"Master! What's wrong?" "Don't scare us!" "Grandmaster! Grandmaster!"
The disciples waiting outside the door were thrown into panic. But as medical practitioners, they understood the horror of the plague even better. Especially since Old Master Qin had strictly ordered no one to approach.
Their worried chatter didn't affect the old man's crying at all.
Ever since Old Master Qin returned from his consultation, he had wrapped himself tightly, refusing anyone's approach, locking himself in the courtyard.
The entire medical clinic was already in a state of panic.
Over the years, the clinic had weathered countless storms. What hadn't they experienced?
No one had ever seen Old Master Qin lose composure like this.
A ninety-year-old man crying bitterly, his heart torn apart.
Those who saw it felt their hearts ache.
"Father!" Finally, Old Master Qin's son, the clinic's current director Qin Nianmin, knelt on the ground, crying as he asked: "Your son is unfilial. I don't know why you're crying."
"I cry for heaven's cruelty, sending down such a catastrophe."
"I cry for Yue City being entrusted to the wrong person. The City Lord doesn't care for the people. Complete destruction is imminent!"
The old man's wailing voice was filled with sorrow.
In his life, he had treated patients and read people, rarely making wrong diagnoses. Although the City Lord of Yue City hadn't made his stance clear, Old Master Qin had already seen through his evasiveness. He was certain his plague prevention strategy would never be adopted.
Without decisive measures led by the City Lord's mansion, he dared not imagine what the entire city would eventually become.
"Father, Father!" Qin Nianmin was also in his fifties, with slightly graying hair, but seeing his helpless old father, he felt as directionless as a child.
Kneeling forward a few steps, tears streaming, he asked: "What can we do?"
"Go!" Old Master Qin stopped crying, stood up, and said hoarsely: "If you still remember a physician's virtue, if you still have humanity left, all of you go! Go spread the news that plague has already broken out in Yue City. Tell the common people not to go out."
"Go to neighboring cities and counties, alert the local governments."
"Go to the capital, tell our Emperor, make him know what his subjects are enduring!"
Finally, the ninety-year-old man stood in the courtyard, pointing toward the sky like a great general protecting his homeland, roaring out a military command—
"Go!"
One word was enough. Blood sprayed from his mouth, and he collapsed lifeless to the ground.
Before the plague even struck, the person was already gone.
"Father!!!" Qin Nianmin wanted to rush into the courtyard while kneeling on the ground, but held himself back.
On the door was pasted a sheet of paper, with words written on it.
It was written by Old Master Qin himself after returning:
After my death, no burial is necessary. Do not approach my corpse.
Burn my body, purify it in flames. Dig a pit and cover my remains.
Those who disobey are unfilial! Those who rebel are disloyal!
……
After communicating with the old physician, the City Lord of Yue City walked out of the medical clinic, his mood somber.
No one wanted to see such a disaster occur under their rule.
That man surnamed Li had brought the plague from who knows where—he deserved ten thousand cuts!
But the urgent matter was how to handle the current situation.
The guard commander behind him asked in a low voice: "Sir, should I depart now?"
"Depart where?"
The guard commander hesitated: "Aren't we... to seal off the entire area?"
The City Lord of Yue City turned to look at him, his gaze calm yet naturally authoritative: "He's old and confused. Are you confused too?"
"He says it's plague, so it's plague? Without more evidence, just based on one person's word, we immediately seal off the entire city district?"
"Do you know the cost of sealing off the entire area for a month? How much grain it would consume? Not to mention whether mobilizing all of Yue City's extraordinary powers could sustain the entire population for a month. Just the Dao Essence Stones required to command those extraordinary powers—do you know what kind of number that is? Who would pay for it?"
"Not to mention reporting to the imperial court. Once the court intervenes in Yue City's affairs, what will be left for me?"
"Know this: names and symbols of authority cannot be entrusted to others! Once you give up power, you can never take it back!"
"Yue City belongs to me first, and only then to the State of Yang!"
The guard commander lowered his head: "…Yes."
The City Lord of Yue City sighed internally for this foolish guard, pondering when to replace him.
But aloud he said: "Regardless, whether Old Master Qin is being alarmist or not, we must take the severity of the situation seriously. I will immediately write a letter inviting medical cultivators from Eastern King Valley to come and inspect personally. From today forward, the entire city district is on high alert. The standard is 'loose externally, tight internally'! Especially the streets where infected cases are found—seal them completely, isolating inside from outside. Anyone attempting to leave will be executed immediately!"
The guard commander was about to obey and leave when he heard the City Lord continue: "Send a team to seal off this area. To prevent rumors from spreading and causing panic among the people, the medical clinic is closed starting today for half a month. No one is allowed in or out!"
The guard commander felt secretly alarmed and asked uncertainly: "What if they refuse?"
The City Lord of Yue City gave him a faint glance: "Follow the precedent of the sealed streets where infected cases are located. Old Master Qin himself has very likely contracted the plague, hasn't he?"
The guard commander felt his throat go dry: "…Yes!"
……
Walking through Green Sheep Town, there were noticeably more people than before.
It had been barely over a month, but the burning of Hu You's house seemed to have been forgotten by everyone.
Hu Laogen wasn't particularly gifted in governance, but he was dutiful and diligent—that was enough.
And he had the surname Hu, was a relative of Hu You, and was a respected elder of Green Sheep Town. The people here didn't reject him.
Green Sheep Town was nominally one of the eight towns of Jia City, but in reality, the Chongxuan family had jurisdiction over this place for thirty years.
Chongxuan Sheng had further transferred this right to Jiang Wang.
It could be said that this town, for the next thirty years, belonged to Jiang Wang—as long as he wished.
That was why he was quite willing to walk around Green Sheep Town, even willing to reduce some cultivation time to visit the villages under the town, occasionally taking action to drive away boundary-crossing fierce beasts.
Jiang Wang certainly wouldn't exterminate these beasts, challenging the already fragile nerves of the State of Yang. So his actions weren't significant, more like a pastime.
It was hard for those who hadn't experienced wandering to understand the sense of rootless drifting.
This place often reminded him of Phoenix Creek Town—a town he used to rarely visit and didn't cherish enough, but one he now often thought about.
Xiaoxiao always stayed by Jiang Wang's side. She was growing rapidly, learning martial arts from Zhu Biqiong while also handling the mining operations in perfect order.
Unlike Zhu Biqiong, who had simply come to experience the world and enjoy the scenery to relax.
She enjoyed feeling "valuable," but enjoyed even more the feeling of being by Jiang Wang's side.
He was the person who had personally pulled her out of hell. Following Jiang Wang, her uncertain heart finally felt secure.
Three plump puppies were nursing vigorously, their little heads squeezed together, bumping into each other. Their mother, a large white dog with beautiful fur, lay on the ground, but at the moment she was stiff, her expression seemingly having a hint of life-weariness.
Xiaoxiao noticed that her master had stood before this scene for quite a while.
"He seems to like this sight very much," Xiaoxiao thought.
She wasn't wrong.
For Jiang Wang, this scene was beautiful.
This was the continuation of life. Here, there was the light of hope.