Douluo: Jianmu Martial Soul, Am I an Abomination of Abundance?

Mu Ci could no longer sit still. He hurriedly emerged from nearby with his attendants and shouted, "Wait!"

The sudden appearance of Mu Ci and his group drew the attention of both sides.

"Stop! Who are you?" The captain hurriedly ordered the approaching group to halt.

Half the archers beside him also turned their bows this way, their expressions wary.

"Mu Ci of the Everlasting Tree Mu Clan!"

Mu Ci led two attendants to within twenty paces of the captain, took out the Mu Family token from his Soul Tool, and loudly announced his identity.

Upon hearing the Mu Family name, the cavalry captain's face changed drastically. He hurriedly dismounted, came before Mu Ci, and bowed and scraped with a fawning expression.

In Godwood City, one could be ignorant of the city lord or other Spirit Master families.

But one could not be ignorant of the Mu Family. The Mu Family had two powerful Spirit Douluos: one was the dean of the Advanced Plant Academy, while the other was the bishop of Godwood City's Spirit Hall Main Hall.

In a place like Godwood City, the Mu Family was the uncrowned king. Though they held no noble title, even the city lord had to give them a wide berth.

"This lowly one is Reed, captain of a hundred-man unit. You must be the young master, right? This lowly one deserves death for failing to recognize you and nearly frightening you!"

Reed bent at the waist before Mu Ci with a flattering smile. At the same time, his hands signaled the archers behind him to quickly lower their weapons.

Looking at the white-haired boy who seemed only eight or nine years old, Reed's eyes were filled with unease. He had never imagined he would run into someone like this here.

Mu Ci looked sternly at the captain. "What is going on here? What were you about to do?"

"Young Master, according to reports from the patrolling soldiers, the villagers here have contracted an acute epidemic. We were sent to deal with it," Reed replied tremblingly, bending even lower.

Though such things were not uncommon among nobles, saying it aloud still did not look good.

Given the size of Godwood City, finding a few healing-type support Spirit Masters would not have been difficult. The nobles above simply could not be bothered.

Mu Ci finally understood the whole situation, and his expression grew angrier. He had no comment on Reed's behavior toward different people, but what Reed had intended to do had crossed his bottom line.

He knew Douluo Continent was like an ancient world, where commoners had almost no rights and few people cared even if they died.

When an acute epidemic broke out, local city lords sealing off an entire village to prevent it from spreading was standard practice.

After all, hiring Spirit Masters to treat them was such a hassle. Those nobles would never bother with that.

And because Douluo Continent had healing-type martial souls, the development of medicine had been extremely slow.

At most, folk remedies for colds and fevers circulated among the common people. They lacked any system and could not guarantee results.

By comparison, the medicinal and poison systems aimed at Spirit Masters had developed quite well.

Aside from the Soul-Breaking Yang Clan, every major sect and family had its own medicinal bath formulas.

Mu Ci was furious as he looked at Reed before him.

Plague Village

Although such things had often occurred in the ancient history books from his previous life, it was nothing unusual.

But understanding was one thing. As someone from an age of order, Mu Ci still found it difficult to accept all this.

"Young Master, this was not my intention. I was only following orders. It has nothing to do with me."

Captain Reed wore a bitter expression. He understood the boy's reaction perfectly. He had once gone through a time when he wanted justice whenever he saw unfairness.

But he had long since seen reality clearly. Whatever those above ordered him to do, he did.

If it had been anyone other than Mu Ci, he would have driven them away already.

But now, caught between Mu Ci and the orders from above, Reed did not know what to do.

"Fine. You handle maintaining order. I'll take a look at their illness."

Mu Ci spoke directly to Captain Reed.

Reed was startled and hurriedly tried to stop him. "No, Young Master! Their condition worsens extremely fast. According to the guards, in just two days, they were already at death's door."

"If something happens to you after going in, even ten heads wouldn't be enough for me to pay for it!"

Reed desperately tried to block Mu Ci. If anything happened to the Mu Family's young master, every one of the hundred men in his unit would be doomed.

"Enough. I know what I'm doing. Go notify my family and explain the situation here."

"Besides, I'm a Spirit Master, and I have healing soul skills. I can take a look at them. Every second you delay, they face a little more danger."

Mu Ci pushed Captain Reed aside and walked straight in, casually ordering one attendant to return to the Mu Family and explain the situation.

Reed stood outside, watching Mu Ci walk in with a dispirited expression. He was merely an ordinary man. He had struggled for half his life to become captain of a hundred-man unit, only to encounter this mess.

The Mu Family, his superiors, and the epidemic—none of those were things an ordinary person without Soul Power could easily handle.

Mu Ci, walking ahead, did not have so many concerns. With Abundance Power protecting him, there were very few viruses in this world that could make him sick. Once his Path Power reached the intermediate level, even Poison Douluo would pose little threat to him.

The main issue was that Poison Douluo relied too heavily on poison. Using toxins to kill was far less reliable against a Pathstrider of Abundance than directly dealing damage. The health lost to negative effects could not compare to the health restored.

The main reason he had sent an attendant to notify his family was to make preparations. He wanted Lin Ya to notify the Spirit Hall Main Hall and send some support Spirit Masters to help. Judging from the situation, Mu Ci alone would likely have a hard time handling it.

He quickly passed through the many soldiers and arrived before the burly villagers kneeling on the ground.

Hearing footsteps, one of the kneeling men raised his slightly purple face and saw the boy walking quickly toward him.

It was as though he had grasped a lifeline. His lips trembled as he hoarsely cried to Mu Ci, "Save... save my child."

Hearing his plea, Mu Ci hurried forward and helped him up.

At the same time, blue-gold soul light surged around him like waves as he activated Martial Soul Possession.

The Abundant World Tree rose from behind him, while a deep yellow soul ring appeared beneath his feet and began to shine.

"First Soul Skill, Healing Aura."

A five-meter-radius green domain unfolded, enveloping the dozen or so men before him whose symptoms were less severe.

Within the aura domain, green points of light began appearing from thin air around every patient, gradually sinking into their bodies.

As Mu Ci maintained the soul skill, his face darkened through the perception of Abundance Power. When his Soul Power entered their bodies to heal them, these illnesses proved extraordinarily stubborn.

He immediately increased his Soul Power output. The branches of the Abundant World Tree behind him swayed, and green points of light fell like rain.

Before long, the bluish-purple color of their skin began to fade, their breathing steadied, and their coughing weakened.

The leading middle-aged man regained much of his clarity and some of his strength. Looking at Mu Ci using his soul skill, he hurriedly kowtowed.

"Thank you, Lord Soul Master. Please, Lord Soul Master, save the children too."

Mu Ci did not answer immediately. His face had turned slightly pale. Treating only these dozen patients with relatively mild symptoms had already consumed over sixty percent of his Soul Power.

The effect his soul skill produced with Abundance Power enhancement could rival that of a Nine-Heart Begonia Spirit Master at the Soul Elder level. Even so, treating these people had been extremely taxing.

The main issue was that the treatment required incredibly fine control. He had to go deep into their bodies and clear the source of the illness. Flesh wounds would have been much easier to treat.

When Mu Ci looked again at the hundred or so people in the distance, his face grew even uglier. Even if there were ten of him, he could not treat them all in a short time.

Even with support from Spirit Hall, they could at most ensure these people's conditions did not worsen. For them to recover quickly, a support-type Spirit Master at Spirit Emperor level or above would have to intervene.

Yet Godwood City and the nearby cities had no support-type Spirit Masters of that caliber. The closest was the Ye Family in Heaven Dou City.

Given the Ye Family's character, they certainly would not refuse such a matter. But the two places were over a thousand kilometers apart. Even at a Spirit Master's speed, it would take several days to get here, and these villagers might not survive even two days.

Relying solely on Soul Power for treatment was far too inefficient. Recovering Soul Power alone took a great deal of time, and there was simply no way to save everyone in time.

Mu Ci pondered inwardly. He had to think of another way, but first he needed to determine the source of the illness. Otherwise, even if they were cured, it might recur in the future.

Mu Ci sensed the dozen people before him and found that they had nearly recovered. He hurriedly stopped the soul skill. In that brief time, another ten percent of his Soul Power had been consumed.

Mu Ci led everyone to an empty, secluded corner.

He fixed his eyes on them and said sternly:

"I will treat you, but first, I have some questions about this illness. I hope you won't hide anything. Think of your families."

The villagers looked at one another, unsure how to answer.

Seeing no one speak, Mu Ci assumed they were hesitant because of his age and continued, "If you don't trust me, you can wait for Spirit Hall's deacons. You can speak once they arrive."

At last, a man in his thirties stepped forward with a troubled expression. "Let me speak. I'm the village chief, Du Lan."

"We weren't silent because we don't trust you, benefactor. It's mainly because we don't know how we got sick. We were fine yesterday, and then today, we were like this."

Mu Ci nodded at Du Lan, unsurprised. "Then give me a general account of what happened over the past two days."

Hearing this, Du Lan nodded, thought for a moment, and said:

"The village has been the same as usual these past few days. Nothing major happened. The biggest thing was that two days ago, the village hunters caught a heavily wounded hundred-year soul beast and shared some of the meat with everyone."

Mu Ci frowned upon hearing that and immediately interrupted. "Describe what the soul beast looked like. Or do you still have its corpse? Bring it out for me to see."

"Oh, yes, yes. We still have an intact head. I'll have someone bring it over." Du Lan hurriedly nodded and called someone over to fetch it.

After waiting a while, a villager came running over, panting as he carried a soul beast head the size of a wild boar's. He set it on the ground.

His face was a little pale, and he said weakly to Mu Ci, "Benefactor, this is it. Please take a look."

Looking at the ugly soul beast head on the ground, Mu Ci already had a rough idea of where this acute epidemic had come from.

A Black-Spotted Rat. A low-level soul beast covered in gray fur with irregular black spots. It preferred dark, damp environments and loved eating carrion.

A ten-year Black-Spotted Rat was about the size of an ordinary housecat. As its cultivation age increased, its body would continue to grow.

Combined with the symptoms displayed by the villagers, both the source and the illness had become clear.

Plague

Plague.

Mu Ci thought of the deadly infectious disease classified as Class A in his previous life.

He carefully looked at the severely ill patients in the distance. Their faces were bluish-purple and seemed to be turning black. They coughed, clutched their chests, and spat bloody phlegm.

The more Mu Ci looked, the graver his expression became. This was no ordinary plague. It was the even more dangerous pneumonic plague.

He had read popular science explanations and knew the terror of pneumonic plague. Historical records from his previous life even stated, "In the final years of a dynasty, a great epidemic struck the capital. Ten thousand died each day, and entire households were wiped out."

Thinking of this, Mu Ci knew he could not wait any longer. Pneumonic plague developed far too quickly. If they waited any further, less than thirty percent of this village would be saved. His strength alone was simply too limited.

They also had to use some medicine as assistance. It did not need to cure the disease, but it had to buy as much time as possible.