Chapter 248: Chapter 13: Heart Demon Disease
"A Spiritual Qi Plague?"
Su Zhou, still patrolling the city, immediately received a high-risk warning from the government. He hadn’t paid it much mind at first, but the details left him stunned. ’A Spiritual Qi Plague? One that’s basically harmless to ordinary people and hasn’t caused a single death, yet it kills all the Mutants?’
"So that’s how it is!"
In just an instant, Su Zhou figured out the Spirit Summoning Association’s methods.
’Based on what’s known so far, the Spirit Summoning Association’s goal must be to spread carriers of the Evil Demon Factor in a specific area using some technique.’
’Then, using that as a catalyst during a Spiritual Qi Burst, they would lure the power of a Great Being from the Void to draw even more Evil Demon Factors into this world.’
’But if that were all, it would just be sowing chaos. The numerous lesser aberrations do carry many Evil Demon Factors, but those factors can’t be utilized. No organization would do something that only harms others without benefiting themselves—unless they were lunatics.’
’So, the most crucial final step is to use a specific ’Spiritual Qi Plague’ to kill these aberrations and harvest the Evil Demon Factors from their bodies.’
’It’s like planting and harvesting crops.’
’Except the soil used to cultivate them is the lives of ordinary people.’
At this moment, Su Zhou was hovering about three hundred meters in the air. The gale generated by his Gale Shield, combined with the power of Wind Aid, kept him aloft. His profound Spiritual Qi reserves, supplied by several Spiritual Qi Organs befitting an Extraordinary Middle Stage cultivator, coupled with the Celestial Human Cycle, allowed him to maintain flight almost indefinitely. In other parts of the city, several attack helicopters were patrolling at low altitudes, deterring any criminals who might try to take advantage of the chaos.
Looking down on the city, Su Zhou activated his Spiritual Vision to its full extent. He could see that the dark gray specks of light in the main streets, representing the aberrations, had been completely extinguished. At the same time, however, the Spiritual Power of most ordinary people was falling into disarray, and the chaos was spreading rapidly.
An ordinary person would never have noticed it, but to Su Zhou, the plague was perfectly visible. The cyan Spiritual Qi that filled the atmosphere was being infected by inky, thread-like wisps of black spiritual energy. From a distance, it looked like a black spiderweb spreading across the entire city.
And the source of these wisps was the corpses of the hundred-plus mutant Hungry Ghosts.
’Create chaos by making aberrations with the Evil Demon Factor, luring local forces in to suppress them. Then, harvest the aberrations with the plague, which in turn affects the suppressing forces and prevents them from giving chase.’
’It’s a meticulous plan. The Spirit Summoning Association’s team is probably very small. It’s likely that only the initial phase of spreading the Evil Demon Factor required any significant manpower. After that, they just needed to wait for the Spiritual Qi Burst and decide on the right moment to release the plague.’
"This is monstrous! It’s not something a human being is capable of!"
But the more he understood, the angrier he became. By now, Su Zhou couldn’t even be bothered to put on an angry face. Tangible arcs of electricity began to writhe all over his body, emitting a dangerous aura. "What’s the difference between people like this and those man-eating Monsters from the Divine Wood World? They’re even more vile!"
"Professor Su, thank you for your hard work. The city has mostly stabilized, and you deserve great credit for that. However, since the plague is not yet under control, we advise you to move to a designated safe zone for your own safety."
The middle-aged man’s voice came through the earpiece again. He was thanking Su Zhou on behalf of the Zhengguo Government, but his words also revealed that the situation was still grim. "Although the plague has yet to show any fatal symptoms, it’s still best to avoid infection."
"What kind of virus is this, exactly?" Su Zhou asked in a low voice. "Why is it so specifically targeted?"
"It’s not a virus or bacteria. This plague is called ’Heart Demon.’ In the ancient era before Spiritual Qi vanished, it was a large-scale ’Spiritual Qi Disease’ that spread across the globe, and the ancients considered it one of the great calamities."
The man’s voice briefly explained the nature of the mysterious plague. "Its essence is a special, self-replicating Spiritual Qi information structure—you can think of it as a Spiritual Qi version of a virus. It spreads through Spiritual Qi interaction and feeds on the excess Spiritual Qi that an infected person cannot control. If the infected person’s emotions become turbulent or they suffer a cultivation deviation, it will seize the opportunity to invade their Soul. This invasion stirs up all sorts of illusions, deranging their Spiritual Sense and corroding their Spiritual Power. Extreme symptoms can even lead to death from Soul exhaustion. The aberrations are unable to control themselves and are mentally unstable, making their Spiritual Qi completely defenseless against the Heart Demon Disease. That’s why they are far more susceptible and vulnerable than ordinary people."
"Resisting a Heart Demon’s invasion was a common method of mental cultivation in ancient times. Because of this, the major powers have preserved different strains of the Heart Demon pathogen to use for training. Naturally, the government has methods to dispel it, but it was completely unexpected that the Spirit Summoning Association would have mastered it as well."
"To avoid any accidents, Professor Su, it’s best not to expose yourself to the external Spiritual Qi."
"Understood. Don’t worry about me."
’Su Zhou understood the government’s concern. When the safety of nearly ten million people across numerous coastal cities was at stake, stability was paramount. Especially when facing something like the Heart Demon Disease, which spread indiscriminately and could be considered a form of Spiritual Qi bioweapon, it was best not to act rashly until it was confirmed to be completely eliminated.’
At that moment, the black, wispy spiritual energy formed by the Heart Demon Disease began to drift toward Su Zhou, as if it had sensed his immense Spiritual Power signature. As the individual with the most powerful Spiritual Power signature in the entire coastal region, Su Zhou was naturally the highest-priority target for the disease’s inherent infection mechanism.
CRACKLE!
Su Zhou simply waved his hand, as if impatiently swatting a fly. The simple gesture unleashed a ferocious electric current powerful enough to shock an elephant into a coma. The cyan-blue thunderbolt converged into a single whip-like strand and lashed out with a searing WHOOSH, striking the black wisps of spiritual energy.
But unlike the simple "dispelling" Su Zhou had anticipated, a single strike from the wildly crackling current completely obliterated a large swath of the Heart Demon Spiritual Energy, breaking it down into faint wisps of ordinary cyan Spiritual Qi.
’It works like this? The effect is that good? No, wait, that’s not so strange. Even if it’s a Spiritual Qi structure, it’s still a structure. Of course it would be destroyed if it’s broken apart. The main reason ordinary people find it hard to guard against is that their Spiritual Vision isn’t high enough to see it.’
’No wonder they say Thunder Techniques can cure diseases and avert disasters. It’s true!’
Watching this unfold, Su Zhou blinked. A bold idea suddenly sparked in his mind. ’Wait a minute... If I can see the Heart Demon Spiritual Energy, I don’t have to worry about being infected without realizing it. And with the special properties of my Thunder Technique...’
He was a man of action. With a low shout, Su Zhou immediately began to channel his Spiritual Power in mid-air, activating his Divine Thunder True Skill.
Vast and pure Spiritual Qi was drawn from every meridian, cell, and Spiritual Power Organ in his body. This Spiritual Power—a hundred times greater than what Zhou Buyi had once possessed—began to pour out from Su Zhou’s pores, transforming into brilliant Thunder Light!
If the Spiritual Power Index of an ordinary Awakener was about five thousand, then a Mid-stage Awakening practitioner would have ten thousand—which was precisely Zhou Buyi’s level in the past.
The standard for the Grandmaster Realm, the peak of Awakening, was an index over thirty thousand. This was also the upper limit for the Spiritual Testing in the Holy Ascension Selection Test.
But upon reaching the Extraordinary Tier and completing the fundamental transformation of Postnatal Returning to Innate, even the weakest practitioner would possess a personal reserve of at least one hundred thousand points of Spiritual Power! After advancing to the Extraordinary Middle Stage and condensing Spiritual Power Organs, their Spiritual Power would increase even more rapidly. Moreover, they could link their own power with the natural Spiritual Qi in the environment, multiplying its effectiveness several times over.
And now, the Spiritual Power Su Zhou unleashed had staggeringly reached a level one hundred times that of Zhou Buyi—and he still had power to spare!
In the past, even before reaching the Extraordinary Tier, Su Zhou’s Spiritual Power had been around one hundred and fifty thousand—thicker than that of some weaker Extraordinary Tier individuals. Now that he had also advanced to the Extraordinary Tier and condensed his own Extraordinary Organs, his total Spiritual Energy was truly comparable to, and perhaps even greater than, that of a True Dragon of the same tier!
BOOM! A cyan-blue light began to gather with Su Zhou at its center. Extremely distinct arcs of electricity leaped through the air, and a current visible to the naked eye rippled outward from his body like a shockwave.
In just a few short seconds, Su Zhou was completely enveloped in thunderbolts and a raging gale.
Transformed into a giant, cyan-blue sphere of electricity, Su Zhou unhesitatingly steered with his Gale Shield, accelerating to eighty meters per second. Then, he charged at full speed toward the sources of the Heart Demon Disease, one by one!
