Above the Great Dao

Chapter 1262 592: Mahāsthāmaprāpta's Mud Body

The immortals of the Fire Camp walked through Feng'an County, with General Zhang Xian having his Primordial Spirit fly above his head. He grabbed the Exorcism Banner and shook it vigorously, causing it to expand, turning instantly into a gigantic banner a thousand feet long.

Zhang Xian carefully sensed the Exorcism Banner and said in a deep voice, "I can activate this banner to cover a hundred miles. Each team should operate within this range, searching every corner of Feng'an County. Be thorough and don't overlook any clue."

A group of immortals scattered in all directions, searching the surroundings under the protection of the Exorcism Banner.

They frequently looked back, calculating their distance from the Exorcism Banner to avoid straying too far.

Zhang Xian, resting his Primordial Spirit on the banner, walked towards the temple of Bodhisattva Great Power.

Chen Shi was without a team, a lone soldier in the Fire Camp. He did not follow the others, nor did he follow Zhang Xian.

Zhong Lin was by his side, while Chen Shi was engrossed in the sacrificial refinement of the two strands of Sword Qi within the Purple Heaven Gourd. Zhong Lin was scanning the surroundings.

Black Pot was a captain of one of the teams, leading his subordinates, the Heavenly Soldiers, in a plum blossom formation, searching Zhang Xian's left flank.

"Black!" suddenly Bai Fangfang discovered something and whispered.

Black Pot followed the sound and rushed forward, arriving at a small town. Several immortals were already gathered before the town, each frowning as they looked at it.

Black Pot looked into the town and saw the streets were covered with mud, presumably after a recent rain, which made it very slippery.

Black Pot frowned and carefully entered the town, avoiding stepping on the mud.

The others also silently followed, stepping on Immortal Light without making any noise.

Black Pot squatted down, seeing an outline of an arm in the mud, though indistinct. The arm was soaked by rainwater, soft and on the verge of disintegrating.

It moved forward, encountering a face of a mud person.

This person seemed still alive, with others pressed atop, bodies adhered together, hard to separate. Only the face was exposed, half submerged in muddy water, breathing with bubbling sounds.

"Help me," he uttered a faint plea, one eye rolling, the other already dissolved by muddy water.

Black Pot sighed, shaking its head.

It was beyond help.

Even if the source of the Great Dao Contamination was resolved, this person could not be saved.

Turning into a mud person would still cling to life, but upon returning to human form, injuries would erupt, leading to demise.

Nearby was a household with several mud people sitting on the doorstep, staring blankly at them like carved wood, motionless.

Rain soaked their legs and clothes softened.

They dared not move, fearing their legs would crumble under their weight before drying.

Black Pot and others continued forward, witnessing more townsfolk, some hiding inside, peeking out secretly, others falling in the rain, body breaking into several pieces, yet alive, crawling with effort.

Some with half a face remaining, blinked their eyes, seemingly pleading for help.

They saw more mud people missing limbs, standing under eaves, eyes lifeless, watching them.

"Is this the Great Dao Contamination?"

Bai Fangfang felt suffocated, inexplicably furious, angrily exclaimed, "What caused all this?"

Black Pot's anger subsided to calmness, having seen similar situations before, knowing how to restrain its emotions.

However, the tragedy of West Bull New Continent was caused by the Heavenly Venerate and Primordial Worm. Who caused Feng'an County's plight?

Other Fire Camp teams made their discoveries as well. Throughout Feng'an County, all, whether human or beast, turned into mud life, none spared.

Chen Shi and Zhong Lin walked along, witnessing similar scenes, faces growing grim.

They reached outside a city, seeing mud people pulling carts from afar, loaded with deformed mud people, lifeless. The mud people cautiously stopped by a large pit, dumping the lifeless mud people inside.

The pit teemed with countless mud corpses.

Zhong Lin gritted his teeth, remaining silent.

They entered the city, which had rained recently. Surviving mud people were shoveling mud-encased people into carts.

Zhong Lin watched silently for a moment, squeezing a phrase from his throat.

"Heavenly Dao—"

Chen Shi suddenly remarked, "Where did the rain come from?"

Zhong Lin paused, looking puzzled at him.

Chen Shi gazed up at the sky, speaking in a deep voice, "The entire Feng'an County is sealed off by soldiers of the Thunder Department. If I were a master of the Thunder Department, the first thing would be to cut off rainfall here, so as not to make the mud people die from soaking. Yet, it rained here."

Zhong Lin's mind stirred, responding, "You're suggesting the rainfall in Feng'an County was induced by someone's Divine Skills?"

Chen Shi nodded slightly, "The people here have turned into mud people, the Great Dao polluted. Who can wield Divine Skills to induce rain?"

Zhong Lin's eyes lit up, "The one using Divine Skills to induce rain is likely the same person causing the Great Dao Contamination!"

Chen Shi looked around and flew to an Immortal Mountain in the sky. Zhong Lin followed him, and they arrived before a mountain gate. It belonged to an Immortal Sect, inscribed with the characters for Cangxia Sect.

Inside Cangxia Sect were mud people, terrified at their arrival, hastily avoiding them.

"Friends, we are Heavenly Soldiers from the Heavenly Court, ordered to investigate this matter," Zhong Lin quickly announced.

"Ah, friends from the Heavenly Court,"

The Sect Master of Cangxia Sect was an elderly immortal, also turned into a mud person, bowing to them and said, "I am An Daozi, an un-initiated True Immortal. Please pardon us. Having turned into mud people ourselves now, we can barely protect ourselves, so we are inevitably afraid when meeting outsiders."