Li Banfeng stood at the ward entrance, looking at Cedric and the other person.

Who is this person? Li Banfeng thought.

He had never seen the man before. With green blisters covering his entire body and pus oozing from his skin, the man's appearance had become so distorted that identifying him was nearly impossible.

Wan Jinxian's situation could not have been much worse. He was already covered in disease blisters, and now he had both Cedric and Li Banfeng standing against him. Since this was Cedric's hospital, Wan Jinxian could not even find a way to escape.

Fortunately, Cedric did not go for the kill. He very much wanted to kill Wan Jinxian, but at this moment, he was more interested in other matters.

Cedric looked at Li Banfeng. "This is my senior brother. This is our first time meeting, but we have had a rather pleasant conversation.

"Please go back to the ward and continue looking after your friend. My senior brother and I will talk somewhere else, so we won't disturb you."

Li Banfeng returned to the ward, feeling somewhat worried. It was true that Cedric had helped him and it was true that he and Cedric could be considered friends. However, it was very hard for Li Banfeng to trust Cedric completely.

At Medicine King Gully, Cedric had nearly killed Li Banfeng. Later, he went looking for him again in Blue Poplar Village. Now even Cedric's senior brother had shown up.

Li Banfeng had heard the two of them fight in the corridor. Since this senior brother had come for Ma Wu, he was probably the person who had made Ma Wu sick.

Cedric was currently going against this senior brother, but with his temperament, he might become the man's friend in the very next moment.

Zuo Wugang and Huo Ling were both in the ward. If a fight really broke out, Li Banfeng's side might not be at a disadvantage. Still, Li Banfeng felt that he needed to know what Cedric and Wan Jinxian were discussing. He touched the Earring, and the Threaded Earring followed their voices.

Cedric invited Wan Jinxian into the emergency room. Wan Jinxian hesitated for a moment before following him inside. After entering, Cedric took off his white coat and hung it on the door.

The Threaded Earring said to Li Banfeng, "Master, he has a spirit-bound item that blocks Spycraft Cultivators."

"Can you bypass it?"

In the past, the Threaded Earring would not have had that function. Zhou Yujuan, who had been refined into the Threaded Earring, had only been a level-one Spycraft Cultivator. However, the Threaded Earring was different now. Li Banfeng had raised her level bit by bit with other people's flesh and blood.

The pendant on the Threaded Earring swayed back and forth, and gradually, Li Banfeng began to hear voices.

In the emergency room, Cedric asked Wan Jinxian, "You just said you only completed your apprenticeship after killing your master. What does that mean?"

Wan Jinxian stared at Cedric without saying a word.

Cedric reminded, "I know you are trying to purge the pathogens in your body, but it will not work. Your condition is already very bad.

"If you want to live, you must answer all my questions honestly. I might already know the answers to some of them and might be deliberately asking you as a test, so you must not lie to me."

Wan Jinxian nodded and asked, "You were the one who attacked Jiaqing at Yuezhou Third Hospital, weren't you?"

Cedric looked at Wan Jinxian. "Do not get the order mixed up. I am the one asking the questions."

Wan Jinxian went silent for a while before saying to Cedric, "Proper Disease Cultivators have a fixed lineage and they all belong to one faction, the Pestilence Miasma Sect."

Cedric shook his head. "I have been in Puluo Province for a long time, but I have never heard of any faction like that."

"Hardly anyone in the world has heard of the Pestilence Miasma Gang. Most of the time, there is only one member."

Cedric asked, "How can one person be a sect?"

Wan Jinxian looked at Cedric, and his doubts grew stronger. This man was indeed a real Disease Cultivator. Yet he knew nothing about the rules of Disease Cultivators, and Wan Jinxian could not understand how he became a Disease Cultivator.

Is he really testing me?

"How did you become a Disease Cultivator?" Wan Jinxian asked.

Cedric smiled. "The process by which I became a Daoist Cultivator is very unusual. If I were to tell you about it, it would probably take a long time. But judging by your current condition, you likely do not have time to listen to my story, so please hurry up and answer my questions..."

There was still half a sentence Cedric did not say.

Your life is in my hands. What right do you have to ask me any questions?

Wan Jinxian also understood the reality of his situation and asked no further. "The Pestilence Miasma Sect usually does not take in disciples. Only when a Disease Cultivator feels that he is nearing the end of his life will he take in three disciples to pass down the lineage. Three, and no more.

"They study under him for one year. After that year is over, they have one month to kill each other using everything they have learned. In the end, only one can live.

"The survivor has to sign a contract with the master. From then on, he cannot take disciples whenever he wants, but he also cannot let the Daoist Path die out. He has to pass it down by the same rules.

"After that, there is only one final step. When the master dies, the disciple has to eat his corpse. Only then does he truly enter the path."

"The master's corpse is the medicine needed to enter the path?"

Wan Jinxian nodded.

Cedric was silent for a moment before asking, "Who set these rules?"

Wan Jinxian shook his head. "I don't know. These were already the rules when I entered the path."

"You ate your master?"

"Otherwise, I could not have entered the path."

"I see. So this is what you meant when you said that most of the time, there is only one Disease Cultivator in the world?"

Wan Jinxian nodded. "That is why I cannot understand why there is another person from the same path in this world. I am even more puzzled by the fact that this person from the same path is a foreign devil."

Cedric smiled and said, "There is one more thing I would like to ask you about. We Disease Cultivators live very long lives because we can purge illnesses from our bodies. As long as we do not suffer fatal injuries, only time can take us away.

"If a Disease Cultivator is especially tenacious and takes in disciples, but then goes on living for many more years, would he choose to end his own life so the lineage can be passed on, or would he make his disciples keep waiting?"

Wan Jinxian scratched at the blisters on his body. "I do not know what happened before my time, but my master's master lived an extremely long life.

"He thought his end was near, so he took in disciples. In the end, my master served him for nearly fifty years before he finally died.

"Because of that, my master only became a Disease Cultivator at the age of sixty-five. Even on the day he died, he was only a level-two cultivator."

Cedric smiled. "It seems you were lucky, then. Your master did not live quite that long."

Wan Jinxian shook his head. "My master lived a long life too. By then, he was simply too old."

"So you killed him?"

Wan Jinxian scratched open another blister and asked Cedric in return, "What use is there in asking so many questions about me and my master?"

Cedric shrugged. "Sorry. It seems I brought up some unpleasant memories. In that case, let's talk about something useful. Why did you attack Ma Junyang?"

Wan Jinxian said, "You should be able to guess that. Ma Wu has a friend called Li Qi."

"You targeted Li Qi because you wanted the Arcane Crimson Lotus in his possession?"

Wan Jinxian did not deny it. "Didn't you save Ma Wu for the Arcane Crimson Lotus as well?"

Cedric shook his head. "No, not really. I don't have much interest in the Arcane Crimson Lotus."

Wan Jinxian sneered.

Cedric said, "It does not matter whether you believe me or not, but I am telling the truth. Li Qi and I are friends, but I have no real interest in the Crimson Lotus.

"You are the one who really intrigues me. You, the Ling brothers, and several others with status, position, and strength in Puluo Province all seem to be following orders from someone in the Outer Provinces. Is that right?"

Wan Jinxian did not answer.

Cedric asked again, "That person from the Outer Provinces is called He Jiaqing, correct?"

Wan Jinxian still said nothing.

Cedric licked his lips, and the blisters on Wan Jinxian's left hand subsided noticeably.

"Senior Brother, do you see? I can cure the blisters on your body, but you cannot cure them yourself. Your life is in my hands."

Wan Jinxian let out a long sigh. "You once made a move against He Jiaqing. Don't you know the inside story?"

As soon as he finished speaking, more blisters appeared on Wan Jinxian's body.

Cedric frowned slightly. "Senior Brother, do not answer my questions with questions again, or you will pay the price. Since He Jiaqing is your leader, does your organization have a sect too?"

"I suppose it does. Jiaqing named it the Alliance of Brothers. We all address one another as brothers."

"What is the purpose of founding this sect? He Jiaqing is the heir of the He Family. He lacks neither money nor status. What exactly does he want to do?"

Wan Jinxian looked at Cedric and slowly said, "He wants to remake Puluo Province into something different."

"Different? What is wrong with Puluo Province? What kind of Puluo Province does he want?"

Wan Jinxian thought it over for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to explain this.

He then said, "I am not trying to ask a question in return. I just want to know one thing. Have you been to the Inner Provinces?"

Cedric nodded. "I have. I went there with a travel permit. It is a detestable place.

"But the people there treated me very well. In the Inner Provinces, they call me a friend from an allied nation, and they treat me even better than the people in the Outer Provinces do.

"The people who treat me the worst are the people of Puluo Province. They always call me a damned foreign devil. Actually, I am a good foreign devil, and I love Puluo Province very much."

Wan Jinxian said, "Since you have been to the Inner Provinces, you should know some things. You should know how much suffering those cultivators above the tenth level endure there."

Cedric nodded. "I know that."

Wan Jinxian continued, "As for the Outer Provinces, there is even less need to explain. As long as you have had contact with the Border Controllers, you should understand how much Puluo Province is exploited by the Outer Provinces."

Cedric nodded. "I know some of that too."

"Puluo Province has suffered too much. We have been exploited for far too long. The Inner Provinces and the Outer Provinces have trampled this place until it no longer resembles the Puluo Province it once was."

"He Jiaqing once told me that he wants to restore Puluo Province's dignity and let everyone in Puluo Province live with dignity.

"I trust this little brother, so I follow him. Have I made myself clear this time?"

Cedric nodded. "He is a very remarkable man. I respect him greatly."

Wan Jinxian looked at the blisters all over his body and said, "Junior Brother, I lost to you, and I accept it. I have seen countless illnesses in my life, but I have never seen a rash this difficult to deal with."

Cedric smiled. "Is it harder to deal with than the rash you placed on He Haiqin?"

Wan Jinxian blinked and smiled helplessly. "You saved He Haiqin? I really have to admit defeat. You really are the bane of my existence.

"Since I have already lost, kill me cleanly if you want me dead. If you are willing to let me live, then name your conditions. Do not leave things hanging like this. It is uncomfortable for both of us."

Cedric considered it for a short while, then took a deep breath.

The rash on Wan Jinxian's body soon disappeared.

"Junior Brother, you are letting me go just like that? Without naming any conditions?"

Cedric shook his head. "There are conditions, of course. I am very interested in your Alliance of Brothers, and I would like to hear more about you. Can you tell me?"

He already took back the Disease Nidus, yet he still wants me to talk? Wan Jinxian muttered inwardly. Does this foreign devil really see me as his senior brother?

Wan Jinxian asked, "What kind of things do you want to hear?"

"I want to hear about the future."

Wan Jinxian froze. "How would I know what happens in the future?"

Cedric smiled. "Then tell me once you know."

The wording was a little twisted, but Wan Jinxian understood what he meant.

He reached behind his back and felt a crystal-clear blister.

Cedric stood up. "Senior Brother, from now on, one blister will always remain somewhere on your body. I cannot say which one it will be, but it will never disappear completely. If I ever want to know news about the Alliance of Brothers in the future, you must tell me."

Author's Note:

PS: There is no need to worry about Jiaqing. The Alliance of Brothers is very huge, and he has many brothers.

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