Chapter 170: The Virus's Potency,n

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After the end of the monster stampede in the Greenplains, there were roughly about 500 of the 2,000 students there that was injured, of which one-fifth were severely injured and a few dozens in critical state. Meanwhile, the dead only accounts up to less than 50 people, which was way less than the previous projection.

Currently, all the injured and the dead were gathered into two separate camps. These were done under the instructions from Duan Li and was managed prudently by Wang Guozhi.

Some of the teachers and subjugation squads took notice of this move, and they were curious about it. However, they were sure that the order came from either the Vice-Principal or the Principal himself, as only those two could practically command Senior Teachers, which were higher in status when compared to normal teachers to do something like this directly.

What got them really curious however, was the fact that the injured would be treated by a well-known, new junior student - Duan Li.

Rumor has it that the only reason why the First Front ended so quickly was due to this junior student alone, and currently, the details of these rumors had many people flabbergasted.

After all, what they have heard sounded so outlandish that it seemed more like a fantasy instead, or even a miracle!

Still, since Zhuge Liang, the squad leader of the Seventh Subjugation Squad was also the one involved in spreading this rumor, although many people remained doubtful, they couldn't easily dismiss the stories as false either.

The person in question behind all these - Duan Li, obviously did not care for whether they believe it or not, as he knew that it would only be a matter of time before things were proven.

There was however, one person that vehemently denied this rumors and considered them as baseless and false. This person was none other than that certain elder of the Strategist Club - Rong Huan, and claimed that these rumors were spread purposely by irresponsible people in order to crank up Duan Li's reputation.

In his opinion, the people who were spreading those rumors were apparently trying to get into the good side of Duan Li, so that the other party would take them in or pay them something as compensation.

Either way, Rong Huan was full of conviction that the new rising junior was nothing but a person full of fraud and underhanded means.

But of course, the number of people who believed what he said were totally miniscule in comparison to those who believed in those rumors. Thus, this had him angered greatly.

Inside a certain carriage..

Pang!

"What tea is this that tastes like a pile of horse sh*t?" Rong Huan barked out at his servant as he threw the pot of tea to the floor.

His servant that were currently serving him that tea immediately frowned upon this. However, her expression changed as quickly as the speed of light, thus she was not found out.

Bowing to her master, she replied, "Perhaps I did not put enough sugar in it.. please forgive me master.."

Inwardly however, she was viewing the other party with disdain, "Foolish master.. all these while I've been adding some horse's urine inside your tea a little bit every time, and you praised it to be your favorite.. to think that this time you would notice the taste of horse sh*t even though I only put it in slightly, have you become smarter?"

"Hmph! Make me a new one! And make sure its that favorite of mine! Also, I want the taste to be slightly stronger this time, or else... I will make the life of your younger brother miserable in the academy!" Rong Huan said with an imposing tone, as if talking to his slave.

Hearing this, she gritted her teeth slight, but immediately smiled after that.

You want the taste to be stronger? Sure.. I'll give you that!

"I will go to make the tea now master.." she said as she left the carriage to find the most oldest of horses, so that she could extract some of their urine.

Inside the carriage, Rong Huan couldn't help but to find himself becoming more frustrated.

"All these while, my life has been smooth-sailing.. now it became like this ever since you came to the academy! I will definitely make sure that you will thoroughly pay for this!"

...

Inside the tent where the dead were kept..

"How was it?" Wang Guozhi spoke with grim expression.

Duan Li shook his head.

"Fortunately, I do not detect the remnants of the Demiruke's virus inside these bodies.. without their source of food, which is the spiritual Qi, it seemed like they died almost instantly." he said.

But before Wang Guozhi could let out a sigh of relief, Duan Li continued on.

"However, some of them were clearly infected with the virus before.. and when these virus died.. the negative energy contained within them began to slowly corrupt these body."

He then lifted the arm of one of the body and gestured, "Take a look.."

When Wang Guozhi casted his sights onto that arm, he did not notice anything unusual.

"Use your soul sense, then you would be able to detect it." Duan Li said, knowing that the other party was only looking with his naked eyes.

Wang Guozhi shot his brows in realization and flushed red in embarrassment.

Wengg!!

After a moment, his expression turned solemn.

"This.. the decomposition of the arm.. is slowing down?" he said, feeling alarmed.

Duan Li nodded, "That's right.. I have casted my soul sense onto those dead monsters, but this phenomena seemed to be only unique to a cultivator's corpse.."

Hearing this, Wang Guozhi's eyes widened, "Boy.. you, you could use soul sense?" he asked in disbelief.

One has to know that the ability - Soul Sense, was specific to those only in the Nascent Soul realm. Even Golden core realm had never managed to use Soul sense, much less someone like Duan Li that was currently still in the Foundation establishment realm..

Thus, how did the other party managed to do it?

"Ahh.." realizing that he had told one of his secret to the other party unintentionally, Duan Li scratched his head and answered awkwardly, "Well I sort of can.. but don't tell anyone.."

"This.." Wang Guozhi was at a loss of words before replying, "Don't worry, I won't."

Tell anyone? What a joke! Who would even believe me?

Sighing deeply, he decided to focus back on the real matter at hand, "What sorts of complications would this brings?"

Duan Li pondered for a moment before answering, "As of now, the corruption from the negative energy only seemed to to slow down the decomposition of these bodies and nothing else.."

"We could eliminate future problems from cropping up by burning these bodies to ashes, but their friends and families would definitely complain about that. Therefore, have their graveyards placed in a special area far away from residences.. just say that it is a special place for them to remind us of this battle if anyone were to ask." he added.

Wang Guozhi nodded in agreement to Duan Li's decision. After that, they went to the second tent where the injured were placed.

Because there were currently some few hundreds that were injured, it would take too much time to diagnose them all. Thus, Duan Li had them raise their hand for those who were attacked by 3 Star monsters and isolated these people into one group.

After doing a thorough diagnosis with every single one of the injured within this group, Duan Li's brows creased together.

"I don't understand.. none of them seemed to be infected with the virus at all.." he said inwardly, trying to understand on what was the hidden link but the un-infected injured versus the infected dead.

Wait a moment..

Duan Li cupped his chin, "These injured are mostly in Foundation establishment realm and early stage Core formation realm, about the same with those that were killed.. the only difference were.."

He came up with a hunch.

Could it be that their innate potential played a major role here?

Because he could not yet detect a person's innate potential, he had to ask them directly. As for the dead, he managed to get the information from their friends.

When he finally compiled them, he noticed a startling pattern.

"This..!"

Realizing that he might be on to something there, he quickly called Zhuge Liang in.

"Senior Zhuge Liang, what is your innate potential?" he swiftly inquiried as soon as the other party entered the tent.

"My innate potential? It's a True rank Green colored, a Nascent grade!" Zhuge Liang answered with hints of pride in his tone.

After all, there were only 6 types of innate potential that one could have; Red (mortal grade), Orange (Inception grade), Yellow (Earth grade), Green (Nascent grade), Blue (Sky grade) and finally, White (Immortal grade).

In addition, each color was further graded into three ranks; the lowest being pale, then True and then Bright. In one's lifetime, after years of cultivating spiritual Qi and advancing one's realm, there was also a chance to upgrade their ranks, usually by one rank. Meanwhile, for those in Nascent grade, two rank advancement was a given, and in rare cases, even three ranks advancement was possible!

He himself had just advanced in one rank last year, from Pale rank to True rank by consuming some specific pills. And judging from the trend of those with a Nascent grade innate potential, he should still have a chance to advance to a Bright rank somewhere in the future!

However, seeing that Duan Li's expression was serious, Zhuge Liang immediately knew that something was wrong.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I think I understand now about the success rate.. of the Demiruke's virus!" Duan Li answered in a grim tone.

Hearing this, both Zhuge Liang and Wang Guozhi showed a serious expression as well.

Before Duan Li could say anything at all, Wang Guozhi quickly stopped him, "Boy, I think it would be better for you to make an official report when we arrive back at the academy. This place is not safe to divulge such information."

It's not that he did not trust Zhuge Liang, but because there could be others who were listening in to their conversation despite they were the only one inside this tent right now.

After all, in the world of cultivation, anything one could imagine was possible.

Duan Li nodded in understanding.

"Senior Teacher Wang Guozhi, I hope you could relay this information to the battlefield on the Grand Canyon.. have them seperate the injured and the tent as we did here." he instructed.

"Understood, I'll do it right now. Oh and, have a good rest now boy. You're an incredible figure, I'll give you that. But you're still not an immortal just yet, so don't push yourself too hard, got it?" Wang Guozhi said before he left the tent.

Hearing what Wang Guozhi just said, Zhuge Liang could not help but to ponder, "He is still not an immortal? What does that even mean?"

...

After sometime, everyone finally finished packing and was inbound to the Grand Canyon - where the Second front was located, and was also where their Airship transport to return to the academy were.

After arriving, it seemed that the Second front had just finished their battle as well, and by the looks of it, the majority of the 3 Star monsters of the monster stampede were annihilated here.

Tap! Tap!

Landing on the ground were both the Principal and Meng Yue, Duan Li's mother. They quickly came here after receiving the news that Duan Li and the rest had arrived.

...