sake of extortion, he needed Shen Lang more than ever.
Ku Hai continued to wait for Xue Yin to die. Fifteen minutes passed, then thirty, then an hour! But for some reason, Xue Yin did not die. She lay with her eyes wide open, ready to self-destruct at any moment.
*Why isn't she dead yet? Her time should have been up long ago.*
After waiting a full two hours, Ascetic Ku Hai gave up.
"Young Master Shen Lang, you have half a month to tear down the sacred temple and hand over the cure for smallpox, free of charge. Otherwise, for the sake of the pure faith of the State of Jiang, I will lead my warrior monks in a holy war. We will burn down your temple and kill every last person from the State of Yue. Remember, you have only half a month."
Even after High Priest Ku Hai of the Snow Mountain Divine Temple had left, the red glow on Divine Maiden Xue Yin's body did not fade. Only after another fifteen minutes did Ascetic Ku Hai, who had been hiding nearby, truly depart. The man was exceedingly cunning. It was then that the red glow on Xue Yin's body gradually dissipated. But now, no matter how loudly Shen Lang called her name, she could not answer. She couldn't make a sound, couldn't move a muscle, couldn't even move her eyes. And yet, she was still breathing, her heart was still beating, and she still had a fever.
Shen Lang pressed his forehead against hers to check and confirmed she was indeed feverish. It was then that Shen Lang found a clue.
*Has Xue Yin ever been infected with smallpox? Unlikely. At least, her face bears no pockmarks. But she was with smallpox patients every day, so why wasn't she infected? If she wasn't infected, why does she have a persistent fever? Could it be that she was infected with the smallpox virus, but it hasn't fully spread throughout her body yet?*
Shen Lang examined her entire body in detail, but her jade-like skin was flawless. He couldn't find a single rash or pustule, not even in the most hidden corners.
*Then is it possible she was infected with the smallpox virus, causing the fever, but the symptoms haven't manifested on her skin? Mount Fudao used a potent poison on her, which took full effect today. At the same time, she was also infected with the smallpox virus, but perhaps the poison from Mount Fudao suppressed its spread? That's why the characteristic pockmarks and pustules of smallpox haven't appeared. Moreover, since the final poison has taken hold, she should be dead by now. But she is only completely immobile, not dead. Could it be that the poison from Mount Fudao and the smallpox virus are attacking each other, reducing the poison's potency? Is that why she hasn't died yet?*
This conclusion was highly plausible. If that were true, what did it prove? The poison from Mount Fudao was not like snake venom, nor was it like cyanide. Furthermore, this poison had lain dormant in Xue Yin's body for years, only acting up recently. In that case, could this poison be considered a living organism? Like Gu poison, or a minuscule parasite? Could it be that Mount Fudao had made her ingest the eggs of a poisonous insect, which then hatched, grew, mated, and reproduced, resulting in countless Gu parasites appearing in her blood?
Shen Lang was startled by his own hypothesis. He took out a knife, made a small cut on Xue Yin's finger, and let a drop of red blood fall into a porcelain bowl for closer inspection. It was a shame he didn't have a microscope. But Shen Lang had magnifying glasses and a telescope. Soon, using some cardboard and several magnifying glasses, Shen Lang fashioned a very crude, low-magnification microscope and used it to observe Xue Yin's blood.
*I found it! I found it!*
Yes, there were countless microorganisms in Xue Yin's blood. They were incredibly, incredibly small, no larger than 0.05 millimeters. They were not much bigger than a man's sperm but swam extremely fast, and there were a great many of them. In the one milliliter of blood drawn from Divine Maiden Xue Yin, there were at least a hundred of them. This was likely a Gu worm, and a neurotoxic one at that. It was probably just as Shen Lang had guessed: Mount Fudao had fed her the eggs of a poisonous insect, which had hatched, mated, and reproduced over several years, multiplying to their current numbers.
Previously, the number of parasitic worms was small, so Xue Yin showed no clear symptoms. But in recent months, the worms had bred and multiplied, taking over her entire body. Each seizure indicated that they had claimed another part of her body. In the end, Divine Maiden Xue Yin's entire body was overrun by the parasitic worms. They continuously released a neurotoxin, paralyzing her completely. That was why she had become frozen.
No wonder her body emitted such a rich, intoxicating fragrance like alcohol whenever the poison acted up. The neurotoxin released by the parasitic worms was what paralyzed her nervous system.
This was something incomprehensible to Earth's medicine, a life form unique to this world. To discover and utilize such a thing... Mount Fudao was a truly terrifying place! But Xue Yin was not dead yet because the smallpox virus was also present in her body. The two types of pathogens were killing each other in her blood, extending her life. But the virus wouldn't survive long in the human body—twenty days at most. Thus, Xue Yin was still destined to die.
What method could be used to kill the parasitic worms? Shen Lang then began a frantic series of experiments. He didn't have much time left. He had to save Xue Yin and prepare for the drastic changes that were to come. He had to find something that could kill the parasitic worms without killing Xue Yin. Now that he had a direction, all that remained was to find a breakthrough.
Ten days had already passed since Shen Lang administered the cowpox vaccinations, and it was almost time for the results. The first group of vaccinated individuals had already developed rashes, which then pustulated and scabbed over. The King of Jiang, unable to wait any longer, sent men to place them inside the tents of smallpox patients. The weather had already grown hot, and the smallpox epidemic was raging more fiercely than ever.
Smallpox had now become a true grim reaper. Every day, more and more people were infected, and more and more were dying. Three more members of the royal family had been infected. The royals, aside from the King of Jiang and the crown prince, were all trembling in fear of contracting smallpox. If the epidemic continued to rage, at least a third of the State of Jiang's population would die, and its army would be significantly reduced. It would be a true catastrophe.
However, if Shen Lang's vaccination technique proved effective, it could not only save the people of Jiang but also the King of Jiang's countless troops. It was a matter directly related to the fate of the State of Jiang. The King of Jiang couldn't even wait for the test subjects to be indirectly exposed and issued an order.
"Smear the blood and pus of smallpox patients onto the test subjects' bodies and see if they get infected."