The Miao stronghold had rarely been so lively.
People streamed along the mountain paths, with mountain folk from villages within a hundred li all hurrying here.
Some carried sick people on their backs, some leaned on crutches, and some simply carried bamboo beds. A vast crowd packed together, all coming for Master Huang, who could treat the plague.
News of Huang Bai curing smallpox spread through the nearby mountain strongholds. Many had initially been half-convinced and half-doubtful, but after seeing dying patients drink talisman water and come back from the brink of death, they no longer had any doubts.
Moreover, Huang Bai treated the sick with talismans without charging a single coin.
That alone was enough for the mountain folk, who had endured countless hardships, to revere him as a god.
"Master Huang, please accept my bow!"
As soon as some patients recovered, they knelt down with reddened eyes, knocking their foreheads against the ground until they bled.
"Master, these are clothes my mother sewed for you herself. You must accept them."
"The Daoist priest is an immortal descended to earth! You saved the lives of our entire stronghold!"
Huang Bai stood beside Wu Along on high ground. Below them was a sea of dark heads stretching beyond sight.
Wu Along grinned so broadly that the wrinkles on his face smoothed out as he shouted himself hoarse to maintain order.
"Don't push! Nobody push!"
"There's enough talisman water, plenty of it! Come one at a time, don't fight over it!"
Even now, he could hardly believe that a deadly plague like smallpox had truly been suppressed by Huang Bai with just a few talismans and several pots of clear water.
He wondered whether he had encountered the reincarnation of the Medicine King Bodhisattva.
Standing above them, Huang Bai slowly swept