Author's Notes

In the village, the monk decides...

Before leaving, he sees...

Chapter 14 – Li Cang

The woman brings the pots and places them on a small table, and then the monk separates one of them, turning a little of the content that was ground into the small pot he had with him, with him taking the opportunity to turn the same amount into another pot, with him taking the spoon provided by her.

Then, he dissolves the powder, to later do the same procedure with the other pot while the third was kept intact.

After keeping the two pots of tonic on the table in a corner, he takes the pot of water without the medicine.

The villager watches him take his right hand to this pot of clear water and is amazed to see his body glow slightly, then the water floats and then condenses in her palm as it leaves the pot, with he positioning the water bubble on top of the girl's chest while his left hand was placed a little below her chest.

His glow radiated to the young woman's body, which began to glow, with the glow concentrating on the chest at the same time that the water bubble obediently entered the skin, with him moving his hands until the water, now silver in his left hand, , resurfaces from the body containing unrecognizable clusters inside, while the glow of the body was transferred to the bubble that becomes golden again.

After the monk pushes the golden bubble away, he makes a simple gesture with his hands and it turns into a golden dust that disappears into the air before reaching the ground.

When the woman recovers from the unusual treatment and prepares to question him, the mother notices that the bedridden young woman's breathing has returned to normal, with her observing that the monk takes one of the pots that he deposited the tonic at the same time that he sat down next to the head of the bed.

Then, the man lifts the young woman gently, and then brings the liquid to her dry lips, which moistens them while she sips the contents, with the mother seeing that her daughter feels better at the same time that she falls asleep.

After the young woman has drunk the contents, the monk gently places her on the bed and covers her, then stands up and says with a kindly countenance, "Now, she is well. I have to go."

"Thank you so much! You saved my daughter! I realized I didn't ask for your name."

"I'm called Li Cang."

"How much do I owe you?"

"You don't owe me anything. I'm glad I saved a life."

Then the woman goes to the simple kitchen and puts food in a cloth bundle, then hands it to him, saying, "Please accept."

He refuses and pushes the cloth aside, saying, "You and your family need this food. Please reserve it for yourselves. I cannot accept it."

"My husband will bring more of the garden and livestock we have. Please, I beg you, accept it. Please."

Faced with the appearance of supplication, the monk consents and thanks for the food while picking up the food, keeping it in his cloth bundle on his back, and then leaving the house, with the woman thanking him a few more times.

Then, he walks away and returns to the path he was following, knowing that he had food for a few days thanks to the woman's kindness.

However, before he left the small village, Li Cang heard a commotion and decided to see what was going on when he saw the faces of many villagers immersed in fear as they walked towards the center of the village where there was a group that gesticulated vigorously while cacophony reigned, making it impossible to understand what they were discussing.

Upon arriving at the place, he sees the leader of the village among them, with the monk identifying him by virtue of the clothes he wore and which were better than those of the others, with him listening carefully to what they said when he managed to discern some lines among the various voices uplifted by the population.

"You must send a letter to someone! It is not normal for several people to be sick after drinking the water from that river."

"That's right! Besides, everyone we sent to the scene disappeared without a trace."

"Certainly, it's the work of some demon."

"We urgently need the demon masters."

The leader takes a deep breath and speaks, "As you know, we need to pay for the services of a demon master. The problem is that we can pay the price they charge considering the abusive tax rate we need to pay to the imperial court. I must remind you them that soon, the tax inspector of that region will be coming to this village with the imperial army and we all know the consequence of not paying taxes, even if they are too abusive. Luckily, we managed to gather the amount required for this fortnight. However, we do not have any surplus to pay for the services of the demon master and even if it were a powerful demon, with them making a reduction in the value for having an interest in the capture and subsequent taming, we will still need to pay a considerable amount, an amount that we don't have any left."

"But..."

The monk sighs and advances into the center of the circle, drawing everyone's attention, then speaks with a calm face, "I will go to the place and I won't charge you anything. I have some power. I just need to be shown the direction. "

"Who are you?"

"I'm just a hiker and I've heard your problem. What do you say? Are you going to give direction on which direction I should go?"

"And you don't want to get anything in return for your help?" the leader asks with one eyebrow raised.

"No. I promise. I don't want to take anything."

As he spoke, the monk had already dispersed his qi across the area comprising the village and beyond, causing him to feel demonic energy concentrated in a place northeast of where the villagers were and whose power seemed to focus exclusively on one point, with him guessing that it comprised, probably, the area of the source of the river or part of the river.

Furthermore, considering what he heard, the qi master judged that it was a poisonous demon that was spreading its toxin in the water, eventually infecting people, and before he could treat them, he needed to deal with the perpetuator of this toxin together of the fact that he needed to verify what the base of action of the poison was because he knew that there were some differences between the toxins used by different species of poisonous demons because this group included snakes, spiders and other venomous beings.

As he mulled over what he needed to do, Li Cang was aware that he had never purified a demon before, and although he knew that he would have no problem considering the level of that species in judging the demonic power that exuded from that specific location, it didn't change the fact that he had never took a life at the same time that he knew that he should try to dialogue with this demon when looking for a peaceful solution, with him having to purify them only if he had no other choice and when he was forced to kill him, he should do it as quickly as possible not to make him suffer.

There is a murmur among the villagers and after reflecting for some time, the leader speaks, snapping the monk out of his thoughts, "Okay. We accept. I'll point the way myself."

"After I find out the cause, I will formulate a medicine for the affected people. I have medical knowledge, too."

"Interesting... well, this way."

Then, both leave the place towards the spring that fed the river they used as a source of water and to wash clothes.

After arriving at the location, he indicates which direction the newcomer should take.

Li Cang nodded in thanks and then walked away following the given direction and as the village leader watched Li Cang walk away, he spoke, "I doubt he'll make it back."

Sighing, the leader returns the way he came while the qi master walked away, deeper and deeper into the forest at the same time that he followed the course of the river as he began to feel a demonic presence that confirmed what the villagers said.

The monk stops his steps and crouches down beside the river, then raises one of his hands just above the surface of the water.

Then, he starts releasing his powers into the water while concentrating because he was investigating about the poisoning that wasn't just limited to water because the soil and plants were also poisoned as he saw the signs of the toxins in them, as well as the animals in the surroundings when observing the existence of dead animals far from the water, indicating that they did not drink the contaminated liquid.

After all, if they had drunk that water, they would have died on the riverbank from the effects of the toxin as he investigated the environment.

In fact, the air was also contaminated and while analyzing the information he received and those arising from his investigation, the monk narrowed his brow when he noticed something unusual in that massive poisoning of the place, as well as some unexpected nuances considering what he had previously imagined.

Even as he finalized his preliminary investigation, more doubts arose in his mind, as well as distrust as he questioned the reason for such differences that he detected, in addition to a pattern that Li Cang was able to detect in the emanation of demonic power in the place.

Indeed, the monk was suspicious and as he coolly reflected on his discoveries and recalling certain points which had initially gone unnoticed, he got up and decided to double his attention as he returned to the indicated path while hoping that his initial deductions would not backfire prove true.

After all, if it weren't true, there could only be another plausible deduction, with this explanation being more preferable than the previous one.

After several minutes of walking while observing some more dead animals in the surroundings, he realized that an abnormal and equally deadly silence reigned as Li Cang watched a building in the distance.

During the entire journey, the monk sought to spread his qi throughout the place for any unforeseen event that might arise while he knew he was deviating from his mission.

However, he couldn't stop helping and rescuing people in need while considering that it was just a small detour and that he would soon return to his mission.

Then, before he could approach the building, the qi master deftly dodges an arrow by sensing a strange movement to his right and a shift in air in the area, with this perception being provided by the use of qi and turning in the direction of the attacker, he deftly dodges another attack coming from behind, being surprised to see who the attacker was.

"You..."

He detects his aggressor as the village leader and while the monk is processing this unusual discovery, he is forced to dodge another arrow and, looking to his left, sees a man who has a similar face to the village leader, making -the belief that they were related and that perhaps they were father and son.

Both begin relentlessly attacking him, their faces turning red with rage as they see he skillfully dodges their attack.

Tired of only being on the defensive, he focused his powers as he deftly dodged two more arrows.

Li Cang invokes the power of his qi causing some specific flowers to appear on branches behind them and which, at his command, exude a sleepy odor that makes both of them drowsy until they fall to the ground, sleeping soundly, with the flowers continuing to exude the odor to keep them asleep.

"Well, they've been neutralized."

Then, after making sure they wouldn't wake up, the monk walks to each one of them, judging that maybe the demon was controlling them, which wouldn't be difficult because they were both normal humans.