As I left the clinic, I sent a telepathic message 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 Establishment, 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 mentor 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 time as an Immortal Ascension stage practitioner, it was a habit of mine to do what I wanted. Oftentimes, the little sect disciples under me had to play catch up as I left them all in the dust.

It was hard to break a habit formed 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 somehow 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 me. Did she just interrupt me?

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 extreme 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 come 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 meantime, please make your way over to this country. We might need your help sometime 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 me like I’d suggested something so terrible that they couldn’t believe it came from my mouth.

“What?” Oh right.

I smirked. “Do you think I’ll ask them to exhume 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 time, we used flying swords to reach the cemetery 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 homeless 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 somewhere.

Wait! They had to have left some traces from where they were taken. Where the fuck were they?!

Then I sensed it. A disturbance in the ground. As if something 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 same 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 me. “‘Best-Alchemist-Under-the-Heavens Lin.”

Was he being serious right now, at this point in time?

“I’m not seeing anything to indicate that someone messed with this grave, and I have a higher cultivation than you.”

I rolled my eyes. “You realize that there is a reason you call me ‘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 met a cultivator who spoke with an immortal, either, have you?”

His mouth opened like he was going to say something, then he just shut it.

He could be taught!

Or maybe this was closer to me shocking him into silence? Either way, I’d remember it for next time.

***

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 came from.

Then, right after we hit the tree line of a nearby wooded area, our two paths met up.

This was about a mile long stretch of trees that separated the cemetery and the city walls.

Frankly, this direction made me consider that the Demonic cultivator could be walking the streets somewhere. 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 someplace secluded and no one would be the wiser... if they hadn’t sped up the disease.

Honestly, if they hadn’t given up the game, 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 seemed like the vines got up and walked away all by themselves.

Of course, for something like that to happen, it would consume 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.

Frankly, this weird situation was like getting thrown back in time to the Black Plague, only to find out that the whole horrible epidemic was secretly a zombie apocalypse scenario.

One where the fungus that caused the zombies could detach from the body and start killing people on its own.

Or maybe it was closer to an alien. Whatever.

This entire situation was surreal as fuck.

One of the pink tumbleweeds rushed toward Little Spring.

I immediately pulled out my sword, grabbed the kid by his arm, and used my movement technique to get us nearer to Salamander.

The Sword Master brought out his silvery blade and sent a few slashes toward the charging plants.

Little Spring blinked like he wasn’t sure what happened.

I didn’t blame him. If I hadn’t passed through Golden Core in my past-life, I would have only seen him take out his blade, right before the weeds burst into a thousand pieces.

Clear Eyes Mad Tongue grimaced with frustration. “Sword Master Salamander. You were too fast. I didn’t even get a chance to attack it!”

He smiled good-naturedly. “Then I’ll let you take the next one.”

Clear Eyes opened his mouth, then closed it because another ball of vine-y hatred rolled into the clearing and shot toward Little Spring.

The preparatory training Salamander had given us must have worked, because the kid pulled out his sword and caught the attack. The tumbleweed dragged him backward. His feet carved a path through the leaves and dirt. When he finally stopped, the kid pushed back with so much force that the vine flew back several yards.

“Hey, this one is mine!” Clear Eyes called as he took out his blade and threw a slash of sword Qi at it.

The ball scrunched up and dodged.

The fire-haired teen smirked and sent out another few slashes.

This demonic plant was trickier than the others. It managed to just slip between the curved blades of Qi. The last one only took off a few thorns.

Mad Tongue then lifted his weapon up and brought it down in a single thick slash targeted at the enemy. A bright pillar of sword Qi enveloped the ball. When it disappeared, the pink weed looked flattened and torn to pieces.

This was a very advanced technique called Sword Crushes the Heavy Boulder.

Because of how wasteful it was energy-wise, it wasn’t the ideal solution here. But what else could you expect from a hot-headed teenager like Clear Eyes Mad Tongue?

He’d learn eventually. Learn or die.

“Is that all?” Clear Eyes said, “Because if that’s all then this—“

Suddenly, dirt shot upward as a massive, glowing pink jumble of vines pulled itself up from the ground around us.

“These plants have been forcing us to stay here so they could trap us!” Clear Eyes Mad Tongue tightened his grip till his knuckles turned white.

Little Spring and I used our movement technique, Consistent Step, Impossible Leap, to move out of the way. However, Clear Eyes and Salamander were right in the middle of where the vines started to form a giant cage around the two.

Salamander, with a grim face, sent out a slash of sword Qi, tearing apart a portion of the thorny wall. Before the hole could close back up, he grabbed the teenager’s arm and used his movement technique to bring him over to us.

The teen looked like he was about to yell at getting his ass saved, so I stepped on his foot.

He winced and stared at me in shock.“What?”

“Fight first, complain later.”

He grimaced sheepishly. “Yes, Senior!”

However, now that the cultivators were no longer inside of it, the viney trap grew in size. The vines twisted together to form a torso then further into wings and a mask-like head. It flapped, sending a burst of air at us while looking like a glowing pink vine wyvern.

The thing looked creepy as fuck. It needed to die!