The Seven Falls Sect’s Hospital was in an uproar. Heads peered out from behind privacy curtains into the main hallway to watch as a screaming match capable of waking up the Heavens was waged. Mortal orderlies and nurses did their best to get out of the way of cultivators whose wrath had begun to eclipse reason. Patients were unceremoniously dumped out of their beds and searched on the spot as Doctors did their best to recover a fortune’s worth of unfathomably powerful pills which simply did not show up.
And somewhere towards the entrance of the Hospital, an Inner Disciple rubbed his shoulder absent-mindedly, gaze turned towards the exit.
I killed him, Wenhua Gareth thought numbly. Without one shadow of a doubt, I know I killed him.
It hadn’t even been a day since Gareth had felt that other Disciple’s neck break underneath his blow. It almost feels like he’s standing there again now, watching as the Outer Disciple bore down on him with speed that better approached Gareth’s own. What had he been thinking, that grey-robed figure that had tried to challenge him, surrounded by that ridiculous aura of qi? What had been going through his head at that moment as he used the Sect’s own Stance, without even a hint of modification?
What had he been thinking, to have that unsettlingly satisfied smile across his face?
For it to widen, even as Gareth’s strike had taken his life?
Gareth had barely even been able to pay attention to Umzuli’s bellowing admonishment at the end of it, of how he was above such things as to needlessly injure one of his juniors in a simple exchange of pointers. He simply stared at the broken body of a man he had fought twice now, and wondered what on earth had possessed the other cultivator to do such a thing. It was a question that kept ringing in Gareth’s head, louder and louder with each passing second. And Gareth couldn’t let it go unanswered.
It took some time to adequately receive Umzuli’s rebuke, but in the end the Inner Sect Elder was understanding to a fault; a heartfelt promise by Gareth to take the other cultivator to the Hospital and do his very best to see the dead Disciple treated with honour seemed to satisfy the giant. The various Doctors seemed to have less faith in the matter, clearly looking at the corpse with little more care than a butcher looking upon spoilt meat, but the offer of a minor research grant from the Wenhua Clan’s coffers seemed to be enough to encourage them to give a genuine attempt at learning whatever mystery was buried within the body.
And then just as Gareth had returned to determine what had been discovered, the Disciple who should by all means be dead had just run past him with nothing more than a momentary apology. By the time Gareth had been able to help the others who had almost been trodden over, either by the chaos that seemed to be swallowing up the Hospital or by the Outer Disciple’s escape, the once-dead man was nowhere to be seen, and that question just kept ringing in the Inner Disciple’s head.
Just what could possess a cultivator to do such a thing?
But the question would have to wait for a moment, as Gareth began moving deeper into the hospital towards the origin of the chaos. It was an unmistakable presence that drew him further in, one that so very clearly stood out even amongst the talents who had the right to call themselves Doctor. In that familiar aura Gareth could read the frustration, the indignation, the bloodlust, and so many all-consuming desires that it almost threatened to swallow up the world around it. But who else could have such powerful feelings than a cultivator who had somehow broken through to the Third Step at a mere fifteen years of age, who had spent the decade since embarking upon the Fourth Step of Soul Refinement at a pace that was utterly extraordinary?
In one of the central rooms reserved for the inner Sect alone, this genius stood by an occupied bed, verbally eviscerating some poor bastard who laid on the ground before her. “-me to simply accept such an utter failure in your duties? When the Wenhua Clan give so much to your pitiful clinic? Then perhaps you should accept that your life is simply forfeit, trash. If you aren’t even capable of managing an inventory, perhaps I can turn you into a purse instead, one appropriately enchanted to never lose its contents. Perhaps then you’d finally be able to accomplish the task so simple that a mortal could see to it.”
Gareth knocked at the entrance to the door, before dropping to kneel as everyone within turned their attention to him. “Young Mistress. Sister Wenhua Li. Doctor.”
Wenhua Mei, the Young Mistress of the Wenhua Clan, currently standing over the poor Doctor, gave Gareth a soft smile. “Beloved! I didn’t realise you were also coming to attend Sister Li’s recovery. I thought you had some small matter to attend to?”
“I did, but I couldn't help but notice the commotion,” Gareth replied, slowly standing to his feet again at Mei’s gesture, returning the vice-like hug that strained his ribs. “Is everything well?”
“Well, this trash was just telling me that he’d misplaced the Sovereign Remedy that the Wenhua Clan bought from them! Go on, my future purse,” Mei retracted her grip from around Gareth’s sides, turning to her victim on the floor, “tell my Beloved exactly how careless you were with the medicine we graciously purchased from your disgusting institution.”
The cowering Doctor was none that Gareth had met before, though going by his shattered hand it seemed he was new enough to not know when not to talk back to the Young Mistress. The tell-tale glow of a medical technique seemed to be doing its best to pull the bone splinters back together, but it faltered as the Doctor realised that another of the Wenhua had arrived to see to his punishment. Instead, the Doctor turned pleading eyes towards Gareth, hoping against hope that some reason would be seen.
“Doctor,” Gareth said calmly. “For your sake, I hope that you have a good explanation.”
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The medical cultivator didn’t hesitate to prostrate himself before the two. “Young Master, I am afraid I have no answer. The Ruby Tears of the Phoenix disappeared from my hands as I was carrying them to your Clan member. None of the orderlies or nurses have it, nor have they revealed knowledge of any other that would have it. Several other Doctors are searching even now for them, and I’m sure that we’ll find them soon-”
“How did they disappear, Doctor?” Gareth interrupted. “Their recovery is one thing, but their loss is entirely more concerning.”
“I’m so glad to hear your priorities, Gareth.” came the cutting remark from the bed. Wenhua Li had managed to pull herself into a sitting position, content to ignore the gangrenous wound in her side to instead stare daggers. “Is the nature of the Doctor’s failure somehow more important than the fact that they lost it in the first place? Or does family matter so little to you?”
“I’m sorry you feel that way, Sister Li,” Gareth answered. “Perhaps I’m unaware of a vaunted family tradition to overlook such matters. It makes sense now how that Rot-Pronged Mudfrog took you off guard, if you were instead focused on the inconvenience of the Umber Marsh being wet.”
The bedridden cultivator sneered, her qi rising up into a forming technique-
Gareth winced slightly as he felt his Mei flare her own energy, instantly overwhelming everyone else in the room with her own might. “Save it, Li. Beloved, darling, please don’t provoke her. Besides, I’m sure the rubbish here will clarify matters soon.”
The Doctor had done his best not to move from his huddled position. “Young Master, please forgive me, but I didn’t see even a flicker. If some cultivator had stolen it, then they were utterly beyond my power.”
“And you imply they were beyond my power, trash?” Once again, the room was filled with bloodlust as the Young Mistress of the Wenhua turned her rage on the Doctor, no longer a mere flare but an overbearing pressure that threatened to crush the one who had dared insult her-
Moving through the bloodlust with a well-practiced and hard-earned ease, Gareth rested a hand on her shoulders, pulling on it slightly. As the Young Mistress turned, Gareth relaxed the courtly bearing that had been driven into him, instead favouring the young woman with a buck-toothed smile. “Mei. Jus’ let me handle this, yeah?”
The aura vanished instantly as his fiancée sighed. “Ah, my apologies, Beloved. You’re right, this is beneath me. Sister Li, I hope you recover well. Beloved, I shall be off to meditate. If some interloper has managed to circumvent the hospital’s security, please bring them to me so I can show them my displeasure.”
Wenhua Mei left, wind kicking up behind her as her movement technique propelled her out of the room and down the hall towards the entrance. Waiting an appropriate amount of time for her to be beyond reach, Gareth kneeled down and slowly helped the Doctor to his feet. “Careful there. In the future, perhaps ask one of your seniors to handle the Young Mistress.”
The Doctor hissed, his healing technique stuttering as his qi struggled to reassert itself within his own body. “They said that it’d be a learning experience.”
And they’ve learnt to stay the hell away from Mei when she gets in a bad mood. “Please inform them that I’d appreciate their attention on this matter anyway. I’ll look into the matter of what happened to the Ruby Tears.”
The Doctor thanked Gareth profusely before leaving himself, likely to retreat to whatever corner of the Sect was furthest away from the Wenhua. Understandable, given the circumstances. With that, Gareth turned towards the last inhabitant of the room, whose qi had begun to rise the second that Mei had left. “I trust that you’re still no closer to death than before, Sister Li?”
“I’m no Sister of yours, peasant,” Li spat. “And you’ll keep the Young Mistress’ name out of your mouth.”
“I have nothing but the utmost respect for the Young Mistress and her choices, Sister Li,” Gareth said. “Including her decision to marry me. Perhaps you should consider doing the same.”
The Wenhua Clan cultivator glowered, but thankfully did nothing else, allowing Gareth to leave the room behind. If she’d started a fight, then Gareth would have had to finish it, and he had no desire to be a kin-killer, not so soon after having gained kin to kill in the first place.
Frankly, he was glad he’d been able to avoid it for so long. Family was troublesome.
Still, it was his family now, and so he’d do his duty to determine what had happened. Ruby Tears were fairly expensive pills as things went, and if it weren’t for the Young Mistress’ tendency to get what she wanted he wasn’t sure if the money would have ever been spared for Li’s quickened recovery. But the money had been spent with nothing to show for it, and the Wenhua would not be denied their due.
Gareth spent the next half hour talking with every nurse and Doctor he could, Mei’s outburst serving to encourage their answers. They were, unfortunately, much the same as he’d already heard; some of the nurses had also watched the container of pills vanish from the Doctor’s hands, and others confirmed it had been there in the first place when the vault of valuable medicines had been opened. Some of the patients who’d been nearby had even felt the potent power of the container’s contents, confirming it hadn’t been some tactile illusion used as part of a heist in advance.
And all the while, the ringing in his head grew louder and louder, until he could ignore it no longer. Stepping away from an interview with a polite thank you, he walked along the hospital’s halls, slowly retracing his steps back towards the entrance, then winding his way back inside along another route, away from the main bulk of patients. In these back corners dedicated to the care for Outer Disciples, Gareth descended a staircase leading down deep into the rock of the island.
At the very bottom was a room filled with tables marked with ash and blood, gruesome tools hanging from the walls ready to serve a foul purpose. Corpses sat atop those butcher blocks in various stages of disassembly, but one laid conspicuously empty. One that Gareth remembered laying the body of that strange cultivator upon. Scattered across the floor at its foot were shards of pottery, holding a faint echo of the contents they once held. And what had started as a warning chime had turned into a mournful peal.
Just what could possess a cultivator to do such a thing?
Gareth was starting to realise that his question had already provided an answer.
A Demonic cultivator is on the loose.