[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-watching-the-immortals-fall":3,"chapter-watching-the-immortals-fall-watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-342":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Watching the Immortals Fall",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2260215,4410,"Chapter 342: The Head of the Heavenly Book Academy Passes Away","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-342",342,"\u003Cp>What happened?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It seems the Earth Dragon turned over…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Beneath the shifting night, officials from the Imperial Spirit Surveillance Office in Zhongzhou galloped in haste and entered the square, white jade building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, all inspectors who had returned home to rest were summoned back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kuangcheng, who had just returned to the capital, came as well; his residence had been shattered in the great battle at Linxian Realm, and now he lodged at the home of his friend Mu Jing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The six inspectors entered the Surveillance Office together and met Director He Jingyuan and Deputy Director Peng Dongyang in the Council Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>An Earth Dragon turned over in the northwest of Zhongzhou, with violent tremors; Dongxia County suffered the worst damage, and they must deploy personnel to assist in disaster relief.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After deliberation, the Surveillance Division’s inspector was entrusted with the critical mission to proceed to the disaster zone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Under cover of night, they mounted swift horses and raced out of the city, heading straight for the source of the lingering tremors.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In Dongxia County, the ground at its center had split open into a long, black fissure, stretching endlessly and depthless; several solitary peaks of the Chunming Mountain Range, once standing in the county’s north, had collapsed entirely.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The water level of the Nujiang River surged instantly; after the dikes broke, the floodwaters roared toward both banks.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The northwest terrain of Zhongzhou is complex, separated from the fertile heartland by the massive Qiling Mountain Range.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most residents of this half-state are peasants who till the land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The zombie horde brought by the demon cultists never truly reached here, but this Earth Dragon upheaval directly buried countless civilians beneath collapsed mountains and homes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Surveillance Division traveled day and night, arriving after two full days and nights to find endless ruins and wailing across the land.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>My lord…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Team One, Two, Three: gather local officials and government office runners to rescue civilians. Team Four: survey outward from the center, record damage. This Earth Dragon disaster is far stronger than we anticipated—compile the case files immediately and send them back to the Office.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As Mu Jing had said, the disaster in northwest Zhongzhou was far worse than their initial estimates, with an enormous impact zone.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even Qingzhou and Yunzhou suffered collapses stretching a thousand li.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Surveillance Division immediately mobilized, each unit fulfilling its assigned duties in the earthquake response.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their manpower was insufficient; facing such a vast disaster zone, they felt helpless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thus, the Surveillance Office sought aid from the Wan family, a century-old clan not far from the region.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet all Zhongzhou clans were now vying for the inheritance left by Li family’s downfall, and ignored the Surveillance Office’s request.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even so, the necessary work must still be done.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the Surveillance Office spent four days and nights drafting a survey report and sent it to Shengjing, detailing the disaster and the number of confirmed dead, requesting relief funds and additional personnel from Daya.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet for several consecutive days, Shengjing sent no reply.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Aftershocks continued; refugees fled in panic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mu Jing could not sit still, puzzled: why had the Office, usually so swift, remained silent?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his anxiety, he left the Surveillance Division to continue their work and galloped alone toward Shengjing; he passed his own home without entering and headed straight for the Surveillance Office.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Peng Dongyang was inside, hunched over his desk, yawning; dark circles under his eyes revealed he had not slept all day.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Mu Jing return, Peng Dongyang lifted his head, his eyes bloodshot.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Deputy Director!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mu Jing, you’re back.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mu Jing stared at him, agitated: “Why, after submitting the relief request for so long, have we received no funds, no reinforcements—not even a single message?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Peng Dongyang rose, his pale face etched with helplessness: “There was a reply—it’s just that something far worse has occurred.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Something worse? What could be worse?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Plague.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Peng Dongyang looked at him: “We received word two days ago—epidemics have broken out in southwest Youzhou and northern Qingzhou. Infection spreads rapidly; victims cough blood and die within seven days. Kuangcheng has already led a team there.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Upon hearing this, Mu Jing froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Earth Dragon upheaval had indeed caused countless deaths, with many still buried under rubble—relief was urgent.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But a contagious plague took higher priority than any other disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If mishandled, its consequences were unimaginable.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mu Jing suddenly understood why the Surveillance Office had been so slow to respond to the earthquake; he clenched his fists.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, Kuangcheng had already led a large force onto the road between Youzhou and Qingzhou.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From afar, countless bodies lay sprawled across the farmland.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A group of refugees, dragging families and belongings, trudged along the eastern side of the road’s drainage ditch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Even in flight, they dared not step on the road, remembering it was built by Immortals.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before they even met, the man in front, dressed in plain cloth, suddenly collapsed, spitting a mouthful of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instantly, the entire refugee group panicked and scattered in terror.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Team One and Two: block the refugees from fleeing. Team Three: dig trenches and burn the corpses. The rest, follow me forward.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At Kuangcheng’s command, Teams One and Two yanked their reins, turning to block the entire road, shouting for the refugees to halt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kuangcheng and his team pressed deeper, finding more and more fallen bodies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their skin flushed red, weak beyond measure, barely breathing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As they neared Qibao County, they saw more and more people—nearly packed shoulder to shoulder across the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Fever symptoms—external evil has entered the body. Death within seven days. The most severe of severe illnesses.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The physicians accompanying them paled at the hellish sight in the city.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Kuangcheng frowned: “Clear the prison cells in the county office. Bring in those with milder symptoms for observation. Give them the medicine we brought—especially the elixir originally crafted by Yu Danzong’s direct disciple.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yes, my lord.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Surveillance Office was well-trained and efficient.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The Qibao County office was quickly emptied; the ordinary prisoners were relocated elsewhere, replaced by infected with milder symptoms.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on their symptoms, they were given various existing antidotes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Five were given the elixir crafted by Yu Danzong’s direct disciple.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the same elixir once administered to the refugees including Qingwa after the Qiling incident; Yuanchen later refined the formula and left it behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though the Surveillance Office’s imitation lacked the immediate potency of Yuanchen’s original, it remained the best treatment for external evil invasion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet none expected that all who took any of the elixirs still coughed blood and died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Useless.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This plague was not the same as the one that struck refugees fleeing Qiling.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One of the accompanying physicians trembled: “My lord, what do we do now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Follow the original plan: block refugee movement, isolate a section for quarantine, burn all corpses on-site, test other medicines, and identify the source of infection.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Understood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guard your own safety…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>News of the Earth Dragon upheaval had reached Shengjing early, but the response was muted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet when word of the deadly plague arrived, the entire city erupted in uproar.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In teahouses and taverns, people whispered endlessly, recalling the plague that followed the Qiling incident—then, too, it had infected cultivators. Was this the same?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For days, the price of medicinal herbs in Shengjing skyrocketed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet since no cases had appeared in Shengjing, social gatherings continued unchanged.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Amid the murmurs, a guest seated in the teahouse suddenly felt parched, realizing he had sat for hours without tea.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Waiter! Waiter!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Coming… sir.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Where’s my tea? Is one silver tael just for sitting here?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>I’ll hurry and fetch it for you!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The flustered waiter rushed downstairs, only to find the shopkeeper gone from the counter; helplessly, he pulled aside the curtain and entered the tea room behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>To his surprise, the shopkeeper was not at the counter—he stood in the courtyard, alongside staff from other teahouses, all pale and anxious.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What… what’s going on?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We don’t know. It started this morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hurry! Go to the water shop—demand they send water immediately.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>We already sent someone—but the water shop is the same.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The waiter had meant to report the guest’s complaint, but as he stepped beside the shopkeeper, he froze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The wooden bucket just drawn from the well was full of water—but the water was an unnatural crimson, reeking of foul, sinister stench.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>When he peered down into the well, he saw only dark red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The teahouse owner immediately notified the proprietor, who ordered him to conceal the matter, claim the water was contaminated, refund the guests’ silver, and send them away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the secret could not be kept: besides the major rivers like Nujiang and Wujiang and all streams, nearly every well across Qingyun Realm had turned dark red.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most critically, the Water Conservancy Office soon submitted a report to Daya, instantly shaking Shengjing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>According to their observations, river levels were steadily dropping; at this rate, they would nearly dry up within half a year.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Panic had not yet fully spread when an even stranger event occurred.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seven days after the water turned red, a heavy snowfall blanketed Qingyun.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sudden, chilling cold spread rapidly across Qingyun’s surface, freezing the river and coating the earth in frost.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The key issue was that Qingyun had only just entered autumn; summer’s heat had not yet faded, making this sight incomprehensible.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Most critically, the violent plague, the drying up of water sources, and the spreading cold—any one of these, if allowed to continue, would be a catastrophic disaster.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the Heavenly Book Academy, in Jixiang Hall.\u003C\u002Fp>",1592,"2026-06-19T15:28:41.422Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","f971c394f28863e7e4b7bff08098bcd230d749d7fc1b442e95d8468ce2bcc07b","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-343","watching-the-immortals-fall-chapter-341",430,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fwatching-the-immortals-fall-cover.jpg"]