The journey towards the graveyard took almost an hour because of the vigilance they had to take. Zeng Fei had summoned Pingu in advance, aware they could get ambushed on the way like those who’d previously attempted to make the journey.

  They were escorted by the Village Head and a handful of hearty men wielding farm tools, providing additional protection to the group.

  Although the cultivators hadn’t asked to be chaperoned, they hadn’t declined the offer either when the men had volunteered; if the monster really was as strong as Sun Ru feared, they could use all the help they could get.

  Yet, their preparation was for naught as the journey ended up being uneventful.

  At the graveyard, they confirmed the holes made over graves were as reported: small and only over certain graves, the corpses within long gone. The markings on the boundaries of the holes indicated they were dealing with some kind of clawed demon beast.

  Sun Ru caught Zeng Fei’s smiling sardonically at the sight.

  “Do you recognise the beast’s identity now, Brother Zeng?”

  He chuckled and gave his answer to the entire group. “No, no. But I can tell it’s a wily beast that we shouldn’t underestimate in the slightest - let us all pray it hasn’t already figured out a way to break through Granny Ju’s defences and devoured her too.”

  The villagers trembled on hearing this and further increased their vigilance.

  Sun Ru, however, had some familiarity with Zeng Fei’s personality by now and felt this was an odd remark for him to make - it reminded her of a mastermind in the shadows, pulling strings and making remarks that clearly held double meaning.

  Which didn’t fit the image of Zeng Fei built up in her mind: a brash and foolhardy boy whose single claim to fame was his luck at coming across Esteemed Pingu before anyone else.

  She couldn’t help but sigh at the thought… If only it’d been her instead.

  Zeng Fei, meanwhile, saw how she’d gone deep into thought trying to figure out what he’d meant and gave off an indulgent laugh.

  He felt rather carefree now as everything had worked out as he’d expected: the passage over had been safe, and the markings on these graves really were from some ferocious beast as best as he could tell. The set-up was perfect.

  From the graveyard, it wasn’t long to reach Granny Ju’s cottage, which bore a potent and complex medicinal odour built up through decades of shared presence.

  It reminded Zeng Fei of Dai Xinyue, which in his eyes was the most damning evidence so far.

  Inside, they found Granny Ju alive, though not in the best state. She was bedridden with heavily wrinkled skin and shrunken flesh.

  Hearing the noise they made, the old lady awoke and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. “Ah, children. And… if my eyes don’t fail me, could you two be sect disciples of the esteemed Treading Infinity Sect?”

  The fact that she had a third layer Qi Refining cultivation indicated she’d been a failed sect disciple in her younger years or perhaps had picked it up during her medical training.

  “Indeed, we are disciples of the Treading Infinity Sect, Granny Ju,” Sun Ru said, showing a sympathetic expression.

  “Ah, let me greet you properly—” The old woman tried to raise herself, but broke down into a coughing fit which could well have been the death of her.

  The villagers rushed to place her in a better respiratory position and provide her with water to drink.

  Once she’d recovered, she spoke towards the cultivators again, her voice ever more feeble now.

  “I apologise for this ugly display, Esteemed Ones. But don’t worry: despite my current state, I can still help you with what you came here to know. It took several days of searching but I finally found the entry on the beast haunting our village - an Astral Hopper. It’s sinister beyond anything I previously thought.”

  “Is that something we’ll be able to handle?” Sun Ru asked. “Otherwise, it’d be most prudent for us to hurry back and have our seniors come in our stead.”

  “It must be dealt with urgently, Esteemed One!” Granny Ju said with sudden strength, though this faded just as quick. “I believe the Astral Hopper has gone into hibernation once again, giving us a golden opportunity to deal with it. But if we were to wait for your seniors to arrive, it’ll have devoured the entire village by then as its next phase is far more dangerous and aggressive.”

  “Still…”

  Seeing Sun Ru’s hesitation, Granny Ju assuaged her. “Don’t worry, I have also found a way of weakening the beast - which additionally turns out to be why it refused to approach my home from the start. But the amount I have on hand won’t be enough to deal a critical blow, so we need to gather more with haste. What you need to d—”

  If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Why bother?” Zeng Fei interrupted.

  The unabashed insolence in his tone caught everyone there unawares; half a dozen faces spun to regard him with emotions ranging from bafflement to concern.

  “What do you mean, Esteemed One?” Granny Ju asked, followed by a few more spluttering coughs.

  He watched the granny’s show of weakness stony-faced, wholly unimpressed.

  He’d long learnt his lesson that unlike on Earth where people weakened and lost ambition with age, here it was the elderly who were the powerhouses with the wiliest of minds.

  After all, wasn’t it just two months ago when another old bastard had put up this same display of weakness and infirmity just to fuck him over? As if he’d fall for the same trick twice!

  “I said I’m not going on your wild goose chase, you doddering coot! I declare that you are the villain haunting the village, Granny Ju! If you want to live, let alone have me listen to a single another word out of your foul mouth, you must first prove your innocence!”

  The local men who’d accompanied him here felt affronted by his blatant disrespect and began to make motions towards the skinny teenager to remind him of his place - as mortals, they couldn’t sense his strength and had only been treating him with so much respect out of the knowledge he was a cultivator here to aid them.

  But as men, were they just supposed to stand around when the village’s medicine woman, who had been with them for all their lifetimes, was accused like a common criminal, especially while she was in such a frail state?

  The answer turned out to be yes, yes they were!

  Pingu waddled in front of his master and wagged his beak towards the men, making clicking noises; although they couldn’t sense his cultivation base, they simply got a sense of instinctual danger from him - akin to a rabbit coming across a slumbering lion - that it reminded them how foolhardy they were being thinking they could intimidate a cultivator.

  As such, the men stopped in their tracks and shifted their attention towards Sun Ru, silently pleading that she appeal to her partner gone mad.

  Even without their prayers, Sun Ru would have done so. “Hold up, Brother Zeng. Where is this sudden accusation coming from?”

  “Sister Sun Ru, don’t you think the details of this mission are awfully suspicious? The initial description suggested a demon beast well within our capability to handle, yet once we arrive, we’re faced with a different situation.”

  “But there’s a good reason for that - the Village Head mentioned how the beast was quiet for a brief period, so it’s likely it was evolving into a more aggressive phase then too.”

  “Indeed, it is a perfect explanation, isn’t it? And how lucky that there’s somebody here who could identify the beast even though none of the villagers caught a glimpse of it. Yet, how unlucky that they weren’t allowed to access this information until we came along. And now that we’re here, we’re told we must seize the moment to kill the beast, or else accept the fact that everyone here will wind up dead. Which effectively takes away the option of calling our seniors.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Sun Ru asked, to which he shrugged.

  “The entire chain of events clicks too well into place, wouldn’t you say? Almost like someone is corralling us.”

  The Chief of the Divine Truth Scouring Abode had heard out the dilemma from her Vice Chief, Cai Ling.

  On the one hand, their VIP client was effectively asking for tracking information on the latest disciple of that two-faced demoness Mi Mi.

  And on the other, the Sect Leader of the Treading Infinity Sect, Lao Yating, was demanding information about the VIP’s identity.

  It was shaping up to be a clash of titans. And since both sides were unfathomably powerful and would hold a grudge against the Truth Abode for siding with the other, their situation had become the literal definition of being stuck between a rock and a hard place.

  Nor would denying both information requests achieve anything as the two would take that too, however unreasonably, as the Truth Abode aligning against them.

  Once she understood the situation, the Chief had remained statue-still with her hands arched for a long while, contemplating. When eventually she had come to a decision and shared it, Cai Ling had felt embarrassed about his own ineptitude that he had been unable to realise the solution by himself.

  He’d gotten himself into a twist considering the power of the parties involved and the stakes in play here. But if you stripped away the power politics and potential repercussions, leaving behind only the core problem, then the solution was obvious.

  It came down to this: why ever should the Truth Abode select champions from their clientele when that forced them into a position of managing risk and preparing countermeasures if things went tits up? If their clientele wanted to clash, so be it; it simply wasn’t in the Truth Abode’s business to get involved.

  Indeed, the optimal strategy in such a scenario was not to act like a kingmaker but an auction house: let the clientele know of each other, make them aware that they’re competing, and then allow them to go at it. The winner would get the prize, simple as, in this case being access to the Truth Abode’s services.

  It had given Cai Ling no small amount of guilty pleasure to write his response to both clients.

  [Although you are our cherished customer, there is an opposing force that would punish us if we were to release the information you desire.

  All the same, we wish to do our best to deliver the outcome that you want.

  As such, could you kindly respond with a display of your dedication to uncovering the requested information, in light of the fact that adverse forces exist.]

  If they wanted to find out so badly, fine, show your commitment first. This would help the Truth Abode decide which side was stronger, or otherwise which felt more strongly about this matter.

  As for the exact form their response could take, Cai Ling had deliberately left this part vague to let the clients decide that for themselves, whether it be money, magic treasures, promises, or whatever.

  With the messages sent and under the impression he’d just deftly navigated intense political turbulence, Vice Chief Cai Ling had stewed in his satisfaction for all of an hour before the first response had arrived - which was incredibly quick even by powerhouse standards.

  It was from the VIP client, and after a cursory scan with his divine sense, Cai Ling did not dare open the jade slip. Not when his senses were screaming that he would die the instant he did so…