BOC AU: Elder But Younger Sister 9: Seeds and Eggs

While a general assembly was called in the Cloudy Sword Sect for the next day, Lu Ri was told to remain where he was, Elder Ge frowning as he went over the report Lu Ri had given him.

“Assisting a gang? How in the hells did that happen?!” Elder Ge demanded, fixing his eyes on Lu Ri.

“The criminals proved that they had at least some cunning. Eleven out of the twelve that we were called to deal with were indeed criminals. Killers and rapists that while not demonic were close enough that a mortal thinking them to be was considered plausible. They were swiftly detained or slain… but no further thought was given to the men who reported on their presence. It was simply assumed that the system was working as intended.” Lu Ri said, silently thankful that it was not quite as bad as he originally assumed.

The Senior Disciples had still failed in their duties by not searching further.

Elder Ge’s eyes sharpened. “And the last of these men?”

“He was found in a running battle, and at first lashed out at the Senior Disciple who restrained him. For this he was thrown in a cell. The presiding Senior Disciple was supposed to conduct an investigation… but he never followed up. He simply considered the business done.” Lu Ri reported.

“And I assume there is more to the story?” Elder Ge asked.

“He was a father. Recently ignited, after he learned that the gang had taken his daughter and his son. The guards refused to investigate. Denied justice, took matters into his own hands, and managed to break in and rescue his children, as well as six others. In doing this he raided twelve gang warehouses with no casualties. The running battle was provoked when the man stayed to fight off their pursuers.”

Elder Ge closed his eyes. “How long was he left in prison for?”

“Ten years.”

“...the children?”

“Only the daughter still lives.”

Xiao Ge sighed and looked back at the report. “The man?”

“I had him released and granted him the maximum amount of compensation owed that I could, and flagged this as high priority for the Elder’s review.”

Elder Ge’s frown deepened. “Two years old this report is now, and I assume you filed with every Elder?”

“Yes, Elder Ge. This is the first response I have received.”

“Chen should have—” Elder Ge cut himself off and grimaced. “No. There will be no shifting of blame for this matter. Shou and Yukong were here too. This should have had a response earlier. I shall visit this man personally. Where does he reside?”

“He has reunited with his daughter and since found employment with his her in Soft Gold Clinic, which is another matter I reported on.”

Elder Ge reached into the pile and pulled up the document. He scanned it, and an eyebrow raised.

“The owner was on the path of righteousness, and so was left alone to continue his work. In  addition, he is accompanied by a friend of the sect…” Elder Ge snorted. “That is an understatement, Lu Ri. The man you encountered is indeed a friend of the Sect, and its newest Elder. The Clinic itself shall be under our protection. You acted well in this matter.”

Lu Ri’s back straightened slightly at the praise… and at the knowledge he had encountered a man who was to be Elder of their Sect.

“This is a sorry business. But now that we are returned from our three hundred year task, it will be put to right. I will launch an investigation into this disciple, and find the cause for this negligence. You have done well in your investigation, disciple.” Elder Ge continued.

The dismissal was clear, but Lu Ri remained seated. He had his Elder’s attention now. To not seize the moment would be a sin.

“Elder Ge, may this disciple speak candidly?” He asked carefully.

Elder Ge paused in his straightening of the pages. He fixed an eye on Lu Ri, his gaze considering.

“You may.” he said after a moment.

Lu Ri steeled himself. “This is not the only instance of negligence,” he stated. “The problems the sect currently has are… many.”

“Elaborate.” Elder Ge commanded.

Lu Ri did. At length. For three hours.

===========================

By the end of the Senior Disciple’s testimony of the rot within the sect, Xiao Ge’s Qi was nearing boiling.

“Disciples grievously injuring one another while trading pointers?” Ge asked, the Black Clouds of his namesake drifting around the room. “Desecration of the sect, dereliction of duty?”

The Disciple before him was sweating heavily, but his face betrayed not his discomfort. It was admirable self control.

“Yes, Elder Ge.” Senior Disciple Lu Ri managed to say.

It was almost too much. How could they have let things fall so low? How dare they—!

No. No, it was not entirely their fault. Ge forced his Qi to calm.

Disciples needed oversight. That is why they were disciples. Ge and Ran had been out of the sect for nearly the entire three hundred years. Ge had only returned when his son asked for assistance with Su Ge, and Ran had only been present when he had been recovering from the great battle that he had been called upon to assist in by the Emperor himself. Ran still had a scar that went from his shoulder to his hip.

While Shou and Yukong were technically within the Sect… They were locked within their own quarters, feverishly working on the wards and medicine that had kept Qingyi alive.

The only Elder that had been present was Chen, who… realistically, was not prepared to suddenly take on the duties of all the Elders of the Sect.

“It seems a price was paid for our work. Rot has crept in, while we were not cleaning… yet this is the Sin of the Elders.” Ge mused.

 The heavens had given them a firm-handed reminder of the dangers of inattention.

Ge had to think. Was it worth it? Was the rot that had set up in their absence worth it?

The only answer…. Was yes. With Shen Yu returning, the Cloudy Sword Sect would be stronger than ever.

“And yet, this is salvageable. This can be fixed. We Elders must pay penance for our inattention, for we have allowed our disciples to stray.” He declared, focusing in on the Senior Disciple. One of the good ones. “Thank you for informing me of this, Disciple Lu Ri. Armed now with knowledge, we may return ourselves to the path of the Honoured Founders.”

The man’s back straightened. “What would you have me do, Elder Ge?”

“It appears we have much work to do.” Elder Ge finished, rising to his feet. “Walk with me, disciple. I shall have need of your skills.”

This stain would be cleansed. Cleansed, and never repeated. This matter would be fixed and handled—in time for Shen Yu to take up his position..

=====================================

Qingyi’s body flowed through the familiar movements of the Immortal Foundation arts. She perfectly matched her brother, who was going through the same form beside her. Their breathing was in sync. Their Qi moved as her father had instructed.

It was a wonderful thing to be so perfectly synchronized, while going through such a sublime form. Qinyi let the peace flow through her, her mind half on the form, and half drifting.

Catching up with her Aunt and Uncles last night had been… simply the best. She had slept well, and then her brother had kept his promise and taught her some of his recipes! Cooking was such an interesting thing, with temperatures, and timing, and even the size of the cuts affecting flavours.

It had been an enlightening lesson. She had watched mortals cook before, but actually participating, and making something that her father had eaten and enjoyed?

It had been a wonderful new experience.

And now, she was cultivating with a peer? Well, not really a peer. Her brother was at the Fifth Stage of the Initiate’s Realm to her First, but she had full confidence both of them would grow swiftly.

They completed their forms, and moved on to meditation. Once more father pressed his hand against her back as she cultivated, and once more her Qi slid almost unnaturally smoothly through her meridians… but she was getting used to it.

After a mere hour of meditation, it was time to conduct sword practice; she watched over her brother’s halting movements through the form, correcting him when he needed it, but otherwise just watching. 

Finally, after that… there was body strengthening. Qingyi had been immobile for three years, after all. She could function acceptably for her cultivation through experience and the last dregs of her fading body refinement, but she needed more strength!

It had been quite a while since she had last done physical training, rather than just refining her muscles with Qi.

She went through the rest of the training, but it was difficult work. Father was using a formation to press down on them, tailoring his strength to give them the best strain!

It was a brutal regime that her father had her brother on, and though she gave her best go of it, it got too much and she had to stop.

She finally stood from her position doing sit ups, sweat pouring from her body. Her gi was around her waist, her dudou only just preserving her modesty, while her brother too had his chest bared to the air, his arms pumping as he pushed his body up and down through the weight of father’s Qi.

She took a sip of water, and let out a breath, watching him for a moment, before she got a mischievous idea.

Her brother was wide open!

“Qingyi, what are you doing?” he asked with a sigh.

“Why, I am taking a break.” she said from her new seat on his back. Father’s qi did not touch her at all, but maintained its full weight on Jin. “Luckily, there is a fine bench right here!”

Jin rolled his eyes as she ruffled his hair. His broad back indeed made a fine seat, even with its motion. Qingyi let out a contented sigh, and looked up at the clouds high above. The sky was especially beautiful today—

Her seat suddenly jumped, and Qingyi flailed in shock, barely keeping herself from falling.

Jin clapped his hands together in mid air and then landed again.

“If you ride the tiger, you’d better not fall off!” he taunted.

Qingyi grinned at the challenge in his tone. “The tiger may buck, but those that stride the path of ascension remain on his back with ease.”

She adjusted her seat, and Jin pushed off hard again, but Qingyi held on with her thighs.

He landed, and she yawned theatrically. “Is that all?” she asked, examining her nails.

Jin’s eyes narrowed.

He bucked and tried valiantly, but Qingyi was a master tiger rider!

….at least until father released his Qi and Jin pushed off so hard he landed on his back, driving the wind from both of them.

Father’s grin was entirely too self pleased. She locked eyes with her brother, and both of them knew that they had a new adversary.

That, however, was for another day. Their vengeance would be appropriate and legendary. Instead, after their training was complete for the moment, her brother turned to her.

“I’ve got a few errands to run, and things to check on. Do you want to come with me?” He asked.

Naturally, the answer was yes.

=======================

Being a Spiritual Doctor, even a pretty mediocre one, meant that I had all sorts of strange bits and bobs and experiments going around in the city—trying to import half remembered medical knowledge meant I went rather broad. There were things that worked, like the alcohol and the clinic. And then, there were things that… well.

I frowned heavily as I looked through the thousand Li view at my subject. I considered it at great length. I stroked my chin, I nodded, and I came to a conclusion.

Yeah, this one was a failure too.

I remembered that they had used eggs to make flu vaccines in the Before, but thus far all of my experimentation has… Well, it’s failed completely. To say I was making any progress at all would be a vast overstatement.

I looked at the various other inoculated eggs that I had put what I thought were viral particles in. My command of the Thousand Li View used as a microscope wasn’t advanced enough to really see the viruses, so I just had to guess at the ones that looked “kind of” right.

Or maybe it was my medical Qi killing the viruses before they went in? I didn’t know.

‘Ah, look at them wiggle! How gross they are!” my sister exclaimed. She was looking at bacteria in some water I had gotten from outside the city. Her face was a combination of fascination and disgust.

Qingyi, at least, seemed quite fascinated. I had set her up with a slide and a formation of the Thousand Li View that Pops had made for me when my control was too shit to actually use the move. 

“They move in all sorts of ways. You see the little hairs on that one? Or the tail over here?” I asked, pointing at the different parts.

“Yes, I do! Its hard to believe all these vile little beasts are within us. Is there some medical formation to get rid of them all?” She asked. “Is that one of your aims?”

“No. We actually need most of these little ones. For every one that causes sickness and disease, another prevents it or helps us.” I replied.

“Truly?” Qingyi asked.

“Yup. No animal alive would be able to digest their food without them, and that includes us. Most of the time, they’re our friends. Our silent little helpers, doing a thousand invisible tasks.”

“...I suppose they’re not all bad.” she said, turning to look at me, and pointing at one bacteria in particular that stood out on the lens of condensed air. “Look at that one, almost cute, with all the fuzz.”

I squinted at the bacteria.

“Oh, no, that one's ugly as shit, it causes dysentery.” I replied.

Qingyi whipped back around to stare at the bacteria, her eyes narrowed—and then the bacteria split in half. Not from mitosis…but from sword intent. Qingyi had just killed it by glaring at it. Which was kind of funny.

I chuckled. “Come on, give me a hand prepping the next experiments.” I said, tugging her along through the small building to the “backyard” as it were.

“Beware of Chicken?” Qingyi asked, amused at the sign on the door.

A back yard that was a chicken coop. Hey, I needed a lot of eggs for this… and for our breakfasts. Nothing beat fresh eggs, where the chickens are fed the finest table scraps!

As soon as we entered, there was a great cry, and a beast descended from the heavens to land upon my shoulder.

“You Tell ‘em Big D.” I said, reaching up to scratch his wattles. The rooster preened under my ministrations.

He, and most of the original chickens, had actually been payment. A farmer had come in all the way from outside the city with his very pregnant wife. He had been acting on a local soothsayer’s recommendation, the woman having predicted a bad omen, and the death of his wife and child.

He had heard of the “Medical Saint” and had made haste to us.

The soothsayer had proved to be startlingly accurate. The woman was going to have a breech birth. A bad one, and the baby had the umbilical chord wrapped around its neck.

I ended up having to perform my first C-section at sixteen. We saved the mother and the baby. The grateful father had not accepted us doing the work for free, so he came back with what he had. Chickens and a rooster, his most prized, begging to pay me.

And well, I had wanted the eggs to eat and experiment on… and I had needed the shit.

Turns out dung and urine are used in a lot more things than people imagine. And while I couldn’t use it now for any medicine, having some nitric acid in the future would be very helpful.

Big D, satisfied at my scritches, turned a gimlet eye on Qingyi.

He glared at her… and Qingyi seemed to find the sheer audacity of being sized up by a rooster adorable.

“Bi De? Is that his name? Ah, he is a very pretty rooster!” She exclaimed, immediately invading the rooster’s space. He puffed himself up and crowed again, proclaiming his dominance. Qingyi giggled. “Is he your pet?”

“I mean I guess hes kind of my pet.” I said. I certainly had no plans on eating him. He was essential, because I needed fertilized eggs for the vaccine project.

And I just liked him. He scratched the country boy farming tich that had been building in my soul. I loved chickens. They truly were the best farm animal.

That, and my rooster was a gentleman. All his hens were well cared for… and he was a right ass kicker. Turns out the rats here sometimes developed a resistance to the common anti-pest wards a lot of the buildings had. One, the size of an american football, had managed to break in and try its luck, only to get spurred to death by my little warrior.

Big D was kind of a chad.

Qingyi reached out a hand to stroke my cock. Her fingers were slapped away by his wing.

“Fire! I like it! He had the eyes and bearing of a warrior!” She declared. “Come, test me if you dare!”

She raised a finger and brandished it like a sword. Big D looked from her to me, clearly uncertain of this strange other in his home, and then huffed, turning away from her.

Qingyi pouted mightily. He was a damn good rooster. He never tried to use his spurs on people.

I slung an arm around Qingyi’s shoulder.

“Play nice with her, okay, little bud?” I asked. He turned to stare at Qingyi for a moment, then he seemed to sigh. He clucked twice, and hopped from my shoulder to hers, and begrudgingly settled there.

Qingyi looked entirely too amused.

“He sheaths his blades, save to unleash them against his enemies.” she said sagely, stroking her chin. “Truly, what a grand warrior!”

“That he is,” I agreed, giving him another scratch. He leaned into it, his feathers soft under my fingers.

Some days I wanted to just take him home. He had really grown on me.

I smiled and shook my head. When he got too old to guard the hens, I would probably bring him home, and give him a good retirement. But for now, he had a job to do.

I reluctantly removed my fingers. He would have made a really good companion.

But… thats just how life went sometimes.

===================

========================