I Can Reincarnate Infinitely

The major sects could ignore the mortals living in the Mortal World.

The simple saying, "Immortals and mortals walk different paths," was enough to soothe their consciences.

What’s more... most Cultivators simply didn’t care what happened in the Mortal World.

Du Youqian would bet that at least two-thirds of Cultivators didn’t even know that a massive plague, the likes of which hadn’t been seen in millennia, had appeared in the Mortal World.

But the Blessed Lands—those were the very foundation of the Major Sects.

Most of the new blood recruited by each Sect came from the Blessed Lands.

This was because the mortals in the Blessed Lands were mostly descendants of Cultivators.

Plus, with the abundance of Spiritual Qi in the Blessed Lands, the mortals there were healthier, and the probability of their descendants developing Spirit Roots was far higher than in the Mortal World outside.

If all the mortals in the Blessed Lands died out, the Major Sects would be uprooted. With no fresh blood to join their ranks in the future, they would face a slow demise.

Thus, at the call of the Taihe Sect, the Profound Sects Orthodox Camp united as never before, uncharacteristically concerning themselves with the affairs of the Mortal World.

Even the Demon Sect Camp put on a show, sending an "exchange delegation" of Alchemists to assist in developing an elixir.

Even during the Demon Fiend disaster several hundred years ago, when the various Sects had sent people to the Mortal World, their goal had only been to eliminate the Demon Race, not to protect mortals.

Only a small number of Cultivators had genuinely fought to protect mortals.

Master Wu Fei implemented Du Youqian’s proposal almost to the letter. One group of Cultivators went to the Mortal World to manage and restrict the movement of people. Another group investigated the plague’s point of origin, believing this might lead to key clues for a cure. Meanwhile, Cultivators skilled in Alchemy gathered to brainstorm. They holed up in a designated cave estate in the Taihe Sect, eating and sleeping there as they attempted to formulate a cheap, curative elixir.

’Since the Major Sects are taking this seriously,’ Du Youqian thought, ’and since it isn’t a matter of conflicting interests that would lead to infighting, the plague should be resolved quickly.’

He soon discovered that he had oversimplified things.

First, there were the Cultivators sent to the Mortal World to maintain order. Many of them had a natural talent for slacking off and didn’t take their duties seriously at all. Mortals continued to flee everywhere as usual, spreading the plague to all corners of the world, leaving almost no place untouched.

Then there were the Cultivators investigating the plague’s origin. The few places where it might have started were basically wiped out, all potential leads gone. After spending a great deal of time, they still couldn’t figure out where or why the plague had begun.

Finally, there were the Cultivators responsible for researching the elixir. Most of them were useless—and by most, he meant nine out of ten.

They were all accustomed to using the finest Spiritual Materials, spending vast amounts of time to meticulously refine the highest quality elixirs.

They had never considered using the simplest, most common Medicinal Herbs to hastily refine a huge potful (yes, a pot, not a Pill Furnace) of something that might not even be graded, something that could barely be called an "elixir."

They simply didn’t have that mindset!

Even though Du Youqian emphasized it repeatedly and demonstrated it himself, most of them still felt that this method was an insult to the status of an Alchemist and were unwilling to compromise.

Du Youqian could only offer a polite but awkward smile, then watch as those Alchemists wasted vast amounts of time, burned through many precious Medicinal Herbs, and accomplished nothing useful.

’What’s the use of an elixir that can easily cure the disease if it takes two days to refine just three pills from a batch of Medicinal Herbs worth three thousand Spirit Stones per dose?’

Hundreds of millions of mortals were waiting to be saved.

’If I held the power of life and death, I’d string these stubborn fools up and give them a good whipping.’

Unfortunately.

Though he was hailed as the number one expert in the world, a man of immense prestige, he couldn’t command these Cultivators—who valued individual might and personal Cultivation above all else—as if they were his own limbs.

Just coaxing them into helping a little was already his limit.

It was truly impossible to make Cultivators follow orders with absolute obedience.

No one in this world could do it.

Du Youqian could only abandon his illusions and accept that the more capable person had to do more work.

After multiple failed attempts to formulate an effective Low Tier Elixir, Du Youqian changed his approach. He decided to use Divination to find the plague’s place of origin, hoping to find some clues, and also tried using Divination to find suitable Medicinal Herbs.

When the Divination results came in, Du Youqian’s heart grew even heavier.

He didn’t find any suitable Medicinal Herbs.

Furthermore, the hexagrams showed that this plague was not a natural disaster, but a man-made one!

’But who could have done it?’

Because he had too little information, the hexagrams Du Youqian obtained from his Divination were vague, and he couldn’t draw any reliable conclusions.

Du Youqian privately instructed a few of the Cultivators investigating the plague’s origin to gather as many clues as possible to give him more to work with for his Divination.

Before they could find anything useful, the situation became even more grim.

One day, Elder Wu Fei personally came to the cave estate serving as the plague research institute, visiting everyone with a smile and a cheerful demeanor.

Then, he called Du Youqian into a private chamber, his expression utterly grave.

"You De, things have taken a terrible turn."

Du Youqian immediately grew tense.

He knew that Elder Wu Fei would never speak without reason. "Please, tell me. What happened?"

Elder Wu Fei took a deep breath. "Three of our young friends working in the Mortal World have been infected."

The word "infected" was one Du Youqian had proposed, and because it was so convenient and descriptive, it had quickly spread.

Du Youqian sucked in a cold breath. "What are their Cultivation levels?"

"Qi Cultivation."

"And the symptoms? Are they the same as mortals’?"

Elder Wu Fei said, "We’re still observing. It’s only been two or three days since the three of them were infected. Right now, they just feel weak all over, can’t concentrate, and have difficulty gathering their Magical Power. We’ll have to wait and see about anything else."

"Then... let’s continue to observe," Du Youqian said. Although he sounded calm, he actually had a strong, ominous premonition.

Originally, Cultivators were supposed to be completely immune to infection. Every Cultivator, even one at the Qi Cultivation Early Stage, had a Physique comparable to an Innate Martial Arts Grandmaster among mortals, making them immune to all diseases and impervious to heat and cold.

’Getting sick? Impossible.’

’But now, even Cultivators can get infected. What does this mean?’

Moreover, what Du Youqian wanted to figure out was whether this plague could infect Cultivators from the beginning, or if the plague "virus" had evolved after spreading for a period of time.

’What kind of virus is so powerful that even a Cultivator’s Essence Blood can’t kill it?’

’Right now, only Qi Cultivation Cultivators are getting infected. What about the future? Will Foundation Establishment Cultivators also be susceptible?’

For mortals infected with this plague, the mortality rate was quite high.

’What about Cultivators?’

’Could they also die from this sickness?’

Du Youqian felt like his head was about to explode.

’This is too difficult!’

’Who on earth could have committed such a monstrous atrocity!’

’What is their goal?’

’If only I knew their objective, I could at least work to counter it.’

The most frustrating thing was an enemy hidden in the shadows.

’You don’t even know if the enemy truly exists!’

Although Du Youqian’s Divination had concluded that this plague was man-made, it was also possible that it was simply an accident. It didn’t necessarily mean someone was deliberately spreading a virus.

This was a distinct possibility.

Divination wasn’t omnipotent. When the target’s rank was too high, or when he himself had too little information, it was difficult to divine any details.

’Ever since Xue Tu and Jiang Shan Duojiao left and Pang Master was slain,’ Du Youqian thought, ’there shouldn’t be anyone or anything in Momenan with a rank so high that I can’t divine it.’

Even back then, he had been able to divine matters related to Pang Master.

This meant that, thanks to the blessing of his "Knowing the Celestial Mandate" Great Divine Ability—and the mysterious enhancement to his standing after his dream encounter with the Emperor—he had a decent chance of divining matters concerning Tier Six individuals and events.

’So, as long as I can learn more details about this plague, I might be able to combine that with Divination to deduce its cause, and perhaps even divine a cure.’

There was no good news.

There was bad news every day.

More Cultivators were being infected each day.

And a month later, the worst possible news arrived.

One of the first three Cultivators to be infected had died.

This was the first fatality among the Cultivators. The fact made other Cultivators dread managing mortals in the Mortal World, treating the task as if it were a death sentence.

Master Wu Fei was constantly frowning, and the Beautiful Daoist Nun’s eyes were often filled with sorrow.

As more and more Cultivators were infected, those Alchemists who had been unwilling to lower themselves to research cheap elixirs finally had a chance to shine.

Their research and development was progressing quite well, and it was estimated that they would soon be able to refine a rather expensive elixir to treat the plague in Cultivators.

Only Du Youqian, with a small group of Alchemists, continued to develop a cheap medicine for mortals. They had some leads now, but they still needed more time.

But time was what they lacked most.

According to rough estimates, in the short two months since the plague was discovered, more than a quarter of the mortal population in Momenan had already died.

And that rate was only going to increase.

The most terrifying thing was that cases of reinfection had appeared among the mortals who had been infected and were lucky enough to recover.

At this rate, Du Youqian’s original estimate that only a tenth of the mortals would survive was far too optimistic.

It was possible that with repeated infections, the mortals would be reduced to one in a thousand, or even one in ten thousand, or fewer still.

Without a doubt, this was already the greatest catastrophe in Momenan’s history. The key issue was that no one knew who the mastermind behind it all was.

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