Sun Shizhang had absolutely no idea what was happening outside.
He only remembered that when he entered the research tent that morning, Emperor Jing was still the emperor of the Great Sima Nation.
By the time he emerged in the middle of the night, the Emperor had already been replaced by a stranger named Prince Hao of Qin.
Furthermore, Li Lao’er was gone.
Only Yu Wenhua Ji remained, and the man had even changed into the attire of the Prime Minister.
He could vaguely guess that some major upheaval had occurred in Jiangdu City, but no matter how much he asked, Yu Wenhua Ji refused to explain anything to him.
“Divine Physician Sun only needs to focus on developing the antidote with peace of mind. I will handle everything out here properly,” Yu Wenhua Ji said, once again flashing that misleading, sunny smile.
“There is only one day left,” Sun Shizhang sighed helplessly.
“The antidote has already entered the clinical trial phase. If no problems arise, we can soon call upon all the Danxiu in Shenzhou to begin refining it. We can resolve this issue quickly.”
“I do not understand those things, so I will simply wait for Divine Physician Sun’s good news!” Yu Wenhua Ji said before leaving the tent.
He ordered heavy troops to surround the tent and instructed his subordinates, “If there is any news regarding the antidote, notify me immediately. Furthermore, do not allow any of these medical cultivators to leave.”
Sun Shizhang pushed the speculations about Jiangdu City from his mind and immediately rushed to the patients involved in the clinical trials.
The efficiency of Cultivators was extremely high.
The clinical trials had begun long ago, and it was now roughly time for the results to appear.
Through the hard work of everyone involved, a total of seventeen formulas were being tested.
There were fifty people in each group, all of whom were death row inmates who had committed serious crimes.
A large number of medical cultivators stood by the beds, tensely recording the changes occurring in the patients’ bodies through various instruments and eye techniques.
“Group one, the immune system is beginning to function normally.”
It was an encouraging start!
Sun Shizhang looked at the patient’s physical data with excitement. Under the catalysis of the special drugs of Shenzhou, the immune system within the patient’s body quickly resumed operation and absorbed the components provided by the medicine. Immune cells began to increase in large numbers, aggressively attacking the virus!
Various immune departments worked in coordination; body temperatures rose, and metabolism accelerated…
But this only lasted for 3 seconds.
After 3 seconds, the patient’s entire immune system collapsed once again.
The virus seemed to have been provoked, suddenly accelerating the physical symptoms. In the blink of an eye, the patient was in a life-threatening condition.
In the end, resuscitation was ineffective, and the patient died.
All fifty people in the first group faced the exact same situation. Even with the maximum dosage, they could not escape the same fate.
“Group one is a failure.”
Sun Shizhang was not discouraged and hurried to the next group.
The second group fared even worse than the first.
This time, the immune system collapsed completely after only 2 seconds. Similarly, it triggered the ferocity of the virus, wiping out the patients entirely.
‘As expected, the immune systems of Shenzhou’s Cultivators have degenerated too thoroughly to be of much use,’ Sun Shizhang thought, shaking his head. ‘It seems these two simple and easy-to-refine Dan medicines will not work…’
Although the first two groups had failed, Sun Shizhang was not worried.
He had anticipated that this might happen, so he had added components to induce immune system evolution in the third and fourth groups of drugs.
In the third group… the strength of the evolution seemed insufficient, but they lasted for 10 seconds this time, representing a significant improvement.
In the fourth group, they held out for a full 1 minute.
But in the end, they still could not escape the fate of total collapse.
“Proceed with the fifth experiment. Use a combination of the Immune Evolution Pill and receptor fusion blocking drugs…”
Failure.
This time, the patients died instantly after only 3 seconds. A hypersensitivity reaction of unknown origin, combined with the fierce assault of the virus, caused the patients’ organs to fail within 3 seconds.
“Sixth group…”
Failure.
“Seventh group, eighth group…”
Failure.
Continual failures followed, one after another, all the way until the seventeenth group.
In reality, he did not care about the failures of the first sixteen groups. Everything had been done merely to provide verification for the seventeenth group.
“Group seventeen: first, drain the patient’s Spiritual Power completely. Then, use a combination of immune evolution drugs, Spiritual Power Devouring Drugs, and receptor inhibitors…”
Various Dan medicines were forced into the patient’s body and catalyzed, causing the patient to display an expression of extreme agony.
He shook violently on the sickbed, vomiting black blood. His skin festered even more severely, to the point where not a single patch of intact human skin remained!
He looked like a snowman melting under a blazing sun, with black pus and blood oozing from every part of his body!
Every patient was in the same state.
The surrounding medical cultivators all looked pale. It seemed this final formula had ultimately failed as well.
However, Sun Shizhang’s gaze grew increasingly fanatical and excited, and he muttered to himself incessantly.
“The ability to devour Spiritual Power and use it for its own use is indeed the powerful source of this Epidemic Poison! That is why they can tolerate various extreme environments, and even an awakened immune system can do nothing against them! They are the Cultivators among viruses!”
“As long as the Spiritual Power is completely stripped from the body of the Epidemic Poison, the awakened immune mechanism can easily expel the toxin!”
“It worked!”
The patients, who had been leaking pus and blood frantically, suddenly grew quiet.
The flow of pus and blood ceased, and a swirl of clear wind appeared out of thin air within the tent—that was the purest natural Spiritual Power.
As the Spiritual Power was restored, the powerful self-healing ability of the Cultivators began to function. Fresh skin quietly emerged beneath the pus and blood, covering the gruesome, crimson flesh.
The Epidemic Poison within the body had been slaughtered by the evolved immune system, allowing the Cultivators to freely use Spiritual Power to repair their bodies.
All the terrifying scenes from moments ago were merely a process of breaking down to rebuild!
“We succeeded!”
The medical cultivators throughout the research tent immediately embraced each other and wept. The joyous atmosphere almost seemed ready to blast through the roof of the tent.
However, their joy soon froze on their faces.
The trial subjects of the seventeenth group, who had just been cured, suddenly collapsed simultaneously. Their hearts stopped abruptly.
The tent suddenly fell into a deathly silence.
Sun Shizhang did not hesitate to crouch down and investigate the cause of death.
He even went so far as to strip off his protective suit, using his Divine Sense to its maximum capacity to explore the condition inside the deceased’s bodies.
‘I understand.’
He suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
The problem was not actually that difficult. It was simply that the Spiritual Power recovered too quickly, at a time when the immune system had not yet completely killed off all the viruses.
He only needed to increase the dosage of the Spiritual Power Devouring Drug to perfectly solve this issue.
“Conduct the eighteenth experiment.”
New death row patients soon arrived and took the medicine with the modified dosage and adjusted proportions.
Just as Sun Shizhang had expected, the initial developments were identical to the seventeenth test. However, this time, no sudden deaths occurred.
Looking at the dark night outside the tent, Sun Shizhang’s body went limp, and he knelt on the ground.
It was a success. It was truly a success this time.
Finally.
He had lived up to everyone’s expectations. He had successfully completed the development of the antidote before the butcher’s knife of the Epidemic Poison could fall.
He looked in the direction of the Taiming Sect and bowed slightly. ‘I’m sorry, but it seems my line of thinking was the correct one.’
“I heard the formula is complete?”
Yu Wenhua Ji had a keen sense for such things and immediately ran to Sun Shizhang, looking at him with a smile.
Sun Shizhang nodded.
“Where is the formula?” Yu Wenhua Ji asked.
Sun Shizhang fetched a pen and paper, hurried to write it down, and then handed it over to Yu Wenhua Ji.
Yu Wenhua Ji tucked the formula away, nodded, and gave a meaningful look to the Imperial Guard behind him.
“You have all worked hard. Please stay here and get some good rest for the time being.”
“Stay here?” Sun Shizhang asked, confused.
Yu Wenhua Ji only gave him a slight smile before exiting the tent.
*Crash—*
A massive iron box overturned, trapping the entire tent inside.