When did the affliction begin?

The first thing Mo Hua thought of was the golden tricolor carp.

"After eating the fish and drinking the soup, could it be that Evil Thoughts from the River God invaded my Sea of Consciousness?"

Mo Hua's thoughts fluttered, and he suddenly remembered something, his heart tightening.

Yu Er!

Yu Er had also eaten the golden tricolor carp just like him. If his Sea of Consciousness harbored the Evil God's Evil Thoughts, then Yu Er's Sea of Consciousness must have been tainted as well.

It was deep into the night when Mo Hua, without a second thought, got up and went over to the adjoining room. Before he could knock, the door was already open.

Wenren Wei stood at the entrance, his expression calm but with a hint of surprise.

"Young Master Mo?"

Mo Hua promptly said, "I came to check on Yu Er."

Wenren Wei looked puzzled, but seeing Mo Hua's anxious expression, he didn't dare to relax and quickly invited Mo Hua inside.

Upon entering, Mo Hua passed through layers of exquisite and elegant screens and decorations rich in childlike charm before arriving at the inner bedroom.

There, Yu Er lay on the bed, drooling slightly, sound asleep in a sprawled position...

He was sleeping soundly, his Divine Sense stable, showing no signs of disturbance.

Mo Hua's pupils narrowed slightly as he released his Divine Sense, carefully examining several times, ensuring again and again that no Evil Spirit clung to Yu Er before he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

But Mo Hua's brows furrowed slightly.

"Yu Er is alright..."

"Young Master Mo?" Wenren Wei said softly, "Is something wrong with Young Master Yu?"

Mo Hua snapped out of his trance, shook his head, and replied, "It's nothing, I was just overly concerned."

Wenren Wei also relaxed, his brows smoothing as he said earnestly,

"Thank you for your concern, Young Master."

Mo Hua smiled, not wanting to disturb Yu Er's sleep anymore, and returned to his own room to ponder at the table.

It was late, but Mo Hua felt not a hint of sleepiness, his mind fraught with complex thoughts.

"I ate the meat of the golden tricolor carp and drank the soup, so did Yu Er, but nothing happened to him..."

"That means, the tricolor carp is not the issue."

"If it isn't the tricolor carp, then what could the problem be..."

Mo Hua furrowed his brows, recalling everything that had happened recently in detail.

From tracking the Crossing River Dragon, to entering the small fishing village, the blood mist, Old Yu, the Wang family's cultivator, and finally, leaving the small fishing village with the basket containing the tricolor carp...

If the influence was visual, he should have noticed the Evil Thoughts.

If not visual, then it had to be something smelled or eaten...

And it was something different from what Yu Er had consumed...

"If not the tricolor carp, then it could be..."

Mo Hua thought for a moment, his pupils constricting, "Old Yu's fish soup?"

These past few days, only this fish soup was consumed by him and not by Yu Er.

Mo Hua's brow furrowed.

Did he become contaminated by the Evil God after partaking in a meal and drinking Old Yu's fish soup?

But why?

Why would there be a problem with a pot of fish soup?

Mo Hua was perplexed.

At that moment, a hint of red suddenly surfaced in his mind.

Mo Hua was taken aback.

He recalled next to Old Yu's fish tank of silver-scaled fish was another small tank, sealed on top, obscuring the contents, revealing only a faint redness.

According to Old Yu, it housed a type of red carp called "Chishui" which couldn't be exposed to light.

Upon closer thought, Mo Hua realized that this so-called "Chishui Carp" bore a strikingly similar aura to the blood-colored little fish that had invaded his Sea of Consciousness.

Old Yu...

Mo Hua's gaze hardened slightly.

"It seems I need to make another trip to the small fishing village when I have the chance..."

If there was something wrong with Old Yu's fish soup, then possibly everyone in the entire small fishing village, all the Fish Cultivators, could already be subtly contaminated by the Evil God.

It's just that no one had realized it yet.

The hardships of the Fish Cultivators were the fertile soil of the Evil God...

Mo Hua's gaze shifted slightly, and he suddenly realized that the corners of his eyes were dry, seemingly still bearing traces of recent tears.

Scene after scene from his dream reemerged in his mind.

The joys and sorrows of partings, the boundaries between life and death, the struggles to make a living, the despair of powerlessness, and the pain of being unable to stay with loved ones despite mutual affection...

All intertwined in Mo Hua's heart once again.

Mo Hua heaved a deep sigh.

It was only a dream of his own, but perhaps, it represented the realities of countless others' lives...

...

Gu Changhuai had sent people to watch over the small fishing village, but after several days, there was no sign of the "Crossing River Dragon."

So, a few days later, on his day off, Mo Hua couldn't wait any longer and made another trip to the small fishing village.

It was noontime, the sunlight was bright, and the Fish Cultivators were bustling around the village.

From a distance, everything seemed vibrant and there was nothing out of the ordinary.

But Mo Hua now knew that things were not as simple as they appeared.

He had drunk a sip of fish soup in the small fishing village, and his Sea of Consciousness had been invaded by the Evil God's Evil Thoughts.

Therefore, it was likely that the majority of the cultivators in the village had blood-colored little fish in their Sea of Consciousness.

Others' Divine Senses were sealed in their Sea of Consciousness.

Mo Hua could not enter others' Sea of Consciousness and naturally couldn't see what was inside their Sea of Consciousness.

He could only search for subtle signs through surface appearances...

Mo Hua's pupils narrowed slightly, a flash of golden light in his eyes, as he released his Divine Sense and began to scrutinize the small fishing village. It was only then that he discovered things that he had previously overlooked.

The fishermen in the village, despite their hard work and dedication, showed occasional moments of vacancy and a corpse-like numbness in their eyes.

These appeared to be signs that their Divine Sense was being consumed...

Mo Hua also saw Old Yu.

Old Yu was the same, occasionally showing that vacant and numb look in his gaze, but he seemed much healthier.

It seemed that with the Spirit Stone, he could send his two grandsons to a Sect, securing a better future and no longer suffer in poverty. He appeared rejuvenated with a returning glow as if lit from within, his eyes shining with vitality.

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