One more catty, one more attribute point

Everything happened in a flash, and Su Heng's reaction could not be called slow.

But he was ultimately still a step behind.

A few white fungus spores were carried away by the wind, spreading outward, and finally some landed on the bodies of Su Li and Su Shang.

"Su Li—"

Whoosh!

Su Heng's figure flashed, appearing beside Su Li.

He reached out to grab Su Li's arm, which was breaking out in tiny red spots.

"I—" Su Li's eyes widened as she felt an intense itching sensation rising quickly from her arm, as if something was rooting and sprouting in her flesh.

"This is the demon's ability!" Her eyebrows furrowed tightly, quickly realizing what had just happened.

The force cultivated from the Green Wood Longevity Technique was infused into her left arm, casting a faint green glow over it.

Yet with her cultivation in the Bone Forging Realm,

the force could not completely eradicate it, only temporarily suppress the infection.

Hiss!

Su Heng injected some Fire Poison into Su Li's arm.

The scorching force swept through, and Su Li felt as though she was being gripped by red-hot iron tongs, a surge of excruciating pain following.

Su Li clenched her teeth tightly, not crying out in pain.

"It should be alright now." Su Heng released his sister's arm, his expression serious.

The wrist that Su Heng had held was red and even showed clear signs of burns, but Su Li paid it no mind.

"Little Shang."

She half-knelt on the ground, seeing that Su Shang's consciousness was already becoming hazy.

Tiny red spots had started appearing on Su Shang's neck, and he subconsciously reached to scratch, but Su Li grasped his hand.

"What do we do?" Su Li looked up, locking eyes with Su Heng.

"I don't know…" Su Heng's expression was grave, "His constitution is too weak, I can't use force to help him detoxify."

"I, I should be able to suppress it temporarily," Su Li said, "But this is not a long-term solution. If we could deal with that monster, perhaps it would bring a turnaround."

Little Green appeared silently beside Su Li.

He pulled out several silver needles from his embrace and handed them to Su Li; these needles were crafted with special materials that could integrate a martial artist's force.

The tips of the needles shimmered with a faint green light as they were inserted into the neck, but no blood seeped out.

"It's so itchy..."

Su Shang's eyes fluttered open, looking at the deeply concerned Su Heng, "Big sister, second brother, did I cause trouble again?"

Su Shang's voice was weak, tinged with a hint of apology.

"This isn't your fault. Get some good sleep," Su Heng comforted in a soft voice, "When you wake up, everything will get better."

Su Li gently patted the back of Su Shang's head, and he leaned onto her shoulder and fell into a heavy sleep.

Su Gui's face was marked with expressions of shock and fear.

A perfectly alive person had just violently torn out their own heart.

If it weren't for the recent incident with the water ghost that had raised Su Gui's threshold for shock, this scene alone could have scared a heart condition out of him.

He had been too scared to make a sound until now.

Because Su Heng looked so stern, such occurrences were rare since he began practicing martial arts.

"What happened, what on earth is going on?" Su Gui pointed to the fainted Su Shang, then gestured toward the Protector who had burned into a mummy. His expression had surpassed shock, filled more with a numb sense of helplessness.

"A demon has infiltrated Changqing County... the current situation is very dangerous." Su Heng spoke softly, "No one should leave the house, and moreover, we need to screen the people inside the estate once more, to avoid a repeat of what just occurred."

"Another demon... What on earth is happening to this world?"

Su Gui looked at the dense gray-white, almost gelatinous strange fog outside the courtyard wall and couldn't help but ask again, "Compared to the previous water ghost, how does this one fare? Between these two, which one is more dangerous?"

"This demon is at least ten times more dangerous than the water ghost," Su Heng added. "At least ten times."

Su Gui shivered.

*

*

*

Su Li checked everyone in the mansion.

Fortunately,

There hadn't been another incident like the one with the Protector, and the rest weren't infected with mycelium.

"What about water and food, are these supplies enough?" In the small courtyard, the bonfire crackled as it burned, Su Heng sat on a stool with great presence, casually throwing split firewood into the flames.

It was only noon now.

Under normal circumstances, it would be the brightest and warmest time of the day.

But with the eerie fog enveloping the city, it was pitch black outside, and even the sunlight was mostly filtered out. The courtyard was gloomy, so they had to ignite the bonfire, using the red and warm light of the fire to gradually dispel the despair and fear in everyone's hearts.

Su Heng sat alone in the middle of the crowd.

His towering body and stern face were illuminated by the dark red firelight.

To his left stood Su Li and Xiao Qing, to his right were Su Gui and Zhao Hu, the leader of the Protectors, and beyond them were a dozen or so trusted members of the Su Family.

The more chaotic and dangerous the situation,

the firmer Su Heng needed to appear, to bring a sense of safety and prevent unnecessary chaos.

"Because we just took a shipment from town that hasn't been transported to the shop yet, we're fairly well-stocked with food," said a middle-aged scholar in a long robe and a black soft hat, his voice trembling. "As for water, we can draw from the well, so we're not lacking there either."

"Roughly how many days can we hold out?"

"If we don't include the young master, we can last a month without a problem," the accountant answered.

'The way you put it makes me sound like a glutton,' Su Heng sighed, waving his hand, "I understand, don't worry about me."

"And you..." Su Heng's gaze turned toward Su Li and Xiao Qing, "Can your formation last?"

"It can."

Su Li nodded, then added. "But we need to send people on patrol to prevent anyone from climbing over the walls from the outside."

"I, Zhao Hu, will take care of that, young master, you can rest assured!" Zhao Hu, on the other side, patted his chest and said heartily.

"People from outside might bring disease, so you should avoid direct contact."

Su Heng looked at his father, Su Gui, "We should have a cache of crossbow arrows and long spears stored away; just take them out and use them."

No matter the dynasty, hoarding military weapons was a serious crime.

But now with demons everywhere and the world in chaos, these concerns were no longer relevant.

"Yeah," Su Gui nodded stiffly, his character rather honest. Those weapons had once been his biggest secret.

But as the Su Family grew their fortune through trade, traveling merchants couldn't do without these weapons.

Su Gui had once been extremely anxious about this, losing sleep day and night. He never expected that when they would actually come in handy, it would be under such circumstances.

"It's really unpredictable, truly unpredictable," Su Gui sighed, "Zhao Hu, later take some men with you and help me retrieve these items from the warehouse."

"Sure thing!" Zhao Hu grinned, showing his fearless disposition.

"What about you?" Su Li looked at Su Heng with earnest eyes, "Do you have any plans?"

"Give me the Demon-Seeking Plate," Su Heng said, "I'm going out again to see if I can find the true body of this demon."

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