Chapter 168: The Messenger of the Gods

Pandehai appeared in mid-air, bringing Li Banfeng hundreds of pounds of prepared medicine.

"With so much medicine, how will I boil it all?"

Pandehai had thought everything through; he sent Li Banfeng a giant iron pot, as large as a small farmhouse.

He placed firewood beneath the iron pot and filled it with clear water. Pandehai watched Li Banfeng, signaling to ask if he needed anything else.

He didn't speak, fearing that opening his mouth would infect him with the pus sores of the Green Pox.

"A specter afraid of getting sick?"

On second thought, it made sense.

Pandehai had flesh and blood, a very peculiar kind, enough to feed Li Banfeng's family for a long time.

His flesh and blood proved he wasn't an ordinary specter. Li Banfeng couldn't figure out where it came from.

"Are all local deities specters with flesh and blood?"

Li Banfeng pondered for a moment, then turned to Cuithik: "What else do you need?"

Cuithik was terrified by the sudden appearance of so many items. He knew Li Banfeng was interacting with a higher-level being, but he couldn't sense their presence at all.

Cuithik dared not look directly, yet seeing Li Banfeng's fearless demeanor, he increasingly found the man inexplicably insane.

Li Banfeng urged, "I'm asking you, what else do you need?"

Cuithik cautiously replied, "When I'm performing my technique, I become extremely vulnerable. I need someone to watch over and protect me."

He needed protection.

Li Banfeng looked up at Pandehai in mid-air, hoping he would appear. After all, this was his territory, and protecting Cuithik should logically be his duty.

Pandehai, leaning on his staff, swiftly departed into the night, leaving layers of mist behind him, like smoke.

Li Banfeng sighed lightly, poured some wine onto the firewood, lit a fire, and began placing baskets of prepared medicine into the pot.

Cuithik came to help too. Seeing his body covered in pus sores, Li Banfeng felt itchy all over.

The wind was strong that night. Once the water boiled, the scent of the medicine spread in all directions, attracting mosquitoes from dozens of miles around.

Swarms of mosquitoes covered both men; they were so thick that even at a distance of less than five meters, they couldn't see each other's forms.

Cuithik looked up, then shook his head, saying, "There still aren't enough. We might need to move tomorrow."

"Let's try it first."

Cuithik silently sat by the pot. The pus from his body began to rapidly seep outward until his entire body was covered in a layer of green pus, making him look like a green glass statue.

He hadn't lied; at that moment, he was extremely vulnerable. Li Banfeng could have killed him with no effort.

The mosquitoes continuously circled near the pot. Many died, a small portion survived, but the survivors did not approach Cuithik.

"I'm a bit cold. Would you mind sprinkling some medicinal soup on me?" Cuithik even managed a joke, intending to attract the mosquitoes to himself.

Li Banfeng scooped out a ladle of the liquid and asked, "This is boiling water. Can you handle it?"

"I have a fever, so I probably won't feel the heat."

Li Banfeng poured the boiling liquid over Cuithik. Whether from cold or heat, Cuithik shivered.

As the liquid slowly cooled on his body, mosquitoes were drawn to it and began to circle slowly around him.

Li Banfeng had seen dragonflies skimming the water, but this was the first time he'd seen mosquitoes doing it.

Many mosquitoes touched Cuithik and immediately flew away. Some, not knowing better, simply got stuck in the pus.

Li Banfeng asked, "Does the pus contain the virus you need to spread?"

Cuithik nodded.

"Why don't you collect the pus and make it into a poison? Why do you have to use yourself to attract mosquitoes?"

"My fellow disciples used a virus they created to make poisoned bait, but that only works for one type of virus. Their cultivation is higher than mine, and they can only achieve that much.

I need to mix several viruses together and spread them. Although I possess the power of our patriarch, I can only use it within a limited range. In this situation, I can't let the pathogens leave my body."

Two hours later, Cuithik was exhausted. The pus on his body gradually receded, turning back into full, ripe sores.

Sitting in the dark farmland, Cuithik could faintly see distant lights.

Only on this special day would lights still be on so late.

"New Year's," Cuithik chuckled bitterly. "Tonight is New Year's. I don't know how much longer I'll live. If we fail, the peddler won't save me.

This might be my last New Year, and I'm spending it with you in a place like this."

Li Banfeng spat, "Do you think I want to spend New Year's with you? Your country's New Year isn't today, is it?"

Cuithik shook his head: "It doesn't matter anymore. I love Puluozhou; I might be destined to stay here.

Put out the fire. I need to sleep for a bit; we'll continue tomorrow."

Li Banfeng put out the fire and told Cuithik, "I also need to find somewhere to rest. I probably can't watch over you constantly."

He needed to return to his Portable Residence.

This wasn't just for his cultivation; he also needed to strengthen his body's resistance, otherwise, he too could contract the Green Pox pathogen.

Cuithik shook his head, saying, "I'm not as vulnerable now. As long as we don't encounter a formidable enemy, I should be fine."

Li Banfeng walked to a secluded spot and entered his Portable Residence.

Not long after, he came out again.

He brought Cuithik a blanket and several cans of food.

Seeing Cuithik still trembling in the cold wind, he poured a bowl of wine into Cuithik's broken begging bowl.

"It's New Year's."

New Year's should feel like New Year's.

Li Banfeng left, carrying his wine gourd.

Cuithik picked up the broken bowl and took a large gulp.

As his body gradually warmed, Cuithik exclaimed, "This is really good."

He wanted to drink it all but, after a thought, left a mouthful.

"It's New Year's, you have a sip too," he murmured to the wine bowl.

The next morning, Li Banfeng lit a fire, boiled medicinal soup, and continued to attract mosquitoes.

They continued intermittently until dusk. When no more mosquitoes appeared nearby, Cuithik looked at Li Banfeng and said, "It's time to move."

Li Banfeng looked at the sky and said, "It's time to move."

Li Banfeng couldn't carry such a large pot and so much medicine with him; he would need Pandehai's help.

From mid-air, Pandehai's voice faintly echoed: "Don't bother with these things. I'll go find a good spot, and once you arrive, I'll bring you new ones."

Pandehai sensed that Cuithik's method was indeed effective.

But this didn't change his disgust for Cuithik.

Anything Cuithik had touched, he no longer wanted.

Soon after, Pandehai appeared in mid-air and gave Li Banfeng a map of Haichiling.

The map indicated where mosquitoes were most abundant.

Li Banfeng looked at Cuithik and said, "Let's go. It's time to set off."

"I can't walk; I'm too exhausted. Can you carry me? Though I know that's asking a lot," Cuithik said, looking at his body covered in pus, and smiled awkwardly.

Li Banfeng picked him up and hurried through the wind and snow.

Cuithik murmured in the wind, "In my country, there's a story that says deities send their messengers to save those who suffer. I always thought it wasn't true, but now it seems we might be those messengers."

Li Banfeng chuckled bitterly, "Don't make yourself sound so grand; you're not doing this voluntarily."

"But you are doing it voluntarily. I might die tonight. Can you tell me why you're staying in Haichiling?"

Li Banfeng was silent for a moment, then said, "Because I've suffered hunger."

Cuithik strongly agreed with Li Banfeng: "I've also suffered hunger; I know that feeling. My brother and I had a strange illness since childhood, covered in blisters. The villagers detested us, stole our food, and beat us. We were often hungry."

Li Banfeng asked, "What about your brother?"

"He died, starved to death. On the night he died, I hoped a divine messenger would appear, but I saw none, so I always thought that story was false."

"Tonight, I'll give you an extra can of food and an extra bowl of wine. Drink it with your brother."

Cuithik smiled, "Can he drink it?"

Li Banfeng nodded seriously, "He can."

Through the wind and snow, Li Banfeng carried Cuithik, traveling quickly.

On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, Niu Fuzhi was patrolling at the village entrance.

He hadn't seen a single mosquito in two whole days.

"Did Seventh Master kill all the mosquitoes?"

"What did that Seventh Master look like? Why can't I remember?"

"There was also a benefactor who brought us medicine, but I can't remember them either."

"What's wrong with my memory?"

"Isn't this ungrateful?"

Cultivator Niu Jingchuan arrived at Guotie Village and left some fast-growing seeds for the village chief: "These seeds can only be planted for three crops at most. Don't plant them more than that!"

Village Chief Xiang Jichun expressed his profound gratitude: "What can I say? How can I ever repay your kindness?"

"What kindness from me!" Niu Jingchuan waved his hand. "This was Seventh Master's instruction. He told me to check if there were people in other villages and bring them some seeds. Please take them."

"Seventh Master..." Only then did Xiang Jichun recall Li Banfeng, who had exterminated insects in their village. "Where is Seventh Master? Is he in your Laobing Village?"

Niu Jingchuan scratched his head: "I don't know where he went. To be honest, I can't even remember what he looks like."

"I can't remember either. A benefactor brought us medicine before, and I can't remember them either," Xiang Jichun scratched his head. "How can we be like this, forgetting even our benefactors?"

Deep in the new land, inside a cave, a massive aberrant creature was striking the rocks with its hard forelimbs.

Its head resembled a locust, but its body lacked a locust's hard shell, instead wriggling on the ground like a rat-tailed maggot.

Its back was covered in fine hairs, among which hundreds of swaying tentacles were interspersed.

Beneath it flowed the "Iron Thread River," and this was its terminus.

The horsehair worms from the river drilled in and out of its body, transmitting information to it.

The mosquitoes it had painstakingly cultivated had completely vanished from Puluozhou.

It was furious. Its forelimbs, which had grown out of its wriggling body, constantly pulverized the cave's rocks.

It could create another type of insect, even more terrifying than mosquitoes.

But this would take time!

They wouldn't give it much time!

As this giant insect planned its next move, it suddenly heard a chilling sound.

Cling-clang, cling-clang.

It was the peddler's rattle drum.

It heard the peddler's whisper.

"I suspected it was you all along, but I never imagined you'd divert the Iron Thread River, creating several hidden streams along the way. It was truly difficult finding you.

Tell me, who made you do this? Someone from outside the state, or inside?"

Cling-clang, cling-clang.

The rattle drum drew closer, and the massive insect roared, "Come on! They've given me power! I'm not afraid of you!"

"Oh really? I'd certainly like to see that," the peddler said, pushing his cart with one hand, rattling his drum, and entering the cave.