Volume One: The Youngest of the Three Hundred Chapter Ninety-One: Secrets Buried in the Earth

The young man looked around again. Seeing that everyone else was busy with their devout prayers and paying him no mind, he lowered his voice and replied, "A big brother named Ye Lin did indeed come to Ganquan Village a few days ago. He was still here yesterday noon, but by evening... I don't know where he went!"

Chen Chang'an continued his questioning: "Ganquan Village has been struck by a plague; surely the local magistrate's office wouldn't just sit by and do nothing?"

"Sigh!" The young man let out a sigh, looking toward a desolate, barren hillside with a hint of fear in his eyes. "They did, and they came here with that Officer Ye of yours from the Black-Clad Guard."

"Perhaps... perhaps it was because..."

"Because of what?" Chen Chang'an perked up.

The young man replied in a low, somber tone: "Yesterday at noon, Officer Ye was openly disrespectful to Emperor Lü, claiming that this plague was man-made!"

"It’s possible that because of these words, he and the constables and bailiffs from the magistrate's office were punished by Emperor Lü."

Hmm... Chen Chang'an couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. It seemed Ye Lin’s suspicion aligned with his own—that the plague was man-made. Ye Lin must have touched upon a core clue, leading to an attempt to silence him.

Oh... no, not necessarily silenced. Cao Wu had said that according to the intelligence gathered, Ye Lin was not dead, merely missing.

"I see. Thank you," Chen Chang'an nodded. Just as he was about to speak again, Ruan Jingchu interjected: "Could you tell us when the plague first started?"

Hearing a crisp, melodious voice like wind passing through silver bells, the young man turned his gaze. When he saw Ruan Jingchu, he was stunned by her beauty, his eyes bulging as he stood transfixed, unable to do anything but gulp audibly in his infatuation.

"Hey... hey! Hey! Hey!" Chen Chang'an nudged him with his elbow twice.

"Oh!" The young man snapped back to reality, scratching his head in embarrassment. "It’s like this: Emperor Lü has been our village’s guardian deity for three or four hundred years. According to our ancestors' rules, the temple must be renovated every fifty years."

"Eight days ago was the deadline, so the villagers prepared to tear down the old temple. It just so happened that heavy rain began to fall then, continuing for several days."

"The work had to be postponed, but... no one expected the entire hillside to be washed away by the rain, leaving the old temple in ruins."

"A few days later, the plague broke out in the village, and all the vegetation around the hillside withered and died!"

Ruan Jingchu listened, her beautiful face shifting with emotions. "How eerie. The trees around here are indeed dying. Could it really be a deity..."

"No!" Chen Chang'an interrupted her budding superstitious thoughts. "That's impossible. Deities don't exist at all... anyway, don't think in that direction."

He had originally intended to say something about firmly believing in science, but considering the unreality of his own transmigration, along with the existence of places like the Peach Blossom Pavilion, he gave up and changed his wording to something more ambiguous. After all, the sword technique he practiced was called "Immortal Slayer"—saying such things would be no different from a hypocrite who visits brothels daily while advising others to avoid women.

Oh, and one more thing. Chen Chang'an asked his final question: "The plague looks quite severe, and the air in the entire Ganquan Village is foul. If I hadn't been using a medicinal veil to protect my nose and mouth, I wouldn't have been able to enter. Yet, you all don't seem to be affected too badly?"

One had to realize that Song Jiu, a Fourth-Rank Mountain-Opening expert, had been brought down by the toxins in the air the moment he entered the village. Yet, these villagers were only suffering pain without dying immediately; it was all a bit too outrageous.

"Sigh!"

The young man frowned, pointing to a middle-aged man among the crowd of worshippers, and explained: "It's all thanks to Dr. Jia in the village. After the plague started to ravage us, he quickly developed some medicinal pills, which allowed us to survive until now."

"However, this medicine can only delay death and ease the pain; it cannot effect a cure."

Dr. Jia... there was a doctor in the village. Chen Chang'an stared at the man he had pointed to, pondering and analyzing. After forming a rough hypothesis, he walked over to the side of the white, dried mud that had been rolled down by the landslide caused by the torrential rain, and slowly squatted down.

Ruan Jingchu was curious: "What is there to see in the dirt?"

Chen Chang'an chuckled: "The dirt isn't interesting, but the fact that this dirt causes all surrounding plants to wither is very interesting!"

The young man muttered under his breath: "You really like to joke, sir. What does it have to do with the dirt? We are near the temple site of Emperor Lü; naturally, things here are the first to suffer when the plague strikes!"

"Fair enough!" Chen Chang'an responded dismissively. He drew his blade, *Cangming*, and lazily poked at the dry soil. After scraping it back and forth a few times, tiny crystals suddenly appeared, shimmering in the sunlight.

"Holy crap!" Chen Chang'an increased the frequency of his digging, and more and more snow-white crystals emerged.

The young man exclaimed: "Quick, stop digging! This must be a manifestation of Emperor Lü. Stop, stop!"

Chen Chang'an gave him a blunt look, then picked up a grain, held it between his fingers for a moment, and carefully put it into his mouth.

*Crunch, crunch, crunch!*

The next second, he began to cough violently, yet he was incredibly excited. "So... so that’s it!"

"So that's it!"

"W-what is it?" Ruan Jingchu’s small, beautiful face was filled with dense, intense curiosity. She pressed him, "What is it? Have you found a clue about Ye Lin?"

Chen Chang'an shook his head: "I haven't found any clues about Ye Lin yet, but I do know why this 'plague' broke out."

With a *rip*, he once again cleanly tore off a piece of Ruan Jingchu’s skirt, intending to write something on it, but realizing he had no pen, his smile became awkward.

Ruan Jingchu scolded him: "What are you doing?"

Chen Chang'an chuckled shamelessly: "I originally wanted to write something for you to take back to Deputy Commander Cao, but..."

"Never mind, I'll just tell you directly!"

He leaned over and whispered into Ruan Jingchu's ear for a while.

"Is that true?"

Upon hearing this, the latter was greatly surprised. She immediately squatted down, picked up some of the fine soil, and put it in her mouth. After chewing and swallowing it, she cried out in excitement: "You're right, it really is..."

"...It really is..."

"Hey! Hey! Hey!"

Chen Chang'an covered her mouth: "Don't shout; you'll alert the enemy, my dear. Go back to Chang'an City and report to Deputy Commander Cao!"

"Oh, right!"

Ruan Jingchu nodded heavily, then asked with some concern: "If I leave, will you be okay staying in Ganquan Village by yourself?"

Chen Chang'an made an "OK" gesture she didn't understand: "Of course, I can handle it alone!"

"Alright!" Ruan Jingchu mimicked his "OK" gesture and headed off toward Chang'an City, leaving Ganquan Village behind.

Watching her figure disappear from view, Chen Chang'an turned around and patted the young man on the shoulder: "Can you tell me who the first person to die of the plague was?"

Whether it was a natural plague or a man-made virus, they all shared one thing in common: the index patient was undoubtedly the key clue to finding the source.

Close contact... secondary contact... pathogen... yes, that was the logic of it!

...

In a residence in Chang'an City, a man with steel claws embedded in his arms, but not wearing a mask as before, walked in. He bowed and cupped his hands: "Reporting to you, sir, the person you ordered me to bring back from Ganquan Village is outside!"

"Hmm!"

A look of satisfaction flashed across the master of the residence's eyes. He flicked his sleeves and said, "Find a place to settle them for now. After all, they are going to the palace, so they must learn some manners."

"Very well, sir!" The man with the steel claws responded respectfully. He then took a cloth package from his bosom, unwrapped it, and held it up with both hands. Inside was a piece of the white, dried mud.

The master of the residence furrowed his thick eyebrows: "What is this?"

The man with the steel claws explained, "Sir, this is soil I accidentally discovered under a hillside when I left Ganquan Village. It contains a treasure."

"Oh?"

The master of the residence took it with curiosity. "It’s just a piece of dry dirt, how could it..."

His words trailed off abruptly, for he saw many transparent crystals embedded in the dry soil, glittering under the sunlight streaming through the window.

"This... this is?"

The master of the residence seemed to realize something. He pinched a few tiny grains and put them into his mouth. Having been mentally prepared, he tasted them for a moment, and his expression instantly shifted to one of ecstatic joy. He slammed the table and shouted: "It's in Ganquan Village?"

"Yes, sir!" the man with the steel claws replied firmly.

"Good... very good. There’s no vegetation growing around this kind of soil, right?"

"Yes, sir. If you include that hillside, it covers about five or six acres!" the man with the steel claws replied while calculating.

"Heaven is truly helping me!"

The master of the residence could no longer hide his inner excitement. He stood up, waved his sleeves, and issued an order: "Take your men to Ganquan Village immediately. Kill every single villager there, leaving no one behind."

"But to avoid any follow-up investigation by the authorities, try to leave no traces. Isn't there a plague in the village? Let them meet their end in the way a plague would claim them!"

"Understood, sir. Rest assured, it will be done as ordered!" A golden light flashed in the eyes of the man with the steel claws, his words ringing out with determination.