Cultivation Starting from Full Talent - Chapter 300

Chapter 300: Chapter 298: Old Su Has Been Tricked Chapter 300: Chapter 298: Old Su Has Been Tricked In the evening, Ning Daoran returned to the pharmacy.

“Mr. Xiao Ning, you’re finally back!”

Upon entering, he saw Su Chuanping. The normally steadfast master of Su Family’s Martial Arts Hall spoke anxiously, “Thank you Mr. Xiao Ning for saving Mei’er’s life. Many disciples in the hall were killed by the demon beasts, if not for your intervention, Mei’er might have…”

“Ah?”

Ning Daoran was surprised, “What happened to Miss Su? I wasn’t the one who saved her, I just came back from cutting mountain meat in the mountains.”

“What?”

Su Chuanping was shocked, “It wasn’t you who saved her?”

“Master Su, I already told you.”

Chi Susu helplessly said, “It was a woman who saved Su Mei and brought her here to rest in the pharmacy. My young master went out early this morning and has only just returned…”

“Oh, so that’s what happened…”

Su Chuanping looked puzzled.

“Master!”

At this moment, a few more disciples from Su Family’s Martial Arts Hall entered the pharmacy, among them Chi Haoran who said with clasped fists, “Someone just returned from the mountains and reported finding a token of our eldest senior brother in a cave, next to a pile of ashes. They suspect that our eldest senior brother has been murdered.”

“Ah?”

Su Chuanping staggered, breaking out in a cold sweat. Today’s events had been overwhelming; over ten disciples killed by demon beasts, and he was at a loss on how to explain to their families. Then, Su Mei had fainted in the mountains and was rescued, now their most promising eldest student Zhong Liang had apparently died in the mountains…

With so many incidents happening, Old Su needed a moment to gather himself.

“Dad…”

At this moment, the voice of Su Mei came from the inner room, her expression slightly haggard, a sign of waking from sedation.

“Mei’er, you’re finally awake!”

Su Chuanping was overjoyed, “How do you feel now?”

Su Mei rubbed her temples, “My head hurts… I seem to remember something, but it’s unclear…”

Upon saying this, Su Mei suddenly burst into tears, “Dad, the eldest senior brother drugged me, wanting to harm me, but then was rescued by a senior who stepped in, and then I passed out…”

“What?!”

Su Chuanping’s face was filled with disbelief, “Zhong… how could Zhong Liang be so crude, how could he…”

Ning Daoran shook his head, somewhat speechless. The straightforward Old Su, so direct without any twists. Of course, Zhong Liang’s gentle and honest front was just an act; did he really need to make a creepy confession like “Old Su, I’ve set my sights on your daughter”?

“Brother Ning…”

Su Mei looked at Ning Daoran, suddenly her cheeks reddened, “I… it seems like I dreamed of you while I was unconscious, you…”

“Miss Su, I’m glad you’re okay.”

Ning Daoran smiled, “So, what did you dream about me?”

“I…”

Su Mei was embarrassed, her face flushed red, “It’s… it’s nothing, Dad, with so many things happening at the dojo today, I just heard that many disciples died; you must return to the dojo quickly to take charge, lest people cause trouble and wreck the place.”

“Yes, yes, yes!”

Su Chuanping immediately clasped his fists, “Junior Brother Ning, we’ll head back to the martial arts hall first, and we’ll come to thank you another day.”

“Mm.”

Ning Daoran nodded his head, watching the people from Su Family’s Martial Arts Hall leave.

He felt a slight unease in his heart, sensing that things weren’t as simple as they appeared.

…

That night, Ning Daoran stayed in the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven within the pharmacy, refining his body with the Twenty Second Layer of the Eternal Green Technique, a process that required continuous attention.

The next morning.

Outside, the street was unexpectedly quiet. Normally, by this time, peddlers should have been banging drums and selling breakfast, and it seemed even the night watchman hadn’t come out.

“Shua!”

Ning Daoran stepped out of the Spirit Garden Cave Heaven and immediately felt the air was filled with gloomy elements, as if sitting in a car with a severely aged air filter, the air was saturated with impurities, making it almost impossible to breathe.

“Squeak~~”
The moment he opened the door, he was even more shocked. It was pitch-black in front of him, a web-like structure, resembling a spider web, ensnaring the pharmacy’s doorway. On the ground and walls outside, clusters of black, spore-like substances appeared. It seemed as if the entire Ji City was occupied by some creature.

Releasing his Divine Sense, Ning Daoran was even more horrified.

A black mushroom, at least a thousand feet tall, was enveloping the entire Ji City!

This mushroom exuded an immense vitality, extending long black vines from the top to the roots, spreading out in all directions, ensnaring the entire Ji City. At this time, figures finally began to appear on the streets.

A man holding a kitchen knife, with blood-red eyes and a hunched body, viciously chopped at a household’s front door.

His face and neck were covered with black fungal strands, appearing similar to many of the fungi seen on the mountain yesterday, seemingly the same species.

But such fungal strands growing on a human were alarmingly grotesque.

“Wu wu…”

Another figure appeared at the street corner, an old man, similarly with blood-red eyes and a hunched body, like a zombie from a past-life movie, only his movements were more staggering, step by step approaching the pharmacy, moaning, “Help… help…”

Ning Daoran’s eyebrows were tightly furrowed as he sensed with his Divine Sense. This old man was terminally ill, his entire body covered in mycelium, devoid of a living flesh, beyond saving. On the contrary, the fungi on him were undoubtedly contagious, posing a severe threat to the living.

“I’m sorry, old man.”

Ning Daoran raised his hand, and a swipe of the Jianjia Sword Technique severed the old man’s head, followed by a blast of Samadhi True Fire that reduced his body to ashes.

“Young master…”

Looking at the images of the half-dead on the street outside, Chi Susu’s face turned pale: “What is this? What happened…”

“Close the door!”

With a flick of his sleeve, Ning Daoran shut the door, then immediately set up dozens of Arrays and over forty Prohibitions, isolating the front yard of the Pharmacy from the entirety of Ji City.

This matter was highly unusual and required careful deliberation.

With a gentle tap on the Storage Bag, he said, “Come out, meeting time!”

Instantly, Big Stupid Deer, Little Bai, Little Blackie, and Ning Xiaogui all emerged.

Chi Susu was startled.

Ning Daoran comforted her: “Susu, it’s okay, they are all our own…”

“Oh…”

Chi Susu nodded, she had only seen a few of them, but had never met the Ink Jiao Dragon and turtle.

“Little Bai, you’ve seen a lot and know much, do you recognize what those are outside?” Ning Daoran asked.

“Reporting to young master, it could be a type of demon.”

Little Bai spoke softly, “When I was young, I saw something similar. It appears to be a plant, but has extremely strong vitality, and possesses deadly poison. It spreads rapidly and once the Demonic Qi occupies an area, it changes the environment to match its own properties.”

She frowned, “Young master, you must have also seen that black mushroom in the distance, it should be the main body. This demon utilized yesterday’s gloomy rain to spread its Demon Poison, then using the fungi on the mountain and that red mountain meat to continuously spread the poison. By today, the effects of the Demon Poison are mostly manifested; anyone who should be poisoned, is now poisoned, and the people of Ji City are becoming nourishment for this demon beast.”

“What should we do now?”

Ning Daoran frowned, “Should we take action?”

“It’s best not to.”

Little Bai shook her head: “Currently, we still don’t know exactly what this demon beast is or its traits. Even with young master’s cultivation at its peak, should we engage and get struck by its Demon Poison, what then? So, I think we should observe first, see how this demon beast changes, and after understanding more, remove it.”

Chi Susu said, “Young master, there are many innocent neighbors and villagers outside, afraid that they will fall victim to this calamity… Are we really not going to help?”

“No rescue.”

Little Bai immediately rejected: “To jeopardize our lifetimes of cultivation for a few civilians’ lives isn’t worth it.”

Little Blackie also shook his head: “No rescue.”

The Green Water Turtle murmured lowly, “If it’s really dangerous, then naturally we would not help…”

“Ow ow~~”
Big Stupid Deer nuzzled Ning Daoran’s shoulder, indicating that he would listen to big brother.

Ning Daoran smiled, “Five against one, no rescue!”

He also felt it unnecessary to rescue; already in peril himself, self-rescue was challenging enough, let alone saving others.

…

“Thump thump thump~~”
Soon after, sounds came from outside: “Brother Ning, save us…”

It was Su Mei’s voice.

“What happened?”

Ning Daoran opened the Array, only to see Su Mei and Chi Haoran carrying Su Chuanping on a door board standing outside.

Her face anxious, “Great trouble has struck the city. We don’t know exactly what happened, but since last night, many disciples in the Martial Arts Hall started getting poisoned, fungi growing on their bodies. By this morning, even dad had fungi growing on him. We really didn’t know what to do, so we thought of coming to see if Brother Ning might have a solution.”

“Ah…”

Ning Daoran felt somewhat helpless, Old Su was already affected, at this time, it was impossible not to help.

“Come in quickly.”

After opening the door, he let Su Mei, Chi Haoran, and several disciples from the Su Family’s Martial Arts Hall in, then reactivated the huge Array to camouflage the entire shop.

“Don’t touch Old Su.”

Ning Daoran waved a hand, a stream of Evergreen Technique Power surged out, enveloping Su Chuanping’s body and ushering him into the inner room. He then cast several Prohibitions to firmly seal it off to prevent the black spores from transmitting through the air.

His Divine Sense scanned briefly, confirming Su Chuanping’s current condition.

Quite fitting for a Mid-stage Condensed Liquid Realm Martial Artist, Su Chuanping’s physical body was indeed exceptionally robust. Poisoned, the fungi had only grown near his chest and hadn’t spread further; otherwise, Su Chuanping wouldn’t have escaped death.

He channeled some Evergreen Technique Power, helping to stop the fungi from spreading, but was at a loss on how to eliminate the fungi – it wasn’t proper to just burn Old Su with a fire.

“You all should stay in the Pharmacy recently, don’t go out, it’ll be chaotic outside,” Ning Daoran said.

“Hmm!”

Su Mei nodded emphatically.

…

Days later, the city indeed fell into chaos.

This spore Demonic Poison seemed selective; most people were poisoned, but a few were not. Shortly, numerous bandits appeared, breaking into homes and robbing food. Ji City completely turned into an isolated dead city with countless civilians dead in the streets!