Crown Prince of the Empire, I quit!

"Okay!" Chang Baishan made a decision immediately, feeling an unprecedented sense of urgency. "General Wei Zhong!"

"I'm here!" Wei Zhong had already gathered his troops and was on standby, and now he responded solemnly.

"You will stay here and take full control of the Baishui Mine! Strictly block the news and calm people's hearts. Never let the news of 'Plague God Valley' leak out and cause greater panic! Take inventory of the medicinal materials in the warehouse. Once confirmed, prepare kerosene and lime immediately!" Chang Baishan's orders were firm.

"Follow the order!"

"Wang Tietou, pick out your brothers who can still climb the mountain! Military Advisor Liu!"

Chang Baishan looked at Liu Yueli with a gaze as sharp as lightning.

"Immediately mobilize all the local veterans who know anything about 'plague', even those who have only treated snake and insect bites, from the Tongbao Pavilion along with the military doctors and craftsmen! Prepare the strongest liquor, quicklime, thick cloth! And fire! Fire is the most effective weapon against the plague! We must block the source before Zhu Tao's assassins can spread it!"

Liu Yueli immediately obeyed the order: "I have sent a fast horse to gather all the remaining 'Plague-Repelling Pill' medicinal materials, as well as strong liquor and quicklime! The doctor will be here soon!"

Chang Baishan finally looked at Wang Tietou and the old miner, his voice heavy and full of entrustment:

"Iron Head, old man! I know that going in there means a near-death experience! But we have no choice! If we run slower, countless civilians will be buried with us! Zhu Tao's final blow is more poisonous than snakes and scorpions! Whether we can block the entrance to the underworld depends entirely on whether you can lead us in as quickly as possible! Do you dare?"

Wang Tietou fell to his knees with a thud.

His forehead slammed hard against the cold ore, making a dull sound.

"General! We are lucky to have our lives saved! Dying on the road to stop the plague is better than watching our fellow villagers suffer! Lead the way! We would rather die in the ditch! My mother's soul... is still waiting at the ditch's mouth to see me avenge her!"

"Without further ado!"

Chang Baishan helped him up, his eyes flashing with coldness. "Follow me!"

A team of the most elite guards consisting of Chang Baishan, Liu Yueli, and others.

Wang Tietou's revenge miner guide and a small number of doctors who were hastily assembled to form a death squad.

Like an arrow shot from a bow, under Wei Zhong's worried and respectful gaze, it rushed towards the northwest mountains that seemed to have opened their huge mouths and were filled with invisible stench and death.

Devil's Cry! A race against death, a life-and-death battle to strangle the source of the plague.

The curtain has already been raised in the darkest hour before dawn.

Guikuao, in the direction of Wenshengou.

Chang Baishan and Liu Tietou and his group rushed towards the northwest mountains.

The night was as dark as ink, and the mountain wind carried the scent of rotting leaves and sulfur, like the breath of death. Beside Wang Tietou, the old miner named "Gap-Tooth Zhang" hunched his back, his withered finger pointing to a crack in the cliff face, obscured by vines:

"General! This is it... the 'Ghostly Road' where miners used to smuggle ore. It ends at Plague God's Ditch!"

The crack was only wide enough for one person to pass sideways. The rock wall was stained with dark red water and had a pungent smell of rust.

Liu Yueli picked up some slime from the rock wall with her fingertips and took a closer look at the torch:

"Blood rust mixed with sulfur... Zhu Tao's assassins have already taken the lead!"

Before he could finish his words, shrill cries were heard from the depths, followed by the muffled sound of knives and axes chopping flesh and bones.

When the suicide squad emerged from the crack, the scene before them made even the battle-hardened Chang Baishan feel a chill down his spine.

The canyon is shaped like a giant coffin, with cliffs on both sides towering into the clouds, and the only exit is blocked by huge rocks.

There were dozens of straw huts scattered at the bottom of the valley, with festering and pus-oozing bodies lying in disorder outside the huts.

Flies circled in a black cloud.

More than twenty Zhu family assassins were wielding knives to drive away the crowd. A scarred man grabbed a boy who was convulsing with a high fever, held a dagger to his throat, and roared:

"Go east! If anyone stops, I'll gouge out his eyes!"

"Fire arrows!"

Chang Baishan growled.

Ten poisoned crossbow arrows flew through the air, and five assassins fell to the ground with blood spurting from their throats.

Scarface flung the boy away and threw three caltrops backhandedly:

"Changbai Mountain?! Blow up the exit for me!"

The remaining assassins lit the gunpowder canisters on their waists and rushed towards the crack! Leader Wang Tie's eyes were bloodshot:

"They're going to block the road and trap us to death!"

Chang Baishan swung his saber from the air, cutting the leading assassin in half, including the can.

The blast overturned the straw hut, and pus, blood and rotten flesh splattered in the firelight.

Liu Yueli took three quick steps back, and the silver thread in her sleeves wrapped around the protruding rocks on the rock wall and swung them away, but her left arm was still burned by the heat wave.

"Iron Head leads the troops to eliminate the assassins! The doctor saves the people!"

Changbaishan's blade pointed deep into the straw hut.

The scene inside the shed was even more like hell: dozens of people were huddled side by side on straw mats, their cheeks covered with purple and black pimples, and pus soaked through the torn cotton.

An old woman was holding a baby in her arms. The baby's body was covered with festering wounds like a skinned rabbit and had been dead for a long time.

“There’s no hope…”

The white-haired doctor reached out his trembling hand to a woman with a high fever.

"The smallpox virus enters the bloodstream and can only last half a day at most..."

Liu Yueli tore off her clothes to wrap her injured arm, and a cold light flashed in her eyes.

"Zhu Tao is not only trying to spread the plague, Scarface is only driving away those with mild symptoms. He's keeping those with severe symptoms here, hoping to wait for us to come into contact with him and then take the poison out of the valley!"

She kicked away the straw mat, revealing the sulfur and saltpeter buried underneath.

"Once we rescue people, this place will become a crematorium!"

Chang Baishan shouted: "Evacuate the hut! Throw kerosene!"

Wang Tietou rushed over covered in blood, with only seven miners left behind him:

"General! Scarface is dead, but..."

He pointed to the cliff, and three assassins climbed to the top of the rock and were frantically hacking at the chains that bound the boulder!

The huge rocks weighing thousands of pounds that sealed the valley rumbled and trembled!

"Take the healer and those with mild symptoms and retreat from the Ghost Intestine Road!"

Chang Baishan stuck his saber into the ground and tore off his cloak to wrap it tightly around the hilt.

"Iron Head, do you dare to gamble your life with me?"

Wang Tietou grinned and swung his pickaxe at the rock wall:

"My mother's burial place is a perfect place to send the Zhu family dog ​​on his way!"

The two rushed towards the cliff like mad tigers. Liu Yueli's silver thread flew and entangled in the cracks in the rock, and she leaped up:

"I'll break the chain!"

The boulder tilted downward, rubble raining down like a torrential rain. Chang Baishan, using the force of his pick hammering into the rock face, leaped into the air, his blade flashing like thunder as it struck the chains.

"Qiang!"

The chain broke, and the recoil force tore his jaws apart.

The boulder fell at an accelerated speed, casting a shadow over the fleeing crowd at the bottom of the valley!

At the critical moment, Liu Yueli shot out three steel shuttles from her sleeves and accurately wedged them into the cracks on the top of the rock.

She stepped on the shuttle with her toes to gain leverage, and the silver thread wrapped around the last chain like a snake, leaving her hanging in the air!

“Cut the chain!!!”

She hissed.

Chang Baishan stepped on Wang Tietou's shoulder and jumped up, slashing down with all his strength on the blade!

"boom--!!!"

The iron chain broke, and the huge rock brushed against the corner of Liu Yueli's clothes and fell into the deep valley, sending smoke and dust rising into the sky.

When everyone helped those with mild symptoms to climb out of the terrifying road, the sky was already turning pale.

Liu Yueli unfolded the secret order found from Scarface's body, and her pupils suddenly shrank.

"Drive away those with mild symptoms to dispel the plague, burn those with severe symptoms to silence them. If this fails, offer the Blue Luan Pupil to the Northern Sage King in exchange for the cavalry marching south!"

At the end of the secret order, there was a half-green bird pupil mark!

"Blue Luan Pupil..."

Chang Baishan wiped the blood off his face.

"The half jade talisman hidden in the secret compartment of Zhu Tao's study is called this name."