Chapter 25: Bingya Grass
Mi Wan used her spiritual energy to examine the little cat demon’s body and discovered that despite the large amount of demonic poisoning in her meridian veins and demonic source, it was still possible to cleanse it. However, she could not come up with a method to fix the issues of a damaged demonic source.
What did her Master tell her in the past? She recalled that there was a method to treat it.
Mi Wan knocked her head in frustration, but it had been too long. After being trapped in Molin for the last 500 years, with the exception of a few skills she used regularly, a lot of her memories were a blur. Since she was busy killing demons every day in the last few years before her death, in comparison to her other skills, her demon-slaying techniques were not forgotten.
“Mew~~” (Big sister, it feels so good to be rubbed by you, even the wound no longer hurts.)
After the little cat demon’s meridian lines were smoothed out by Mi Wan’s spiritual energy, she was so comfortable that her tail stretched up.
“If your injury doesn’t hurt, you should sleep.” Mi Wan smiled and rubbed behind her ears.
“Mew~~” (When I wake up, will you bring me to my brother?)
“Mmhmm.” After Mi Wan soothed the baby cat demon to sleep, she got up and walked towards the window sill. When she was examining the baby cat demon’s demonic source, she had been racking her brains to recall the method to repair demonic sources, but she was still lacking one small, yet a crucial bit of information. This looming thought made it difficult for her to relax and sleep.
Mi Wan supported her head against the windowpane, deep in thought, and at some point, the light appeared through the window from across her.
Fan Chen came back?
Mi Wan jumped up, suddenly inspired by an idea. With regards to demonic sources, won’t it be better to ask a demon boss? And this tree demon lived a long life and probably filled with all sorts of knowledge.
With that thought, Mi Wan pushed her window open and grabbed a glass cup from the side table, and threw it over.
As usual, the glass cup was caught by a vine before hitting the window across her, and Fan Chen appeared in front of the window once more. Though they were more than 20 meters apart, Mi Wan could feel the disapproval written all over tree demon bro’s face. However, she was long used to Fan Chen’s cold exterior and warm personality, so it did little to deter her as she continued to wave happily.
“What is it?” Sure enough, despite his disapproval, Fan Chen still sent over a lavender flower that crept over the wall of their courtyard and that made its way to her window sill.
“I have something to ask you.”
“Speak.”
“I brought back a degenerated cat demon from school today, and after examining it, I found that her demonic source was already damaged by demonic poison. As you are aware, I can cleanse demonic poisoning, but I don’t know what to do with a damaged demonic source. So I want to ask you if you know of a solution.” Mi Wan quickly presented her predicament.
Fan Chen did not immediately reply, and only spoke up after several moments of silence, “You have treated a lot of demons lately.”
“Yeah, seeing that I’ve been doing so much to help the demonic race as a demon hunter, shouldn’t an elder demon like you help out a bit. Hurry up and tell me a way to fix a demonic source.” Mi Wan requested shamelessly.
“The cat demons have always been a wealthy race.” Fan Chen had long seen through Mi Wan’s opportunistic personality.
“…Fine. I’ll just give you 30% when I get the money.” Not like she’s the type of person to take advantage of another.
“No need.”
Mi Wan was ecstatic. Like she said, Fan Chen was an Earth King, he won’t argue with her over some small change.
“Mi Wan.” This was the first time Fan Chen had ever said her name, causing Mi Wan to look over, “If demons were to come to you and ask to be treated, will you treat them equally and not refuse them?”
“I can’t do that. I won’t treat them if they don’t give me money.” Her Master once said that charity is not giving without principle, but choosing to offer it within reason.
“So you will treat them for money?”
“Of course.” Mi Wan thought over it. Since she possessed no skills from this world, relying on her special abilities would be the fastest method to earn money, and it just happened to be money from the demons. If she were to use that money to help other people, it would be the same as robbing the rich and giving it to the poor. (TL: Mi Wan fancies herself as Robin Hood?) Besides, as someone who went from demon killer to demon doctor, it would make her feel uncomfortable if she did not accept some money.
“I hope you can do as you say.” Fan Chen’s tone had a subtle solemness.
“Relax, as long as there is money to be made, I won’t refuse. After all this talk, do you actually know a way to repair demonic sources?” Mi Wan asked.
“Bingya grass.” Fan Chen replied, “Bingya grass that is a century or older can repair demonic sources.”
“Oh yeah! Bingya grass.” Hearing ‘Bingya grass’ was like the key to her memory vault. Her foggy memories instantly cleared, and Mi Wan excitedly knocked on the window sill, “My Master did say Bingya grass can repair demonic sources. But where can I find Bingya grass after 500 years? There seem to be more houses than grass now.”
Do I need to travel into the mountain wilderness to pick herbs?
While Mi Wan was feeling drained by the idea, a sudden night breeze blew past, rustling the leaves on the vines. Mi Wan’s eyes suddenly brightened. How can she be this dumb? There’s a park boss right in front of her, “Fan Chen bro. You are a tree demon. You can revive withered plants. You should be able to grow Bingya grass, right?”
“It’s not difficult to plant Bingya grass. The problem is growing century-old Bingya grass.” Fan Chen did not deny the fact he could grow Bingya grass, but today, their planet’s environment was so far deteriorated that there was not enough spiritual energy. Even if he were able to plant it, Bingya grass would not be able to live to a hundred years and beyond.
“No need, just give me those that are 10 years old, I can combine them with other medicinal ingredients, cultivate it with spiritual energy, and the result should be about the same.” Who needs that much luxury? We’re talking century-old Bingya grass here. That’s expensive.
“Just the 10-year ones?” Fan Chen sounded terribly unconvinced.
“It’s enough. The demons out there are mostly level 6 and below. 10-year-old Bingya grass combined with my spiritual energy should be enough.” 500 years ago, her Master once said that Bingya grass was difficult to come by, especially century-old Bingya grass since those can be applied directly to treat damaged demonic sources without refinement. If physicians can only rely on such rare medicinal herbs to treat illnesses, then it cannot be considered a curable disease. That was why her Master carefully researched for a method of refinement: Using 10-year-old Bingya grass as the main medicinal ingredient, and then adding a demon hunter’s spiritual energy to boost the Bingya grass’s medicinal effectiveness to achieve the same result.
Problem was, her Master came up with this method right before the great war broke out between humans and demons. Mi Wan did not get an opportunity to practice the refinement instructions once over before it was destroyed by the sect leader. The sect leader reminded everyone that the demonic race is powerful, and if this method was left behind, it would harm future generations of humans.
So am I doing something destructive to future humans right now?
“I’ll bring some to you tomorrow.” With that, the vine by the window sill receded. By the time Mi Wan came to her senses, the window across her had closed.
“Not even a goodbye. I was hoping to add you on WeChat and save the effort of throwing drinking glasses over.” Mi Wan grumbled when she suddenly caught the light scent of Gardenias.
Since when do Gardenias grow in this season? Mi Wan looked outside curiously, only to find the garden next door was covered in colorful blooms for some reason.
“What’s he up to? Did he suddenly lose control of his demonic powers?” Mi Wan muttered to herself.
*
Meanwhile, at the Demon Hunter Association.
When the tribe leader of the cat demons, Yuan Wang, heard about Guan Li’s incident, he immediately rushed to the Demon Hunter Association to confront President Bai Feng.
“President Bai, demons and humans long had a peace agreement several centuries ago, and today you demon hunters hurt one of my people for no reason. Are you trying to break that agreement?”
“Leader Yuan, this Li Ke was never one of the members of the Demon Hunter Association, how can this be elevated to breaking our agreement?” Bai Feng would naturally never admit to it.
“Since Li Ke isn’t one of your members, then bring him out and let us handle him.” The leader of the cat tribe was not here to pick a fight between demons and humans, but to deal with the demon hunter who harmed those in the cat clan.
“I’m afraid that’s not possible.” Bai Feng rejected directly, “The one who made the first move was Guan Li of the cat demon tribe. Based on this logic, you are the ones at fault, I’m already generous for not pursuing the matter.”
“…Fine.” Seeing that the Bai Feng was unwilling to negotiate further, the leader of the cat demons could only helplessly leave in a huff.
After the leader of the cat tribe left, Xiang Zhen emerged from the outside and asked: “President, why did you protect that scum, Li Ke?”
“I’m not protecting Li Ke, but us demon hunters as a whole.” Bai Feng explained.
“But he’s not even a member of the Demon Hunter Association.” Xiang Zhen did not understand.
“What do you know?” Bai Feng rolled his eyes, “Even if Li Ke wasn’t one of our members and a piece of scum, he is still a demon hunter. It’s one thing to deal with him ourselves, but we should never hand him over to the demons. Although demon hunters and demons have maintained a face of peace for several centuries, everyone knows deep inside that as long as one side shows weakness, the other side would definitely go in for the kill. Peacekeeping is not maintained through diplomacy but through rivalry. Understand?”
Xiang Zhen understood but felt the truth difficult to swallow. For even though he and Guan Li were extremely good friends, there might be a day when both sides might become enemies.
“Fine, let’s not talk about these things.” Bai Feng asked, “You said you found Li Ke through a demon tracker, where’s that?”
“Here.” Xiang Zhen handed Bai Feng the demon tracker that Mi Wan gave him.
When Bai Feng received it, he carefully examined the drawing on it, then pulled out some talisman paper from his desk and copied the same symbols shown on the demon tracker. Then he pricked his finger with a needle and dripped a drop of blood on it, and then…Nothing happened.
“…” Bai Feng looked a little embarrassed.
“President, I don’t think it did anything.” Xiang Zhen sincerely commented.
“Shut up.” What an oblivious idiot.
Xiang Zhen shut his mouth obediently.
“How is your relationship with Mi Wan?” Bai Feng asked once more.
“So-so.” Xiang Zhen replied.
“You…” He shouldn’t have asked. Bai Feng took a deep breath, and gave Xiang Zhen a direct order without looking at him, “Here’s your mission. Find a way to get Mi Wan to reveal the method of drawing up this demon tracker to our association.”
“Couldn’t Vice-President Fang also draw up demon trackers?” Xiang Zhen did not understand.
“What do you know?” This demon tracker could even track demonic auras left behind by a degenerated cat, you think that half-ass Fang Huai can draw one? Think about it. With this demon tracker, would you ever lose sight of the demons you are going after?”
Xiang Zhen got it. If they had this demon tracker, he and his senior would not have spent half a day just to not catch the bat demon in the end because of the delay.
“I’ll ask tomorrow.”
*
The next morning, Mi Wan got out of bed and opened the window to take a look at the garden next door, to find the courtyard of flowers had all disappeared as if last night’s colorful display was her own imagination.
Looks like he really lost control of his demonic power and they only receded today.
After a lazy stretch, Mi Wan carried the little cat demon downstairs. A whole table filled with food, but she was only allowed to have rice porridge and pickled vegetables, while the little cat demon was on the side, gnawing on the pork belly. She could not even compare to a cat. I’m so salty I can cry.
“Young Miss, you seem to have lost weight again.” Auntie Zhang is a person who believes that every person needs encouragement, so she would also start the day with this phrase, regardless if Mi Wan did lose any weight. That sincere tone initially had Mi Wan fooled. She thought that Auntie Zhang had keen eyesight to be able to tell that she lost a kilogram every day, but after she said the same thing for 10 days straight, she realized the truth.
“Auntie Zhang, I want meat too.” Mi Wan took the opportunity to beg for meat.
“Butler Ye already said that you can only have meat once every two days. You just ate some last night. I’ll make it again for you tomorrow night.” Auntie Zhang smiled and added another piece of meat to the little cat demon’s plate.
“Auntie Zhang, you treat the cat better than you treat me.”
“This kitten is so cute, and its ears are even pink. Young Miss, what type of cat is this? Is it expensive? I’ll buy one too, my daughter said she wanted to raise a cat.” Auntie Zhang felt that the cat brought home by the Young Miss was extremely obedient as if it could understand humans.
“It’s really expensive. One of those costs 30 million.”
“So expensive?” Auntie Zhang was shocked, feeling that she did not just carry a cat, but a golden statue, “Is it a cat spirit?”
“Right?” Mi Wan nodded solemnly.
“Mew~~” The little cat demon also happily hummed.
After Mi Wan took the little cat demon back to school, Auntie Zhang could not help but complain to Butler Ye: “Rich people have such weird notions. Spending 30 million on a cat?”
“…” The well-informed Butler Ye was a gentleman and did not tell Auntie Zhang that that was just an ordinary Chinese rural cat. The parks were filled with them.