Druid Fairy

Chapter 221 Curse

The next day, early in the morning.

In the south of the capital, the Fengnian Rice Shop was known for its generosity and opened its granaries to provide relief to the poor.

Countless people living in poverty, along with their families and friends, lined up in long queues, their faces beaming with gratitude.

Disasters always strike unexpectedly.

The first day was calm.

The next day, some elderly people and children in the south of the city began to show symptoms of unknown cause.

Feeling weak all over, listless, and with a poor appetite, just like having a common cold.

The major medical clinics in the city treated it as a common seasonal illness, but the prescriptions they gave had little effect.

On the third day, the situation began to deteriorate rapidly.

It's not just the elderly and children; even strong young adults are starting to show the same symptoms.

Their skin lost its luster, becoming dry and ashen, like dried orange peel. Their hair also began to turn yellow and fall out in clumps.

Even more terrifying, their eyes began to become numb and empty, as if their souls had been ripped out.

Panic, like the plague itself, began to spread wildly through the streets and alleys of the south of the city.

"It's a plague! It's divine retribution!"

"Help! I don't want to die!"

Desperate cries replaced the usual peace.

The Duke of Zhenguo immediately ordered the entire southern part of the city to be sealed off and dispatched the Imperial Guards and physicians from the Imperial Medical Academy to control the situation.

When the imperial physicians saw the patient's condition, they were all horrified.

In their entire medical careers, they had never seen such a bizarre illness.

There were no signs of poisoning in the patients' bodies, and their internal organs were not showing signs of failure, but their vitality was visibly fading away!
It was as if their bodies had become a leaky wooden bucket, and no matter how much medicine was poured in, it could not stop the dissipation of life.

The news quickly reached Tingtao Xiaozhu.

"Brother, something's really wrong!"

Li Mengjin rushed back from the south of the city, his face grave. "I went to see them. The aura emanating from those patients was very strange. It wasn't the aura of illness, but rather the aura of death."

Upon hearing this, Li Mengze frowned deeply.

He made a quick decision and said to Li Mengyue, who was standing beside him, "Yue'er, come with me. Your Yin energy is pure and holy, and it may be able to purify this evil energy."

"Yes, brother!"

Without further delay, the brother and sister vanished from the spot in a flash.

The next moment, they appeared in a courtyard in the south of the city that had been temporarily converted into an isolation zone.

Inside the hospital, cries of anguish filled the air, and the hospital was filled with patients whose faces were ashen.

A nauseating stench, a mixture of decay and despair, assaulted my senses.

Li Mengze's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

"What a vicious method!"

This is not a plague, it's a curse!
"Moonlight Curtain, unleash 'Moonlight Sky Curtain'!" Li Mengze shouted in a deep voice.

"Yes!"

Li Mengyue dared not be negligent. She made a hand seal, and the bright crescent moon mark between her eyebrows suddenly shone brightly!
A holy and serene radiance of the moon suddenly burst forth, transforming into a massive curtain of light that enveloped the entire courtyard.

"Zi la...Zi la..."

Under the moonlit sky, the gray-black death aura clinging to the patients seemed to have met its nemesis, emitting a sound like melting ice and snow as it was rapidly purified.

The numb faces of the patients gradually regained a glimmer of life, and their pain was greatly relieved.

Li Mengze's complexion did not improve as a result.

He keenly sensed that the purified death energy had not completely dissipated, but had transformed into more subtle and hidden seeds of resentment, which merged into the air, the earth, and even followed the trajectory of the moonlight, backfiring into Li Mengyue's body!

"Moon, stop!" Li Mengze's expression changed, and he immediately shouted to stop her.

Upon hearing this, Li Mengyue immediately withdrew her supernatural powers, but still felt dizzy and her face turned slightly pale.

"Brother, this thing... it's so strange, it can actually corrupt my Yin energy!" she said with lingering fear.

"This is not filth."

Li Mengze's voice was as cold as iron, "The root of this curse can treat all external energy as its own nourishment, constantly growing stronger. Ordinary purification methods are not only useless against it, but actually help it spread!"

Just then, an elderly man lying in the corner suddenly began to convulse.

His withered body began to swell rapidly, like an inflating balloon, and hideous black lines appeared on his skin.

"boom!"

With a muffled thud, the old man's body exploded!

Instead of flying blood and flesh, it transformed into an extremely dense cloud of gray-black poisonous mist, sweeping in all directions!

"not good!"

Li Mengze's pupils contracted. He immediately activated his magic power, creating a shield made of the power of life essence to protect himself and his sister.

The cloud of poisonous mist crashed into the shield, producing a sickeningly corrosive sound.

The shield's light dimmed at a visible rate.

Li Mengze's life force is being frantically devoured by the poisonous fog.

"Trying to devour me? Wishful thinking!"

Li Mengze snorted coldly, and the phantom of the Dao Fruit of Life and Death between his brows suddenly began to operate!

"Rong!"

He let out a soft shout, and the boundless life force was no longer just for defense, but transformed into countless emerald green vines that burst out from the shield, turning around and tightly binding the poisonous mist!

“Withered!”

He uttered another word.

A deathly power, representing "the end," flowed through the vines and into the poisonous mist.

Life and death, two completely opposite forces, under his control, formed a perfect cycle, grinding the poisonous mist madly.

After a few breaths, the extremely vicious poisonous fog was completely obliterated, turning into a wisp of green smoke and disappearing without a trace.

There was no sign of relief on Li Mengze's face.

It took him nearly ten percent of his magical power to deal with just this small cloud of poisonous mist.

At this moment, there are already tens of thousands of infected people in the entire southern part of the city!
If they all explode...

The consequences could be disastrous!
Li Mengze's eyes revealed a murderous intent.

"Brother, what do we do now?" Li Mengjin appeared beside him, his expression equally grave.

"Second brother, immediately take my token and invite the Imperial Advisor. This matter requires the use of the 'Purple Star Guardian Array' to suppress the entire city and prevent the spread of this poisonous gas."

"Moon, come with me."

Li Mengze's eyes became incredibly resolute as he appeared in the sky above the south of the city with Li Mengyue.

"My path is not about killing, but about 'balance'."

His voice echoed across the sky.

"Only through death can there be life. Only through destruction can there be rebirth." As he finished speaking, he slowly opened his arms, and for the first time, the Dao Fruit that had completely merged with his soul manifested its complete form behind him!
Half of it was pitch black, exuding a deathly stillness as if all things had ended.

Half of it is emerald green like jade, full of endless creative new life.

A colossal black-and-white tai chi diagram, covering the entire southern part of the city, slowly emerged!
…………

Lingshan Cave.

Li Pingcan sat cross-legged beneath the ancient tree that reached the heavens and slowly opened his eyes.

He was already aware of everything that was happening in the capital.

"Treating the people like straw dogs and using resentment as weapons, what a cunning emperor's mind!"

He muttered to himself softly, his voice revealing neither joy nor anger.

However, the azure dragon beneath him, formed from countless earth veins, seemed to sense its master's intentions and let out a suppressed roar, causing the entire dojo world to change color.

"Ze'er, you are still too kind."

Li Pingcan shook his head. "The way of balance requires not only compassion for life, but also the decisiveness to die."

He slowly raised his right hand, pointed his index finger at the air, and gently tapped it.

“In that case, I will teach you another lesson.”

……

The capital city, in the sky above the south.

The black and white Tai Chi diagram behind Li Mengze slowly rotated, and a grand and profound Taoist aura enveloped the entire area.

At this moment, all the people infected by the plague, regardless of the severity of their illness, stopped groaning and their bodies floated uncontrollably into the air.

Their faces were still filled with pain and despair.

Li Mengze took a deep breath, intending to activate his Dao Fruit and forcibly remove the withering poison from their bodies at the cost of his own origin.

Just then, a power that he was extremely familiar with, yet more magnificent and awe-inspiring than ever before, transcended the barriers of space and descended silently!

This power did not enter his body, but rather merged directly into the black and white tai chi diagram behind him.

"Buzz!"

The Tai Chi diagram trembled violently, and the pitch-black half representing "death" instantly became incredibly deep, as if it had transformed into an endless black hole connecting to the deepest hell!
An undeniable and irresistible force of law erupted!
"This is... Father's power?!" A huge wave of emotions surged in Li Mengze's heart.

This power shares the same origin as him, yet it is on a completely different level.

If his "withering" is the withering of plants and the approaching end of life.

Therefore, the father's "withering" is the very act of establishing the rule that "all things will wither and die"!
"Anyone carrying the poison of the 'Dry Dragon' within their body shall be eliminated!"

A majestic and vast voice resounded directly into the depths of everyone's soul!
The next moment, an unbelievable scene unfolded!

The gray-black withering poison in the patients floating in mid-air instantly lost all resistance. It was forcibly stripped from their limbs, bones, and internal organs by an invisible force!

Wisps of grayish-black poisonous gas escaped from their seven orifices, converging in mid-air to form a gigantic, writhing black tumor filled with resentment and unwillingness!

Without the corrosive effects of the toxins, the people's bodies seemed to have all their strength drained away, and they fell from mid-air.

At that moment, the emerald green half of the Tai Chi diagram, representing "life," also quietly changed.

A boundless vitality, brimming with "blessings" and "great fortune," transformed into a shower of emerald-green light that fell from the sky.

Each drop of light rain fell precisely on a fallen civilian, transforming into the gentlest force to steadily support them and slowly send them back to the ground.

The light rain seeped into their bodies, and their dry skin visibly regained its rosy and plump appearance.

The life force and lifespan that were devoured will be returned in full!
The people of the south of the city have returned to the world of the living from hell!

They stared blankly at their hands, feeling the immense vitality that had been regained within them, and finally came to their senses.

"thump!"

"thump!"

Tens of thousands of people knelt down in utmost devotion, facing the figure in blue robes in the sky and the slowly dissipating black and white yin-yang symbol.

"Thank you, God... no, thank you, Guardian Deity, for saving my life!"

"Long live the Guardian Deity!"

The overwhelming gratitude and faith converged into an unprecedented, extremely pure torrent of willpower, soaring into the sky and merging entirely into Li Mengze's body. This instantly restored the energy he had lost from activating his Dao Fruit, and even allowed him to make subtle progress!

Li Mengze stared blankly at the scene, his heart filled with shock.

He finally understood his father's intention.

How can one understand the preciousness of life without experiencing the fear of death?
How could such a devout faith be forged without experiencing the abyss of despair?

……

Honglu Temple, the courtyard of the three major sects.

Ye Gufeng, Xiong Ba, and Meiying walked out of the room at the same time, looking in horror towards the south of the city.

They clearly felt the "blessing" vitality that had just nourished all things!
For the first time, Xiong Ba's voice trembled, "This... what the hell is this power?!"

Ye Gufeng gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, his palms sweating profusely.

The moment that law descended, he felt his sword heart almost shatter!
It was an absolute suppression on a life level, allowing no resistance whatsoever!

"This is no longer a battle we can intervene in."

The Phantom's voice, too, had lost its usual languidness and become incredibly solemn: "Immediately send a message back to the Lord: the Great Yu Dynasty is unfathomably powerful!"

…………

The capital city, a dark underground stronghold.

"puff!"

Chan Jiu suddenly spat out a mouthful of black blood. His ordinary face was covered with spiderweb-like cracks, as if it would shatter at any moment.

That domineering and unparalleled power of law even rebounded along this connection, instantly severely damaging his soul!
He struggled to pull the black wooden cicada from his pocket, intending to transmit the information back.

Just then, a cold voice rang in his ear without warning.

Where do you want to send it?

The hairs on Chan Jiu's body stood on end instantly!

He turned around abruptly and saw Li Mengjin's face, as cold as ice, appear behind him without him noticing.

The hand that had been resting on the sword hilt slowly rose.

"No!"

Chan Jiu let out a desperate roar, about to activate his last life-saving secret technique.

However, within Li Mengjin's sword domain, which had already merged with the "solidity of mountains and rivers," all his movements became like slow motion.

"Pfft."

The Shadowfang Longsword pierced his heart without any fancy moves.

The overwhelming sword energy erupted instantly, pulverizing his soul and the life force within his body.

Before he died, all he saw were Li Mengjin's cold, emotionless eyes.

“Anyone who enters this place with the intention of committing evil deeds.”

"die."

(End of this chapter)