What to do if you find out that you are a cannon fodder in a cultivation novel?

Uncle Qin was waiting for Sui-er and I at the exit. After greeting him, I looked around and found Li-er with his mother. Li-er said his goodbye to his mum and joined us. After a round of introduction we went to the Qin residence. 

I inspected the goods, collected them and paid the difference.

“Thank you uncle Qin and sorry again it took so long” I said after the transaction was done

“No need to apologize, the shipping was late. There were some leftover beasts from Huo’s city attack that delayed my team along the way…don’t worry no one was seriously hurt” 

“How is your preparation for winter?” He seemed relaxed

“All done. I expect another shipment before that but that is optional. How about you?” he asked

“I am looking for a residence. I have enough of everything else thanks to you”

“You are moving out of the city lord’s residence?” Asked Sui-er

“Yes, I need my independence. City lord’s residence is not the quietest place for meditation and research”

“Do you need help? I know few people leaving the city before winter” volunteered uncle Qin.

“Thanks, if you hear about a big residence near the city center or the city lord’s residence let me know. No budget. Lady Yan is also helping me look around” I said

“If lady Yan is helping then I have nothing to do except maybe help to negotiate a good price” 

“Daddy is really good when negotiating” confirmed Sui-er          

“I want to help too!” Li-er said with a hand up

“Mmm, you can come visit residences with me” I replied with a smile

We chatted for a bit then we had to leave to buy the promised candies. We had 2 guards waiting for us outside the Qin residence. I knew them from my previous mission so I was not concerned. Li-er and I walked around the center of the district. It was starting to get dark but lights were turned on so we continued for a bit longer. We bought candies, snacks and a few interesting toys for Li-er. He was 14 years old but he had a 5 year old body and 7 year mental age.

At 7PM we decided to go back. We had a quick dinner - everyone else already ate - and went to fake sleep for the 2nd purifying session

This time it hurt much more. Aunt Sun could not help but scream a few times. I had to hold Li-er to sooth him. In the end, I put an inverted sound barrier around him so he could not hear her anymore. I had to listen in case aunt Sun asked for help.

It took an hour, and she passed out after it was done. I cleaned her up and checked her status. The poison was removed, the damaged root was changed to 'Healing the damaged water root (3/1000)'. The ERROR state was still there but that was to be expected until the spiritual root was fixed. All bruises were gone by themselves including minor skin trauma. 

“She is fine. No more poison and is healing by herself” I comforted Li-er

“Why is she not moving?” asked Li-er in tears

“She is just tired. Just like you were tired and slept after your first purifying session” 

I took out the necklace from aunt sun. Confirmed that it had 7 charges then gave it to Li-er “Now put this on you to recharge it. Do not show it to anyone. Not even your father” I didn’t believe in cheaters who let his sons try to kill each other in the future.

“You have to keep it a secret from anyone except your mum” I warned him again. I was concerned about when he would return to the Wu family. With his current temperament, he could turn like me in my first life¹There is no chance of that Xiao Shin. I may need to make him regain his memories before going back 

“Li-er, do you want to get stronger quickly to protect your mum and yourself?” I asked

“Mmm. I want my memories to come back. I want to be strong again” He said

“Then tomorrow, ask your mother to show you how to cultivate. You can use the spiritual stones we found in that cave” 

After Li-er nodded I added “I am going to sleep, you do the same. Tell your mother that tomorrow is a day off school so now that she is poison free, I could help her heal her neck and hands if she wants. With her damaged roots, it is going to be better than healing pills”

Healing pills work better on cultivators, the more spiritual energy they had the better. With aunt Sun's root still recovering, she could not used her spiritual energy and thus the pills would have the same low effect as on a non-cultivator

...

I woke up just before lunch so I had brunch instead. Aunt Sun spiritual root's fixing rate went to 7/1000. She had a long way to go but it was improving, not getting worse.

It took 1 hour using wood and water abilities to heal her. She was surprised I could do it this fast with my Qi Condensation level so I explained the process. 

Most cultivators would just send their spiritual energy to the target area to help heal but the way I do it was a bit different. On top of spiritual energy, I used my roots abilities and my knowledge of human anatomy. This made the healing process more efficient and faster, especially with its purity. This session helped increase my root size a bit more. Currently, wood and water were the same size while lightning was 10% smaller. I had to catch up on cultivation today but the priority was to visit 3 residences so I quickly got ready and went out with everyone - except uncle Huai -

The first residence I left halfway through the visit. There was some dark energy I could not stand. Li-er and aunt Sun felt the same. When I explained it to aunt Yan she said nothing while giving the driver another address.

The second one, it was aunt Yan who stopped halfway. She called the guards to arrest the seller. He was the housekeeper. He killed the owner and was planning to get the money and run away. How did aunt Yan know? She never explained. We later found out that the owner was found buried in the garden. The killer did not expect that the first visit was from the wife of the city lord

The third residence no one liked. No dark energy or murderers. The quality of the buildings was mediocre. It had not been renovated for a long time and the price asked was too high to waste time negotiating. 

“There would be other residences. We just need more patience” I encouraged everyone     

“Yes we can wait a bit more” confirmed aunt Yan

At school the next morning, everyone was talking about the murder case of the second residence we visited. The owner was a low level cultivator who was waiting for his father to come back from the secret realm. The housekeeper murdered him after he learned of the father’s demise. This was an example why low level cultivators should leave the city and start their lives in surrounding villages or low level cities. 

The day after, the talk shifted to the first residence we visited. Special operations team found out that the owner was a demonic cultivator who used one of the rooms to do something bad. No one even wanted us, students and average citizens, to know what it was.

The demonic cultivator had cleaned everything and removed all evidence before the visit but aunt Sun, Li-er and I felt the remnant of dark energy thanks to our pure spiritual energy. The investigation team found all the necessary evidence in a mass grave outside the city. You would think the demonic cultivator would have destroyed the bodies but he was evil and not smart... or he planned to take them back later on. Uncle Huai told me that there were a lot of arrays inside that residence and he suspected he had a powerful backer outside the city. If that backer came for revenge, then the extreme weather would be the least of our problems... Weeks later nothing happened and we relaxed. I kept that in my memory just in case.

That happened later. For now and after the first round of real estate shopping, the decision was made to always have more guards with me whenever I went out. I was really bringing too much misfortune to evil doers and I was damn proud of it