"Right, (Y/n)!" Monkey took a very important piece of paper out of his pocket. "Could you put that in your book?"
"Ah, the peach soup recipe! Yes!" she took it and stopped walking to open her bag and put the paper in between her book's pages (with her poems). "Gosh, I'm so happy we finally got it."
"Could you imagine if we forgot to ask?"
They both laughed.
"Well good for you guys I guess." Nian Zhen said.
"Can you believe she didn't even want to taste it?" Monkey whispered to (Y/n).
"I told you, I'm carnivorous!"
"Well, she is a snake." she shrugged. "That's valid I suppose."

"I used to eat humans too." he pointed at himself with his thumb. "People change."
"You're a monkey though!" Nian Zhen pointed. "Monkeys are omnivorous. My body *literally* can't digest plants properly."
"You eat people Nian Zhen?" (Y/n) tilted her head, her eyebrows furrowed.
"No- well..." she glanced away, fumbling with her long sleeves that almost covered her whole hands. "M-my parents would feed us human."
"...Could you please not eat people on this journey?"
"I-I couldn't kill someone for the life of me, I'm..." she looked down. "I'm too weak for that."
"Couldn't kill someone huh?" Monkey raised an eyebrows with a mocking smile. "Remind me what your job used to be again?"
For a moment, she looked uncomfortable. But she eventually recovered.

"Hey! I may have been abetment to murder," she pointed at him. "but you've kill a lot more people, directly, and by yourself!"
"That was a long time ago." he turned his head away, with his chin held high. "I've redeemed myself since then."
"And it's the same situation for me!"
"Oh please," he waved a hand. "we are nothing alike. If you're a blade of grass, then I'm a whole forest-covered mountain!"
"And what am I?" (Y/n) pointed at herself, curious.
"Mmm..." he put his hand under his elbow and his other one to his chin, his eyes narrowed as he examined her for a while.
"Oh now you can't say anything huh?" Nian Zhen smirked.
"I'm just calculating her power level and converting it to plants."
The two women sent each-other a look and lightly shook their head, with (Y/n) smiling.
"You're like..." he moved his hands up and down. "A sizable tree. But like a sexy tree!"
Though his choice of word did made her blush, she frowned in confusion.
"Can we please not call trees sexy?" Nian Zhen raised her hands.
"I'm not saying they are, I'm saying that, if *she* was a tree, she'd be sexy!"
"I don't think that makes it any better." (Y/n) mumbled under her breath, now regretting to have asked.

"Anyway! Changing the subject!" the young demon started walking again, the couple following. "Cool for you guys, you got your recipe. Didn't you say that was like a big family secret?"
"Yeah, but she *is* part of the family." Monkey wrapped an arm around his girlfriend's shoulders and pointed at her.
"Still, my family would've *never*- well, actually," she tilted her head, her gaze wandering. "maybe they would have, for Golden Cicada."
"Because of course they would!"
(Y/n) chuckled, her eyebrows furrowed.
"Your real family's weird, but they can be nice..." her voice trailed off before she looked back. "What's the family's name anyway? I didn't catch it."
The couple froze, their eyes widen open.

"Dammit!!!" they shouted at the same time.
"Woah!" Nian Zhen jumped back in surprise.
"We forgot to ask!!!"
She blinked twice before bursting out laughing, pointing at them and holding her stomach.
"Are...Are you serious?!"
"Shut up you brat!" Monkey glared at her.
"Please don't tease us!" (Y/n) covered her face, blushing. "I feel embarrassed enough as it is!
"Now I get why you're together!" she kept laughing.
"Are you calling us idiots?!" Monkey clenched his fists. "I'll kill you!" with one punch, he destroyed a nearby bolder.
"Keeee!" she flinched, paler.

"D-don't worry..." (Y/n) placed a hand on her shoulders, while still covering half of her face with her other hand. "He does that whenever he's embarrassed."
"I'm not embarrassed!" Monkey glared, folding his arms. "I just don't punch the defenseless. And she'd die if I actually hit her. She's all bark and no bite anyway."
"Hey!" she frowned.
"What? Am I wrong?" he smirked and went up to her. "You're good at getting on my nerves, but if we were to fight, you'd run back to your parents." he leaned closer and poked her forehead to provoke her. "Prove me wrong."
She clenched her fists and sent draggers at him. (Y/n) now felt that the tension was getting a little too real and heavy for her comfort.

"H-hey now," she raised her hands, smiling. "let's all calm down and-"
Suddenly, Monkey noticed something behind her and stood tall. He walked passed her and kept staring in the distance, on the side of the road. Nian Zhen gave him a weird look, then looked at (Y/n) and nodded towards him, to ask what was up with him.
"What is it Monkey?" once again, she just asked directly.
His eyes narrowed.
"Something's going down. I can see it."
"What do you mean?" she walked to be beside him, as if she would also be able to see whatever was going on.
Meanwhile, Nian Zhen blinked twice, surprised at the sudden change of atmosphere.

"There's a town beyond the woods." he pointed ahead. "something's wrecking it, and it's making a mess."
"Some*thing*?"
"Yeah, why do you say something?" Nian Zhen added.
"Because I can't properly see it," he narrowed his eyes. "which never happened before..."
Just as they were about to ask him to elaborate, their eyes widen as black smoke now came from behind the trees and elevated into the sky.
"Monkey!" (Y/n) looked at him, her game face on. "Go ahead, we'll catch up to you!"
He nodded and ran towards the woods, disappearing out of sight within seconds. (Y/n) began running as well.
"W-wait!" Nian Zhen exclaimed. "If there is an unknown danger, shouldn't we walk *away* from it?! We can just go on our way!" she gestured towards the road.
"Yeah, we could!" she kept running.
"Oh come *on*!" she kicked the ground before following her, with great effort. "P...Please tell me...You don't...Run often!"
"I'm sorry, I can't say for sure!" she looked back at her with an almost apologetic smile.
"Dammit!" she exhaled.

The duo went through the woods, following the source of the smoke. Eventually, they entered a small town, which was indeed pretty wrecked. Wounded people were being carried away, children were crying, houses were destroyed, one was even on fire. But thankfully, in would seem that whatever caused this has stopped now. Monkey was in the process of putting out the fire, rotating the staff to blow out the flames. (Y/n) called out to him and he looked over.
"(Y/n)! I haven't caught the culprit yet, but Imma find it! It must be worn out after all this. Be right there!"
"It...?" Nian Zhen looked around, panting like crazy. "Does he...even know what...'it' looks like?"
"I suppose it must look like a demon, but not one we've ever seen before."
"How comforting..." she mumbled as (Y/n) went to help out the town folks.
Now alone, she huffed, not really knowing what to do, since everyone was already either helping out or being helped. She took one of her pills, adjusted her glasses, put her hands in her pockets, leaned against a nearby tree.
'This is good actually.' she thought. 'I get to catch my breath... Gods I hope we won't get to run often.'

Just then, she heard ruffling behind her, she looked back and saw a horse, bigger than any she's seen before. All black with just a white stripe along the middle of its face and above its hooves. It slowly walked over to her, but it didn't seem like it noticed her. It was wobbling, as if it was drunk, and it had a limp.
"Oh, hey...?" she hesitantly faced it and walked closer.
Once it noticed her, it loudly neighed and stood on its back legs before hitting her. She let out a cry of pain before falling back. She quickly crawled away before it could stomp on her.
"Nian Zhen!" (Y/n) ran up to her and quickly helped her stand up.
"Ah! There it is!" the town's mayor pointed. "That horse is the cause of this massacre! It came out of nowhere and destroyed our town!"
"What?!" they both looked at him.

"You're telling me a horse set fire to that house?" (Y/n) asked.
"No, it knocked over an oil lamp which set fire to the house."
"So it was an accident?"
"You call this an accident?!" another man gestured around them. "We're telling you, this horse is an evil demon!"
(Y/n) looked at the animal. It was having a tantrum, throwing its back legs around and clumsily loosing its balance and hitting its side against a tree.
"Why's it acting like this...?" she mumbled.
"Probably to make sure no one comes closer." Nian Zhen answered.
Eventually it stopped, out of breath, and it was then that she noticed how one of its hooves never touched the ground.
"It's hurt...and it's exhausted."
"Good!" a third person exclaimed. "Let's kill it in a moment of weakness!"
"There's no way a simple horse did all of this!"

"It's probably not a horse though." Nian Zhen quietly told her. "Might be a demon in disguise."
"Why would they disguise themselves during and after attacking a whole town?"
"To earn sympathy."
She watched as (Y/n) took a step forward and faced the animal.
'And it's clearly working!' she frowned.
"Hi." she smiled softly. "You poor thing, you must be exhausted. Look at you, you're so pretty." she leaned a bit to the side to check something before looking back at it. "Such a handsome boy."
"(Y/n)," Nian Zhen whispered to her, grabbing her arm. "are you seriously doing this?"
"The farmer from my village has two horses, he taught me a few things." she said, not looking away from it.
She slowly took a step forward, making Nian Zhen let go of her. She kept moving forward. At some point, the horse neighed, shaking its head and taking a step back. (Y/n) stopped.

"It's okay." she said, keeping her voice low and her tone soft. "I'm here to help, and I see you're hurt. If you'd just let me, I could see what's wrong. You can't go around using only three legs. Let me help you..."
She began approaching again, this time, the horse didn't react and just looked at her with a cautious stare.
"That's right...Good boy."
She slowly walked up to it and stood to the side of the wounded hoof. She quickly glanced down at it, so as to know where it was while keeping eye contact with the horse.
"This might hurt, I apologize."
Then she bent her knees and reached for whatever what hurting it. When she removed it, the horse neighed and (Y/n) quickly stepped back. She glanced at what she just retrieved.
"A big splinter." she said before tossing it away.
The horse tapped his hoof, as if to make sure it was painless now, and eventually put it down. It looked at her and lowered his head slightly, taking a few steps back. Seemed he was still on his guard, and he was still breathing deeply. She hesitated a little, but she stepped closer again. She reached out a hand to pet his head.

"Where do you come from?" she asked, her eyebrows furrowed. "What happened to yo-"
Before she could touch him, the horse suddenly neighed loudly and intensely shook his head before jumping towards her. She gasped.
"(Y/n)!!!" Nian Zhen screamed.
Suddenly, Monkey wrapped an arm around (Y/n) and kicked the horse away, the animal hit a tree and passed out on the ground.
"Monkey! Is he dead?!"
"That thing tried to kill you literally *five* seconds ago, and you're worrying about its safety?!" he frowned, pulling her closer into a hug. "You're lucky I saved you, you're welcome." he mumbled.
She sighed and hugged him back.
"Thank you." she smiled.
"And why didn't you stop her?!" he glared at Nian Zhen.
"W-well, I-"
"Even if she had tried, I would've still done it." (Y/n) let go of him.

He sighed.
"Whatever, let's kill it now." he took out his staff and approached the animal.
"Huh?! Wait!" she wrapped her arms around his and pulled him back.
"What?"
"S-so he really did do all of this?"
"That's what we've been telling you!" the town folks exclaimed.
"But then, what, is it a demon?"
"I don't know and I'm not risking it."
"Just...what's wrong with him?"
He could sense her concern from miles away. He sighed and shook her arms off.
"Look, you know I have the ability to see through demons' disguises right?"
She nodded.
"Well, that thing?" he pointed at it. "I just see a blur of evil energy, I can't even see a horse."

"What...?"
"Yeah. Does that mean it's a demon? Not really. Does that mean it's something even worse? Absolutely!"
"...It's a curse."
Everyone looked at Nian Zhen. Suddenly being the center of attention made her nervous.
"Y-...Y'know..." she fumbled with her sleeves. "Your whole being enveloped with some evil power. That's a textbook curse."
"I knew it!" (Y/n) pointed at the passed out horse. "So he's a victim!"
"How does that change anything?!" someone in the crowd asked, frustrated.
"It means that we have to find what that curse is and get him ris of it!" she looked at everyone with a determined glare.
"No way are we gonna help that thing!" the town people protested.
"...Fine! Then we'll do it ourselves!"
"Now wait a minute-" Monkey raised an index.
"What, you think you can make it listen to reason?!" the people exclaimed.
"Yeah! No one can tame a wild beast!"
"Let alone a demon!"
"That monster is beyond saving!"

He frowned, that struck a nerve.
"Um, actually." he stepped up and leaned on (Y/n)'s shoulder as he glared at the others. "It is possible. I've seen it happen." he pressed on his words.
The scary look on his face made everyone fall silent. He huffed before going up to the horse and putting him on his shoulder like a bag of potatoes.
"You guys go and restore your town, we're taking the horse. It's ours now." he walked away. "Come on (Y/n)." he glanced back at Nian Zhen. "Oh yeah, and you can do whatever you want."
She frowned. (Y/n) placed a hand on her shoulder and nodded towards Monkey, as a silent 'let's go'. The three of them started walking away.
"Oh! And you're welcome by the way!" she turned around and looked at the crowd. "Wukong put out that fire like it was no problem and all you guys did was yell at us!"
"It's okay Nian Zhen." she said. "We can't expect everyone to be-"
"No wait! Yeah! She's right!" Monkey turned around, with a burst of outrage. "And I got everyone out safely! What's up with that?!"
"Come on you two, let's just go." (Y/n) pulled the grumpy duo with her.

Once they went back to the road they were previously on, Monkey placed the horse down and turned one of his hair into a long rope before tying up  the animal like a cocoon.
"With that said," he placed his hands on his hips. "if that things wakes up and almost kills you again, I'm killing it."
"So Nian Zhen," (Y/n) looked at her. "how do we cure him?"
"..." she glanced away, then back at her. "I dunno."
"Are you serious?!" Monkey threw his hands in the air and turned away, shaking his head.
"I'm not a doctor! What'd you expect?! I just read a book about it!"
"So...we can't help him?"
She was about to say 'no, can we move on now please?', but she knew there would be a heavy tension of sadness if she did. She let out a long sigh and searched through her many pockets, to eventually take out a map.
"Okay..." she exhaled and unrolled it.

As she was searching for something, (Y/n) leaned over to look at it too.
"Woah~!" her face lit up. "I've never seen a map this big before! The only one I've ever seen is the map of the area around my village."
"You mean to tell me you and Wukong went on a journey for months throughout China and you've *never* used a map?!" she looked at her with a raised eyebrow, shocked.
"We don't *need* a map! Everything's right in here." Monkey tapped his temple with a proud smile. "I know this land like the back of my hand."
"Sure, whatever." the young demon rolled her eyes and looked back at the map.

After a moment, she pointed at a specific spot.
"If we're here then..." she looked up, mumbling something about numbers and calculus. "Should take us an hour of detour." she sighed. "But for you guys, it's doable, I guess."
"What is?" (Y/n) tilted her head.
"Yeah, spit it out already." Monkey added.
"There's a famous doctor who set up shop in a nearby mountain, he's the one who wrote the book I read on curses."
"Fantastic!" (Y/n)'s face lit up. "Take us to him!"
"Woah, we're already going with this plan?"
"Do you think he could help us?"
"Well if there's one guy who could right now, that'd be him yeah."
"Then let's go, what are we waiting for?"
"Yeah, before the horse wakes up." Monkey picked it up, placing it on his shoulder.
"O-Okay then. Uh..." a bit flustered, she looked back at the map to double-check. "That way."

On the way to the doctor's, (Y/n) asked if she could hold the map. Monkey noticed how she was staring at it with intensity, tracing her fingertip throughout it. Suddenly, she gasped.
"There! My village's right there!" she looked at him and showed the location, her sky blue eyes sparkling.
He laughed.
"What?" she asked, confused.
"Nothing, I just love you."
She blinked twice and laughed too, her cheeks dusted with pink.
"You're weird. I love you too." she smiled back.
His tail started to wag and he would've kissed her, but then she rushed to Nian Zhen to show her her home. And she began to talk about it further, clearly this was her favorite subject. That made him smile. The poor young demon however, wasn't a fan of ear beating.

"What about you Nian Zhen? Where do you live?" she asked while looking at the map.
"I'm not gonna tell you that." she glanced to the side, smiling awkwardly.
"Why?"
"I like my privacy, thank you very much."
"Oh, yes I understand. Sorry."
"It's cool, it's cool. Please change the subject."
"I could tell you more about my village! The fisherman has twins you see, and the way we can differentiate the two is by their birthmark. One had it on their left shoulder, while the other one's is on his right shoulder. Isn't that amazing? There's also the florist who-"
This went on for a while.

"How come such a tiny place can have so many things going on within it...?" Nian Zhen mumbled.
"You know what," Monkey smiled, the two of them figured (Y/n) was too enthralled into her stories to notice they weren't listening. "I thought the same thing too at first."
"At first? What happened?"
"I went there."
She figured that to understand, she'd have to experience it herself. So she dropped the subject and moved on, okay with never understanding. They arrived at a mountain and started to walk up when, slowly, the horse began to regain consciousness. It blinked twice, its vision blurry. Then, when it realized that it was being carried, it freaked out and struggled violently, eventually hitting Monkey in the back of his head.

"Aouch!" he let the animal drop on the ground, rubbing the spot where he's been hit. "You damn horse!" he glared.
With nothing but sheer force, the horse snapped the rope into pieces, freeing himself and clumsily standing back up.
"Woah!" Nian Zhen exclaimed. "Is that normal?!"
"'Course, it's just a rope." Monkey got in fighting position. "You two better step back."
"Don't kill him!" (Y/n) frowned.
"I'm not going to. I'll just knock it out again."
"If we keep doing that, it'll have a curse *and* severe brain damage!"
"Do you have a better idea perhaps?!" Monkey looked back and glared at Nian Zhen.
"Watch out!" (Y/n) pointed behind him.
Not worried about it, he faced the horse just as it charged towards him, head first, like a bull. But at the last second, Monkey realized that something wasn't right and he raised his arms to protect himself. The impact made him slide backwards for a couple of meters, leaving two trails of dirt in front of him. The two young women looked on in shock. A dark bruise was left on his forearms.
"The hell...?" he mumbled to himself, frowning in his confusion. "Okay this, this is weird."

The horse's neigh made them look back at it. It was once again shaking its head and standing on it back legs from time to time, like it was trying to push away something invisible.
'Just like last time...' the thought made (Y/n) gasp. "Monkey! Using your demon eyes, can you see anything out of the ordinary?"
"You mean besides the blur of dark evil energy? Nah, everything's fine." he shrugged, in a mocking tone.
"I mean, anything *other* than that!"
"...Nope. Nothing else."
She chewed on her bottom lip, frowning slightly.
"Then why is he acting like that?"
"Must be the curse's doing." Nian Zhen answered.
"Whatever the reason," Monkey smirked. "this is sure to be an interesting match. Again, you two should probably step away. Far away."
(Y/n) gulped, the excited expression on his face made her nervous. The horse huffed and faced Monkey, tapping the ground with his hoof, then charged again, and this time, he ran towards it too. The ground was shaking with just their steps. And with every step, (Y/n) grew more and more nervous. With no time to think, she reached out with her hand, and just as Monkey was about to head butt the horse, he crashed face first onto a barrier and fell back with a dried cry. He rubbed his now-red nose, groaning in pain, and looked on to see the horse, trapped in a big light blue bubble. It was hitting the wall around it with its entire body, but thankfully, the bubble stayed intact, although it was wobbling a little bit with each hit. Monkey looked back and saw (Y/n) fixing the animal, concentrating, with her hand outstretched towards it.

"Why'd you do that?!"
"I didn't want to risk any of you getting hurt."
"The right question is: now what?" Nian Zhen asked.
"I can carry it." Monkey stood up. "But will you be able to keep it up until we get there?"
"I...I think so." (Y/n) nodded.
"We should be close now." she looked at the map.
"Then let's hurry up." he picked up the bubble and started walking again.
"Uh, say... You're strong right?" she quietly told him as she walked alongside him. "Surely you can also carry a weak little thing like me-"
"Beat it brat."
She frowned with a huff and paused in her tracks before continuing.

With the horse conscious and struggling, Monkey had some difficulty holding the bubble still, and it didn't help that (Y/n) was getting more and more tired. Not only has she never summoned anything for this long before, but with it on the constant edge of breaking because of the animal's frantic movements, she could feel her energy draining as time passed. And Nian Zhen was just plain tired and out of breath. Overall, they were getting stares from people passing by.
"This is probably the worth detour I've ever taken in my long, long life." Monkey muttered to himself, the horse's neighs killing his eardrums since he was so close. "Who knew walking could be so painful."
Eventually, the horse grew tired and stopped throwing a fit. Finally, they've reached a building on a flat area of the mountain. Around the building was some enclosures with a few animal patients inside, some normal like horses and rabbits, others were more fantastical, such as a two-meters-tall turtle with a flower bush and a tree on its shell, and even a qilin. Not wasting any time, Monkey picked up the pace and knocked on the door using his foot.
"Open up! So help me gods and demons!"
"Good Heaven!" a man opened the door. "What is it- Oh my." he was taken aback by the scene before him.

"Are you..." Nian Zhen panted. "Are you Jiang Bingen? We have an urgent patient for him."
"Ah, I'm sorry. Master Jiang Bingen is gone."
"Huh?!" the trio exclaimed at the same time.
"By the gods..." (Y/n) covered her mouth.
"He's dead?!" Nian Zhen asked.
"No, not at all." he shook his head. "He's gone to visit his family, he left yesterday. I'm sorry."
"Well go get him!" Monkey pointed behind him with his thumb, annoyed. "This is kind of an emergency. We need him to tend to that horse."
"Horse...?" he blinked twice. "Are you sure this can't wait?"
"Please?" (Y/n) asked, panting a little bit. "I don't think I can keep it up forever."
"That horse already destroyed a town, if we leave and that happens again, that'll be on you!" Monkey pointed.
"You're a doctor aren't you?" Nian Zhen stepped up. "It's your duty to help people in need right away, is it not?"
"Yes... Yes, of course. You're right."

"Awesome." Monkey walked away. "I'm putting the horse in your backyard."
"Excuse me?"
"I saw those force fields, crank 'em up a lil bit, that should keep it from escaping."
"Just, what is going on?!"
"I apologize for the confusion." (Y/n) bowed slightly. "We will be sure to explain everything, come on." she said before following Monkey.
"I... Am very confused."
"I know, I get it." Nian Zhen sighed. "Just follow along and it'll make sense later." she said as the two of them followed them.

The doctor's pupil escorted the giant turtle out of its enclosure, since it was the more spacious one, and made some tweaks to the already existent circle drawn on the gates. He then instructed Monkey to put the horse inside and quickly leave through the door. He did just that and once he stepped out, (Y/n) released the animal. As soon as it could move around again, it charged towards them, but it was knocked into an invisible wall and fell backwards.
"There," the doctor apprentice said. "now, everyone can get in, but no one can get out, only through the door."
Finally being able to rest, (Y/n) felt a bit lightheaded, she began to stumble but Monkey held her by her shoulders and pull her closer so she could lean on him.
"You okay?"
"Yeah..." she smiled. "I just need to rest a bit, that's all."
He smiled back and gave her a peck on the lips.

Now that our trio didn't have to worry about the horse destroying anything, they went inside for a well deserved cup of tea. They explained everything that happened today, how they found this animal and what it has done.
"That is certainly peculiar." the man said, a grave expression on his face. "I don't think even Master Jiang Bingen has even dealt with something like this. Without him, is curing this patient even possible...?"
"Oh please, you must try!" (Y/n) leaned a bit closer. "He could just be a poor cursed animal."
"Or a demon." Nian Zhen added.
"Or a cursed demon, which is *far* worse!" Monkey waved a hand.
"I'll send a letter to Master's family home right away." he nodded. "In the meantime, I can try and make a diagnosis of its condition."
"Want me to knock it out?" he asked, flexing his arms with a smirk.
The man awkwardly chuckled.
"For now, that won't be necessary. You've given me a lot of precious information already." he stood up. "I will get back to you as soon as I have answers. In the meantime, you can rest up, you seem to have had a rather draining walk up here."

All three of our protagonists sighed quietly, they couldn't argue with that. Monkey went to take a nap on top of the roof, saying he needed some silence. (Y/n) went to look around and Nian Zhen followed her. Eventually, they stopped at the horse's enclosure and just looked at it from afar, staying in the shade with their backs pressed on the wall of the building. It was still running around, neighing and bumping against the force field. Wondering what they were doing here exactly, and to what goal, the young demon looked at the human to ask, but then she saw the melancholic look on her face.
"Are you really feeling bad for the horse?"
"How can't I? Look at him." she gestured toward it, not looking away. "It looks...blind."
Nian Zhen observed it for a moment.
"...I guess. But it isn't though. It's just looking for a target, and once it finds one, it charges at ya!"
"Maybe but...imagine if you were blind, you would panic. Someone hot headed would just start punching their way around."
'That just reminds me of Wukong.' she snorted.
"Maybe I am just too much of an optimist," she looked down, her eyebrows furrowed. "but when I look at him, I can't help but think of a kid."
"A kid?" she frowned slightly.
"You know, when one is upset about something and just lashes out at the world around them." she sighed and looked back at it. "Can't help but think he's suffering in a way..."
There was a moment of silence, Nian Zhen seemed a bit absent, her gaze wandering.
"...I see what you mean yeah."

After an hour or so, the doctor's apprentice called upon our trio of protagonists. They met up right outside the horse's enclosure, which, after yet another tantrum, was lying down, out of breath. First he clarified that he sent a letter to his master, but, even though he told the messenger to go as fast as possible, he wasn't sure how long it'll take for it to reach him.
"You said its entire being was consumed by a dark energy, correct?"
Monkey nodded with a hum, his arms folded.
"And you said that it had a moment of certain clarity?" he looked at (Y/n).
"Right." she nodded. "He let me approach him when he understood that I wouldn't hurt him. I must've agitated it when I tried petting it."
"Yeah, then it went back to being violent." Nian Zhen sighed.
"There is a very rare kind of curse. In the entire recorded history of non-biological medicine, we've only had five confirmed cases."
"Five?!"
Monkey whistled, surprised himself.

"And what is this curse?" (Y/n) pressed.
"That's... That's the thing. It's not a curse." the man's expression became graver. "It's a parasite."
The trio frowned, not understanding, but they felt the atmosphere becoming heavier.
"A kind of non-physical parasite that implants itself into the host's chi system and feeds off their life force. Depending of where it is implanted, the host is corrupted in a certain way. In what way, we don't know for sure, it's always different, but the parasite stays the same." he paused. "The more powerful the host, the more corrupted they'll become."
There was a moment of tense silence, during which everyone looked at the horse.
"So...What can we do to help him?" (Y/n) turned back to him.
"We?"
"Before the doctor gets here, we could try."
"We're not doctors (Y/n)!" Nian Zhen frowned. "We would put the horse's life at risk!"
"If the parasite is inside the host's chi system, then I could get to it." she looked at Monkey. "Like I did with the demon lord."

"You think you can do that again?"
"Granted, on my own I'm not at the level of extracting a *soul*. But I believe I can manage to get access to someone's chi system."
"But without knowing where the parasite is..." the apprentice's voice trailed off, thinking. "It will be difficult."
"And I can't see anything." Monkey looked at it.
"Try squinting." (Y/n) said, tapping his arms with the back of her hand.
He did that, placing his hands above his eyes to shield them from the Sun.
"Mmmmh nope." he exhaled, his shoulders dropping. "Just a black blur."
Meanwhile, Nian Zhen was thinking deeply.

"...There might be a way to find out."
"How?" they all looked at her.
"I could make a device that would allow someone to see within the horse, to see his chi flow."
"Something like this even exists?" (Y/n)'s eyes widen.
"I've heard of it." the apprentice doctor said. "But... *You* can make such a device? One must need a high level of expertise to do that."
"I'm sure Nian Zhen can manage!" she smiled. "She's made a lot of powerful artifacts before!"
"D-don't hype me up like that." she looked down, flustered.
"Yeah, careful there kid." Monkey smirked with a smug look on his face. "You might actually do something useful if you keep goin'!"
He cackled while she glared at him.

"So what do you need to make it, and where do we find those ingredients?" (Y/n) asked.
"I can find what I need in the doctor's lab but... I will need one thing."
"Which is?" Monkey lifted an eyebrow.
"Well if we want to see the horse's chi, makes sense will need something from it. Anything, from a bit of blood, to just some hair."
There was a pause there. (Y/n) checked on the horse: it was still laying down, out of breath.
"No problem. I'll try and get close to him again."
"No wait." she raised an arm, glaring at Monkey. "*I'll* go."
"You?" he raised an eyebrow. "Come on kid, I bet you've never even *seen* a horse before."
"Nian Zhen, maybe it'd be best if me or Monkey-"
"No! I wanna do it! Teach me how you did it."
(Y/n) was silent for a moment, her eyebrows furrowed. But with the determined look in the young demon's eyes, she sighed.
"You have to stay calm, keep your voice quiet and soothing." she said. "Move slowly, if he gets agitated, just stop, but keep talking. You have to make it clear that you don't have ill intentions."
"Okay...Okay alright." she kept nodding, listening intently.

"But, to be completely honest..." she hesitated a bit. "I don't think think it's a good idea."
"What do you mean?"
"Well... And please don't take this the wrong way."
'Well now that you said that, I'll definitely take it the wrong way.'
"You're kind of a nervous wreck."
'How else was I supposed to take that?!?!?!'
Monkey cackled again.
"Even (Y/n) thinks so!" he said.
Even though the human woman was doubting Nian Zhen out of concern, and her boyfriend, out of mockery, to Nian Zhen, it was the same. The two of them were doubting, and it made her frown. She walked towards the door of the enclosure.

"Nian Zhen...?" she heard (Y/n)'s voice behind her.
She gulped and opened it, stepping inside before closing it behind her.
"Wait," (Y/n) said, approaching the gate. "I'll go with y-"
"Hold on." Monkey raised a hand, stopping her. "You'd only upset her more. If she wants to do it herself so badly, let's let her do it." he leaned on his staff, resting his chin on the back of his hand.
"You just want to watch her make a fool of herself." she harshly whispered.
"Oh damn (Y/n). You have that little faith in her?"  he glanced at her with a sly grin, then he clicked his tongue and shook his head.

Her eyes widen, only now realizing the choice of word she's made. She pursued her lips and watched as Nian Zhen slowly but surely approached the horse. It seemed to be asleep so she just carefully walked towards it. But just as she reached for its mane, it woke up with a twitch. She yelped and ran away before it could notice her.
"Nevermind nevermind nevermind!!!" she yelled.
With her yelling, the horse quickly stood up and began to chase after her, (Y/n) opened the gate for her to go through and closed it immediately after. The horse bumped into the force field and shook its head.
"Are you okay?!" she asked.
She just panted heavily.
"It's okay Nian Zhen, I'll go-"
"I got it."
Everyone looked up to see Monkey - or rather, a duplicate of him - sitting in mid air. It looked to be the end of the invisible wall. With a large grin on his face, he jumped down and landed beside the original Monkey. He took the tuft of black hair from his duplicate before it disappeared.
"I turned into a bee and snuck in with you." he smirked, handing it to her. "Thanks for the distraction.'

She frowned but still took it, before stomping away towards the building, she asked the doctor's apprentice to take her to the lab, so he rushed after her. Monkey snickered and (Y/n) sighed.
"You know," she said. "you could try and get along with her."
"It's not like she wants to get along with me either." he shrugged. "I just don't believe that, in long journeys like ours, cowardly people don't belong. Even Pigsy had his moments of bravery, with the right motivation of course." that made him smile, memories coming back to him.
"Maybe it's the same with her."
"I'll be honest, I don't see that happen. She's too young."
"She's only a few years younger than me."
"A lot can happen in a few years."
"A lot can happen in only one day, you know."

He glanced at her, cupped her face in his hand and kissed her.
"Wh-what was that for?!" she asked, her face red.
"You used my words. It's cute." he let her go and folded his arms, acting casual.
"Ah, you-..." she looked away before realizing. "You just don't have anything else to say back! You can't just get away from an argument with a kiss!"
He kissed her again.
"Keep saying that, see what happens." he smirked.
She pursued her lips.

After this "argument", our two protagonists went to check on Nian Zhen and the doctor's apprentice. They found the man at the laboratory's doorway, looking into the room. His eyes were wide open.
"What's wrong sir?" (Y/n) asked as her and Monkey walked up to him.
"Ah. Well you see, I stayed here in case she would need assistance but..." his gaze wandered back into the room.
They looked inside. Colorful smoke was hovering toward the ceiling, Nian Zhen was in front of a furnace, crushing some rocks and herbs in a bowl before tossing in into the ember. Then, with golden ink, she drew a sutra around the furnace's entrance. She was sweating profusely, but she was so focused on her work that she didn't care. Fun fact: she doesn't care for appearance, but she does cuts her bangs really short so that she would't have to deal with hair in front of her eyes.

"Uh... Nian Zhen?"
"Yeah?" she said without looking away.
"Aren't you hot with your coat on?"
"Very."
"Then take it off you dummy!" Monkey said, leaning on the doorway.
"The coat stays on!" she glared at him before getting back to work.
"She must really like that coat..." (Y/n) whispered to herself.

After a few minutes, Nian Zhen, with some gloves on and a face mask, took some blacksmith pliers and took out what was in the furnace. It was burning red before she put in in a basin of water, making even more smoke. She took off her gloves, her mask and her glasses to clean the fog off of them. She waited a few seconds before taking the small object out. It was a lens. Big enough to fit her glasses. She huffed with a smile.
"Almost done." she said under her breath.
She turned towards a brazier, she took the tuft of black hair and tossed it in the mixture, plus a few other ingredients. After stirring it, she then carefully dipped the lens inside. When she took it out, it was slightly less clear and more of a white hue.
"Alright." she smiled, taking a few scraps of metal out of her pocket.
She stood up from her stool and walked up to them, meddling and bending the small metal parts.

"Alright I'm done." she walked passed them.
"Really?!" (Y/n)'s face lit up as her and the two men followed her outside. "What did you do? What is this?"
"Now, if you look through this, you can see the horse's chi system and locate the parasite." she smiled.
"That's... That's incredible!" the doctor's apprentice said, flabbergasted. "At such a young age, you managed to do that by yourself. Who taught you all of this? These ingredients in your pockets, where do they come from."
"I'm not telling. Family secrets."
"Is it really?" (Y/n) asked.
Nian Zhen looked at her and discreetly shook her head, her lips pursued. She couldn't help but snicker.

"Now all that's left is to affix this to my glasses and we'll be good to go." she said, the lens' frame she's making starting to take shape.
"Can't you just look through it?" Monkey frowned.
"It's not perfect, I quickly made it. I'll probably have to stare long and hard at it. So it'd be better if the lens doesn't move so much." she checked on her little metal work from a few angles before continuing. "I'm no metal worker, but this will do."
The group has arrived outside and they froze. Nian Zhen, looking down, kept going, but Monkey grabbed her shoulder, stopping her.
"Wah!" she flinched, startled. "What? Wha-" she looked up and her expression fell.
It would seem that the horse has fallen back asleep, and a group of demon thieves have taken the opportunity to try and take it for themselves. They must've heard of this powerful "demon horse", seen our protagonists walking through the mountain and decided to follow them. They were in the middle of tying the horse's legs with roped to pull it onto a carriage, but then froze once they noticed they were being stared at. For a moment, everyone just stared in silence. (Y/n) spoke first.
"Hey!" she ran towards them. "What do you think you're doing?!"
"Get 'em!" one, probably their leader, shouted.

The demons began to charge towards them, their leader put a bit inside the horse's mouth, attached to reins, just as it woke up with a twitch. It loudly neighed and stood up. The demon jumped unto its back, holding the reins tightly.
"Come on, be a good boy!" he said while the animal struggled.
Eventually, the horse jumped and purposefully landed on it back, crushing the demon.
"Woah!" Nian Zhen exclaimed. "Definitely not a normal horse!"
"If that's the case, it'd be cool to find out what the hell it is!" Monkey said, going (Y/n) in the fight against the demons. "Use that thing already!"
"Y-yeah!" she kept working on her lens, fumbling a bit because of stress. "Just...Just gimme a second!"
"The enclosure's open!" (Y/n) exclaimed. "We have to close it!"
"On it!"
Monkey dashed towards the enclosure, dodging any opponent that tried to stop him. Just as he reached the gates, the horse ran galloped out full speed, knocking him out of the way.
"Get that horse!" the demon leader shouted. "It's mine!"

The horse ran around, throwing a rampage, it looked enraged, and black spots where left on the ground with each step. (Y/n) did her best to keep the animal and the demons' attention away from the building and the other animals, so much that the whole fight moved further into the mountain. Nian Zhen followed them but still kept her distance to be out of danger. Both our protagonists and the demons were trying to get the horse, but it was only angering it more, going through and destroying trees and boulder like it was nothing. Monkey noticed that they were approaching a big downward slope , and at the bottom was a cliff.
"Kid. I would hate to bother you, but could you hurry the hell up?!?!?!" he glanced at Nian Zhen, having difficulties dealing both both the horse and the demons.
"I-I got it! I got it!" she removed her glasses to affix the lens on top of one of hers.

She put them back on and looked at the horse, closing the eye that couldn't see through the lens. Which did work: everything became grey and the only colors she could see was the animal's chi system and a dark blurry black spot. But because the horse was moving a lot, and because she was so far away, the blurry black spot covered the entire first half of its body and she couldn't spot the parasite.
'I gotta get closer!'
"Nian Zhen!" she heard (Y/n)'s voice.
"What are you doing?!" Monkey added.
'Huh?'
Only now did she realize. She was running full-speed, trough the battlefield, and towards the horse. Her eyes widen. She knew that, on any other day, she would've been frozen in fear. But ever since she met these two, that changed. On her way, the demons tried to get to her, but Monkey and (Y/n) stopped them, despite not knowing what her plan was. The horse noticed her and charged in her direction. It was scary, really scary. But still...
'Once I took the first step... My legs just won't stop.' she thought. 'Now, what the hell do I do?!'

She quickly glanced around, and an idea came to her head. She ran to another direction, the horse ran after her, faster than her, but luckily, she was closer to where she wants dot go. She kept going, hearing the sound of hooves behind her coming closer and closer. Just as it was about to get to her, she suddenly grabbed a tree trunk to quickly spin around. The horse slipped and began falling down the slope. Nian Zhen went full circle and jumped to get on its back, wrapping her arms around its neck. It was struggling while trying to stop itself from going down, but the slope was too steep and the grass was too humid. Nian Zhen focused on looking for the parasite, and when she found it...
"(Y/n)!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs. "It's on his brain!!!"
Back on flat ground, (Y/n)'s eyes widen.
"Monkey!" she looked at him. "Toss me!"
"Don't have to tell me twice!" with a smirk, he wrapped an arm around her waist and spun around before lunging her in the air, towards the slope.

While in mid-air, she closed her eyes and put her hands together. She took a deep breath, and they started glowing. She reopened her eyes, which were also glowing, and landed on the slope, on her feet, but she was still falling technically, and she used her already built-up speed to slid her way towards Nian Zhen and the horse. Once she was close enough, she wrapped an arm around its head and placed her other hand on the top of it. The horse struggled, but she held it tight, and Nian Zhen was doing her best keeping its neck from moving. (Y/n)'s eyes closed, she focused on looking for the parasite. Meanwhile, Monkey ignored the demons, and focused on getting to them, so that they won't fall off the cliff. Finally, (Y/n) opened her eyes.
"I got it!"
Just then however, the three of them fell off the cliff.
"(Y/n)!!!" Monkey ran faster.
Nian Zhen could be heard screaming, her voice getting father and farther away. He was really to jump, but then he heard her screaming getting closer and closer again. Once he was at the edge of the cliff, he stopped and jumped back, taken by surprise by the big white dragon, coming from bellow the cliff and flying into the sky. He noticed (Y/n) on its muzzle, holding something in her hand., and Nian Zhen on its back. They were dumbfounded.
"The Horse!!!" Nian Zhen screamed.
(Y/n) couldn't help but laugh at that.
"I knew you were handsome!" she pet the top of his head.

The dragon landed on flat ground. Nian Zhen quickly hopped down. And it slowly lowered his head to (Y/n) could get down too. The demons were shocked.
"The demon horse was a dragon?!" the leader exclaimed.
It looked at them with a dark glare, it was enough to make them run away. The three of them let out a heavy sigh.
"Are you okay?" (Y/n) looked at him.
The dragon nodded.
'Not the talking type I see. He's not making any noise.'
"Oh gosh! Nian Zhen!"
She rushed over to her, who was laying down on her stomach. With the trapped parasite in one hand, trapped in a bubble, she helped her friend up with her other arm.
"That was amazing what you did there!" she smiled. "Great job!"
"Ahahaha, hahaha, cool thanks." she panted, wobbling.

She leaned on the dragon, who let it happen, to catch her breath.
'Gods my legs are killing me.'
"Well well well kid."
Nian Zhen looked over to see Monkey walking up to her. She frowned, expecting some passive aggressive remark.
"That was pretty reckless there." he smacked her on the back. "You got guts, that's good. You'll need it on a journey like this one." he smiled.
Her eyes widen. She pursued her lips, trying not to smile, and just nodded.

"So, is he cured now?" (Y/n) asked.
"Well, I'm not seeing anything anymore." Monkey looked at him.
"Um..." Nian Zhen approached him. "...Ah! There's still something!"
"Really?!"
Even the dragon looked worried now, looking at his whole body.
"It's very *very* small though. That's probably why you can't see it." she nodded towards Monkey. "But it doesn't look like a parasite."
"Then, what is it...?"
She just shrugged, worried herself. With no answers, the four of them decided to goo back to the Doctor's. The dragon bowed his head to the apprentice, apologizing for the trouble he caused. Thankfully, he was forgiven. By an incredible timing! Jiang Bingen came back in a rush. He seemed excited to see one of those life-sucking parasite with his own two eyes. (Y/n) showed him was she has trapped in a small bubble: a black leech, disgusting looking. Everyone winced for seeing it. Nian Zhen, the doctor and his apprentice worked together on a potion that could destroy it once and for all. They tossed in it and it dissolved with a small high screech. (Y/n) and Nian Zhen let out a sigh of relief. But the doctor still had to check up on the dragon, using Nian Zhen's lens.

"Mmh... I see." he took a step back, a grave expression on his face. "Dragon, if you can understand me, I'm sorry." he paused. "The parasite has left an egg."
The dragon's eyes widen.
"Can't we just remove that too?" Monkey asked. "Should be easier, it's just an egg."
"On the contrary. It would require an expert level of precision."
"And I'm no expert." (Y/n) sighed sadly.
"Neither am I. Maybe a doctor who has already dealt with one of these parasites can do it. I know that one of those doctors is alive, if you go Westwards, you might run into them."
The group looked at each-other. Monkey sighed, his shoulders dropping a bit. (Y/n) smiled, but Nian Zhen was still worried.
"But hey, wait a minute. When's the egg gonna hatch? It was already hard dealing with a cursed horse, what will we do with a corrupted *dragon*!"
"That does bring a question..." (Y/n) looked at him. "Why were you disguising yourself as a horse in the first place?"
He just tilted his head.

"Ah! That's a good idea." the doctor raised an index. " I don't know when the egg will hatch, could be in weeks, could be in minutes. But once the infant parasite is born, you could trick it into thinking you are but a simple horse. If it feeds off the host's powers, as long as you don't use them, the corruption process will be slowed a great time."
The dragon thought, his gaze wandering.
"We are on a journey to the West right now." (Y/n) walked up to him. "We could accompany you, until you find a doctor that could cure you completely. We'd love to have you." she smiled. "What do you say?"
He looked at her for a moment, then he closed his eyes and turned into a horse. All white, with only a black stripe along the middle of his face and above his hooves. He lower his head, making (Y/n)'s face lit up. She petted along his nose.
"You're welcome. But you know, Nian Zhen did all the heavy lifting." she gestured towards her.
"Oh, I didn't really- I'm not... Like-"
Before she could stutter even more, the horse nudged her with his nose. Hesitantly, she pet him. He softly neighed, and there was now a spark in her eyes.

The group said goodbye to the doctor and his apprentice before coming down the mountain. They passed by the destroyed town. Some of the townsfolk came up to them and asked about the demon horse.
"We heard a group of demons thieves came by, did they kill the horse? What happened to it? What's up with that one?"
"Uh..." (Y/n) glanced at him.
Both the horse and Nian Zhen discreetly shook their head, with the young demon making a cutting gesture towards her throat with her hand. She concealed a snicker.
"We just left him there, and...got a new one-"
"None of your business anyway!" Monkey glared at them. "The horse isn't your problem anymore! Scram!"

They rushed away in a panic. The group walked away, and (Y/n) noticed the horse looking down. He must be feeling bad about this. Maybe he was conscious this whole time...? She patted his neck and smiled at him, her eyebrow furrowed. He looked at her before gesturing to his back.
"Ha! He wants you to ride him!" Monkey smiled.
"Please don't say that." Nian Zhen shook her head. "Please."
"What?! That's the term!"
"You could phrase it better!"

"Oh I don't want to be a burden." (Y/n) shook her hands while these two had their little argument.
The horse insisted though.
"Mmmm- Alright then!" she smiled.
He didn't have a saddle, and he was very tall, so she had to grab on his mane to get on. She said a small 'sorry' when she did, but he didn't seem to mind. She looked beyond happy. This was her first time on a horse.
"Come on Horse! To the West we go!" she pointed forward.
"He's not actually a horse (Y/n)." Nian Zhen frowned.
"Well, we don't know his name. So I'll call him Horse."

"Horse... Monkey..." she thought for a moment. "I'm starting to think you're just really bad at naming things."
Monkey burst out laughing.
"Oh my Lord!" he managed to say, holding his stomach. "How come I only learn this *now*?!"
Nian Zhen laughed too.
"Stop it!" (Y/n) blushed. "*You* try and think of a name! I like the one I gave him!"
They kept teasing her about it for a while. This was their dynamic now, and she had to deal with it. She wondered if she preferred how they were before or not. Meanwhile, the Horse was just happy to be here, happy to have new friends.