My Cultivation Has a Progress Bar

Chapter 372: Chapter 7: Mutated People

Zuo Xuan read the military report and breathed a sigh of relief. It was a report from Pingzhou Road in the north. As long as nothing was wrong with the Southern Four Roads, she didn’t care if the sky fell elsewhere.

The Rebel Army in Pingzhou Road had been stopped at the South Bank of the Nong River by the Imperial Guard. The tens of thousands of soldiers in the Vanguard Army who charged the lines first were, without exception, all slaughtered before the formations. Afterward, the Imperial Guard went on to conquer the lands of two prefectures and were now in a standoff with the main force of the Rebel Army outside the prefecture’s capital.

In addition, the Court had urgently ordered some of the garrison from Bin Pass and the sixty thousand soldiers of the Yunjiang Road Iron Army, plus a battalion of the Demon Race army stationed in Yunjiang Road, to head north and suppress the rebellion.

"According to the scouts’ reports, the sixty thousand soldiers of the Yunjiang Road Iron Army are a joke now. At most, there are only twenty thousand of them, and they lack training. The only ones who can really fight are the Demon Race battalion and the Bin Pass garrison."

Seeing his master finish the report, Zuo Liang offered further explanation.

Zuo Xuan nodded, signaling for Li Lin to continue his report.

Li Lin immediately said, "The crucial thing is that this contamination is very difficult to remove. I gathered some Wood Cultivators and Earth Cultivators, and they said that using the Daoist Scripture Hall’s usual methods for restoring contaminated land, it would take at least ten years for a full recovery!"

"Ten years? Everyone will have starved to death by then!"

Zuo Xuan waved her disciple away. She didn’t want him involved in such matters.

After Zuo Liang left, she asked again, "What else?"

"If we build some Wood Element Formations, we can suppress some of the contamination and increase crop yields a little. We could also ask a Third Realm Wood Cultivator or Water Cultivator to come. That way, the contamination could be cleared within a year. Of course, I’m talking about Nanlin Road. As for Mozhou Road, that would be impossible unless a Lord personally intervened!"

Zuo Xuan almost laughed. ’Hiring a Third Realm Wood Cultivator to work in the fields for a year would cost more than just buying the grain directly. As for a Lord taking action, that’s unthinkable right now. We can report the matter to him after he comes out of seclusion, but only heaven knows if he’ll do anything about it.’

"Anything else?"

"These are all the solutions we have for now."

"Then for now, just use the old methods. Go ahead and implement the deployment of the arrays. Also, arrest everyone involved in this affair, especially those in the Inspectorate. We’ll start by charging them with dereliction of duty."

"Yes!"

After Li Lin left, Zuo Xuan walked out of the house and gazed at the sunlight pouring down from the sky. She muttered to herself, "This year’s Spring Festival is going to be a difficult one..."

Time passed without notice, and a month went by in the blink of an eye.

In the cold wind, a large fleet of ships arrived at the port of Shang’an Prefecture. Several Foundation Establishment cultivators from Qianmu Temple were personally on-site to supervise the unloading of the cargo.

Once all the cargo was unloaded, Government Soldiers personally escorted the shipments to the various prefectures.

Throughout this process, a supervisory team of Second Realm Cultivators led by Yunshan remained hidden in the clouds, ensuring nothing went wrong with the convoy.

This was the first shipment of grain purchased from Lishui Prefecture!

The famine had already begun to show its first signs. The wealthy households in the prefectures and counties of Nanlin Road distributed porridge every three days, barely keeping the situation under control. Combined with the fish and shrimp that could be caught from the sea, it was enough to prevent any turmoil.

But Mozhou Road was a different story. Since the beginning of winter this year, with the exception of a few coastal counties and prefectures, the rest of Mozhou Road had become barren land.

The land, however, wasn’t dry as if from a drought. On the contrary, it was still damp. But nothing would grow. Not only did crops fail to sprout, but everything on the ground had withered this winter.

The clever ones had long since realized this was no natural disaster, but a man-made one. They had either left Mozhou Road long ago or had quietly relocated to the southern regions. But most of the common people knew nothing of this. By the time they discovered that all the grain they had planted had withered and died, it was already too late to flee.

...

「Mozhou Road, Yongsu Prefecture.」

This place bordered Ning’an Prefecture of Nanlin Road. Before the unrest, the Prefecture City had been a bustling place, always giving off an air of peace and prosperity. Every day, dignitaries and aristocrats from the city would come to Shoutai Mountain, south of the city, for excursions.

The Five Divine Rivers flowed from Nanlin Road, forming a natural freshwater lake as it passed Shoutai Mountain. The locals called it Jade Lake because, when viewed from the mountain, it looked like a piece of natural, precious jade.

Now, the once-beautiful Shoutai Mountain was hideous. The peach trees planted on it had all withered, and the ground was coated in a faint black layer. From a distance, it looked like the rotting corpse of a giant monster.

The dignitaries and aristocrats who once frequented the mountain had been replaced by a unit of elite Government Soldiers. They had built an earthen wall along the mountain’s edge, blocking all major roads from Mozhou Road to Nanlin Road.

At the summit of Shoutai Mountain, an array shimmering with flowing green light was trying to disperse the contamination enveloping the mountain. Next to the array was a camp built of gravel. Two main roads led out from the camp: one down to Jade Lake below, and the other along the earthen wall into the distance.

A small cavalry squad was currently advancing rapidly along the road to Jade Lake. They stopped beside the lake and dismounted. The leader strode toward Jade Lake, unwrapped the cotton cloth covering his nose and mouth, and revealed a somber face.

It was Wenhai.

He gazed at the dark surface of Jade Lake. A few small training boats were on the water, driving back the common people who were trying to cross secretly.

"Such a beautiful place, ruined just like that. I remember coming here to see the peach blossoms in early spring with one of my uncles when I was a child." A young officer loosened his tight pauldrons and sighed. He was the nominal Commander-in-Chief of this battalion of Government Soldiers. His name was Liu Tong, and he was a clansman of Liu Shuang’s family.

Just as he finished speaking, a rider on a fast horse galloped over from the distance. It was a scout.

The scout’s horse easily came to a stop ten zhang from the squad. The scout then skillfully dismounted, jogged over to Liu Tong, and said, "People are storming the pass at Xia Ba Village to the south again! It’s not refugees this time, but a small contingent of the Rebel Army!"

"A small contingent of the Rebel Army dares to storm our pass?"

While Liu Tong took the military report and read through it, the scout continued, "Those rebels are very strange. They... they look like they’re possessed. Their bodies are turning black, their eyes are white, and they look like dead men!"

"Corpse Soldiers?"

"No, I’ve seen Corpse Soldiers. These ones are still alive, just... mutated."

Wenhai frowned and asked, "Did you capture any alive?"

"Yes, the Qi Cultivators from the Daoist Scripture Hall are examining one now. We should have results soon!"

"Let’s go take a look."

The actual situation was a little different from what the scout had described.

From the scout’s words, Wenhai had pictured a madman similar to a Corpse Soldier, but in reality, apart from having slightly darker skin and somewhat whitish eyes, the man’s behavior was more or less normal.

"It’s likely caused by eating too much contaminated grain. Theoretically, if ordinary people eat too much contaminated food, their intestines should rupture and they should die. They would also contract a highly contagious disease. The cure is simple enough; a Wood Cultivator just needs to use a Cyan Wood Technique to fix it..."

Wenhai cut in, "Get to the point!"

The reporting Qi Cultivator quickly shut his mouth. He fell silent for a few breaths to gather his thoughts, then began again:

"They’ve developed something similar to the Spirit Veins that Mystic Sect Cultivators cultivate. To be more precise, after they eat the contaminated grain, the polluting energy creates a very special substance inside them that fuses with their bodies. This makes their strength, speed, and reflexes far greater than an ordinary person’s. But they can only live for five years at most, because the polluting energy feeds on the vitality of their flesh and blood!"

Hearing this, Wenhai couldn’t help but murmur, "Like the Sacrificial Captains who guard the Imperial Family?"

Just as he finished speaking, the spiritual nature under the clouds in front of the earthen wall spiraled completely out of control, creating a surge of violent Spiritual Power visible to the naked eye.

Someone up ahead was using that spiritual nature for their Spiritual Cultivation!