I started with the most powerful move I could currently use. “Thousand Cuts!”

A thousand thin blades of Qi struck the vine demon and tore up part of its wing and skeleton-like body. Pink debris sprayed the forest behind the demonic construct.

Unfortunately, my attack could only do so much. I was still merely at the peak of Qi Condensation while the plant wyvern was created by a cultivator of unknown strength.

I’d barely taken out a third of the thing.

Mad Tongue’s slightly wide eyes darted to me. Shocked? He hadn’t seen anything yet.

Of course, at that point, the fucking demonic construct regrew the vines it had lost. It was as if my attack hadn’t hurt it at all.

Sword Master Salamander, who had been protecting us the whole time, called back, “Junior Clear Eyes Mad Tongue. Do you feel like taking this one on too?”

The teen grinned. “You keep it distracted, Sword Master, so I can find its weak points. If we encounter more of these, I don’t want to have to brute force them into dying every time.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll distract it and make sure the little seniors are protected.”

Little Spring pulled on my sleeve. “Are we really going to encounter more of these?”

We jumped back to avoid its wing attack.

“It depends on how strong of an opponent we’re up against. If it’s only one of these things, then we can probably take care of that demonic cultivator all by ourselves.”

“And if there’s more?”

“If there are a few more...” I did some estimations. “We could be up against a Golden Core equivalent demonic cultivator.”

Clear Eyes drew its focus by attacking it first on its wings, then on its mask. He ran around the monster, sending sharp pokes of sword Qi at it.

Once it started to attack the teen in earnest, Salamander sent several slashes at it to keep it contained and distracted. This allowed the teen a chance to study it.

“And if there’s a large amount of them?” Little Spring’s gaze traveled to the base of the construct where the vines’ roots were buried. His eyes narrowed.

Good. The kid noticed.

I showed him a grim expression. “Do you mean a few hundred of these things?”

He nodded.

“Then we’ll be facing someone at the Nascent Soul level. If that’s the case, then we’d need to rely on Elder Grass Sprout.”

“Who is on her way.”

“But there’s no telling how long it will take her to get here. It could be in a few hours or half a day.”

“Sword Master Salamander can’t take care of a Nascent Soul Cultivator?”

“See how he’s easily protecting us while allowing Clear Eyes to make move after move on this guy?”

Just then, a root exploded from the ground in front of us. Salamander cut it off immediately. He sent another blade of sword Qi down into the dirt.

Little Spring jumped back, then cleared his throat. “Yes.”

“That’s because he is very strong for his realm. So strong that he could probably take on a Nascent Soul practitioner for several moves, and possibly kill them if he’s fast enough and his opponent is a new Nascent soul. But in the end, even he wouldn’t be able to last for a prolonged battle. The disparity between Nascent Soul and Golden Core is like the difference between the heavens and the earth.”

The kid thought hard about that, so I paid extra careful attention to our surroundings. Then he lifted his head. “You’re calm.”

::Well, we ‌have an escape route if things go bad, don’t we?::

::Of course!::

::Never forget about your space. It could save your life, especially now that it has a new function. That said, you won’t be faster than a Nascent Soul practitioner. The best way to escape them would be to get them talking. Then vanish during their monologue while they think you’re trapped.::

Little Spring’s eyes glittered. ::I’ll remember your advice, Sister Lin::

“Have you figured it out yet?” I called to Mad Tongue.

He dodged a swipe from the wyvern’s wing. “Almost!” he yelled.

Using a new ploy, the demonic vine monster sent several vines whipping toward us.

Salamander used his incredible control over his sword Qi to cut off any tendril that neared us.

Ah, it was so good to work with competent people again.

Honestly, I wanted to give the teen a hint about the monster’s weak point, but he looked so excited to figure it out on his own that I just had to let him do it.

“There!” Clear Eyes Mad Tongue crazily swung his sword towards the ground and sent a blast of sword Qi into it and over to the root system of the vine wyvern.

The demonic vines writhed.

Then, with a loud crash, they collapsed in a heap. It lost its pink glow, shriveled a bit, and turned brown.

Now that the thing was dead. It looked a lot like a fire hazard.

“Congratulations on finding the weak point!”

I probably sounded ‌condescending because he replied, “As if you would have figured it out any sooner.”

My lips twitched. “Actually, I found it soon after my initial attack failed, but I thought you wanted to practice, so I didn’t tell you.”

Little Spring nodded. “I also saw it shortly after my sister’s first attack.”

Looking as if he’d been betrayed, Clear Eyes Mad Tongue looked to Salamander.

The Sword Master shrugged, “You mentioned on the flight over here that you hoped we could get into a good fight. Wasn’t this what you wanted?”

“You mean I was the last one to figure it out?!”

I cleared my throat. “The thing is,” I said, “while we were all distracted by this, the demonic cultivator was likely nearby collecting his vines. We probably lost him.”

That startled everyone, even Salamander.

“What makes you say that, little Senior Lin?”

“I didn’t realize this myself until it was already too late.” I pointed to the mass of dead vines in front of us. “But if they’re wasting this much energy activating a trap that even I would be able to kill off given enough time, then they were probably nearby and used this to distract us.”

Everyone looked grim.

“Don’t beat yourself up over this. We’re dealing with an extremely intelligent demonic cultivator. One who is able to use tactics successfully and divert their enemies.”

One who, during my last life, collected a shit ton of energy from this damn plague with no one noticing. Then they managed to hide.

In all likelihood, they were probably one of the stronger demonic cultivators who took part in the wars.

Of course, now we’d discovered their existence. Unfortunately, we also did not know where they were. And they would likely use that against us.

“So, what do we do next?”

Everyone looked at me.

I grimaced. “I have some suspicions about what we should do. But first, Clear Eyes Mad Tongue, I want you to take Little Spring and go back to our residence as soon as possible.”

“No!” Little Spring said. “I’ll stay with you.”

I smiled and smoothed his hair back. “Relax. I’m not doing anything dangerous. I just need to meet with the physicians in the clinic to confirm something. Besides, Sword Master Salamander will be there to protect me.”

The brat looked even more worried. What? Was he thinking too much again? Whatever. There was no time to talk things out. Not when the plague might turn into a bunch of vine monsters at any moment.

Frankly, I hoped I was wrong about the guess I had. “I’ll need you and the other alchemists to create a few trick pills that might work against the Demonic Vines, just to be on the safe side.”

“Trick pills?”

“I’ll send everyone the recipes for it on the way. We’ll turn the cure for the plague into a weapon against it!” Muahahahaha!

***

Because we weren’t far from the city, it didn’t take Salamander and I long to reach the clinic. We found Xiang You, sitting in his personal office at a writing table.

“Head Physician, we need to talk.”

He stood up and bowed. “Yes, Alchemist Lin?”

“If the patients’ vines start wiggling, I want you to give them a Fairy Lin’s Demonic Vine Killer Dan.”

His eyes widened in alarm. “Wiggling?”

“There is a slight chance that the vines will try to break out of the bodies of the infected, completely killing them.”

His mouth dropped in horror.

“Of course, this is only a guess of what might happen. We’ll have to see for ourselves if it actually does.”

He nodded. “Are you positive that they can have more than one a day?”

I grimaced. “Normally I’d say no since it will only decrease the effectiveness of the pill faster, but this is a different matter. We’re trying to save lives here. However, make a note that if they survive, then they’ll need to take it for at least four more days. More if necessary.”

“Of course!” His black eyes softened. “Alchemist Lin is kind.”

Hah! Kind? “Not at all.” I just wasn’t a complete asshole.

“Is that everything?” His hands shook, and his gaze darted to the door behind me. It made him look like he wanted to run out and prepare for the worst.

I didn’t blame him.

Unfortunately for him, it was time to discuss my main reason for visiting here.

Of course, I could always be wrong about this. But I doubted it.

Out of everything I’d encountered so far, this was the one thing that didn’t make sense.

“No. I have a few questions about a patient of yours.”

He looked confused and shook his head. “I prefer to keep my patient’s information private.”

“This is absolutely necessary.”

His jaw firmed. I’d avoided using my divine sense to coerce him because I respected his professionalism so far, but I was seriously considering it at this point.

“Head Physician,” Salamander spoke up. “If Senior Lin says that, this information is critical. Then it must be important.”

He still appeared hesitant.

“Do you want to put the entire city, and the whole empire, in danger just to preserve someone’s secret?”

“First, tell me who the patient is.”

***

After I received my answer from Head Physician Xiang You, I stormed out of the clinic.

Then, because I wanted all the backup I could get, I had us stop by our courtyard to grab Clear Eyes Mad Tongue and Little Spring. The kid had already created one batch of the trick pills all on his own!

I knew he could do it.

He looked up at me with bright eyes as he handed me the bottle.

If we were alone, I would have had him give me a fist bump. Since we were in a hurry, I could only smile at him and tell him, “Good work. Now, let’s go! The more time we waste, the greater the possibility that the demonic cultivator will get away from us. That practitioner is slippery, so this might be our only chance to stop him.”

Of course, even if we did kill him, it wouldn’t magically end the plague. It would just prevent it from getting worse.

After a brief pulse of divine sense, I found the maid, Hu Xiaofan, who escorted us to our temporary residences.

She folded laundry outside next to a few other maids who were helping her. The younger maid said something. It must have been a juicy piece of gossip, because they laughed.

Then one of them saw us striding toward them and sobered up.

“Immortals!” She set down the tunic she was folding and bowed deeply. “How can this servant help you?”

I chuckled grimly and waved to the other maids to leave.

As soon as the two removed themselves from eavesdropping distance, I said, “Maid Xiaofan, I know you’re responsible for spreading the demonic vine plague in this city.”

Her expression didn’t change but her hands shook. “Excuse me, Little Fairy, but how could a humble maid like me be responsible for spreading something as large as the plague? As far as I’ve heard, we’re all unaware of how it’s spread from person to person.”

“I don’t have to know how it’s spread to know you’re responsible for it.”

She gave me a skeptical look. The woman was cool as a goddamn cucumber. But she clasped her hands tightly together.

“I’ve already figured out that this plague isn’t a plague at all. It’s a created demonic parasite.”

“Immortal, I’m still unsure what this has to do with this humble maid.”

“The reason it confused me was because it also has some elements of a disease as well. But that’s not what’s important here...”

“You’re scaring me. I don’t want to be falsely accused of something I didn’t do.”

“Your son came by the clinic a few days ago. He gets checkups regularly. Considering his condition, that makes sense.”

Her lips twitched. “I’m not sure I understand. He’s been cured and only goes there for a checkup to make sure he doesn’t have a relapse.”

“The thing is, Maid Xiaofan, demonic cultivators always have a good reason to start down their crooked path.”

Her eyes darted to where her fellow maids exited.

“And sometimes those reasons are very-very good. Very understandable.”

Then she turned to Salamander behind me and looked pleading and a bit exasperated, as if she were dealing with someone not right in the head. What, did she think she’d find any help there?

“For example,” I continued, “some demonic cultivators start down their path to get revenge. For others, their goal starts off being very noble. They want to protect themselves and their family from someone trying to harm them. Then there are the ones who want to gain an impossible cure for an impossible disease. All so a beloved child can live a little longer.”

She laughed. It didn’t reach her eyes.

“Immortal, I’m not a demonic cultivator.”

“Not yet, but aren’t you already helping one?”

Her gaze hardened. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. And I have work that I need to do.”

“All in exchange for a cure for your son’s illness. Something so rare that there is no medicine for it.”

“My son is perfectly fine now.”

I chuckled darkly.

“He’s healthy and he’s going to grow up to become an official!”

“Once that demonic cultivator stops spending energy to keep your child alive, he’ll die before he even has the chance to do anything.”

Her jaw tightened.

“However, if you help us locate them, I will cure him.”