Story 7 - To Kill Demonic Vines (11?)
As I left the clinic, I sent a telepathic ssage to all the sect cultivators within the city. ::There is an issue with the plague. Finish your batch of pills, then stop. Everyone should be prepared to either fight or escape.::
::Senior Lin! What’s going on?:: Incapacitating Wind asked.
::The prescription I created all stopped working as well as it originally had.::
::You did take only a few hours to create the new recipe. Couldn’t it be that your pills just weren’t that good?:: Clear Eyes Mad Tongue said.
I glared. Okay, that’s it! As soon as I reached Foundation Establishnt, the first thing I’d do was kick this guy’s ass!
::Calm down, Senior Lin,:: Salamander soothed. ::I’ll kick his ass when this mission is over so you don’t have to.::
Ah, my ntor always could read my mind.
::Sword Master! Why?::
::If you knew that what you said was wrong then I wouldn’t have to.::
Alchemist Incapacitating Wind piped in, ::Then, are we informing Peak Elder Grass Sprout?::
I awkwardly cleared my throat. Spending so much ti as an Immortal Ascension stage practitioner, it was a habit of mine to do what I wanted. Oftentis, the little sect disciples under had to play catch up as I left them all in the dust.
It was hard to break a habit ford over hundreds of years.
But I couldn’t do that anymore.
After rubbing my nose, I replied, ::Of course!::
I took out the mirror the sect allowed us to borrow. This was an expensive spiritual tool that only worked with its twin.
I activated it by sending in a strand of Qi.
The glass surface rippled and the slightly annoyed face of a beautiful woman appeared.
“Peak Elder, we have an issue.”
“Great Martial Aunt, what happened?” The voice coming from the mirror sounded tinny.
“A demonic cultivator is involved with the plague. They’re sohow controlling it.”
“Do you have evidence?”
Sword Master Salamander piped up, “We haven’t found any.”
Peak Elder Grass Sprout looked skeptical.
“Not Yet, anyway. But the pills I made suddenly aren’t as effective anymore—”
“—Senior, you might be a genius, but you’re still too young. It’s natural for pills to decrease in effectiveness.”
Excuse . Did she just interrupt ?
I wasn’t a kid! Sure, I looked like one, but I was her goddamn Great Martial Aunt.
I let out a breath and calmly said, “Peak Elder, I know what that looks like. This, however, is an extre increase in vine activity within the body. The only way that would be possible is if a demonic cultivator controlling the plague wills it.”
“That’s ridiculous. Why would they co out of hiding just for a little more energy?”
“If they’re at a critical point in their cultivation and need the energy…”
Her face turned grim. “Then it would be worth the risk to gain that energy all at once.”
“Peak Elder, I don’t know if the demonic cultivator is in this area or in another city, but I have a plan to search for them here. In the anti, please make your way over to this country. We might need your help soti in the next few hours.”
“Yes, Great Martial Aunt.”
I shoved the mirror back into its bag and threw it into my ring.
“Senior Lin,” Salamander said, “where are we going to search? We’ve already looked everywhere.”
“We’re going to check the one place we haven’t.”
“And that is?”
“The bodies that have been buried for a few days.”
There was a long horrified pause as everyone stared at like I’d suggested sothing so terrible that they couldn’t believe it ca from my mouth.
“What?” Oh right.
I smirked. “Do you think I’ll ask them to exhu the body? I may be a Qi Condensation Practitioner, but I’ve already trained my divine sense.”
“That is very impressive, Senior Lin.”
***
Not wasting any more ti, we used flying swords to reach the cetery in minutes. Then we rushed to the guy in charge. One of his workers brought us to a week-old grave.
“And you’re sure this person died from the plague?” I asked the gravedigger.
He nodded. “He was a holess wanderer who’d been staying in our city for the past couple of months. I’d seen him around and talked to him once. He didn’t have any family left, but I knew him, so I helped out as much as I could.”
I used my divine sense at Golden Core, the maximum I could without breaking the seal on my soul, and pierced the earth. Then I examined the body.
There was significant decomposition. Far more than I would expect.
There were obvious signs that the plague had once infected the body.
However, what I found the most disturbing was the fact that those glowing pink vines that I knew so well, were completely gone.
There weren’t even dried up pieces hidden in the dirt sowhere.
Wait! They had to have left so traces from where they were taken. Where the fuck were they?!
Then I sensed it. A disturbance in the ground. As if sothing small and thin had crawled through it, leaving that area loose.
“Sword Master Salamander! Do you see this?”
He nodded.
I turned to the gravedigger. “Is there another grave nearby?”
“Yes, immortal!” He brought us to another grave a few places down.
“This one has only been here a few days.”
When I sent my divine sense in to examine the body, I noticed the exact sa thing. This one had also been disturbed.
“Sword Master Salamander, could you follow the trail from that body while I’ll follow this one?”
“Only if you don’t go too far.”
Little Spring tugged on my sleeve. “What’s going on?”
I patted his head. “There is evidence that the grave was tampered with... from underground.”
Everyone aside from Salamander appeared disgusted and slightly horrified.
Frankly, because of how many Demonic cultivators he’d had to kill, the Sword Master was probably numb to this level of fucked up.
Clear Eyes Mad Tongue stared at the ground. Sweat beaded on his brow. Then he eyed . “‘Best-Alchemist-Under-the-Heavens Lin.”
Was he being serious right now, at this point in ti?
“I’m not seeing anything to indicate that soone ssed with this grave, and I have a higher cultivation than you.”
I rolled my eyes. “You realize that there is a reason you call ‘Senior,’ right? It’s not just for show.”
“I’ve never seen a Qi Condensation Cultivator who had a divine sense as strong as you.”
The teen really had clear eyes, huh? I couldn’t let him continue down this path or the observant fucker might actually figure it out. “Well, you’ve never t a cultivator who spoke with an immortal, either, have you?”
His mouth opened like he was going to say sothing, then he just shut it.
He could be taught!
Or maybe this was closer to shocking him into silence? Either way, I’d rember it for next ti.
***
I followed the winding underground trail on my end while Salamander observed his.
Mine converged with several other trails.
While I didn’t follow those to their origin, it was pretty easy to figure out where they originally ca from.
Then, right after we hit the tree line of a nearby wooded area, our two paths t up.
This was about a mile long stretch of trees that separated the cetery and the city walls.
Frankly, this direction made consider that the Demonic cultivator could be walking the streets sowhere. However, I’d need more proof. From here, he could have gone anywhere.
Making assumptions at this point could get people killed.
We reached a small hole in the ground that looked like a rabbit had dug it.
“This is where it ends.”
I didn’t have to focus my senses through solid earth, so I spread out my divine sense, searching for any other clue that a demonic cultivator had used this hole to get to the bodies.
Considering the size of the trail and this channel, it was possible that we were dealing with a snake-type spiritual beast. One that was either a contracted pet or the spiritual beast themselves.
It was rare for one to use demonic cultivation, but it wasn’t entirely unheard of.
And if we were dealing with a snake, then that could also explain how they could hide their traces from so many people.
A snake could shrink down and use its spiritual energy to dig through the ground. Then they could throw the vines into a spatial bag.
Once they reached the correct amount of life essence to break through, they could find soplace secluded and no one would be the wiser... if they hadn’t sped up the disease.
Honestly, if they hadn’t given up the ga, I would have been impressed at how they set this whole situation up.
They had left so few traces after digging through the ground that it almost seed like the vines got up and walked away all by themselves.
Of course, for sothing like that to happen, it would consu their stored life energy. Frankly, that would be a waste. Any sensible demonic cultivator wouldn’t do that.
Unless they could gather a bunch together and use the power of one of them to—
A glowing pink blur rose from the topsoil near the hole and darted into the forest.
Motherfucker!
Two more flashes of pink rolled past trees and darted toward us. My cultivation was just barely good enough to make out their spherical, tumbleweed-looking asses.
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