Chapter 167: The Final Means

On New Year's Eve, Li Banfeng sat at the entrance of Guotie Village, brewing medicine.

The aroma of the medicine permeated the air, drawing mosquitoes. As they touched the mist, over ninety percent of them died. Ninety percent. Less than ten percent did not die immediately.

Even this small percentage of mosquitoes could ruin a village's harvest. This wasn't just true for one village; it was the case across the entire Haichi Ridge. Like all other medicines, Elder Yao's medicine was initially very effective, but after some time, similar problems would arise.

The head of Guotie Village sat next to Li Banfeng, chuckled, and said, "It's New Year's! Come to my home for some dumplings and a drink."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "You drink. I'm not hungry."

"Seventh Master, you've done so much for our village. We won't forget your kindness."

"Stop spouting nonsense. There's no kindness involved; I'm just here for a free meal. Hurry up and go. Someone else is coming soon for a free meal."

"Someone else..." The village head didn't understand Li Banfeng's meaning, and Li Banfeng wouldn't elaborate, so the old village head sighed helplessly and left.

Before long, Pan Dehai appeared.

"Virtue is the foundation of character, the basis of self-cultivation. Do you know what constitutes great virtue? Considering the long term and deliberating carefully—that is great virtue. Acting hastily and without thorough consideration—how could a virtuous person do that? Being impulsive and not thinking deeply—how could a virtuous person do that? Disrespecting elders and not accepting good advice—how could such a person be virtuous? Speaking wildly and behaving erratically—how could such a person be virtuous...?"

"Blah, blah, blah, will you ever stop?!" Li Banfeng couldn't stand it anymore and glared angrily at Pan Dehai.

Pan Dehai jabbed his walking stick, equally furious. "The prescription Elder Yao sent you to deliver is completely useless! How much effort did I put in to procure those herbs? How much money did I spend? How many local deities did I beg? How do we account for this? You two are utterly devoid of virtue!"

Being called devoid of virtue by Pan Dehai made Li Banfeng very angry.

Pan Dehai angrily asked, "Where's the fan I gave you?"

"Threw it away."

"How dare you! That's a treasure beyond compare!"

"I found a place to hide it."

Pan Dehai sighed deeply, repeatedly. "I should have taken back that magic artifact; you were no help at all!"

Li Banfeng was speechless. He genuinely hadn't expected even the Medicine King's remedies to be ineffective.

After a long silence, Pan Dehai sighed and said, "The Lu family's methods are also failing."

Lu Dongjun failed too? Watching the mosquitoes swarm across the sky, a wave of despair washed over Li Banfeng.

Pan Dehai shook his head. "I shouldn't have put my trust in you. In the end, I must proceed with my own methods. Only if Puro Province stands united against the common enemy can we resist this disaster."

Li Banfeng looked at Pan Dehai. "You're going to send the insects to another region again? Even the Medicine King's remedies aren't working, so where else could you send them?"

"I'll send the insects to Lushui Bay. It has the most capable people. If Lu Dongjun fails, there will be others who can surely find a way to control them."

"Send them to Lushui Bay? Can you defeat Green Blossom?"

Pan Dehai spoke with righteous indignation, "Even if I perish, why not try? This is the strength of virtue, this is the courage of virtue, this is the heart of virtue."

Li Banfeng shook his head. "Green Blossom won't help you." From the tangerine orchard owner's description, it could be inferred that Green Blossom intended to spread the plague within his own territory. If he didn't even care for his own territory, how could he possibly help Pan Dehai?

Pan Dehai shook his head. "I refuse to believe I can't persuade him!"

Li Banfeng gave a wry smile. "You're just all talk."

"Impudent! How can someone so young be so disrespectful to elders?" Pan Dehai fumed for a moment, then softened his tone. "According to what you just said, you seem to be acquainted with the Lushui Beggar. Since you have a heart for disaster relief, why not go..."

Li Banfeng angrily asked, "You want me to go find Green Blossom?" No wonder Elder Yao had said that all of Pan Dehai's pretty words should be considered mere farts.

"I'm not asking you to fight Green Blossom. I just want you to meet him first."

Li Banfeng looked at Pan Dehai with disdain. "You're afraid of him yourself, so you want to send me to my death."

"When have I ever been afraid of him!" Pan Dehai declared righteously. "My integrity endures; what is there to fear from a mere Lushui Beggar? Even if he were right in front of me now, I would... What is that smell?"

Pan Dehai suddenly stood behind Li Banfeng. Li Banfeng was startled. What was happening?

A beggar approached from a distance, dressed in rags, covered in festering sores oozing green pus. Green Blossom! Li Banfeng was also startled, then heard Pan Dehai say, "Why is Green Blossom turning golden-haired? This isn't the Lushui Beggar, but the smell on him is identical."

The person walking over was indeed not Green Blossom, but the diseased cultivator, Cui Tik. Cui Tik stumbled up to Li Banfeng, managing a faint smile on his puss-covered face. "I finally found you."

Li Banfeng stepped back. "What do you want with me?"

"I'm here to help you. I've come to rid Haichi Ridge of its insects. I love Haichi Ridge."

Li Banfeng looked at Pan Dehai. "He says he loves Haichi Ridge."

Pan Dehai's cheek twitched. He said nothing, clearly uncomfortable with the green pus on Cui Tik's body.

Cui Tik lacked the ability of "golden eyes of keen insight." Although he had six levels of cultivation, he could not see Pan Dehai.

"Who were you just talking to?" Cui Tik asked, surprised.

Li Banfeng looked at Pan Dehai again, expecting him to reveal himself, but found that Pan Dehai had already fled far away.

"Tell the Lushui Beggar that if he dares to bring plague to Haichi Ridge, I will never rest until he is dealt with!" Pan Dehai ran off; he was afraid of getting infected. Who would have thought that old man could run so fast with a walking stick!

Li Banfeng turned to Cui Tik. "Do we know each other?"

"Yes, you saw me at Yaowang Gully. I'm the foreigner, not the fake one, the real one."

Li Banfeng remembered him. The foreigner covered in herpes. He evolved? How did herpes turn into festering sores?

After remembering, Li Banfeng quickly stepped back, clutching a key, ready to flee.

Cui Tik waved his hand. "Don't go. I truly am here to help you get rid of the insects." He looked at the soup pot on the ground and shook his head. "This medicine isn't very effective, but it's not entirely useless. It can kill pests; out of a hundred mosquitoes, it can kill ninety-five. But the remaining five won't die. They'll survive, continue to reproduce, and their offspring won't die either. This is life's evolution. Individual cases lead to the overall evolution of a species. In other provinces, this is called mutation, or resistance. Since you're from another province, you should understand what I mean."

Li Banfeng indeed understood Cui Tik's meaning; he had also considered this point. "Do you have a better method?"

"Yes. Poison cannot make a species extinct, but disease can. I can transmit my diseases to the mosquitoes, allowing them to infect each other—one infects ten, ten infects a hundred. This is the proper way to exterminate mosquitoes."

It sounded effective, but Li Banfeng felt there was a problem. "Won't mosquitoes develop resistance to the diseases?"

"They will!" Cui Tik nodded. "It's difficult to eradicate this type of mosquito with just one disease. If a hundred mosquitoes get sick, perhaps one might survive, and its offspring would be immune to that specific disease. A fellow disciple of mine tried a similar method and failed. I've improved his method by making the mosquitoes simultaneously infected with multiple diseases. Among those hundred mosquitoes, the only one that survives will be unable to reproduce due to contracting diseases."

Li Banfeng asked, "Won't there be individual cases among them that can still reproduce?"

"There will be!" Cui Tik had also considered this point. "Reproducing individuals will change their habits due to another disease. Their life cycle will lengthen, and their diet will shift from crops to blood-sucking. They will transform into another successfully surviving species: the common mosquitoes we see everywhere. This is the result of diseases cross-eliminating and filtering."

"You can make mosquitoes contract so many diseases simultaneously?"

Cui Tik nodded. "Originally, I couldn't, but now I can. I have special power, power from my Patriarch. This power is immense, but it almost killed me."

Li Banfeng had no more questions this time. Based on his understanding of biology, Cui Tik's method did seem effective. It might even be the only effective method.

But why would he do this? "Why are you helping Haichi Ridge with pest control? Please don't say it's out of love for Puro Province." Li Banfeng worried he had ulterior motives; if he intended to spread plague through this, things would get complicated.

Cui Tik looked at Li Banfeng. "I'm doing this to save myself. It's an agreement between me and the Peddler. As long as I save Haichi Ridge, he'll save my life. This is the proof." He took out a feather duster. "The Peddler gave me this. He said you'd recognize it and that you would definitely help me."

Using a feather duster as proof? Only the Peddler would think of such a method. With the Peddler's assurance, Cui Tik was trustworthy, at least regarding this matter.

"Why didn't the Peddler come himself?"

"He said he has many other things to do. He said Haichi Ridge isn't the only place with trouble."

Li Banfeng said nothing.

Cui Tik asked Li Banfeng, "What about you? Is there anything special about Haichi Ridge for you? Or do you also have some special agreement with the Peddler?"

Li Banfeng didn't answer. There was no agreement between him and the Peddler. He had delivered the prescription, fulfilling his promise to Elder Yao. Disaster relief was indeed not his responsibility.

"First, tell me how you plan to do this."

Cui Tik looked at the soup pot. "I need to gather mosquitoes, many, many mosquitoes. For the disease to spread rapidly, there must be a sufficiently large base. The current number isn't enough, far from it."

Late at night, Li Banfeng stood by the farmland, enduring heavy snow, waiting for Pan Dehai's response. After waiting for over an hour, he finally heard Pan Dehai's voice.

"Tell that foreigner to leave immediately! Haichi Ridge is already in this state; we can't let him bring more plague!"

Li Banfeng shouted, "Give me more medicinal ingredients! At least let us try it once!"

Cui Tik sat in the distance, unaware of whom Li Banfeng was talking to. He often talked to himself. Is he crazy? But this madman was currently the only person he could rely on.