PGVCW 48

 

Playing God in Various Catastrophic Worlds

Chapter 48: The Experiment with the Exorcism Incantation

Regarding why the people of Blue Star remained untouched by the black mist, Xia Wang'an didn't believe it had anything to do with spiritual qi. Those wisps of black mist simply refused to approach their vicinity. Moreover, it wasn't just them; the amount of black mist clinging to the serfs wasn't particularly heavy either, whereas fighters like Carlo and his men acted essentially like walking air purifiers with every inhalation.

Even so, the serfs were physically frail, and even a minuscule amount of black mist was enough to erode their bodies. Cultivators subdued demons and exorcised evil; given how intense the lingering resentment of this black mist was even from afar, based on Xia Wang'an's experience, righteousness-infused spiritual qi should theoretically be capable of expelling evil qi. As for how she had acquired such experience in the first place...

"Eh, Wang'an, you actually have experience using righteousness to expel evil qi?" Cai Cai asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "You're so amazing!"

Xia Wang'an thoroughly enjoyed the flattery, doing her best to maintain a composed demeanor as she waved a hand dismissively, playing it off like it was nothing: "It's nothing much, really just a tiny, trivial bit of experience."

007 was equally proud of its host; if it possessed a tail, it would undoubtedly be wagging it frantically: [I remember! When the host was being cast out back then, that old Taoist priest's lines were so cool!]

Xia Wang'an beamed as well, her lips curling up as she joined in the nostalgic recollection: [Right? His lines were genuinely cool, though the actual effect was negligible—still, glowing with golden light while chanting looked pretty neat, too.]

The old Taoist priest had chanted incantations for ages, and the evil qi clinging to her had barely budged by a fraction. However, having spent a long stretch without encountering another living soul, Xia Wang'an had been quite delighted to finally run into a breathing human. Consequently, she had giggled cheerfully while circling the old priest like a playful sprite, even reaching out to try lifting his head just to test its texture. The poor man had been so terrified he fled in a dead sprint, shedding one of his shoes in the process.

Thinking back on it, she still felt a tinge of minor regret. [I actually wanted to chat with him, but alas, he was far too timid.]

Seeing Cai Cai's intense curiosity, Xia Wang'an shared this fond memory of "attempting to play happily with someone only for them to shyly sprint away."

Cai Cai immediately delivered her professional verdict: "He must have been socially anxious. I know some socially awkward people who simply despise chatting with others." "So that's how it was." Xia Wang'an experienced an epiphany.

Although she hadn't managed to strike up a conversation back then, Xia Wang'an had committed the old Taoist priest's incantation entirely to memory. She decided it was time to run a trial experiment.

As for the test subject...

Scanning the crowd of locals, Xia Wang'an pointed a finger: "Carlo." "Coming!"

Carlo, who was currently badgering his eldest brother for extra allowance money, instantly abandoned sibling diplomacy and trotted over with eager enthusiasm.

Xia Wang'an motioned for him to sit down, hovering her hand through the air just above the crown of his head. It wasn't that she feared a reflexive urge to snap his neck upon contact; rather, Carlo hadn't washed his hair, and she found it thoroughly repulsive.

"Heaven and Earth Xuanzong, the root of all qi."

It was worth noting that despite utilizing communication magic scrolls, the moment she began chanting the incantation, the words failed to undergo automatic translation into the tongue of the Maca Continent. Carlo looked slightly startled, but before he could voice a question, he discovered he was completely paralyzed. As if he could move—he was currently being treated as a malignant entity targeted for exorcism.

Xia Wang'an lowered her gaze slightly; although her memory wasn't infallible, whenever it came to esoteric techniques that enhanced her strength, she retained every syllable without a single error. As her chant echoed, the tranquil ground abruptly stirred with rising gales.

"Broadly cultivating myriad kalpas, proving my divine powers."

The semi-transparent spiritual qi whipped upward into a vortex, using Xia Wang'an as its anchor to sweep an invisible ripple outward from the ground up. The nearby grazing horses grew restless, uneasily churning the dirt with their hooves, while the knights caught wind of the anomaly and turned anxious gazes toward their location.

"Within and without the Three Realms, only the Dao stands supreme."

The winds intensified, whipping Xia Wang'an's garments into a continuous dance as she struck a sudden hand seal.

"The body harbors golden light, enveloping and protecting my form!"

A brilliant cascade of golden radiance abruptly erupted from Xia Wang'an's body. Wherever the golden light washed over, the black mist didn't merely dissipate—it transformed into a pure, immaculate white vapor that affectionately drifted over to Xia Wang'an's head, rubbing against it in gentle endearment. Carlo, sitting beneath her palm, felt his entire physique instantly purged of grime, his features suddenly taking on a remarkably refined, clear-cut glow.

Xia Wang'an slowly lowered her hand, feeling a mild ripple of astonishment herself. Was this technique seriously this overpowered? When she had watched that Taoist priest deploy it against her previously, it hadn't produced any noticeable effect. Could it be because she had infused it with actual spiritual qi?

Examining her palm and brushing the residual white mist above her head, Xia Wang'an felt as though a brand-new gateway to the world had swung open.

"I—I'm not hurting anymore..." Carlo gasped. He was even more astounded than Xia Wang'an, dumbfounded to discover that the chronic, omnipresent aches embedded deep within his bones had completely vanished.

Every single seasoned warrior was intimately familiar with this localized physical torment; even his father suffered from relentless body-wide agony that flared up with advancing age. In his youth, Carlo had wept and wailed, refusing to pursue the path of a warrior, but as he matured and realized that ordinary civilians who shunned combat were equally susceptible to debilitating ailments, he ceased his protests [100]. On the Maca Continent, children learned early on that pain and sickness accompanied one's existence from cradle to grave [101]. Yet right now, that agonizing torment had been utterly eradicated [101].

Carlo gazed at Xia Wang'an with starry-eyed reverence [101]. If his previous motivations had amounted to mere political opportunism, right now—without exaggeration—he felt an impulse to construct a shrine and worship her [101].

"Your Highness! Are you perhaps a divine physician?!"

Xia Wang'an adored the warmth and adoration brimming within his gaze, and lifted her chin with a touch of playful haughtiness: "A physician? What's that?"

Carlo didn't think much of it; the Maca Continent housed countless nations and populations, each harboring distinct nomenclatures for medical practitioners, so variations were entirely natural. He launched into an exhaustive explanation.

Xia Wang'an finally grasped the situation. The "physicians" she had heard mentioned earlier didn't even treat conventional ailments. Human illnesses across the Maca Continent were broadly bifurcated into two categories: ordinary plagues such as common colds, tuberculosis, and infectious sicknesses were traditionally viewed as divine decrees—if the gods willed illness upon an individual, sickness followed, meaning those who perished from disease had simply been summoned to the divine realm and required no medical intervention.

The second category, however, applied to afflictions like Carlo's: individuals who appeared externally robust yet suffered from relentless, progressive physical deterioration that worsened with age, culminating in agonizing suffering and inevitable death before their thirtieth birthday. This chronic musculoskeletal agony was an exclusive affliction reserved for combatants. Conversely, mages suffered from an entirely separate curse characterized by mental fragility and migraines. It remained debatable which of the two torments was more excruciating.

Specialized healers capable of temporarily subduing these specific combat-related maladies were exceedingly scarce and aristocratic, tethered exclusively to the administrative apparatus of the royal Miki churches, making them virtually impossible for common folk to catch a glimpse of.

Having wrapped up his speech, Carlo stared at Xia Wang'an with sparkling, expectant eyes. "Your Highness, might you be willing to treat my father, as well as my brothers and sister?"

He gingerly retrieved the magic stone Xia Wang'an had previously gifted him, wincing in internal agony before steeling his resolve to surrender it: "I shall provide appropriate compensation."

Xia Wang'an fixed her eyes on the gemstone that had left her possession mere hours ago. Its pristine exterior was now smeared with a layer of grime, presumably acquired while Carlo clutched it against the dirt beneath a tree that afternoon. She firmly declined to repossess such a soiled trinket.

"Go fetch them here."

Finding a fresh sense of novelty in executing her newly tested incantation, Xia Wang'an had no objections to casting it a few more times.

Capturing the Black Miasma

Once an ecstatic Carlo sprinted off to round up his family, Xia Wang'an pivoted to address Yuan Ning: "Find a container. I want to test whether I can bottle up these pestilential black vapours causing their illnesses."

Black vapours? What black vapours?

Seeing Yuan Ning and Cai Cai blink in utter bewilderment, Xia Wang'an enthusiastically beckoned them closer. Hovering a faint trace of spiritual qi across her fingertips, she swiped lightly across both of their eyes.

The two blinked repeatedly, staring blankly ahead—they couldn't perceive a single thing.

Xia Wang'an: "......" Isn't that precisely how it was portrayed on television?! Did she need to smear fresh ox tears across their eyelids instead?

Turning abruptly, she issued marching orders for the knights to capture an ox. Far out in the distant paddies, an old ox diligently plowing the earth paused mid-stride: Eh?

Yuan Ning, meanwhile, retrieved an optical scanner and swept the immediate perimeter: "There is indeed an anomalous energy signature permeating the surrounding atmosphere—somewhat analogous to environmental pollutants, yet distinct."

Cai Cai rummaged through her tactical gear and produced a standard ration tin can—yes, headquarters had even mastered canning tech, terrified that operatives might suffer nutritional deficits across alternate dimensions. "Wang'an, try using this!"

Accepting the canister, Xia Wang'an extended her hand and executed a casual grasping motion, effortlessly snagging swirling tendrils of black miasma out of thin air. Even she harbored mild surprise at the ease of the procedure.

[Is it really this effortless?] She had anticipated far more resistance.

007 responded with absolute serenity: [Our Host is universally adored by mortals and flora alike; perhaps the miasma simply found her irresistible.]

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