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Fu Shi woke up earlier than usual. This day is the beginning of a rough journey that will define her future as well as the future of mankind. Grandmaster Qiren shared with her the prophecy last night to emphasize how important treating Wei Wuxian is. Putting aside their deal, this treatment will mark a change to history itself. She must tread carefully. From the information she collected about Wuxian, he is not one to follow rules. He is self-sacrificing and reckless when it comes to his own survival. The man literally died twice.
The healer was walking towards the Orchid Room to meet with Wuxian and his family. She stopped when she saw Wen Ning blocking her way: "Master Wen, do you wish to speak with me?"
Wen Ning looks at her with a blank expression and gets closer: "Healer Shi, Grandmaster Qiren vouched for your competence and trustworthiness. Unlike him, Master Wei and I have been betrayed by many over the years. I will say this once.."
She feels his dark aura wash over her and goosebumps cover every inch of her body. He slowly gets close enough to whisper into her ear: "If you harm him, I will end you."
He steps to the side and with his hand gesture for her to lead the way. She's never been threatened with such blatant conviction before. She swallows hard and hesitantly proceeds towards the meeting place. As if making a deal with Qiren and reading the prophecy was not burdensome enough. Now she has an unbeatable guardian threatening her. Heavens have mercy on her soul.
She enters to see all the men sitting in wait, ready to receive her. She kneeled to Wuxian and bowed to the other three men. With a wary eye, she watched Wen Ning sit behind Wuxian who subconsciously leans back and pats his arm. She snapped out of her daze when Qiren clears his throat, anxious to hear what she has to say.
She straightens her stance and starts her explanation: "As you know, a cultivator has three different energies that can be used to fight, heal and live a longer life than the average person. The life force: which everything alive needs to keep on living. This energy is constantly replenished with food and rest. Without it, you die. The second type of energy is a spiritual energy: it builds up as we grow, practice and meditate. It's an unstable type of energy because it comes and goes depending on how we use it and cultivate it. Most average people have a small amount of spiritual energy but not enough to be used for fighting and protection. Cultivators learn how to harness it to serve different purposes. It's the type of energy that prolongs one's life if used with restrain and kept in regulation. The last type of energy is a golden core: A person is either born with it or not. It is powerful and everlasting. We use it while practicing swords and yielding first-grade weapons. As you know, once lost it cannot be regenerated or harnessed once more."
Wuxian bows his head in what seems like guilt. Wangji tightens his hold on his soul-bond's hand to comfort him. She continues: "From my understanding, Wen Qing transferred your golden core to another successfully which in itself is a miracle. However, the damage left from that has affected your ability to harness spiritual energy efficiently."
She takes out a piece of parchment paper and roughly folds it to resemble a bowl: "Imagine this is the spiritual container of all three energies in your body. At the bottom is the golden core; the most dense and everlasting. In the middle is the spiritual energy that fluctuates with use; renewable and regenerable. At the top is the life force; it contains and protects all the other energies for survival and wellness. For a healthy cultivator, regular rest, meditation, practice and healthy diet is all it takes to keep all these three energies in check."
She then used her finger to puncture a hole at the bottom of the paper bowl: "What Wen Qing did is make a small open space at the bottom to slowly transfer only the golden core out of your body. Even though this small opening was sealed by her before the procedure was done, she did not predict the unfortunate events that followed. Staying in the Burial Mounds with no food, no water and a high level of stress has reopened the seal. Over time, you kept using your spiritual energy creating more problems."
She used her finger again to widen the hole at the bottom of the paper bowl: "By forcing your body to harness and use your spiritual energy, the hole grew bigger to a point where even without practicing cultivation, your body cannot safely store or use your spiritual energy and life force. The constant rise in pain every time you use your flute or sword has reached a tipping point. It is not normal for a human being, regardless of how high their tolerance is, to live in constant debilitating pain."
From their reaction, she can tell that not all of them were informed of how much the smaller man is suffering. Grandmaster Qiren looked sadly at Wuxian, he was the only one aware. But Zewu Jun and Wangji both looked shocked. Zewu Jun: "He seems fine most of the time."
Wangji turns to Wuxian: "Wei Ying, is what she says true? You're in pain as we speak?"
Wuxian scratches his neck and laughs in awkwardness: "She is exaggerating."
Fu Shi purses her lips in annoyance. There is no room for denial at this point. She turns to address the brothers: "Would you like to feel it? You tell me if I'm exaggerating as he claims."
Without hesitation both men nodded. She steps close and grabs both their arms. Instantly Wangji scrunches his eyes and grabs the table to steady himself while Zewu Jun was unable to suppress the painful grunt that came from the assault to his body. After a few seconds she lets go and both men took a minute to compose themselves.
Zewu Jun turned wide eyes at Wuxian and couldn't help raising his voice with frustration: "WEI WUXIAN! WHY?"
Wuxian flinches and shrunk into himself. He whispers: "It's ok.. You get used to it after a while."
Wangji was having a hard time containing his anger. The table he was still grabbing started to splinter a little. Wuxian turns to look at him when he hears how hard he's breathing: "Lan Zhan.. calm down."
Wangji turns to glare at him: "Since when?"
Fu Shi looked at how Wuxian was inching further away from a furious Wangji and chose to answer for him: "I would guess since the transfer of the golden core. I would assume it got worse gradually. That's why he's managed to play it off like it's normal."
Grandmaster Qiren cuts them off: "Healer Shi, please continue with your explanation." He turns to glare at the two angry brothers: "You can hash this out later in private."
Healer Shi continues as requested: "Based on the analysis that I've provided, every time Treasure Wei used his spiritual energy, especially when playing the flute, fighting with the sword or activating a talisman or a spell, he ends up exhausting more than is deemed healthy to complete the task." She takes a jar of water and fills the damaged bowl. Water instantly leaks from the bottom: "For someone healthy, filling this bowl and scooping the necessary amount to do the required task is easy. But for someone like Treasure Wei, the lack of structure makes it hard to store and use spiritual energy."
Zewu Jun asks: "How does this manifest physically?"
Shi: "This damage explains the nosebleeds, the bloody coughs and the overall inability to perform cultivation tasks without damaging his internal organs and sapping his life force in the process."
Zewu Jun: "Does that include the slow heartbeat and the low body temperature?"
Shi: "Actually that has nothing to do with this problem. That's a whole other set of issues related to Da Ziran."
Wuxian frowns: "My snake?"
Shi nods: "Snakes are cold blooded animals. They require a low blood pressure and temperature to survive. If I would make an educated guess, the Mother Earth saw fit to change your body chemistry before you were resurrected to handle the snake. It was a slow change that progressed with time to reduce permanent damage to your body chemistry. It's not comfortable to live with these conditions but it's nothing to worry about in comparison with your other symptoms."
Zewu Jun: "What about his weight loss?"
Shi: "That is also related to the snake. If you noticed, since joining Treasure Wei, Da Ziran has not once partook in food consumption. It feeds off his life force which is typically generated with sleep and nutriment. He is essentially eating for two so when he skips meals or eats like a normal person, he will starve."
Wuxian looks at Da Ziran with sad eyes: 'Have I been starving you?'
He then turns to look at Wangji who's avoiding him, clearly enraged. Wuxian debates whether he should try to hold his hand again or not. This is all too much for him and he wished he could at least be comforted by his soul-bond. He sighs internally, not looking forward to the postponed conversation about his inability to share.
Grandmaster Qiren: "You've given us answers but not solutions. Do you have a clear course of treatment to fix the energy containment problem?"
Healer Shi nods: "I wouldn't be standing here if I didn't. Our number one goal at this moment is to rebuild his energy container to give him a better chance of living a healthier life."
She proceeds to tear parts of the bowl rims and glue them with a little bit of water to cover the hole at the bottom. She explains: "Since we cannot replace his damaged container, I propose that we use parts of the healthy tissue to cover the damaged ones. This is a delicate process that must be done gradually and with care. It will take a long time to fully cover the damaged areas and the procedure has heavy requirements on the patient."
Zewu Jun: "Heavy requirements?"
Healer Shi takes a deep breath and then says: "We have to seal his spiritual energy before we start. He will not be allowed to use it throughout the full process."
Wuxian looks worriedly at her: "For how long?"
She looks sadly at him: "I predict somewhere between 3 to 6 months."
Wuxian can feel his hands starting to shake: "I'll be useless for 3 to 6 months?"
She rushes to correct him: "Divine Oracle, your powers come in different forms. You can still create the healing leaf, speak to the dead, use the ring and even fight using Da Ziran. All of them use external energy sources which shouldn't affect your health if regulated properly."
Wuxian can feel frustrating tears well in his eyes. With the effort of pushing himself to protect those around him he ended up being a bigger burden than before. He wraps his arms around himself, wishing Wangji would forget his transgressions for a few seconds to comfort him. He feels a hand rubbing his back and turns to see his soul-brother smiling at him. Wen Ning felt his distress and chose to comfort him instead.
Healer Shi: "This procedure will also require three people with strong energy and a pre-existing bond to Treasure Wei to help reform the container. I will be participating to help regulate the flow, all we need now is to test two more so I can plan the prognosis with accuracy."
Grandmaster Qiren gestures to the men at the table: "You have three able men before you. Choose!"
Healer Shi shakes her head: "I'm sorry Grandmaster, you and Hanguang Jun cannot volunteer for this. Your age and health is not ideal and Hanguang Jun's soul-bond connection will create an issue with this type of spiritual transference."
Zewu Jun: "What about me?"
Shi nods: "I will test your compatibility later but I'm sure you're an ideal candidate."
Wuxian feels cold sweat running down his back. This is not happening. He is not going to mooch other people's energy to survive. He senses a tidal wave of loss and longing wash over him. He feels like something is squeezing his insides. It's hard to breath. This is not happening.
He used all his remaining energy to stop himself from climbing into Wangji's lap and curling up, demanding comfort once more. He knows that at this moment, the taller man doesn't even wish to hold his hand, much less have a lap full of his emotionally demanding soul-bond.
Shi stopped her explanation about the energy compatibility when she saw Wuxian was exhibiting signs of distress. She hastily makes her way towards him but stops in her track when his hair suddenly starts to glow and glimmer in gold. Zewu Jun and Wangji, both sitting beside Wuxian, looked at him trying to comprehend what was happening.
Grandmaster Qiren, who has never witnessed this before in person, asks wearily: "How do we stop this? He's suffering!"
Zewu Jun: "Last time, it went away after we saw what it wanted us to see."
Grandmaster Qiren: "So all we have to do is touch his hair?"
All three men paced themselves and hesitantly touched a strand from Wuxian's glimmering hair.
'Hanguang Jun was kneeling.. biting his lips in fury and defiance.. His soulmate just jumped probably to his death and he was stuck here receiving lash after lash from a whip designed to exhort punishment for those who have gravely sinned.. If loving someone and believing in them is a sin then he wants nothing to do with righteousness.. Hanguang Jun was sitting in a cold cave.. banished for a few years now.. shedding tears while playing inquiry.. hoping.. just hoping for one chord response from his beloved.. all he heard was silence and the quiet drops of his tears.. Hanguang Jun visited every place known to man.. year after year.. If it's on a map, he's been to it.. Deep into forests, under the scorching sun of deserts, between the howling winds weaving the mountains.. hoping to hear his voice once again.. Wei Ying.. Have you given up? Have I failed to show my affections to you? Why did you jump? Why did you leave me?.. Come back!'
Wangji never wanted to feel that way ever again. The darkest years in his life are in the past. They should stay in the past. He sees the reflection of his anguish on the eyes of his brother and uncle. He never thought anyone would understand how desperate he was while he was looking for Wuxian.
When Wuxian lets out a sob, Wangji snaps into action and pulls him close to comfort him. He knows that Wuxian's source of heightened duress is triggered by his overwhelming emotional state. He shushes the crying man in his arms and feels him cling to him in desperation.
Healer Shi was baffled: "What just happened?"
Zewu Jun who tried to compose himself whispered: "The Divine Oracle can empathize with strong emotions when in near proximity. When triggered, he has the ability to project the past of what causes this emotional state to anyone who touches his hair."
Healer Shi's mouth drops open and after a few minutes of being speechless she says: "Does the Deity wish for him to be punished?"
Zewu Jun sighs: "He won't remember it. It's just emotionally taxing while it happens. He only vaguely remembers the projected feeling and nothing else."
Grandmaster Qiren looks sadly at Wangji, who's desperately trying to calm Wuxian, and says: "We all have a lot of healing to do.. Not just Wei Wuxian."
Wangji was having a hard time comforting his soul-bond. Wuxian was weeping while grasping his robes desperately, like he was going to leave him if he didn't. Wangji knows that's probably a physical representation of how he felt during the years he was apart from Wuxian. The small man was whimpering: "I'm sorry.. I'm sorry.. Don't leave me.." Wangji can feel his soul-bond's laboring breath and looks desperately at the people around him for help. Healer Shi approaches and with a low voice asks his permission: "May I?"
Wangji nods frantically so she aims two fingers to the side of Wuxian's temple and he falls limply. Wangji sighs in relief: "Thank you."
The healer smiles warmly at him and bows.
He pulls the smaller man from his chest to check if he's alright. He was stricken when he saw the tear tracks down his flushed cheeks. He did this. His inability to suppress his emotions has provoked this emotional episode. This time, Wuxian didn't even turn to him for comfort. His brief anger probably scared him from seeking his solace. This is unacceptable.
Healer Shi moves closer to check his pulse and says: "He will probably sleep for a few hours. I would suggest you move him somewhere comfortable for the time being."
Grandmaster Qiren addresses his younger nephew: "Wangji, take the boy to rest for now. We will discuss the details of his treatment and share it with you both when he wakes."
Wangji nods and carries his soul-bond out. Before he leaves, he hears Qiren whisper: "Take good care of him.. and yourself."
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