A Xianxia Tale (2)

The faint scent of medicine and other herbs, as well as a light aromatic candlestick were the first things to assault his senses, and Bai Hu groaned, slowly opening his eyes to find himself… definitely not at his home. Where am I? The boy quietly wondered, slowly rising to a sitting position to look around the room.

The place was spacious, if very sparsely decorated. He could see a handful of shelves on one side of the room, opposite to him; where various books and scrolls could be found, as well as a sitting table, a desk where various papers were scattered around. On another wall there was a door, and directly opposite to it, on the other wall, a wide circular window where the sunlight entered and one could see the clear blue sky of the day.

He felt a shiver over a slight breeze, and Bai Hu clutched his clothes more tightly. His eyes widened at such a point, wincing in pain.

"Ouch!" He hissed, tugging the robe open to see a block spot on his chest. "What is this?" He muttered, confused.

That wasn't on his chest yesterday!

The door opened, and his eyes snapped quickly to see a woman enter the room. She was pretty like a fairy, with long and flowing silky hair, black like a moonless night, and incredibly pale skin. Her blue eyes widened only a little bit, surprised, but her step did not falter and instead she smiled, turning to approach him.

"I see you're awake, little one," she smiled, and Bai Hu found himself flushing, averting his gaze in embarrassment. "Mistress Dai will be pleased with this news. Are you hungry? Thirsty perhaps?"

"A-ah, fairy sister-" the boy stammered, unable to meet her gaze. "W-where am I? A-and my father?" He questioned and that seemed to make her halt.

"Oh, you wouldn't have remembered," she nodded quietly, whispering too low for the boy to hear her words. "Your father is well, little one, but you were sick the other night, so he brought you here to the Thousand Method School so that Mistress Dai could treat you." She informed him.

"O-oh. I-I see…" the boy wiggled a little for a moment. "T-then, t-thank you, fairy sister."

"Don't thank me, little one, I did nothing." She smiled. "Rather, you should thank Mistress Dai and your father." The boy quietly nodded. Ye Mujin's eyes glinted with delight. This boy is too cute, she thought.

He really was. Thin and with pale skin, grey eyes and hair of a really light shade of blonde, although not quite white. He looked too different from normal children, frail and with a pure lost expression. That awakened in her the desire to simply pick the boy up and hug him tightly while cooing some silly children's song to lull him to sleep.

He would be a heartbreaker once he got older, of that Mu Yejin was sure.

"Very well," she nodded after a long moment of silence passed, and she stood up. "Come then, little one, my mistress wanted to see you once you were awake."

Once again, the boy simply acquiesced with a silent nod, and got up to follow her.

They left the room and walked down a long corridor and the five sets of stairs to the ground floor of the Alchemy Palace. They then went further inside, crossing a lavish courtyard with a pond of Yin-Yang koi fish and a sacred golden pine where a spirit beast had resided to another corridor and then they both stopped at another set of doors.

"Mistress," Mu Yejin politely knocked on the door, and not a second later came the answer, a soft "Enter". She nodded, and quietly and delicately she opened the door. "Excuse my interruption, Mistress, but the boy is already awake and I brought him with me."

"Oh?" A voice came from inside, and Bai Hu tried to peer inside the room from behind his fairy sister to no avail. The voice was pretty, however. It was warm and had a somewhat husky tone that sounded oddly pleasant in a woman. "Bring him inside. Has he eaten yet?"

"No, Mistress," Mu Yejin shook her head, placing a soft hand on his back and pushing him inside with more strength than Bai Hu found possible.

Cultivators, he reminded himself. Their mere existence was a statement of challenging the Heavens, that they could casually do things no mortal could ever hope to do even in their wildest dreams should not be a surprise. It was the norm.

"I suppose I could take a break if that's the case," the woman continued. They kept walking for a moment, walking past a massive shelf overstuffed with scrolls before turning right, and Bai Hu froze. "Well now, how are you doing, little tiger cub?"

If the fairy sister was beautiful beyond mortal women, then the woman in front of him, sitting on the desk with various papers neatly organised and wearing a lazy smirk was akin to a peerless goddess in turn.

Her skin was a flawless white, unblemished, completely devoid of even the smallest of imperfections. Her face was heart shaped, with high cheekbones and cherry-colored lips. She had three red markings on her forehead, something that Bai Hu knew meant a lot in the cultivators circles, something related to incredible power, skill and wisdom; the same shade of ruby red of her eyes and fiery hair, donned in a complex style that was held by a golden tiara that reminded him just slightly of dragon horns.

So this was the woman that healed him? Bai Hu immediately froze, his face heating up progressively faster as his gaze kept wandering. In a moment's notice, he felt like a furnace had been lit on his face, and he squeaked a mice like sound that only made his saviour crack a smile.

Then she got up and Bai Hu realized that she was tall, really tall. So much that his head barely reached her waist, and his fairy sister's just under her shoulders.

"Come now, little cub," she called him, pointing a finger to a chair. "Bring us some food," she turned for a moment to his fairy sister that bowed and left without making a sound. "How are you feeling, little cub?"

"Eh? Ah- ah, I-I'm feeling," he swallowed, crimson face turning to look down. "I-I'm fine." He muttered.

"That's good news," she hummed. "But still, I would be remiss to not check on your health. Sit still for a moment." She ordered and the boy immediately became stiff like a rod. Dai Yanmei placed a palm on his chest, careful to avoid the black spot where the boy was poisoned, and pushed some of her Qi inside of him.

Hmm…

No organs dangerously damaged. His cardiovascular system had been hit badly by the corrosive nature of the venom, but the antidote and the healing pill had done a good enough job on repairing the most affected parts.

Hmm…

Heart rate was very elevated, but he was clearly nervous and embarrassed. His bones were fine and his marrow was completely clean.

With the exception of impurities, the boy was perfectly fine. At least physically.

Now let's see his meridians…

That would be a bit trickier, Yanmei thought with narrowing eyes. The meridians were vital to any cultivator, and despite being mostly spiritual, they still had enough of a connection with the body to still be affected by pressure points for example, and Black Serpent Venom was not known to be a kind poison to the body. And the more damage it caused, the worse it would be. The venom was strong enough to kill cultivators entire realms above the Black Serpent if treatment was not swift, and what was left of the body could rarely ever be distinguished from a mortal's after it had run its course.

What could have happened with the meridians of a boy then?

Nothing good, was the answer, Dai Yanmei realized grimly.

His meridians were surprisingly intact she found, completely contrary to what she expected. But outside of the usual filth that clogged the connections, there was also something… rotten and aggressive mixed with all the impurities.

Whatever it was, it was harmful, and looking by the grimace on the boy's face…

He won't ever be able to cultivate without feeling pain, she sighed, stopping her Qi from circulating in his body and leaning back with a pensive expression.

"You are remarkably fine," Yanmei informed the little boy, and the slight weary expression he held lit up with joy. But she continued. "But that is only true to your physical body," she said, and here Bai Hu adopted a confused look. "Your meridians have been… damaged, in a sense. It won't impede you from cultivating, if you ever seek that path, but it will certainly not make it a pleasant experience. That pain you felt at the end of the exam, that was what happened when my Qi entered in contact with your meridians." She explained. "I don't know how you will react to other, less pure Qi, or even more pure ones than mine. It's really something of a unique case."

"B-but didn't you heal me?"

"Your body only," she flicked him in the head. "Healing meridians is something that only very potent, likely divine medicine could do, or time itself if you're lucky. Not only that but, while I do have some medical knowledge, that doesn't make me a physician. They would be able to give you a better assessment on what is happening to your meridians."

He furrowed his brow. "But then…" and she flicked his forehead playfully once again.

"Any alchemist worth their salt would know some medical knowledge, little cub," she explained, patting him on the head. "Well, that doesn't mean you couldn't miraculously heal if you cultivate enough and reach a high level, so don't feel… discouraged. You could be a cripple." She pointed out and Bai Hu grimaced, but nodded sullenly.

Indeed, it could have been much worse.

He fidgeted in place for a moment.

"Um… Uh, this Bai Hu thanks the great fairy sister for healing him," he bowed like his father taught him. "This, um, this Bai Hu will do anything to repay this debt."

Of all things-

"Snrk!"

A snort was not something Bai Hu expected.

And what an unladylike sound it was!

The sound of laughter filled his ear. A girly giggle that reminded him faintly of jiggling bells. It was a nice sound, but even then it was embarrassing, especially because he was the one being laughed at.

Not for the first time of the day, Bai Hu's face burned.

"My, my, little cub," smiled the fairy goddess - he would never call her as such out loud, it was too embarrassing just thinking of it Bai Hu could already feel the tips of his ears start burning. "Your gratitude is appreciated, but also unnecessary. You don't owe me nothing for this little service, Bai Zhong is already paying me enough." She said.

"My father?"

"Indeed," the redhead nodded.

She hummed for a moment, thinking.

"Say, little cub, what do you thinking of becoming an apprentice of the Thousand Method School?" She asked.

"Eh?" He reeled back, eyes wide with surprise at her words. "B-but I'm not a cultivator yet."

"That's fine," she waved his objection away, smiling inwardly. Yet. "You see, I'm the librarian at the Thousand Method School, aside from being an alchemist. That means I have… a lot of leeway with what I can get out with, so long as I don't step on too many elders' toes that is. They would hardly bat an eye if I suddenly had a little mortal boy like you following me around."

"Then… why are you doing this?" He asked after a moment of hesitation.

Yanmei paused.

"I… knew your mother," she answered, and that took the blonde completely out of guard. "We were close friends when little girls. When my family discovered my aptitude for cultivation, they wanted to send me to a sect so I could learn and grow. But, if I wanted to enter any big sect, I would have needed plenty of money, and while not poor, we certainly weren't wealthy enough for such investment. Your mother then helped me, and paid for my entrance and initial tuition here at the Thousand Method School. Xianghua was a good woman, with a big and kind heart, and I owe much of what I have today to her. In fact, I only started learning alchemy after I first learned she had fallen ill, but her condition at that point was already too advanced for me to be of any help. I… I suppose I'm doing this to repay her kindness to me, little cub."

"I see…" the boy nodded, looking sad.

His mother… he was young when she died. Very young. Barely an infant. Memories he had of her were hazy at best and confusing very often. Bai Hu only knew how she looked like because of a surprisingly life-like painting his father had of her when both were younger.

He took a deep breath. If this was how the fairy goddess would be repaying his mother's kindness, then it would be rude to reject her proposition.

He nodded. "If that's the case, I'll accept your offer, um, Mistress?"

"Call me Teacher," she smiled, extending a hand to ruffle his hear. "That or Lady Dai, whichever you prefer."

And then with a flick of her sleeve the door opened, and the fairy sister from before flinched, the tray she held trembling slightly with her surprise.