My Martial Arts Level Never Drops

Chapter 205: Chapter 124: Consumable

Recalling the bustling scene from his last visit and comparing it to the current bleak desolation, Qin Fang’s emotions were complex.

But he quickly turned and left... because officials were approaching.

Taking the most direct route, Qin Fang soon saw a familiar courtyard.

His eyes lit up. Without bothering to knock, his figure blurred and he leaped into the courtyard.

”Who’s there?”

A steady voice called out from within the house.

”Master!”

Qin Fang’s eyes brightened. He recognized the voice at once and called out immediately.

The voice paused, then the door quickly opened, and his master appeared in the doorway.

”Qin Fang? What are you doing here?”

His master looked surprised.

But before Qin Fang could speak, he said, ”Come inside first. We’ll talk then.”

Qin Fang agreed and quickly entered the house.

”Little Fang! Thank goodness you’re alright, thank goodness...”

As soon as Qin Fang entered, his mistress grabbed his hands, anxiously looking him up and down to make sure he was unhurt.

Seeing that he was in one piece and uninjured, his mistress finally let out a long sigh of relief, murmuring to herself.

After reassuring his mistress with a few words, Qin Fang turned to his master.

”Sit first.”

His master’s brow was tightly furrowed as he gestured for Qin Fang to sit.

After Qin Fang sat, his master asked in a low voice, ”The city gates are under military control and martial law. How did you get in?”

”I climbed over the wall.”

Hearing Qin Fang’s words, his master was stunned for a moment.

Then he nodded...

’Well, my young apprentice is an Anjin expert now. A mere city wall certainly wouldn’t be able to stop him.’

Qin Fang then briefly explained what he had observed recently, and how he had noticed some ominous signs in Wanshui City, which made him worry that something had happened here, prompting him to rush back...

But he never expected...

At this point, his master’s expression also grew grim. He said in a low voice, ”The Government Office’s order to eradicate Ganlu Hall was issued very abruptly. Your senior brother was already a City Gate Guard at the time, but even he received no news.”

”I’m sure you saw the situation outside the city... Those people were suddenly ordered to be driven out five days ago.”

’Five days ago...’ Qin Fang’s thoughts raced. ’That’s about the same time I noticed the members of the Nanhe Gang starting to appear dazed and disoriented.’

”Master, what exactly is happening to those people?” Qin Fang asked instinctively, remembering that his master was a Physician.

His master replied with a heavy expression, ”I only noticed some problems after people started showing physical changes...”

The master began to explain.

He was, after all, the resident Physician at Huichun Hall. After Ganlu Hall was wiped out, many people who stopped taking the Qi Blood Pills began to experience various kinds of discomfort. A portion of them sought out his master for medical treatment.

And it was during this process that his master noticed the problem.

”The physical condition of these people is extremely strange. The Boiling Kettle Pulse, the Sparrow Pecking Pulse, the Leaky Roof Pulse, the Flicking Stone Pulse, the Unraveling Rope Pulse... Manifestations of the seven great death pulses have appeared in almost all of these people, who at the time still looked quite normal.”

Qin Fang was confused, so his master gave him a simple explanation of the so-called seven great death pulses.

These seven death pulses basically indicate that a certain function of the internal organs has decayed to an extreme degree—a sign that the person’s life is about to end.

For example, the Boiling Kettle Pulse. The pulse is superficial, scattered, and extremely rapid, like surging boiling water. It signifies extreme yang heat and the depletion of yin fluids... The external symptoms are high fever, agitation, dry mouth and throat, frequent sweating, and so on.

The Sparrow Pecking Pulse is rapid and irregular, stopping in fits and starts like a sparrow pecking at food... It indicates the failure of the heart meridian.

The Leaky Roof Pulse... signifies the failure of the spleen and stomach...

The Flicking Stone Pulse...

In any case, if even one of these seven death pulses appears, it almost always means the person is terminally ill and beyond any cure.

Under normal circumstances, it is absolutely impossible for the same person to exhibit all seven death pulses.

...But the patients who took the Qi Blood Pills were so strange that they exhibited all seven death pulses!

These pulses even appeared in a regular, cyclical pattern!

Frankly, his master wouldn’t have been surprised if they had dropped dead on the spot!

...And yet, somehow, they were still alive.

Other than their listless Spirits and emaciated bodies... they really didn’t look like they were about to die.

”Besides the death pulses, these people’s bodies have been completely hollowed out. Their Qi Blood is almost non-existent... Normally, they should have trouble even breathing. But they can still move about freely...”

Speaking of this, a trace of helplessness and wonder appeared in his master’s eyes. ”Those are undoubtedly Extraordinary methods. I... I don’t know how to describe or solve it.”

Hearing this, Qin Fang was also somewhat dazed.

Especially after hearing about the symptoms of the ’Boiling Kettle Pulse’... ’Isn’t that just a dry mouth and throat, needing to drink a lot of water, and feeling agitated?’

’So... does this mean that these people were already showing symptoms of a ’death pulse’ several months ago?’

’But because of the ’Qi Blood Pills,’ they managed to drag on until now...’

’And now, the ’Qi Blood Pills’ are gone.’

’Are they unable to suppress these signs any longer?’

Thinking of this, he suddenly recalled the small mountain village he passed through today and said in a low voice, ”Master, I think... I might know what their purpose is.”

”Oh?” His master’s gaze sharpened.

Qin Fang immediately told him about the village massacre by a Mysterious Power he had encountered, including the fact that the monster was feeding...

”...Blood food?”

The master was stunned, then he murmured, ”Their Qi Blood is almost non-existent. If it was all absorbed by something inside their bodies, then... that is indeed possible.”

”No wonder they aged so suddenly... I thought it was an illness, but now that I think about it, the Qi Blood they cultivated was clearly absorbed by something inside them. Their bodies, meanwhile, remained alive, forcing them to continue squeezing their potential to cultivate even more Qi Blood... a vicious cycle.”

”A normal person would have died long ago.”

”But with the support of that Extraordinary power, these people somehow managed to survive.”

”But their entire beings have also been squeezed until they are truly spent, like an oil lamp with no fuel left...”

”That’s what caused them to step into old age in an instant...”

”Becoming true...”

”Consumables.”