(MC POV)
After resting in my courtyard for a bit, I and my cute disciple met up with the core disciples that would be accompanying me for the bandit eradication request that the sect master assigned me.
Believe me, I would not have accepted it if I had the choice, but since I was the only Elder in the sect right now, i had to fulfill my duties as one.
According to the information, these bandits had been very active in recent months, even attacking a small sect that was affiliated with us, which was surpising, this sect was only in charge of inscribing runes on our weapons, building arrays, and some other things, so they were not that really important, but the fact that it was a group of bandits that attacked shows that something is wrong, so I had to investigate.
After getting Chuyan registered and giving her the sect's personal disciple robes, we headed off to the last location these bandits were spotted in.
Of course, with the core disciples with me, I had to expend a bit more energy to carry everyone as he headed to the first village on our list.
After flying for about two hours, we finally got to one of the affected villages, and seeing the amount of destruction there made me frown a bit.
"Spread and look for clues; don't neglect anything you find suspicious. Come, with me Chuyan."
"Yes Elder/Master."
The core disciples dispersed as I and Chuyan went deeper into the village.
"Apparently this happened about a month ago, and from there they attacked the runesmith sect," I said to Chuyan, who nodded as she looked around.
Now that she was healed of her scars and was in new robes, she looked really beautiful; no wonder those core disciples kept stealing glances at her.
"I think I might have to break some legs," I muttered.
"Is there a problem, master?" Chuyan asked with her eyes staring innocently at me.
"Oh, it's nothing," I replied, patting her head.
I had noticed that she loved getting head pats and being praised, and I also loved giving her head pats and praising her.
"Master, look," Chuyan called as she pointed at what looked like a pill on the ground, but the reason she called out was because somehow the pill was giving off a foul odor, and the little critters that had come close to the pill thinking it was food had died.
"They are all female," Chuyan said after observing the corpses. "I don't know why but am suddenly scared of this pill."
"Hmm." Waving my hands, I used some air magic and brought the pill closer for inspection. I saw how Chuyan flinched when the pill came closer, so I made sure it was about an arm's length away from me. "This..."
I could not believe it; this was actually a womb-killing pill. I had only seen this pill in the heavenly realm, and those that used it were actually the amazons of the heavenly realm.
This pill is like an abortion/contraceptive pill but for animals. the problem with this pill was that instead of making the animals infertile, it actually made the females more sexually active, and after mating, the males would be the ones to actually become infertile, and after some years, their manhood would just fall of and it was discovered that it actually worked on humans too.
The amazons used it for men who committed evil deeds and for other amazons who deserted the clan. These females, if not satisfied in time, would die. it seemed without even knowing the effects of the pill, Chuyan was already scared of it.
It seems her instincts are also very sharp, as expected of my disciple.
"So, master, what is it?" she asked sheepishly.
"Ah, it's a pill that kills pests; it seems seeing these creatures dead around it made you naturally scared," I lied as I burnt the pill and quickly summoned a gust of wind to blow the smoke away, in case its fumes are also another way of ingesting it.
"Oh, okay." She continued looking around diligently.
It seems this bandit eradication won't be smooth, but then again, how did a group of bandits in the mortal realm get their hands on something that only existed in the heavenly realm? Very strange.
It seems my easy life would be put on hold a bit.
"I found tracks!" One of the core disciples yelled, drawing our attention.
"They seemed to be heading toward the chiseled mountain," He said.
Hmm, chiseled mountain? Did I not pass there about four days ago?
"Let's go then. I wanted us to check the runesmith sect, but since we have a clue, then let's not waist time. lead the way."
"Yes Elder Zen."
As we made our way towards chiseled mountain, following the cart tracks, i noticed a shadow at the corner of my eye.
Narrowing my eyes, I spoke.
"Let's camp here and head there tomorrow." The disciples looked at me with confusion as they looked at the orange sky and nodded their heads.
"If we leave now, we might arrive there by nighttime."
"Yeah, and without visibility our search would not be very effective."
"I agree."
...
As they brought out the camping gear from their storage rings, I realized that I had not given Chuyan a storage ring, only that perfume ring.
After this I would create a storage ring for her, but I would have to first get the materials from the Degenre auction house in the Quill kingdom.
I guess that could be our adventuring destination then.
"Is there a problem, master?" Chuyan came to me and whispered as she looked at the disciples setting up the tents.
Okay, this girl is perfect; she was able to know something was wrong just from my actions.
"We are being watched," I answered.
"Ah," Chuyan looked at me with shock on her face. "Why don't we capture the inse-- I mean the person? maybe we might get some clues."
"No, judging by the behavior, they are just here to determine our location. It seems they had already been following us and got more relaxed after seeing that we stopped here, then got flustered when we decided to head towards chiseled mountain and exposed himself slightly," I explained. "He would soon be rushing back to their hideout, so all we need to do is follow."
...
"He is moving; let's go." I got out of my tent as Chuyan also followed, leaving the outer sect disciples to arrive later. when we find the hideout of the bandits, it would not be ideal if the place was just a meeting spot and we appeared in our numbers; we might spook them, and the lead we already had would run cold.
"So it seems we were on the right track then," Chuyan commented when she noticed he was heading in the direction of chiseled mountain.
"Yes."
We followed for what seemed like an hour, and in the distance I saw some men walking around in incomplete leather armor moving some crates from one carriage into another carriage in front of them. the carrige they were unloading the crates from had a broken wheel.
"Quickly, we need to get these supplies back and take over from the other brothers." The leader, i assume, was barking orders before noticing the spy that was sent to monitor us coming towards him.
"What are you doing here?" The leader said.
"I should be asking you the same," The spy said, looking around cautiously.
"Carriage wheel broke; had to wait for another one."
"What, you guys have not moved yet? It's almost nighttime!"
"Relax, the sun is still up," The leader said, patting his shoulder.
"You don't understand, the person they sent is master Zen! When i knew it was him, I panicked, and I'm sure he must have seen me. I'm even afraid he is following me, so I wanted to at least lead him away!"
Oh, i was wondering why it looked like he was heading straight to their hideout. usually when spies are being followed, they lead their tail to a fake hideout that is also an ambush. Luckily, these guys had their wheel broken.
Good thing I did not bring the other disciples.
Okay, time to stop hiding.
"What! you were spotted!? Who is master Zen anyways?"
"Uh, that would be me. Take us to your leader?"
What? he asked who I was, and since I'm already here, might as well just show up right?