This was obviously wrong. Because the first person who rushed onto Shenwu Street was a strong man, so it was untenable.

Xie Lian thought of many possibilities and verified many of them. In every aspect, there was no obvious difference between them and the others. Among all the infected people, their appearance, physique, even identity and personality were all varied, and there was no fixed pattern. Could it be that who was infected and who was not was really just a matter of luck?

Xie Lian muttered to himself, “What on earth did the soldiers do to prevent the spread of the human-faced plague? In other words, what was it that the civilians did less and the soldiers did more…”

At this point, his eyes suddenly widened and his face turned pale. Hearing his voice suddenly stop, Feng Xin said: "What's wrong, Your Highness? What did you think of?"

Xie Lian had indeed thought of something. He had come up with a reasonable guess, but at the same time, it was also a terrifying guess.

He stood up suddenly and blurted out, "No! No, no, it shouldn't be like this. There's no way this could happen."

Feng Xin and Mu Qing also stood up at once and asked, "What's the matter?"

Xie Lian covered his forehead, walked back and forth a few steps, raised his hand and said, “Wait a minute, I have a ridiculous guess. It probably isn’t true, but I need to test it out.”

Mu Qing asked: "What kind of guess is that? How do you want to test it? Do you want me to find someone to try it for you?"

Xie Lian immediately rejected it: "No, we can't use a living person to test it. What if I guess wrong?" It's better to say that he hoped that he was wrong, very wrong. Mu Qing frowned and said: "Your Highness, if you want to know whether your guess is right, you must use a living person to test it. This is the best way. There is no point in worrying about it."

Feng Xin also frowned: "Don't you see he's annoyed? Don't say such things at this moment."

Mu Qing turned around and said, "Strange, what did I say? Didn't I tell the truth? At this point, what's the point of hesitating and tangling?"

Feng Xin said in disgust: "Do you have to use whether or not everything is useful? That's a living person, you didn't hesitate at all, aren't you too calm?"

Mu Qing said: "Calm down? Are you trying to say that I am cold-blooded?"

Xie Lian no longer had the patience to gently mediate between the two of them as usual, and said, “You two can start arguing over a single sentence. How disgraceful! Stand here for one stick of incense. No one is allowed to move during that time. Old rules.”

“…”

“…”

When they heard the words "old rules", Feng Xin and Mu Qing's faces changed slightly. Xie Lian waved his hand and said, "May the Heavenly Official bless us. Let's begin."

After a while, Feng Xin gritted his teeth and said, "...May your luck shine upon me."

Mu Qing also gritted his teeth and said, "... Read from the script."

Feng Xin said with difficulty: "Ke...Ke..."

He was still racking his brains over how to respond when Xie Lian turned around and entered the Unforgettable Forest to question the three sick soldiers.

The so-called old rules were a way Xie Lian came up with to divert their attention. Feng Xin and Mu Qing would always say a few words to each other, starting with a small quarrel. At first, Xie Lian would ask them to stand in silence for an incense stick and not talk to each other until they calmed down, but the effect was minimal. So later, Xie Lian decided to change it to asking them to say idioms in a chain, with a winner and loser. In this way, they would not have time to dwell on the quarrel just now, but would rack their brains to say idioms in a chain and find ways to win the other party. After discovering this good idea, Xie Lian felt that the world was much more peaceful and was very satisfied. Now asking them to follow the old rules again was also a reluctant way to relax everyone.

However, this relief did not last long. After an incense stick of time, Xie Lian came back. His face was extremely bad, and he ordered: "Gather all the soldiers in the same camp who eat and live with the sick soldiers. I have something to ask them."

The two of them had been stuck several times, each with their own wins and losses, and finally they didn't have to continue the chain, and they all breathed a sigh of relief. Mu Qing said, "That's fine. But this roundabout way of verifying may not guarantee a completely accurate result."

Feng Xin turned around to carry out his instructions, but Xie Lian said, “Wait! It’s already late at night. It would be too much of a fuss to ask now, and we can’t gather too many people at once to attract attention. If I want to ask, I can’t let any word leak out, or I won’t be able to keep it secret.”

Feng Xin turned around and asked, "What should we do? Bring them to you one by one and ask them in private?"

Xie Lian said, “That’s the only way. Tomorrow, bring the soldiers who were close to those people to my room one by one. Don’t let them know that they have been questioned. Remember to order them not to tell anyone else. Otherwise…”

He took a breath and sighed, "Forget it, just threaten me. Just say that if this gets out, I will kill you without mercy. The more ruthless, the better."

Mu Qing said: "If we ask them one by one, how long will it take?"

Xie Lian said, “No matter how long it takes, I have to ask. The more I ask, the more certain I am. This matter… I must get to the bottom of it. There can’t be any mistakes.”

So, the next day, Xie Lian sat in a room temporarily allocated for him on the city wall and personally questioned more than 300 soldiers.

In response to his questions, the three hundred people all gave the same answer. With each question, Xie Lian's face darkened. After finishing, Feng Xin and Mu Qing walked into the house and saw Xie Lian sitting at the table, holding his forehead with one hand, not speaking for a long time before he slowly said, "You guys guard the city gate, I'm going to Taicang Mountain."

Feng Xin hesitated and said, "Your Highness, have you found out what you asked? Is it a curse or...?"

Xie Lian nodded and said, “I found out after asking, it’s a curse.”

Mu Qing said solemnly: "Are you sure?"

Xie Lian said, “I am certain of it. I also know what kind of people will be infected and what kind of people will not.”

Although he said so, his face did not show the joy of finally solving the mystery, Feng Xin and Mu Qing felt that things were not that simple. But since Xie Lian did not take the initiative to say anything, as subordinates, they naturally did not ask more questions, and their hearts sank.

Tai Cang Mountain, Huangji Temple, the highest peak, Shenwu Hall. The Imperial Master was burning incense in the curling clouds. Xie Lian walked into the hall and said straight to the point: "Imperial Master, I want to see the Emperor."

After offering incense, the Imperial Master turned around and said, "Your Highness, the gate to heaven is no longer open to you."

Xie Lian said, “I know. But right now, I have found out that Xianle Country is suffering from an unprecedented curse. This is not a natural disaster, but something inhuman is causing trouble. Please lend me a hand and ask the Emperor to descend and possess me, and tell him the news directly. Maybe he will know what caused all this, and maybe he can find a way out.”

Since he returned to the human world, he has come to the Shenwu Palace to report three times. However, the first two times he did not intend to ask for help, but just went through the motions. Only this time, he really wanted to seek help. The Imperial Master sat on the chair and said, "It's not that I don't want to help you, Your Highness, but there is no need for it. Even if I help you, the Emperor's spirit will descend and attach to my body. If you talk to him, the answer you get will only disappoint you."

Xie Lian’s face slightly changed, and he said, “Do you know something? What is that person in white with the crying and laughing mask? Do you know?”

The Imperial Master said, "Your Highness, do you remember what I told you? The fortunes of this world, good or bad, are all predetermined."

Xie Lian was stunned and immediately kept silent. The Imperial Master continued, “Originally, many people in Yong’an were about to die. You brought water to bring rain, giving them a break, but you couldn’t completely save them from the drought and secure their future. So now, they are in the Yong’an Army at Beizipo, trying to earn a future for themselves.

"Originally, the Imperial City had already fallen into decline, but you personally came down to earth and turned the situation around with your own strength, giving the Imperial City a break. However, you did not resolutely kill all the rebels and civilians in Yong'an, but instead allowed them to survive until today, and they are like a group of cockroaches that are getting stronger with each fight."

The Imperial Master asked curiously, "Your Highness, can I ask you what you are doing? Are you still waiting for both sides to repent, reform, and reconcile and return to one country?"

Xie Lian inexplicably felt a surge of shame in his heart. However, it soon turned into confusion, and he thought, "How strange. Whether I saved people or protected people, it was because those people were innocent civilians and did not deserve to die. Everything I did was clearly a choice I made after careful consideration and struggle. Why does it sound so ridiculous when others talk about it? Why does it sound like I haven't accomplished anything, such a failure?"

As soon as this word popped up in my mind, he immediately crossed it out with thick ink. The national teacher continued: "You interfered with the affairs of the human world with the body of a god. The destiny of Xianle Kingdom was turned upside down and messed up by you. In order to achieve balance, something else will naturally be born to bring back the track that you have deviated. I don't know what that thing is, but I can be sure that it was born for you."

“…”

Xie Lian's figure swayed. The Imperial Master continued, "I can also be sure that if the Emperor of God and Martial Arts saw you, he would definitely tell you the same thing, because that is why he did not let you come down in the first place. But I think that even if he told you at that time, you would probably still come down. Teenagers are like this. If they don't listen to advice and don't fall down, they won't believe that they can't walk."

Xie Lian said in disbelief, “You mean, I was the cause of this human-faced plague? So according to the so-called theory of destiny, whatever that thing that neither cries nor laughs does is what I deserve? So, the Heavenly Court won’t care about this matter at all?”

The Imperial Master said, "You can say that, or you can say otherwise. After all, if you really want to calculate it this way, you can still blame your father and mother, because if they hadn't given birth to you, you wouldn't have ascended to heaven, and you wouldn't have come down to earth; and so on, you can blame your ancestors of Xianle. Therefore, it is meaningless to discuss who created the cause.

"As for your last question, yes, it won't. Because the fall of Xianle was inevitable. Since you stretched out your hand to disrupt the chess game, then there must be another hand to put the chess pieces you disrupted back to their original positions."

Xie Lian took a deep breath. He didn’t want to discuss with him whether Xianle’s demise was inevitable. He closed his eyes for a moment and said, “Then I would like to ask you, Imperial Master, if I disappear now, will this thing disappear with me?”

The Imperial Master said, "I'm afraid not. It's easier to invite gods than to send them away. There's no difference between demons and ghosts."

Xie Lian nodded and said stiffly, “Okay. Thank you for your guidance, Imperial Master.”

He knew that it was useless to say more, and that he could only rely on himself. He bowed to the Imperial Master, said goodbye, and prepared to leave. The Imperial Master said from behind him: "Your Highness! What are your plans for the future?"

Xie Lian lowered his head and said, “Since it won’t help if I disappear now, then I will fight it to the end. This is my only way.”

After a pause, he raised his head again and said word by word: "I don't care whether it is a hand or something else, but the people I protect will definitely not be its pawns."

Half a month later, Lang Ying led the Yong'an Army to attack again.

After months of countless battles, the Yong'an Army can finally be called an army. They are no longer a group of bandits, but a regular and powerful army!

Lang Ying seemed to have disappeared from the face of the earth for a long time. This time, Xie Lian saw this man again on the battlefield. He had been waiting for a long time. He flew over the crowd, rushed forward, slashed with his sword, and shouted, "Where is the man in white?"

Lang Ying blocked his sword, but did not answer and fought back seriously. Xie Lian pressed on, saying, "You know who I'm talking about. My patience is limited!"

Suddenly, Lang Ying stared at him and said, "Your Highness, didn't you say that it would continue to rain in Yong'an?"

Xie Lian had not expected him to ask such a question. His heart trembled and he was at a loss for words: “I…”

He did promise Lang Ying that it would rain in Yong'an. However, during this period, the number of people infected with the human-faced plague in the imperial city has doubled, and now there are nearly 500 people. These 500 people are crowded in the Buyou Forest. The quarantine area is about to be insufficient, and the officials are discussing moving to a farther and larger place. Most of Xie Lian's magic power is used to alleviate the illness of more than 500 people, and there is no way to go to Yong'an to bring rain. Since he can't use the Rain Master's Hat, he is embarrassed to keep someone else's magic weapon in his hand. In desperation, he sent Feng Xin to the Rain Master Kingdom to return the Rain Master's Hat to the Rain Master and thank him.

Xie Lian thrust out his sword and angrily said, “I was the one who made the rain stop. Why did you stop? Don’t you know that?!”

The angrier he got, the calmer Lang Ying became. "It's none of my business. I only know that even without this human-faced plague, your magic power wouldn't last long; just like even with your rain, Yong'an wouldn't have saved many lives. It's all in vain. Your Highness, why do you think you can do whatever you want? Instead of leaving my fate to you, I choose to leave it to myself."

I don’t know which sentence stung me, but Xie Lian suddenly felt murderous.

He turned the sword slightly and raised his left palm secretly. A voice in his heart shouted: Kill this man, and the remaining soldiers in Yong'an will be nothing to be afraid of!

This was the first time since they met that he was truly determined to kill Lang Ying. Unexpectedly, he sent out a palm strike, hitting Lang Ying's chest, causing him to spit out blood, but the palm strike did not penetrate his heart, but instead was knocked away.

Shocked, Xie Lian couldn’t believe it. He took a few steps back and asked, “You?!”

Xie Lian knew exactly what had shaken him away.

There are powerful people in the world, such as kings, geniuses, and righteous men. Whenever they encounter a critical moment, they will naturally produce a protective aura to protect the person from harm. Most of these people have the potential to ascend to heaven. Lang Ying is just a commoner, but he has also produced this kind of protective aura, and it is an extremely rare kind - the aura of a king!

Xie Lian didn’t dare to think about what this meant. Suddenly, he felt a chill in his chest. It was Lang Ying’s sword that stabbed at him and pierced through his chest.

In this battle, neither side had a clear winner.

The Yongan faction that came to attack still lost many people, but this time the situation on the side of Xianle Imperial City was not much better. If it were someone else, it could actually be said to be a tragic victory, but for Xie Lian, this was definitely a defeat.

This was his first defeat, and although Lang Ying still lost to Xie Lian and was injured and evacuated, many people saw the scene where Lang Ying stabbed him. Xie Lian could probably guess how many soldiers in the army were talking behind his back: Your Highness is a martial god, how could he be stabbed? Aren’t we soldiers of the gods? Why didn’t we win a great victory this time like in the past? However, he was no longer able to pay attention to these small voices, because Mu Qing told him that today, more than a hundred people with human face plague were sent to Buyou Forest.

In just one day, more than a hundred more!

Now, the first batch of patients with human face plague have become extremely ill. There is no part of their body that can be seen. They have to be covered with thick white cloth, otherwise it would be horrifying to look at them. However, through the white cloth, you can vaguely see the uneven things on the contours of the body.

Xie Lian went around to treat the wounds, and finally finished a round. Feng Xin pulled him aside and whispered, “Your Highness, what happened on the battlefield today? How did you get stabbed by that reckless man? You clearly hit him several times afterwards, why didn’t you kill him?”

Xie Lian didn't want to tell him that Lang Ying had a layer of kingly aura that even the priests couldn't offend, so he smiled bitterly. It wasn't that he didn't want to kill him, it was that he really couldn't. The magic power contained in his offensive was all dissipated by this layer of kingly aura, and was completely ineffective against Lang Ying. After he discovered this, he immediately switched to fighting with real swords and guns, fists and feet, but this Lang Ying was thick-skinned and tough, and could withstand a lot of beatings!

At this moment, someone in the distance suddenly howled, "Your Highness, save me!"

Xie Lian was just about to take the bowl of water that Feng Xin handed to him. He had just taken a sip when he heard a howl and choked. He didn’t even have time to catch his breath and rushed over. The one who was howling was the young man who brought him an umbrella that day. Because Xie Lian was especially gentle to him, the young man was especially diligent in shouting for help. The first part of this man’s body that had a human face was his knee. Xie Lian cast a spell to control it and prevent the spread of the plague. As a result, he only had a human face on his left leg. He was currently kicking that leg like crazy, almost dying. Xie Lian held him down and soothed him, “Don’t move! I’m coming!”

The young man was terrified and grabbed him, saying, "Your Highness! Your Highness, save me! I just felt an itch in my legs, as if some grass was pricking me, and then I, I looked down and saw those things... Their mouths were opening and closing, moving, moving! They were eating grass!!! They were alive!!!"

Xie Lian was immediately horrified. He looked down and saw, as expected, dozens of faces were densely packed on the young man’s left leg. Many of them had grass leaves in their mouths, and some were chewing them hungrily!

Many patients screamed, and the crowd was in turmoil. It was only because Feng Xin Muqing and the soldiers tried their best to suppress the riot that there was no riot. Xie Lian held the young man with one hand and asked the person next to him: "Can he still move his leg?"

The caretakers of Buyoulin were all fully armed, wrapped up tightly with bandages and cloaks, and it was hard to tell what they looked like. A worker nearby answered, and it sounded like a teenager, saying, "Your Highness, it can't be done! His leg is useless, and I don't know what has grown inside it. It's as heavy as lead, and it can't be dragged at all. And the virus has been climbing up, and it's about to crawl out of the leg and spread to the waist."

Xie Lian had already done his best to cast a spell to treat the wound, but the young man’s leg was already in a state of extreme disease, and he had almost lost all sensation. At this time, a doctor whispered, “Your Highness, in my opinion, the only method that has not been tried before is to cut off the part where the human face grew to see if it can stop the spread…”

This was the only solution Xie Lian could think of, so he said, “Then cut it for him!”

The young man hurriedly said, "No!" He was afraid that his limb would be amputated, but he didn't dare to hold his deformed leg. He said in extreme pain, "My leg is not useless! Maybe it can be healed... Your Highness! You... Don't you have any other way to save me?"

Xie Lian no longer wanted to answer questions like “I tried my best” or “I worked hard”. His vision went dark and he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t.”

It was the first time that His Royal Highness had said such a thing, and countless people present were extremely shocked. Some even lost control and shouted, "No? You are His Royal Highness, you are a god, how can you not have a solution? We have been waiting here for you to find a solution for so many days, how can you not have a solution?!"

The person who said this was immediately silenced by someone, but it was not Feng Xin and Mu Qing who stopped him. Mu Qing seemed to think that Xie Lian's words were too frank and failed to appease the crowd, so he frowned and said nothing, while Feng Xin shouted at a few patients who jumped particularly high from a distance. Xie Lian had been in a state of anxiety for the past few days, and his long sword had never been sheathed, hanging at his waist, with the blade closer to the leg. A "human face" felt the cold sword energy, suddenly stopped chewing, opened his mouth, and screamed.

This thing actually screamed!!!

Although the sound was weak, it was undoubtedly coming from this leg. The young man screamed and almost fainted. He hugged Xie Lian tightly and kept saying, "Your Highness, save me! Save me!" At the same time, three slightly sunken pits appeared near his waist on his leg. The doctor said in shock, "Your Highness, it's spreading, it's spreading! The plague is crawling out of the leg!"

No matter how much magic power he used, Xie Lian was ultimately unable to control the young man's illness. Seeing that these horrible things were about to spread throughout the young man's body, once they spread, they could never be contained. Was he just going to sit there and wait for death?

Xie Lian gritted his teeth and said, “Let me ask you one question. Do you want this leg or not? I can’t guarantee what will happen after you lose your leg. If you don’t want it, just nod your head and we’ll do it right away. If you want it, just don’t nod your head and we’ll see!”

The young man was panting heavily, his eyes were hollow with fear, and he almost lost his mind. He seemed to be nodding and shaking his head. The faces on his left leg began to scream one after another, as if welcoming the new "companion". In the babbling, one could even see their happy expressions and their tiny bright red tongues trembling. It was hard to imagine what the scene inside the young man's left leg was like. What kind of thing had become a hostel?

We can’t delay any longer! Xie Lian said to the doctor, “Intercept him.”

The doctor waved his hands and said, "Your Highness, please forgive me! I am not sure. I dare not operate here! No matter how hard you try, it won't work... Let's not take the risk!" He cursed himself for talking too much and being the first to get shot. He almost got into a terrible situation and fled back to the crowd without saying anything. The young man murmured, "Your Highness, save me, Your Highness, save me!" Xie Lian's mind was blank, and a desperate voice in his heart was also murmuring, "--Someone come save me...!"

There was a lot of noise all around, with people shouting all kinds of things. Those twisted little human faces were also huddled below and screaming. For a moment, Xie Lian felt like he was seeing hell.

He seemed to be staring at this hell, but also seemed to be staring at nothing. He was sweating profusely, with his eyes wide open and his arms raised.

The sword rose and fell, and blood gushed out.