Chapter 49: Dean Li

The River God Spring roiled like boiling water, steam billowing, obscuring the sky and blocking the sun.

The once‑calm pool now churned as if a giant beast were stirring it, waves surging and emitting a deafening roar.

Black Fog spread from the water's depths, bearing a bone‑piercing chill that instantly enveloped the entire riverbank.

Murong Wan instinctively moved toward Jiangnan, her icy hand gripping his sleeve tightly, fingertips turning pale.

At that hair‑trigger moment, a familiar figure, like a sword cleaving chaos, slowly emerged from the thick fog.

"Teacher!"

Su Meiruo shouted with surprise, a tremor in her voice.

Li Dong also jerked his head up, hope flaring in his eyes.

"Dean Li!"

Dean Li, the elder they revered, had actually appeared here!

Jiangnan's gaze tightened slightly, his eyes landing on Dean Li.

Dean Li's face was gaunt, his eye sockets sunken, yet his eyes shone unusually bright, flickering with an unfathomable light.

He walked slowly before the crowd, his expression complex as he scanned them, finally fixing on Su Meiruo and Li Dong.

"You, leave."

His voice was low and hoarse, as if laden with endless fatigue.

"Leave this place; the farther, the better."

Su Meiruo and Li Dong froze at his words.

The surprise had not yet faded when doubt surged in their hearts.

"Teacher, what do you mean?"

Su Meiruo asked, puzzled, a hint of unease in her tone.

"This place is dangerous; it is not where you belong."

Dean Li repeated, his tone even more resolute.

"I… will stay here."

He turned his back to the crowd, his gaze fixed on the roiling River God Spring, eyes deep and resolute.

Su Meiruo felt as if she had fallen into an ice cave, a chill racing from her feet to the top of her head.

She had never seen Dean Li so indifferent, so resolute.

"Why?"

She asked in a trembling voice, a hint of sobbing in it.

"These are all my choices."

Dean Li spoke slowly, each word seeming to carry a thousand‑pound weight, striking the crowd's hearts.

"My… choice?"

Su Meiruo could not believe her ears; she could not understand why Dean Li would say such a thing.

"Smallpox Rash…"

She inhaled deeply, trying to calm herself.

"It was you… who released it?"

The question, like a sharp dagger, pierced the hearts of everyone present.

Dean Li was silent for a moment, then slowly nodded.

"It was me."

He admitted it, admitting this hair‑raising deed.

"But rest assured, I will produce an antidote; I will not endanger lives."

His tone remained calm, as if recounting something trivial.

Yet beneath that calm lay an even deeper madness.

Li Dong trembled all over, unable to accept the fact.

"Dean Li, why? Why did you do this? Why did you make Li Sisi become this ghastly sight?"

He roared, his voice filled with pain and despair.

"Why?"

Dean Li laughed, his laughter tinged with a hint of bleakness and helplessness.

"Because I… had no other choice. Moreover, you might not believe it, but Li Sisi… she did it voluntarily."

He turned, facing the crowd, his eyes flashing with madness.

"Now we have only this one path to take."

"You won't understand…"

At that moment, a cold voice drifted slowly from the River God Spring.

"Because this world needs a baptism."

Black Fog swirled, Li Sisi's figure reappeared before the crowd.

However, now her eyes were blood‑red, her face snarling, her whole body exuding a suffocating killing aura.

She slowly raised her hand, pointing at Dean Li.

"He, like me, is a person abandoned by this world."

"We, together, will save this world!"

Dean Li gave no rebuttal, merely standing there quietly,

Su Meiruo completely collapsed.

She couldn't understand why the teacher she revered had become like this.

"But, teacher, you could simply report to the higher authorities; why resort to such an extreme method?"

She choked back sobs, tears blurring her vision.

"Report?"

Dean Li seemed to have heard the world's biggest joke, laughing uproariously, as if he were delirious.

"Would reporting help? Those people only give perfunctory excuses and never care about the lives of the common folk!"

His voice was sharp and grating, echoing across the open riverbank, sending chills down one's spine.

"I'm fed up! Fed up with their indifference, fed up with their disregard!"

He snapped his head up, his eyes filled with venomous resentment and hatred.

"They've ostracized me, suppressed me, and even almost killed me!"

"This world is rotten through and through! It must be completely cleansed before it can be reborn!"

Li Sisi echoed, her voice brimming with madness.

"Exactly! They're a bunch of hypocrites, a pack of vampires!"

"They sit aloft, reveling in wealth and honor, yet turn a blind eye to our suffering!"

"We must make them pay!"

"We will make them know the taste of abandonment!"

Dean Li and Li Sisi, one a doctor driven mad by reality, the other a dead soul devoured by resentment.

They share similar fates and the same hatred, and eventually came together, intending to "save" the world in their own way.

Jiangnan has stood quietly beside them, watching everything, his gaze deep and unmoving.

He seemed both detached from the scene and yet perceiving everything.

Murong Wan clutched his sleeve tightly, her body trembling slightly.

She was frightened, but she believed even more that Jiangnan would find a way to stop it.

Li Dong was utterly hopeless.

He could not accept that his teacher and his sister had become like this.

He wanted to step forward to stop them, yet felt powerless.

River God Spring churned more violently, Black Fog spreading, covering the heavens and blotting out the sun.

Powerful surges of energy radiated from Dean Li and Li Sisi, pressing down so heavily that people could barely breathe.

A great battle was inevitable.

Jiangnan slowly lifted his head, his gaze falling on Dean Li and Li Sisi, a flash of cold light flickering in his eyes.

He stepped forward, his robes fluttering, an invisible aura emanating from him, instantly dispersing the surrounding Black Fog.

"You are wrong."

His voice was low and calm, yet carried an undeniable authority.

"This world doesn't need saving, only... change."

"And I am the one who will change the world."

Dean Li and Li Sisi simultaneously looked at Jiangnan, their eyes full of hostility and caution.

"Change?"

Li Sisi let out a cold laugh, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"On what grounds do you think you can change? Who do you think you are?"

"Me?"

Jiangnan's mouth twitched upward slightly, revealing a confident smile.

"I'm just a... passerby."