Parasite

The head caretaker gestures Wu Song and Fangsu to follow him into a private room which was usually exclusive to only for high ranked caretakers, but given the situation, both juniors were allowed in the private room. The private room was brightly lit up which make the sheets of paper covered the walls categorises specific topics of new discoveries of species, new illnesses and recent discoveries of old topics being replaced due to more knowledge and technology. Wu Song was incredibly fascinated by such a privilege that was only granted to caretakers who has been in the industry for decades. But, Fangsu was more interested in certain plants that were toxic to animals. Many which Fangsu was familiar because of her work that is associated with botany made it much more enlightening.

The head caretaker opened the porcelain bottle that was given by Fangsu, shaking out the contents to see insect eggs. To be more precisely, parasite eggs which were an off white colour, oval in shape and they were clustered together. Once, the head caretaker saw these eggs beginning to hatch open. He quickly placed a cover over the egg to prevent them from finding a host, "This situation is very delicate," The head caretaker's eyebrows furrowed as the wrinkles in his forehead continued to deepen, "Parasite like these is quite troublesome to deal with." The parasite that was underneath the cover was the flesh-eating parasite known to be used by the people in the underground or black market to get rid of bodies. But, the younger the parasite the slower the death of the victim but the toxins released during the parasite's feeding process would go crazy.

Wu Song was fascinated by the parasites, "So the parasites would be eating the meat that we have lying out and then the leopard would eat the meat," But as he continued to read the notes on the walls filled with information on the parasite, seeing that there was such a minuscule amount, "The ideal conditions for Flesh-eating parasites are moist environments such as the Moon-Glade Swamps." This was by no means a simple problem but someone had intentionally planted Flesh-Eating Parasite eggs in the Empress's mount enclosure. Both Wu Song and the head caretaker were both startled that someone would have intentionally done such a thing. But, Fangsu was the only one that was bothered by the intentional act.

A pale ethereal glow came through the wall, Ming Yue's facial expression lit up having found Fangsu, "Master! I have found some information. Wah! This room is filled to the brim with papers!" Ming Yue who floated towards Fangsu staring at the massive amount of notes on the wall, "Master, I have found that the Su Hua Jing and Consort Hui were the ones who instigated the Empress to investigate your background but since nothing much came out of the investigation she wanted to test you." Ming Yue was waving at Fangsu trying to get her master's attention but then Ming Yue had forgotten if she was a spirit and that only Fangsu could see her. If Fangsu had begun talking to Ming Yue, the other two people in the room would have thought she was seeing and talking to imaginary things. So, Ming Yue quietly waiting for Fangsu to finish her business.

Fangsu nodded at Ming Yue which showed that she had noticed Ming Yue's presence in the room and turned her attention towards the two individuals in front of her, "Why not make some medicine that can kill the parasite but not the Leopard?" Fangsu took a note from the wall pointing to a plant that is toxic to the Flesh-Eating Parasite, the Dew of a Death Willow & Life's Persimmon. Life's Persimmon is grown in the more tropical or subtropical climates, thriving in the hotter temperature but Death Willow grows in much damper areas where there have been many deaths.

The head caretaker and Wu Song were troubled by both ingredients as one of them are hard to acquire but the other doesn't grow in the capital, "Retrieving the Dew from the Death Willow is hard to get but it's doable, ghouls and ghost protect it," The head caretaker released a heavy sigh looking the Life's Persimmon listed on the note, "But, to retrieve the Life's Persimmon... we don't have the climate that this tree grows in let alone the resources to gather it." The caretaker can only shake his head, seeing that the caretaking unit was fated to withstand the wrath of the Empress.

Wu Song, however, was confused why they couldn't get the Life's Persimmon to create the medicine needed to kill and dispel the parasite, "Why would it be difficult to retrieve it?" Scratching his head, Wu Song wasn't well versed in the knowledge of plants.

Fangsu sighed heavily as a headache had begun forming, "Life's Persimmon Trees thrive in hotter climates and can't handle the wintry chill that comes over in the capital and usually grown in the rural areas of the Kingdom," Untying the ribbon that she used to tie her hair, releasing her large mass of hair, "I have a Life's Persimmon tree and it soon is bearing fruit soon," Despite speaking in a soft voice, both individuals were shocked and shouted in response which caused Fangsu to fidget with her fingers as she was frightened by the sudden shouts.

Wu Song was sent to request for a team of the cultivator to retrieve the Dew of Death Willow and the head caretaker ask where he could get the Life's Persimmon but Fangsu said she could get for him since it was in a location that was only the Chen family could know and enter. So, the head caretaker asked for Fangsu to retrieve the Life's Persimmon for the use of the medicine.

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The next day, Fangsu prepared to ride Tian to return to the ancestral home to retrieve the Life's Persimmon in order to make the medicine for the Empress' Leopard but also it would mean that she would be released from the Imperial Palace. Dressed in some comfortable clothes and a veiled hat. Fangsu packed some food, water, equipment, weapons, money and offerings in the satchels on Tian's body. Her grandpa and Wu Song went to bid Fangsu a safe journey, "Fangsu be careful of the dangers being on the road!" Her grandpa shouted as Fangsu smiled at her loud grandpa. Ming Yue waved Fangsu's grandpa farewell, excitingly bouncing up and down to see places outside the capital.

But before Fangsu could leave Wu Song had given Fangsu a bell. It was a Beast Warding Bell and it gave off a Purple glow to it, this high-grade bell is a precious magical item as they were hard to come by and highly sought out the magical item by many cultivators, "This is too much! Please take it back!" Fangsu panicked as she tried to give the magical item back

But, Wu Song shook his head pushing the gift into Fangsu's hands, "This is a gift from my grandpa and I since you saved me from the Empress's wrath before," This gift is useful for any person for any job as magical beast are quite common in this world, "The Sun family always repay their gratitude a hundredfold and anyone who is good to us is our friends!" Wu Song saluted Fangsu and ran to join the expedition group to retrieve the other ingredient. Fangsu held the gift in her hands, a gift from a newly made friend. Packing the Beast Warding Bell into one of the satchels, Fangsu rode out of the capital.

Tian was excited to have an outing after being struck in the backyard and he began running full speed which caused Fangsu to laugh out loudly. Fangsu held the reins tightly as the wind rushed past her eventually knocking off her veiled hat but Fangsu didn't care. Her hair was free to fling wildly in the air as the wind rushed past her as Tian continued to run. But, eventually, they stopped by a small stream where Fangsu began washing out the dye in her hair which left the stream with a muddy brown trail and it eventually dissipated. Fangsu drained her wet ash grey hair and it was quite a sight to see so much water being drained. Tian impatiently nudged Fangsu so that they could continue the journey back to the ancestral home. But, before they would continue on the journey, Fangsu drank the water from her gourd. Filling it up with the more water from the stream before hopping back on Tian.

As they continued on their journey, the sun was now dipping into the horizon and it was starting to get dark. They went to a nearby inn where Fangsu met Jingyi and Xiao Lu, but now that the thought came up. Fangsu hadn't seen Xiao Lu around Jingyi, it was quite puzzlingly but Fangsu decided to forgo that though and get a room before the inn gets full. Fangsu paid the stable boy to feed and care for Tian and walking in the inn which was filled with mercenaries, cultivators and travellers who were mainly male. Fangsu went to the reception desk to get a room and was successfully able to get one of the last few rooms that were vacant. But, Fangsu's ash grey hair combined with her beauty gather a lot of attention from both female and male alike that were in the inn.

Fangsu had requested for a hot bath from the inn employees and a meal. After eating dinner and bath, Fangsu crawling into the bed. With all the travelling and fatigue from the past few days quickly cause Fangsu to fall to sleep without much effort. The next morning Fangsu woke up from the loud chattering from all the guest in the inn and decided it was best to continue to the ancestral home. Taking Tian from the stables, Fangsu quickly hopped on Tian who eagerly got out of the premises of the inn and on the road. Eventually, Fangsu reaches the base of the mountain of the ancestral home and summoned Bai Xue. When Bai Xue was summoned and saw Ming Yue, it immediately started to protected Fangsu from spirit thinking Ming Yue would harm Fangsu. Thankfully, Fangsu was able to calm Bai Cue saying that Ming Yue was a friend and not an enemy. Fangsu took the saddle off Tian's back and hid it in a bush so that he could have some free time to roam the open area. Seeing Tian happily running in the open area away from the forest, Fangsu climbed Bai Xue's back and continued up the mountain.

Upon entering the ancestral home, Fangsu was welcome with a rush of scents from all the plant life and it was very comforting. Dismounting Bai Xue, Fangsu quickly rushes to the Life's Persimmon tree to see that it was beginning to ripen. Fangsu wore her gloves and used her dagger, cutting the stem that was holding the Life's Persimmon, harvesting about three of them and placing them in a small bag to carry. Ming Yue was fascinated by the sheer size that the Chen ancestral home that took up an entire mountain and it had multiple water sources, "Master! You have such a big ancestral home!" Marvelling at the beautiful range of plants that lived in the perfect climate of the mountain.

Fangsu pocketed the Life's Persimmon into a satchel that Fangsu took with her, "It is... You can take a look around if you want," Dismissing Ming Yue to explore the big home. Fangsu walked to the backside of the mountain as the familiar dreary sight of the pagoda. Entering the empty and echoey pagoda, Fangsu paid respects to the elders and walked up the stairs to see the engraved tombstones of her family in its own socket in the wall. Inserting some incenses in each sockets. Paying respect Fangsu placed some offerings in each socket before going down to the main floor and paying respect to the other members of the family. Fangsu held back the tears knowing that once she started crying it would not stop.

When Fangsu walked to the direction of the garden, looking back at the pagoda were hazy silhouettes of all the members of the Chen family except for her sisters and mother. Shaking her head, Fangsu walked back to the garden mounting Bai Xue. An apple tree was still bearing fruit and thinking it for a treat for Bai Xue and Tian, Fangsu took off some apples and fed it to Bai Xue who was happily eating them. Ming Yue later joined them so that they would descend down the mountain. Upon descending down the mountain, magical beasts were bowing giving space for the young Qilin to walk through. Once they were at the base of the mountain and out of the forest, Fangsu dismissed Bai Xue. Taking out the heavy saddle from the hidden place, Fangsu placed her forefinger and her thumb at the opening of her mouth, blowing hard. A sharp piercing whistle echoed through the open field.

Tian came running toward Fangsu, nudging her seeing the apples in her hands and Tian happily neighed as he was being fed apples. Placing the saddles on Tian's back, Fangsu mounted Tian once again and continued their journey back to the capital.