Chapter 832: Immortal and Mortal Miasma Returns

It must be said that Ruomu truly lives up to its reputation as the oldest tree between heaven and earth, the source of ancient immortality. Its premonitions were astonishingly accurate.

While Li Fan and Tian Yang were slowly making their way back to the Spiritwood Realm, a catastrophe, destined to cause boundless slaughter, quietly erupted. Moreover, the bizarre nature of this calamity truly exceeded the imagination of cultivators across the land.

In Qilingzhou, after a thorough investigation confirmed that the effects of the earthquake had completely dissipated and would not recur, the relief and investigation team dispatched by the Immortal Alliance Headquarters concluded their mission with a brief period of reassurance. This group, including the leading Dao Integration cultivator, remained completely unaware of the subtle changes occurring within their own bodies. After returning to the Myriad Immortal Alliance Headquarters and delivering detailed reports, they each went back to their respective provinces.

Seven days later...

"Cough, cough. Strange, cough, cough... I'm feeling a bit breathless." Li Xinhai, a Soul Transformation cultivator from the investigation team, was deep in secluded cultivation within the Sky Profound Mirror. Suddenly, a wave of unease swept over him, forcing his cultivation to halt. He didn't dare to delay, swiftly scanning his body with his divine sense, but he couldn't detect the source of the anomaly.

"Cough, cough..." His apprehension did not subside. He tried to suppress the cough, but the more he thought about it, the less he could control it. As if he were coughing up his lungs, Li Xinhai looked at the pool of blood in his palm, his face filled with horror. Suddenly, a name almost forgotten by most cultivators flashed like lightning into his mind. Li Xinhai trembled all over, and an unspeakable fear descended upon him. "Immortal... Mortal... Miasma..."

He shivered and quickly contacted his teammates who had accompanied him to Qilingzhou for the investigation. As expected, without exception, all of them were experiencing some discomfort, varying in severity. Even the leading Dao Integration cultivator, Green Willow Immortal Venerable, found her thoughts drifting and struggled to find peace.

"It's over." All the terrifying legends about the Immortal Mortal Miasma flashed simultaneously in Li Xinhai's mind. His thoughts went blank for a moment. Finally, regaining his composure, Li Xinhai told his companions about his suspicions. Since his symptoms were the most severe among them, the other cultivators remained somewhat skeptical. Green Willow Immortal Venerable, in particular, couldn't help but rebuke him, "How absurd! The Immortal Mortal Miasma has been purified for thousands of years; it can no longer be found in the world except within mortal bodies. How could we possibly..."

"Cough, cough..." Green Willow Immortal Venerable's words were inexplicably interrupted by a cough. Afterwards, a deathly silence fell over the group.

"Stay where you are; don't move around. I will go to headquarters myself. Cough, cough..." Green Willow Immortal Venerable no longer doubted, her tone becoming incredibly solemn. Thousands of years had passed, and everything related to the Immortal Mortal Miasma had long become ancient legends. How to detect it, what symptoms it caused upon infection, how to clear and purify it—this information had been sealed by history, inaccessible to ordinary individuals. Even Green Willow Immortal Venerable, despite her significant position, knew nothing about it. However, she understood the gravity of the situation. After making contact, she hurriedly traveled to the Immortal Alliance Headquarters. After the teleportation light vanished, dozens of black-clad cultivators, like mechanical puppets, were already standing by. Following detailed examinations, Li Xinhai's suspicion was finally confirmed. The entire group who had visited Qilingzhou had indeed been infected with the Immortal Mortal Miasma!

Shock, doubt, horror... Faced with a life-and-death crisis, the Myriad Immortal Alliance reacted swiftly. An emergency team was immediately formed to gather and isolate all members of the Qilingzhou investigation team. Then, puppet cultivators were dispatched back to the underground of Qilingzhou to thoroughly investigate the source of the Immortal Mortal Miasma. Concurrently, a wartime emergency was declared, all teleportation arrays across the provinces were temporarily shut down, and provincial borders were sealed to prohibit the movement of cultivators. Various measures were implemented simultaneously. It must be said that, in this regard, the Myriad Immortal Alliance certainly lived up to its reputation as one of the two major powers in the Xuanhuang Realm.

Unfortunately, even with the Myriad Immortal Alliance's swift response, it was still too late. Seven full days had passed from the investigation team's return to the outbreak of symptoms. By now, the Myriad Immortal Alliance's teleportation arrays had long since permeated every corner of its territory. Although many cultivators avoided inter-province teleportation due to the Devouring Essence White Mist, a vast number of cultivators still frequently traveled between provinces. Seven days was ample time for the inexplicably erupting Immortal Mortal Miasma to be carried to every province within the Myriad Immortal Alliance.

The Immortal Alliance's sudden declaration of a state of war already caused widespread panic among cultivators. They initially believed it was a full-scale war, with the Myriad Immortal Alliance caught off guard and forced to resort to desperate measures. For a time, everyone felt their lives were at risk. But soon, cultivators discovered that something even worse than they imagined had happened. It wasn't war, but the shadow of an ancient calamity, re-enveloping the Xuanhuang Continent after thousands of years!

The preliminary investigation results regarding the Immortal Mortal Miasma in Qilingzhou had been released. In ancient times, the Immortal Mortal Miasma existed in every corner of the world. Through the unceasing efforts of cultivators, it was eventually believed to have been thoroughly purified. This, however, was only what cultivators thought. In reality, within a subterranean cavern in Qilingzhou, the Immortal Mortal Miasma had persisted for thousands of years without dissipating. Furthermore, as time passed, it seemed to have undergone some form of mutation, becoming more insidious and potent. The various countermeasures recorded in history, while not entirely ineffective, had their actual efficacy significantly reduced. New methods of treatment needed to be developed.

Before that could happen, however, the mutated Immortal Mortal Miasma had already revealed its ferocious and terrifying fangs. In the current cultivation world, the vast majority of cultivators were concentrated in the floating sky cities within each province. The density of the cultivator population even surpassed that of ancient cultivation sects! The Immortal Mortal Miasma spread with astonishing efficiency. By the time the Myriad Immortal Alliance released its official announcement regarding the crisis, waves of coughing had already begun to spread across various regions. Initially, under the reassurance of the Immortal Alliance's public statements, cultivators remained somewhat optimistic. But as cultivators began to fall due to the Immortal Mortal Miasma, panic became inevitable. The Immortal Mortal Miasma showed no favoritism. Once infected, Soul Nascent and Soul Transformation cultivators did not experience milder symptoms or a lower chance of death than Foundation Establishment or Golden Core cultivators! Trapped in despair, cultivators tried various methods to delay the onset of death, but all were futile. They could only waste away and die in agony, as the Immortal Alliance issued one grim announcement after another.