Chapter 76: Disciples of Sanctus Medicus
"This way, please, my lord."
On the grand street of the Exalting Sanctum, a man dressed in the robes of an alchemist from the Alchemy Commission was respectfully leading the way for Takatsuki.
This individual was precisely the same alchemist who had previously attempted to take Bailu away, and he was also a member of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. From the man's memories, Takatsuki had discovered that many of the alchemists within the Alchemy Commission were part of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus.
However, to prevent being wiped out in a single sweep, they operated in separate branches. Managed layer by layer through a strict hierarchy, the lower-level members remained completely unaware of the participants in other branches, let alone the identity of their leader.
Every member among them would adopt a flower name as their codename. The codename for this particular alchemist named Yinbo was Lilac. By combining the use of the Disc and Heaven's Door, Takatsuki had implanted a fabricated setting into Lilac's memory, making him believe that Takatsuki was a powerful individual seeking immortality, a fact Lilac would never doubt.
"Who are we going to see?" Takatsuki asked, looking at Lilac leading the way ahead. Although he had already combed through the other party's memories and obtained a good amount of intelligence, he still required Lilac's introduction if he wanted to blend in smoothly.
"Lord White Gladiolus, we are going to see the overseer of the Exalting Sanctum, Lady Green Hibiscus," Lilac explained as he guided the way.
"Lady Green Hibiscus is the head of the Exalting Sanctum branch. Today, she will be meeting with the newly recruited novices there and bestowing upon them our Disciples of Sanctus Medicus's divine medicine. Ah, of course, those novices naturally cannot be compared to someone of your caliber, my lord."
The divine medicine... That would be the Dragon's Slumber, Xianzhou's Leap. Takatsuki naturally remembered the medicinal prescription he had seen earlier. Though Lilac was talking to him continuously, he actually already knew all of these details.
"Chirp..."
Lilac glanced around somewhat suspiciously. "What was that sound?"
"There was no sound. You must have misheard." Takatsuki reached down and gently pushed a tiny head that had poked out from his pocket back inside.
"Perhaps. But my lord, please be careful. Right now, the Realm-Keeping Commission is conducting investigations against us everywhere, and they frequently attempt to plant moles to infiltrate our Disciples of Sanctus Medicus."
Watching Lilac's silhouette as he continued to lead the way, Takatsuki whispered toward his pocket, "Keep quiet. He won't notice it, but others will."
Inside Takatsuki's pocket, a tiny snake-like figure nodded its head. Calling it a snake was actually a bit of an insult, because this form was physically a dragon—at least, it was the type of Eastern divine dragon from Takatsuki's past knowledge.
It was only because of this that he finally realized the Vidyadhara race could truly transform into dragons. As for where this little fellow had come from, that went back to when Takatsuki had wanted Bailu to head back on her own.
Because Bailu kept pestering him, Takatsuki had no choice but to agree to her demands, though he also stipulated a condition: Bailu had to conceal herself. The method of concealment was to turn Bailu into a different appearance.
Originally, Takatsuki had intended to use the Monkey Talisman to turn Bailu into a little snake, but she had ended up changing into this form instead. At the very beginning, the Talisman had even failed. A surge of energy inside Bailu's body had resisted the magic of the Monkey Talisman.
Only after Bailu actively relinquished her resistance did it finally succeed, but even then, the success hadn't yielded the appearance Takatsuki had envisioned. Looking at Bailu, who had transformed into a tiny purple dragon, Takatsuki found it quite marvelous.
The outcome was likely due to the influence of Bailu's unique race and Path. However, it didn't matter right now, as long as she could remain hidden. After turning into a tiny dragon, Bailu could only produce soft chirping noises.
After using Heaven's Door to command Lilac not to perceive his abnormalities, Takatsuki added a great deal of extra material to Lilac's memories, letting the man lead him to meet the overseer of the Exalting Sanctum.
"We've arrived. This is the place." The two brought their footsteps to a halt in front of a courtyard.
"Lord White Gladiolus, follow me. Lady Green Hibiscus and the others should currently be..." Lilac trailed off mid-sentence, unable to continue. Inside the courtyard, a grey-haired girl holding a flaming lance in one hand and clutching a scarlet lance in the other was currently standing there.
Across from her lay several individuals who had already mutated into the forms of the Mara-struck.
"You! Who are you?!" Lilac's expression twisted in sheer shock.
"Ah, there's another one." Just as Stelle raised the weapon in her hand, she watched the man who had suddenly appeared instantly collapse to the ground. "What happened?" Stelle looked toward the outside, only to see Takatsuki walking through the entrance.
"Stelle, you're actually here too? Weren't you together with March and the others?" Sweeping his gaze over the conditions inside the courtyard, Takatsuki roughly guessed what had transpired here.
"The people from the Realm-Keeping Commission asked for my help, so I came. Takatsuki, why are you here too?" Pulling the tiny purple dragon out from his pocket, a flash of purple light erupted, and the tiny purple dragon reverted back to Bailu's form.
"Since these guys have been dealt with, there's no longer any need to hide." Takatsuki looked at Stelle and explained, "Because this fellow wanted to abduct Bailu, I altered some of his memories to make him believe I was a member of the Disciples of Sanctus Medicus. I was planning to follow the clues to pull up this organization that's been causing trouble on the Xianzhou recently."
"Takatsuki, Takatsuki! How did you do that?! You could actually turn this lady into the form of a dragon!"
The moment Bailu came back, she pestered Takatsuki, shouting all the while. Takatsuki helplessly pushed her aside and looked toward Stelle. "Why are you here? Are these few guys the ones led by that overseer called Green Hibiscus in the Exalting Sanctum?"
Stelle nodded, withdrawing her gaze from Bailu and stating, "This fellow turned out to be a mole sent in by the Realm-Keeping Commission, but he ended up being turned. He saw through my disguise and wanted to kill me, so I took care of them all." Stelle explained the matter very nonchalantly, but Takatsuki could still grasp the sheer danger involved.
"This fellow seems to have one breath left." Becoming Mara-struck didn't mean they were completely immune to death; even the Long-life species could die, though it was highly difficult. Right now, that overseer named Green Hibiscus seemed to still possess a final breath due to being a Long-life species combined with the raw power of the Mara-struck state, preventing Stelle from killing him outright.
"Let me take a look at what these Disciples of Sanctus Medicus are truly about." Things that Lilac didn't know might be known by Green Hibiscus, because their organization was split into distinct tiers, and Green Hibiscus was a Disciple of the organization—to put it in colloquial terms, a role akin to a supervisor.
"Takatsuki, can you find their leader?" Stelle squatted down right next to Green Hibiscus alongside Takatsuki. Bailu squeezed over as well, conducting a mock-professional examination. "Even though he's a Long-life species, he's beyond saving."
"I know. I didn't plan on saving him either. I just want to take a look at his memories, nothing more."