"What did those three demonic beasts look like?" Bai Fanxian's interest sharpened as Zhang Xianyuan began to describe them.

  "One appeared in the central region — a large brown bear, about five meters tall, that could attack with flames. Two more of the same species, both at Martial Master-equivalent strength, showed up alongside it." He remembered he had photos on his phone and pulled it out to show her.

  The image showed a large bear carcass lying on scorched ground, its throat ringed with a collar of red flame, the forest behind it burned to wasteland. Beside it lay two more bears that looked similar but smaller. Even dead, they were causing problems. The heat still radiating from their bodies made them difficult to move.

  "Were they together?"

  "Reports say they seemed separate at first. But once the fighting started, the other two came from several kilometers away to help." Zhang Xianyuan scrolled to wider-angle photos. Besides the three bears, three military Generals had converged on the scene, all of them looking just as battered as the Marshal himself. Ma Fufeng had taken the worst of it, long gashes from the bears' claws running across his chest.

  Bai Fanxian frowned. Just containing three demonic beasts at peak Grandmaster level had required mobilizing forces like this. If four or five Sage-level creatures appeared at once, wouldn't the country collapse entirely?

  "The other two appeared in the north — demonic beasts resembling mammoths, covered in ice. Both at Grandmaster level. The moment they emerged, the ice storm they generated destroyed the entire village in the area..."

  Zhang Xianyuan sighed. The damage had come so fast there was no time to respond.

  "Fortunately Grandmaster Xie arrived first. Her poison held both of them in place until the rest of us got there."

  "Suyao was there?"

  Bai Fanxian looked up.

  "Yes. Don't worry — she wasn't hurt. Just pushed herself too hard." Zhang Xianyuan, knowing Xie Suyao was one of Bai Fanxian's own, was quick to reassure her. He thought of the young woman who had immobilized two high-level Grandmaster demonic beasts on her own, while it had taken weapons and General-level firepower just to bring down one bear.

  Every one of Lady Bai's people was remarkable.

  "Looks like her power has grown a lot. Her drive lately has exceeded expectations." The Marshal laughed softly. It wasn't just Liu Yianfei anymore. Even Zheng Renyi had reached Sage. News of the old man would reach Xie Suyao's ears up north before long.

  "...That's good."

  Bai Fanxian nodded. That young woman's constitution was unusual. For a time, fear that the poison in her body would flare up, combined with a lack of motivation, had kept Xie Suyao stuck at sixth-stage Grandmaster.

  But with the will to push forward, even without living in a Border saturated with life force, that special body of hers would carry her to Sage level on its own.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Did you find anything like this in their bodies?"

  Bai Fanxian flicked her wrist. The basketball-sized brown magic core from the wild boar appeared in her palm. Zhang Xianyuan leaned in to look and reached out his senses. His eyes went wide at the density of energy compressed inside.

  "...What is this?"

  "I think it's a magic core. I found it inside that giant wild boar." Bai Fanxian glanced toward the carcass in the yard. Zhang Xianyuan followed her gaze and nodded. He called his people on the spot, the ones currently examining the three bears, and told them to check for magic cores.

  "It should be near the heart." Bai Fanxian added. The Marshal passed the information along.

  Within ten minutes, word came back. Three fist-sized red magic cores had been found, one in each bear. The energy compressed inside each crystal was at least equivalent to a full-power explosion from a high-level Grandmaster cultivator.

  "Do you think we can use these crystals for anything?"

  Bai Fanxian tossed the brown crystal lightly in her hand as she waited for his answer.

  "Like what?"

  "I'm not sure... weapons, energy conversion, something practical. You'd know better than I would."

  Bai Fanxian shrugged. Modern technology was the one area she was genuinely useless in.

  She could learn to use it, but actually building things and understanding the science behind it was beyond her. Rather than fumbling through something she had no foundation in, handing the work to scientists with the proper equipment would get results far faster.

  "That's exactly it!"

  Zhang Xianyuan's eyes lit up. Bai Fanxian's words cut right through to something he hadn't thought to frame that way. In ancient times, humans had fashioned weapons from stone and beast fangs. They simply needed to do the same thing now.

  If the crystals and materials from these demonic beast carcasses could be turned into weapons effective against the creatures themselves, their fighting capability would jump enormously.

  "I'll put resources into researching how to use these crystals and whatever else we can salvage from those carcasses, right away." The Marshal got on the phone immediately, issuing orders to his subordinates with firm emphasis on how urgent this was.

  "Mm... is there anything else?"

  Bai Fanxian had a feeling this man hadn't come all the way here just for this. She was right. Zhang Xianyuan raised a fist and thumped his palm, as though just remembering.

  "Actually, one more thing. Would Lady Bai be willing to attend a meeting at Central Command with me tomorrow?"

  The Marshal kept his tone casual. Wu Jia, caught off guard by the sudden invitation, couldn't help himself:

  "Why would she go?"

  Bai Fanxian cut in before he could say more:

  "...Worried you'll have to mind the clinic alone again?"

  "Keh..."

  He hadn't expected her to understand him that well. Wu Jia just felt lonely having to work at the clinic alone today while everyone else got to go along.

  Even with Xiao Ting there for company.

  "The sudden appearance of these demonic beasts has forced the government to put together emergency plans for public safety. There's an emergency meeting tomorrow."

  Zhang Xianyuan explained his reason for coming.

  "Why should I attend?" Bai Fanxian raised her eyebrows. This seemed entirely outside her concern. She had nothing to do with the government.

  "...The meeting will bring together influential figures from many sectors to contribute ideas. And more importantly, you're one of the people who actually encountered these creatures yourself. Your perspective matters."

  "...Mm."

  Bai Fanxian considered it. Seeing what measures they planned to put in place might be worth her time.

  "Alright... but I'm bringing people."

  Bai Fanxian agreed. Zhang Xianyuan let out a breath and smiled, glancing around at Bai Fanxian's household with quiet satisfaction.

  "Of course. Bring the young ones too. It would do them good to see more of the world. They'll be very welcome."

  .

  .

  .

  Morning came quickly. The construction workers at the new village site were casting curious looks toward the clinic entrance. The patients who usually queued up calmly had gathered instead in front of the door, where a single sheet of paper had been posted.

  *"In service of the greater good, I have reluctantly set aside my own interests. The clinic will be closed for the day."*

  Those who had arrived confident they were among the first ten in line stared at it with hollow eyes. None more so than one male cultivator who had come with a friend.

  "...Again. I was so happy thinking the Empress herself would treat my knife wound this morning."

  "..."

  It was the same man who had shown up the last time the clinic closed. He sank to his knees, cradling his right index finger — nicked by a kitchen knife, by the look of it — his face a portrait of complete desolation.

  "Well. You can circulate your own qi now." His companion patted his shoulder. The man nodded numbly. The bleeding had already stopped, the cut slowly closing on its own. A kitchen knife scratch was hardly a problem for a Martial Master.

  "Maybe next time I should come prepared with a knife and just wait here..." he muttered.

  But his companion smacked him on the head hard enough to send his face toward the ground and rounded on him:

  "Are you out of your mind?! What do you think the Empress would say if she found out you hurt yourself just to see her?"

  "B-but..."

  "...We agreed to leave it to fate. One day, you'll actually get a real injury and walk in with your head held high."

  "..."

  The black bird assigned to keep watch over the house had witnessed the whole exchange. It fixed the two of them with a glassy, dead-fish stare.

  ...As though genuinely questioning whether its own intelligence, cultivated through years of hard work, was truly still inferior to these people.