“So those pills are fake?”

  “That’s right,” Reinhart nodded. “They stopped giving her the real ones a few months back.”

  This was something Red already suspected after conversations with Aurelia and Lady Ilse. He had even given Leon one of those pills so they could be tested, but after the accident with the demonic snake back then, the man had not communicated with Red, or appeared in public, for that matter.

  Red considered asking Lady Ilse for her help, but he didn’t have a Spiritual Contract with her, and until recently didn’t entirely trust her either. Now, circumstances changed, and Reinhart confirmed his suspicions.

  “Why would they giver her fake pills?” Red asked.

  It was one thing to stop giving her the medicine entirely, but it was another to give her fake pills.

  “That’s a bit of a complicated story,” Reinhart said. “Even though the medicines were still being paid for, apparently an order came from above to stop giving her the real thing.”

  Red frowned in confusion. “The medicines were still being paid for?”

  “That surprised me, too. I mean, I don’t know how Rimold did it, but he paid hundreds of Spirit Stones in advance, or so I presume. I don’t necessarily know where the money came from, but it was all deposited a few months before the accident with Bestrem.”

  ‘Did Rimold know something was about to happen?’

  After being possessed, Rimold suffered from a lot of lingering psychological problems where he obsessed over the search for a treasure. This eventually led to their discovery of that finger bone, which once belonged to a powerful cultivator and led to the destruction of their sect. This action of his, however, seemed to indicate he expected something bad to happen once he started looking for this treasure that haunted his dreams.

  “Who gave the order to give her fake pills?”

  “I don’t know,” Reinhart shrugged. “Gustav only received the orders from the Guild Head, and I didn’t want to attract too much attention by looking into something they were trying to hide. Still, once that happened, it gave me the idea of investigating how they even got this pill in the first place. You know Rimold looked into a lot of specialists for a cure for her illness, right?”

  “I do.”

  This was something Pierre told him after his investigation.

  “Well, her illness is unknown, but what’s killing her is her decaying Spiritual Veins. However, when I looked into the treatment for this kind of problem, I found out that the medicine was much more expensive than what Rimold was paying. I mean, a quality pill could cost over ten times than the price the Golden Hand was asking of him.”

  “I was under the impression Rimold made up for it by working for the guild in his spare time.”

  Reinhart shook his head. “I thought so too, but what work could he provide that could make up for the hundreds of Spirit Stones the guild would be losing? Not even spying on your sect could make up for it.”

  ‘Rimold, a spy?’

  Red didn’t think so. At least that wasn’t the impression he ever got from the man, which made this ordeal even more confusing.

  “I assume you have found something about it that would make sense.”

  Reinhart smiled, delighting in having caught his attention. “Since I wasn’t really able to find out who gave the order to stop providing the medicines, I tried to look into the medicines themselves. I got into the storage at the guild and read the ledgers, which claimed that this was concocted by a certain guild alchemist. When I looked into this alchemist, though, I found out they were barely a novice, far from being able to concoct such a powerful medicine.”

  “You mean he was just a front.”

  “That’s right, the pills were coming from somewhere else. Thankfully, it seems Gustav became very complacent with his discretion about this matter over the years, so I didn’t have an issue following his subordinates who were supposed to pick up the deliveries. Why don’t you guess who I saw delivering the pills to them?”

  Red conjured a wind blade around his finger, and Reinhart threw his hands up.

  “Fine, fine! It was a sect disciple from the Crystal Sky Sect.”

  “…Crystal Sky Sect?”

  It was the oldest and arguably the most powerful sect in the world, and also the sect at which Allen and Rimold were currently at.

  Reinhart nodded. “I spied on their transactions again a few times from afar so I wouldn’t be discovered. I couldn’t really make out what they were saying, but every time, a different Crystal Sky Sect disciple would appear and make the delivery, and as far as I could tell, the guild members didn’t hand them any money either, which is even stranger.”

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  ‘They were giving the medicine away for free?’

  This was the most puzzling thing Red had learned today. What exactly were they planning by not only providing the medicine but also giving it away for free? This seemed to imply that the Crystal Sky Sect had a vested interested in feeding Yrsa the medicine, or keeping her alive at least.

  ‘Yet, something seems to have changed.’

  “Did you discover anything else?”

  “No, not yet,” Reinhart said. “I know where they keep the medicine, which is why I know it hasn’t been touched in the last few months. Even though the Golden Hand and the Crystal Sky Sect aren’t in the best term, the only thing the guild cares about is gold. They would do their bidding if the price was right, too.”

  Red fell silent. Before, he thought that Yrsa’s situation would only involve the Golden Hand and the Imperials, yet now a super sect was also mixed in. Were they keeping her alive on someone’s behalf? No, if that was the case, why would they stop providing her medicine? Or better yet, couldn’t they have cured her of her curse completely?

  A conspiracy seemed to have formed around this rather weak immortal.

  “Could you find out more?”

  Reinhart smiled from ear to ear when he heard this. “Yes, I could. As long as I remain alive, that is.”

  “You will, as long as you remain useful to me.”

  “Useful? More like necessary, right?”

  Red ignored this remark. “How do you think others would react if she died or disappeared?”

  “If she disappeared? That would raise a lot of alarms from all sides. If she died…? If I had to guess, someone from that sect would come check after it, considering they now seem to want her dead.”

  This was a tremendous problem for his plans. Red assumed that after the factions learned of the woman’s death, they would at most investigate to see if there was anything suspicious. However, after what Reinhart told him, it seemed the Crystal Sky Sect had plans for Yrsa even after her death, so they would likely do something to her body and discover she was alive.

  ‘There is no other plan. As long as I want to take her away, it will give rise to suspicion no matter how I go about it.’

  “How strong is the Crystal Sky Sect’s presence in the city?”

  “It’s mostly symbolic, with a few outer sect disciples serving as ambassadors, and no one above the Lesser Ring Realm. Of course, that’s just on the surface, so I don’t know if they have hidden agents around the capital, but that’s not their style. They tend to do things aboveboard… except for this whole fake medicine thing, of course.”

  “Then if I faked her death to take her away, would they investigate it if they discovered it?”

  “Probably, though I doubt they could do much. Since this is the kind of thing they want to keep hidden, they can’t ask the Royal Court for help, and their presence in the city is limited. It’s very likely they will ask the Golden Hand for help, and the Golden Hand will ask me to investigate, in which case, all the better for you, right?”

  It was not perfect, and problems could likely come down the line, but Red knew this was the best option he had right now.

  “Then investigate what you can about Yrsa. Tomorrow, I will come visit you again and explain the details of my plan. As long as you do what I say, I will allow you to live.”

  “Hah! Trust me, after you work with me long enough, you won’t be able to imagine life without my timely assistance.”

  He didn’t respond and turned to walk back upstairs.

  “Uh, wait!” Reinhart called after him. “Can you help me with my ankles? I don’t really regenerate like cultivators, you know.”

  Red looked back at him and fished a pill from his pouch before throwing it at the man.

  “Thank you!” Reinhart didn’t hesitate to swallow it, and his torn ankles quickly healed.

  With that, Red flew back upstairs and out of the window.

  He didn’t leave immediately, however, instead hanging around the rooftops and spying on Reinhart. Even though the man was under a blood oath, this encounter left enough of a mark on Red that he wanted to be as thorough as possible.

  While watching him, he talked with Aurelia.

  “I was under the impression the Crystal Sky Sect did not interfere with mortals or relied on underhanded means.”

  “The first part is true, the last, not so much,” Aurelia said. “They do not rely on stealing or assassinations, but they have always been quite adept at political manipulations. The majority of mortal kingdoms back while I was still alive were under their control, which gave them an immense advantage in unearthing talents and cultivation resources.”

  “Still, is this something they would do?”

  “Your understanding of sects is still lacking. Cultivation Sects are not an entity where everyone is of the same mind and belief, and there are many conflicts between elders in every sect on how to deal with certain matters. The Crystal Sky Sect, above all others, is particularly bad in this aspect. They think of themselves as the guiding hope of humanity, yet they will endlessly bicker during their council meetings and they have multiple factions between their elders. Coming to a decision on certain matters can take a decade of meetings, and even if they’re urgent, it might still take a year.”

  “So you mean to say that this could be something done by a single member of their sect rather than the will of the entire sect?”

  “That’s almost certainly the case. It wouldn’t be the first time a sect member acted of their own self interest against their sect’s teachings. As for what that interest might be… Well, we’ll only find out after investigating that girl’s curse.”

  After clarifying about these matters with Aurelia, he pulled out his communication talisman to speak with Lady Ilse.

  “Plan is delayed. Unexpected circumstances arose. I’ll explain later.”

  Thirty seconds later came her reply.

  “What happened? You can speak plainly, I made sure this line is secure.”

  Red hesitated for a second, but he had come to trust her capabilities at this point.

  “The Crystal Sky Sect has been providing her medicine through the Golden Hand. They likely have some unknown interested in her, which makes the danger of this plan much higher. This will put you at greater risk if we continue with this plan.”

  The reply came twenty seconds later.

  “What nonsense! What can the Crystal Sky Sect do in this city? Since I promised I would help, I will help!”

  Red looked at the talisman with a frown before putting it away. Some of his worries were dispelled by her reassurance.

  Through his observation, Red saw Reinhart communicate with various people, where he talked about many matters and often mentioned things related to Yrsa. He was being careful and approaching the conversations in a roundabout way, so as not to bring on suspicion, and he seemed to be sucessful.

  This gave Red even more reassurance. Perhaps even though he had been forced into this situation, it could still be beneficial to him.

  ‘Besides, I can still kill him if I need to.’

  With that thought in mind and with the sun on the verge of rising, Red returned to his manor.