Chapter 114: A Stranger Appears in the Southern Wilderness

Bai Mu gazed at the garden’s trickling stream, muttering with a knowing look, "It’s decent enough, an ancestral home."

The elder swept a glance over Bai Mu and smiled faintly. "My ancestors were the leaders of this Fuxi Village, a position I have inherited. That is why, seeing you enter the village so abruptly today, I dared to come out to meet you."

"I see..."

Bai Mu looked again at the villagers gathered in the pavilion. What he saw were mostly emaciated elders, women, and children; the few young people among them also bore a sickly pallor.

Observing this, Bai Mu asked with surprise, "Chief, why does everyone in your village look as if they are suffering from an illness? And that desiccated corpse I saw today—it seems they were afflicted by poison-gu, were they not?"

"Indeed, it is poison-gu."

The chief’s expression shifted. He sighed to himself, marveling that such a young man possessed such sharp insight—he could not be an ordinary cultivator. He quickly flattered, "Immortal Master, you truly have a first-rate eye."

"To tell you the truth, the two villains outside the village cannot enter to harm us because they do not understand the Bagua Maze Formation. However, they have not given up their evil intent. They have poisoned the water source in the mountains behind us and cast a layer of eerie fog around the village to prevent us from migrating in large numbers."

"At first, the clansmen did not know the water was tainted and drank from it as usual. A few days later, those in weaker health became gaunt, their vitality drained away rapidly, and they eventually turned into withered husks."

"Later, after a village shaman skilled in the healing arts examined them, it was discovered that all the village water had been infused with a strange, frigid, and malevolent poison-gu known as the 'Ice Silkworm Heaven-End Poison'."

"Once this poison enters the human body, it absorbs the bloodline to hatch small gu-insects, which then feed on the body's life force and essence. That is why the victims grow thinner by the day, until the insects have devoured everything within, leaving only a hollow shell—the desiccated corpse you saw in the woods outside the village today."

"Tsk, tsk..."

Hearing the chief’s explanation, Bai Mu felt a wave of nausea, and his body shivered slightly. Although the mysterious entity within his Void Cauldron had mentioned on his way to the Southern Wilderness that poison-gu was rampant there, experiencing it firsthand brought a truly bone-chilling dread.

"Chief, is there any cure for this Ice Silkworm Heaven-End Poison?"

"Also, how many people in the village have been afflicted?"

"Alas..." The chief shook his head in helpless sorrow. "There is no cure for this poison. Anyone who has been eroded by it will surely die within forty-nine days!"

"Currently, only a handful of people in the village remain unpoisoned. If we do not drive those two villains away, I fear we will not last long before we perish from lack of water and food!"

After speaking, he looked at Bai Mu with eyes full of despair—a lifeless, turbid gaze that struck at the very core of Bai Mu’s heart.

Watching the helpless old man, Bai Mu could only offer a meager comfort. "Chief, please rest assured. Since I have encountered this matter, I will see it through to the end."

"Regardless of who these people besieging your village may be, I intend to meet them tonight."

As he spoke, he untied the water skin from his waist and handed it to the chief. He smiled faintly, "This is spring water I collected from a mountainside far from the village; it should be untainted. I see your lips are cracked, why not have some water first?"

"This..." The elder hesitated as he looked at Bai Mu, swallowing his parched saliva. With a hopeful look, he said, "You truly are the Immortal Master sent by the heavens to save our Fuxi Village!"

Trembling, he took the water skin and hurried toward the small pavilion to share the fresh water with the villagers.

Afterward, the chief arranged a room for Bai Mu to rest and gather his strength for the battle that night. Because the villagers knew little about the origins of the two villains, Bai Mu had to be fully prepared to strike decisively; he had no time to waste here, as more urgent matters awaited him elsewhere.

Sitting in the quiet, simple room, Bai Mu stilled his restless heart. He silently circulated his "Superior Virtue Like Water" technique, suppressing the sword energy within his Void Cauldron to prevent it from flaring up and ruining his plans during the night’s engagement.

After circulating his internal energy through several cycles until the fatigue of the day’s journey had vanished, Bai Mu opened his eyes and stepped out of the room.

The sun had long since set, and a twilight gloom draped over Fuxi Village, which sat at the border of the Eastern and Southern Wildernesses. The stars themselves seemed dim.

The village chief had been waiting outside Bai Mu’s door, though he had been too respectful to disturb his rest. Seeing him emerge, looking refreshed and spirited, the chief stepped forward joyfully, "I see the Immortal Master is radiant, with a subtle glow about you. You must have rested well!"

"Mm." Bai Mu responded casually, then asked, "Have those two villains arrived yet?"

"Not yet..."

"Report!" A deep, gruff voice cut off the chief. From the tone, it sounded quite urgent.

Bai Mu and the chief exchanged a look and walked together toward the courtyard entrance. After opening the massive wooden doors, a burly man rushed in.

"Chief, it is dire! Those two villains are calling for a fight at the main village gate again!" the man warned, drenched in sweat.

"Very well, I understand. You may go," the chief replied rationally, then turned to Bai Mu and said calmly, "The villains have arrived. How does the Immortal Master intend to meet them?"

Bai Mu found it hard not to chuckle at being repeatedly addressed as "Immortal Master." However, knowing this was not the time to quibble over such trifles, he shrugged and said solemnly, "I will go meet them first. You take the villagers and hide within the village; do not come out. Once I have dealt with them, I will return."

"Do you not need any help?" the chief asked with uncertainty. "I do not know the origins of those villains, but judging by the silent and invisible way they employ their poison-gu, they are likely practitioners of the Southern Wilderness Evil Tribes. The Immortal Master must not underestimate them!"

"I understand!" Bai Mu nodded, and guided by the chief, he headed toward the east side of the village.

After walking about three hundred meters, the faint glow of firelight appeared at the end of a dim street, with shadows occasionally flitting across it. The scene looked rather eerie.