Chapter 326: Assimilation Disease
Professor Feng appeared to be suffering from dementia. He was mentally confused, squatting on the ground with his arms stretched out, flapping them up and down like a bird.
Xia Chao and Qiu Shi scrambled to call for an ambulance.
The ambulance was slow to arrive, so Jiang Li simply picked up Professor Feng and brought him to the largest hospital nearby.
The medical staff had seen many cases like Professor Feng’s and quickly lifted him onto a stretcher, sending him into the emergency room.
“This patient’s only in his fifties again?”
“Tell me about it. I read online that the age of onset is dropping. It’s not just our area—it’s happening all over the country.”
Two nurses whispered to each other as they followed the doctor into the ER.
“This kind of thing is common in your world?” Only now did Jiang Li notice that many patients in the hospital had symptoms like Professor Feng’s.
They all mumbled nonsense that no one could make sense of.
He’d picked up on it with his divine sense before but hadn’t paid much attention, thinking early-onset dementia was just more common in this world.
Now it seemed that wasn’t the case at all.
Xia Chao nodded. “Yeah. We call it ‘Assimilation Disease.’ It’s a condition that’s existed ever since the Beastmaster system was developed.”
“Contract beasts aren’t very intelligent. Their minds are muddled, and we can’t understand what they’re trying to say. After signing a contract, the beast constantly influences the Beastmaster’s brain.”
“At first, there’s hardly any impact. But over time, the influence grows. It’s like having another voice in your head—one that keeps repeating meaningless words.”
“Eventually, that voice completely takes over your mind, and the Beastmaster goes insane.”
“The instructors always emphasize treating contract beasts kindly, seeing them as friends, and trying to understand their language because doing so can delay the onset of Assimilation Disease.”
“Professor Feng’s condition is already in the late stage of Assimilation Disease. If it happens a few more times, he might go completely mad.” Qiu Shi was worried, and the excitement from learning cultivation had completely faded.
Professor Feng was a great teacher. Though strict, he often included little stories in his lectures, making class enjoyable—and he didn’t give much homework.
“Lately he’s been reminiscing about the past. I thought he was just recalling his glory days. I didn’t realize he was trying to organize his memories before losing his mind.”
They had noticed his odd behavior for a while but hadn’t taken it seriously.
After all, Professor Feng was only in his fifties—not yet at the typical onset age for Assimilation Disease.
“Looks like the disease is striking earlier now.” They had overheard the nurses’ conversation too.
“I remember Professor Feng specifically taught us that, two thousand years ago, people could live to one hundred and twenty without getting Assimilation Disease.”
“But as the Beastmaster system became more refined, we gained power to resist beasts, but the onset age kept dropping. From one hundred ten, to one hundred, to ninety… and now it’s hitting people in their fifties.”
Everyone was destined to get Assimilation Disease—some sooner, some later. But overall, the onset age was getting earlier.
And the Lingxi World had yet to find a good solution.
Jiang Li frowned. This was no minor issue. He couldn’t keep messing around with the master-servant contract anymore.
“You two stay here. I’m going to call an expert.”
Xia Chao and Qiu Shi looked at each other in confusion. An expert? This hospital already had many specialists on Assimilation Disease—some from the capital even came here to learn.
Where was Brother Jiang going to find an expert?
Jiang Li disappeared right in front of them, and Qiu Shi jumped in fright.
“Don’t worry. Standard procedure,” Xia Chao said calmly. He’d been flown into space by Jiang Li before—he’d seen some things. At this point, even if Jiang Li blew up a planet, he wouldn’t be surprised.
“What exactly did you summon?” Qiu Shi was sure that Brother Jiang wasn’t from their world.
“A god.”
…
“Old Bai, where’s that Dao Sect elder who specializes in contracts? I need to speak with him,” Jiang Li said. He had originally planned to take his time studying the master-servant contract, but after this incident, there was no time to waste.
The Dao of Contracts was an obscure cultivation path in the Nine Provinces, nearly extinct. Only the Dao Sect still preserved its teachings.
Now that the Dao of Contracts had seen a resurgence, spiritual treasure contracts were common across the Nine Provinces.
And the blueprint for those contracts came from that very Dao Sect elder who specialized in contract techniques.
“You’re looking for Elder Tang Xing? He’s on that mountain.” Bai Hongtu pointed the way, and Jiang Li turned to leave.
“Elder Tang Xing, are you there?”
Hearing the Human Sovereign’s voice, Elder Tang Xing quickly came out to greet him.
With the spread of spiritual treasure contracts, Elder Tang Xing’s status had risen significantly in the Nine Provinces—his treatment had jumped several tiers.
It was all thanks to Jiang Li’s “Dual Binding Method” for spiritual treasures: using law within the Great Zhou, and contracts beyond its borders.
Jiang Li also brought over the Brahma Tower to temporarily construct a spatial passage and transport Elder Tang Xing.
On the way, Jiang Li briefly explained the situation with the master-servant contract. Elder Tang Xing remained cautious and reserved judgment until he could examine it himself.
Professor Feng was still in the emergency room. Jiang Li and Elder Tang Xing concealed their presence and entered silently.
“This is the most troublesome type—soul-bound contract.”
“Let me examine the effects. If both parties agree, the contract can be formed.”
“It’s a master-servant contract. One is the master, the other the servant. The servant must help the master absorb spiritual energy from the air and channel it back.”
“The servant’s cultivation can never surpass the master’s.”
“The servant must obey all of the master’s commands.”
“Hmm… if the servant doesn’t understand the master, it will forcibly make the servant understand.”
“The contract is rooted deep in the soul and is passed down through bloodlines. The more ancestors of a servant who signed such contracts, the stronger their sense of servitude becomes—and the earlier they’ll demand forced understanding of the master’s will.”
“Looks like that’s the crux of the issue. Demonic beasts only develop intelligence at the Nascent Soul stage. Before that, they only speak basic beast-tongue. For humans who haven’t cultivated, understanding beast language is extremely difficult, causing the mind to assimilate and collapse.”
“To defend against beast attacks, everyone in Lingxi World became Beastmasters. Their ancestors were all Beastmasters too. Over generations, the force of the contract has only grown stronger, and the onset of Assimilation Disease keeps moving earlier.”
“In another thousand years, people might start getting it in their twenties or thirties. By then, the entire human race will be done for.”
Jiang Li now had a rough idea of the slow-acting poison the Outer Realm Demons had slipped into the Lingxi World.
It was the master-servant contract.
“Can the master-servant contract be broken?” Jiang Li knew he could break his contract with Xia Chao, but wasn’t sure about others.
“Master-servant contracts are tied to the soul. In theory, they’re extremely difficult to undo. But since you’re in the Great Ascension Stage, breaking one isn’t a problem. You have a ninety percent success rate.”
“But if the Human Sovereign tries to break every contract in the world, there’s a ten percent chance of failure—and the result of failure is death.”
“So that means ten percent of people would die from the attempt?”
“Yes.”