The ‘leader of the parade’ as it's sometimes almost jokingly called is seen as a great opportunity, to be the first to see and talk to the brilliant minds of the next generation, but in reality its more often like the head of the battering ram. The leader of the parade must be resilient to the crushing blows that the graduates inevitably unload upon them.
In this case, the man leading the pack was merely fortunate enough to have been the first plane in formation once the arrays came down, he wasn’t made for the rigors of leading a charge, and it showed as his wide forehead glistened with sweat in front of the fourth doorway. Eventually pushing it open, he came face to face with a looming man with hair tied neatly into a careful bun.
“Are you injured?” The man asked, narrow eyes clearly concerned as he placed a hand to guide the prospector inside.
Li Jun had been growing impatient as he sensed the uneasy pools of Chi bounce from room to room while forcible locked in the stuffy chamber.
“No… No… I’m fine.” Juan Rizal grunted while pushing the hand away uneasily. “Just the rigors of meeting all you…”
He trailed off so as not to say the word on his tongue.
“Ah,” Jun said patiently as he oriented himself across a low table. “I fully understand. My peers are indeed impressive. Tea?”
“Ah, sure I guess?” Juan shrugged, realizing he’d have no choice but to follow the young man’s example and kneel at the table. “I am Juan Rizal IV, by the way, I am here with Oceania and the SikSik Corporate. I’m not sure you’ve tried it yet, we do have a few branches open in The Q.D.—”
“Drink first, please.” Jun pleaded earnestly, a true appearance of concern lacing his face. “But likewise, My name in your manner would read as Jun Li, As you can tell, I am a cultivator and doctor specializing in lost ancient medicines. First, tell me how the tea works.”
“Ah, it’s delicious—” Juan began before twisting his face as he reread the words in his minds voice. “Works? What’s it…”
He couldn’t finish his words as warmth from the tea began quickly spreading past just his throat and into the rest of his chest.
Instantly the sweat which had already been damp on his brow hastened and began to smell almost sickly.
Jaun’s face twisted uncomfortably as he wondered if the young man had perhaps poisoned him. He couldn’t believe it to be possible under the security of the Academy but he couldn’t rationalize it any other way.
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“Seems it’s not enough to fully clear the blockage in your meridians. Here,” As Jun spoke he plucked a thin needle from out the inside of his robe and meticulously positioned it between the eyes of the portly man who sat sputtering fearfully on the cushion opposite him. Tapping it carefully and lodging it comfortably beneath the skin, Jun turned his attention finally away from Juan and to a large metal pot that sat a short distance from the table. Waving with a wide sleeve, the pot whirled over to his grasp and a dozen fresh smelling herbs appeared from out his closed palm.
Still in a mix of terror, odd comfort, and confusion, Juan watched carefully as the strange man worked at the alchemical furnace. He worked effortlessly, grinding some of the herbs in his hand with nimble fingers, while others he would chew and snap before finally depositing into careful portions in the large metal pot.
Flipping a lid from out his sleeve, Jun yawned as he shut the lid and brought out a tuft of flame.
With a carefully practiced movement, Jun heated the shell of the furnace from the bottom to the top, once it began glowing dimly he settled it back to the ground and then began cranking up the heat.
A fire began blazing powerfully underneath his hands, mingling perfectly in the center of the bottom of the furnace and cascading all around it.
Juan might have partially thought this was to be his fate, but he wasn’t completely unaware of the secret medicines of Qing so he settled his fears in exchange for a budding curiosity.
Finally after a grueling five or six minutes, Jun pulled his hands away and allowed the brightly glowing furnace to slowly cool before he finally lifted the lid.
Of course, the glorious fragrant smell so highly associated to Qing alchemic medicine immediately filled the room. With a careful wave of his hands four bright orange pills laced with a complex array of patterns shimmered in his palm.
“That makes one hundred in a row.” Jun absently laughed pocketing all but one of the pills which he calmly rolled across the table to Juan. “This should finish the job, please.”
Juan obviously hesitated a moment as he glanced between the pill and Jun. It felt a bit late to suddenly ask what exactly this would finish, but now that the surprise of the tea had settled, and the feeling of the needle wiggling on his forehead grew unnoticeable, he figured he had the duty to see his role through to completion.
He was the leader of the parade, no simple pill would scare him off.
Steeling himself, Juan gulped his leftover spit and tossed the pill to the rear of his throat. Swallowing the large orb uncomfortably, Juan clenched his eyes as he feared what would come next.
A minute and a half later, the sixth bell rung and Juan stepped confidently from the room as if a massive weight had been pulled from his shoulders.
Behind him, Master Tashi, of Tibet’s Silent Lotus, obviously noticed the smell of medicine on the air but his eyes bulged as he caught a glance to the man who’d, until then, been waddling from room to room.
He was jacked, it was as if all the energy that’d been left stored on his body as fat was forcibly burned to leave nothing but a hulking frame in its shadow.
Master Tashi was burning with interest as he stepped up to the door, but he would be less excited once he saw all that’d been left over after such a rapid transformation. Expecting the sweet tinge of medicine, he pushed the door open, but his mind quickly aligned, and he was almost forced to pull the door back shut from the wretched smell of the expelled impurities.