After binding with a genius, I became an immortal by exploiting loopholes.

At the same time, in the council hall of Lingzhi Hall on Mingfa Peak.

Palace Master Su Mingyuan sat in the main seat, with a stack of documents spread out on the table in front of him—disaster reports from Cuiping Manor, Baiguo Manor, and Fenglin Manor, as well as urgent reports from four other farms.

Each one contained roughly the same message: the Spirit Corrosion Disease is spreading, spiritual plants are infected on a large scale, and a request for sect support is being made.

The five elders sat on either side, their expressions grim.

The three deputy hall masters also arrived—Zhou Yuandao sat to Su Mingyuan's right, holding a teacup, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the rim of the cup, his gaze fixed on the disaster report in front of him, but he didn't turn a page for a long time.

The other two deputy hall masters sat on the left and right, one with a furrowed brow and the other with his head down, flipping through documents, and neither of them spoke.

Elder Zheng sat in the first seat to Zhou Yuandao's left. His hair was gray and his face was thin. He was looking through a sample testing record sent by Cuiping Manor.

Elder Meng sat opposite him, his brows furrowed in worry.

The other three elders were either engrossed in reading documents or lost in thought while holding their teacups; the only sound in the council chamber was the rustling of paper.

"Seven villages now."

Palace Master Su Mingyuan spoke, his voice not loud, but enough to silence the entire council hall: "Emerald Screen, White Fruit, Maple Forest, Green Wood, Red Pine, Yellow Boxwood, Sunset Glow."

"It involves seven kinds of spiritual plants: Jade Rice, Red-striped Ginseng, Ginkgo Seedlings, Green Yuan Herb, Yellow Sprout Vegetable, and Purple Leaf Orchid. The affected area is 20% of the area with mild symptoms and more than half of the area with severe symptoms."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the assembled elders: "Gentlemen, what solutions do you have?"

No one responded.

After a while, Elder Meng put down the documents in his hand and slowly said, "Palace Master, the Spirit Plant Hall has tried a total of seventeen prescriptions these days, but the results are not satisfactory—none of them can completely kill these Spirit-Eating Insects."

"Seventeen prescriptions, and none of them worked?"

One of the deputy hall masters frowned deeply.

"Some methods work, but their effectiveness is limited."

Elder Meng shook his head. "There are three kinds of medicinal liquids that can temporarily suppress the spread of the Spirit-Eating Insects, but they can only last for two or three days at most before the insects revive. The infected spiritual plants still cannot be saved. The other fourteen kinds cannot even suppress them."

Su Mingyuan tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table: "So, none of the seventeen prescriptions can cure it completely?"

"Yes."

Elder Meng's voice deepened, "This batch of Spirit-Eating Insects is different from any we've seen before. They are exceptionally resilient, and ordinary medicinal solutions can only damage their surface, not kill them at their root."

"I have consulted the ancient records. A similar spirit-eating insect appeared once more than a hundred years ago. At that time, we tried dozens of prescriptions before finding the right one, and the prescription has been preserved."

"But I've tried this remedy, and it still didn't work."

The council chamber fell silent again.

Cuiping Village was among the first to receive disaster reports, and it is now one of the villages that has suffered the most severe losses.

The samples that Ma Wenyuan brought back from Cuiping Manor were personally handled by Elder Zheng, who tried no less than seven or eight different medicinal solutions, but none of them were satisfactory.

Su Mingyuan turned to Elder Zheng: "Elder Zheng, is there still no progress?"

Elder Zheng put down the documents in his hand and slowly shook his head: "The tenacity of this batch of spirit-eating insects far exceeds expectations. I have tried eight kinds of medicinal liquids, only one of which can barely suppress them, but they relapse after two days and cannot be completely eradicated."

His tone carried a rare hint of weariness: "I've been farming for nearly a hundred years and have seen no fewer than ten kinds of Soul-Eating Disease, but I've never seen anything like this before, where so many prescriptions haven't been able to completely eradicate it."

Su Mingyuan remained silent for a long time before slowly speaking: "Pass down the order that any farm that can provide an effective prevention method will be richly rewarded. Spirit stones, cultivation techniques, and pills are all negotiable."

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the elders present: "Also, have each village keep an eye out for any unusual activity in the spirit fields—whatever the unusual activity, report it immediately."

"The spiritual plants of heaven and earth occasionally undergo mutations, and there may be disease-resistant variants. The prescriptions developed by the sect cannot keep up with the speed of the changes of the spirit-eating insects, so we should find a solution from the spiritual plants themselves."

Elder Zheng raised his head: "Does the Palace Master mean to find naturally disease-resistant mutated spiritual plants?"

"good."

Su Mingyuan nodded and said, "Even if the Spirit-Eating Insects are difficult to deal with, they have their nemesis. If any spirit plants in any spirit field manage to resist the disease on their own, report it immediately without delay."

The elders responded in unison, and the three deputy hall masters also nodded.

Su Mingyuan gave a few more instructions and then the meeting adjourned.

Elder Zheng walked out of the council hall. The night breeze carried the scent of herbs and plants from the Spirit Plant Hall's herb garden.

He stood under the eaves, gazing at the silhouette of Mingfa Peak in the night, for a long time.

"The spiritual plants of heaven and earth occasionally undergo unusual changes."

He muttered something to himself, shook his head, and walked towards his quiet room.

......

Two days later, Su Qingxue and Senior Brother Qian came again.

This time it wasn't an inspection, it was a statistics check.

The Corrosion Disease broke out simultaneously in seven farms under the sect's jurisdiction, and the Spirit Plant Hall needs accurate loss data for each farm.

Su Qingxue and Senior Brother Qian were assigned to be in charge of the statistics work at Qingmu Manor.

Zhao Demao accompanied him personally, with Wang Fu following behind, holding the booklet.

They started from the head of the village and inspected each field one by one.

Sun Zhiyuan's fields were the first thing that caught my eye.

Large swathes of jade-green rice were covered with gray and white spots, and some severely affected leaves had completely withered, lying drooping in the field as if they had been burned.

Su Qingxue stood on the edge of the field, looking at the mottled spiritual field, her brows furrowed.

Brother Qian squatted down and examined a few plants. When he stood up, his expression was not good.

"How much of this field is infected?" Su Qingxue asked.

Zhao Demao's voice was deep: "More than 40%, and it's still spreading."

Wang Fu called out a number from the side, and Su Qingxue nodded, indicating that she should write it down.

Then there's Zhou Ming's field.

The situation is slightly better, but not much better, with about 30% infected.

Liu Wenhua and Wang Youde both suffered losses.

With each field she looked at, Su Qingxue's brows furrowed more deeply, and Senior Brother Qian was no longer as arrogant as before. As he squatted by the field examining the leaves, his movements became slower and slower.

After inspecting the last spiritual field in the village, Zhao Demao stood on the ridge, gazing at the mottled spiritual field in the twilight, and remained silent for a long time.

He worked at Qingmu Manor for over a decade, rising from an ordinary spiritual plant grower to the manor lord, and he witnessed all sorts of natural and man-made disasters.

But this is the first time I've ever been helplessly watching the disease spread day by day like this.

"Aoki-sou will likely see a production reduction of more than a quarter this year."

Su Qingxue didn't respond, and Senior Brother Qian put his pen down on the booklet without saying a word.

One-quarter!

The combined loss from the seven villages amounts to tens of thousands of kilograms of spirit rice and tens of thousands of spirit herbs.

The sect's harvest of spiritual plants this year is likely to be 20-30% less.

Dusk was falling.

"Let's go."

After Zhao Demao finished speaking, he turned and walked back, his steps heavy.

Su Qingxue and Senior Brother Qian followed behind, neither of them saying a word.

Suddenly, Su Qingxue remembered that there was still a piece of land belonging to Lu Qingchen at the end of the village that had not been counted.

Reminded, the group realized that they were so shocked by the statistics that they hadn't even thought of the field at the end of the village. They hurriedly turned a corner and headed towards the end of the village before it got dark.