“And this will be a real cure.”

Her eyes wavered. “He’s healthy. It’s just that it’s taking time for his body to recover fully.”

“Your son’s disease is a wasting affliction. It’s one that accumulates impurities in his five organs and six bowels. Also—”

“There isn’t anything about his condition that I don’t know.”

I ignored her interruption but skipped over the rest of the symptoms since she already knew. “A few years back, a physician in Golden Core was generous enough to take a look at him due to her friendship with the city lord. She wasn’t able to find a solution to his illness. Also, she didn’t believe that he would live much longer.”

“This wouldn’t be the first time a physician has been mistaken.”

“For his wasting affliction to be this incurable, then the impurities that gather inside him accumulate and harden incredibly fast.” I held up a finger with a grin. “Luckily for you, I happen to be the one person on this continent who knows the cure for this disease.”

It helped that an alchemist in my past life developed a treatment for this disease. It wasn’t difficult or expensive to make either, it was just that nobody had bothered to research it before that person.

Unfortunately, by her hardened jaw and firm expression, I doubted that she believed me.

“Right now, the demonic cultivator you’re working with is keeping him alive. If I had to guess, they come by often to infuse a small fraction of the life energy they’ve gathered into your son... Energy from plague victims.”

The maid didn’t even flinch at the horror of my statement.

“Do you realize the kind of karma you’re building by helping him, then benefiting off hundreds of thousands of deaths? How that karma will affect you and your son’s future?”

This was a universe where specialized Immortal Ascension cultivators could even create techniques based on karma, so I wasn’t merely using her superstitions against her.

She swallowed. “You don’t understand! My son is going to become a great man. His dream is to become a successful official. He’ll earn merits and buy us a home where we can live comfortably.” She glared at us as if, just by existing, we were taking her future away.

I could figure out where she was coming from. I could. Barely. But I couldn’t agree with her. “If you give up the demonic cultivator’s location, he’ll live a long mortal life. I’ll make sure of it...”

Her lips thinned as if she’d zipped them shut.

Fuck. I was never good at convincing strangers like this.

It would be so easy to just pressure her mind a bit with my divine sense. I could get her to talk so much easier.

Unfortunately, demonic cultivators often left nasty traps in the minds of their subordinates. These would either give a backlash to any cultivator that tried to influence their people, or it would straight up kill them.

Just before I could try a different tactic, Little Spring stepped up beside me and clutched my sleeve. He looked Hu Xiaofan right in her eyes. “Do you honestly think that someone who created a plague will keep your child alive once they’re done with this city?”

Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “H-he said he’d teach me, so I can treat him myself.” She smacked her mouth.

Goddamn it! This kid’s protagonist halo was too strong. He said one thing and got her to spill her secret. Whatever.

At least he was on my side.

Clear Eyes Mad Tongue scoffed. “And you believed someone who murdered thousands?”

“I didn’t know that at the time!”

Little Spring stared up at her with his big eyes. “How did you even meet him?”

He must have reminded her of her own son, because her face softened. Then she grimaced. “I noticed Old Man Tan wandering around the city. He looked like a poor grandfather who’d lost everything because of the plague. His face appeared so kind. Like someone who often fell for those antique vase scams.”

Basically, he looked like someone who would fall for one of those Nigerian Prince scams from my past-past life. Unfortunately, he was the real con-artist.

“I was lonely. It has been a long time since my husband passed. So, I brought him to the kitchens, gave him a meal and talked with him.”

She bit her lip, then continued as if desperate to explain her actions. “When he noticed my sick son, he told me that he could cure him... And, in exchange, all I had to do was take some seeds that looked like rice grains and add them to various mundane and spiritual rice supplies throughout the city. It would be easy since, as a maid for the city lord, I often went to different locations to gather ingredients.”

“I didn’t know at first, but eventually, I figured it out. I confronted him, but...”

“You stayed silent, so your son would keep living, even at the cost of everyone in this city,” I said flatly.

She looked down at me. “You say it like that, but I had no choice.”

I really wanted to roll my eyes here. Because of course she didn’t have a choice. She was a weak mortal facing a cultivator. But I doubted that she felt much remorse for the consequences of her actions.

Or she thought that, since it was already done, she couldn’t undo it unless she preferred to lose her life.

I also couldn’t forget that she directly fucking benefited from the lives of the plague victims.

This Hu Xiaofan had been desperate, with no bottom moral line.

She made the perfect target to become the disciple of one of those evil assholes.

Demonic cultivators always had a reason.

“If I give Old Man Tan up... How would you cure my little Hu Huan?”

“It will be a fairly short process. I’d start with a combination of acupuncture and a very special tonic that can help unblock his meridians and purify his five organs and six bowels. This first step will allow you to see your son look healthy again instead of just appearing active. Then I’ll prepare a medicine to cure the underlying disease, but that’s the easy part.”

She looked at me skeptically.

“If my sister says she can cure him, then she can do it!”

“I call her Best-Alchemist-Under-The-Heavens Lin for a reason,” Clear Eyes spoke up. “She created a cure within hours of seeing the plague.”

I wasn’t surprised that Little Spring vouched for me, but I was a bit surprised to see the teen do so.

Maybe that long ass name was growing on me.

“Fine. I’ll tell you.” The maid’s lips thinned then, as if she was walking towards her death. “He could be in my rooms. Or there is this street where he often goes to beg for food.” More like where he gets the homeless population to help spread his plague. “There is also a nearby cave to the west that he once brought me to.”

Salamander crossed his arms. “Are those the only locations you’ve seen him?”

She looked thoughtful for a second, then hesitantly said, “I doubt he’ll be there but, at one point, he was living in an abandoned shack right outside the city.”

She let out a cry and clutched her head. Suddenly, her knees gave out from under her. Just barely, I managed to catch her arm and help her lay down.

She gritted her teeth.“W-what’s going on?”

I pressed my hand to her forehead. It burned. I didn’t even need my divine sense to tell that Old Man Tan had cast a curse on her. One that would kill her if she betrayed him.

It was similar to the spell I had on Ghosty, but using the type of energy the demonic cultivator used as opposed to spiritual energy.

I grimaced. “You’re dying from a curse.”

Little Spring crouched down beside the woman and took her hand. He bit his lip and looked up at me with worried eyes. “Sister Lin, can’t you stop it?”

“Not in my current realm.”

I glanced at Salamander. He shook his head in denial as well.

“There is nothing we can do.”

She glared at me in desperation. “M-my Hu Huan? Tell me he’ll be okay!”

“Even if you’re not here, I’ll keep my end of our deal. I’ll make sure your son is cured and is able to live a long mortal-length life.” I’d already promised, and I didn’t believe in bullshit like making children accountable for the mistakes of their parents. Unfortunately, this universe wasn’t always so forgiving.

But fuck it.

Cultivators went against the heavens. And while kids could grow up to be assholes, they also had the chance to become someone half decent.

As Maid Hu Xiaofan let out her last breath, Little Spring blinked back tears.

He let go of her hand and stood up. His face did not look good.

Had this situation reminded him of his own mother, who had passed away almost two years ago?

Fuck. Traumatizing shit like this made me want to leave him in the sect. At least until he grew up more.

Making a hand gesture, I used the cleaning technique on the lot of us.

Sword Master Salamander coughed.

Clear Eyes Mad Tongue jumped and looked at me with exasperation.

Even Little Spring had been shocked so badly that his eyes stopped becoming watery.

“Was that really necessary, Best-Alchemist-Under-The-Heavens Lin?”

“Yes. Absolutely. She was in contact with the creator of this plague. There is no telling what’s on her body.”

A few horrified maids ran over to us, asking for explanations.

Then Hu Xiaofan’s son came running up to his fallen mother.

As soon as Hu Huan reached her, he collapsed. Tears ran down his cheeks.

Little Spring pulled him aside and started talking with him.

Well, maybe seeing someone experience the same thing he had and being able to help them was possibly cathartic for my little martial brother.

That would be better than the alternative.

From my space, I grabbed a cup filled with water from Fairy Lake, and handed it to Hu Huan to drink while he talked with Little Spring. Honestly, there was no safer way to clean out a system than spiritual spring water.

He wasn’t going to die immediately, but I didn’t want to forget about him or the promise I made. If I left to deal with the cultivator, I might come back to find the child dead.

Besides, this poor kid needed to be healthy to prepare for what was to come.

While Little Spring distracted him, I stealthily stuck a few spiritual spring soaked acupuncture needles into acupoints that would affect his worst blockages.

Hu Huan didn’t even notice that he’d turned into a porcupine while my brother controlled his expression perfectly.

If I didn’t see Little Spring stiffen a bit, I would have thought that he hadn’t noticed.

Clear Eyes Mad Tongue looked both fascinated and horrified.

What? We didn’t have a lot of time. And I needed to treat this child.

How could we ask little Hu Huan to go through the stages of grief if he was too sick to stand?

While I let my needles and the water do the work, I turned to Sword Master Salamander. “Do you have confidence of being able to find this... let’s call him Demon Thorny Devil Vine.”

Clear Eyes Mad Tongue managed to comment, “Is Old Man Tan too tame of a name for him?”

I shot him a warning look.

“Considering that the curse only took effect when she mentioned that last location, I suspect that he’s currently at that abandoned shack.” The Sword Master looked grim.

“And he’ll be waiting for us.” I stuck one more needle into the child’s leg.

“No, just me.” Salamander said, then he rested his hand on Mad Tongue’s shoulder. “I can’t risk bringing you into a fight against an enemy we know nothing about, so I’ll have to leave Clear Eyes Mad Tongue here to protect you. Please stay in the city, Little Senior Lin, so I know you and Little Spring are safe.”

At the thought of having our only Golden Core cultivator going that far away and being there all by himself, I grimaced. “You’re right, there is no telling how strong he is. But you shouldn’t go over there without backup.”

He smiled. “Then it’s a good thing you already informed Peak Elder Grass Sprout about this incident. She’s on her way.”

“On her way or not, I expect you to run if he’s Nascent Soul or above.”

“From what we’ve learned so far, I doubt that he’s at Nascent Soul. At least for now. Not if he’s going around pretending to be a beggar and a refugee.”

I briefly recalled the last nearly homeless looking Nascent Soul rogue cultivator I’d seen, Daoist Black Jade, who was still in closed cultivation. The guy had looked like he’d been traveling for well over a year and hadn’t had a lot of chances to take care of himself.

“You really expect too much of Nascent Soul Cultivators.” I tilted my chin up and practically commanded. “I want you to be careful. That means that you better come back here alive and intact enough that a healing pill will get you up to one hundred percent.”

The corners of his eyes crinkled, and he smiled. “Yes, Fairy Lin!”

Then he turned to Clear Eyes Mad Tongue. “Make sure Senior Lin and Little Spring are safe while I’m gone.”

“I’ll take care of them, whether you say something or not.”

“And stop…” He trailed off. Knowing him, he likely wanted to tell Mad Tongue to stop saying shit that might get him killed. Of course, then he must have realized it was pointless because he sighed. “I’m off.”

Then my old friend pulled out a sword and flew away.

Honestly, I was more nervous than I was letting on.

This whole situation hadn’t happened in my last life.

My friend had probably come here with some alchemists and found nothing. Thorny Devil Vine had likely gotten away with his plan for as long as the plague lasted... then he either left to go do something else just as heinous or had been killed randomly.

But I’d never know for sure.

The most frustrating thing about time travel was that, despite knowing a significant amount of what happened in the past, there were even more pieces that I couldn’t discover or hadn’t understood.

Fuck. I just hoped I didn’t just get my friend killed before his time.