A Night of Desperation

Chapter 358: outbreak, four

"Madman?" Yu Hong’s expression slightly changed, "Explain the situation clearly to me."

Zheng Xia described the chaos she witnessed in a haphazard manner.

Multiple homicides on the streets, cars ramming around, the situation was in total disarray, as if it was the end of the world.

"Don’t panic, contact Mayor Xu immediately to see if we need to coordinate in maintaining order. Have all the people who are still relatively normal retreat to the inside of the Array connected to the Spirit Station," Yu Hong calmly instructed.

After the true outbreak of the Spirit Disaster, the weight on his heart seemed to lighten significantly.

At this moment, his mood and spirit also calmed down.

"Yes...! I understand!"

Seemingly infected by Yu Hong’s composure, Zheng Xia also quickly calmed down and replied through the phone.

"There are still many visitors in the temple, all seeking refuge with the talismans we distributed. There’s quite a number of them..." She seemed to want to say more.

"Any of the eight Spirit Stations can accommodate them. Let Master Yu Hen decide!" Yu Hong quickly said.

"Yes!"

The phone call ended.

Yu Hong, carrying the professor, decisively stepped towards the city center to return.

*

*

*

A few kilometers from Zihe Palace.

Atop a small abandoned building in the mountains.

Rundown and tangled vines covered the outside of the building, spreading across the rooftop platform.

A woman, cloaked in black with a white character of ’ominous’ on her back, stood on the building’s edge, holding a lit cigarette, overlooking the magnificent Zihe Palace.

"Where is Xuan Jing?" Without turning her head, the woman asked in a low voice.

"Leader, have you forgotten? He went to Shangyuan," another woman, slightly petite, replied from behind.

The responding woman was clad in tight-fitting black leather, with dense rows of black needles strapped along her thighs, her figure sultry and her demeanor respectful.

"I’m getting old; my memory is not what it used to be," the long-haired woman exhaled and casually snuffed out her cigarette, discarding it.

She dusted off her hands, pulling out from the inside of her cloak two soft, rubbery golden spheres.

"Let’s get started. To be honest, I have quite a fondness for Ku Chan, after all, he’s the rare top-level Taoist genius in recent years. But what a pity... he’s in our way."

The long-haired woman casually tossed one of the spheres forward.

Letting it fall from the building, it ’plop’ into a deep landslide in the forest below.

Boom!!

In an instant.

A massive column of grey smoke burst skyward from where the sphere fell.

The smoke spun rapidly, expanding, thickening.

In less than ten seconds, it formed a gigantic column of air hundreds of meters in diameter.

The column quickly enveloped the nearest abandoned building.

Within the column, indistinct figures with dragon heads and human bodies in Golden Armor slowly emerged; their vast and terrifying spiritual fluctuations scattered all around like money didn’t matter, quickly covering the periphery.

By this time, the two women had already agilely left the building, escaping the column’s range.

Finding a new location, they dropped another sphere.

Instantly, a second column of grey smoke rose to the sky.

"It’s about time," the long-haired woman moved back, watching the birth of two Yin Qi Sky Pillars.

"Leader, just doing this, it’s not enough to pose a threat to Zihe Palace, is it?" the woman in the tight outfit was puzzled.

"Of course, it’s not enough. But... this time, the two Spirit Disaster gates were fortified with extra ingredients, after much effort to collect them. Additionally, this area was their Black Disaster containment site decades ago," the long-haired woman smiled.

"So look, isn’t that why... the big one is coming right now..."

The tight-clothed woman looked towards the Yin Qi Sky Pillar that had just unfurled; within the column, a colossal dragon-headed human, larger than usual, slowly emerged atop white clouds from the pillar.

"Mortals... Bow down!!"

The immense, overlapping waves of sound, along with massive spiritual fluctuations, exploded and spread out from the center of the tremendous dragon-headed figure like raging waves.

"Wow... what kind of monster is this... It looks very strong..." The long-haired woman clicked her tongue in admiration a few times, "Zihe Palace now has something to deal with."

At that moment, the second Yin Qi Sky Pillar also began to form the shadow of a gigantic entity tens of meters tall.

It was unclear what enormous creature was about to emerge.

The two women did not linger, quickly leaving the area and disappearing into the distant forests.

Leaving Zihe Palace, where alarms were sounding, a large group of Magicians swiftly approached.

Foremost among them was none other than the Palace Master Yu Qin, holding the Sky Stabilizing Plate.

*

*

*

End of February.

Taozhou City experienced several dozen malicious terrorist attacks.

However, with the joint enforcement by Qingchen Temple and the local police, the situation quickly stabilized.

Later investigations found that these were young people excessively fatigued and severely sleep-deprived, suddenly unable to distinguish dreams from reality, leading to spontaneous mental illness and indiscriminate attacks on strangers.

But just two days after the announcement was made.

The explosion of a chemical plant in the suburbs in the middle of the night, as if a signal, thoroughly unleashed the prelude to the Spirit Disaster.

Boom!!

In the dead of night.

Yu Hong stood on the top floor of the Taoist Temple, looking towards the direction of the chemical plant that had just experienced a secondary explosion.

The fire, accompanied by thick smoke, billowed up into the sky, almost illuminating half of the night sky.

The thick smoke spread, seemingly starting to shroud the entire city in a faint haze.

"Temple Master... what... what exactly happened!?"

Cheng Shu and the others stood behind him, similarly gazing at the fiery explosion, their expressions haggard.

These past few days, none of them had rested well, all worried about the changes in the outside environment.

But they were powerless.

Even Yu Hong at this moment, could not stop the invisible force of contamination.

"Has everyone been notified?" Yu Hong asked.

"Yes, they’re all in place," Red Snake quickly replied.

"Are we certain this is unrelated to the Seven Evil Alliance?" Yu Hong asked again.

"We’re certain. If the magicians of the Seven Evil Alliance entered Taizhou, we would definitely notice. Right now, all of Taizhou is our people," Headless Sword said with a dry voice.

"But, Alliance Hierarch, when can this disaster be contained? I’ve noticed that ordinary people on the outer ring of the Spirit Station have started to act strangely. That’s a population of hundreds of thousands. If something goes wrong... the consequences are unimaginable!"

Yu Hong sighed.

"I have already submitted a request to the Ancestor Court of the Taoist Sect, rest assured, nothing will happen."

He was actually very anxious, the request had been sent out a long time ago, and the phone call should have been quick.

But... so many days have passed, and there has been no response.

He did not know the reason, but it was highly likely related to the Seven Evil Alliance.

A great disaster is coming, yet these magicians still have the leisure to fight each other, it’s just...

Yu Hong didn’t know what to say.

"From the current statistics, the outbreak of the Spirit Disaster mainly encompasses several aspects. First, biological mutations. Second, air pollution. Third, contamination of the soil and waterways."

"These three aspects cause different ranges of impact, especially the air, spreading extremely fast and posing a great danger to ordinary people. Our three types of talismans are ineffective against it, we can only deal with the completely mutated people afterward."

"Temple Master, I’ve made contact, not just our Taizhou, but all surrounding areas have similar outbreaks. A certain number of ordinary people in the crowds suddenly show drastic personality changes, causing terror attacks," Red Snake explained. "The officials are overwhelmed, severely understaffed, and have already called us back to help."

Thud.

The door to the top floor was pushed open.

Yu Mo and the other senior Taoists also came in. Accompanying them was Yu Shan and Yu Guang, who had only just been persuaded to return by Zheng Ying.

As soon as these three senior Taoists returned, they faced the explosion at the chemical plant, and on top of that, the chaotic scenes they had seen on the streets, with blood everywhere, attackers acting like madmen.

The three old men were scared senseless.

"The three of you, do you see now? If you choose to live in seclusion, how would you deal with such a situation in the future?" Yu Hong turned to look at the three men, sighing.

"..." Both Yu Shan and Yu Guang were silent.

They had originally thought the situation was not as bad as Zheng Ying had said, but reality appears to be much worse!

If they were still living in the wilderness before, once injured, they would undoubtedly run out of medical supplies.

On the other side, Master Yu Hen also wore a grave expression, ignoring the inner turmoil of the three men.

"I had intended to contact Zihe Palace for assistance, but... they’re unreachable now!"

Yu Hong fell silent for a moment, suspecting in his heart that something major had happened on the Taoist Sect’s side. Otherwise, they wouldn’t even return a phone call.

"Where are the documents I organized before?"

"Here," Fu Bai, the young Taoist, came from behind, carrying a stack of freshly printed pages.

"One for each person," Yu Hong gestured for her to distribute them.

Yu Shan glanced at the people around him, took one of the sheets, and focused on it.

Neat handwriting stated on it.

’Spirit Disaster — Overview.’

"This is the information I’ve collected and personally investigated about the Spirit Disaster and the Black Disaster. You may take a look," Yu Hong said.

He was very clear about the Black Disaster, but the Spirit Disaster was different. It needed to be verified from scratch.

Now it was the end of February, and in just over a week, the enhancement of the Black Mark medicine would be complete. Once he took the medicine and practiced cultivation, he might be able to advance further. This would give him more of a grasp on the Spirit Disaster.

In the face of an unknown disaster, he believed that any possible preparation was necessary.

Because no one knew how powerful the Spirit Disaster could be or when it would end.

So what he needed now was to mobilize everyone’s strength as much as possible to make it clear what they were facing. Not to blindly rush in and die. And to be able to exert force and stabilize the situation when needed.

Yu Shan didn’t speak out, but in his heart, he started to appreciate Yu Hong’s efforts.

He continued reading.

’I’ve classified the Spirit Disaster into several levels based on the approximate range of spiritual fluctuation values and the distinct states after an outbreak.’

’One: Ghost Body.’

’The most basic unit of the Spirit Disaster, according to statistical data, it is believed that they lack cognitive ability and only repeat actions along fixed rule trajectories. Such a Spirit Disaster usually has only one rule of killing. If you carefully figure it out, even ordinary people can have a chance to escape it.’

’Two: Yin Spirits.’

’Yin Spirits are one level higher than Ghost Bodies, starting to initially show patterned killing rules. For example, the Tree Bark Grandmother whom Zheng Ming encountered before is such, using two or more rules to achieve her purpose of killing and consuming spirits. The rules woven by Yin Spirits are stronger, more numerous, and harder to find loopholes in. They pose a great danger because you never know when you might trigger its killing rule.’