I crossed my arms in front of my chest and raised my chin at the adorable brat.

“I lived over 1000 years in my past life, and in all that time I didn’t have a special space like this. I can survive without it. And, considering how long it took to upgrade, I think that relying on it too much will get us in trouble.”

He swallowed. “Whether you need it or not, it’s still useful! Not using a tool just because you might rely on it too much is a terrible excuse.”

He had a point there, but I still wasn’t convinced that bringing him just to have access to his space was a good idea. Frankly, I didn’t think he could say anything to convince me to take him.

He tugged at my sleeve and looked at me with those adorable eyes. Ha! Did he think this cuteness attack would help his cause?

“Sister Lin, you’re doing alchemy on this mission. You’ll definitely need my help.”

Wait a second.

He pointed his thumb at his chest and smiled proudly. “You trained me to assist you. If you run into an issue and need to concoct a more advanced pill, then I’ll have to be there so I can help. Wouldn’t it be a bad idea to go on this mission without me?”

This fucking kid!

“It’s not like you can rely on anyone else to help you out, either. They don’t know your methods like I do.”

Why did I feel like I’d just been stabbed in the back by my past self?

And where did he learn to argue so well?

If he stayed here, then he’d be relatively safe. But he wanted to go so badly that he found the one reason I would accept. This little brat!

“Fine. I’ll take you with me!”

His eyes shimmered with excitement. “Thank you!”

Then he swiftly hugged me and ran off to start preparing.

The tiny spectral dragon held up a claw and wrote in midair with a golden shimmering spiritual energy:

“Little Spring, 1

Fairy Lin, 0”

Oh. Between me and this dragon, it was on!

Treat this floating noodle like a respected old spirit? Ha! From now on, it would have to earn that respect.

***

Little Spring and I convinced Unyielding to escort us to Majestic Sword Peak’s teleport platform area.

Because teleportation was so expensive and posed an enormous security risk, it was in a highly restricted section of the peak, protected by an extensive barrier that could double as a slaughter formation in the right circumstances. For example, if an enemy used a platform to bring in a small team of Nascent Soul cultivators. The barrier would keep them trapped inside... then one of the several guards could activate the slaughter formation, making Nascent Soul Soup... which sounded like the worst tasting soup ever.

Basically, they took the security seriously around here. Even though we arrived with the Sect Leader’s inheriting disciple, we still had to go through multiple quick checks to prove that we were expected at the teleportation platforms.

The only consolation was that, unlike the TSA from my past-past life, these guards worked very swiftly since they just had to scan each person with divine sense after checking that they had a reason to be there.

At the very least, I didn’t even have to take off my cute little slippers.

When we reached the teleportation platform, a small crowd of sword cultivators who sent out a loud chorus of, “Great Martial Aunt! Great Martial Uncle!”

Little Spring’s eyes went wide.

Well, we had mostly been cooped up in our courtyard training for the past few months, so the kid wouldn’t have been exposed to this kind of proper greeting.

Now that I counted just the people who were here, there were a lot of cultivators leaving on this mission. Well, they would be split between five cities, so it wasn’t as much as it looked.

From the arrangements we made during our meeting, there would be one sword cultivator for each alchemist, and around 10-14 disciples per team.

The alchemists going to the two devastated areas would mostly be focused on research — trying to find out what originally caused the plague and how it spread. And once I released my cure to them, they would produce the pills and give them out to those few infected who were still alive.

A familiar face, though much younger than I’d last seen, walked toward me with a gentle smile. He was also missing a nasty scar on his left jaw. Even after he went through a bodily rebirth he’d kept it to remind himself of a mistake he’d once made but never spoke to me about.

I couldn’t help but remember the very last time we met in my past life. Salamander had been old instead of young and spry. His hair had long since turned white. There’d been more than a few wrinkles on his face, which included laugh lines from all the smiling he’d done over the years. We’d sat down together because we both knew that — unless he managed some kind of epiphany — he didn’t have many decades left.

If I could have, I would have spent more time with him, but I had to go into closed door cultivation and didn’t know when I’d come back.

Salamander didn’t have an existential crisis, nor did he talk about his mortality. He could have. As my friend and mentor, he could have complained to me about anything and I would have listened.

Instead, he spent the entire conversation explaining the various techniques he’d been practicing, even showed me some of the adjustments he’d made to the foundational moves that matched his path better. Ones that would later go on to improve my own swordsmanship.

We both knew that it was our last meeting, and instead of focusing on himself and the tragedy of his inevitable death, he’d been trying to instruct me.

In this life, I’d have to pay him back for that.

“Sister Lin?” Little Spring asked, concerned. He’d probably noticed how I kept blinking. I smoothed his hair.

“The air is just dry today,” I said.

A teenager — around 16 or 17 — with flame colored hair casually walked beside my mentor. Honestly, if it weren’t for his cloud patterned robes, I would have thought the young man was a gangster.

When the two finally stood in front of us, Salamander bowed with grace and strength while the teen bowed with a kind of crazy intensity. I knew for a fact that I’d never seen this eye-catching sword cultivator in the sect before.

“Sword Master Salamander greets Great Martial Aunt Lin and Great Martial Uncle Little Spring.”

Then the flame-haired one — who looked like he wanted to be anywhere else — said, “Clear Eyes Mad Tongue greets Great Martial Aunt and Great Martial Uncle.”

I had the feeling he didn’t respect me ‌as much as Salamander did. Then again, my old mentor would know what it meant for a kid as young as me to come on this mission as the lead alchemist. Man, I’d missed his level of competency.

I cleared the heaviness that clouded my throat and grinned at the two. “I’ll be in your care. During this mission, please call me Senior Lin or Fairy Lin. And you should address Little Spring as Fellow Daoist Little Spring. There’s no reason to bring unnecessary attention to ourselves during this trip.”

“Of course, Senior Lin. It’s an honor to be chosen by the little Fairy to be your escort.”

Ah, Salamander was just as I remembered him. Perhaps during this lifetime, I could be the one to give him some pointers instead of the other way around. Maybe if I did, ‌he could make it all the way to Immortal Ascension.

“The team we’re traveling with is over here.” He started walking into the crowd and we followed ‌him.

“Which city are we going to?” Little Spring asked.

“The one with the most recent plague victims.”

I grimaced. “They’re sending us there because it’s the safer of the five options.”

“Well, the Little Fairy is the only one who knows the potential cure. We need to keep you as safe as possible.”

I waved my hand. “It’s fine. I was hoping to stay in the sect for the next few years to train my little brother more. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out that way. So, being as safe as possible is perfect.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll stick to your sides and make sure you’re both protected.”

“That’s fine, but in an emergency, I expect you to do what needs to be done. Even if that means leaving me behind. I assume that as a Sword Master, you’re the highest realmed cultivator in our team.”

“Yes, Fairy Lin. Next in line is Clear Eyes Mad Tongue, and after him it’s Fairy Swift Dove.” From what I could sense, those two were both in Foundation Establishment, though Swift Dove was just at the beginning while Clear Eyes was in the middle.

He gestured to the last three sword cultivators and said, “And this is Turning Leaf, Drunken Edge, and Eagle’s Cry.”

I nodded to them. They were all at the equivalent peak of Qi condensation and their ages varied from a few years older than me to pushing twenty. They glanced at both Little Spring and me with curiosity. Frankly, I was too new to the sect. Even though they knew I was their Great Martial Aunt, they wouldn’t know what that meant exactly except that they needed to respect me like an elder, regardless of my outward appearance.

But they’d figure it out.

“You already know Spear Grandmaster Unwavering Thunderous Strike’s new Disciple — Spear That Weaves Through Lightning.”

Salamander grabbed someone who was practically hiding behind the twenty-year-old Drunken Edge and pulled him over to greet me.

Holy shit! It was Young Master Zhang from the sect trials! And he’d received a Daoist name that was a fucking mouthful to say.

“This one greets Senior Lin!” With bright red cheeks, the young master clasped his hands and bowed.

Well, he wasn’t a young master from the Zhang clan any more.

“It’s good to see you again, Daoist Spear That Weaves Through Lightning.”

He cleared his throat. “Please, just address me as Spear That Weaves.”

This kid was going to be alright.

Now that I thought about it, I was glad that I forced the issue and had him go through the sect trials back then.

I suspected that in my past life, demonic cultivators infiltrated the sect and released an Immortal Bone Creation level soul during the kid’s personalized trial. The Demonic Elder would have killed him and everyone in the area before the Sect Leader had time to get there and eradicate the evil son of a bitch.

And, even if that didn’t happen, and he made it through — he probably would have worshiped some master loyal to the Zhang Clan instead of the Spear Master who actually fit him.

Going in through the back door wasn’t always a good thing.

“We’re just waiting for the other Alchemists to arrive, then we can activate the teleportation platform to Heaven’s Wall Empire.”

I nodded. Hopefully, they would get here soon.

After waiting there for a while, Little Spring curiously walked up to a sword cultivator with triangle shaped eyes and asked, “Fellow Daoist Drunken Sword? How did you get your name? Do you practice a martial art that requires you to drink?”

He looked a little sheepish and laughed. “Ah, Great Martial Uncle Little Spring… You see, my master describes my sword techniques as looking so pathetic and moving so awkwardly that it’s no different from me being completely inebriated.”

Everyone in the group grew silent.

Salamander cleared his throat and said kindly, “Your sword work is unique and very effective for tricking your opponents.”

“Sword Master!” Drunken Edge looked like he was about to cry.

Salamander must have decided to give poor Drunken Edge a break because he addressed the group. “If you’ve been with me on missions before, you know that I like to keep everybody on their toes. It’s dangerous outside the sect and your first priority is to watch your surroundings to keep yourself and your teammates safe. To do that, I’m implementing a game I call, ‘Avoid the Assassin.’”

Oh shit! I remembered this game. I found it to be very effective training in teaching the younger generations how to pay attention to their environment.

“I will send a harmless slash of sword Qi to you at random times throughout our journey. If you block it, you win one contribution point, but if you don’t block it, you have to pay the sect one contribution point.”

Some of the newer sword cultivators looked horrified. Even Young Master Zhang, er, Spear That Weaves had a tense look on his face.

“I do this because once contribution points are on the line, you all take this game seriously. That might save your life.”

“Yes, Sword Master!”

Little Spring’s eyes gleamed. “Will you include the alchemists in this exercise?”

Oh, Little Spring. You don’t know what you’re asking for.

Okay, I wasn’t going to stop him because this would be beneficial training for him, and a good show for me.

“Only if asked, and only when they’re not working.”

“Then can you put both myself and my sister through it?”

I coughed.

Did this brat just sign me up for training?!