In less than the time it took to drink half a cup of tea, the medicine's effects became apparent.
The dark, greenish-black poison on the couple's faces and hands faded away layer by layer, and their skin gradually returned to its normal color.
Their breathing also changed from weak and intermittent to steady and long, their chests rising and falling visibly.
Seeing this, the three siblings' tightly strung nerves instantly relaxed.
The three of them knelt down almost simultaneously, their foreheads pressing against the ground. Choking with emotion, they were unable to speak, only repeatedly muttering their thanks.
Ye Ling waited until they finished kowtowing before reaching out to help the youngest, Sanmei, to her feet. Her tone was calm.
“The poison has been neutralized. They will recover after resting for a few days.”
After saying that, she turned her head to look out the window and added,
“The crisis of the miasma hasn't been completely resolved yet. I must go in and investigate first.”
“Take good care of your parents. There is no need to see me off.”
As soon as she finished speaking, her body shifted slightly. With a flash of her green robe, she was already gone from the room.
A moment later, Ye Ling stood outside the Southern Foothills Camphor Forest.
The forest was pitch-black, shrouded in a dense, heavy miasma that felt piercingly cold.
She furrowed her brow. The miasma here was even denser than in Heifeng Valley, carrying an indescribable sense of eeriness.
She took out a Miasma-Clearing Pill and swallowed it. Only after the medicinal power formed a protective barrier around her body did she step inside.
This forest was originally called the Southern Foothills Forest. For thousands of years, it had been an ordinary mountain forest, free of miasma and any real danger.
At most, there were only some low-tier small beasts in the forest, and even those at the Houtian Second Layer were rarely seen.
Yet a year ago, this miasma had appeared out of thin air, growing heavier by the day.
By now, the entire forest was completely enveloped.
The trees were withered and rotten, the flowers and grass had vanished, and not even the chirping of birds or insects could be heard. Only a dead silence remained within the forest.
Ye Ling suppressed her aura to the absolute minimum and released her Divine Sense, searching inch by inch.
Beneath the tree roots, inside the rock crevices, in every depression on the ground, and even deep underground—she examined everything thoroughly.
She spent an entire day turning the forest upside down, yet she found absolutely nothing.
There were no traces of formations, no source of any toxic veins, and certainly no nests of demon beasts.
The entire forest was completely clean; there was nothing at all.
Standing in the center of the forest, Ye Ling's heart sank.
She finally understood why the sect disciples who had come before all returned empty-handed.
This miasma truly seemed to have appeared out of thin air, with no root to be found and no source to be traced.
It was useless to stay any longer. Ye Ling retracted her Divine Sense, turned to leave the forest, and made her way back to Xiaoyan Village.
The miasma only harmed the villagers who went near the Camphor Forest. Since Sanmei's parents had fallen ill, they must have approached the vicinity of the forest.
Perhaps they knew some undisclosed information. She planned to ask them thoroughly once the couple woke up; maybe she could gather some clues.
Just as Ye Ling reached the village entrance, her footsteps paused slightly.
In just a single day, the lifeless, numb, and despairing Xiaoyan Village of yesterday had actually become bustling with noise and activity, with wisps of cooking smoke curling into the air.
Villagers hurried to and fro, and a vibrant, lively atmosphere had returned to the streets and alleys.
The deathly silence and oppressive atmosphere of yesterday, where not even a child's cry could be heard, had been completely swept away.
A villager looked up and saw the young figure in the green robe standing at the entrance, his eyes instantly lighting up.
Excited, he ran over with hurried, respectful steps.
“Are... are you the esteemed martial artist from the Qinglan Sword Sect who saved Sanmei's family?”
“Is that right?”
Ye Ling nodded slightly. Seeing her confirmation, the villager's legs went weak, and he was about to kneel on the spot, his voice choked with grief.
“I heard yesterday that you saved Sanmei's parents. I was skeptical at first, but I went to see them myself this morning.”
“Their condition has improved so much. This morning, they could even manage to get out of bed and walk around.”
“My elderly father also went to the mountains near the Camphor Forest to gather herbs and accidentally inhaled the miasma.”
“Now he is bedridden and barely conscious. I beg you, Lord Martial Artist, show some mercy and save my father!”
He began to kowtow repeatedly as he spoke.
Ye Ling stepped aside to avoid his bows and raised her hand, using a gentle stream of Xiantian spiritual energy to lift him up.
This commotion instantly drew the attention of the entire village. Countless villagers swarmed over; almost every household had someone afflicted by the miasma.
The despair the villagers had suppressed for so long finally saw a ray of hope, and they knelt one after another to beg.
“Please, Lord Martial Artist, save my younger brother!”
“My child has been bedridden for days and can barely hold on!”
“We beg for your mercy, Lord Martial Artist!”
Pleading voices rose and fell, echoing throughout the village entrance.
Ye Ling's brow smoothed slightly. She gently released a wisp of gentle yet highly intimidating Xiantian Realm pressure, instantly silencing the noisy crowd.
Her voice was clear and steady, reaching everyone present.
“All of you, stand up. There is no need to kneel.”
“Bring all the miasma-afflicted patients from your homes to the village entrance. I will examine and treat them one by one.”
Hearing this, the villagers were overjoyed. They all scrambled to their feet and rushed back to their homes.
Within moments, dozens of villagers with dark, greenish-black faces, weak breathing, and bodies riddled with the strange miasma poison were carried to the village entrance, lined up neatly on the ground.
Sanmei and her two older siblings also rushed over, their eyes filled with joy upon seeing Ye Ling.
Ye Ling instructed them to go home first and care for their newly recovered parents, saying she would find them later to ask some questions. Sanmei and her siblings obediently agreed and left.
At this moment, the village chief, Granny Lin, who had a hunched back and white hair, walked forward with trembling steps.
She bowed deeply to Ye Ling, her heart filled with heartfelt admiration.
“You truly are a genius of the Qinglan Sword Sect. In previous years, disciples from the other three major sects have visited this place.”
“Yet they were completely helpless against this incurable miasma and returned empty-handed.”
“But as soon as you arrived, you cured Sanmei's family.”
“It seems the disciples of the world's number one Qinglan Sword Sect are indeed more capable after all.”
Neither proud nor impatient, Ye Ling replied calmly, “I simply happened to possess the right medicine. It is nothing to boast of.”
It seemed that by saving these people, she was invisibly building up the reputation of the Qinglan Sword Sect among the commoners, which would count as an extra bit of sect contribution.
Without further words, Ye Ling followed the same method she used to cure Sanmei's parents, taking out several Miasma-Clearing Qi-Dispersing Pills.
Each time, she scraped off only a tiny portion of the medicinal essence, dissolved it in clean water, and neutralized the poison for the dozens of patients one by one.
One by one, the precious Xiantian Realm miasma-clearing pills were consumed, but the results were visible to the naked eye.
Before long, the dark, greenish-black poison completely faded from the faces of all the villagers lying on the ground on the verge of death.
Their breathing gradually stabilized, their failing blood and vital energy slowly recovered, and everyone who had been on the brink of death was brought back to life.
The entire village was filled with surprise and joy. With tears welling in their eyes, they all knelt together once more, wishing to kowtow and thank her for saving their lives.
Ye Ling lightly waved her sleeve, and a majestic yet gentle spiritual energy lifted everyone in the area. Her voice was calm.
“You have already thanked me just now. There is no need for such grand gestures.”
The crowd looked at one another, their hearts filled with awe, not daring to kneel again.
Granny Lin, the village chief, stepped forward and said earnestly, “Lord Martial Artist, our village is poor and we have nothing to repay you with.”
“If there is anything you require or any task you command, everyone in Xiaoyan Village will go through fire and water to fulfill it. We will never forget this great kindness.”
Ye Ling shook her head. “I came here on a sect mission to investigate the source of the miasma. I merely want to find someone who can tell me about the conditions of the Camphor Forest.”
“Since everyone has just been cured of the poison and is still too weak to recover, I won't disturb your rest.”
With that, she accompanied Granny Lin to Sanmei's home.
Sanmei had been waiting by the door. The moment she saw Ye Ling return, a bright smile bloomed on her small face, and she waved her hand vigorously.
She quickly pulled open the wooden door and shouted inside.
“Father! Mother! The martial artist sister who saved us is here!”
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