It was no great mystery to Goldenseed why her peers disliked her. She knew her own flaws better than anyone – standoffish, unkempt, rude, and obsessive were all words that people had used to describe her over the years, and she had agreed with every one.
She was simply not the sort of person to concern herself with others. So when the young Lu finally departed and the slightly-less-young Lan returned to his vigil, the bespectacled disciple’s morose face drew out only the smallest amount of empathy from her. She put it away like an out-of-place vial; the thing he wants is a cure for his woman, and sympathy won’t solve that.
So she keeps her focus on her cauldron, content to let the silence stretch on as she prepares to refine her creation further.
But the silence does not last. “Elder,” Lan speaks. His words are like old paper: soft and dry and fragile. “Is Lu on the right track?”
She is certain that some people would dress their reply in sugar, but she does not. Taste is secondary to cost, and tertiary to effect. “I cannot answer that. His thoughts fit with the data I and the physicians have gathered, but there are a great many explanations which are equally fitting.”
Strands of angel hair fungus twist below, writhing in the opaque concoction filling her cauldron. Invisible to her eyes, but not her sense.
“I see. Thank you for your honesty, Elder.”
A minute passes as her concoction stews, the natural forms of disparate ingredients being drawn out and bound together. The fungus, the three oils, the powdered organs, all of them are melted, into a liquid with unique properties distinct from any of the parent ingredients. With a flex of her sense the mixture heats further, and steam erupts.
Melding together… If it was only the smallest amount, it might remain undetected – and, perhaps, cause these symptoms. Those unorthodox pioneers never fell into comas, but they had their own system which was at least partly sensible. If it was done unintentionally, without the slightest care…
The amalgamation boils down to the point where a crust forms, and her sense continues to stir while her mind does its own work.
But how to reverse it? No, before that, does it need to be reversed? The Salt men are resilient enough, adapted to their environment, but can a human do the same?
Lu. It all comes back to that one young man. Finally the concoction was solid enough, and she added the final ingredient; the Green Rebirth Pill hit the mixture and sank immediately. Within a second a fragrant smoke had begun issuing from the top of her small and delicate medicine cauldron, its scent not unlike honey.
Little Yu showed me her findings from the examination, but she only did a partial vivisection to see if he was contagious. I have a feeling that if I were to submit a request now, she would be more than happy to let me do a thorough job. Aiya Yu put on a strong front, but she was no venerable; no doubt the loss of her elder brother would be affecting her emotions for the next while.
That was a bad thing on its face, but every failure is a chance to learn.
“Here, let’s try this.”
The disciple looked away from his sleeping partner. Unlike his sect brother, he did not startle. “Elder?” The new pill – Second Order Awakening Pill, let’s name it – arced perfectly through the air and into his hand. “Ah, thank you. I just feed her..?”
“Yes. Go on now, I promise the worst it could do is nothing.”
As Lan tenderly removed her mask, Goldenseed’s thoughts continued to swell and burble. But will he agree to it? Obviously I can’t go behind the Patriarch’s back, and the boy seems the squeamish sort, even if it’s for his own good. I’m sure I could remove a few of those physical problems he mentioned – at this point I’m as knowledgeable about the invader’s anatomy as Yu is.
The large pill went down Jiendao's throat easily despite its size, and both she and Lan waited with subdued expectation.
The sleeping woman’s eyelids fluttered, fluttered, and then-
“Jiendao! Jiendao, you’re awake!” All of Lan’s decorum was discarded as he flung his arms around the woman, hugging her tightly around the shoulders. Her eyes were open, staring forward with a dreamy look to them. “Thank the heavens, I was so afraid-”
“Move, please,” she cut the man off. Very gently she extricated his limbs from around the lying woman, and equally gently she placed him back on his seat. “Let me examine her.”
As his breath heaved – likely he was caught between sense and emotion – a low-powered Light Ray shone out from her fingertip. “Lady Jiendao? Can you hear my voice?” She bent down and aimed the light to hover between the woman’s eyes, then moved it slowly from side to side.
Her eyes did not move to track the light, nor did her pupils constrict even a hair’s width. Ah, less of a response than I had hoped.
“Elder? Is she..?”
“She has not recovered, no.” The man’s poorly concealed gasps blew across her face as he strained to restrain himself. “But this was a result, at least.” Straightening, she sent her spiritual sense out in full. Like a needle passing cleanly through fabric, Jiendao’s soul offered no resistance to her own, and Goldenseed threaded herself into the younger woman until every crevasse had been uncovered. Even a normal unconscious person would instinctively defend themselves, but the woman’s own sense was as motionless as her mind and body.
Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
The pill had an effect, but not much of one. Stronger ingredients could solve it, but with her body only being third realm… It seems that alchemy will not solve this alone.
Her sense withdrew to a mere cloak around her form, the young Lan’s breath easing a touch as the pressure lifted. “I need to depart to retrieve new ingredients. Are you willing to continue caring for her for now, or should I call a nurse?”
Affront. “Obviously I’m going to-!” For a moment Lan’s rough spirit smoothed out completely, calming meditation setting his anger to the side. “Pardon, Elder. I’ll keep watching her, thank you.”
She nodded once in approval – both for the dutifulness, and the mastery he had over his emotions – and then she left.
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The rest of Lu’s day went by quickly. He ate, he studied scrolls from the upper floors of the archives, and he completed the depressing task of assessing exactly how much he had lost during the battle.
His stack of attack formations was thin, and he was down to two treasure swords. He had plenty of spirit stones – high quality ones at that – as well as pills, miscellaneous other formations, and the supplies necessary to make more of each.
And of course, his flying treasure. Like a lame horse, it nearly brought a tear to his eye to look at the once-pristine wood. It… might be repairable. Not by me – these control formations are delicate and I don’t understand the enchantment even slightly – but I’m sure Persimmon could do it. Presumably even a core realm enchanter would be capable enough. And I have more money than I know what to do with…
But was that the best use of his wealth? The treasure had served him faithfully, but he was beginning to realise that a treasure was no replacement for personal skill. All those incredible treasure swords, gone. Maybe I’m better off selling some of this and buying beast cores, or the use of a special chamber.
He mulled it over until the early hours of the morning, before making a decision.
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“Bull, I’ve made an important life decision.”
The scarred man lazily raised a single brow, not respecting the severity of Lu’s words in the slightest. A faint wind blowing across the open field ruffled his hair – which only compounded the annoyance the expression instilled, since Lu hadn’t been able to do the same with any of his attacks over the past ten minutes.
“Have you decided to leave your hair short? Because if you keep fiddling with it in the middle of our spar, I’m going to start hitting you for real.”
Lu paused, then forced his hands down to his sides, red colouring his cheeks. “No, no, that has nothing to do with anything.” It just feels off, okay? I’ve worn my hair long for basically my whole life, it’s very distracting! “I’ve decided to seriously pursue the inner realms, to the exclusion of other things. I’ve already spent a large chunk of my savings on resources, and I was wondering if you’d be willing to act as a go-between for higher-class things in the inner sect.”
Bull’s brow remained raised, but his expression became a touch more serious. “Lu, I know you have… issues with the clerks, but that’s really no reason to avoid using the official channels to buy things.”
“It isn’t- who even mentioned the clerks, Bull? No, it’s because everyone knows I became wealthy just recently. I’m sure they’ll try and gouge me, expecting me to be unversed in the mysteries of coin.” As if I was still some naive peasant. “And since I’m just an outer disciple, I won’t be able to call them on it. Well?”
Bull’s expression had become flat, as if there were either none or too many thoughts behind his eyes. He broke his stance, accepting that the rest of the spar wouldn’t be happening for now. “I think you’re getting ahead of yourself, just a bit. You have everything you need to step into the fourth realm, right? So by the time you need to deal with any proud bastards, you’ll already be their equal.” His grin returned. “And by then I might just be in the core sect, so there’s no reason to spend all your money right away. Save it for when you hit a wall.”
As if you can move so fast. Despite the cheeky thought, Lu worried his lower lip. “What you say is sensible. But the problem is time, Bull. I’m not cultivating just to cultivate, I’m cultivating because I don’t want to get taken out by a stray bullet. I need speed, and higher tier resources are the best way to do that.” Bull didn’t seem convinced, so he continued. “I’m not worried about the roadblocks. I’m already making good progress on my spiritual veins, and after that comes another round of mental tempering – which you know I’ll excel at, because of my vast intellect.
“I think I can do it.” This isn’t like when I went loopy from abusing spirit stones – I know the proper way to cultivate like a rich young lord, now. “So I’ll ask again: would you be willing to help me gather resources? I want to snap them up before the war starts in earnest.”
“That ship may have already sailed, Lu. Who do you think held onto their cores after White Knuckle’s funeral?” He shook his head. “Everyone’s had the exact same thought as you. It’s a seller’s market at the moment; any new cores being brought in are immediately snapped up by those with the deepest pockets.”
…Damn. Obviously I knew it would be expensive, but hearing Bull lay it all out like that… But Lu wasn’t willing to give up. He wanted at least enough to guarantee fifth realm, before open war erupted and things became scarce. And if the Emperors settle things and there doesn't end up being any war at all, I'll consider that good news and shrug off the wasted expense. Suddenly a spark lit up the inside of his head. “Wait, new cores! Bull, remember that section of forest you travelled through to meet me in the northwest?”
“With the huge trees? Of course.” The shape of his smile changed. “Ah, you’re thinking of doing some hunting of your own? I’m surprised; you’ve always hated extermination missions.”
Lu’s response was an automatic “A gentleman doesn’t relish violence, Bull,” but then his consciousness caught up with his mouth. “Not that this would be like that. It would mostly be insects.”
“And then the bears and tigers attracted to the blood, and then the scavengers following behind, and then…”
“Greengrass doesn’t have any tigers, Bull.” Not that that’s the relevant part. “And it’s not like I can leave right this minute. Jiendao needs help, and I’m not delusional; I know a high realm predator would tear me to pieces in seconds.” He put a thumb to his lip, physically forcing himself to stop his nervous habit. “No, I’ll need a team.” Bull, obviously. Maybe I can rope in Lan? And Stingy and Cobo, it’ll be good to get them out of the sect for a while, let tensions ease. But not too many people, since I want to keep a good number of cores for myself…
Bull’s eyes unfocused for a moment, before his grin became extremely bloodthirsty. “Hmm, how about a core realm disciple who owes me a favour?”
“Eh? You know someone who-” Mid-sentence, Lu became suspicious. Wait, that look on your face. “Bull, what are you planning? Your expression is too sinister, too sinister!”
The man waved him off. “Just thinking I can kill a few birds with one stone. Don’t worry about it; you focus on the sleeping princess, and I’ll look into a few things for a real hunting party. I have a lot more experience, so don’t worry.”
Lu continued to give his friend a suspicious look, but eventually relented. Ah, it isn’t like anything I say will dissuade him. And it isn’t like he’s lying, he really does have more experience hunting beasts. “Alright, but no funny characters. I’ve heard enough stories about core disciples to know they’re a strange bunch, and my own experiences haven’t disproved that knowledge in the slightest."