“I knew it! You are a sage!”

Trying not to sigh cause that would mean risking moving and throwing Ju off as the woman wrapped a length of bandage around Olivia’s throbbing hand. It was not as painful as it could be due to the thick layer of burn ointment.

Instead, Olivia pinned Xue Xiawen with her flattest stare. “Just because a fire started where I touched a giant snake doesn’t make me one.” And I’m still trying to figure out how exactly I did that.

And it wasn’t because she wanted to do that again. More, it was that she wouldn’t do it again. At least when she didn’t want it to happen.

The last thing I need is accidentally setting something, or worse, someone, on fire.

“But you summoned gold flames!” Xiawen continued, clearly undeterred by Olivia’s insistence. “I’ve read stories about sages, and they all could summon gold flames.”

“Sprinkle copper sulfate on a wood fire, and the flames turn green,” Olivia muttered, nodding thanks to Ju as the woman finished wrapping, flexing her hand to test its movement. A little stiff, but as long I don’t do any hard riding, I should be good. That ointment is top-notch stuff; I hardly feel any pain.

“But-”

“Xiawen-di,” Jielan’s voice cut through the other teen’s. Not harsh, but it held the tone of enough. “Instead of harassing Miss Ada, perhaps it is best if you help your brother and Huanfu-di?”

“Ah, er, oh, right.” The other Xue twin quickly made his way to the pair hovering over the unconscious man, obviously not making eye contact with anyone until he knelt down, voices soft whispers as the trio started talking amongst themselves.

“I apologize for Xiawen’s actions,” Jielan said, taking over Xiawen’s seat, a large rock that sat along the road.

“Oh, no harm done,” Olivia waved him off. “Though I got to admit he’s very, well, enthusiastic.”

Jielan winced slightly. “That is one way to describe Xiawen-di, but not the worst.”

“Not the worst?” Ju asked.

“Ah,” Jielan glanced to the side, “I shouldn’t be talking about others when they aren’t present….”

Olivia snorted.

“But Xiawen-di’s…enthusiasm for saints’ stories and histories has caused more than one discussion with our teachers.”

Olivia raised an eyebrow. “A ‘keep up the good work’ discussion, or a ‘put your efforts to something worthwhile’ discussion?”

“…The latter.”

“Knew it,” Olivia muttered. Another world or not, those types of teachers are everywhere.

Getting to her feet, Olivia gave her back a stretch. “So, how’s the patient?”

Jielan gave a relieved smile, though if it was for Olivia’s changing of the subject or not, Olivia couldn’t guess. “He’s doing well, considering we’ve never dealt with this venom before.”

Olivia blinked. “You don’t have vipers around here?” For a place like an alternate China, I’d have thought they’d have something like Russel’s viper or Fea’s viper.

“It is rare for the sects to deal with wildlife outside of them becoming Yao,” Jielan explained. “They are similar species?”

Olivia shrugged. “Not really, they are on completely different sides of the family tree, but they both have hemotoxic venom.”

At both Jielan and Ju’s confusion, Olivia added, “It attacks the body and causes excessive bleeding in the organs. I’m glad we weren’t dealing with a magic-enhanced cobra; those things have neurotoxins in their venom, which are way worse.” She blinked as a thought came to her. “I take that back; I’m glad it wasn’t a Mojave Rattlesnake. Those are one of the few snakes that have both hemotoxins and neurotoxins.”

“I’ll take your word for it,” Jielan agreed, clearly unnerved at Olivia’s words. “Is there anything that we need to look out for?”

“It takes about four to six hours for symptoms to show up,” Olivia explained, trying to pull up whatever information she had read on rattlesnakes. “Hopefully, you got to him before that, but we’ll need to keep an eye out for any swelling and necrosis around the bite site.”

“…Will we have to ask Hóng Shān’s aid?” Jielan asked nervously. “We got what venom we could from the Yao’s corpse, but…”

“I don’t think so.” Olivia sent a nervous eye at the snake in question.

Said snake was happily draped across an excited Min’s shoulders, watching alongside the Heng siblings as the other cultivators worked on healing the soldier, hissing every so often for the young girl to ask a question to the older boys. Ping was sitting beside his sister, eyes half focused on the cultivation, the other half focused on the potential danger hanging on his sister.

Even Gipp, currently on the older boy’s shoulder, was giving Hóng Shān the stink eye as he went about preening himself.

Thankfully, Hóng Shān hadn’t noticed the eyes focused on her. Or, if she did, she wasn’t reacting to them so that everyone kept calm. On the other hand, Min had been quite happy with her new scaling friend, asking her own questions when the snake wasn’t asking her own.

“Though I’m she wouldn’t mind if you asked.” Tearing her eyes from the reptile while squashing her innate response to fling the snake away from Ming for the umpteenth time, Olivia added, “I’m surprised you got that antivenom ready to go so fast.”

“Really?” Jielan asked.

Olivia nodded. “Normally, we need to inject the venom into a cow or horse to get antibodies that can be made into antivenom. You managed to skip most of those steps with just a wave of your hand.”

“It wasn’t just a wave of a hand,” Jielan coughed, clearly fighting a blush that had claimed the tips of his ears. “Cultivation requires lots of planning and prepping. It was fortunate that Huanfu had the medicine we often use to combat a Yao’s venom and that it worked on a regular’s snake venom.”

Olivia laughed, remembering the five’s debate on whether it was worth the risk to use the powder on the only amount of venom they, or rather Olivia had squeezed out into a bowl, had. And the rush of relief when the venom had gone from a yellow tint to a clear liquid, signifying that the powder had worked as intended. “Amazing when you find a solution to a new problem that had already been used for a previous one, huh?”

“Quite.” Turning to Ju, Jielan asked, “Madam Heng, I don’t mean to be intrusive, but I’m curious whether you have any other relatives?”

Ju blinked, clearly not expecting such a question. “Ah, no, both my parents were the only surviving children of their families. They had relatives living in other provinces, but I’ve never met any of their families.”

“I see,” Jielan fidgeted slightly. “I apologize if I overstep, but were you aware of Min’s ability?”

Ju sighed. “I thought it was only a young girl’s fantasy when Min said she was talking with the birds. Who hadn’t imagined understanding animals at that age? I hadn’t given it much thought.”

“Nothing to be beating yourself over, Ju,” Olivia pointed out. “I don’t think anyone expects their kid to have the ability to talk to animals.”

“I know,” Ju gave a soft smile. “It does explain how she knew things before anyone else did. Like when one of our neighbor’s wagon wheels broke, he was late to pick up his family working in the rice paddies. Min had told me the birds had told her, but I thought she had overheard afterward and was being quiet on who she had overheard.”

“So Min has shown this ability for a while?” Jielan asked.

Ju hmmed. “About three, I think? Is there something wrong?”

“I’m not sure.” Jielan briefly glanced at the group. “But I believe Min’er is a Beast Master. Given that she was able to understand a Magical Beast that doesn't speak a human tongue only strengthens my suspicion.”

“Huh, and here I thought she was just good with animals, given how quickly Gipp warmed up to her. He's not usually that friendly with kids,” Olivia gave Jielan’s expression a once-over. “But something is bugging you about this little revelation?”

Ju stiffened. “Is Min in danger?”

“She isn’t,” Jielan quickly said, waving his hands placatingly. “It’s just the appearance of a Beast Master, and one at a young age means someone in the family could be born with a more dangerous power.”

Olivia placed her good fist on a hip, lifting an eyebrow. “What could be more dangerous than talking to animals? Except that Min could sic them on anyone who irritates her. Or get information that no one else is supposed to know. Come to think of it, I better make sure Gipp hasn’t told her anything. The last thing I need is Min asking me an awkward question in public.”

“Li! Min wouldn’t do that!”

“Not right now, but give her a decade or so when she sets eyes on a good-looking fellow? I wouldn’t be surprised if she got all sorts of blackmail material on any other girl vying for his affection.”

Ju rubbed at her eyes. “I hope you won’t be giving her ideas.”

Olivia laughed. “Me? No, your daughter seems more of the type to come up with ideas herself.”

Removing her hand with a sigh, Ju turned back to Jielan. “So, what is it you are worried about regarding Min.”

“Jielan-dage!” Yixan’s voice cut through before Jielan could speak. “He’s waking up!”