Chapter 160 - 144: Miasma

Chapter 160: Chapter 144: Miasma

Concentration Flower?

Steward Ma quickly searched his memory. He exclaimed in surprise, "The Tier Two Spirit Medicine, the Concentration Flower?"

Li Changsheng nodded lightly. Then he said with a helpless air, "Senior Brother, as you know, my cultivation is only at the Qi Cultivation stage. Unless something important comes up, I definitely won’t be leaving the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land..."

"So, once the Concentration Flower matures, I would like to ask for your help in selling it."

"You want me to sell the Concentration Flower?"

Steward Ma was baffled for a moment, but then his heart filled with ecstasy. He nodded repeatedly, promising, "Junior Brother, rest assured. When the time comes, I will definitely help you sell it for a good price."

That was a Tier Two Spirit Medicine. Nothing else needed to be said; as long as he spread the word...

’The Pill Pavilions of the various families on the Miscellaneous Peak would definitely offer a fortune just to meet with him. The value contained within this opportunity would be more than enough for him to get his fill.’

Li Changsheng smiled and nodded.

Of course, he also knew the value this held. As for being unable to leave the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land, that was just an excuse.

Even if he didn’t leave the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land, as long as he sent a message, the people from the Pill Pavilions on the Miscellaneous Peak were perfectly capable of finding their way to him.

The reason he was doing this was to blatantly offer Steward Ma a benefit.

The matter of the Spirit Field was secondary. The main reason was the favor he had asked of Steward Ma: to deliver a letter to his family.

Li Changsheng didn’t want to assume the worst of people, but he also didn’t want to put his family in danger.

Only when a sufficiently large benefit was involved could he trust that Steward Ma would be even more invested in the matter than he was.

Indeed, once Steward Ma’s excitement subsided, he thought it over for a moment and understood the true intention behind Li Changsheng’s request.

He thought to himself, ’This Junior Brother is truly someone worth befriending...’

’He’s handing me a benefit on a silver platter. If he’s not worth befriending, who is?’

They walked on.

With Steward Ma intentionally setting a cheerful mood, the two of them chatted and laughed all the way to the shore of Ten Thousand Serpent Lake.

"I’ve troubled you, Senior Brother," Li Changsheng said with a smile, clasping his hands.

"No trouble, no trouble at all! Just rest easy, Junior Brother."

Steward Ma waved his hands repeatedly. He wished for more and more "trouble" like this.

He watched as Li Changsheng stepped onto the small island.

A wide grin on his face, Steward Ma clasped his hands behind his back, turned, and left.

He planned to resolve the matter of the Spirit Field first, then send a message to his clan to dispatch a few junior members to look after Li Changsheng’s family.

Just as he was thinking this...

「In a small city, countless miles from the Ring Mountain Spiritual Land.」

The city streets were empty. In dark alleys and on street corners lay one disheveled beggar after another.

Suddenly, one of the beggars wheezed like a leaking bellows, gasping for breath a few times. A stream of crimson trickled from his nose and mouth. His body trembled, then slowly slumped to the side, lifeless.

The other beggars glanced over with numb eyes, then paid it no more mind.

And scenes like this were happening all over the small city.

In the western corner of the city, within a small, three-courtyard residence...

In the central courtyard, inside a side room.

A pale, slender youth lay on the bed with his eyes closed.

"COUGH, COUGH..."

Just then, the youth’s eyes snapped open. A flush appeared on his cheeks as he turned over and coughed forcefully twice into the spittoon by the bed.

A trickle of fresh blood could be seen at the corner of the youth’s mouth.

From the outer room, a haggard-looking woman of about thirty years old rushed in.

When she saw the fresh blood on the youth’s lips, the color drained from her face.

"Changfu, are you alright? Don’t you scare your mother!"

The woman gently patted the youth’s back, tears welling in her eyes. "Why hasn’t the master brought the doctor back yet?" she asked anxiously.

The words had barely left her mouth when the sound of hurried footsteps came from outside.

CREAK...

The door to the room slowly opened, and a man walked in. He wore blue robes, had a potbelly, and a round, plump face like a Civilian Official.

Following behind him was an old man with a white beard and hair.

Upon hearing the coughing from the inner room, the man hurried inside. When he saw the fresh blood on his younger son’s lips, he grew frantic.

"Doctor Feng, please, come quickly! Changfu is coughing up blood..."

Doctor Feng’s expression changed slightly. He strode into the room, walked to the bedside, and placed his fingers on the boy’s wrist to take his pulse.

A few moments later.

Doctor Feng lifted his hand, his brow tightly furrowed.

Li Cheng’an said urgently, "Doctor Feng, my son..."

"Sigh..."

Doctor Feng shook his head and sighed. "There is no cure for this coughing sickness. I can only prescribe medicine to delay it for a time. Your son will be fine for now, but in the future... sigh..."

As his words fell, Li Cheng’an’s face instantly turned pale.

The woman holding the youth burst into tears. "Oh, my son..."

She looked at Li Cheng’an and said hatefully, "It’s all her fault! If she hadn’t gone to the temple outside the city to pray for that dead son of hers and brought back this coughing sickness, how could my son have been infected?"

Li Cheng’an glared at her and snapped, "Shut up!" He then turned his head to look at Doctor Feng and asked, unwilling to accept it, "Is there really no other way?"

Doctor Feng sighed and shook his head.

For some unknown reason, a coughing sickness had suddenly begun to spread through Chi City. Some people caught it, others were unaffected. But once infected, death was only a matter of time.

Doctor Feng wrote out a prescription and gave it to Li Cheng’an. After accepting his consultation fee, he was seen off and left.

Li Cheng’an returned to the courtyard. Hearing the curses coming from the side room, he rubbed his temples with a pained expression and walked toward the rear courtyard.

He arrived at the rear courtyard.

A thick medicinal smell assaulted his nostrils.

In the courtyard, two elderly women in their sixties were cleaning up medicinal dregs. Seeing Li Cheng’an approach, they quickly bowed and said, "This servant greets the Master."

Li Cheng’an waved his hand dismissively and walked straight toward the room.

Inside the room, besides the thick medicinal smell, there was also a faint, foul stench.

Li Cheng’an stepped into the inner room.

A young woman with a slightly round face, dressed in a green blouse and skirt, sat sorrowfully before the bed.

On the bed lay a woman with graying hair and a sallow, gaunt face, who looked as if she were in her sixties.

Li Cheng’an walked to the bed and asked in a low voice, "Pang’Er, how is your mother?"

The moment he spoke.