章節 174: Medical Visit - 'Scolding'
The four of them entered the room and walked over to the far side, Tao Ru was currently lying in bed comfortably while her arms were spread out by her side and her long brown hair flowed freely down the pillows and sheets as it was rustled by the gentle wind entering through the open window, her gaze gently shifted over to the group when they walked up to her.
"Everyone is here? Even the old ma-" she spoke weakly, but she felt a glare from the Tower Lord, so she almost coughed trying to correct herself "-Tower Lord…"
"You can chat for a little while but she's still weak, so I'll kick you out if you stay too long" Jing Yaling warned them before she walked off, exiting the room, Shu He saw the glint in her eyes as she left so he could tell she had found something interesting to mull over, so she'll probably be distracted for an hour or two.
"…" An awkward silence crept up on the room as the group silently stared at each-other, unable to bring themselves to speak first, but after a few minutes someone managed to break the silence-
The Tower Lord.
"Tao Ru" His voice was clear and loud, like an overbearing parent causing Tao Ru to flinch slightly as she looked him in the eye and answer meekly "..Y-yes?".
"…" Bo Yun opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it, and then attempted to speak again but paused like he was choking on his words, his expression was filled with hesitation, however he then sighed, and his body relaxed and lent back on the chair "How was it?".
It was a question that Tao Ru didn't expect, she had expected to be scolded, lectured, and warned to the ends of time. However He Qiao and even Shu He understood what he was feeling at that moment.
What right did he have to scold her for walking down her path? The same one he had wanted to walk himself but had been too scared to try it. Bo Yun visibly clenched his fists, a mix of worry hiding a deep anticipation was plastered on his face.
In the end Tao Ru smiled lightly as she laid deeper into her pillow, closing her eyes.
"It was amazing, I felt so close to alchemy, closer than ever before; If before I was watching a beautiful gem being sculpt from afar, this time I was the gem as I shaped myself, each movement, each transformation, every little detail felt like I was watching a field of flowers blooming for the first time…"
"It was unmatchable… I… I don't think I will be able to go back". She spoke honestly from the heart; her face had a faint pink tone as she smiled remembering the process.
"…Even if it means risking your life every time you perform alchemy?" Bo Yun asked with a lower tone, this was his weakness, the one reason he couldn't advance, he valued his life too much after living so long.
In return, Tao Ru nodded without hesitation. "What is the difference between that and being a cultivator? Risking ones life to walk the path of their Dao, that is what is missing from our alchemy, it's a hollow sensation that only now do I realise exists."
Bo Yun suddenly stood up causing the chair to clatter back slightly before he walked away before stopping in place with his back to the bed.
"…So you are mad" Tao Ru said with a sad expression.
But Bo Yun shook his head "I can't be mad with you about this, I'm going to retrieve all the documents I have; This time you will be fully prepared so nothing like this happens again" he turned and glanced at her from the side "Just, don't go locking your room like that again, I'll break it down myself next time" he said before he left the room, presumably to return to the Alchemy Tower.
"…Thank you" her voice was carried on the wind, whether Bo Yun heard it or not is unknown.
Only Shu He, He Qiao and Tao Ru were left in silence once more, eventually Tao Ru tilted her head to look at them and asked, "Not going to say anything?"
"You're insane, do you know that?" He Qiao suddenly spat out, his face filled with anger.
"…Am I?"
"Yes! You always have been! Throwing yourself at everything like you have a death wish, trying all sorts of unsavoury technique and recipes just for fun, forgetting to even take care of yourself, and now you learn about a dangerous alchemic way, yet you go ahead and lock yourself out from us while driving yourself to near death! Do you even stop for a second to think about those that worry about you!?" he unloaded all his thoughts then and there without stopping.
"Do you?" she suddenly asked.
"What?"
"Do you worry about me?" she asked again.
He Qiao frowned "Of course I do!"
"Because I'm your rival?"
He Qiao scoffed "Oh come off it, at this point there's no reason for me to call myself that, you were always ahead of me in alchemy and now you've taken I step I can't hope to cross, what is the point?"
Tao Ru slightly puffed out her pale cheeks and pouted "Why not? Out of the two of us you were always the most consistent one, I'm sure you could do it too if you tried".
"You're missing the point! Just like the Tower Lord I… could never do that… I always wanted to be a Tower Lord, I wanted to live a comfortable and stable life teaching Alchemy to new disciples… what you want is not that".
"I just… can't risk my life like that" He Qiao stood up with his head hung slightly, his eyes filled with sadness.
"Oh…" Tao Ru couldn't help but hang her head slightly as well, disappointment was clearly plastered on her face.
"But- that doesn't mean I'll leave you alone and let you throw your life away! Just like the Tower Lord said, I'll be watching to make sure you don't over do it!" He stood up before rushing off, his eyes filled with conflict.
"Okay…" Tao Ru nodded lightly, however there has a hint of loneliness hidden in the depths of her eyes.
In the end she had stepped on to a path separate from those around her, eventually, one day, they would diverge completely; She realised that until then, she had to cherish what she had.
She then looked up, there was one more person here, he was still as a statue with his eyes closed like nothing around him mattered, like he was isolating himself from the surroundings.
That or he just wanted to separate himself from the drama.
"Shu He" She said, his eyes opened as he looked at her.
"You've been awfully silent, aren't you going to scold me as well?" she asked with reluctance.
Shu He sighed slightly "Scold? What for? Using me as the only key to the room? Making an absolute mess after I tidied and sorted it all? Making your own student operate on you after nearly dropping dead? All this emotional distress?" each thing he listed made Tao Ru sink deeper into the covers.
"On second thought, please don't" She pleaded.
This was the sort of relationship this Teacher-Student pair had, while she taught him Alchemy on the regular, he ended up taking care of a bunch of extra affairs for her and making sure she lived properly, at times he felt he was a caretaker.
"…I hear you've been calling me 'Teacher' all the time since yesterday" she spoke nervously from under the covers.
"I was just keeping appearances, don't get your hopes up; You need to actually act like one before I call you that".
"You're such a cruel disciple…" she flopped on to her side, looking away from him.
After a little silence washed away the slightly cheerful mood Tao Ru spoke once more "Thank you for saving my life, I heard from Doctor Jing that it was both of you that performed the operation".
"That… it was mostly Elder Jing; I just followed her directions".
"Even so… by the way, what was the operation? She didn't tell me any details".
"It's confidential" Shu He answered immediately; He didn't want to have to explain it at all "By the way, what exactly caused you to collapse? There were impurities in your body that the Tower Lord cleansed with a pill, and then there was the Qi Rejection…".
"I fainted because I made a mistake… the process of making a pill for True Alchemy is quite different and has a lot of nuance… I think I did something that caused the process to collapse, causing the embryonic pill to explode inside me" Tao Ru explained, though she wasn't completely sure.
"That would explain the Qi Rejection… but what about the impurities? I don't really understand, they aren't normal impurities like waste product, was that caused by the pill collapsing as well?".
"I'm not sure… it would make sense, the scroll I read just outlined the process but not the causes or effects of failure, I noticed the impurities building up when I failed but it wasn't that bad, it seems the essences of a failed pill turn in to impurities in the body, normally you dissipate most of it but maybe because it was a critical failure the entire thing got stuck in my body…" She pondered on Shu He's question for a minute before looking up, a slight glimmer in her eyes.
"Say Shu He, do you want to use True Alchemy as well?".
Shu He was taken aback before he chuckled "Honestly I don't want to use something that seems so dangerous it could take my life after one failure…"
His answer caused Tao Ru's eyes to dim lightly "Oh-"
"-But if we can find more information and do some proper research on it, then it's certainly something I'm interested in" Shu He finished speaking.
Tao Ru's eyes suddenly lit up like the sun "That's great! I knew I had an amazing student!" she leaped up before coughing and falling back into bed.
The two spoke some more, making a promise to study True Alchemy together once she had healed before he left, like he thought Jing Yaling had completely forgotten about her patient as she was stuck in research once more, so he reminded her before leaving the Medical Division.
After a sudden panic and fright, everything had finally settled down, it was time for him to visit the Beast Taming Division for the first time since his return.
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