It had to be said that Ruomu was truly worthy of being the oldest tree between heaven and earth, the primeval source of the Longevity fruit status.
Its premonition was astonishingly accurate.
While Li Fan and Tianyang were still slowly making their way back to the Spirit Wood Realm, a catastrophe destined to forge boundless slaughter quietly erupted.
Moreover, the bizarre nature of this catastrophe truly exceeded the imagination of cultivators across the world.
Qiling Province.
After conducting an investigation and confirming that the effects of the earthquake had completely dissipated and would not recur, the rescue and investigation team dispatched from the Alliance headquarters offered brief reassurances and considered their mission complete.
They departed Qiling Province and returned to the Alliance headquarters.
None in this group—including the Dao Integration cultivator leading them—sensed the imperceptible changes occurring within their own bodies.
After returning to the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals headquarters and delivering a detailed report, they dispersed back to their respective provinces.
Until seven days later...
"Cough, cough... Strange. Cough, cough... Why am I feeling short of breath?"
Inside the Heavenly Profound Mirror, a Soul Formation cultivator named Li Xinhai, who had been part of the investigation team, was deep in secluded cultivation.
A sudden wave of restlessness struck his mind, forcibly interrupting his cultivation.
Daring not be careless, he swept his divine sense through himself, hurriedly examining his body.
Yet he could not detect the source of the abnormality.
"Cough, cough..."
The apprehension in his heart did not subside.
He tried to suppress the cough, but the more he tried, the less control he had.
As if about to cough up his very lungs, Li Xinhai stared at the pool of fresh blood in his palm, horror washing over his face.
Suddenly, a name nearly forgotten by the vast majority of cultivators flashed like lightning into his mind.
Li Xinhai trembled all over as an unspeakable dread gripped his heart.
"The immortal... mortal... miasma..."
Shivering, he urgently contacted the teammates who had accompanied him to investigate Qiling Province.
As expected, without exception, every single one of them had developed some physical discomfort.
Some mild, some severe.
Even their leader, the Dao Integration cultivator Immortal Venerable Luliu, found his thoughts drifting and his mind struggling to settle.
"It's over."
All manner of terrifying legends regarding the immortal-mortal miasma flooded Li Xinhai's mind at once.
His mind went completely blank at first.
Finally coming back to his senses, Li Xinhai shared his suspicion with his companions.
Because among them, only his symptoms were the most severe, the other cultivators remained somewhat skeptical.
Immortal Venerable Luliu in particular could not help scolding him, "Utter absurdity! The immortal-mortal miasma was cleansed thousands of years ago. Aside from within mortal bodies, it has long ceased to exist in this world. How could we inexplicably—"
"Cough, cough..."
Immortal Venerable Luliu's words were abruptly cut short by a sudden cough.
A dead silence fell over the communicating group.
"Stay where you are and do not wander off. I will go to headquarters in person. Cough, cough..." Immortal Venerable Luliu doubted no longer; his tone had turned immensely grave.
Thousands of years had passed, and everything concerning the immortal-mortal miasma had long become distant lore.
How to detect it. What symptoms followed infection. How to purge and cleanse it...
Such records had long been buried in history, inaccessible to ordinary people.
Even someone of Immortal Venerable Luliu's considerable standing knew virtually nothing about it.
Yet knowing the gravity of the matter, he first made contact and then rushed to the Alliance headquarters.
As the light of the teleportation faded, dozens of black-clad cultivators, standing as rigid as mechanical puppets, were already waiting in full readiness.
After rigorous testing, Li Xinhai's suspicion was finally confirmed.
The entire group that had gone to Qiling Province had indeed been infected by the immortal-mortal miasma!
Shock, bewilderment, horror...
Faced with an existential crisis of life and death, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals reacted with great speed.
An emergency response team was established immediately, and the members of the Qiling Province investigation team were gathered and quarantined.
Puppet cultivators were then dispatched back to the subterranean depths of Qiling Province to thoroughly investigate the miasma's source.
At the same time, a wartime state of emergency was declared, temporarily shutting down all interprovincial teleportation arrays.
Provincial borders were sealed, prohibiting cultivators from entering, leaving, or traveling between them.
...
A multitude of measures were rolled out in tandem.
It had to be said that in its handling of the situation, the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals truly proved worthy of its status as one of the two hegemons of the Xuanhuang Realm.
Unfortunately, swift though the Alliance's response was, it was still too late.
A full seven days had elapsed between the investigation team's return and the onset of symptoms.
In today's Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals, teleportation arrays reached into every corner of its domain.
Even if large numbers of cultivators tried to avoid interprovincial teleportation due to the Essence-Devouring White Mist, given the sheer population base, countless cultivators still frequently traveled back and forth across provincial borders.
Seven days.
That was more than enough time for this mysteriously erupted immortal-mortal miasma to spread into every single province of the Alliance.
The Immortal Alliance's sudden declaration of a wartime state had already thrown cultivators into a panic.
They assumed that an all-out war had erupted and the Alliance, caught off guard, had been forced into such desperate measures.
For a time, everyone felt themselves in peril.
Yet before long, cultivators discovered that something far worse than they had imagined had occurred.
It was not war, but the shadow of an ancient catastrophe returning after thousands of years to engulf the lands of Xuanhuang once more!
The preliminary findings from the investigation of the immortal-mortal miasma in Qiling Province were soon released.
Back in the day, the immortal-mortal miasma had infested every corner of the world.
Only after relentless efforts by cultivators was the immortal-mortal miasma finally purified completely.
Or so cultivators had believed.
In reality, within a subterranean cavern in Qiling Province, the immortal-mortal miasma had lingered for thousands of years without dispersing.
Furthermore, with the passage of time, it appeared to have undergone some sort of mutation.
It had become far more stealthy and potent.
Though the countermeasures recorded in history had not failed entirely, their effectiveness was severely diminished.
Brand-new countermeasures had to be developed.
Yet before that could happen, the mutated immortal-mortal miasma had already bared its vicious, terrifying fangs.
In the present cultivation world, the vast majority of cultivators were concentrated within each province's floating celestial city.
The population density of cultivators was even greater than that of the cultivation sects of the past!
The speed and efficiency with which the immortal-mortal miasma spread was staggering!
By the time the Alliance of Ten Thousand Immortals issued its official announcement, coughing fits had already begun breaking out one after another across the land.
Initially, soothed by the cultivation techniques provided by the Immortal Alliance, the cultivators were still somewhat optimistic.
Yet as cultivators began to perish from the immortal-mortal miasma, panic inevitably took hold.
The immortal-mortal miasma showed no discrimination.
Once infected, Nascent Soul and Soul Formation cultivators suffered no milder symptoms, nor had any lower chance of perishing, than those at Foundation Establishment or Golden Core!
Plunged into despair, cultivators tried every conceivable method to stall death's arrival.
Yet none of it had any effect.
Amid one official announcement after another from the Immortal Alliance, they could only waste away to emaciated husks and die in agony.
Chapter 840